Olympia Dukakis News

South Orange Performing Arts Center presents Forbidden Broadway on Saturday, February 6 at 8pm.

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, in association with the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival, is pleased to present an evening of poetry, theater and reminiscences in honor of the induction of Tennessee Williams into the Cathedral's Poets' Corner. On Thursday, November 5th at 7:00pm, theatre luminaries, friends of Mr. Williams and people who were inspired by his life work, will take part in the historic celebration. Participants include Eli Wallach & Anne Jackson, Vanessa Redgrave, Marian Seldes, John Guare, Olympia Dukakis, John Patrick Shanley, Gregory Mosher, Sylvia Miles, William Jay Smith, Lenya Rideout, Jeremy Lawrence, Wyatt Prunty, David Kaplan, Thomas Keith, Mitch Douglas, and current Cathedral Poet-in-Residence Charles F. Martin. It is expected that additional friends and colleagues of Mr. Williams will also be taking part in the evening.

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, in association with the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival, is pleased to present an evening of poetry, theater and reminiscences in honor of the induction of Tennessee Williams into the Cathedral's Poets' Corner.

American Blues Theater (ABT) Chicago's second oldest Equity ensemble company, today announced its 2009-2010 Season. The award-winning ensemble-based company will open its 24th season under its original name with a symbolic return to its first artistic home, Victory Gardens Theater, for 'It's a Wonderful Life: Live at the Biograph!'

The American Blues Theater has revealed that Academy Award winning and Drama Desk nominated actress Olympia Dukakis present segments of it's newest developmental work RIPPED: The Living Newspaper Project during the American Blues Theater's The Rebirth of Blues Benefit. The event will take place at Bridgeview Bank on Monday, November 16 at 6:30pm.

Henning Rübsam: SENSEDANCE performs a special engagement for its 2009 season with the New York premiere of 'Impending Visit' at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Theater (the original location of the FAME high school), 120 West 46th Street (bet. Broadway & 6th Ave.) NYC.

Directed by Tennessee Rep's singularly accomplished producing artistic director Rene Dunshee Copeland, this fine production is so much more than a mere revival of the company's 1989 production, although it once again stars Mary Jane Harvill in the role of M'Lynn. This staging is perhaps most newsworthy because it pairs Harvill onstage for the first time with her daughter, Marin Miller, who plays the doomed Shelby in Steel Magnolias. As the launch of this silver anniversary season, perhaps no one could come up with a more apropos project: Harvill was one of the founding actors of the company in the mid-1980s, while Miller has left her own sizable imprint on the company in more recent years. Copeland is to be commended for her decision to cast the mother-and-daughter team and for her lovingly felt and richly etched production.

South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) will launch its Season Four theater series, on Thursday, October 8th at 8PM.

The new book, Letters of Little Edie Beale: Grey Gardens and Beyond, collected and edited by Walter Newkirk, is a sequel to memoraBEALEia: A Private Scrapbook About Little Edie Beale of Grey Gardens.

The ShowRoom, Asbury Park's independent cinema and multipurpose venue, will welcome acclaimed author Walter Newkirk on Sunday, October 18 for a special screening of the 2009 Emmy Award-winning HBO film 'Grey Gardens,' as well as a post-film discussion and book signing.

La Jolla Playhouse is pleased to announce the complete cast of its world-premiere musical Bonnie & Clyde, music by Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll & Hyde, The Scarlet Pimpernel), lyrics by Tony Award-winner Don Black (Sunset Boulevard, Song and Dance), book by Ivan Menchell (The Cemetery Club, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), with direction and musical staging by Jeff Calhoun (Deaf West's Big River and Pippin, Grease!), playing November 10 - December 20, 2009 in the Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Theatre.

Burning Coal Theatre Company's 2009/2010 LobbyLectures series begins on Saturday, September 26th at 6 pm with A CONVERSATION WITH GERALD FREEDMAN. Gerald Freedman directed the original production of Ragni, Rado & McDermott's HAIR at Joseph Papp's Public Theatre in 1967. He is currently Dean of the School of Drama at UNC School of the Arts in Winston-Salem.

The ShowRoom, Asbury Park's independent cinema and multipurpose venue, will welcome acclaimed author Walter Newkirk on Sunday, October 18 for a special screening of the 2009 Emmy Award-winning HBO film 'Grey Gardens,' as well as a post-film discussion and book signing.

Producers Angelo Fraboni and Daryl Roth have announced that the New York premiere of Vigil, written by Morris Panych and directed by Stephen DiMenna, will begin performances Sunday, September 20, at 3pm at the DR2 Theatre, 103 East 15 Street, east of Union Square. The opening is scheduled for Tuesday, September 29 at 7pm.

Burning Coal Theatre Company's 2009/2010 LobbyLectures series begins on Saturday, September 26th at 6 pm with A CONVERSATION WITH GERALD FREEDMAN. Gerald Freedman directed the original production of Ragni, Rado & McDermott's HAIR at Joseph Papp's Public Theatre in 1967. He is currently Dean of the School of Drama at UNC School of the Arts in Winston-Salem.

The Open Fist Theatre Company presents their First Ever, FIRST LOOK FESTIVAL OF NEW PLAYS, with new works written by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, Steven Haworth, Karen Hartman, Julie Hebert, Neil LaBute, Rick Pagano and directed by Bjorn Johnson, Neil LaBute, Marya Mazor, Charles Otte and Randee Trabitz. The Festival began on Thursday, July 23 and runs through Sunday, September 13 at The NEW Open Fist Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd. (former home of The Actor's Gang) in Hollywood.

16th Street Theater and North Berwyn Park District present a staged reading of Todd Logan's Defamation directed by Richard Shavzin on Friday, Sept 25 at 7:30 PM and Saturday, Sept 26 at 5:00 PM.

Shakespeare & Company Artistic Director Tony Simotes today announced the titles for the popular, 15th annual Studio Festival of Plays. The annual Festival is a mini-marathon of plays new to the Company running ONE DAY ONLY in Founders' Theatre on Monday, September 7 beginning at 11:30 am and running through 11pm. Seven productions featuring Company actors and special guest actors will be presented throughout the day as works-in-progress and staged readings. A special Benefit reading of William Bigelow's new play, Leap Year, featuring Olympia Dukakis and directed by Simotes, will kick off the Festival series a week early on Monday, August 31st at 7:00pm .

The John W. Engeman Theater at Northport is pleased to announce its next production, the Long Island professional premiere of RENT.

'I Am Stephen Colbert (and So Can You)' A candid conversation with the real Stephen Colbert is a benefit for the Two River Theater Company and will be held on Sunday, November 1, 2009 at 7:30pm. All proceeds will benefit TRTC's productions and education programs.