Jack Heifner News

The Bret Adams and Paul Reisch Foundation present the 2019 Idea Awards for Theatre.

a??a??a??a??a??a??a??The Bret Adams and Paul Reisch Foundation is pleased to announce the recipients of their 2019 Idea Awards for Theatre; three grants awarded to adventurous new voices in playwriting and musical theatre, as well the visionary playwrights who have inspired and blazed trails before them.

'Vanities' traces the lives of three Texas high school cheerleaders, as their personalities diverge in five-year increments, ending in 1974.

Imagination Theater is pleased to announce Vanities written by Jack Heifner and directed by Alisyn Gularte. A play about women, directed by women. Vanities is a fast-moving comedy in three scenes chronicling the lives of three women from the 1960's through the 1970's. We see them grow and develop in high school, then as sorority sisters in college, and lastly as adults. As the times change drastically, so does their friendship, but wil it stand the test of time?

Directed by Joe Mantello and produced by Ryan Murphy and David Stone, The Boys in the Band will play a strictly limited 15-week Broadway engagement at the Booth Theatre, beginning previews today, April 30. Get to know the cast below as they begin Broadway performances!

The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles (SCLA), under the artistic direction of Ben Donenberg, returns to The Japanese Garden on the West Los Angeles VA Campus with a new production - 'Henry IV' - condensing two of Shakespeare's plays and staged by Tony Award winning director Daniel Sullivan.  The world-class acting company includes Tom Hanks as Falstaff and Rita Wilson; with additional cast members to be announced shortly, as confirmed.  Tom Ware is the executive producer.

Producers Ryan Murphy and David Stone have announced that Charlie Carver ('The Leftovers,' 'Teen Wolf') will complete the cast of the 50th Anniversary production of Mart Crowley's groundbreaking play, The Boys in the Band. Carver will play the role of Cowboy.

Sometimes the words we speak become a secret code for what we really feel. Shortly before an audition for her first professional Shakespeare play, gifted and entitled young actor Anna arrives in a college rehearsal hall expecting help from brilliant, bitter acting instructor Curt. When their work together leads to professional success but personal misery, they must decide whether or not to break their Shakespeare code and uncover how they really feel about each other.

Adapted from Jack Heifner's 1970s stage play, Vanities the Musical makes its London debut at the intimate Trafalgar Studios. Joanne, Kathy and Mary, the musical play's only characters, tell an all-American story audiences world-over will be familiar with, though in a bold new way, as three high school friends face the painful realities of adulthood.

Lauren Samuels (Bend it Like Beckham, BBC's Over the Rainbow, Grease), Ashleigh Gray (Wicked, Cool Rider) and Lizzy Connolly (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Xanadu) star in the European debut of VANITIES, a classic American story. This brand new production features never before seen material with all new direction and choreography from Racky Plews (Footloose, American Idiot), and has its press night at Trafalgar Studios tonight. It plays until 1 October.

This Autumn, Lauren Samuels (Bend it Like Beckham, BBC's Over the Rainbow, Grease), Ashleigh Gray (Wicked, Cool Rider) and Lizzy Connolly (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Xanadu) star in the European debut of Vanities, a classic American story. This brand new production features never before seen material with all new direction and choreography from Racky Plews (Footloose, American Idiot).

This Autumn, Lauren Samuels (Bend it Like Beckham, BBC's Over the Rainbow, Grease), Ashleigh Gray (Wicked, Cool Rider) and Lizzy Connolly (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Xanadu) star in the European debut of Vanities, a classic American story. This brand new production features never before seen material with all new direction and choreography from Racky Plews (Footloose, American Idiot).

NORMAN TWAIN, 85, a prominent theatrical producer in New York and California in the 1960's and 1970's who later became a successful and award-winning film producer, died Saturday morning, August 6th, after a brief illness.

Bergen County Players, the New Jersey Association of Community Theater's "2015 Community Theater of the Year", is proud to announce its 84th consecutive season, running from September 2016 to June 2017. From an entertaining musical to hilarious comedies to intense dramas, BCP has garnered a reputation for outstanding quality productions at affordable prices. As audiences have been anxiously anticipating, the new season kicks off with the Tony Award winning musical, Cabaret. Donors who make a tax-deductible contribution of $85 now have early access for tickets to Cabaret and the rest of the 2016-17 season by ordering online at www.bcplayers.org. Ticket sales to non-donors will begin on August 10th via online or by phone at 201-261-4200. The box office, located at the Little Firehouse Theatre, 298 Kinderkamack Road in Oradell, NJ, will then open on Thursday, August 18th for walk up and phone sales. Special discounts for groups of 20 or more are also available by calling the box office number (extension 6) or by emailing groups@bcplayers.org.

This Autumn, Lauren Samuels (Bend it Like Beckham, BBC's Over the Rainbow, Grease), Ashleigh Gray (Wicked, Cool Rider) and Lizzy Connolly (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Xanadu) star in the European debut of Vanities, a classic American story. This brand new production features never before seen material with all new direction and choreography from Racky Plews (Footloose, American Idiot).

When a husband and wife don't communicate, they sometimes end up finding out surprising - even shocking - things about one other. That's the premise of The Problem by AR Gurney, one of the plays featured in Town Players' HOT AUGUST NIGHTS - ONE ACTS, running tonight, July 31 - August 8.

When a husband and wife don't communicate, they sometimes end up finding out surprising - even shocking - things about one other. That's the premise of The Problem by AR Gurney, one of the plays featured in Town Players' HOT AUGUST NIGHTS - ONE ACTS, running July 31 - August 8.

Pompoms, popularity, sorority life and a mid-life crisis are just the tip of the iceberg in VANITIES, the musical. VANITIES, a play by Jack Heifner, opened Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in New York in 1976. The cast included Kathy Bates as Joanne, Jane Galloway as Kathy and Susan Merson as Mary. In 1981, the play was taped and televised on HBO starring Annette O'Toole, Meredith Baxter Birney and Shelley Hack. Needless to say, this script is powerful. The musical was adapted by Jack Heifner with music and lyrics by David Kirshenbaum. When a popular play is transformed into a musical, I am doubtful, but this musical had its moments.