Tennessee Williams News

HERO Theatre has announced that Joe Manganiello of HBO's True Blood and feature film Magic Mike has joined previously announced Emmy Award winner William H. Macy, star of Showtime's Shameless and Academy Award nominee for Fargo, in a benefit reading of Tennessee Williams' "Small Craft Warnings", directed by John Frank Levey. The benefit will be held on Sunday, July 29 at 6pm at the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica, CA. The event will include a silent auction.

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE star Blair Underwood recently stopped by “Melissa Harris-Perry,' where he chatted about how the face of Broadway is changing and bringing in more African Americans both on-stage and behind the curtain. Click below to watch the full interview!

The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival's 21st season opens Friday with Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and features William Michals and Dee Roscioli, two Broadway actors, as Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett respectively.

The Old Globe today announced that Sean Lyons will play the role of Niccolò Machiavelli in the West Coast Premiere of Divine Rivalry.

Being presented in London for the first time in 30 years, the King's Head Theatre presents the first ever London revival of Tennessee Williams' autobiographical play VIEUX CARRÉ, about an aspiring young writer, and the bizarre, poignant and funny characters he encounters at a New Orleans boarding house.

Though Ann Arbor's professional theatre is still in the thick of its record-breaking 30th anniversary season, Performance Network has lined up seven exceptional plays and musicals for its 31st, to begin in the fall.

TINY BUBBLES is a new comedy by Richard Willett (TRIPTYCH, THE FLID SHOW, RANDOM HARVEST), being given its New York premiere this summer, opening on Monday, July 16 at the Medicine Show Theatre (549 W. 52 St.) in Manhattan.

Lorenzo Pisoni's celebrated one-man show, Humor Abuse, returns to American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) for an exclusive limited engagement.

Tennessee-born actress Elaine Hendrix, perhaps best known for her many film and television roles, takes on the challenge of becoming Blanche DuBois in the University of North Alabama's Summer Theatre 2012 production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, opening this Thursday night, June 28, and continuing through July 8. Directed by two-time Tony Award nominee Randal Myler (for Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical for Ain't Nothin' But the Blues), the cast also includes Broadway veteran Myk Watford in the role of Stanley Kowalski. The production is part of the University's Summer Theatre program, which gives UNA's Department of Music and Theatre students integrated opportunities with professional actors. A Streetcar Named Desire runs from June 28 until July 8 at UNA's George S. Lindsey Theater. Evening show times are June 28 to 30 and July 5 to 7 at 7:30 p.m. Matinee performances are set for June 30 and July 1 and 8 at 2 p.m. "One of the priorities of Summer Theater is to bring in professional actors for our students to work with," said UNA theater faculty Charlton James. "[Hendrix] is someone for our students to look up to, and she is appealing to the audience because many people have seen the movies she has been in. She has been wonderful to work with, and, at the same time, students are networking and making connections with professionals." With more than 100 film, television and stage credits under her belt, Hendrix is perhaps best known for her role as opportunistic, scheming fiancee Meredith Blake in the 1998 Disney remake of The Parent Trap. She has also been cast in countless movies such as Inspector Gadget 2, SNL's Superstar, What the Bleep Do We Know!? and the cult classic Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion. Her television projects include Castle, The Mentalist, Criminal Minds, NCIS: Los Angeles, CSI: Miami, Rules of Engagement, 90210 and two years on the critically acclaimed CBS series Joan of Arcadia, among many others. She will soon appear alongside Janeane Garofolo and Larry Miller in the film General Education, which is set for an August release. The Tennessee-bred (she was born in Oak Ridge) and Los Angeles-living star remains just as active offstage as on by devoting her free time ensuring humane care and treatment of neglected or abused animals as co-founder of the nonprofit organization Animal Rescue Corps. Hendrix is also an annual Honorary Committee Member of the Genesis Awards, presented by The Humane Society of the United States, and she received the Guardian Award at the National Animal Rights Conference for her work on behalf of animals. She has also received numerous other awards and honors for both her humanitarian and acting work, including two Telly Awards (one for her work on Pets 90210), two film festival Best Actress awards and the Founder's Award at the Secret City Film Festival. Tickets for A Streetcar Named Desire are on sale in the UNA Department of Music and Theatre office or Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts. For further details, call (256) 765-5500 or visit the website at www.una.edu/summertheatre.

Mary-Arrchie is not taking a vacation this summer. The group finishes its 26th Season with a new partnership with Illinois State University when it presents an energetic staging of Electra in a new adaptation by Sonja Moser in July. And Mary-Arrchie will be performing a special two-week extension of Jeff Nominated Superior Donuts at Metropolis Arts Center in Arlington Heights. Plus, the Abbie Hoffman Died for Our Sins Theatre Festival celebrates it's 24th year this August.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.), under the Artistic Direction of Diane Paulus, has just announced that multiple Tony and Emmy award winner Cherry Jones returns to the A.R.T. next season to play Amanda Wingfield in Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie, to be directed by John Tiffany, Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning director of Once on Broadway.

On Stage Touring, LLC, in association with Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc., announced today that it will kick off their 2012/2013 touring season of Elvis Lives 'The Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Event' in Wilmington, DE, on October 2, 2012. Due to incredible demand from audiences coast to coast, this season's tour will travel to sixty cities, presenting 100 performances, more than triple the number of last season's tour.

Stone Soup Theatre announces its 2012-13 season, including nine comedy pieces in Dynamic Duo, A Child's Christmas in Wales, 5X Tenn, and more to be announced. See full details below.

Andrea Alton stars as Molly 'Equality' Dykeman in I CAN'T EVEN THINK STRAIGHT: MOLLY 'EQUALITY' DYKEMAN'S BIG GAY PRIDE SHOW, premiering tonight, June 21, at the Laurie Beechman Theatre. Molly "Equality" Dykeman is a barely lucid poet/security guard at PS 339 and a lovable train wreck who launched her career to critical acclaim in the 2011 New York International Fringe Festival.

The Old Globe today announced the cast and creative team for the West Coast Premiere of Divine Rivalry by Michael Kramer with D. S. Moynihan.