Henry James News

The Heiress, Ruth and Augustus Goetz' award winning 1947 drama based on Henry James' 1880 novel, Washington Square, is in 2015 a tired, tedious, and entirely predictable chestnut. Theatre Artists Studio, which has had its share of theatrical wins this year, has not fared well in resurrecting it to the fiery psychological drama and social critique that the promos have proclaimed it to be.

A+E Studios has signed a multiyear first-look development agreement with Oscar®-nominated screenwriter and producer Michael Hirst, it was announced today

Theatre Artists Studio presents The Heiress, from tonight, February 27 through March 15 at The Studio, 4848 E. Cactus Rd, #406, in Scottsdale. Show times are Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m.

Spinning Tree Theatre in Kansas City announced their 2015-2016 season schedule, which includes two plays and two musicals. The season will premiere Spinning Trees first dance musical. Venues and dates for the 2015-2016 season are to be announced later. The production company is currently searching for a permanent home, after four years of renting venues in the Kansas City area.

Theatre Artists Studio presents The Heiress, from February 27 through March 15 at The Studio, 4848 E. Cactus Rd, #406, in Scottsdale. Show times are Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m.

The Old Globe will celebrate its 80th Anniversary as part of the Balboa Park Centennial Celebration with a full roster of great plays in its regular season and a Summer Season featuring Shakespeare on stage and in film, along with our popular ongoing programs.

Creative Cauldron has embarked on its own five-year plan, fittingly entitled 'Bold New Works for Intimate Stages.' Matt Conner and lyricist Stephen Gregory Smith have created and directed a new musical based on Henry James' classic macabre tale, 'The Turn of the Screw. ' The performances here are terrific, beginning with Susan Derry as the governess Miss Giddens.

In 2015, Theater at Monmouth celebrates not only 46 years of producing classic theatre, but also 46 years of providing access to engaging arts education experiences for our community.

With a new year comes a lot of new theater in Nashville and in 2015, area theater companies are heating up winter with some of the most compelling and challenging productions to grace local stages in quite some time. Already, Circle Players and Nashville Shakespeare Festival have upped the ante with their respective productions of Ragtime the Musical and Twelfth Night (NSF traditionally kicks off the dramatics with their winter production at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre), and in the coming weeks theater-goers will be treated to even more, top-notch, high-quality theatrics.

Celebrating its 6th year bringing live theatre to cinema audiences around the world, NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE has announcedan international broadcast of Behind the Beautiful Forevers, a new play by David Hare, based on the book by Katherine Boo, directed by Rufus Norris, live from The National Theatre of Great Britain's Olivier Theatre on Thursday, March 12, 2015.

Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, now in its 38th Season, has announced the cast for the East Coast premiere of FILM CHINOIS, an atmospheric noir mystery set in 1940s China written by Singaporean playwright Damon Chua and directed by Kaipo Schwab. The production will begin previews on January 17, 2015 and run until February 8, 2015 at the Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row (410 W 42nd Street between 9th and Dyer). The official opening is on Thursday, January 22 at 7:30PM.

Continuing its 40th Anniversary Season, Victory Gardens Theater announces the Midwest Premiere of The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin, directed by Dennis Za?ek and featuring Linda Reiter. The Testament of Mary runs tonight, November 14-December 14, 2014, with the press performance on Friday, November 21, 2014 at 7:30pm, at Victory Gardens Theatre, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

Portland Shakespeare Project (PSP) announces Lisa Harrow will direct the summer mainstage production of Twelfth Night, along with an expanded 2015 season. The company's fifth season will include three additional shows in 2015. On March 9, PSP will hold a fundraising performance featuring Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Robin Nordli's one-person show Virgins to Villains. In repertory with Twelfth Night, a yet-to-be announced staged reading will accompany the mainstage summer production. In October, PSP will present Jeffrey Hatcher's adaptation of Henry James's The Turn of the Screw, October 15 through November 1.Tickets for all four shows will go on sale January 5, 2015.

The Old Globe today announced that James Vasquez (Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas!, Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show) will direct the final show of its 2014-2015 Season, the West Coast premiere of an exciting new American play, Rich Girl, by acclaimed playwright Victoria Stewart. Rich Girl will play May 23 - June 21, 2015.

THE HEIRESS, Ruth and Augustus Goetz's 1947 adaptation of Henry James' WASHINGTON SQUARE and currently occupying the Lohrey Stage at Theatre Memphis, has had a long and steady run on stages throughout the world - and why not? Tightly corseted, polite to a fault, and observing proprieties, this intelligently written script captures the essence of the James source material without the convoluted, complex sentences that, alas, repel many readers. As tautly drawn as the material on one of the samplers for which its heroine is noted, when one of the characters punctuates the prevailing politeness with a barbed or telling line of dialogue, it's as if a sharp and jagged blade suddenly ripped through the fabric of the needlework itself. All this play needs for a successful run is a handsome set, period costumes - and four or five gifted players.

Concord, Mass.

Pippa White will be performing 'Voices From the Resistance' on 10/27 and 'Voices from Ellis Island: on 10/30 at the United Solo Theatre Festival in New York City. We had the opportunity to interview White before her two shows.

The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago presents a preview showing of Osiris and Isis, a new evening-length story-ballet choreographed by Chicagoan Ron De Jesus and performed by his namesake company, Ron De Jesus Dance, inspired by the ancient Egyptian myth of Osiris, the god who was murdered by his brother, Seth, and resurrected by his loving wife, Isis. The preview is presented one night only in the Yelda Khorsabad Court of the Oriental Institute, 1155 E. 58th Street in Hyde Park, tonight, October 17 at 7 pm.

Continuing its 40th Anniversary Season, Victory Gardens Theater announces the Midwest Premiere of The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin, directed by Dennis Za?ek and featuring Linda Reiter. The Testament of Mary runs November 14-December 14, 2014, with the press performance on Friday, November 21, 2014 at 7:30pm, at Victory Gardens Theatre, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.