Jay Presson Allen News

Palm Beach Dramaworks presents Tru by Jay Presson Allen, opening December 2 at the Don & Ann Brown Theatre.

Audiences first became aware of Jaston Williams as half of the citizens of Tuna, Texas with the debut of Greater Tuna in 1982. The saga continued with A Tuna Christmas, Red, White and Tuna and Tuna Does Vegas. The plays have been performed on and off Broadway at the Kennedy Center, the Edinburgh International Arts Festival, the Spoleto Festival U.S.A. and all over America. He has received Washington DC's Helen Hayes Award nominations for A Tuna Christmas and Red, White and Tuna as well as the San Francisco Bay Area Critics Award for Greater Tuna. He also received the L.A. Dramalogue Award for both Greater Tuna and A Tuna Christmas. A Tuna Christmas was published in 'Best Plays of 1995.' For several years, Jaston toured in Larry Shue's The Foreigner, for which he received a Helen Hayes Award nomination for Best Actor. He performed in The Fantasticks at Washington DC's Ford's Theatre and directed the musical Bad Girls Upset By The Truth at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre. A recipient of the Texas Governors Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts by a Native Texan he performed at the White House on three occasions. His hometown of Austin, Texas has seen him perform at the State Theatre in Eugene Ionesco's The Chairs and at Zachary Scott Theatre in Jay Presson Allen's Tru, for which he received the Austin Critics Table Award for Best Actor in a drama. He has appeared at Zach Theatre in The Laramie Project and next month is joining their production of A Christmas Carol as Scrooge. His play, Romeo and Thorazine, work-shopped at Zach in November 2001. He work-shopped his autobiographical one-man show I'm Not Lying to critical acclaim at the State Theatre and returned it there for a full production in February of 2004 as well as a benefit performance at Washington DC's Kennedy Center. His autobiographical play Cowboy Noises premiered in Austin in February 2008 to critical acclaim. Broadway World recently sat down with Jaston for a Q & A session during the run of his latest play A WOLVERINE WALKS INTO A BAR.

Palm Beach Dramaworks presents Tru by Jay Presson Allen, opening December 2 at the Don & Ann Brown Theatre.

Palm Beach Dramaworks has announced that multi Tony Award-winners Tony Walton, Fran Weissler, and Sheldon Harnick will appear live, onstage as part of its popular series, Dramalogue - Talking Theatre! This series of six programs, which explores all aspects of theatre in conversations with or about the industry's top professionals and master artists, will also feature presentations on Truman Capote and Tom Stoppard, and a roundtable discussion with three theatre critics.

Education, education, education - it's an inescapable topic in theatre. Recent years have seen Future Conditional (kicking off Matthew Warchus's Old Vic tenure), Matilda the Musical, The Brink, Kin, Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, and, of course, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. To celebrate back to school week, here are 10 of the best plays set in school. Get studying!

Though he gained worldwide fame as the author of 'In Cold Blood' and 'Breakfast at Tiffany's,' you didn't have to be an avid reader to immediately recognize Truman Capote.

Chambers channels Capote and gives an incredibly strong performance.

Bells are ringing, children singing, all is merry and the suicide rate is off the charts in Truman Capote's private holiday nightmare

During pre-Broadway tryouts, the talented performer sang an adaptation of Dr. Seuss' plea for the environment.

Pittsburgh Public Theater presents Broadway actor Eddie Korbich as Truman Capote in TRU, a one-man play by Jay Presson Allen based on Capote's words and works. Directed by The Public's Producing Artistic Director Ted Pappas, TRU runs April 21 - May 22, 2016 at the O'Reilly Theater, Pittsburgh Public Theater's home in the heart of Downtown's Cultural District. For tickets call 412.316.1600 or visit ppt.org.

Five provocative, widely acclaimed plays constitute Palm Beach Dramaworks' 2016-2017 season, which gets underway at the Don & Ann Brown Theatre on Friday evening, October 14 with Tennessee Williams' final masterpiece, the autumnal The Night of the Iguana(1961).

MadKap Productions will present BEAU JEST by local playwright James Sherman, for ten performances at the Skokie Theatre, 7924 Lincoln Ave in Skokie, February 5 - 21, 2016.

MadKap Productions will present BEAU JEST by local playwright James Sherman, for ten performances at the Skokie Theatre, 7924 Lincoln Ave in Skokie, February 5 - 21, 2016.

MadKap Productions will present THE LION IN WINTER by Highland Park native James Goldman, for ten performances at the Skokie Theatre, 7924 Lincoln Ave in Skokie, running now through November 22, 2015.

Though notable author Truman Capote passed away in 1984, he vividly comes to life in Jay Presson Allen's one-man show TRU. Actor Michael-Anthony Nozzi will return to the stage at Washington County Playhouse in Hagerstown, MD and portray Capote in this electric one-man show for a one-night only performance on July 23.

When TRU premiered on Broadway, Robert Morse won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show for his tour-de-force portrayal of Truman Capote. For his performance in the 1992 American Playhouse presentation of TRU, Morse won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie. As a way to pay it forward, Morse has directed his friend Michael-Anthony Nozzi in TRU presented by Chromolume Theatre and produced by Mike Abramson during this year's Hollywood Fringe Festival. Nozzi gives his own tour-de-force performance as the lonely writer and iconic 70's bon vivant sweetheart.

When TRU premiered on Broadway, Robert Morse won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show for his tour-de-force portrayal of Truman Capote. For his performance in the 1992 American Playhouse presentation of TRU, Morse won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie. As a way to pay it forward, Morse is acting as the Creative Consultant for the all-new run of TRU at the Primitive Stage in Woodland Hills starring Michael-Anthony Nozzi who gives his own tour-de-force performance as the lonely writer.

Different Stages opens its 2014-2015 season with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Jay Presson Allen.

THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE is a 1961 novel by Muriel Spark and a 1966 stage play, based on the novel, by Jay Presson Allen that was turned into a film in 1968. Miss Brodie, a teacher at the Marcia Blaine School for Girls in Edinburgh, states her motto: 'I am in the business of putting old heads on young shoulders, and all my pupils are the creme de la creme. Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life.' Jean Brodie stands as one of theater's most charismatic warpers of young minds; a self-deluded Scottish schoolteacher and a passionate advocate of questionable causes (like Fascism) deemed by most to be subjects unsuitable for children in the 1930's. The story is part of a long line of books and movies about forward-thinking and eccentric teachers who have a great deal of influence on their students. Set against the backdrop of fascism and the Spanish Civil War, the story is told through a series of flashbacks.