Ensemble Studio Theatre News

Bristol Riverside Theatre concludes its 25th Anniversary Season with the Broadway mega-hit Rent by Jonathan Larsonplaying at Bristol Riverside Theatre now through June 3. Directed by Jose Zayas, the cast features Julian Alvarez, Mark Willis Borum, Tracie Franklin, James LaRosa, Meera Mohan, Brendan Norton, Tyrone Roberson, Jamila Sabares-Klemm, Tara Tagliaferro, Brit West, and Nadine Zahr with local actors Michael Hogan, Joseph Michael O'Brien, and Carl Nathaniel Smith. Check out a video reel with footage from the production set to its best known song, 'Seasons of Love' below!

Oberon in association with the Ministry of Theater will present a pre-New York tryout of ROLLER DISCO THE MUSICAL!, an unautherized parody of the classic film Roller Boogie, from May 30 to August 30 at Oberon in Cambridge Massachusetts, with its world premiere opening night on June 13. With executive producer Pablo Rojas, Roller Disco aims to transfer to Off-Broadway in Spring 2013.

RUBICON THEATRE continues the company's 14th season tonight, May 24 with August Wilson's powerful and poignant drama GEM OF THE OCEAN.

The 57th Annual Obie Awards were given out at a ceremony tonight at Webster Hall in Greenwich Village. The awards were presented by acclaimed stage actors Eric McCormack, Grace Gummer, Hugh Dancy, Jonathan Pryce, Justin Bartha, Leslie Odom Jr., Lily Rabe, Michael McKean, Tonya Pinkins, Topher Grace, and Tracee Chimo.

As part of the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre's Summer Season, acclaimed US playwright Joshua Conkel makes his UK debut with the world premiere of the darkly comic The Sluts of Sutton Drive, opening at the Finborough Theatre for a strictly limited run of six Sunday and Monday performances from Sunday, 24 June 2012 to the 9th of July.

Sheena Metal, an entertainment icon who has anchored numerous radio shows for over 17 years in Los Angeles, has been named to the Board of Directors of Ensemble Studio Theatre Los Angeles, it was announced by Gates McFadden, Artistic Director.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) Artistic Director James C. Nicola and Managing Director William Russo and Noor Theatre Artistic Director Lameece Isaaq, Executive Director Maha Chehlaoui, and Producing Director Nancy Vitale have announced that the world premiere of Food and Fadwa, written by Lameece Issaq and Jacob Kader, and directed by Shana Gold, begins performances tonight, Friday, May 18, 2012, at NYTW, 79 East 4 Street, between Bowery and Second Avenue. The opening night is scheduled for Thursday, June 7. Food and Fadwa is a co-production with Noor Theatre, a company-in-residence at New York Theatre Workshop.

Following an acclaimed season which included the world premiere of Paul Weitz's Lonely, I'm Not and a critically lauded second staging of Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winner, How I Learned To Drive, Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) has just announced two of the four mainstage productions in the company's upcoming 34th season. For subscription or ticket information, please call the Second Stage Box Office at 212-246-4422 or visit the company's website, www.2ST.com. All productions are staged at Second Stage's Tony Kiser Theatre, 305 West 43rd Street (just west of Eighth Avenue).

RUBICON THEATRE continues the company's 14th season May 24 with August Wilson's powerful and poignant drama GEM OF THE OCEAN (first preview tonight, May 16).

Berkeley Repertory Theatre announced the cast and creative team for its world premiere of Eve Ensler's EMOTIONAL CREATURE. This positive and propulsive new show - from the Tony Award-winning playwright, performer, and activist who created The Vagina Monologues - features a choreographer, a composer, four top designers, and an ensemble of talented young women. Directed by Obie Award-winner Jo Bonney, Emotional Creature plays only 36 performances in the Roda Theatre. The limited engagement at Berkeley Rep begins previews on June 14, opens June 22, and runs through July 15. The lead producers of this premiere are Wayne Jordan and Quinn Delaney, Marjorie Randolph, and Jack and Betty Schafer; the executive producer is the Strauch Kulhanjian Family. The development of this production has been supported in part by The Mosse Artistic Development Fund.

Oberon in association with the Ministry of Theater will present a pre-New York tryout of ROLLER DISCO THE MUSICAL!, an unautherized parody of the classic film Roller Boogie, from May 30 to August 30 at Oberon in Cambridge Massachusetts, with its world premiere opening night on June 13. With executive producer Pablo Rojas, Roller Disco aims to transfer to Off-Broadway in Spring 2013.

22Q Entertainment LLC and GoAlleyCat Productions presents the West Coast Premiere of the New York hit, IT IS DONE, a thrilling new play in an environmental setting, written by award-winning playwright Alex Goldberg and directed by Ovation award-winner Michael Michetti (The Twentieth Century Way, Carousel, Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings). IT IS DONE opens tonight, May 15 at 8:30pm and runs through Tuesday, June 12 at the Pig ‘N Whistle Restaurant, 6714 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood.

Downton Abbey meets Broadway! BWW can report that Dan Stevens, star of the Golden Globe-winning series "Downton Abbey," will play the role of "Morris Townsend" opposite Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain (Catherine Sloper) and Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner David Strathairn (Dr. Austin Sloper) in the Tony Award-winning play The Heiress. Written by Ruth Goetz & Augustus Goetz, The Heiress will be directed by Tony Award nominated playwright and director Moises Kaufman. Performances will begin October 2012 at a theatre to be announced.

The Ensemble Studio Theatre honors two of its most distinguished members, the acclaimed actress Lois Smith and two-time Board chair G.H. 'Denny' Denniston, Jr with its 2012 Distinguished Member Award at a "Fun-Raiser" benefit celebration this evening, May 14.