Second Stage News

MODERN TERRORISM, OR THEY WHO WANT TO KILL US AND HOW WE LEARN TO LOVE THEM is offering a limited number of special post hurricane $10 student and $20 general admission tickets to the final six performance at Second Stage Theatre's Tony Kiser Theatre (305 W 43rd St). The final performances are as follows: Thursday, November 1 at 8pm, Friday, November 2 at 8pm, Saturday, November 3 at 2pm and 8pm, and Sunday, November 4 at 2pm and 7pm.

Hurricane Sandy has caused the cancellation of much of New York's theatre over the past few days. While most shows on Broadway are returning to their normal performance schedules beginning today, many of the city's off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway theatres are still struggling. Performances at The Public Theater, La MaMa, The Flea and more have been cancelled. Check the list below for the latest - and check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Berkeley's acclaimed Aurora Theatre Company presents a "house" concert for the holidays with Nell Robinson and Jim Nunally in A DOWN HOME CHRISTMAS WITH NELL & JIM. This intimate show inaugurates Aurora Theatre Company's second stage cabaret performance space, Harry's UpStage, located in the Nell and Jules Dashow Wing. A DOWN HOME CHRISTMAS WITH NELL & JIM plays for eight performances only, December 13-21 at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley.

Long Wharf Theatre, under the leadership of Artistic Director Gordon Edelstein and Managing Director Joshua Borenstein, present The Killing of Sister George, by Frank Marcus and adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher, directed by and starring Kathleen Turner.

Television and stage star Jane Kaczmarek and Culture Clash co-founder/actor/writer Herbert Siguenza will host the 2012 LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards Ceremony on Monday, November 12, at the historic Los Angeles Theatre in downtown LA. The curtain will rise at 7:30pm.

Midwest New Musicals continues Words and Music, its concert reading series of original musicals, with WANTING MISS JULIE, book by John Sparks, lyrics by Patricia Zehentmayr and music by Jake Anthony, on Monday, November 19, at 7:30 PM at the Light Opera Works Second Stage at 1420 Maple (at Lake) in Evanston. Tickets are $15, available at Light Opera Works box office: (847) 920-5360 or at the door.

Rare Terra Theatre follows its Chicago premiere of David Hirson's Wrong Mountain with Disfunctioning: Two by Ionesco at The Second Stage, 3408 North Sheffield, November 5 - December 15. The production, comprised of acclaimed playwright Eugene Ionesco's one acts The Lesson and Jack or The Submission is directed by Rare Terra founding member Dragan Torbica. Press opening is Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. Regular performance dates and times are Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m. Previews are Monday, Nov. 5 and Tuesday, Nov. 6 at 8 p.m. Ticket prices range from $18 - $28 and can be purchased at www.rareterratheatre.com or call 773.305.5643.

Theatres are usually dark on Monday nights, but several times each year Berkeley Repertory Theatre makes them glow with Page to Stage, a series of talks that engage brilliant guests in sparkling conversation. Today, the Tony Award-winning theatre announced that noted theatre journalist Chad Jones will moderate a chat with Tony Award-winning director Mary Zimmerman at a free event on November 12. From Metamorphoses to The Arabian Nights, audiences have embraced Zimmerman's enchanting adaptations of epic tales. Now they can peek behind the scenes of The White Snake as it begins performances at Berkeley Rep.

Four weeks before the premiere of ROCKY - THE MUSICAL, its ensemble and a live German orchestra present songs from the show. Broadway's Terence Archie sings for the first time as an actor in German and talks about getting into character in the video below!

When Ben Rimalower was eight years old, his father came out of the closet and embarked on a drug-fueled tear that left his family in tatters. Amid the chaos of his young life, Ben found comfort-like so many gay boys before him and after-in musical theater, and specifically in the transportive voice of Broadway star Patti LuPone. Get a preview of Rimalower's show PATTI ISSUES in this new clip below!

Producer David Youse and Four Things Productions in association with L.A. Works has just announced a celebrity staged reading in celebration of The 25th Anniversary of Robert Harling's Steel Magnolias to take place on Monday, 3 December 2012 at 7pm to benefit The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). This special one night only event will take place at the Lucille Lortel Theater located at 121 Christopher Street in New York City, where the original production performed. Directed by Judith Ivey and starring Blythe Danner, Annie Potts as M'Lynn, the original Truvy, Margo Martindale as Ouiser, Celia Keenan-Bolger as Shelby and Sarah Stiles as Annelle. Additional cast announced soon! Music for this production has been generously donated by Bonnie Raitt and Pat Boone. With support from the 25th Anniversary Honorary Committee including Olympia Dukakis, Sally Field, Daryl Hannah, Shirley MacLaine, Dolly Parton and Julia Roberts and sponsored by Lifetime Television, Magnolia Bakery and Veranda Restaurant. A VIP reception with the cast and crew will follow this special performance.

Anne Frank's remarkable diary has become an essential tool for understanding one of the darkest periods of our history - and one of the most beautiful, haunting stories in our shared experience. The play is dramatized from the book by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. Making her Rep directorial debut, KJ Sanchez will direct the play. The cast features Associate Artists Jonathan Gillard Daly, Laura Gordon, Lee E. Ernst, James Pickering and Deborah Staples and guest actors J. Alexander Coe, Kelley Faulkner, Larry Neumann, Jr., and rising Chicago actress Lauren Hirte in the title role. Rep Artistic Intern Ensemble Members Jonathan Altman, Emily Berman, Jess Prichard and J.R. Yancher are also in this production. The Diary of Anne Frank runs in The Rep's Quadracci Powerhouse from October 23 - December 2 and opens Today, October 26.

Yale Repertory Theatre, in a co-production with American Repertory Theater, presents the world premiere of Marie Antoinette by David Adjmi, directed by Rebecca Taichman. Marie Antoinette will be performed at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street) October 26 through November 17. Opening Night is Thursday, November 1. The cast includes Fred Arsenault, Hannah Cabell, David Greenspan, Marin Ireland, Vin Knight, Jo Lampert, Polly Lee, Steven Rattazzi, Jake Silbermann, Teale Sperling, Brian Wiles, and Ashton Woerz.

AracaWorks, a week-long series of play readings, will return for the fifth time this December 10-14, 2012 to celebrate more new work for the theatre.

OBERON, the American Repertory Theater's second stage and club theater venue, continues its mission to bring exciting and original programming. A destination for theater and nightlife on the fringe of Harvard Square, OBERON is the home of the A.R.T.'s hit productions of The Donkey Show, Cabaret and Prometheus Bound and also a thriving incubator for local and visiting talent.

New York's newest theater company Breaking Bread Theatre, under the leadership of Co-Artistic Directors Joe Calarco and Jen Waldman, with Third Coast Creative, present a developmental lab of the new musical Ella Minnow Pea by Larson Award-winning writers Scott Burkell and Paul Loesel. The invitation-only presentations will be held tonight, October 25 - 26.

New Line Theatre, 'the bad boy of musical theatre,' now in its 22nd season of alternative, adult musical theatre, has announced its cast for the powerhouse Pulitzer Prize winning rock opera NEXT TO NORMAL, running Feb. 28-March 23, 2013 at the Washington University South Campus Theatre.

Music Theatre of Connecticut MainStage, Fairfield County's award-winning professional theatre company, opens their 2012/2013 Season with the area premiere of 'Next to Normal.' This Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning musical is currently running through November 4 at MTC Studio Theatre in Westport. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the production below.