Oscar Wilde News

Cortland Repertory Theatre has received a record-breaking eight nominations for the 2011 Syracuse Area Live Theatre (SALT) Awards, which recognize outstanding achievement in Central New York theatre. Hosted by the Syracuse New Times, the SALT Awards focus primarily on community theatre groups in Syracuse, but also recognizes regional summer theatres in their own categories.

Franz Welser-Most conducts The Cleveland Orchestra and an international cast in concert performances of Richard Strauss's SALOME at Severance Hall tonight, May 19, at 8 p.m. and Saturday, May 26, at 8 p.m.

Stage and screen stars Brooke Shields and Richard Chamberlain will take on the iconic roles of Chris MacNeil and Father Merrin in playwright John Pielmeier's world premiere of The Exorcist at the Geffen Playhouse. Helmed by acclaimed director John Doyle, who won a Tony Award for his striking reimagining of Sweeney Todd, this stage adaptation of William Peter Blatty's famous 1971 novel transforms the unsettling battles of good versus evil, faith versus fact and ego versus ethos into a uniquely theatrical experience as sophisticated as it is suspenseful.

The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre, called "a riotously funny and campy variety show" by Next Magazine, and 'a rollicking, wry affair complete with funny political commentary on current events' by Gay City News, will present their newest edition tonight, May 17 at 9:30 PM.

22Q Entertainment LLC and GoAlleyCat Productions presents the West Coast Premiere of the New York hit, IT IS DONE, a thrilling new play in an environmental setting, written by award-winning playwright Alex Goldberg and directed by Ovation award-winner Michael Michetti (The Twentieth Century Way, Carousel, Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings). IT IS DONE opens tonight, May 15 at 8:30pm and runs through Tuesday, June 12 at the Pig ‘N Whistle Restaurant, 6714 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood.

Plays & Players celebrates their 100th Anniversary on May 14 at 7pm with a staged reading of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband featuring local celebrities of stage, screen, politics, and more. An Ideal Husband was first performed on Plays & Players' stage in the Spring of 1912, exactly 100 years ago.

Downton Abbey meets Broadway! BWW can report that Dan Stevens, star of the Golden Globe-winning series "Downton Abbey," will play the role of "Morris Townsend" opposite Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain (Catherine Sloper) and Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner David Strathairn (Dr. Austin Sloper) in the Tony Award-winning play The Heiress. Written by Ruth Goetz & Augustus Goetz, The Heiress will be directed by Tony Award nominated playwright and director Moises Kaufman. Performances will begin October 2012 at a theatre to be announced.

Franz Welser-Most conducts The Cleveland Orchestra and an international cast in concert performances of Richard Strauss's SALOME at Severance Hall on Saturday, May 19, at 8 p.m. and Saturday, May 26, at 8 p.m. The opera will also be presented at New York's Carnegie Hall, on Thursday, May 24, at 8 p.m.

Williamstown Theatre Festival Artistic Director Jenny Gersten has announced additional casting for the 2012 Summer Season. A host of Williamstown Theatre Fesival veterans and talented newcomers including Becky Ann Baker, Marylouise Burke, Tyne Daly, Brandon Victor Dixon, Alison Fraser, Heather Lind, Amy Spanger, Jeremy Strong, Lili Taylor and many more, will take the stage during the Festival's 58th Season.

Two-time Golden Globe® winner, Academy Award® & Tony Award® nominee Kathleen Turner returns to Toronto in the National Tour of Matthew Lombardo's play HIGH, tonight, May 8 through May 13, 2012, at The Royal Alexandra Theatre. Directed by Rob Ruggiero, HIGH also features Evan Jonigkeit as "Cody Randall" and Timothy Altmeyer as "Father Michael Delpapp".

The venerable Symphony Hall stage served as ground zero for the humor of David Sedaris as part of the Celebrity Series of Boston on Sunday. Socialized medicine, taxidermy, matchmaking, and foreign idiosyncrasies were only a few of the topics covered in his wide-ranging, hilarious essays.

The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre, called "a riotously funny and campy variety show" by Next Magazine, and 'a rollicking, wry affair complete with funny political commentary on current events' by Gay City News, will present their newest edition on Thursday, May 17 at 9:30 PM.

Plays & Players celebrates their 100th Anniversary on May 14 at 7pm with a staged reading of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband featuring local celebrities of stage, screen, politics, and more. An Ideal Husband was first performed on Plays & Players' stage in the Spring of 1912, exactly 100 years ago. Tickets to this event are $25 for general admission or $50 for general admission and a "meet-the-artist" post-show reception from 9pm-10pm. Prior to the performance, there will be a pre-show reception and silent auction, with doors opening at 6pm.

Closing Aurora's 20th season is the World Premiere of SALOMANIA, Aurora Theatre Company Artistic Director Tom Ross's first new play commission for the company, written and directed by award-winning Bay Area auteur Mark Jackson (Metamorphosis, Salome, Miss Julie). Workshopped and developed at Aurora in 2010, SALOMANIA features Madeline H.D. Brown (Metamorphosis), Mark Anderson Phillips (Small Tragedy), Alex Moggridge (Betrayed), Liam Vincent (California Shakespeare Theater), Anthony Nemirovsky (Awake and Sing!), Marilee Talkington (Crowded Fire), and Kevin Clarke (Shotgun Players). SALOMANIA plays June 15 through July 22 at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley.