Philadelphia Theatre Company News

The Steppenwolf Theatre Company Ensemble has announced its newest member, playwright Bruce Norris. Among his many accomplishments, Norris is the author of The Qualms, playing July 3 - August 31 in Steppenwolf's Downstairs Theatre. Since 2000, Steppenwolf has produced seven of Norris's plays, including Clybourne Park and the world premieres of A Parallelogram, The Unmentionables, The Pain and the Itch, We All Went Down to Amsterdam, Purple Heart and The Infidel.

Christopher Durang's 2012 Tony® and Drama Desk® award-winning comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike follows three middle-aged siblings during a whirlwind reunion weekend. Vanya and Sonia live a quiet, uneventful live in the Bucks County farmhouse where they grew up. Vanya (a gay man who may never have actually come out) and Sonia (the adopted sister as she frequently mentions) remained in the family home to care for their ailing parents and never got around to going out and making lives for themselves. The pair's static existence is abruptly disturbed when Masha, their movie star sibling who funds their life of unhappy leisure, returns for a weekend with her twenty-something boy toy in tow, announcing that she plans to sell the house.

Yale Repertory Theatre, in a co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, presents the world premiere of The House that will not Stand by Marcus Gardley, directed by Patricia McGregor. The House that will not Stand will be performed at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street) April 18-May 10. Opening Night is Thursday, April 24.

Colman Domingo is finding that you can go home again, as he returns to his native Philadelphia to perform for the first time since his Tony Award-nominated Broadway turn in the hit musical, The Scottsboro Boys. Philadelphia Theatre Company concludes its 2013-2014 season with the Philadelphia premiere of A Boy and His Soul, written and performed by Colman Domingo with direction by Tony Kelly. This solo play with soul music runs May 23-June 22 at Philadelphia Theatre Company's Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets).

Open Stage of Harrisburg continues its 28th season with the regional premiere of Bruce Norris' award-winning play, Clybourne Park, running from April 11 through May 3. Winner of a Tony Award for Best Play, the Olivier Award, the Evening Standard Award, and a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, this cutting-edge, wickedly funny satire digs into the heart of race and real estate in the suburbs of Chicago. Inspired by historical events, the play begins in 1959 when a white couple sells their home to the neighborhood's first black family, and thus sparks controversy. Fifty years later, the house is again changing hands, this time to a young white couple moving into the now black community.

Scenic designer, writer and professor, MARJORIE BRADLEY KELLOGG, and costume designer DEBORAH M. DRYDEN are among the 2014 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards recipients. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Friday, May 2, at 6:30pm, at the Hudson Theatre (145 West 44th Street). Ms. Kellogg will receive the Robert L.B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design and Ms. Dryden was selected to receive the 2014 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for costume design. Ms. Kellogg's award will be presented to her by director Kenny Leon and Ms. Dryden's award will be presented to her by designer David Woolard.

Master of Absurd Comedy Christopher Durang blends the characters and themes from Anton Chekhov's dramas in the hilarious Tony Award-winner Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike running today, March 21 - April 20 at Philadelphia Theatre Company's Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets). Directed by James J. Christy, the ensemble features Grace Gonglewski, Deirdre Madigan, Kianne Muschett , Clare O'Malley, Alex Shaw, and Kraig Swartz.

Pioneer Theatre Company presents the second installment in its new play reading series, called Play-By-Play: A Public Education by Jeff Talbott tonight and tomorrow, March 14 and 15, 2014. Guest artist Shana Gold directs the production.

Smokey Joe's Cafe-The Songs of Leiber and Stoller transports audiences to the golden age of rock, rhythm and blues this spring at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Director Randy Johnson returns to Arena Stage following the success of A Night with Janis Joplin (which enjoyed two runs at Arena Stage followed by a subsequent run on Broadway) to helm this Grammy Award-winning tribute to legendary songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, which originally opened on Broadway in 1995 and became the longest running musical revue, topping 2,000 performances. Bursting with hit tunes including 'Hound Dog,' 'Jailhouse Rock,' 'Stand by Me,' 'Love Potion #9' and 'On Broadway,' Smokey Joe's Cafe showcases choreography by Parker Esse (Arena Stage's The Music Man, Oklahoma!) and music direction by Victor Simonson (Center Stage's A Civil War Christmas, Arena Stage's 3 Mo' Divas) and runs April 25-June 8, 2014 in the Fichandler Stage.

Theatre Exile closes its 17th season with the Philadelphia premiere of Annapurna, a moving and explosive new play by critically acclaimed, emerging Broadway playwright Sharr White. Driven by the emotionally charged relationship between a husband and wife, Exile's production stars Barrymore Award-winning actors Pearce Bunting (Exile's A Behanding in Spokane, HBO's Boardwalk Empire) and Catharine Slusar (Iron, Any Given Monday) as Ulysses and Emma. Performances run April 17 - May 11 in Theatre Exile's South Philadelphia Studio X.

Pioneer Theatre Company presents the second installment in its new play reading series, called Play-By-Play: A Public Education by Jeff Talbott on March 14 and 15, 2014. Guest artist Shana Gold directs the production.

Known nationally and internationally for thrilling audiences with captivating and esteemed productions, Berkeley Rep is poised to present yet another compelling collection of shows for its 47th season. Today, Berkeley Rep's Michael Leibert Artistic Director Tony Taccone reveals five of seven productions that will comprise the 2014-15 subscription programming.

All the Way, the new play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan, starring BREAKING BAD's Bryan Cranston, is currently in previews on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre. The production officially opens on Thursday, March 6, 2014 for a strictly limited engagement. The play is directed by Bill Rauch, Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where All the Way began its theatrical life. Scroll down to learn more about the full cast of ALL THE WAY, plus watch interviews with the company below!

INTAR today announced the cast for the next production of its 2013-14 season: Adoration of the Old Woman, by Academy Award-nominated and Obie Award winning Jose Rivera and directed by Patricia McGregor will star Raul Castillo (HBO's 'Looking'), Danielle Davenport, Jose Joaquin Perez, Socorro Santiago and Carmen Zilles. This limited Off-Broadway engagement begins March 13th and continues through April 6th only. Opening Night is set for Wednesday March 19th.

Philadelphia Theatre Company's PTC@Play Festival of new work will host a special onstage conversation with PTC's artist-in-residence playwright/performer ANNA DEAVERE SMITH, and two evenings of staged readings by the winners of the Terrence McNally New Play Award, playwrights BILL CAIN and A. ZELL WILLIAMS, all at PTC's home, the Suzanne Roberts Theatre at Broad and Lombard Streets.

Philadelphia Theatre Company's PTC@Play Festival of new work will host a special onstage conversation with PTC's artist-in-residence playwright/performer ANNA DEAVERE SMITH, and two evenings of staged readings by the winners of the Terrence McNally New Play Award, playwrights BILL CAIN and A. ZELL WILLIAMS, all at PTC's home, the Suzanne Roberts Theatre at Broad and Lombard Streets.

The Pearl Theatre Company continues its 30th anniversary season-the second season in its new home on West 42nd Street-with a new production of No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre, adapted from the French by Paul Bowles. Linda Ames Key, making her Pearl debut, directs this touchstone of French existentialism in its first Off-Broadway production in over 15 years. The cast includes Pearl Resident Acting Company (RAC) member Jolly Abraham as Inez and Pearl RAC member Branford Cover as Cradeau along with Sameerah Luqmaan-Harris as Estelle and Pete McGilligot as Valet.

Performances begin tonight for Roundabout Theatre Company's third annual Roundabout Underground Reading Series. The actors involved in the series include: Pico Alexander, Fred Applegate, De'Adre Aziza, David Aaron Baker, Cassie Beck, Michael Chernus, Diane Davis, Dashiell Eaves, Ryan Eggold, Lisa Emery, Sue Jean Kim, Chad Kimball, Jessica Love, Lizbeth Mackay, Annie McNamara, Alex Mickiewicz, Aaron Clifton Moten, Olivia Oguma, Tonya Pinkins, Paul Pontrelli, Conrad Ricamora, Reg Rogers, Debra Jo Rupp, Campbell Scott and Max von Essen.

Alley Theatre presents the world premiere of a new comedy by Theresa Rebeck, Fool. In Rebeck's new comedy, two kings get together and place a wager on their fools - a jester competition, and the funniest one gets to keep his head. Two evil minions have a lot to say about this, but not as much as the kitchen wench. And what's the queen been up to all night? A dramatical comical farcical tragical play about power, love and laughter, set in a medieval kitchen. Adult Language, Adult Situations, Beheadings.

Bashor speaks exclusively with BWW and explains how her co-stars Kelli O'Hara and Steven Pasquale went out of their way to make sure her Broadway debut was a big deal!