Finn Wittrock News

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Greg Reiner, will present its popular Books On Stage Reading Series, this season featuring stage adaptations of works by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Beginning Monday, November 12 at CSC (136 East 13th Street) at 7 pm, the company presents Crime and Punishment, featuring F. Murray Abraham, Michael Stuhlbarg and Joanne Tucker, directed by Anna Brenner.

Goodman Theatre adds five performances of Sweet Bird of Youth by Tennessee Williams, extending through October 28 with its current company intact. Chicago native director David Cromer's production stars Academy Award nominee Diane Lane as Alexandra del Lago, an aging Hollywood screen siren on a journey with an unlikely soul mate, and Broadway's Finn Wittrock as Chance Wayne, an ineffectual drifter whose youth and promise have begun to fade.

"We are all civilized people, which means that we are all savages at heart but observing a few amenities of civilized behavior,' writes Tennessee Williams in his introduction to Sweet Bird of Youth. Goodman Theatre opens its 2012/2013 Season with a major revival of Williams' 1959 play directed by Chicago native David Cromer. As previously announced, Academy Award nominee Diane Lane portrays Alexandra del Lago, an aging Hollywood screen siren on a journey with an unlikely soul mate, Chance Wayne (Broadway's Finn Wittrock)-an ineffectual drifter whose youth and promise have begun to fade.

"We are all civilized people, which means that we are all savages at heart but observing a few amenities of civilized behavior,' writes Tennessee Williams in his introduction to Sweet Bird of Youth. Goodman Theatre opens its 2012/2013 Season with a major revival of Williams' 1959 play directed by Chicago native David Cromer. As previously announced, Academy Award nominee Diane Lane portrays Alexandra del Lago, an aging Hollywood screen siren on a journey with an unlikely soul mate, Chance Wayne (Broadway's Finn Wittrock)-an ineffectual drifter whose youth and promise have begun to fade.

Fall 2012 will see Chicago continue to produce some of the most exciting theater in the country. Offerings from the city's more than 200 producing theaters includes a range of special fall programming, featuring everything from the latest musicals to highly anticipated world premieres.

Artistic Director Robert Falls announced today that he will direct a major revival and new adaptation of Measure for Measure, Shakespeare's darkly comic collision of vice and virtue, in Goodman Theatre's 2012/2013 season, March 9 - April 14, 2013. Also, director David Cromer announced partial casting for his production of Sweet Bird of Youth: Oscar, Emmy, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award-nominee Diane Lane appears as Princess Kosmonopolis and Finn Wittrock, who recently appeared in Broadway's Death of a Salesman with Philip Seymour Hoffman, is cast as the young-actor-turned-gigolo Chance Wayne. Complete casting to be announced soon. The production opens the Goodman's new season, September 15 - October 21; a September 24 Season Opening Benefit will take place at The Standard Club. Tickets available only on subscription; call 312.443.3800 or visit www.GoodmanTheatre.org. Individual tickets to Sweet Bird of Youth go on sale August 10; Abbott Fund, Fifth Third Bank, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP and PwC LLP are the Corporate Sponsors Partners. Call 312.443.3811, ext. 586 for more information about the Season Opening Benefit.

Williamstown Theatre Festival Artistic Director Jenny Gersten has announced the opening of the first two productions of the 2012 season: The Importance of Being Earnest on the Main Stage and the World Premiere of The Blue Deep on the Nikos Stage on June 28. It is the first time in the Festival's 58-year history that two shows have opened on the same night to kick-off the season.

The day will commence with a Fourth of July Parade at 11:00am with appearances from stars of the Williamstown Theatre Festival 2012 season followed by the annual Reading of the Founding Documents at WCMA at 1:30pm. The celebration comes to a close with a performance of David Hyde Pierce's hilarious new production of The Importance of Being Earnest at 7:30pm.

Williamstown Theatre Festival Artistic Director Jenny Gersten has announced today the full cast and creative teams for the first two productions of the 2012 season: The Importance of Being Earnest and the World Premiere of The Blue Deep. The Importance of Being Earnest will be presented on the Main Stage from June 26 through July 14 (opening June 28) and The Blue Deep will grace the Nikos Stage from June 27 through July 8 (opening June 28). Both casts arrived in Williamstown today for their first rehearsals on the bucolic Williams College campus in preparation for the runs of these exciting and unique productions at the Festival.

Last week, the 68th annual Theatre World Awards were held on Tuesday, June 5th, 2012 at an invitation-only ceremony celebrating the 2012 Theatre World Award winners for Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway Debut Performances during the 2011-2012 theatrical season. Below, BroadwayWorld takes you inside the ceremony and brings you presentation and performance highlights!

The 68th annual Theatre World Awards were just held last night, June 5th, 2012. The winners for Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway Debut Performances during the 2011-2012 theatrical season were:

The 68th annual Theatre World Awards were held Tuesday, June 5th, 2012. View photos from the red carpet arrivals below!

Mike Nichols is the recipient of this year's Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for the Broadway revival of DEATH OF A SALESMAN.

DEATH OF A SALESMAN is this year's recipient of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.

The Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's DEATH OF A SALESMAN, starring Academy Award-winner Philip Seyour Hoffman as Willy Loman, ends its limited run at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre with its 8 p.m. performance tonight, June 2.

The 68th annual THEATRE WORLD AWARDS, which will take place on Tuesday, June 5th at 2 pm at The Belasco Theatre, 111 West 44th Street, NYC., will include special performances by Broadway favorites Brian Stokes Mitchell, Michael Cerveris, Howard McGillin and Stephanie Umoh. The by-invitation-only ceremony will present Theatre World Awards to 12 actors for their Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway Debut Performances during the 2011-2012 theatrical season. The event also includes presentation of the 4th Annual Dorothy Loudon Award for Excellence. This year The Theatre World Awards will have ASL interpretation.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of the nation's top acting talents known for playing extremely varied roles in film and on stage, including Truman Capote, which earned him an Oscar, and Father Brendan Flynn in Doubt, which earned him an Oscar nomination, speaks with Mo Rocca about his Tony Award-nominated performance as Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman on Broadway.