Shakespeare & Company News

A musical now playing on Broadway, a coproduction between two San Diego theaters, a musical staged with a local high school and two homegrown festivals were honored by the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Monday at its 2013 Craig Noel Awards.

The Bushwick Starr will present a collaboration between stage and film director Daniel Fish and dance and theater artist Andrew Dinwiddie. Using nearly seven weeks of residency time at the Bushwick Starr, and in collaboration with actor T. Ryder Smith (War Horse, Passion Play) and designers Blanca Añon (ETERNAL, Owned) and Daniel Kluger (Nikolai and the Others, A Map of Virtue), they will create PHIL. 176 / OBIT, an episodic performance installation that draws simultaneously on the text of Shelly Kagan's renowned Yale College philosophy course, 'PHIL 176: Death,'* and on current American obituaries and death notices.

Michael Pennington, two-time Olivier Award nominee, an artist of international stature and one of England's greatest classical actors, will play the title role in William Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear directed by Arin Arbus. For the second production in Theatre for a New Audience's inaugural season at its first permanent home, the new Polonsky Shakespeare Center, 262 Ashland Place in Brooklyn, Mr. Pennington leads a company of 22 actors. King Lear begins previews March 14 for an opening March 27 and a run through May 4.

The Royal Shakespeare Company will tour Henry IV Parts I and II, Shakespeare's celebrated history plays, to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Norwich, Salford, Bradford, Bath and Canterbury between September - November 2014. The productions will take to the road after a season at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon between March - September 2014, and before playing at the Barbican in London between November 2014 - January 2015.

The Public Theater will begin performances for ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA on Tuesday, February 18 in The Public's Anspacher Theater, the culmination of the international collaboration between The Public Theater, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Miami's GableStage. ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA is directed and edited by Tarell Alvin McCraney with Joaquina Kalukango as Cleopatra and Jonathan Cake as Mark Antony. This rarely-seen Shakespearean tragedy will run through Sunday, March 23, with an official press opening on Wednesday, March 5. Single tickets can be purchased by calling (212) 967-7555, www.publictheater.org, or in person at the Taub Box Office at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street.

Gulfshore Playhouse will present the hilarious-whodunit-meets-screwball comedy, Ken Ludwig's The Game's Afoot February 21st through March 16th, with a $25 preview performance on February 20th.

The Atlanta Shakespeare Company at The New American Shakespeare Tavern presents Much Ado About Nothing (in repertory), running tonight, February 8, 13, 20, 23, March 1, 7, 13, 16, 22, 28, 2014 (in repertory). Directed by J. Tony Brown.

The UK's very finest spoken word talent descends on Deptford with astonishing feats of breakneck poetry. Featuring an all-star line-up of guest artists, as well as a razor sharp Headline Poem cooked up in response to the day's news events, Classic Corner, showcasing verse of yesteryear for audiences to test their poetic knowledge, and well-loved anthems on the decks, the Albany's Chill Pill nights present an eclectic mix of original works, re-spun classics and cutting edge underground poetry.

Dorks in Dungeons LIVE! Onstage, the dice-rolling fantasy improv comedy show will hold their once-monthly show Sunday Feb 23 at 7pm at the Seacoast Repertory Theatre This month, they continue their absurd ongoing adventure in a two hour comedy extravaganza. This month they are joined by guest improviser Timothy Jacobs, a local actor and fixture of Seven Stages Shakespeare Company. Local game-makers Games by Playdate will be running demonstrations of some of their games for guests during the social hour prior to the show

Pioneer Theatre Company presents the charming Shakespearean comedy Much Ado About Nothing, February 21 through March 8, 2014.

Orlando Shakspeare's 25th Anniversary promised to be its biggest season yet. It's finally time to see what all the buzz is about. Totaling 6.5 hours, the hyped mega-spectacle THE LIFE & ADVENTURES OF NICHOLAS NICKLEBY lives up to its name. Make no mistake, it's a big production, but with the talented cast it does not feel like you're watching a lifetime.

This was the headline that inspired Fringe First winning director Emma Callander (Associate Director of the Traverse Theatre and Co-Artistic Director of Theatre Uncut) and writer Tom Wainwright (Muscle, Pedestrian and Buttercup) to create Banksy: The Room In the Elephant.

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd announces the cast and creative team for the world premiere of a new comedy by Theresa Rebeck, Fool. In Rebeck's new comedy, two kings get together and place a wager on their fools - a jester competition, and the funniest one gets to keep his head. Two evil minions have a lot to say about this, but not as much as the kitchen wench. And what's the queen been up to all night? A dramatical comical farcical tragical play about power, love and laughter, set in a medieval kitchen. Adult Language, Adult Situations, Beheadings.

Seattle's Best Damn Happy Hour, 5 p.m. - 8 p.m., the third Thursday of each month, celebrates its One-Year Anniversary on Thursday, Feb. 20, with a Giant Jenga Competition beginning at 6 p.m. in Seattle Center Armory.

MATILDA THE MUSICAL, produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Dodgers, announced today that a North American Tour will commence in May 2015. After technical rehearsals and performances in New Haven at the Shubert Theater, the tour officially opens at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles and includes the SHN Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco, Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre and Dallas' AT&T Performing Arts Center among others in the first season. Full touring schedule and casting will be announced at a later date.

Shakespeare & Company has announced its 34th annual Northeast Regional Tour of Shakespeare, which will bring the beloved romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet to over 50 schools and theatres throughout New England, New York, and New Jersey this spring.

In response to the overwhelming demand, ImprovBoston announces a second show for Chicago-based, nationally acclaimed Improvised Shakespeare Company at 9:30pm on Monday, February 17. The Improvised Shakespeare Company will create a fully improvised, fully comedic Shakespearean masterpiece using Shakespeare's themes and language to bring an unforgettable evening of off-the-cuff comedy. Nothing has been planned out, rehearsed, or written. The night could reveal a tragedy, comedy, or history. Each play is completely improvised; each play is entirely new.

Screen Actors Guild Foundation and Broadway World have partnered for an filmed Conversations Q&A series to recognize and celebrate the vibrant theatre community in New York City and the union actors who aspire to have a career on the stage and screen. The most recent conversation featured stage and screen titans Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, moderated by BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge. Check out Part 1 of the conversation HERE and Part 2 below!