Shakespeare Theatre Company News

'NCIS: Los Angeles' star and Broadway veteran Barrett Foa (Mamma Mia!, Avenue Q, ...Spelling Bee) will begin performances as Alex More in the smash hit comedy Buyer & Cellar on Tuesday, May 27, 2014 at the Barrow Street Theatre (27 Barrow Street). For the past five seasons, Barrett Foa has co-starred opposite LL Cool J and Chris O'Donnell as tech geek Eric Beale on CBS' top-rated hit series 'NCIS: Los Angeles' which is currently the #2 show on television.

theatreWashington today kicks off its celebratory theatreWeek (April 14 - 20, 2014), offering countless opportunities for both lifelong patrons and reticent newbies to explore Washington's diverse professional theatres-from discounted performances to ticket giveaways and promotions to behind-the-scenes events. A joint endeavor with presenting sponsor The Washington Post, the Washington theatre community, Destination DC, and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the campaign spotlights Washington-area theatre through a regional ad campaign, to be seen by millions. The celebration culminates with the 30th Annual Helen Hayes Awards on April 21 at the National Building Museum.

The Brown University/Trinity Rep MFA Programs present two raw and devastatingly humanistic plays running in repertory this May. Sam Shepard's poetic and psychedelic rock and roll drama The Tooth of Crime, opens May 1st and is directed by Dan Rogers (Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Programs '15). Alternating with this Shepard play starting May 2nd is Adam Rapp's surreal and dark new-age comedy, Stone Cold Dead Serious, directed by Flordelino Lagundino (Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Programs '15). Performances of both plays run May 1 through May 18 in the Pell Chafee Performance Center, 87 Empire Street, Providence. General admission is $10, with a $5 discounted ticket for students and seniors. Tickets are on sale now at the Trinity Rep box office, by phone (401) 351-4242, and online at www.trinityrep.com. Audiences should note that both of these productions contain mature subject matter and adult language.

Tonight, April 10, TheatreSquared will launch its first mainstage Shakespeare production with the playwright's signature drama, Hamlet, starring Grant Goodman. The production is helmed by director Sean Patrick Reilly and features a professional cast including T2 associate artistic director Amy Herzberg.

Best for ages 5-10, Cinderella: the Remix runs in Imagination Stage's Annette M. and Theodore N. Lerner Family Theatre April 9-May 25, 2014. Tickets start at $10, and may be purchased online at www.imaginationstage.org, at the Imagination Stage box office, or via phone at 301-280-1660. Group rates are available.

Kenopsia Productions and Blind Pug Arts Collective have announced the run of Fault Lines: Two One Acts, a compilation of two bold and biting one act plays that explore the boundaries of familial love, and the dangers of parental protection going too far. The show begins with The Rest, is Silence by rising playwright Kelsey Jayne Hogan, and concludes with frag by Michael John Garces, Artistic Director of Cornerstone Theatre Company. Emerging director Elizabeth Schneider will direct these two complimentary, yet stylistically contrasting pieces that expose the fissures of family dysfunction.

The 2013-2014 season at Cleveland Play House (CPH) continues with the compelling world premiere production of Deborah Zoe Laufer's Informed Consent. Co-produced with Geva Theatre Center, this incredibly thought-provoking production is inspired by the real life court case between the Havasupai Indian tribe and Arizona State University, and sparks an intriguing debate on both ethicality and morality. Directed by Sean Daniels and Sponsored by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic and MetroHealth, Informed Consent will serve as the centerpiece to CPH's 2014 New Ground Theatre Festival and will run from April 23 - May 18 in the Second Stage.

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd announces the cast and creative team for Alan Ayckbourn's science fiction comedy Communicating Doors. Eleven plays penned by Alan Ayckbourn have been produced by the Alley, including the American premiere of Henceforward, directed by Ayckbourn, in 1987 and House & Garden in 2002. Alan Ayckbourn has been inducted into the American Theatre's Hall of Fame, received the 2010 Critics' Circle Award for Services to the Arts, became the first British playwright to receive both Olivier and Tony Special Lifetime Achievement Awards and was knighted in 1997 for services to the theatre.

HAl Holbrook's legendary - and possibly longest running - one-man show, HAl Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight!, brings the beloved author to life with irreverent humor and astonishing authenticity. Millions have enjoyed the show since its original Tony- and Emmy-winning performances on Broadway and on television, and Holbrook continues to perfect it, drawing upon his vast experience on the stage and screen. HAl Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight! plays a limited engagement at the National Theatre tonight and tomorrow, April 4 and 5 at 8 p.m.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company, recipient of the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award, presents Shakespeare's Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 as part of the Clarice Smith Repertory, starring Stacy Keach. STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn will direct both parts of this sweeping epic - one of Shakespeare's culminating achievements in the history play genre - over multiple nights. The two productions will run in the Company's Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) from March 25 - June 8, 2014. Check out a first look at Keach as Falstaff below!

A lively musical version of Carlo Collodi's classic tale, Pinocchio, is the final Youth Series play in RLT's 2013-14 season, opening on Friday, April 18 in the Cantey V. Sutton Theatre. The play is directed by Linda O'Day Young, RLT's Youth Theatre and Education Director.

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey has announced the appointment of stage director and longtime company guest artist Stephen Brown-Fried as the Theatre's Artistic Associate & Casting Director. 'I am thrilled to be back at this company. I do not know of another theatre that combines excellence in classic theatre and such a deep commitment to teaching. The combination of professional practice and educational training here is unparalleled,' says Brown-Fried.

Presented by the Baxter Theatre Centre at the University of Cape Town, this quietly compelling play gives us a micro-level glimpse into post-apartheid South Africa. A glimpse, I might add, that's very much worth your attention whether you happen to be a South Africa scholar, lover of all things theatrical, or simply someone who appreciates fine acting and playwriting every now and again.

The cutting-edge theater genre 'Participatory Theater' will be the focus of the 2014 Zeitgeist DC International Festival and Symposium. Theater innovators from Germany, Switzerland and Austria will collaborate with Washington, DC actors and directors on audience-interactive performance events and a unique hands-on symposium. The Festival, which takes place at the Goethe-Institut and at Georgetown University May 10-12, 2014, will examine integrative techniques, technology design and theory.

Gulfshore Playhouse will present American classic, All My Sons by Arthur Miller today, March 28th through April 19th, with a $25 preview performance on March 27th.

Dark & Stormy Productions today announces the six actors and director for its upcoming regional premiere of the Outer Critics Award-nominated play The Drunken City by Adam Bock. Previously, Dark & Stormy presented Outside Providence by Edward Allan Baker, Speed-the-Plow by David Mamet, and The Receptionist by Adam Bock.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company, recipient of the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award, presents Shakespeare's Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 as part of the Clarice Smith Repertory. STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn will direct both parts of this sweeping epic - one of Shakespeare's culminating achievements in the history play genre - over multiple nights. As Kahn says, describing Parts 1 and 2 as his favorite Shakespearean drama: 'It brings to the stage every issue we as human beings experience.' The two productions will run in the Company's Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) from today, March 25 - June 8, 2014.

On April 10, TheatreSquared will launch its first mainstage Shakespeare production with the playwright's signature drama, Hamlet, starring Grant Goodman. The production is helmed by director Sean Patrick Reilly and features a professional cast including T2 associate artistic director Amy Herzberg. As Hamlet begins, the king has been poisoned by his own brother, who now claims the throne and queen. Visited by his father's ghost, Prince Hamlet learns of his uncle's treachery - and vows revenge. TheatreSquared's original production is on stage from April 10 through May 4, 2014, at Walton Arts Center's Nadine Baum Studios in Fayetteville (505 W. Spring Street). Tickets range from $15-36 ($10/under 30) and are on sale now via the Walton Arts Center Box Office by calling (479.443.5600) or visiting theatre2.org.