Sean Penn News

Academy and Golden Globe Award winner Melissa Leo will join the cast of the one night only benefit staged reading of celebrated playwright Warren Leight's Tony Award-winning play Side Man, presented by Naked Angels in association with the Guild Hall. As previously announced, the reading will also star acclaimed film, television and theater star Zachary Quinto and original Broadway cast members Jeff Binder, Kevin Geer, Michael Mastro, Angelica Torn, and Tony Award winner Frank Wood. The reading will take place at Guild Hall in East Hampton, NY on Sunday, August 28 at 7pm. Proceeds will go towards Naked Angels' ongoing development of new work.

Gary Naylor reflects on the seismic shifts underway in British (well, English and Scottish) education and what it means for theatre.

Tony Award-winning actor Hal Holbrook will soon be releasing a memoir called HAROLD: The Boy Who Became Mark Twain (FSG; September 20, 2011).

On her debut CD, ‘The Dimming of the Day,' acclaimed singer/actress Anastasia Barzee reimagines an eclectic range of Broadway, pop and jazz-infused songs, and showcases a diverse array of her favorite contemporary artists including Paul Simon, Rufus Wainwright, Randy Newman, Kate Bush, Andrew Lloyd Webber and many more.

Eddie Mikrut is one of the leading lights of Nashville Ballet's professional company of dancers, taking on some of the most challenging roles in the dancer's repertory and consistently delivering awe-inspiring performances. Paired with some of the exceptional women in the company, Mikrut shows a superb command of his talent and his abilities, in so doing lifting (both literally and figuratively) the women to greater heights and showing off the various choreographic challenges cast upon him.

The Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh runs 20 July - 3 September at the Main House

The Beauty Queen of Leenane plays the Young Vic from 20 July to 3 September 2011

Ian Rickson's Royal Court Theatre production of Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem will return to London's West End for a strictly limited 14 week engagement hot on the heels of a triumphant Broadway run. Mark Rylance will reprise his Olivier and Tony award-wining performance as Johnny 'Rooster' Byron, directed by Ian Rickson. Previewing at the Apollo Theatre from 8 October 2011, with press night on 17 October, Jerusalem is booking until 14 January 2012. Designs are by Ultz, with lighting by Mimi Jordan Sherin, sound by Ian Dickinson for Autograph and music by Stephen Warbeck. Jerusalem is produced in the West End by Royal Court Theatre Productions and by Sonia Friedman Productions.

LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & UPRIGHT CABARET are thrilled to announce the performers for its fifth and final show of their second season, CALIFORNIA DREAMIN', starring vocal powerhouse JAKE SIMPSON (2x 'Star Search' Grand Champion, Oprah Winfrey Favorite), Broadway sensation JENNIFER LEIGH WARREN (Broadway: Little Shop of Horrors, Marie Christine, Big River, Regional: Having It All, The Buddy Holly Story, Diamonds Are Forvever, Cinderella - a Modern Musical Extravaganza), JULIE GARNYE, NATHAN SHRAKE and BROOKE TANSLEY, performing the music of The Mamas and The Papas, Linda Ronstadt and The Eagles.

The Tony Award winning musical, Avenue Q, will welcome two new leads to the cast, the production has announced today. On July 9 Adam Kantor (who made his Broadway debut as Mark Cohen in the closing cast of RENT on Broadway) will join AVENUE Q in the roles of Princeton and Rod. On July 20, Veronica J. Kuehn (last seen on Broadway in MAMMA MIA) will assume the roles of Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut.

LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & UPRIGHT CABARET are thrilled to announce the performers for its fifth and final show of their second season, CALIFORNIA DREAMIN', starring vocal powerhouse JAKE SIMPSON (2x 'Star Search' Grand Champion, Oprah Winfrey Favorite), Broadway sensation JENNIFER LEIGH WARREN (Broadway: Little Shop of Horrors, Marie Christine, Big River, Regional: Having It All, The Buddy Holly Story, Diamonds Are Forvever, Cinderella - a Modern Musical Extravaganza), JULIE GARNYE, NATHAN SHRAKE and BROOKE TANSLEY, performing the music of The Mamas and The Papas, Linda Ronstadt and The Eagles.

LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & UPRIGHT CABARET are thrilled to announce the performers for its fifth and final show of their second season, CALIFORNIA DREAMIN', starring vocal powerhouse JAKE SIMPSON (2x 'Star Search' Grand Champion, Oprah Winfrey Favorite), Broadway sensation JENNIFER LEIGH WARREN (Broadway: Little Shop of Horrors, Marie Christine, Big River, Regional: Having It All, The Buddy Holly Story, Diamonds Are Forvever, Cinderella - a Modern Musical Extravaganza), JULIE GARNYE, NATHAN SHRAKE and BROOKE TANSLEY, performing the music of The Mamas and The Papas, Linda Ronstadt and The Eagles.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles® (BAFTA Los Angeles) will honor Academy Award® winning writer/director John Lasseter with the Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Filmed Entertainment, and BAFTA winning director David Yates with the John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Excellence in Directing at the 2011 BAFTA Los Angeles Britannia Awards on Wednesday, November 30 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh runs 20 July - 3 September at the Main House

Who Wants Cake? and The Ringwald Theatre are proud to announce the return of its wildly popular Gay Play Series (GPS). Last year's inaugural outing was attended by hundreds of people over a single weekend. This year the festival will run over 10 days with additional programming and added festivities from June 17th through June 27th once again at The Ringwald Theatre in downtown Ferndale.

JERUSALEM, a new play by Jez Butterworth and starring Tony and Olivier Award-winner Mark Rylance opened April 21 at the Music Box Theatre (239 West 45th Street), in a production directed by Ian Rickson. JERUSALEM originally opened at The Royal Court Theatre in July, 2009 with critics praising Jez Butterworth for his beautiful and comic elegy for a disappearing way of life in rural England and actor Mark Rylance, who was lauded as delivering one of the great stage performances of our time. The production played an extended sold out run at the Royal Court, before moving to the Apollo Theatre in the West End in January, 2010, where it received an unprecedented set of five-star reviews from 12 London newspapers.