Jon Robin Baitz News

Clague Playhouse begins 2019 with a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Other Desert Cities.  Brook Wyeth returns home to Palm Springs after a six-year absence and announces that she is about to publish a memoir, dredging up a family tragedy from the past. The family, shaken by the news, tries to appeal to Brook, but the writer has drawn a line in the sand.  Note: Contains adult language.

Just last night, New York Stage and Film held its annual Winter Gala, featuring performances and appearances by Tony Award nominee and Pulitzer Prize finalist Jon Robin Baitz, Tony Award nominee Santino Fontana, David Forman, Tony Award winner John Gallagher Jr, Grammy Award nominee Rob Hyman, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Screen Actors Guild Award nominee Mozhan Marno, Bonnie Milligan, Manu Narayan, Josh Radnor, Dee Roscioli, Academy Award and Tony Award winner John Patrick Shanley, Grammy Award and Tony Award winner Duncan Sheik, and Obie Award winner Lucy Thurber. Brian Usifer served as Musical Director.

New York Stage and Film is thrilled to announce that its annual Winter Gala will feature performances and appearances by Tony Award nominee and Pulitzer Prize finalist Jon Robin Baitz, Tony Award nominee Santino Fontana, David Forman, Tony Award winner John Gallagher Jr, Grammy Award nominee Rob Hyman, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Screen Actors Guild Award nominee Mozhan Marno, Bonnie Milligan, Manu Narayan, Josh Radnor, Dee Roscioli, Academy Award  and Tony Award winner John Patrick Shanley, Grammy Award and Tony Award winner Duncan Sheik, and Obie Award  winner Lucy Thurber. Brian Usifer serves as Musical Director.

Meghan Lantzy will become the new General Manager at Signature Theatre (Paige Evans, Artistic Director; Harold Wolpert, Executive Director; James Houghton, Founder), the company announced today. Ms. Lantzy comes to Signature from Lincoln Center Theater, where she has worked for more than 12 years.  

THE ROAD THEATRE COMPANY and Taylor Gilbert, Founder/Artistic Director together with Sam Anderson, Artistic Director, present the second show of its 2018-2019 season, the world premiere of DEATH HOUSE, written by Jason Karasev and directed by Michael Peretzian. DEATH HOUSE will preview on Tuesday, January 15 at 8pm; Wednesday, January 16 at 8pm & Thursday, January 17 at 8pm and will open on Friday, January 18 at 8pm and run through Sunday, March 10 at the Road Theatre on Lankershim, 5108 Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood.

New York Stage and Film is thrilled to announce that its annual Winter Gala will honor playwright and Emmy award-winning actress Patricia Wettig (F2M, 'Brothers and Sisters,' 'thirtysomething') and Executive Producer/director/actor Ken Olin ('This Is Us,' 'Alias,' 'Brothers & Sisters,' 'thirtysomething'), and, in recognition for her years of dedication to New York Stage and Film, Artistic Director Johanna Pfaelzer, who is stepping down from her post at the end of the 2019 Powerhouse Summer Season.

Chatham Community Players Presents 'Other Desert Cities' written by Jon Robin Baitz.

In his third-floor dressing room at the Barrymore Theater, Ari'el Stachel harbors a priceless little trinket: his brand-new Tony Award for Featured Actor in a Musical.

Well-ensconced on the UCLA campus, Los Angeles Theatre Works presents audio theatre, or as pre-millennials call it 'radio drama,' a throwback technique of decades-old entertainment enhanced by current day technology. I had the chance to delve into the inner workings of LATW from one of the co-founders herself, Susan Albert Loewenberg.

In news recently reported, the 2018-2019 season will be Zeitgeist Stage Company's last, after seventeen years of notable productions as an acclaimed stalwart of the Boston fringe theater scene. Artistic Director David J. Miller has never shied away from plays that deal with controversial or highly charged political subject matter, and he is not about to change now. For his penultimate production, Miller directs the New England premiere of Jon Robin Baitz's VICUÑA, a searing takedown of the current administration and its take-no-prisoners march from the nomination to the election.

Dael Orlandersmith, "an intense poet, writer and intellectual" (Chicago Tribune), brings her newest work, Lady in Denmark, to the Owen Theatre. Reuniting with director Chay Yew (Black n Blue Boys/Broken Men, 2012), Orlandersmith's world premiere production is a reflection on love and adversity starring stage and screen actress Linda Gehringer in a 90-minute solo performance. Helene (Gehringer) is a Danish American woman coping with the death of her husband who finds solace in the hauntingly beautiful music of their favorite singer, Billie Holiday. This is her journey through the couple's time together-from the smoky jazz clubs of post-war Copenhagen to the home they shared in present-day Chicago. Lady in Denmark is one of five world premieres this season, all originally developed as a part of the Goodman's New Stages Festival. The creative team includes Andrew Boyce (set), Christine Pascual (costumes), Lee Fiskness (lighting) and Mikhail Fiksel (original music and sound). Donald E. Claxon is the Production Stage Manager. Lady in Denmark appears October 19 - November 18, 2018 (opening night is October 29 at 7pm) in the Goodman's Owen Theatre (170 N. Dearborn); tickets ($15-45; subject to change) go on sale Friday, August 31, by telephone 312.443.3800 or online GoodmanTheatre.org/LadyInDenmark.

After serving as Artistic Director of the company since 2008, Christine Louise Marshall is stepping down from the position before the 2018-19 season.

After serving as Artistic Director of the company since 2008, Christine Louise Marshall is stepping down from the position before the 2018-19 season.

Clague Playhouse is pleased to announce its 2018-2019 season.  Our 91st season will open with the comedy/mystery, 'The Murder Room' by Jack Sharkey and directed by Ron Newell.  The play runs September 14 - October 7, 2018.  Our Holiday show will be 'Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!)' by John K. Alvarez, Michael Carleton and James FitzGerald and directed by Rob Gibb from November 9 - December 9, 2018.  

Last week, Cherry Creek Theatre (CCT) announced its 2019 season which will be helmed by a slate of all-female directors.

The Sherman Playhouse will be performing Other Desert Cities by Jon Robin Baitzstarting July 6. The plot revolves around a daughter that returns home for Christmas for the first time in years, bearing the manuscript of a memoir, which reveals a devastating episode in the life of her wealthy Republican family. The events, years in the past, emotionally ravaged the daughter; disturbed the upbringing of the younger son, a child when the events happened; opened a schism between the mother and her sister; and shattered the orderly lives of the parents, causing their ostracism from an intimate circle of friends, which included President and Mrs. Reagan. The play is powerful, passionate and superbly crafted.

The Sherman Playhouse will be performing Other Desert Cities by Jon Robin Baitz starting July 6.  The plot revolves around a daughter that returns home for Christmas for the first time in years, bearing the manuscript of a memoir, which reveals a devastating episode in the life of her wealthy Republican family. The events, years in the past, emotionally ravaged the daughter; disturbed the upbringing of the younger son, a child when the events happened; opened a schism between the mother and her sister; and shattered the orderly lives of the parents, causing their ostracism from an intimate circle of friends, which included President and Mrs. Reagan.  The play is powerful, passionate and superbly crafted.

Acclaimed singer/actress Gina Gershon makes her Cafe Carlyle debut with Wild Women Don't Get the Blues, June 5-16. Gina Gershon has enjoyed a successful and diverse career in entertainment, earning acclaim as a film, television and stage actor, as a singer/songwriter/musician and most recently as an author. Gershon's prolific film career began when she landed her first speaking role with a memorable turn in John Hughes' box office hit Pretty in Pink. Some of her previous roles in film include Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls, the Wachowskis' Bound, Red Heat opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cocktail opposite Tom Cruise, John Sayles's City of Hope, Robert Altman's The Player, the John Woo blockbuster Face/Off opposite John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, and Michael Mann's Oscar-nominated The Insider opposite Al Pacino and Christopher Plummer. Gershon was also in Richard LaGravenese's P.S. I Love You and Taylor Hackford's Love Ranch opposite Helen Mirren. At the Cafe, she'll be joined by an all-star band including Steven Bernstein (trumpet), Eli Brueggemann (piano), Brad Jones (bass), and Jerome Jennings (drums).

Previews begin this Friday, June 1 for the Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) world premiere production of LOG CABIN, a new play by Pulitzer Prize finalist Jordan Harrison (Marjorie Prime, Maple and Vine, Doris to Darlene at Playwrights; "Orange Is the New Black").  Directed by Tony Award and Obie Award winner Pam MacKinnon (Clybourne Park, The Qualms at Playwrights; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Parisian Woman), LOG CABIN is the sixth and final production of the theater company's current 2017/2018 Season.  

Uma Thurman has joined the cast of upcoming Netflix scripted, one-hour supernatural drama CHAMBERS. Thurman plays NANCY, the mother of a heart donor who forges a hesitant relationship with the young recipient only to find out her daughter may not be as dead as she thought.