Tennessee Williams News

A stellar cast of veteran actors, with Dakin Matthews in the lead role, supported by Emmy and Tony winner Shirley Knight, perform a new play by Samuel D. Hunter at the 32nd annual William Inge Theatre Festival, at Independence, Kansas.

The Winthrop Playmakers have collaborated with The Massasoit Theatre Company to bring Tennessee Williams' pulitzer prize winnning play A Streetcar Named Desire to The Winthrop Playhouse, directed by Benjamin Dixon Rush.

Everyman Theatre has announced its 2013/14 season - the first full season in its new home on Fayette Street. The line-up includes three giants of the theatrical world - The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley, and The Dresser by Ronald Harwood - and three award-winning newer plays that have taken New York and London by storm - Red by John Logan, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark by Lynn Nottage, and Tribes by Nina Raine.

The New Group announced today that Ayub Khan Din has stepped into the title role in the new musical Bunty Berman Presents..., replacing actor Erick Avari who withdrew from the production last week on doctor's orders following an injury. The world premiere of this musical comedy, with book & lyrics by Ayub Khan Din and music by Ayub Khan Din and Paul Bogaev, is directed by Scott Elliott. Previews began April 12. Performances resume Wednesday, April 24 in advance of Official Opening Night on Thursday, May 9 at 7:00pm. A limited Off-Broadway engagement is slated through June 1 at The New Group at Theatre Row (The Acorn Theatre / 410 West 42nd Street).

Theatre Southwest is currently producing a fascinating production of Tennessee William's thrilling and tense THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA. The 1961 drama is set at The Costa Verde Hotel in Puerto Barrio on the West Coast of Mexico in the summer of 1940. The Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon is leading a tour group of Baptist women from Texas through Mexico, but makes an unplanned stop at the hotel, which is owned and operated by his friend, Maxine Falk. Over the course of the afternoon and evening, Shannon slowly unravels, exposing his secrets and sins. An impoverished and entirely broke New England spinster, Hannah Jelkes, and her aging grandfather, a poet losing his mind, arrive at the hotel as well. Without any money, the duo hopes to lodge at the hotel with the promise to earn some money and pay upon checkout.

This evening, Cora Cahan, President of The New 42nd Street, will accept the Floria V. Lasky Award, given in recognition of her invaluable and indelible contributions to the cultural landscape of New York City.

American Express Card members will have the first opportunity to purchase tickets to see Tony Award winner Amanda Plummer (Agnes of God, Pulp Fiction) and Academy Award nominee Brad Dourif (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) unite their white-hot talents for the highly anticipated production of Tennessee Williams' The Two-Character Play at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street). Previews begin Monday, June 10. Opening Night is set for June 19 at 8:00 p.m. Gene David Kirk directs.

Nightlife and TV legend Robin Byrd will join the cast of tonight's 7:00 PM show of The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre. The acclaimed comedy/variety show will continue its Spring 2013 season tonight, April 18 at The Duplex in New York's West Village.

The Broadway production of Lyle Kessler's Orphans starring Alec Baldwin, Ben Foster and Tom Sturridge and directed by Daniel Sullivan, opens tonight, April 18, at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (236 West 45th Street). Let's see what the critics had to say...

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival will open Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, A Streetcar Named Desire, at 8:00 p.m. Saturday, April 20, in the Angus Bowmer Theatre. This production is directed by Christopher Liam Moore, who, along with many of the same collaborators, designed and staged the extremely popular Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 2010.

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.

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater announces that Wyatt Fenner (The Whale, Misalliance, Next Fall) will take over the lead role of Eli in Slipping starting Sunday, April 21, 2013. Fenner will replace Seth Numrich (Broadway's War Horse, Golden Boy), who will travel to London to star with Kim Cattrall in the upcoming production of Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth at the Old Vic. Fenner has received rave reviews for his performances, including his most recent role as 19-year-old Mormon missionary Elder Thomas in The Whale, at South Coast Rep. Slipping, written and directed by Daniel Talbott, runs through Sunday May 5, 2013 at the Lillian Theatre in Hollywood, CA. Elephant Stages' Lillian Theatre is located at 1076 Lillian Way, Los Angeles, CA 90038. For additional information, please visit www.Rattlestick.org/rattlestick-LA.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced it will produce the world premiere original musical production of Little Dancer featuring book and lyrics by Tony Award winner Lynn Ahrens, music by Tony Award winner Stephen Flaherty, and direction and choreography by five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman. The musical will begin performances in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater in October 2014. Casting and additional details about Little Dancer will be announced at a later date.

For the second production of its 2013 season, Theatre of NOTE is working with Theatre Movement Bazaar in presenting the world premiere of Hot Cat May 3-June 1, directed and choreographed by Tina Kronis, text by Richard Alger.

The Award-Winning Epic Theatre Ensemble, now in their 12th year presents William Shakespeare's RICHARD III: Born With Teeth, part of Shakespeare for a New Generation, a national program of the National Endowment for the Arts in cooperation with Arts Midwest. The production, directed by Ron Russell, begins previews Off-Broadway tonight, Tuesday, April 16th and opens Saturday, April 20th at 8:00 PM at the Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street). The play will run through May 4th.

Hartford Stage presents Abundance by Beth Henley, directed by Jenn Thompson, on stage, now through April 28. Opening night is at 8 p.m. tonight, April 12.

The era of the British Music Invasion comes alive in "ModRock," a new musical, which is having its world premiere engagement beginning Wednesday, June 19 (press opening Sunday Evening, June 23) at the El Portal Theatre. "ModRock" is set in the vibrant, swinging London of the mid 1960's - a time when styles and cultures clashed, the British bands ruled the pop charts and all fashion trends emerged out of Carnaby Street.

Hartford Stage presents Abundance by Beth Henley, directed by Jenn Thompson, on stage, now through April 28. Opening night is at 8 p.m. tonight, April 12.