Molly Smith News

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater's production of MerEdith Wilson's The Music Man, helmed by Artistic Director Molly Smith, stars Kate Baldwin (Tony Award nominee for Broadway's Finian's Rainbow) as Marian the librarian, joined by Burke Moses (original Gaston in Broadway's Beauty and the Beast) as Harold Hill. The Music Man runs May 11-July 22, 2012 in the Fichandler Stage. Go inside the show's photo shoot below!

Primary Stages Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA), the company's professional training school, has announced its Summer 2012 schedule of classes, now open for enrollment.

Coleen Sexton and Gabe Violett join the lineup for "By Your Side," featuring the music of Drew Overcash tonight, Sunday April 22. Additional artists have joined Drew Overcash for "By Your Side," a new music showcase this Sunday at the Time Out Lounge.

Coleen Sexton and Gabe Violett Join Lineup for "By Your Side," featuring the music of Drew Overcash this Sunday, April 22. Additional artists have joined Drew Overcash for "By Your Side," a new music showcase this Sunday at the Time Out Lounge.

On Sunday, April 22, 2012, Time Out Lounge at New World Stages will play host to "By Your Side," a musical showcase featuring singer/songwriter Drew Overcash.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater's production of MerEdith Wilson's The Music Man, helmed by Artistic Director Molly Smith, stars Kate Baldwin (Tony Award nominee for Broadway's Finian's Rainbow) as Marian the librarian, joined by Burke Moses (original Gaston in Broadway's Beauty and the Beast) as Harold Hill. The Music Man runs May 11-July 22, 2012 in the Fichandler Stage. Get a first look below!

Cherry Lane Theatre's award-winning MENTOR PROJECT will continue its 13th season with a production of EVOLUTION, written and performed by Patricia Buckley, directed Michele Chivu and mentored Jean-Claude van Itallie with performances scheduled March 13 through March 24 at Cherry Lane Studio Theatre (38 Commerce Street in Manhattan), where the 2012 MENTOR PROJECT is in residence through April 14.

Boston Playwrights' Theatre and the School of Theatre at Boston University today announced a new Master of Fine Arts Degree in Playwriting. This collaboration-the only one of its kind in universities and colleges across the nation-combines resources from both these award-winning programs for the first time.

Crafty con-man Harold Hill brings mischief and the magic of music to Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater this spring in Meredith Willson's The Music Man. This five-time Tony Award-winning musical is directed by Artistic Director Molly Smith, whose cultural dynamism made Oklahoma! a record-breaking audience favorite last season. With choreography by Parker Esse and music direction by Lawrence Goldberg, The Music Man runs May 11-July 22, 2012 in the Fichandler Stage, with all performances in May already sold out.

On Sunday, April 22, 2012, Time Out Lounge at New World Stages will play host to "By Your Side," a musical showcase featuring singer/songwriter Drew Overcash.

Ah, Wilderness!, Eugene O'Neill's depiction of American family life at the turn of the 20th century, will kick off the two-month citywide Eugene O'Neill Festival at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces a four-day festival featuring performances by 11 youth ensembles from the Community Engagement program Voices of Now. The festival will bring together more than 150 young artists, ages 11-23, from D.C., Maryland and Virginia who have been working with professional theater artists from Arena Stage for eight months to devise original one-act plays. The ensembles will come together May 9-12, 2012 to perform and discuss their work in the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle.

On Monday, March 26, 2012, Arena Stage hosted the Golden Gala: A Glittering Evening of American Musical Theater to celebrate the vibrancy of the performing arts in Washington. This black-tie signature event, chaired by WUSA9 news anchor JC Hayward, supports Arena's robust Community Engagement programs and featured a special performance by two-time Tony Award nominee Kate Baldwin and legendary composer Sheldon Harnick. View photos from the event below!

As the final of three mainstage productions during the two-month Eugene O'Neill Festival spearheaded by Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, Long Day's Journey into Night rounds out this celebration of O'Neill's life and work. The English-born and Canadian-based director and former Stratford Festival Artistic Director Robin Phillips makes his Arena Stage debut to direct his fourth production of this Pulitzer Prize-winning play in a theatrical career spanning more than 50 years.

Chautauqua Theater Company (CTC) announces its 29th season as the resident theater on the grounds of the Chautauqua Institution -- western New York's summer arts festival. The 2012 season includes the world premiere of CTC's inaugural commission (Kate Fodor's Fifty Ways) two great classics (The Philadelphia Story and As You Like It), the annual New Play Workshop series and a host of other special events and performances.

ABC Family will air the basic cable premier of Warner Bros. THE BLIND SIDE starring Oscar® winner Sandra Bullock on Saturday, March 24th at 8pm ET/PT and Sunday, March 25 at 7:00pm ET/PT.

Ah, Wilderness!, Eugene O'Neill's depiction of American family life at the turn of the 20th century, kicked off the two-month citywide Eugene O'Neill Festival at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. From a playwright better known for his darker stories comes the brilliant Ah, Wilderness!, O'Neill's singular comedy that represents a fantasy of what his own childhood might have been. Helen Hayes Award winner and former Arena Stage Associate Artistic Director Kyle Donnelly directed her 21st show at Arena Stage, which features an almost entirely local cast led by Rick Foucheux, Nancy Robinette and June Schreiner. Ah, Wilderness! runs March 9-April 8, 2012 in the Fichandler Stage. Check out the opening night photos below!

A new play about the late Italian actress Anna Magnani, MAMMA ROMA -- written and performed by Anne DeSalvo, winner of the Obie Award for her performance in GEMINI -- will be presented by Cherry Lane Theatre's MENTOR PROJECT from April 3 to 14 at Cherry Lane Studio Theatre (38 Commerce St.) in Manhattan. MAMMA ROMA is directed by Rob Urbinati. David Rambo (THE LADY WITH ALL THE ANSWERS) has been Ms. DeSalvo's mentor for the play.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater will present Double Edge Theatre's The Grand Parade (of the Twentieth Century), which has been added to the previously announced 2012/13 season lineup.

ABC Family will air the basic cable premier of Warner Bros. THE BLIND SIDE starring Oscar® winner Sandra Bullock on Saturday, March 24th at 8pm ET/PT and Sunday, March 25 at 7:00pm ET/PT.