Playwrights Horizons News

Westport Country Playhouse hosted an unveiling of a portrait of the late actor Jason Robards, for whom the theater is named, on Tuesday, July 9. The portrait depicts Robards in the role of Cornelius Melody in 'A Touch of the Poet' by Eugene O'Neill. Donated to the Playhouse by Robards's children, Jake and Shannon, it is displayed in the Playhouse lobby. The portrait artist is Clyde Smith of Silvermine Arts Center. Click below to watch a video clip (taken by Chad Kinsman) from the unveiling!

Mercury Summer Stock and Dana Aber present: Five Fingers Open, Two Fingers Crossed, a cabaret event to be performed on Sunday, July 14th at 5:30pm at the Regina Auditorium on the Notre Dame College Campus. The event will feature songs from new, bound-for-Broadway musicals written by up-and-coming composers and lyricists from all over the globe, including Mercury Summer Stock's own Aliyana Stewart who contributed both music and lyrics. This concert production will feature over a dozen of Mercury's favorite singers, all of whom are committed to using their uniquely talented voices to bring new work to the area of Cleveland.

THE LOUDEST MAN ON EARTH plays atTheatreWorks at the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto tonight, July 10 - August 4.

'A Parallelogram,' the riveting new play by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winner Bruce Norris, is directed by Tony Award-winner Anna D. Shapiro at Center Theatre Group's Mark Taper Forum. 'A Parallelogram' will be presented at the Taper, tonight, July 10 through August 18, 2013. The opening is scheduled for July 21.

The Old Globe today announced the cast and creative team for the San Diego Premiere of the crime classic Double Indemnity, adapted by David Pichette and R. Hamilton Wright from the novel by James M. Cain. Directed by John Gould Rubin, Double Indemnity will run July 27 - August 25, 2013 in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run July 27 - July 31. Opening night is Thursday, Aug. 1 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

Westport Country Playhouse will present a Sunday Symposium with guest speaker Francesca Coppa, foremost American expert on the British playwright Joe Orton, following the Sunday, July 21, 3 p.m. matinee performance of Orton's "Loot," a wickedly funny send-up of larcenous, lascivious behavior among the English middle classes.

Mint Theater today announced the cast for their next production, Philip Goes Forth by George Kelly. Jerry Ruiz (Love Goes to Press, Basilica) directs a cast that includes Cliff Bemis, Teddy Bergman, Bernardo Cubria, Jennifer Harmon, Carole Healey, Christine Toy Johnson, Natalie Kuhn, Brian MacDonald, Jennifer McVey and Rachel Moulton. Philip Goes Forth will have scenic design by Steven C. Kemp, costume design by Carisa Kelly, lighting design by Christian DeAngelis, and sound design by Toby Algya. Performances begin on August 24th and continue through October 20th. Opening Night is set for September 16th at Mint's home (311 West 43rd Street).

Winning upwards of 50 awards (including Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, LA Weekly, Ovation, and Garland Awards) in just the past five years (BEST PRODUCTION two years in a row), Rogue Machine's first offering (which opened on May 18th) for the 2013 season has sold out the original run. They will now be extending the schedule for the Los Angeles premiere of Dying Cityby Christopher Shinn (OBIE winner, Pulitzer Prize finalist) through August 5th.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG) has announced the publication of This and Other Plays, the debut collection of plays by Obie Award-winning playwright Melissa James Gibson (This, Suitcase, [sic], Brooklyn Bridge). The works of this 'thoroughly original talent' (Newsday) have been developed and produced at Center Theater Group, Playwrights Horizons, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Soho Rep, Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Playwrights Horizons, among others.

Kathy Evans, Founder and Executive Director, announced the nine musicals and eighteen writers selected for the third summer of the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat. For nine consecutive weeks beginning June 23rd, each writing team will have an individual weeklong residency in Rhinebeck, New York to write their musical. All costs are fully funded by donors including The ASCAP Foundation, The Dramatists Guild Fund, and The Noel Coward Foundation. Writers include Tony-winners and nominees Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening), and Heidi Rodewald and Stew (Passing Strange), and multi-award winners Adam Gwon, Laura Harrington, Joe Iconis, Kait Kerrigan, and Brian Lowdermilk.

To conclude its 45th season, Berkeley Repertory Theatre welcomes back a pair of acclaimed collaborators: Sarah Ruhl and Les Waters, the creators of Eurydice, Three Sisters, and In the Next Room (or the vibrator play), return to Berkeley Rep with another tale of love and longing in Dear Elizabeth.

Direct from its sold-out World Premiere at Barrington Stage Company, Dr. Ruth, All The Way will be directed by Julianne Boyd co-founder and Artistic Director of Barrington Stage Company (BSC). TheaterWorks' production will be a revised version of BSC's production starring stage, film and television actress Debra Jo Rupp (Kitty Forman on That 70's Show). Dr. Ruth, All the Way will run May 31st through July 7th, 2013.

The popular television and movie star appears with Broadway star Lee WIlkof in Neil Simon's THE SUNSHINE BOYS at Totem Pole Playhouse, directed by John Putch. Here the stage and screen veteran gives an overview of a career launched by Leonard Bernstein.

FAR FROM HEAVEN has been extended at Playwrights Horizons through July 7, 2013. In the video below, Michael Korie (lyricist) and Scott Frankel (composer) talk about the process of writing FAR FROM HEAVEN and their experiences in the theater and at Playwrights Horizons!

The 2013 New York Musical Theatre Festival and Angel Wings NYC present the New York premiere of THE AWAKENING OF ANGEL DELUNA, an original new musical set against the backdrop of a Depression era family circus. THE AWAKENING OF ANGEL DELUNA is an official selection of the 2013 New York Musical Theatre Festival and will play The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street) in Manhattan beginning July 12th, 2013 for 5 performances only. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the show in rehearsal!

Actors Greg Keller, Mia Barron and Kit Flanagan will participate in staged readings of Schooner by Rinne Groff (Compulsion, The Ruby Sunrise) at the Cape Cod Theatre Project, which will open its 19th Season this week.

As BWW previously reported, Barrett Foa, of TV's NCIS: Los Angeles and Broadway's Avenue Q, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Mamma Mia! and Godspell, will star as 'Harold Hill' in Connecticut Repertory Theatre's production of THE MUSIC MAN, running July 11-21, 2013, with opening night set for July 12. Check out a first look at Foa and co-star Courtney Balan in promotional shots for the production below!