South Coast Repertory News

A charming love story, magical illusions and memorable music will bring South Coast Repertory's 2012-13 season to a close with the world's longest-running musical, The Fantasticks by Tom Jones, book and lyrics, and Harvey Schmidt, music. Performances on the Segerstrom Stage run May 10-June 9.

TimeLine Theatre Company, dedicated to presenting plays inspired by history that connect to today's social and political issues, announces that The How and the Why by Sarah Treem (Netflix's House of Cards, HBO's In Treatment), directed by Keira Fromm and starring Janet Ulrich Brooks and Elizabeth Ledo, will be the third production of its 2013-14 season.

Village Green Productions has announced the return of THE BOOMERANG EFFECT, written by Matthew Leavitt, produced by Del Shores and directed by Damaso Rodriguz. THE BOOMERANG EFFECT will mark the final production Mr. Rodriguez will direct in Los Angeles prior to his becoming Artistic Director of the Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland. THE BOOMERANG EFFECT will preview on Thursday, June 6 & Friday, June 7 at 8pm and will open on Saturday, June 8 and will run through Saturday, July 27 at the Zephyr Theatre, 7456 Melrose Ave., in West Hollywood.

WAM Theatre has announced the Northeast Regional Premiere of Emilie: La Marquise Du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight by Lauren Gunderson as its fall production. The production will run November 7-24 at Barrington Stage Company's St. Germain Stage at 36 Linden Street in Pittsfield. Auditions will be held May 13 at Barrington Stage Mainstage from 4-9pm.

The New Theatre Project announces a one week extension to its final performance of Pookie Goes Grenading by JC Lee. Originally scheduled to close of April 28, TNTP has added Friday, May 3, Saturday, May 4, and Sunday, May 5 to the lineup and postponed its special closing night of the show and company celebration to May 5. All shows will be at 8 pm. And due to a huge demand and having to turn people away at the door, buying tickets in advance is highly recommended.

Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director), Barry Grove (Executive Producer), and Mandy Greenfield (Artistic Producer) have announced full casting for the world premiere of THE EXPLORERS CLUB, the new play by Tony Award nominee Nell Benjamin, directed by Marc Bruni.

This year's main-stage attraction of SCR's annual Pacific Playwrights Festival, SMOKEFALL---a co-production with Chicago's Goodman Theatre directed by Anne Kauffman---starts off initially intriguing, as if first unveiling itself as a dark dramedy that follows three generations of an eccentric family living in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the tolls that the passage of time imposes on their lives. But instead, what actually transpires through the course of its three acts is an uneven play that ultimately gets too bogged down in its own randomly structured quirkiness.

Celebration Theatre has announced an added show to its celebratory 30th Anniversary Season, the Los Angeles premiere of a new play, AT THE FLASH, written by Sean Chandler, performed by David Leeper and directed by David Zak. AT THE FLASH will begin previews on Wednesday, May 15th and will open on Friday, May 17th and will perform through Sunday, May 26th at Celebration Theatre, 7051B Santa Monica Blvd in Hollywood.

Artists Rep is thrilled to present the West Coast premiere of Jeffrey Hatcher's play Ten Chimneys from tonight, April 23 through May 26, 2013. This revealing comedy peers into the backstage lives of Broadway power-duo Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne and summers spent at their legendary Wisconsin estate, Ten Chimneys.

THE PARISIAN WOMAN by Beau Willimon, inspired by Henri Becque's La Parisienne and directed by Pam MacKinnon, runs now through May 5, 2013 on the Julianne Argyros Stage. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Annapurna, by award-winning playwright Sharr White, is a funny and surprising exploration of love and loss. Emma and Ulysses haven't laid eyes on each other in twenty years. Now she's back, lugging her matching suitcases into his squalid Colorado motor home for a final reckoning that neither of them saw coming. Annapurnabrings husband-and-wife stars Megan Mullally ('Will & Grace') and Nick Offerman ('Parks and Recreation') to the Odyssey Theatre under the guidance of director Bart DeLorenzo, winner of the 2012 TCG Alan Schneider Award.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University has announced that three-time Emmy Award-winning actor Bryan Cranston will play the lead role of Lyndon Baines Johnson in Robert Schenkkan's new play All The Way opening the A.R.T.'s 2013-14 Season at the Loeb Drama Center. The production, directed by Bill Rauch, will begin performances on September 13, 2013.

According to the Daily Mail, Honeysuckle Weeks, Charity Wakefield and Alec Newman will star in Melanie Marnich's These Shining Lives, set to kick off the first season at the Park Theatre in Finsbury Park. Loveday Ingram will direct the show from May 8, with designs by Tim Shortall. The show runs through June 9, 2013.

NEVA, written and directed by Guillermo Calderon, in an English translation by Andrea Thome, will be co-produced by the South Coast Repertory and La Jolla Playhouse in A DouglasPlus Workshop Presentation in the Kirk Douglas Theatre rehearsal room, Upstairs @ KDT. Performances begin June 11 and continue through June 16, 2013.

Chance Theater presents the second show of its 2013 season with the Orange County Premiere of THE LARAMIE PROJECT: TEN YEARS LATER by Moises Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski, Greg Pierotti, Andy Paris and Stephen Belber, playing in repertory with the award-winning masterwork, THE LARAMIE PROJECT, by Moises Kaufman and members of Tectonic Theater Project, both directed by Chance Theater's Artistic Director Oanh Nguyen. THE LARAMIE PROJECT will preview tonight, April 18 & Saturday, April 20 at 8pm and will open on Tuesday, April 23 at 8pm.

Three friends embark on a joyous journey of sisterhood, discovering their inner 'duende' through a flamenco class for middle-aged women. Heart Song, the newest comedy/drama from Stephen Sachs (Bakersfield Mist, Cyrano), opens at The Fountain Theatre on May 25 with Shirley Jo Finney (In the Red and Brown Water) directing and choreography by internationally renowned flamenco dancer Maria "Cha Cha" Bermudez.

Atlantic Theater Company has announced that Olivier and two time Tony Award winning playwright John Guare will make his Off Broadway acting debut in the world premiere production of his new play 3 KINDS OF EXILE, directed by Atlantic artistic director Neil Pepe, featuring Atlantic ensemble members Peter Maloney and David Pittu and guest artists Alison Cimmet, Jeffrey Kuhn, Jacquelyn Landgraf, Martin Moran, Kate Rigg, Omar Sangare and Timothy Splain.