Terrence McNally News

Westport/Weston Natives Justin Paul, Dan Asher, Drew McKeon and Jeremy Goldsmith in Band: The Broadway Boys' Holiday Concert at Westport Country Playhouse

The Greatest Gift, a special family holiday playreading with music, will be presented by Westport Country Playhouse in association with Bisno Productions as part of the Playhouse's popular Script in Hand series, on Monday, December 13, 7 p.m.

Westport Country Playhouse's Family Festivities Series will present, "Season's Greetings," with magic, music, live animals, special effects and audience participation, celebrating the world's seasonal holidays, on Sunday, December 12, 1 and 4 p.m.

Bill Irwin, actor, director, writer and clown, whose work has been honored with Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Barrymore and Helen Hayes Awards, and Doug Skinner, musician, puppeteer and composer, who wrote and played the music for several of Mr. Irwin's shows, will appear in "The Clowns and Mr. Beckett," an evening of madcap routines, shtick and novelty songs, at Westport Country Playhouse on Saturday, December 11, 8 p.m.

The award-winning York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director) hosted its 19th Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre on Monday, November 22, 2010, honoring Tony Award-winning librettist Thomas Meehan (Annie, The Producers, Hairspray, Elf). The evening was directed by Tony-winning director/lyricist/librettist Richard Maltby and the award was presented by Alice Hammerstein Mathias, daughter of Oscar Hammerstein II.

Westport Country Playhouse offers the holiday gift of entertainment for family and friends. Subscriptions or tickets to upcoming plays, family festivities or special events make great stocking stuffers.

Michael Riedel is reporting in today's New York Post that the Manhattan Theater Club is in talks to bring the Kennedy Center production of MASTER CLASS, which ran this Spring, starring Tyne Daly to Broadway in the Summer of 2011. The play is aiming for the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in June.

The award winning York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director) will honor Tony Award winning librettist Thomas Meehan (Annie, The Producers, Hairspray, Elf) with the 19th Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre on Monday, November 22, 2010.

Today we are talking to an Emmy-winning stage star best known for his unforgettable turns as the Wizard of Oz himself in the original Broadway cast of THE WIZ, as well as his Emmy-winning performance in both the Broadway and filmed version of AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'. In recent years, he has found much success with his choices of eccentric, oft-controversial roles, particularly those roles in the hot-button play PRYMATE and the David Yazbeck/Terrance McNally musical THE FULL MONTY. In this portion of our conversation, De Shields impresses with his effortless grace, studied theories on his craft and the art of theatre, all with taking a look forward to his newest stage venture - KNOCK ME A KISS by Charles Smith - which opens this weekend. We also discuss his role in the career of legendary songwriter Jim Steinman - from RHINEGOLD and BLOODSHOT WINE with Joe Papp in the 70s all the way to the workshop for the forthcoming BAT OUT OF HELL: THE MUSICAL.

Pride Films & Plays (PFP) announces the five screenplays with GLBT themes or characters that have been named finalists in the first Great Gay Screenplay Contest. The five screenplays will be performed as staged readings during the Great Gay Screenplay Weekend, Saturday, Nov. 20 at 5 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 21 at 3 p.m., at the Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted Street.

Village Theatre has announced its 2010-2011 Mainstage Season, comprised of five with five diverse stories. Last season, the Village Theatre achieved an all-time high 18,000 subscribers, and hope to build on that number with a season including two Broadway musicals as well as two world premieres.

Pride Films & Plays (PFP) announces the five screenplays with GLBT themes or characters that have been named finalists in the first Great Gay Screenplay Contest. The five screenplays will be performed as staged readings during the Great Gay Screenplay Weekend, Saturday, Nov. 20 at 5 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 21 at 3 p.m., at the Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted Street.

In celebration of the Washington premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical sensation Sunset Boulevard about faded silent film legend Norma Desmond, Signature Theatre is holding the "With One Look" silent film competition open to anyone and everyone who loves the golden age of Hollywood.

Westport Country Playhouse, in partnership with Norwalk's Triangle Community Center, will present a "LGBT Night Out at the Playhouse," for members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities and allies, on Saturday, December 18.

Virginia's Tony Award®-winning Signature Theatre is hosting a CD signing and release party for WINTER, a new holiday CD from Signature American Musical Voices Project commissioned composer Matt Conner (Nevermore, The Hollow and Partial Eclipse) on Monday, November 15th from 6:30pm to 8:30pm in Signature Theatre's Mead Lobby.

Award-winning actress Kathleen Chalfant will join previously announced Kieran Campion, Mia Dillon and Edward Herrmann for a reading of Noel Coward's bittersweet comedy, "A Song at Twilight," part of Westport Country Playhouse's popular Script in Hand Series, on Monday, November 15, 7 p.m.

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater continues its 16th season with the world premiere of There Are No More Big Secrets written by Obie Award-winner Heidi Schreck and directed by Kip Fagan.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will present its forty-first world premiere, To Cross the Face of the Moon / Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, commissioned by HGO through its Song of Houston project. Music by José 'Pepe' Martinez, music director of Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, with libretto by acclaimed Broadway director and author Leonard Foglia, the opera will be performed in concert by a cast that includes mezzo-soprano Cecilia Duarte, baritone and HGO studio alumnus Octavio Moreno, and Martinez, together with Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, on Saturday, November 13, 2010, at the Wortham Theater Center in Houston, Texas. This will be Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán's only Houston performance in 2010.

Treatment Action Group (TAG), one of the leading AIDS research advocacy organizations, will host its 14th annual Research in Action Awards (RIAA), honoring individuals who have made a significant contribution in AIDS research and activism.

Westport Country Playhouse announced today an opportunity on its Facebook page to win two five-play preview subscriptions to its 2011 Season.