Jo Bonney News

The New Group has announced that Brooks Ashmanskas, Vincent D'Onofrio and Zoe Kazan have joined the cast of Clive, up next in the company's 2012-2013 season. Written by Jonathan Marc Sherman and directed by and featuring Ethan Hawke in the title role, Clive begins a limited Off-Broadway engagement on January 17, 2013. Official Opening Night is set for Thursday, February 7 at 7:00pm. This production is slated through March 9 at The New Group at Theatre Row (The Acorn Theatre / 410 West 42nd Street).

Emotional Creature, the new play written by Tony Award®-winning playwright, performer, activist, and The Vagina Monologues author Eve Ensler, gets a New York premiere this fall. Directed by Obie Award-winner Jo Bonney (By the Way, Meet Vera Stark) with original music and musical direction by Charl-Johan Lingenfelder, Emotional Creature opened on last night, November 12, direct from an acclaimed World Premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California. BroadwayWorld was there for the opening and we bring you coverage below!

On Sunday, November 11 at 6:00pm, The New Group offers the first presentation in this season's continuing series Dark Nights at The New Group: "WOMEN in 3-D: Creating Complex, Sexual Female Characters" with playwrights Francine Volpe, Julia Jordan and Marsha Norman.

Producers Carole Black and Pat Mitchell present EMOTIONAL CREATURE, the new play written by Tony Award®-winning playwright, performer, activist, and The Vagina Monologues author Eve Ensler, will get a New York premiere this fall. Directed by Obie Award-winner Jo Bonney (By the Way, Meet Vera Stark) with original music and musical direction by Charl-Johan Lingenfelder, Emotional Creature will open on Monday, November 12, 2012, direct from an acclaimed World Premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California.

The Open Fist Theatre Company is thrilled to present FOOTE NOTES, written by Horton Foote and directed by Scott Paulin whose previous directorial Foote offerings have been critically-acclaimed (Harrison, Texas, The Roads to Home, Getteng Frankie Married…and Afterwards). Mr. Paulin's previous collection of one-acts Harrison, TX just closed a sold-out run in New York. FOOTE NOTES, will preview today, November 2, at 8pm; Saturday, November 3 at 8pm and Thursday, November 8 at 8pm and will open today, November 9 at 8pm and runs through Saturday, December 15 at the Open Fist Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood.

The Open Fist Theatre Company is thrilled to present FOOTE NOTES, written by Horton Foote and directed by Scott Paulin whose previous directorial Foote offerings have been critically-acclaimed (Harrison, Texas, The Roads to Home, Getteng Frankie Married…and Afterwards). Mr. Paulin's previous collection of one-acts Harrison, TX just closed a sold-out run in New York. FOOTE NOTES, will preview on Friday, November 2, at 8pm; Saturday, November 3 at 8pm and Thursday, November 8 at 8pm and will open on Friday, November 9 at 8pm and runs through Saturday, December 15 at the Open Fist Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood.

On Friday night, Rosario Dawson hosted a special talkback with girls from the Lower East Side Girls Club, immediately following the first preview performance of Eve Ensler's Emotional Creature. Following the talkback, Dawson, Ensler and director Jo Bonney posed for photos with the six-member cast. BroadwayWorld brings you photos from the event below!

Producers Carole Black and Pat Mitchell present EMOTIONAL CREATURE, the new play written by Tony Award®-winning playwright, performer, activist, and The Vagina Monologues author Eve Ensler, will get a New York premiere this fall. Directed by Obie Award-winner Jo Bonney (By the Way, Meet Vera Stark) with original music and musical direction by Charl-Johan Lingenfelder, Emotional Creature will begin previews at The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street) on Friday, October 26, 2012 with an official opening night set for Monday, November 12, 2012, direct from an acclaimed World Premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California. The cast and creative team just met the press and you can check out complete photo coverage below!

"The reason I wrote Emotional Creature was to honor people like Malala Yousufzai - a fearless young activist who is an inspiration to teen girls the world over. We cannot begin this process without keeping her in our thoughts. Today's first rehearsal is dedicated to her bravery, her cause, and what I hope is her speedy recovery."

Toward the end of the second act of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage's By The Way, Meet Vera Stark, a character shouts, "It's not what's said, it's what's not said!" This could be a tagline to describe the show, which is light and funny in its first act, and far more serious in the second, when film is utilized to tell more of the life of Vera Stark and dark questions are raised and not always answered.

Stage and screen star Sanaa Lathan (A Raisin in the Sun, Contagion) returns to the title role in Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage's By the Way, Meet Vera Stark for its West Coast premiere at the Geffen Playhouse. Lathan, who originated the character of Vera Stark in the critically acclaimed New York run, once again takes the stage as the 1930's era maid turned movie star, reunited with original cast member Kimberly Hebert Gregory (Spike Lee's Red Hook Summer) reprising her role as fellow aspiring African American actress Lottie. By the Way, Meet Vera Stark opened at the Gil Cates Theater at the Geffen Playhouse on September 26, 2012. Check out photos of the stars at opening night below!

MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) begins previews today for the world premiere production of Don't Go Gentle by Stephen Belber and directed by Lucie Tiberghien, who also directed Belber's play Geometry of Fire at the Rattlestick Theater.

Yale Rep (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) opens its 2012-13 season with AMERICAN NIGHT: THE BALLAD OF JUAN JOSÉ, written by Richard Montoya, developed by Culture Clash and Jo Bonney, and directed by Shana Cooper. AMERICAN NIGHT will play now through October 13 at the University Theatre (222 York Street). Opening Night is tonight, September 27.

Stage and screen star Sanaa Lathan (A Raisin in the Sun, Contagion) returns to the title role in Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage's By the Way, Meet Vera Stark for its West Coast premiere at the Geffen Playhouse. Lathan, who originated the character of Vera Stark in the critically acclaimed New York run, will once again take the stage as the 1930's era maid turned movie star, reunited with original cast member Kimberly Hebert Gregory (Spike Lee's Red Hook Summer) reprising her role as fellow aspiring African American actress Lottie. Get a first look at the stars onstage below!

As the country prepares for the 2012 presidential election, Texas Performing Arts welcomes one of America's premiere artists, Laurie Anderson, performing her intimate but volatile piece, Dirtday! Anderson looks at politics, theories of evolution, families, history, and animals in this riotous and soulful collection of songs and stories. As Anderson says, "Politicians are essentially story tellers. They describe the world as it is and also as they think it should be. As a fellow story teller, it seems like a really good time to think about how words can literally create the world."

The New Group will present the first production in its 2012-2013 season, the world premiere of The Good Mother, a new play by Francine Volpe. Directed by Scott Elliott, this production features Darren Goldstein, Gretchen Mol, Alfredo Narciso, Eric Nelsen and Bill Sage. Previews begin October 29 in advance of an Official Opening Night on Thursday, November 15 at 7:00pm. A limited Off-Broadway engagement is slated through December 22 at The New Group @ Theatre Row (The Acorn Theatre / 410 West 42nd Street / Acorn Theatre).

Yale Rep (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) opens its 2012-13 season with AMERICAN NIGHT: THE BALLAD OF JUAN JOSÉ, written by Richard Montoya, developed by Culture Clash and Jo Bonney, and directed by Shana Cooper. AMERICAN NIGHT will play September 21-October 13 at the University Theatre (222 York Street). Opening Night is Thursday, September 27.

MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) today announced that individual tickets have gone on-sale for the first show of its 2012-13 season: the world premiere of Stephen Belber's Don't Go Gentle. Performances take place at The Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street) and tickets go on sale at 11AM today Thursday, August 23rd at www.mcctheater.org or by calling (212) 352-3101.

Today, August 20th, Tony Award winner and playwright, performer, feminist and activist Eve Ensler wrote an open letter on the Huffington Post's website in response to Representative Todd Akin. The Republican Senate nominee from Missouri recently stated that in a 'legitimate rape' a woman's body will block an unwanted pregnancy.