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 on May 8-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.

The Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Project for New Plays on Science and Technology will tackle Post-Concussion Syndrome when it presents the world premiere of 27-year-old playwright Patrick Link's Headstrong. The play, directed by Ensemble Studio Theatre Artistic Director William Carden, begins previews April 18 for an opening April 30 at The Ensemble Studio Theatre, 549 West 52nd Street.

People's Light & Theatre presents John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, running through March 25, 2012 on the Main Stage.

Pioneer Theatre Company presents Laughing Stock, written by PTC Artistic Director Charles Morey, March 23 - April 7, 2012.

Greenway Arts Alliance has announced the world premiere production of THE BEWILDERED HERD by LA Weekly Award and Ovation Award nominee Cody Henderson, directed by Laurie Woolery. There will be two preview performances on April 12 and 13, and opening night is set for Saturday, April 14 at 8:00. The limited engagement will run through Sunday, May 6.

Annie Elias brings her years of experience in documentary theater to Cutting Ball with the World Premiere of TENDERLOIN, a piece about the people and places in Cutting Ball Theater's neighborhood. Written by Annie Elias, with theater documentarians Tristan Cunningham, Siobhan Doherty, Rebecca Frank, Michael Uy Kelly, Leigh Shaw, and David Sinaiko (with additional writing by David Westley Skillman), and directed by Elias, TENDERLOIN plays April 27 - May 27 at the Cutting Ball Theater in residence at EXIT on Taylor (277 Taylor Street) in San Francisco.

The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle has announced the winners and special awards for excellence in Los Angeles and Orange County theatre for the year 2011. The 43rd Annual Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards ceremony took place Monday, March 19 at A Noise Within in Pasadena, and was co-hosted by Jason Graae and Lesli Margherita.

The Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Science and Technology Project awarded commission grants today for new plays to ten playwrights and two theatre companies to develop new works exploring science and technology.

Rod Menzies directs the world premiere of an Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA production. The Many Mistresses of Martin Luther Kingby Andrew Dolan, a play as provocative as its title, runs March 17 - April 29 at Atwater Village Theatre.

terraNOVA Collective kicks off the first annual GROUNDWORKS New Play Series at The New Ohio Theatre featuring the new plays generated by the 2012 Groundbreakers Playwrights Group and terraNOVA's other new play development projects. GROUNDWORKS is terraNOVA's new initiative to not only showcase its new play development projects but to expose the work to artistic leaders and other industry professionals in hopes of finding world premiere productions for the plays.

The Denver Center Theatre Company is pleased to present the World Premiere of GREAT WALL STORY by Lloyd Suh, which plays The Ricketson Theatre March 16 - April 22 (opening night Thursday, March 22). The play was read at the 2011 Colorado New Play Summit and selected for production. Tickets can be purchased now, by calling 303.893.4100 or www.denvercenter.org.

Academy Award® nominee and Emmy® Award winner David Strathairn (Dr. Austin Sloper) will join Academy Award® nominee Jessica Chastain (Catherine 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 Moisés Kaufman and will open in the Fall of 2012 at a theatre to be announced.

By popular demand, Frank Strausser's new comedy PSYCHO THERAPY will resume performances Off-Broadway at The Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce Street) beginning April 8 and running through May 26, it has been announced by the show's producer, Barbara Ligeti and Wishing Well Productions.

WorkShop Theater Company (Scott C. Sickles, Artistic Director, Jeff Paul, Managing Director) will revive the 2009 FringeNYC hit, Protected, by playwright Timothy Scott Harris, April 26-May 17 in their Main Stage Theater (312 West 36th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues, 4th Floor).

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater has announced the cast and creative team for the world premiere of Massacre (Sing to Your Children), by Obie Award-winning playwright Jose Rivera, directed by Brian Mertes. Performances will begin Wednesday, April 4th at Rattlestick Theater (224 Waverly Place - off Seventh Avenue South, between Perry & West 11th Streets). The official opening night is set for Thursday, April 12th. The production is scheduled to run through May 12th.

Emmy, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award winner Julianna Margulies will be the guest of honor at the third annual Steppenwolf Salutes WOMEN IN THE ARTS fundraising luncheon on Monday, March 12, 2012 at Noon at The Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph St. Ms. Margulies, who currently stars in the hit CBS drama The Good Wife, will be interviewed about her stage, television and film career by Steppenwolf Artistic Director Martha Lavey in a format similar to Inside the Actors Studio.

Steppenwolf has just announced that Emmy®, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award® winner Julianna Margulies will be the guest of honor at the third annual Steppenwolf Salutes WOMEN IN THE ARTS fundraising luncheon on Monday, March 12, 2012 at Noon at The Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph St. Ms. Margulies, who currently stars in the hit CBS drama The Good Wife, will be interviewed about her stage, television and film career by Steppenwolf Artistic Director Martha Lavey in a format similar to Inside the Actors Studio. Previous honorees at Steppenwolf Salutes WOMEN IN THE ARTS include ensemble members Joan Allen and Martha Plimpton.

The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle's 43rd Annual Awards Show will take place on Monday, March 19, 2012 at A Noise Within in Pasadena. The show will feature performances from previously-announced hosts Jason Graae (recipient of the 2007 Joel Hirschhorn Award for outstanding achievement in musical theatre) and Lesli Margherita (nominee for Kiss Me, Kate). In addition, the Awards show will feature the Los Angeles premiere performance of My Husband, by Paul Rudnick, a short play added to the New York production of Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays. Also, Yvette Tucker and Salvatore Vasallo will perform an excerpt from "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue," from On Your Toes, choreographed by this year's Hirschhorn Award recipient, Lee Martino.

Playwrights Anna Moench and Christopher Oscar Peña were awarded to a one year residency at the Lark Play Development Center in the organization's second year of their Van Lier Fellowship Program.

Pioneer Theatre Company presents Laughing Stock, written by PTC Artistic Director Charles Morey, March 23 - April 7, 2012.