Richard Greenberg News

South Coast Repertory kicks off the 2009-10 Season with Putting It Together, a compilation of Stephen Sondheim songs, that the composer put together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, creating a narrative set at a cocktail party in an elegant Manhattan condo. The non-traditional musical, led by Broadway and television star Harry Groener, has a cast of five (a glamorous but slightly jaded couple, a starry-eyed younger couple and a savvy observer) who sing more than 30 songs that reflect their lives, lifestyles and moods of the moment. Some of the songs will be familiar, some less so, a few were even cut from their original musical scores, but they are all sophisticated, smart and drop-dead droll. All, in other words, Sondheim.

The Metropolitan Opera has reason to celebrate; $2.5 million worth of tickets were sold on Sunday, the first day of sales, through its box office, telephone call center and Web site, up from $2 million on the first day of sales last year, according to the Associated press.

The Vineyard Theatre will host a private memorial service for actor T. Scott Cunningham - a founding member of Drama Dept. and The Vineyard Community of Artists, who died at age 47 due to pneumonia and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome on June 20 - today (Monday, August 17) at 4:00pm at the Vineyard Theatre (108 East 15th Street).

Funny, magical, and moving, Lorenzo Pisoni's Humor Abuse is a tour-de-force journey through the photo album of his extraordinary life. A touching homage to his father, Humor Abuse opens Philadelphia Theatre Company's 2009/2010 season at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre. Co-written by Pisoni and Erica Schmidt, who also directs the piece, Humor Abuse runs September 25-October 25.

Playwright Richard Greenberg won a Tony Award for Best Play 2003 for Take Me Out. Take Me Out traveled from London to New York in the first co-production of the Donmar Warehouse and The Public Theater, and then transferred to Broadway. He is the author of over 25 plays including 8 South Coast Repertory World Premieres: The Violet Hour, Three Days of Rain (Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, Pulitzer Prize finalist, Olivier, Drama Desk and Hull-Warriner nominations), and The Extra Man. He is a winner of the Oppenheimer Award and the first winner of the PEN/Laura Pels Award for a playwright in mid-career.

Vassar & New York Stage and Film's Powerhouse season will continue through Sunday, August 2, with the Mainstage play Vera Laughed (through 8/2); the Martel Musical Tina Girlstar (7/31 - 8/1); the ever-popular Readings Festival 2 (7/30 - 8/2); and a free concert reading by the Powerhouse Apprentice Company of the new musical Hello! My Baby.

MCC Theater (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, Artistic Directors; William Cantler, Associate Artistic Director; Blake West, Executive Director) has announced casting for two productions of its 2009-10 season.

Women's Project, the 32-year-old non-profit theater dedicated to producing plays written and directed by women, will increase main stage production next season by 50%. The theater's board of directors authorized Julie Crosby, producing artistic director, to increase main stage productions from two to three at the company's Julia Miles Theater on West 55th Street.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director), in association with Sonia Friedman Productions and Ostar Productions presents Sienna Miller as 'Miss Julie', Jonny Lee Miller as 'John' and Marin Ireland as 'Christine' in the American premiere of playwright Patrick Marber's drama After Miss Julie, a version of Strindberg's Miss Julie, directed by Mark Brokaw.

Actor T. Scott Cunningham, a founding member of Drama Dept. and The Vineyard Community of Artists, died at NYU Medical Center in New York City on Saturday, June 20 from complications due to pneumonia and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, according to Sam Rudy, a spokesperson for The Vineyard Theatre. Mr. Cunningham was 47 years old.

Vassar & New York Stage and Film's Powerhouse Theater announces the cast for the first of three Mainstage productions of the 25th anniversary season: Ninety, by Joanna Murray-Smith, directed by Maria Mileaf, beginning performances June 30 and running through July 12, and new additions to the star-filled line-up for the 25th anniversary gala benefit, 'Silver Celebration under the Stars,' June 27.

The first New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award, a prize to honor an American playwright with a recent professional theater debut in New York City, was awarded to Tarell Alvin McCraney for his play 'The Brothers Size.'

BroadwayWorld Congratulates Hair, 2009 Tony Award Winner, 'Best Revival of a Musical'

BroadwayWorld Congratulates Angela Lansbury, 2009 Tony Award Winner, 'Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play'

Playwrights Horizons, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tim Sanford and Managing Director Leslie Marcus, proudly announces the sixth and final production of its upcoming 2009/2010 Season, as well as additional casting. Presented at the theater company's home at 416 West 42nd Street, the new production will be: A COOL DIP IN THE BARREN SAHARAN CRICK - the World Premiere of a new play by Playwrights Horizons alumna Kia Corthron (Breath, Boom at Playwrights Horizons, Force Continuum), directed by Obie Award winner Chay Yew (Durango at The Public). A co-production with The Play Company (Kate Loewald, Founding Producer) and Culture Project (Allan Buchman, Artistic Director).

The New York Times Company announced today that its first New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award, a prize to honor an American playwright with a recent professional theater debut in New York City, will be awarded to Tarell Alvin McCraney for his play 'The Brothers Size.'

BroadwayWorld Presents The 2009 Tony Award Nominees: 'Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play'

BroadwayWorld Presents The 2009 Tony Award Nominees: 'Best Revival Of A Musical'

Pioneer Theatre Company presents the spectacular musical phenomenon Miss Saigon, by the same team that created Les Misérables. The show runs May 1 through May 16, 2009.

South Coast Repertory's 12th annual Pacific Playwrights Festival (PPF) will shine the spotlight on seven new plays written by America's finest writers. Since its creation in 1998, PPF has grown into one of the most important festivals of new scripts in the United States. This year's Festival will take place during the May 1 through May 3 weekend and will feature five staged readings and two fully-produced World Premieres on South Coast Repertory's Segerstrom and Julianne Argryos Stages. Tickets to PPF may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office.