Shakespeare Theatre Company News

theatreWashington heats up the pre-holiday season with its popular showTunes & Cocktails on Mondays, November 3 and December 8, from 7 to 10 p.m., at the Beacon Bar & Grill, 1615 Rhode Island, NW in Washington DC. Happy-hour prices and a pay-what-you-can admission policy add extra incentives for an event that's sure to make theatre lovers and Broadway aficionados start the week on a high note.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, welcomes new officers and nine new members to its board of directors. Sarah Bellamy, co-artistic director of Penumbra Theatre Company, and Kevin Moriarty, artistic director of Dallas Theater Center, succeed Robert Hupp and Lydia R. Diamond as joint vice presidents. Jonathan Moscone, artistic director of California Shakespeare Theater, succeeds Ralph Bryan as secretary. Diane Rodriguez, associate artistic director of Center Theatre Group, and Tim Jennings, managing director of Children's Theatre Company, remain as president and treasurer, respectively.

Round House Theatre continues its 2014/15 season with a magical, fresh new take on a beloved classic - The Nutcracker, a new holiday musical created by Tommy Rapley, Jake Minton, Phillip Klapperich, and Kevin O'Donnell. Directed by the award-winning Joe Calarco, The Nutcracker makes its area premiere at Round House Theatre from November 26 thru December 28, 2014. Opening night is Monday, December 1, 2014.

YALE REPERTORY THEATRE presents the world premiere of WAR by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, November 21–December 13 at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street). The company opening is scheduled for Friday, November 28. The official press opening will follow on Saturday, November 29.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company and Erkiletian Development Company have announced that they have closed on the former Southeastern University building, located at 501 I Street SW. The redevelopment of the site will allow STC to consolidate rehearsal spaces, housing for artists and interns, costume and prop shops, education classrooms and administrative offices to one location.

Upcoming Equity Auditions from Sunday, October 19, 2014.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company Bard Association and the Embassy of Greece present the Trial of Lysistrata at the Lansburgh Theatre, 450 Seventh Street NW, at 7 p.m. on Monday, November 24, 2014. The trial will be followed by a cocktail reception at Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F Street NW, with Christos P. Panagopoulos, Ambassador of Greece to the U.S.A.

For his first directing project since winning the 2014 Tony Award, Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak will helm Shakespeare's masterpiece, Hamlet, playing only four weeks, from tonight, October 16 to November 16, at Hartford Stage. Hamlet follows three popular Shakespearean productions in the last two years by Tresnjak: The Tempest, Twelfth Night, and last season's Macbeth.

The Colony Theatre will present the third production of its historic 40thAnniversary season, the West Coast Premiere of HANDLE WITH CARE by Jason Odell Williams, directed by Karen Carpenter. HANDLE WITH CARE will preview on Wednesday, November 5; Thursday, November 6; andFriday, November 7 at 8:00pm. It will open on Saturday, November 8 at 8:00pm and continue through Sunday, December 14, with no performances Thanksgiving week.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.)-Washington National Opera (WNO) continues its 2014-2015 season with a new production of one of the most enduring classics in all of opera: Giacomo Puccini's La boheme, November 1-15 in the Kennedy Center Opera House. Updating the story to post-World War I Paris, this brand-new production by Jo Davies features original stage direction by Peter Kazaras, both in their WNO debuts. WNO Music Director Philippe Auguin leads the WNO Orchestra in interpreting some of opera's most famous melodies. A special November 14 performance features casting by current singers and alumni of WNO's Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program.

In August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece The Piano Lesson, the past threatens to pull apart brother and sister. Bernice treasures a one-of-a-kind piano, an heirloom with carved figures of their enslaved ancestors. Boy Willie suddenly arrives from the South determined to sell the piano and buy the land his family worked on. When the ghost of the piano's original owner appears, family conflicts escalate to a dramatic confrontation. With lyrical language rolling from the rowdy to the tender, this is one of Wilson's finest.

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey will present the fifth annual Something Wicked This Way Comes - a popular one-night-only event - on Monday, October 27 at 7:30 p.m. The event kicks off Halloween week and will be held at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, 36 Madison Ave. in Madison. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased online at www.ShakespeareNJ.org or by phone by calling the Box Office at 973-408-5600.

Signature Theatre presents Elmer Gantry, a musical version of Sinclair Lewis' best-selling novel, directed by Signature's Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer (Broadway's Follies, Million Dollar Quartet). Schaeffer collaborated on the last production of Elmer Gantry at Marriott's Lincolnshire Theatre in Chicago with authors John Bishop (book), Mel Marvin (music) and Bob Satuloff (lyrics) in 1998; the show has not been produced since then. This will be the 5th production in the show's history. Running in the MAX Theatre today, October 7 - November 9, Signature's production will include several brand new songs by Mel Marvin and Bob Satuloff and a reimagined script that John Bishop worked on until his death in 2006.

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd announces the cast and creative team for Dracula, the Original Vampire Play, the second production in the 'Alley Theatre @ UH' season. Featuring iconic costume and set designs by Edward Gorey, the Alley's production is based on the original 1927 adaptation of the classic thriller that marvelously balances the menace of the horror tale with sophisticated satire.

Theatre Royal Bath Productions welcomes Richard Schiff, Nigel Lindsay and Lindsay Lohan in David Mamet's SPEED-THE-PLOW at London's Playhouse Theatre, opening officially tonight, October 2, for a strictly limited run. A high-octane modern classic, SPEED-THE-PLOW is a brilliantly satirical portrayal of Hollywood filled with Mamet's trademark wit and mesmerizing dialogue.

Rep Stage, the regional theatre in residence at Howard Community College (HCC), opens its 22nd season with David Ives' 'Venus in Fur', directed by Joseph Ritsch, Rep Stage's co-producing artistic director.

Quintessence Theatre Group launches its fifth season of progressive classic theatre with an all-male Shakespeare repertory: AS YOU LIKE IT presented in rotating repertory with RICHARD II. Bringing together the best professional actors and designers from Philadelphia and across the country, Artistic Director Alexander Burns leads this collective of artists on a mission to ignite the classics through visceral, actor-focused and text-driven productions. AS YOU LIKE IT will begin previews today, October 1 at 7pm and open on Saturday, October 4 at 8pm. RICHARD II will begin previews on Thursday, October 9 at 7pm and open on Saturday, October 18 at 8pm. All performances are at the Sedgwick Theater, 7137 Germantown Ave in Mt Airy, Philadelphia, PA.

Soho Rep. and The Play Company, in association with John Adrian Selzer, announce casting and the creative team for the U.S. premiere of debbie tucker green's generations. The production, today, September 30-October 26, reunites the playwright with director Leah C. Gardiner, who worked together on the OBIE Award-winning 2011 production of born bad. generations features a 12-person community chorus led by music director Bongi Duma (The Lion King). The cast includes Shyko Amos (An Octoroon), Mamoudou Athie, Khail Toi Bryant (The Lion King), Ntombikhona Dlamini (Sarafina!), Thuli Dumakude (The Lion King, Poppie Nongena), Jonathan Peck (The Lion in Winter) and Michael Rogers (born bad, Breakfast With Mugabe).

The Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC), recipient of the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award, opens its 2014-2015 mainstage season with William Shakespeare's romantic comedyAs You Like It, directed by Michael Attenborough in his American regional directing debut. As You Like It will play at the Lansburgh Theatre (450 7th Street NW) from October 28-December 7, 2014.