Shakespeare & Company News

The Lyric Hammersmith today announces its Spring 2016 Season. They will present the first professional production of Simon Stephen's HERONS since the play premiered at the Royal Court in 2001, directed by the Lyric's Artistic Director Sean Holmes. This is followed by the return of their co- production with Filter Theatre of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM last staged in 2012. Whilst the Royal Opera will present, two contemporary operas, PLEASURE by Mark Simpson featuring well-known British soprano Lesley Garrett and the world premiere of Sarah Kane's 4:48 PSYCHOSIS by Philip Venables, both presented in association with the Lyric.

Joseph V. Melillo, executive producer of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, today announced programming for the 2016 Winter/Spring Season. The season runs from January 16 through June 12 and comprises theater, dance, music, opera and visual art events in the institution's three venues-the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, the BAM Harvey Theater, and the BAM Fisher.

BAM has confirmed plans for Royal Shakespeare Company's productions of William Shakespeare's history plays, RICHARD II; HENRY IV Parts I and II; and HENRY V, all directed by RSC Artistic Director Gregory Doran, to be performed in repertory at the BAM Harvey Theater from Mar 24 through May 1, 2016. KING AND COUNTRY: SHAKESPEARE'S GREAT CYCLE OF KINGS is a worldwide theatrical event marking the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, with performances at BAM, London's Barbican, and in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.

Dan Fredenburgh (Tom), Erik Odom (Tim), Charlotte Parry (Tina) and Stephen Tompkinson (Teddy) comprise the full cast for Pig Farm, running at the St. James Theatre from tonight 21 October until 21 November, with press night on 28 October.

Custom Made Theatre Company plunges into virtual romantic comedy reality with Madhuri Shekar's award-winning Jane Austin meets Cyrano meets online gaming in 'In Love and Warcraft,' November 12 through December 12 at the company's new location, the Custom Made Theatre at 533 Sutter St. (at Powell) just north of Union Square.

Amphibian Stage Productions (Kathleen Culebro, Artistic Director) has announced the creative team for its third developmental staged reading of the 2015 season, Daedalus by David Davalos.

Based on Rattigan's experiences as a tail gunner during World War II, Flare Path paints an evocative portrait of life in wartime Britain for the life-and-death existence of the RAF bomber crews, and their wives and sweethearts who were left waiting their return.  

Gloucester Stage proudly presents the world premiere of Lucas Baisch's A Measure of Normalcy from October 22 through November 1 at 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA.

SPECTRE's Daniel Craig and SELMA's David Oyelowo will team on stage for an off-Broadway production of OTHELLO next fall. A

Karen Carpenter (Delia & Nora Ephron's Love Loss and What I Wore) will helm three special presentations of CHASING THE RIVER in Midtown Manhattan tonight, October 19th at 6:30PM and tomorrow, October 20th at 12:30PM and 4:30PM.

New production images of the cast of the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Matilda The Musical are now available. Evie Hone and Lizzie Wells have joined Anna-Louise Knight and Lara McDonnell in the title role, alongside Michael Begley (Mr Wormwood), Miria Parvin (Miss Honey) and Rebecca Thornhill (Mrs Wormwood). Craige Els will continue in the role of Miss Trunchbull. Matilda The Musical, which celebrates its 4th birthday on Sunday 25 October, is now booking at the Cambridge Theatre until 18 December 2016.

MARILYN: FOREVER BLONDE, a one-woman play with music, starring Sunny Thompson, is coming to the Fox Performing Arts Center in Riverside. The show will run for one performance at 8 pm, on Saturday, October 24, 2015, as part of the Broadway in Riverside series. Sunny Thompson stars as Marilyn Monroe. Playwright Greg Thompson developed the script from Marilyn Monroe's own words.

Like many from my generation, our love of screen icon Marilyn Monroe made her a star and continues to keep the flame of her incredibly hot sexual appeal alive. And while I have seen several performers take on the role. The amazing Sunny Thompson fully embodies the heart and soul, not just the heat and breathy voice we associate with the woman who encapsulated what a woman was supposed to look like long before the Kardasians were even born. Sunny Thompson truly embodies her look and voice, and seemingly channels the tortured, playful soul of Hollywood's greatest star.

Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company (MJTC) is pleased to announce the opening of The Twenty-Seventh Man, a new work by Nathan Englander. This regional premiere runs from tonight, October 17, through November 8 at MJTC's theater home in the Highland Park Community Center, 1978 Ford Parkway, St. Paul, MN 55116.

The Old Vic presents Bertie Carvel in Richard Jones' new production of THE HAIRY APE, the second production in Matthew Warchus' opening season as Artistic Director. THE HAIRY APE opens on 29 October, with previews from tonight 17 October, and will see The Old Vic theatre transformed back to its original proscenium arch layout.

William Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, a riveting and bloody tragedy about the high cost of revenge, will be presented by Chesapeake Shakespeare Company in Baltimore this Halloween season, October 23 - November 15, 2015.

One young couple (Brooke Bishop and Daniel Landberg) drove for 30 days, through 20 states, interviewing 50 happy couples about their relationships. How Love Lasts brings these couples' true stories to life on stage in an intimate, 50-seat setting.

The Theatre School at DePaul University (John Culbert, Dean) is pleased to present The 2015 Awards for Excellence in the Arts gala on Monday, November 9, 2015, in the Atlantic Ballroom of the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel. The Radisson Blu is located at 221 North Columbus Drive. The event will begin with a 6 PM cocktail reception, followed by dinner and program at 7 PM, and will conclude with a dessert reception.

Kansas City Repertory Theatre continues its 2015-16 season and its commitment to the creation of unforgettable new plays with the WORLD PREMIERE of Blueprints to Freedom: An Ode to Bayard Rustin, written by and starring Michael Benjamin Washington and directed by the critically acclaimed Lucie Tiberghien. This story is more than relevant. It's riveting. Those who stand up for equality in 2015 are following in the footsteps of Bayard Rustin, the lesser known but powerfully influential civil rights leader who orchestrated the March on Washington and stepped forward himself as an openly gay man at a time when few had the courage to do so. In this ode, an exiled Rustin masterminds 'a tribute to the ancestors' 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. This exciting production begins tonight, Oct. 16 and runs through Sunday, Nov. 15 at KC Rep's Copaken Stage in the Power & Light District in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

A Contemporary Theatre is thrilled to present the imaginative dark comedy of MR. BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY by Anne Washburn (The Internationalist, A Devil At Noon, and The Small). Spanning several years to several decades after the end of the world, survivors must begin again to create a new society. As the survivors bond by recounting the popular 'Cape Feare' episode of The Simpsons, the story evolves into its own mythos.