Leigh Silverman News

Ars Nova kicks off 2014 with Game Play, this year's incarnation of Ars Nova's annual Play Group production. An evening of original short plays and live music inspired by classic board game titles, Game Play features Peter Benson, Marcia DeBonis, Dashiell Eaves, Brandon Gill, Ben Graney, Susan Heyward, Jessica Love and Carmen Zilles. This production plays 10 performances, January 29 - February 8.

Tickets are now on sale for Roundabout Theatre Company's production of VIOLET, starring two-time Tony Award winner Sutton Foster and directed by Leigh Silverman. To buy tickets, learn more information about VIOLET, and become a Roundabout subscriber, please visit roundabouttheatre.org.

Ars Nova has announced this year's New Year's Eve Spectacular, the grand finale to its 10th Anniversary year.

For the past week, BroadwayWorld has been counting down the final days of 2013 with video tributes to our 13 favorite musical moments of this year. Now that the ball has dropped and 2014 has officially arrived, we shift gears and look ahead to what is to come in 2014. Below, we count-up to the 14 theatrical events of 2014 that we are most excited for!

Playwrights Horizons has announced additional casting for its current 2013/2014 Season. The announcement includes final casting for the New York premiere of STAGE KISS, a new play by two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl (Dead Man's Cell Phone at PH; The Clean House, In the Next Room...), directed by Rebecca Taichman (Milk Like Sugar at PH; Marie Antoinette, Orlando, The Scene, Luck of the Irish) and complete casting for the World Premiere of YOUR MOTHER'S COPY OF THE KAMA SUTRA, a new play by Kirk Lynn (Founder, Rude Mechanicals, Austin), directed by Obie Award winner Anne Kauffman (Detroit, Maple and Vine at PH; Belleville, The Thugs).

Composer Jeanine Tesori just revealed in an interview with Variety that the upcoming Broadway production will be the one-act, 'retooled and trimmed' version that was presented at Encores in summer 2013. The changes made for that presentation will be 'retained and honed.'

Roundabout Theatre Company's production of Machinal, starring Rebecca Hall, written by Sophie Treadwell and directed by Lyndsey Turner, begins previews tomorrow, Friday, December 20 at 8:00PM.

Ars Nova kicks off 2014 with Game Play, this year's incarnation of Ars Nova's annual Play Group production. Game Play, set to play 10 performances from January 29 - February 8, features original short plays and live music inspired by classic board game titles.

Tickets are now on sale for the World Premiere of David Henry Hwang's new play KUNG FU, directed by Leigh Silverman. The production runs February 4 through March 16, 2014 with aFebruary 24, 2014 opening night in The Irene Diamond Stage at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues). All tickets for the initial run of the production are $25 as part of the Signature Ticket Initiative: A Generation of Access. In the video below, Cole gets into character during a photo shoot for the show!

Page 73 Productions - the Off-Broadway company dedicated to producing and developing works by early-career playwrights -- has announced the eight finalists for the 2014 P73 Playwriting Fellowship.

Playwrights Horizons presents the World Premiere production of THE (curious case of the) WATSON INTELLIGENCE, a new play by Madeleine George (The Zero Hour). Directed by two-time Obie Award winner Leigh Silverman (Go Back to Where You Are, Blue Door and The Call at PH; The Madrid, Chinglish, Golden Child, Well), the production celebrated its opening last night, December 9 at 7PM . It will play a limited engagement through Sunday evening, December 29 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street). BroadwayWorld was there for opening night and you can check out photos below!

Madeleine George's century-jumping play has John Ellison Conlee playing a multitude of Watsons.

Celebrate this holiday season with the cast of Bad Jews! Roundabout Theatre Company's (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) production of Bad Jews, by Joshua Harmon, will conclude its limited engagement on Sunday, December 29 at 2:00PM. Bad Jewsis directed by Daniel Aukin and features Tracee Chimo, Philip Ettinger, Molly Ranson and Michael Zegen.

Drawing from actual emails, chat transcripts, and text messages, We Were Nothing! is an intimate site-specific theater experience about two childhood friends staying connected and losing touch.

Williamstown Theatre Festival has named Mandy Greenfield as its new Artistic Director, the Festival's Board Chair Matt Harris announced today. Greenfield, who is currently Artistic Producer at Manhattan Theatre Club, succeeds Jenny Gersten beginning September 2014. As previously announced, Gersten departs Williamstown Theatre Festival in January 2014 to become Executive Director of Friends of the Highline. Gersten will program the upcoming 2014 season, and Williamstown Theatre Festival Producer Stephen Kaus will oversee the season. Greenfield's tenure as Artistic Director will begin immediately following the 2014 season, the Festival's 60th.

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, stage and screen actorChristopher Evan Welch passed away on December 2, 2013 in Los Angeles. He was 48. Below, we tribute the actor with photos from some of his recent stage appearances.

Signature Theatre announced today that tickets are now on sale for the world premiere of David Henry Hwang's new play KUNG FU, directed by Leigh Silverman. The production runs February 4 through March 16, 2014 with a February 24, 2014 opening night in The Irene Diamond Stage at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues). All tickets for the initial run of the production are $25 as part of the Signature Ticket Initiative: A Generation of Access. Check out promo shots for the production below!

Signature Theatre has announced that tickets are now on sale for the world premiere of David Henry Hwang's new play KUNG FU, directed by Leigh Silverman. The production runs February 4 through March 16, 2014 with a February 24, 2014 opening night in The Irene Diamond Stage at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues). All tickets for the initial run of the production are $25 as part of the Signature Ticket Initiative: A Generation of Access.

Ars Nova announces its December lineup which will feature new work from 2013 Artists-in-Residence and a climactic New Year's Eve fundraiser event to close out its 10th Anniversary Season. All shows are at 8pm unless otherwise noted. Details below!

The National Theatre Conference (NTC), an organization founded in 1925 that meets annually in New York to discuss relevant issues in today's theatre community and to celebrate outstanding achievement in the American theatre, has named the recipients of its 2013 awards. Playwright Lynn Nottage has been named Person of the Year; the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, under the artistic direction of Bill Rauch, is the recipient of the Theatre of the Year Award; and playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury has been selected as the winner of the Barrie and Bernice Stavis Playwright Award. All three will be honored and presented with their awards and hold discussions with the membership at The Players club during NTC's annual meeting in New York, December 6-8, 2013.