Susan Smith News

A bold collaboration sees eight creative minds writing lyrics in a musical adaptation of Tennessee Williams' short story of self-induced repression and liberation by flattened flora. With each lyricist taking individual songs and then set to music by French composer Vincent Guibert, The Liberation of Colette Simple creates a varied tapestry of words and music.

The Guthrie Theater today announced casting for the first production on the Wurtele Thrust Stage in the 2014-2015 season, Wendy Wasserstein's Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Heidi Chronicles. Under the direction of 2014 Tony Award nominee Leigh Silverman (Broadway's Violet, Chinglish, Well), The Heidi Chronicles will feature the talents of Kate Wetherhead, Ben Graney, Tracey Maloney and Zach Shaffer, as well as Sam Bardwell, Eleonore Dendy, Mo Perry and Stacia Rice.

WAM Theatre has announced the cast for a reading of Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England by Madeleine George as part of the Fresh Takes Play Reading Series.

Lincoln Center Theater has announced that Ernest Abuba, Joel de la Fuente, Tsering Dorjee, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Takemi Kitamura, James Saito, Jon Norman Schneider, and Nami Yamamoto will comprise the cast of its upcoming production of Sarah Ruhl's new play THE OLDEST BOY. The play, to be directed by Rebecca Taichman, will begin previews Thursday, October 9 and open on Monday, November 3 in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 West 65 Street).

Lark Play Development Center has announced that seven plays have been chosen for its 21st Annual Playwrights' Week, which will take place September 22nd - 27th. This year's plays and playwrights are Parachute Men by Mando Alvarado, Lucky Ladies by Dominic Finocchiaro, INC. by Diana Grisanti, No More Sad Things by Hansol Jung, Girl of Glass by Jennifer A. Kokai, Chalk by Walt McGough, and The Tiger Among Us by Lauren Yee.

Samuel French previously announced a talented roster of judges for the Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival (OOB Festival), the nation's premiere short play competition, running from today, August 5th-10th at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre.

An all-star Philadelphia cast kicks off Philadelphia Theatre Company's 40th Anniversary season with the Pulitzer Prize finalist Detroit by Lisa D'Amour running October 10-November 9 at Philadelphia Theatre Company's Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets). Directed by Maria Mileaf, the cast features K.O. DelMarcelle, Tom McCarthy, Genevieve Perrier, Steven Rishard, and Matteo J. Scammell.

Gloucester Stage Company's 35th Anniversary Season continues with Amy Herzog's funny and moving 4000 Miles from today, July 31 through August 17 at the Gorton Theatre, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA.

Gloucester Stage Company's 35th Anniversary Season continues with Amy Herzog's funny and moving 4000 Miles from July 31 through August 17 at the Gorton Theatre, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA. Winner of the 2012 Obie Award for Best New American Play and a Pulitzer Prize for Drama Finalist, Amy Herzog's 4000 Miles looks at how two outsiders find their way in today's world. After suffering a major loss while he was on a cross-country bike trip, 21 year-old Leo seeks solace from his feisty 91 year-old grandmother Vera in her West Village apartment in New York City. Over the course of a single month, these unlikely roommates infuriate, bewilder, and ultimately reach each other. Directed by Gloucester Stage Artistic Director Eric C. Engel, the production features GSC favorite and Rockport resident Nancy E. Carroll as Vera and Rockport native Tom Rash as Vera's grandson Leo. The reminder of the cast features Sarah Oakes Muirhead, last seen at GSC in 2013's award winning Spring Awakening and GSC newcomer Samantha Ma.

MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) just announced that film star Heather Graham, Gia Crovatin, Golden Globe nominee Callie Thorne, and Frederick Weller will star in the world premiere of MCC Playwright-in-Residence Neil LaBute's new play, The Money Shot, directed by Terry Kinney. Performances for The Money Shot begin at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) on September 4, 2014. An official opening is set for September 22, 2014and it is currently scheduled through October 12, 2014. Tickets are now on sale. For info, please visit www.mcctheater.org.

Tickets go on sale to the general public starting today, Wednesday, July 23 for the Playwrights Horizons New York premiere production of BOOTYCANDY, a new play written and directed by Obie Award winner Robert O'Hara (director of In the Continuum, author of Antebellum and Insurrection: Holding History). Rehearsals for the season opener of the acclaimed theater company's 2014/2015 Season are set to begin next Friday, August 1.

Samuel French has announced a talented roster of judges for the Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival (OOB Festival), the nation's premiere short play competition, running from August 5th-10th at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre.

Wonderland will be live-streamed on Saturday 26 July 7.30pm over the internet worldwide and free on hampsteadtheatre.com and theguardian.com.

Royal Court Theatre and Headlong co-production of The Nether by Jennifer Haley begins tonight, Thursday 17 July and runs through Saturday 9 August 2014.

Chautauqua Theater Company (CTC), under the leadership of Vivienne Benesch Artistic Director and Sarah Clare Corporandy Managing Director, is proud to present The May Queen a world premiere comedy by Molly Smith Metzler from July 18-27, directed by Vivienne Benesch, on the Bratton Theater Mainstage.

Playwrights Horizons, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tim Sanford and Managing Director Leslie Marcus, has announced the sixth production of its upcoming 2014/2015 Season. As previously-announced, the season will conclude with a new work by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Bruce Norris (Clybourne Park and The Pain and the Itch at PH, Domesticated). That play will be the New York premiere of THE QUALMS, directed by Tony Award and Obie Award winner Pam MacKinnon (Clybourne Park and Completeness at PH; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Dinner with Friends; the current When We Were Young and Unafraid).

Apollinaire Theatre Company's 11th year of offering free bilingual productions on alternating nights in English and Spanish in Chelsea's Mary O'Malley Park features 2 plays about crossing borders, fear of the Others among us, linguistic slight of hand, and finding one's voice in the chaos.

Chester Theatre Company celebrates its 25th Anniversary Season with a special production of the one-woman comedy HIGH DIVE by Leslie Ayvazian. The production, which runs from July 22th through July 24th at the Chester Town Hall in Chester, MA, will feature CTC favorite Jennifer Rohn in her sixth CTC appearance.