Royal Shakespeare Company News

The Trap Door Theatre presents JUDITH, A PARTING FROM THE BODY, written by Howard Barker and directed by Zeljko Djukic. The cast features Kevin Cox, Stacie Beth Green, and Nicole Wiesner. The show will open tonight, January 23, 2014 at 8PM and is set to close on Saturday, March 1, 2014 at 8PM.

Trap Door Theatre will present 'Judith, A Parting of the Body', written by Howard Barker and directed by Zeljko Djukic, featuring Kevin Cox, Stacie Beth Green, Nicole Wiesner.

Olney Theatre Center proudly announces the return of legendary star of stage and screen Sir Ian McKellen, making his musical comedy debut in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying as the "Book Voice", narrating the action in the Tony-winning musical. Former Artistic Director Jim Petosa, who produced McKellen's first appearance at Olney, has signed on to voice the show's "TV Announcer". How to Succeed is known for having voiceover parts often recorded by recognizable voices including broadcast journalists Walter Cronkite (1995 Broadway revival) and Anderson Cooper (2011 Broadway revival).

Academy Award, Tony Award and Emmy Award winner Christopher Plummer takes the stage for 16 performances only in a Center Theatre Group special event, "A Word or Two," which opens at the CTG/Ahmanson Theatre tomorrow, January 22, 2014. Written and arranged by Plummer and directed by Tony Award winner Des McAnuff, "A Word or Two" is presented in association with the Stratford Festival of Canada and continues through February 9, 2014. Scroll down for a sneak peek at Plummer onstage!

Academy Award, Tony Award and Emmy Award winner Christopher Plummer takes the stage for 16 performances only in a Center Theatre Group special event, 'A Word or Two,' which opens at the CTG/Ahmanson Theatre on Wednesday, January 22, 2014. Written and arranged by Plummer and directed by Tony Award winner Des McAnuff, 'A Word or Two' is presented in association with the Stratford Festival of Canada and continues through February 9, 2014.

Orlando Shakespeare Theater in Partnership with UCF is thrilled to present the epic theatrical event The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Parts I and II. Written by David Edgar and adapted from the novel by Charles Dickens, the production is produced in Collaboration with Theatre UCF. Co-directed by Artistic Director Jim Helsinger and Theatre UCF Chair/Artistic Director Christopher Niess, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Parts I & II is presented in rotating repertory from today, January 22 to March 9, 2014 at the John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center in Loch Haven Park.

Dame Judi Dench is being considered for the elderly version of Mon Mothma, the senator who co-ordinated and gave the Rebel Alliance briefing in J.J. Abrams' upcoming 'Star Wars: Episode VII.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) announces casting for Short Shakespeare! A Midsummer Night's Dream, a 75-minute abridged production of William Shakespeare's whimsical comedy of misplaced young passions and magical mischief. This new adaptation by Jeff Award-winning director David H. Bell provides a quality, family-friendly introduction to Shakespeare with special opportunities for audiences to interact with the actors at every performance. In addition to public performances each Saturday, this production will welcome 1,000 students each day to the Theater's home on Navy Pier during its five-week run in the Courtyard Theater, followed by a tour to schools across the Midwest. Short Shakespeare! A Midsummer Night's Dream will be performed for the public Saturdays at 11:00 a.m. from February 22 to March 22 in CST's Courtyard Theater. After each performance, the actors remain on stage for a brief question-and-answer session, before joining the audience in the Lobby for one-on-one conversations and photo opportunities.

James I, James II and James III - are a new cycle of history plays by award-winning playwright Rona Munro and directed by Laurie Sansom, Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Scotland, which are to be presented in an unprecedented co-production by the National Theatre of Scotland, Edinburgh International Festival and the National Theatre of Great Britain, during the Edinburgh International Festival in August and at the National Theatre in London from September to October.

Frank Kafka's terrifying but bizarrely comic story Metamorphosis bursts onto the stage in a theatrically explosive new version by renowned British playwright and director David Farr (Associate Director of Royal Shakespeare Company) and actor/director Gisli Örn Gardarsson, of the award-winning Icelandic theatre company Vesturport.

Turn to Flesh Productions presents the world premiere of Cupid & Psyche: A New Play in Blank Verse written and directed by Emily C. A. Snyder running at The Barrow Group Theatre beginningFebruary 13th. The cast features James Parenti, Erin Nelson, Laura Hill, Gwen Sisco, Parker Madison, Stanley Burturla, Laura Iris Hill, Kelly Zekas, Patrick Marran and Jon Adam Ross.

Actors From The London Stage, an international touring theater troupe based in London and the University of Notre Dame in the U.S., will be in residency at Rice University February 18-20.

Trustus Theatre is bringing Bruce Norris' Pulitzer Prize, Tony, and Olivier Award-winning comedy Clybourne Park to the Thigpen Main Stage. This show, a response to Lillian Hellman's A Raisin in the Sun, is a provocative and humorous look at racial relations and reactions in America. Clybourne Park is directed by award-winning guest director Jim O'Connor, and opens on the Thigpen Main Stage Friday January 24th at 8:00pm. The show runs through February 8th, 2014. Tickets may be purchased at www.trustus.org.

Anthony Freud, general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, announced today that the company will present a new production of Richard Wagner's monumental four-opera masterpiece, Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) starting in 2016-17.

Natascha McElhone will play Alex Forrest in the world stage premiere of Fatal Attraction. Written by James Dearden and directed by Trevor Nunn, Fatal Attraction will open at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on 25 March 2014, with previews on 8 March and is booking to 21 June 2014. Designs are by Rob Jones with lighting by Paul Pyant and sound by Paul Groothuis.

The Trap Door Theatre presents JUDITH, A PARTING FROM THE BODY, written by Howard Barker and directed by Zeljko Djukic. The cast features Kevin Cox, Stacie Beth Green, and Nicole Wiesner. The show will open on Thursday, January 23, 2014 at 8PM and is set to close on Saturday, March 1, 2014 at 8PM.

Following its critically acclaimed 2009 engagement in the Royal National Theatre in London, Martin Crimp's new translation of Ferdinand Bruckner's 'Pains of Youth' will finally have its New York premiere in a production of The Cake Shop Theater Company at the Access Theater, 380 Broadway, February 13 to March 2.

Jamie Wilson, Paul Elliott and Duncan C Weldon for Triumph Entertainment are delighted to present the World Premiere of 'Robin Cousins' ICE - The Skating Stage Experience', on national tour opening at Southampton Mayflower Theatre today, 15 January 2014.

Sir Ian McKellen, star of Broadway's No Man's Land & Waiting for Godot, co-published a letter to Vladimir Putin on the rights of Russia's gay citizens.

Rehearsal begins today at Chicago Shakespeare Theater CST) for an unprecedented pairing of productions that will illuminate the work of composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim: Gypsy (CST's Courtyard Theater, February 6-March 23) and Road Show (Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare, March 13-May 4), both directed by CST Associate Artistic Director Gary Griffin.