Studio Theatre News

For the sixth year, Pontine Theatre presents a host of New Vaudeville performers at its WEST-FEST: New Vaudeville Festival. Performances are 2pm, today 26-30 December at Pontine's West End Studio Theatre located at 959 Islington Street in Portsmouth.

This week's New York Times In Performance video features Howard McGillin and Haley Bond in a scene from the Irish Repertory Theater's production of "It's a Wonderful Life: The 1946 Live Radio Play.' Click here to watch the talented actors sing, 'Buffalo Gals' from the stage adaptation.

Family offerings at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in the 2014 season are highlighted by the novel symphony The Trumpet of the Swan, May 2 to 4, 2014, adapted by Pulitzer Prize winner Marsha Norman from the E.B. White novel, with music by Tony Award winning composer Jason Robert Brown. Baseball Swings: A Musical Event, produced in conjunction with the Baseball Hall of Fame, will run from April 3 to 6, 2014. Baseball Swings celebrates the unique love affair between baseball and music with a "major league" concert featuring the greatest music about the greatest sport, with 2,000 images and video synchronized to the live performance. Both will be performed in the Bram Goldsmith Theatre.

The Weston Playhouse Theatre Company's $10 million capital campaign has reached another milestone with the conditional approval by the Town of Weston Zoning Board of Adjustment and the Planning Commission of the Company's plan to build a new studio theatre on the former Walker dairy farm in Weston Village.

Dallas Theater Center returns to the Studio Theatre for the first time since 2012 with Latino playwright Luis Alfaro's sizzling, sexy and startlingly contemporary play Oedipus el Rey, which features an all-Latino cast. DTC Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty will direct the play, an adaptation of Sophocles' timeless Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex and set in the vicious reality of today's L.A. barrios.Oedipus el Rey opens in previews on Thursday, January 16, 2014 with a Pay-What-You-Can performance and runs through March 2, 2014.Tickets to Oedipus el Rey are on sale now at www.DallasTheaterCenter.org and by phone at (214) 880-0202.

New Hampshire Theatre Project is pleased to host two guest artists as part of their Adult Winter Workshop Series. Liz Korabek Emerson will begin the series on Monday, January 13, 2014 with Letting Go of Stage Fright: Mindfulness for Performers. Liz is a director, performer, teacher and practicing Buddhist. She holds an MFA from Ohio University in theater history and performance. She has trained in corporeal mime, clowning and viewpoints. Her current solo show is Ruthlessly Optimistic for No Apparent Reason. In this class, Liz will show students how to give confident, consistent performances using mindfulness with breath as a focus, and will provide specific exercises to uncover negative thought patterns to relieve fears and regain confidence.

American Stage Theatre Company kicks off the new year with August Wilson's 2 TRAINS RUNNING. They are excited to present their seventh installment of their August Wilson Century Cycle. Previews are January 22 and 23. Opening Night is January 24 and the production runs through February 23, 2014.

Eat a Radish Productions has announced that two of downtown's most audacious playwrights and performers will unite for the off-off Broadway run of DARKLING and HIP, two dark comedies that explore the inside world of the outsider. DARKLING, written and performed by Kim Katzberg, is a far-out, bitingly funny journey through teen angst that will play alongside Nora Woolley's HIP, a heart-wrenching comedy about longing for fame while steeped in the discomfort of self-consciousness. Previews begin today, December 21st at IRT Theater, 154 Christopher St. DARKLING & HIP officially opens on Saturday, January 4th at 7PM. Raquel Cion directs.

Celebrating its 30th year in 2014, Austin Shakespeare announces its cast for Shakespeare's greatest tale of jealousy and passion: Othello, to be presented February 13 - March 2 at The Long Center's Studio Theatre, where Austin Shakespeare is a resident company. Marc Pouhe will return in the title role; "Othello". The title character was also Pouhe's first major Shakespeare role in 2005; subsequently he starred as Macbeth for then new Artistic Director, Ann Ciccolella, who will direct this new Othello production.

San Francisco, CA, December 20, 2013 – The five-time Grammy Award-winning San Francisco Girls Chorus--Lisa Bielawa, Artistic Director and Valérie Sainte-Agathe, Music Director and Principal Conductor—continues its 35th anniversary season with a fully staged production of Benjamin Britten's 1957 opera Noye's Fludde, based on the biblical deluge story, in one performance only, Saturday, March 29, 2014, at 8 pm at Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco. Conducted by Ms. Sainte-Agathe, the cast will feature guest artists Carey Perloff as The Voice of God, bass-baritone Joe Chappell as Noah, mezzo-soprano Silvie Jensen as Mrs. Noah and other soloist roles performed by members of the San Francisco Girls Chorus, to be announced. The production will be staged by Ariel Craft and will feature original art, costumes and set pieces created by members of San Francisco's acclaimed Creativity Explored, supported by a grant from the Creative Work Fund. The evening features the performance and includes a cocktail party and dinner to benefit the San Francisco Girls Chorus. For information and tickets, visitwww.sfgirlschorus.org .

Voting is now underway for Washington, DC! We have a record number of votes in already, but if you haven't voted yet, click here to vote! If you have voted already, tell your friends.

Atlantic Theater Company presents the American premiere production of award-winning British playwright Roy Williams' stage adaptation of Alan Sillitoe's beloved short story THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER, directed by Leah C. Gardiner. Meet the cast in the photos below!

Florida Studio Theatre announces the completion of its fifth theatre, Bowne's Lab. The new Bowne's Lab represents the final phase in FST's Capital Campaign. FST's newest theatre will house Improv programming, Adult Education Performances, Apprentice Company projects, and all things new and experimental.

Religion, politics and theater collide when Bart DeLorenzo directs the Los Angeles premiere of Passion Play by Tony and two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee Sarah Ruhl, kicking off the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble's 45th Anniversary Season in a co-production with Evidence Room. Performances begin Jan. 25 at the Odyssey Theatre in West L.A. and continue through March 16.

This December Morey B. Epstein will join the Synetic Theater family after 24 years as the chief development officer at Washington DC's Studio Theatre. Synetic is most known for cutting-edge and visceral theatre productions and has won 92 Helen Hayes Award Nominations and 24 Awards in 12 years of its existence. Mr. Epstein will use his expertise and extensive knowledge to help fund Synetic's mission and programs. He will be responsible for organizing and directing all facets of fundraising activities.

EDGAR AND ANNABEL by Sam Holcroft, now making its US Premiere at Studio Theatre's 2nd Stage as the kick-off of its New British Invasion series, evokes as many meanings and sub-meanings as this wildly funny political satire can bear.

Ars Nova kicks off 2014 with Game Play, this year's incarnation of Ars Nova's annual Play Group production. Game Play, set to play 10 performances from January 29 - February 8, features original short plays and live music inspired by classic board game titles.

Artistic Director Molly Smith tackles a unique, in-the-round staging of Bertolt Brecht's powerhouse anti-war play Mother Courage and Her Children at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Iconic stage and screen actress and Academy Award nominee Kathleen Turner returns to Arena Stage following her sold-out run of Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins to make her professional singing debut as the tough-as-nails matriarch Mother Courage-a single mother determined to keep her family alive and her business afloat during war. Using the David Hare translation, the show fuses politics and satire to paint an unforgettable and provocative portrait of war, incorporating more than 10 pieces of original music composed in a rollicking, gypsy-punk style and performed by cast members doubling as musicians. Mother Courage and Her Children runs January 31-March 9, 2014 in the Fichandler Stage.

FST announces its second show of the Winter Cabaret season, Poems, Prayers and Promises. Developed by Richard Hopkins and Rebecca Hopkins, the show opens in Florida Studio Theatre's Goldstein Cabaret on Friday, January 3, 2014.

Renaissance Theaterworks (RTW) presents the 2nd show of its 21st season THE UNDERSTUDY a backstage comedy about artists pursuing what they love despite the odds against them. A first professional directorial debut for Mallory Metoxen, featuring Cassandra Bissell, Philip Sletteland and Ken T. Williams. Opening night is Saturday, January 18th at 8:00 pm. Running January 17 through February 09, 2014 at the Studio Theatre, 158 N. Broadway, tickets can be purchased for $36 (fee & taxes not included) in person at the Broadway Theatre Center Box Office, by telephone at (414) 291-7800, or online at www.r-t-w.com.