Marsha Norman News

Opening its 2011 season and its 80th birthday year, Westport Country Playhouse will stage comic master Christopher Durang's "Beyond Therapy," directed by David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director, April 26 through May 14.

As BroadwayWorld speculated last month, Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown (Parade, 13, The Last Five Years, Songs for a New World) will be joined by Tony Award-winning stage and screen star Anika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls) and The Caucasian Rhythm Kings for a special three-night concert engagement this spring at the Henry Street Settlement - Abrons Arts Center (466 Grand at Pitt), according to official press notes. The concerts will also be filmed for future broadcast on PBS.

The American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) has named Bill Cain's 'Nine Circles,' a harrowing play about war and redemption, the winner of the $25,000 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for 2011. The award recognizes playwrights for the best scripts that premiere professionally outside New York City during the previous calendar year.

TheatreWorks, the nationally-acclaimed theatre of Silicon Valley, has announced the line-up for its 2010-2011 season. Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley and Managing Director Phil Santora announced a 41st season that will include three world premieres (bringing the company's total to 56); three regional premieres including the newest play by the author of AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, Broadway's quirky hit musical about writers writing a quirky hit musical and a spell-binding mystery about a Japanese-American veteran charged with murder; and two Broadway favorites. The company will once again lead off with an extensive New Works Festival.

Centre Stage is proud to present a staged reading of Marsha Norman's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, 'night, Mother starring Upstate acting legend, Shirley Sarlin, and one of Greenville's favorite leading actresses, Kelly Wallace. 'night Mother is a special two-night only event: Tuesday, April 5th and Wednesday, April 6th at 7:00 p.m. (yesterday's Constant Contact incorrectly stated the showtime as 8:00 p.m.).

It was announced today that Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director of Manhattan Theatre Club, will be honored with the Lucille Lortel Award for Lifetime Achievement. The award recognizes Meadow's extraordinary accomplishments and dedication to producing and directing new work Off-Broadway for over three decades. The Lucille Lortel Award ceremony will be held Sunday, May 1 at the Jack. H Skirball Center for the Performing Arts (566 Laguardia Place).

Ava Astaire and Patricia Watt have announced the nominating committee for the 2011 Fred & Adele Astaire Awards, the only awards that recognize excellence in dance on Broadway and in film.

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, March 27, 2011 - Sunday, March 27, 2011.

New Repertory Theatre, in residence at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, is pleased to announce it will be producing Jason Robert Brown's award-winning musical The Last Five Years.

The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) presents The Trumpet of the Swan: A Novel Symphony starring John Lithgow, based on the book by E.B. White, adapted for the stage by Marsha Norman, with music by Jason Robert Brown, who will also conduct.

The National Theatre is proud to announce that THE COLOR PURPLE, The Musical about Love, will return to D.C. for an Easter engagement April 12 to 24, and will feature special guest star Lil' Mo as the Church Soloist.

PlayhouseSquare is proud to announce that THE COLOR PURPLE, The Musical about Love, will play in the Palace Theatre, March 25 & 26 for three performances only.

Producer Daryl Roth announced today that supermodel and television personality Emme, 'Two and a Half Men' star Conchata Ferrell, two-time Tony Award nominee Alison Fraser (The Secret Garden), actress and radio host Marla Maples and '90210' star AnnaLynne McCord will all join upcoming casts of the Off Broadway hit Love, Loss, and What I Wore, now in its second smash year at the Westside Theatre (407 W 43 Street).

A cast of Broadway veterans will converge on a small Kansas town April 13 to perform a new musical comedy by Sheldon Harnick, co-creator of "Fiddler on the Roof."

Broadway Theatre League is proud to announce that THE COLOR PURPLE, The Musical about Love, will play the Morris Performing Arts Center March 18-19.

The Open Fist Theatre Company and The Aquila Morong Studio are thrilled to announce the extension of their co-production, PROOF, written by David Auburn and directed by John Hindman. PROOF has extended to Thursday, March 24 at 8pm and will run Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, at the Open Fist Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood.

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater concludes its 16th season with the world premiere of Carson McCullers Talks About Love, a theater piece with music written and performed by Grammy Award-winning songwriter Suzanne Vega ("Tom's Diner," "Luka") with music by Ms. Vega and Tony Award-winner Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening).

New Repertory Theatre, in residence at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, is pleased to announce it will be producing Jason Robert Brown's award-winning musical The Last Five Years.

MCC Theater (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, Artistic Directors; William Cantler, Associate Artistic Director; Blake West, Executive Director) will celebrate the company's 25th anniversary by honoring a host of MCC artists past and present at Miscast 2011. This highly anticipated annual gala will take place on Monday, March 14, 2011 at The Hammerstein Ballroom (311 West 34th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues). Andy Cohen (Host of Bravo TV's 'Watch What Happens Live') will host the evening. David Duchovny (star of the recent MCC Theater hit, The Break of Noon), Téa Leoni, Hugh Dancy (star of yet another recent MCC hit, The Pride) and Claire Danes are this year's honorary chairs. Funds raised from Miscast help MCC Theater produce some of the most talked-about new work Off Broadway and support their Youth Company and in-school partnerships that serve New York City public high school students, as well as their literary development work with emerging playwrights.

In May of 2007, Greensburg, Kansas, was devastated by one of the largest tornadoes ever recorded.