Michael Frayn News

Broadway and film actor Ned Eisenberg, Tony Award winner Dick Latessa, Emmy nominee Richard Masur and others will join previously announced Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei to read the classic play 'Golden Boy,' written by Clifford Odets and directed by Joanne Woodward, on Monday, August 25, 7 p.m., at Westport Country Playhouse (Joanne Woodward and Anne Keefe, artistic directors, and Jodi Schoenbrun Carter, managing director).

The year was 1980, and Patti LuPone was starring as 'Evita' on Broadway. She was en route to winning the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, and cementing her status as a Broadway star. But there was another Patti LuPone performance taking place -- one that only a comparative handful of people were aware of: Every Saturday night at midnight, for 27 weeks, after performing one of the most demanding roles ever, she made her way to Les Mouches - a legendary nightclub in New York City, to perform a solo concert...This was a one-woman tour de force that -- until now -- only the lucky few who were on hand knew about.

Manhattan Theatre Club (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer; Daniel Sullivan, Acting Artistic Director 2007-2008) has announced the 2008 recipients of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Initiative commissions.

The lead producing team of August: Osage County on Broadway has acquired the feature film rights of the multiple Tony Award -winning play.

This fall, Tony Award nominated actor Keith Carradine (The Will Rogers Follies, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, 'Nashville,' 'Dexter') returns to the New York stage in the New York premiere of Anthony Horowitz's acclaimed thriller, MINDGAME. Ken Russell, the celebrated director of the films Tommy, Woman In Love and The Boyfriend, makes his New York stage directorial debut with MINDGAME.

The full cast of the Broadway production of Billy Elliot the Musical has been announced by Universal Pictures Stage Productions, Working Title Films and Old Vic Productions in association with Weinstein Live Entertainment.

The Almeida will present 16 performances only of Sam Shepard's latest play Kicking a Dead Horse.

Jean Doumanian Productions is partnering with Barrow Street Theatre to develop new plays and musicals, explore international markets and elevate the profiles of individual artists in a concerted effort to bring new work to Off-Broadway.

King Lear will crown South Coast Repertory's 45th season under the direction of Tony Award winner Daniel Sullivan.

Almeida Theatre announces Fall/Winter Season.

Michael Frayn is an English playwright and novelist. He began as a reporter for The Guardian and The Observer after graduating college in 1957. His first novel, The Tin Men, was published in 1965 winning him his first of many accolades. His other award winning novels include Headlong, The Russian Interpreter and Spies. Considered to be Britain's finest translator of Anton Chekhov, he adapted four major plays along with several smaller plays for an evening called The Sneeze in London in 1988. Theatrically, Frayn is the playwright for such well received plays including Noises Off, Copenhagen, and Democracy, which won the Tony Award in 2000.

'Benefactors' was first staged in London in 1984 winning the Olivier Award for Best New Play before its Broadway premiere in 1985. The original Broadway cast included Glenn Close, Mary Beth Hurt, Simon Jones and Sam Waterston and was nominated for two Tony Awards.

The American Theatre Wing and XM Satellite Radio present an interview with actor Michael Cumpsty, on their weekly theatrical interview show, 'Downstage Center,' on XM's On Broadway (XM Channel 28).

The nominations were just released for the 2008 Olivier Awards and Haispray is leading the pack with 11 nominations.

Classic Stage Company will present Obie Award winner Michael Cumpsty in the title role in Shakespeare's Richard III beginning performances Thursday, November 1 at CSC (136 East 13th Street). The production kicks of CSC's 40th anniversary season. Co-directed by Kulick and Cumpsty, Richard III will play a limited engagement from Thursday, November 1 through Sunday, December 9. The official opening night is Tuesday, November 13 at 7PM.

'Young Frankenstein' to charge MONSTER Prices

Olney Theatre Center Presents works by Donald Margulies and Stephen Schwartz