Eric Simonson News

Director Gregg T. Daniel returns to The Group Rep to direct Eric Simonson's critically acclaimed play LOMBARDI based on the book When Pride Still Mattered:  A Life of Vince Lombardi by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss.  In our conversation, Gregg talks about the play, his fascination with the nature of greatness, and what he's been up to as a director. By Steve Peterson

The Group Rep presents Eric Simonson's LOMBARDI based on the book When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss, directed by Gregg T. Daniel, produced by Drina Durazo.  We follow Green Bay Packers coach Lombardi through a week in the 1965 season, as he attempts to lead his team to the championship. This play is centered on an icon in American football, but at its core is a minefield of humanity; teaching, fathers & sons, facing seemingly insurmountable challenges, what makes a good leader and ultimately how the words we say to one another can inspire and change us. July 24 - Sept. 6.

Peninsula Players Theatre, America's Oldest Professional Resident Summer Theater and Door County's theatrical icon, continues its 80th season tonight, July 8, through July 26 when it presents the classic suspense-filled thriller, 'Dial M for Murder' by Frederick Knott. 'Dial M for Murder' was first staged on Broadway in 1952 and Knott adapted the script for Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 classic film.

Peninsula Players Theatre, America's Oldest Professional Resident Summer Theater and Door County's theatrical icon, continues its 80th season July 8 through 26 when it presents the classic suspense-filled thriller, 'Dial M for Murder' by Frederick Knott. 'Dial M for Murder' was first staged on Broadway in 1952 and Knott adapted the script for Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 classic film.

The Group Rep presents Eric Simonson's LOMBARDI based on the book When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss, directed by Gregg T. Daniel, produced by Drina Durazo.  We follow Green Bay Packers coach Lombardi through a week in the 1965 season, as he attempts to lead his team to the championship. This play is centered on an icon in American football, but at its core is a minefield of humanity; teaching, fathers & sons, facing seemingly insurmountable challenges, what makes a good leader and ultimately how the words we say to one another can inspire and change us. July 24 - Sept. 6.

The Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival (perry-mansfield.org/events/3/new-works-festival) now in its 18th year, brings performing arts professionals together in the Rocky Mountains to continue Perry-Mansfield's founding principle of nurturing new talent through new work. This year's festival, taking place this weekend, June 12-13 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, will feature new works from some of America's most prestigious theater companies: Atlantic Theater Company, Denver Center for the Performing Arts Theatre Company, Primary Stages, andSouth Coast Repertory. The companies will showcase four different new works in partnership with Perry-Mansfield.

The Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival (perry-mansfield.org/events/3/new-works-festival) now in its 18th year, brings performing arts professionals together in the Rocky Mountains to continue Perry-Mansfield's founding principle of nurturing new talent through new work. This year's festival, taking place on June 12-13 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, will feature new works from some of America's most prestigious theater companies: Atlantic Theater Company, Denver Center for the Performing Arts Theatre Company, Primary Stages, andSouth Coast Repertory. The companies will showcase four different new works in partnership with Perry-Mansfield.

The Palace Theater, Wisconsin Dells' newest professional theater, 564 Wisconsin Dells Pkwy South, has announced its exciting new season full of critically acclaimed shows for the whole family.

Minnesota Opera Music Director Michael Christie leads the world premiere performances of The Manchurian Candidate, today, March 7–15, 2015in the Ordway Music Theater. Christie is recognized as “ … a top-notch conductor of new works …” by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Based on the novel by Richard Condon and directed by Kevin Newbury, The Manchurian Candidate traces the mysterious story of an American soldier decorated during the Korean War who is brainwashed into becoming an unwitting assassin in a conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government. This taut and suspenseful thriller is the highly anticipated second opera by composer Kevin Puts and librettist Mark Campbell, creators of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Silent Night.

Minnesota Opera Music Director Michael Christie leads the world premiere performances of The Manchurian Candidate, tonight, March 7-15, 2015 in the Music Theater at Ordway.

Theatre Club has announced the lineup for this spring's Ernst C. Stiefel Reading Series.

Carthage College, a four-year, private college of the liberal arts and sciences in Kenosha, Wisconsin, will stage the world premiere of 'Up The Hill', a new work by Keith Huff, one of the television industry's most sought-after writers and producers, and one of contemporary theater's most prominent and exciting playwrights. The play will be performed today, Feb. 27 - March 7 at the Wartburg Auditorium in the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Natural and Social Sciences, 2001 Alford Park Drive.

Minnesota Opera presents five operas in its 2015-2016 season, which includes the highly anticipated world-premiere thriller, The Shining, by Pulitzer Prize-winner Paul Moravec. Other season highlights include Puccini's Tosca, an encore of Mozart's The Magic Flute, Dvo?ák's Rusalka and the first Minnesota Opera production of Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos in three decades.

The Palace Theater, Wisconsin Dells' newest professional theater, 564 Wisconsin Dells Pkwy South, has announced its exciting new season full of critically acclaimed shows for the whole family.

Carthage College, a four-year, private college of the liberal arts and sciences in Kenosha, Wisconsin, will stage the world premiere of 'Up The Hill', a new work by Keith Huff, one of the television industry's most sought-after writers and producers, and one of contemporary theater's most prominent and exciting playwrights. The play will be performed Feb. 27 - March 7 at the Wartburg Auditorium in the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Natural and Social Sciences, 2001 Alford Park Drive.

Desert Stages Theatre's production of Eric Simonson's Lombardi, directed by Mark-Alan C. Clemente is a surefire touchdown, featuring inspired performances by Timothy Pittman as Lombardi and Dyana Carroll as the coach's stalwart wife Marie.

MINNEAPOLIS (January 26, 2015) – Minnesota Opera Music Director Michael Christie leads the world premiere performances of The Manchurian Candidate, March 7–15, 2015in the Ordway Music Theater. Christie is recognized as “ … a top-notch conductor of new works …” by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Based on the novel by Richard Condon and directed by Kevin Newbury, The Manchurian Candidate traces the mysterious story of an American soldier decorated during the Korean War who is brainwashed into becoming an unwitting assassin in a conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government. This taut and suspenseful thriller is the highly anticipated second opera by composer Kevin Puts and librettist Mark Campbell, creators of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Silent Night.

Can the worlds of professional football and theater collide? Thanks to all the dramatics that happens on and off the field, it is only fitting that they should. Kicking off Friday January 23rd, 2015, Scottsdale Desert Stages Theatre marries both of these together with the opening of LOMBARDI.

Manhattan Theatre Club announces the upcoming Sloan Panel Discussion on Constellations, which will be held following the Thursday, January 15 performance of the play at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street), and is open to anyone attending the evening's performance. The panel, which will be presented in partnership with the World Science Festival, will focus on the role of science in the play and will feature playwright Nick Payne and Brian Greene, professor of Physics and Mathematics at Columbia University and co-founder of the World Science Festival. Social commentator Faith Salie will moderate.

Minnesota Opera Music Director Michael Christie leads the world premiere performances of The Manchurian Candidate, March 7-15, 2015 in the Music Theater at Ordway.