Shakespeare Theatre Company News

Midway through Shakespeare Theatre Company's current season, Artistic Director Michael Kahn announced today the Company's 2014-2015 Season. Kahn has put together a classic and entertaining season, continuing to stake STC's claim as 'the nation's foremost Shakespeare company' (The Wall Street Journal) while '[making] the Bard a relevant voice in our current affairs' (DC Metro Theatre Arts).

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 April 4 and 5 at 8 p.m.

Seeing plays such as 'The Importance of Being Earnest' by Oscar Wilde reminds modern theater audiences that they can experience excellent drama even when the play is full of silly words and sillier characters. In fact, many plays, both past and present, use humor in order to communicate a possibly greater, deeper meaning than the dramas of lovelorn romantics and war-torn monarchs can graze.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company has announced that three renowned actors will join STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn for separate installments of the Classic Conversations series. Tony Award-winning actresses Patti LuPone and Phylicia Rashad as well as Emmy Award-winning actor Richard Thomas will sit down with Kahn to discuss all aspects of classical theatre, from its influence on their past to its role in the present.

Circle Theatre's 33rd season opens with Venus in Fur by David Ives. A celebrated Broadway hit, this 'hot' new play runs tonight, January 30th through March 8th

The Broadway Cast - led by Hannah Yelland and Tristan Sturrock - will appear in the internationally celebrated Kneehigh production of Noel Coward's Brief Encounter, which will have a 43-performance limited engagement at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts February 15 to March 23, 2014 (press opening February 19). Yelland and Sturrock are joined by fellow New York cast members Joe Alessi, Dorothy Atkinson, Damon Daunno, and Annette Laughlin. Musician David Brown appeared in the show in the UK and musician James Gow joins the company for The Wallis engagement.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company, recipient of the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award®, announces the extension of its current production, The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde. The production is directed by Keith Baxter and now plays through March 9, 2014, at the Lansburgh Theatre (450 7th Street NW).

Manhattan Theatre Club will present its annual Winter Benefit, an evening of cocktails and dinner followed by a special one-night-only cabaret-style show featuring Broadway's brightest stars on Monday, February 3, 2014 at The Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Fredrick P. Rose Hall (Broadway & 60th Street).

CEW Productions, the producers of the hit off-broadway musical Mama and her boys will present a staged reading of Stopgap, a new play by Danielle Mohlman.

54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Patrick Page in 'Good to be Bad' tonight, January 28th at 9:30 pm.

The quintessential portrait of maniacal ambition and lust for power is on stage in William Shakespeare's epic history play Richard III at Folger Theatre. Robert Richmond

YALE REPERTORY THEATRE presents the world premiere of THESE PAPER BULLETS!, a modish ripoff of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, adapted by Rolin Jones, with songs by Billie Joe Armstrong, and directed by Jackson Gay, March 14-April 5 at the University Theatre (222 York Street). Opening Night is Thursday, March 20.

Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director), Barry Grove (Executive Producer), and Mandy Greenfield (Artistic Producer) are pleased to announce complete casting for the upcoming world premiere production of TALES FROM RED VIENNA, the new play by David Grimm (Measure for Pleasure), directed by Kate Whoriskey (Ruined at MTC).

54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Patrick Page in 'Good to be Bad' on Tuesday, January 28th at 9:30 pm

The question of who determines a child's fate amidst drug addiction, religion and child custody laws takes center stage in Rebecca Gilman's newest work, Luna Gale, directed by Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls.

Circle Theatre's 33rd season opens with Venus in Fur by David Ives. A celebrated Broadway hit, this 'hot' new play runs January 30th through March 8th.

The Kennedy Center presents the world premiere production of Orphie and the Book of Heroes in the Family Theater, February 8 - 23, 2014.

Choreographer Peter Pucci has been appointed Artistic Director of the Steffi Nossen Dance Foundation as of January 2014. The appointment has been announced by Executive Director Kaylen Ratto Giannini.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces a rare opportunity for D.C.-area theatergoers to hear groups of distinguished actors, directors, playwrights and artistic directors discuss their work and the myriad challenges facing their art form, in a special series of three Monday evening panels entitled The Summit. Organized and moderated by The Washington Post Theater Critic Peter Marks, the three free installments will gather some of the region's most accomplished theater professionals to talk about everything from their passion for their craft to the problems of trying to lure new audiences to live theater.

Red Bull Theater presents the Off Broadway revival of Loot by Joe Orton. Red Bull Artistic Director Jesse Berger directs a company that includes Rebecca Brooksher (Fay), Eric Martin Brown (Meadows), Jarlath Conroy (McLeavy), Ryan Garbayo (Dennis), Rocco Sisto (Truscott), and Nick Westrate (Hal). Loot has scenic design by Narelle Sissons, costume design by Sara Jean Tosetti, lighting design by Scott Zielinski, and sound design by Brad Berridge. Opening Thursday January 16th, this limited engagement continues through February 9th only at Lucille Lortel Theater (121 Christopher Street).