Susan Smith News

Sex and gender. Race and power. Politics and family. Plus Queen Victoria! Antaeus Theatre Company presents Caryl Churchill's outrageous, hilarious and bitingly satirical Cloud 9 in a fully partner-cast production. Casey Stangl directs for a March 10 opening at the Antaeus Theater in NoHo, with low-priced previews beginning March 3.

Award-winning actors Nadine Garner (The Weir), Susan Prior (Puberty Blues) and Katrina Milosevic (Wentworth) star in the Australian premiere of The Distance, an observant and funny new play that examines one of society's biggest taboos. Directed by Leticia Caceres, this play of moral dilemmas and big laughs opens on Thursday 10 March at Southbank Theatre, The Sumner.

Main Street Theater (MST) continues its 40th Anniversary Season with the regional premiere of Love and Information by Caryl Churchill, a whirlwind of 57 scenes about how we love and what we know.  Director Philip Hays describes this unique play as an "onslaught of human moments" with which audiences will easily identify and through which audiences will readily engage with the piece.

59E59 Theaters welcomes playwright Lauren Gunderson (Bauer) back to the 5A Season with NY premiere of her award-winning play I AND YOU, directed by Sean Daniels, and produced by Merrimack Repertory Theatre in association with Richard Winkler. I AND YOU opens tonight, January 27, for a limited engagement through Sunday, February 28. 

The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has announced 10 Finalists for its prestigious playwriting award, the oldest and largest prize awarded to women playwrights.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: IF/THEN gets fresh faces on tour, three shows begin off-Broadway and more!

Steppenwolf Theatre Company presents the Chicago premiere of Annie Baker's 2014 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, THE FLICK. Under the direction of Dexter Bullard, who also directed the Chicago premiere of Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation, the cast features Danny McCarthy, Caroline Neff and Travis Turner as the three hapless employees of THE FLICK movie house. Previews begin February 4 (opening night is February 14; press performances are Saturday, February 13 at 3pm and Tuesday, February 16 at 7:30pm) and runs through May 8, 2016 in Steppenwolf's Upstairs Theatre (1650 N Halsted St). BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast in rehearsal below!

Two young women in Manhattan are trying to figure out life after college, but they'll settle for making rent. They join a community advocacy group called SAFE ('Stay Away From Ed') named for an elusive serial attacker terrorizing the city, when they learn there's a big reward for information that leads to his capture. Their SAFE 'friends' include their ruthless, socially stunted roommate; the celebrated author of a fictional memoir; a lonely man who feels a kinship with crime victims; and an 'Ed survivor,' reveling in her fifteen minutes of dubious fame. This black comedy was written by Gina Gionfriddo (After Ashley Dragon 2013, Rapture, Blister, Burn, a 2013 Pulitzer Prize finalist) and was the winner of the 2001-2002 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for woman playwrights.

Strawdog Theatre Company and Artistic Director Hank Boland are proud to announce the third main stage production in its 2015 - 2016 season, Lauren Yee's In A Word, February 5 - March 19, directed by Jess McLeod, at Strawdog Theatre Company, 3829 N. Broadway St. Previews are Friday, Feb. 5 and 12, Saturday, Feb. 6 and 13 at 8 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 7 and 14 at 4 p.m. and Thursday, Feb. 11 at 8 p.m. Opening night is Monday, Feb. 15 at 8 p.m. The regular performance schedule is Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. An industry performance is Monday, Feb. 22 at 8 p.m. and a fully accessible performance in conjunction with the Access Project at Victory Gardens is Thursday, March 3 at 8 p.m.* Preview tickets are $15, regular run tickets are $28 and on sale now. Subscriptions, group, rush, senior and student discounts are also available. Tickets may be ordered online at strawdog.org or by calling OvationTix toll-free: 866-811-4111.

The Old Globe presents the Third Annual New Voices Festival, featuring readings of new American plays by professional playwrights this weekend, January 15 - 17, 2016.

The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park unleashes girl-powered comedy with THE REVOLUTIONISTS, Lauren Gunderson's irreverent world premiere about four badass femmes of the French Revolution. THE REVOLUTIONISTS debuts in the Playhouse's Thompson Shelterhouse Theatre Feb. 5 through March 6.

Waterwell, one of the Village Voice's Best Arguments for Devised Theater and creators of GOODBAR and #9, continues its annual series of developmental workshop productions with a commission by Dael Orlandersmith (Forever, Yellowman, Beauty's Daugther) for its senior Drama Class of 2016 at the Professional Performing Arts School (PPAS). The new play, Some of the Things Inside, will be directed by Allison Talis and will premiere at PPAS in April 2016.

The Matrix Theatre Company honors Black History Month with the Los Angeles premiere of The Mountaintop, directed by Obie Award-winner Roger Guenveur Smith and starring Larry Bates and Danielle Mone Truitt. Recipient of London's 2010 Olivier Award, Katori Hall's gripping and often humorous re-imagining of events the night before the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. takes on new meaning with the advent of the Black Lives Matter movement. The Mountaintop opens at the Matrix Theatre on February 6, with previews beginning January 28. (Scroll all the way down to view links to high resolution photos.)

Next up at the Echo Theater Company: the world premiere of Sheila Callaghan's newest play - a funny, sexy and unconventional romance with music. Jennifer Chambers directs Kate Morgan Chadwick, TW Leshner and Johnathan McClain in BED, opening Feb. 6 at Atwater Village Theatre.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company presents the Chicago premiere of Annie Baker's 2014 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, The Flick. Under the direction of Dexter Bullard, who also directed the Chicago premiere of Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation, the cast features Danny McCarthy, Caroline Neff and Travis Turner as the three hapless employees of The Flick movie house. Previews begin February 4 (opening night is February 14; press performances are Saturday, February 13 at 3pm and Tuesday, February 16 at 7:30pm) and runs through May 8, 2016 in Steppenwolf's Upstairs Theatre (1650 N Halsted St). Tickets ($20 - $89) are available through Audience Services (1650 N Halsted), 312-335-1650 and steppenwolf.org.

The gulf between what's said and what isn't is at the heart of the sweet and whimsical comedy The Language Archive by Julia Cho, next up at Bristol Riverside Theatre on January 26-February 14.  Directed by Adam Immerwahr, the ensemble cast features Keith Baker, Irungu Mutu, Jo Twiss, Tiffany Villarin, and Julianna Zinkel.

The Old Globe today announced it will present the Third Annual New Voices Festival, a weekend of readings of new American plays by professional playwrights, January 15 - 17, 2016.

This January, Pipeline Theatre Company presents seven never before seen plays written by its PlayLab Class of 2016 in this year's Matchstick Series: Strange Tongues at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe (236 E. 3rd St, New York, NY). This year's PlayLab includes: Matthew Barbot, Jen Browne, Gina Femia, Reina Hardy, Jacob Marx Rice, Callan Stout, and Amy E. Witting. Performances will be January 13-15th at 7PM. Early bird tickets ($15) are now on sale and regular tickets ($18) go on sale on January 1st. Tickets are available for purchase online at www.pipelinetheatre.org/tickets. The show runs approximately 75 minutes, with no intermission.  

Playwrights Horizons presents the New York premiere of 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist Marjorie Prime, a new play by Jordan Harrison (Maple and Vine, Doris to Darlene at PH; Amazons and Their Men; Kid-Simple; 'Orange is the New Black'). Commissioned by Playwrights Horizons and directed by Obie Award winner Anne Kauffman (Detroit, Maple and Vine, Your Mother's Copy of the Kama Sutra at PH; Belleville; This Wide Night; The Thugs), the play is the third production of the theater company's 2015/2016 Season. The production opens tonight, December 14, at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street), and will play a limited engagement through Sunday, January 3.

Basement Arts presents THE NETHER, Written By Jennifer Haley, Directed by Madeline Rouverol, at Walgreen Drama Center (Studio One), tonight, Saturday, Dec. 5 at 8pm.