Shakespeare Theatre Company News

Fresh off its world-premiere run in Minneapolis, where Star Tribune declared "Akeelah and the Bee triumphs," Children's Theatre Company's new production about an 11-year-old spelling prodigy comes to Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. The show is adapted for the stage by veteran playwright Cheryl L. West (Arena's Pullman Porter Blues, Jar the Floor), who partners with celebrated director Charles Randolph-Wright (director of Broadway's Motown and an inaugural resident playwright with Arena Stage, where he premiered his play Love in Afghanistan). Akeelah and the Bee runs November 13-December 27, 2015 in the Kreeger Theater.

Olney Theatre Center, a Mid-Atlantic destination for extraordinary theater performance and education, opens its 2015-2016 season with Noel Coward's Hay Fever, running September 2 - September 27, 2015 on the Mainstage, directed by Artistic Associate Eleanor Holdridge.  Check out a first look below!

Yale Repertory Theatre opens its 2015-16 season with the world premiere of INDECENT, a new play with music, written by Paula Vogel, created by Paula Vogel and Rebecca Taichman, and directed by Rebecca Taichman, at the University Theatre (222 York Street), October 2-24. Opening Night is Thursday, October 8. The world premiere of INDECENT is a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse, where it will play November 13-December 10.

Washington, DC - theatreWashington unveils a groundbreaking network of ticketing discounts to mark theatreWeek 2015, a celebration of live theatre that spans the capital region and is personified by exclusive ticket discounts offered by more than 50 professional theatres.

BroadwayWorld has just learned that Broadway and Australian stage vet Anthony Warlow, who is currently starring  as 'Charles Frohman' and 'Captain Hook' in FINDING NEVERLAND, will remain in the show longer than expected. Warlow, who was previously sceduled to end his run on September 13, will continue through September 27.

This fall, RLT will expand its adult acting classes, which take students through the process of preparing for the stage and help build skills useful in everyday life. The line-up includes a diverse slate of classes, including Public Speaking - On the Light Side! and Introduction to Improvisation. For the first time, RLT will partner with the CAM Raleigh to offer a course, Acting for Creative Entrepreneurs, at the museum. The class runs from October 5-26 on Monday nights and is taught by Patrick Torres, Artistic Director, who also directed the hit production of Monty Python's SPAMALOT currently running at RLT.

Quintessence Theatre Group launches its sixth season of progressive classic theatre with Shakespeare's romantic tragedy ROMEO AND JULIET presented in rotating repertory with Wallace Shawn's celebrated translation of Machiavelli's sex comedy THE MANDRAKE. A nine actor repertory ensemble comprised of Quintessence's best and director Alexander Burns will continue to establish Quintessence's brand of full throttle epic classic theatre for today. ROMEO AND JULIET will begin previews on Wednesday, September 30 at 7pm and open on Saturday, October 3 at 8pm.  THE MANDRAKE will begin previews on Wednesday, October 14 at 7pm and open on Saturday, October 17 at 8pm. All performances are at the Sedgwick Theater, 7137 Germantown Ave in Mt Airy, Philadelphia, 19119. To purchase tickets visit www.QuintessenceTheatre.org or call 215.987.4450.

Next up on the Main Stage, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey will present the New Jersey premiere of Bill Cain's Equivocation. When the Bard and his troupe of players receive a royal commission to dramatize the events surrounding the infamous Gunpowder Plot, the artist must confront the demons of his past, his present, and his obligations to the truth and artistic integrity. Equivocation was described in Variety as "one of the most bracingly intelligent, sizzlingly theatrical American plays in a decade."

Tony Award-winning playwright Lisa Kron will be a featured guest and participant at the launch party of the Women's Voices Theater Festival on September 8 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The invitation-only event kicks off the beginning of the Festival, an unprecedented collaboration among professional theater companies that includes the presentation of more than 50 world-premiere productions of work by female playwrights, taking place this September and October in the nation's capital region. The launch party features a creative conversation between Kron and National Public Radio's Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg focused on gender parity in the arts in the Museum's Performance Hall, followed by a celebratory party and toast to officially declare the start of the Festival.

The Joyce Theater Foundation, Linda Shelton Executive Director, proudly kicks-off its 2015 fall season on September 22 with a world premiere by Camille A. Brown & Dancers. The work, BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play, will be performed by an all-female cast during the company's week-long engagement at The Joyce, which runs through September 27. Tickets are $10-$40 and can be purchased through JoyceCharge online at www.joyce.org or by calling 212-242-0800. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street.   

54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents La-Ti-Do on September 1, 2015 at 9:30pm. La-Ti-Do is a cabaret where musical theatre and spoken word poetry collide. La-Ti-Do debuts at 54 Below featuring some of both Washington, DC and New York's finest musical and spoken word talent.

THE GOD GAFFE, a new play by John William Schiffbauer, will make its world premiere in the 2015 New York International Fringe Festival.

One of the capital's most beloved annual traditions, the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) Free For All, and one of William Shakespeare's most beloved plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream, are coming together for a major milestone: Free For All's 25th anniversary. Ethan McSweeny directs a revival of his 2012-2013 STC production, which will run September 1-13 at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW).

Burning Coal Theatre Company of Raleigh, NC announces its 2015/2016 season of plays. In its 19th season, the theatre, housed in the historic Murphy School auditorium at 224 Polk Street, will host the Brooklyn based Only Child Aerial Theatre's Production of Asylum created by Nicki Miller and Kendall Rileigh and directed by Nicki Miller (October 15 - November 1, 2015), The Wiz by William F Brown, Charles Smalls and Luther Vandross, directed by Randolph Curtis Rand (December 3 - December 20, 2015), The US premier of Blue Sky by Clare Bayley, directed by Gus Heagerty and co-produced by CAM/Raleigh (January 28 - February 14, 2016 at CAM/Raleigh), and the American premier of Spoonface Steinberg by Lee Hall, the writer of Billy Elliot, directed by Jerome Davis (April 7 - April 24, 2016).

Olney Theatre Center, a Mid-Atlantic destination for extraordinary theater performance and education, opens its 2015-2016 season with Noel Coward's Hay Fever, running September 2 - September 27, 2015 on the Mainstage, directed by Artistic Associate Eleanor Holdridge.

Karen Zacarias' new telenovela-inspired comedy Destiny of Desire receives its world premiere at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, kicking off the company's 66th season with dramatic storytelling and comic flair. Zacarias, an inaugural resident playwright of the theater's American Voices New Play Institute whose previous credits include The Book Club Play and Legacy of Light, collaborates with renowned director Jose Luis Valenzuela, Artistic Director of the Latino Theater Company, to bring the Latin-American telenovela genre to life on stage. Destiny of Desire runs September 11-October 18, 2015 in the Kreeger Theater.

Upcoming Equity Auditions from Sunday, July 26, 2015.

The brand-new Lexington Theatre Company is thrilled to announce that casting is complete for its inaugural production of 42nd Street. Tony Award Winner Karen Ziemba, will play Dorothy Brock, alongside other Broadway veterans and up-and-coming actors. 42nd Street is presented by Variety Live at The Opera House with Co-Producing Sponsor Kentucky One Health, and runs tonight, July 23, through July 26 at the Lexington Opera House.

THE GOD GAFFE, a new play by John William Schiffbauer, will make its world premiere in the 2015 New York International Fringe Festival.

Upcoming Equity Auditions from Sunday, July 19, 2015.