Second Stage News

Kindling Theatre Company has announced the World Premiere of TAKE ME BACK, written by Emily Schwend and directed by Jay Stull. TAKE ME BACK begins performances on Friday, February 28 for a limited engagement through Saturday, March 22. Opening Night is Wednesday, March 5 at 8 PM. The performance schedule is Wednesday - Saturday at 8 PM, with added performances on Monday, March 3 and Tuesday, March 4 at 8 PM. Performances are at Walkerspace (46 Walker Street, between Broadway and Church Streets). Tickets are $18 and are available by calling SmartTix at (212) 868-4444 or visiting www.smarttix.com.

Mint Theater's next production, London Wall by John Van Druten, featuring Julia Coffey, Katie Gibson, Matthew Gumley, Jonathan Hogan, Laurie Kennedy, Elise Kibler, Stephen Plunkett, Christopher Sears, and Alex Trow will begin performances tomorrow, Saturday February 1st and continue through March 30th. Opening Night is set for Monday February 24th (7pm) at Mint's home (311 West 43rd Street). This will be the American premiere of John Van Druten's 'rivetingly entertaining' (The Guardian) romantic drama.

Performances of Off-Broadway's tastiest new musical The Chocolate Show! begin Saturday, February 1 at 8pm with an official opening set for Valentine's Day, February 14 at 7pm at the 47th Street Theatre, 304 West 47th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues. The Chocolate Show! is written by Alan Golub (book, music and lyrics) & Laura Goldfader (book and music), with direction by Dan Foster, choreography by Grady McLeod Bowman and under the music direction of Jeffrey Klitz. Tickets for The Chocolate Show! are $39.50 - $59.50 and can be arranged online at www.ticketcentral.com or by calling 212.279.4200 or at the TicketCentral Box Office located at 416 West 42nd Street. The 47th Street Theatre box office (304 West 47th Street) will open 30 minutes before each performance.

Halfway thru its' 81st season, the Bergen County Players (BCP) continues its' 'From Page to Stage' season theme with its' presentation of Around The World In 80 Days. Under the direction of Ray Yucis, Around The World In 80 Days will be performed at the Little Firehouse Theatre in Oradell from February 15th through March 8th. Friday and Saturday performances are at 8 pm and Sunday performances are at 2 pm. Tickets can be purchased online at www.bcplayers.org, by calling 201-261-4200 or by visiting the box office at 298 Kinderkamack Road during regular box office hours.

IAMA Theatre Company has announced the Los Angeles premiere of The Recommendation, written by Jonathan Caren and directed by Laura Savia, at Theatre Asylum in Hollywood. There will be two lower-priced preview performances on Thursday, February 6 and Friday, February 7 at 8pm, and opening is set for Saturday, February 8 at 8pm. The Recommendation will play a limited engagement through March 9 only.

VOW is an inaugural and extremely ambitious musical theatre workshop being presented by the Marymount Manhattan College Musical Theatre Program (Pat Hoag Simon, Coordinator for Musical Theatre) and The Directory Of Contemporary Musical Theatre Writers (David Sisco, Founder & Curator) that opens wide the creative process of the Broadway musical theatre industry to twenty very fortunate musical theatre students currently enrolled in Marymount Manhattan College's progressive Musical Theatre Program.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre announces the world premiere of The House that will not Stand, a historical comedic drama commissioned from award-winning poet-playwright and Oakland native Marcus Gardley. Sensuous, witty, heartbreaking, and uplifting - The House that will not Stand unearths a story about free women of color in 1836 New Orleans, where black Creole women entered into common-law marriages with affluent white men. When her wealthy lover mysteriously dies, Beartrice Albans' foundation of security hangs precariously by a thread. She is left to fend for her three unwed daughters in a world where freedom must be carefully negotiated. Told in a rich and lyrical river of words, this new play was developed through The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep's Center for the Creation and Development of New Work. It's helmed by Patricia McGregor, whose many credits include the celebrated production of Spunk at California Shakespeare Theater. The House that will not Stand begins previews on Berkeley Rep's intimate Thrust Stage today, January 31, opens on Wednesday, February 5 and runs through Sunday, March 16, 2014.

At a press conference held at Barrington Stage Company's Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, Artistic Director Julianne Boyd announced the theater's 20th Anniversary 2014 season of musicals and plays that will take place in downtown Pittsfield in the Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, St. Germain Stage and Youth Theatre venues in 2014.

San Francisco Playhouse presents the world premiere commission of Bauer by Bay Area playwright Lauren Gunderson.

The Huntington Theatre Company announces that the 2014 Breaking Ground festival of new plays will be held today, January 30 - February 2 at the Huntington's home for new work, the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA.

Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company will present THE LAST FIVE YEARS, with Music and Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, at Hillcrest Center Theater from February 8 - March 2, 2014. Audio Described Performance on Sunday, February 16, 2014 at 1 pm.

Tony nominee Daniel Breaker just announced via Twitter that he will soon join the cast of THE BOOK OF MORMON as tribal chief 'Mafala.' He writes: I'm pleased to join the @BookofMormon this Feb on B'way!!! Come see me play Mafala in this absolutely hilarious show!!! #LoveMormon'. Breaker will replace original cast member Michael Potts.

Solo performer Jill Vice brings her 'Best of Fringe' award-winning show TIPPED & TIPSY to The Marsh. A hilarious and touching send-up of American bar culture, TIPPED & TIPSY plays March 1 - April 6, 2014, with performances Saturdays at 5pm and Sundays at 7pm at The Marsh Studio Theater at 1062 Valencia Street. (Press opening is Sunday, March 9.) For tickets ($15-$50), the public may visit www.themarsh.org or call 415-282-3055 between 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday.

The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has announced 10 Finalists for its prestigious playwriting award, now celebrating its thirty-sixth year. Chosen from over 100 submitted plays, the Finalists are

Actors' Equity Association ('AEA' or Equity) and its Eastern Region Equal Employment Opportunity Committee, together with First Corinthian Baptist Church and Executive Producer and Artistic Producer Project1Voice present 'FOUR LITTLE GIRLS: BIRMINGHAM 1963,' a one night only staged reading event to be held on Monday, February 3rd at 7:30pm at First Corinthian Baptist Church (1912 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., between West 115th & 116th Streets, Harlem NYC). This Black History Month event is free and open to the public (doors open at 6:45pm; ticketing and entry will be handled on-site, day of show, on a first-come, first-served basis) and will be sign-language-interpreted for theatregoers who are deaf or hard of hearing. A panel discussion will take place immediately following the reading.

The 12th Annual Seattle Festival of Improv Theater (SFIT) is February 19 - 23and features 22 groups from across North America. Local productions like Uncle Mike Ruins Christmas, Skid Road, Improsia and Where No Man Has Gone Beforewill appear alongside nationally and internationally renowned groups like Pimprov(Chicago), The Five Deadly Improvisers (San Francisco), Frankenmatt (Los Angeles) and many more.

Laughter is coming from the stage floor when Bristol Riverside Theatre presents Neil Simon's sidesplitting comedy Laughter on the 23rd Floor on March 18-April 13. Directed by Keith Baker, the ensemble cast features K.O. Delmarcelle, David Edwards, Bruce Graham, Benjamin Lloyd, Megan McDermott, Jason Silverman, and Carl N. Wallnau.

Manhattan Theatre Club will present its annual Winter Benefit, an evening of cocktails and dinner followed by a special one-night-only cabaret-style show featuring Broadway's brightest stars on Monday, February 3, 2014 at The Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Fredrick P. Rose Hall (Broadway & 60th Street).

The quintessential portrait of maniacal ambition and lust for power is on stage in William Shakespeare's epic history play Richard III at Folger Theatre. Robert Richmond