Harold Pinter News

Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble member Austin Pendleton directs The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter in the Upstairs Theatre, at the helm of a Pinter play for the first time. The theater has been newly reconfigured by Pendleton with scenic designer Walt Spangler to bring the audience closer to the story by moving the stage to the center of the room. The Birthday Party is currently in previews and opens on February 3, 2013. Get a first look at the cast onstage in the photos below!

New York Live Arts' Executive Artistic Director, Bill T. Jones, today announced the creation of Live Ideas, the latest program initiative for the Chelsea-based organization that has become an internationally recognized destination for innovative movement-based artistry and artists actively engaged with the political, intellectual and cultural currents of our times. Taking place each spring, Live Ideas will concentrate on a different theme, explored through conversation and artistic presentations over several days. The inaugural festival, taking place Wednesday, April 17th through Sunday, April 21st, 2013 at New York Live Arts is themed The Worlds of Oliver Sacks.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts presents Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis by Icelandic theater collective Vesturport in collaboration with Lyric Hammersmith (U.K.). Directed and adapted by Gisli Örn Gardarsson and David Farr, the production runs in the Eisenhower Theater from February 20-22 as part of Nordic Cool 2013. Press opening night is February 20, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. The production will be performed in English.

Belarus Free Theatre makes its way to the United States in January, despite several police raids last month at underground performance spaces in the capital of Minsk. The raids came on the eve of the company bringing its newest political piece, Minsk, 2011: A Reply to Kathy Acker, to Chicago Shakespeare Theater tonight, January 30-February 3, 2013.

St. Ann's Warehouse welcomes back Kneehigh and director Emma Rice for the New York premiere of The Wild Bride. In this adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale 'The Girl Without Hands,' narrated by Satan himself, a father accidentally sells his daughter to the Devil. When our heroine cleverly escapes, a lyrical love story laced with devilish humor unfolds. The production features a bluegrass score by longtime Kneehigh composer Stu Barker, performed by live musicians and the cast.

BASH Theatre and Radial Theater Project present Beating Up Bachman, a new play by Seattle-based playwright Wayne Rawley. The world premiere of Beating Up Bachman will be presented tonight, January 25 - February 16, 2013 at West of Lenin in Fremont ('the center of the universe'), Seattle, Washington.

Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart will star on Broadway in a limited season repertoire of Harold Pinter's No Man's Land and Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, directed by Sean Mathias, in the fall of 2013.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble member Austin Pendleton directs The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter in the Upstairs Theatre, at the helm of a Pinter play for the first time. The theater has been newly reconfigured by Pendleton with scenic designer Walt Spangler to bring the audience closer to the story by moving the stage to the center of the room. The Birthday Party begins previews tonight, January 24 (Opening night is February 3, 2013; Press performances are February 2 at 3pm and February 5 at 7:30pm) and runs through April 28 in Steppenwolf's Upstairs Theatre (1650 N Halsted St). Check out photos of the cast in rehearsal below!

Playwright, and Emmy Award winner, Elliot Shoenman will return to the Odyssey Theatre with his newest play A Heap Of Livin', which includes original music by David Shire (Oscar/Grammy Award, multiple Tony/Emmy noms). Elliot's work, the Ovation Award nominated AfterMath, starring Annie Potts, played to sold-out houses at the Odyssey last season, launched by the Inkwell Theater.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG) has announced the publication of the newest play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet: The Anarchist. Just having completed its world premiere on Broadway under the direction of the playwright and starring Patti LuPone and Debra Winger, Mr. Mamet's work is also currently represented on Broadway with the revival of his award-winning Glengarry Glen Ross starring Al Pacino and Bobby Cannavale.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble member Austin Pendleton directs The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter in the Upstairs Theatre, at the helm of a Pinter play for the first time. The theater has been newly reconfigured by Pendleton with scenic designer Walt Spangler to bring the audience closer to the story by moving the stage to the center of the room. The Birthday Party begins previews January 24 (Opening night is February 3, 2013; Press performances are February 2 at 3pm and February 5 at 7:30pm) and runs through April 28 in Steppenwolf's Upstairs Theatre (1650 N Halsted St). Check out photos of the cast in rehearsal below!

Matthew Dunster will direct Rodney Ackland's Before The Party at the Almeida Theatre from 21 March - 11 May 2013. Based on a short story by Somerset Maugham, Before The Party has designs by Anna Fleischle with lighting by Philip Gladwell and sound by Ian Dickinson. Dunster's production of Before The Party will be the first in over 25 years.

Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, Neal Street Productions and Kevin McCormick today announced further casting for Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which opens at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on 25th June 2013, directed by Sam Mendes.

Perseverance Theatre Artistic Associates Shona Strauser and Bostin Christopher team up for the first time on Betrayal by Harold Pinter. Strauser plays Emma and Christopher directs in this first ever production of Pinter at Perseverance. The show plays from tonight, Jan. 11-Feb. 3, 2013 on the Perseverance Theatre Mainstage.

BASH Theatre and Radial Theater Project present Beating Up Bachman, a new play by Seattle-based playwright Wayne Rawley. The world premiere of Beating Up Bachman will be presented January 25 - February 16, 2013 at West of Lenin in Fremont ('the center of the universe'), Seattle, Washington.

Belarus Free Theatre makes its way to the United States in January, despite several police raids last month at underground performance spaces in the capital of Minsk. The raids came on the eve of the company bringing its newest political piece, Minsk, 2011: A Reply to Kathy Acker, to Chicago Shakespeare Theater January 30-February 3, 2013. To foster dialogue and encourage participation, all tickets for this six-performance limited engagement are $20. The piece, which explores the sexual brutality and oppression by the totalitarian regime in Belarus, is one of many award-winning productions by the company, celebrated for creating art based upon the unjustly persecuted people of Belarus.