Lucille Lortel News

This just in! Leslie Odom Jr. ("Smash") will join Lin-Manuel Miranda and Karen Olivo in the New York City Center Encores! Off-Center production of Jonathan Larson¹stick, tick… BOOM!, running for five performances, June 25 ­ 28. The opening show of City Center's acclaimed Encores! Off-Center series of landmark Off-Broadway musicals will be directed byOliver Butler with choreography by Camille A. Brown and music direction by Chris Fenwick. Jeanine Tesori is Encores! Off-Center Artistic Director.

Red-Eye to Havre de Grace began performances on April 22 and opens tonight, April 30, 2014 at New York Theatre Workshop, 79 East 4 Street, between Second Avenue and Bowery.

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd announces the cast and creative team for recent Tony Award-winning comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Appearing in titles roles are Resident Actor Jeffrey Bean as Vanya, Sharon Lockwood returning to the Alley as Sonia, Alley Artist Josie de Guzman returning as Masha, and Resident Actor Jay Sullivan as Spike. Rounding out the cast and making their Alley debuts are Rachael Holmes as Cassandra and Sarah Nealis as Nina. Jonathan Moscone, Artistic Director of California Shakespeare Theater, helms the production and returns after having directed the Alley's 2011 production of Amadeus.

Off-Broadway's award-winning Irish Repertory Theatre presents its final production of its 2013-2014 Season, a revival of Gardner McKay's SEA MARKS, directed by Ciaran O'Reilly. The romantic two-hander will star Tony and Drama Desk Award nominee Xanthe Elbrick (CORAM BOY, Irish Rep's CANDIDA) and Patrick Fitzgerald (Irish Rep's GIBRALTAR). SEA MARKS will be performed now through June 15th on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage of the Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd Street). The Press Opening is Monday, May 5, 2014 at 7PM. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

TOO MUCH SUN - the newest play by Nicky Silver - has been extended two weeks until June 22 at the Vineyard Theatre (108 E. 15 St.), it has been announced by Douglas Aibel, Artistic Director, and Sarah Stern, Co-Artistic Director. With previews starting May 1, Too Much Sun opens May 18.

Atlantic Theater Company has announced full casting for Nancy Harris' play OUR NEW GIRL, directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch. Lisa Joyce, Henry Kelemen and CJ Wilson will join previously-announced Atlantic Theater Company founding member Mary McCann for the US premiere production.

The Tony Awards Administration Committee has announced that it will present the 2014 Regional Theatre Award to New York's Signature Theatre. Each year, the Tony Awards Administration Committee presents a Tony Award to a regional theatre on the recommendation of the American Theatre Critics Association. The 2014 Tony Awards, which are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, will be broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall, on the CBS television network on Sunday, June 8, 2014.

Irish Repertory Theatre (Charlotte Moore, Artistic Director, and Ciaran O'Reilly, Producing Director) announces its Annual Benefit Gala, THE SPECTACULAR SONGS OF LERNER AND LOWE, a one-night-only celebration of one of Broadway's most beloved musical duos, featuring songs from hit shows such as MY FAIR LADY, GIGI, CAMLEOT, PAINT YOUR WAGON, and BRIGADOON performed by a galaxy of Broadway stars. THE SPECTACULAR SONGS OF LERNER AND LOWE, written and directed by Charlotte Moore, will take place on Monday, June 9th at 7 PM at Broadway's Al Hirschfeld Theatre (302 West 45th Street).

The Actors' Gang, the critically acclaimed Los Angeles based ensemble Theatre Company, will be heading overseas bringing William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Academy Award winner Tim Robbins, to international audiences. The production will put on six performances in Beijing, China, June 10th - 15th at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, four performances in Shanghai, China, June 19th - 21st at the Daguan Theatre, Zendai Himalayas Art Center and four to six performances in Italy, June 28th - July 6th at the prestigious Spoleto Festival.

While Barbra Streisand was celebrating her 72nd birthday yesterday, Christopher J. Hanke took to the cellar to wish the greatest star a happy birthday! Following the performance of the smash hit comedy Buyer & Cellar, Hanke started the crowd in a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" and brought out a cake and party hats to celebrate. Check out photos from the celebration below!

The world premiere of 17 Orchard Point, a new play starring Tony Award-winner Michele Pawk, will begin performances tonight, April 25 for a limited four-week Off-Broadway run at The Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues) through May 24. Written by Anton Dudley (Substitution, Getting Home) & Stephanie DiMaggio, and directed by Stella Powell-Jones, 17 Orchard Point will have its official opening night on Sunday, May 4 at 7pm.

The Irish Repertory Theatre continues the eighth season of its Reading Series with John McManus's play The Quare Land, which will be read by Kelly AuCoin (The Call, Julius Caesar) and Peter Maloney (Outside Mullingar, John Guare's Three Kinds of Exile). The reading of The Quare Land will take place today, April 25 at 3pm on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage of the Irish Repertory Theatre (132 W. 22nd Street).

Time Square Arts, in partnership with Allied Partners and Brickman Real Estate, will present Jim Findlay's Dream of the Red Chamber, a performance for a sleeping audience, produced by Collapsable Giraffe and 3-Legged Dog.

Mercury Theater Chicago, 3745 N. Southport Avenue, presents Chicago's home-grown version of the hilarious Broadway musical AVENUE Q, running from tonight, April 24 through June 29, 2014.

The Irish Repertory Theatre continues the eighth season of its Reading Series with John McManus's play The Quare Land, which will be read by Kelly AuCoin (The Call, Julius Caesar) and Peter Maloney (Outside Mullingar, John Guare's Three Kinds of Exile). The reading of The Quare Land will take place on Friday, April 25 at 3pm on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage of the Irish Repertory Theatre (132 W. 22nd Street).

Off-Broadway's award-winning Irish Repertory Theatre closes its 2013-2014 Season with a revival of Gardner McKay's SEA MARKS, directed by Ciaran O'Reilly. The romantic two-hander stars Tony and Drama Desk Award nominee Xanthe Elbrick (CORAM BOY, Irish Rep's CANDIDA) and Patrick Fitzgerald (Irish Rep's GIBRALTAR). SEA MARKS begins performances tonight, April 23rd, and continues through June 15th on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage of the Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd Street). The Press Opening is Monday, May 5, 2014 at 7PM.

Award-winning comedian, author, and filmmaker Mike Birbiglia returns to the stage with his one-of-a-kind storytelling style in a show about jokes, and how they can get you in trouble. Birbiglia will bring hilarity and painfully awkward stories in his Thank God for Jokes comedy tour at Mesa Arts Center Friday, May 2 at 8:00 p. m. in the Ikeda Theater.

New York's longest running comedy revue, FORBIDDEN BROADWAY, returns to the Chocolate Factory this summer, bursting with brand new material from 19 June - 16 August 2014.

MCC THEATER will present Greta Gerwig, Max Baker, Jason Butler Harner, Lucy Owen, Cara Seymour, and Scott Shepherd in the American premiere of Penelope Skinner's celebrated play The Village Bike, the final production of MCC's 2013-14 Main Stage season. The Village Bike, directed bySam Gold, who recently directed the much-raved new musical Fun Home and this season's The Realistic Jones on Broadway, will premiere at The Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) beginning May 22, 2014 with an official opening on June 10, 2014. The cast just met the press and you can check out interviews with the company below!

Berkeley Repertory Theatre welcomes back Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner for the West Coast premiere of his latest play, The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, an epic tale of love, family, sex, money, and politics. Kushner reunites with one of his favorite collaborators, Michael Leibert Artistic Director Tony Taccone, to bring this sweeping drama to the Roda Theatre. With his trademark mix of soaring intellect and searing emotion, the legendary writer unfurls a poignant story about an Italian family in Brooklyn. When retired longshoreman Gus Marcantonio decides to die, his kids come home with a raucous parade of lovers and spouses to find that even the house keeps secrets. A portrait of a dysfunctional family filled with weighty dialogue, humor, and passion, Kushner's four-act play previews Friday, May 16, opens on Wednesday, May 21, and runs through Sunday, June 29, 2014.