Neil Barclay News

Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell and the Shaw Festival announce principal casting and the creative teams for the 2016 playbill. The 2016 season features new and core ensemble members and beloved returning artists celebrating Ms. Maxwell's final season and 14-year tenure at The Shaw.

The Shaw Festival today announced principal casting and creative team details for its 54th season.

Elf, the Christmas musical now on stage at London's Grand Theatre is an endearing show, thanks to a funny, well-written script, and a six foot four Elf who can deliver the lines. Liam Tobin is perfect as Buddy the Elf: He's taken the best that Will Ferrell had in the movie version of Elf, but his portrayal of the 30 year old child-like character is more reminiscent of Tom Hanks in 1988 movie Big. Either way, Tobin has made Buddy very lovable and almost believable.

The curtain rises tomorrow on the Shaw Festival's 52nd season when W. Somerset Maugham's glittering satire Our Betters begins previews at the Royal George Theatre. Morris Panych brings his usual directorial panache to this brilliant "take no prisoners" portrait of marriage - where English estates and titled aristocracy are bought with the traditional "I do" and a large American dowry. Longtime collaborators Ken MacDonald and Charlotte Dean design the sets and costumes, respectively.

For the last decade, the Shaw Festival has been introducing contemporary theatre's most illustrious playwrights into the playbill alongside their classical forebears. Like Bernard Shaw himself, these writers delight in questioning assumptions, subverting expectations and creating compelling theatre that unites head and heart. The 2013 season goes even further with the inclusion of plays by Brian Friel, Tom Stoppard, John Murrell and Adam Guettel.

His Girl Friday, John Guare's inspired combo of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's original play The Front Page and the screen version His Girl Friday, began previews Sunday at The Shaw's Festival Theatre

Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell previously announced the casting and creative teams for the three plays featured next season on The Shaw's Festival Theatre stage. In making the announcement, Ms. Maxwell noted: 'I am so inspired by the range of talent we've assembled to make up our 2012 Ensemble. This extraordinary group of artists will bring to life the vivid contemporary ideas of each and every playwright whose work we are proudly presenting.'

The Shaw Festival embarks on the first season of its next 50 years by proudly initiating a provocative conversation through the Tony Award-winning musical Ragtime. Based on E.L. Doctorow's novel of the same name, Ragtime is directed by Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell and brought to life by The Shaw's renowned acting Ensemble. This powerful and complex story of a young America on the cusp of defining itself and the hopes and dreams of its citizens continues to gain resonance today. Surpassing all expectations, early tickets sales to the Shaw Festival's production of Ragtime are nearly 20% above projected totals, while early April and May ticket purchases for special matinees are already 80% sold out. Yesterday's preview performance of Ragtime received a standing ovation.

Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell proudly announced the casting and creative teams for the three plays featured next season on The Shaw's Festival Theatre stage. In making the announcement, Ms. Maxwell noted: 'I am so inspired by the range of talent we've assembled to make up our 2012 Ensemble. This extraordinary group of artists will bring to life the vivid contemporary ideas of each and every playwright whose work we are proudly presenting.'

Welcome home Miss Doolittle! It's so loverly to finally greet you. An innovative and fresh reinterpretation of My Fair Lady brings Eliza Doolittle's London vibrantly to life and reinvigorates the memorable melodies and lyrics of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. Molly Smith, Artistic Director of Washington D.C.'s Arena Stage, returns to The Shaw to direct a delight for the senses. MY FAIR LADY will officially open at the Shaw Festival on May 28, 2011.

Now in its second year, the American Voices New Play Institute at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater will hold a four-day convening bringing together more than 100 theater practitioners from across the country to further the dialogue around new play development.

Now in its second year, the American Voices New Play Institute at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater will hold a four-day convening bringing together more than 100 theater practitioners from across the country to further the dialogue around new play development.

Studio 180 Theatre (acclaimed last season for STUFF HAPPENS and THE OVERWHELMING) and Acting Up Stage Company (fresh from its sold-out production of THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA) present the award-winning PARADE, from December 30, 2010 to January 22, 2011 at The Berkeley Street Theatre Upstairs.

Now in its second year, the American Voices New Play Institute at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater will hold a four-day convening bringing together more than 100 theater practitioners from across the country to further the dialogue around new play development.

Now in its second year, the American Voices New Play Institute at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater will hold a four-day convening bringing together more than 100 theater practitioners from across the country to further the dialogue around new play development.

Studio 180 Theatre OVERWHELMING) and Acting Up Stage Company (fresh from its sold-out production of THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA) present the award-winning PARADE, through January 22, 2011 at The Berkeley Street Theatre Upstairs.

Studio 180 Theatre (acclaimed last season for STUFF HAPPENS and THE OVERWHELMING) and Acting Up Stage Company (fresh from its sold-out production of THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA) present the award-winning PARADE, from December 30, 2010 to January 22, 2011 at The Berkeley Street Theatre Upstairs.

Studio 180 Theatre (acclaimed last season for STUFF HAPPENS and THE OVERWHELMING) and Acting Up Stage Company (fresh from its sold-out production of THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA) present the award-winning PARADE, from December 30, 2010 to January 22, 2011 at The Berkeley Street Theatre Upstairs.

The Arena Stage American Voices New Play Institute (AVNPI) in partnership with Georgetown University's Theater and Performance Studies Program presents Black Voices: Stories We're Planning to Tell a public presentation followinga private, two-day convening of 30 of the nation's leading black playwrights and artisticleaders.

The Arena Stage American Voices New Play Institute (AVNPI) in partnership with Georgetown University's Theater and Performance Studies Program presents Black Voices: Stories We're Planning to Tell a public presentation followinga private, two-day convening of 30 of the nation's leading black playwrights and artisticleaders.