The Public Theater News

The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre, the acclaimed comedy/variety show, will continue its engagement at JOE'S PUB at The Public Theater on Sunday, May 18 at 9:30 PM with a celebration of the pop diva Janet Jackson. After a highly-successful season at 54 Below, The Meeting* has returned to its downtown roots this year with shows through May. The Meeting* has been called "delicious and delightfully droll" by The New York Post, and "hilarious and sardonic" by The Village Voice. A recent story for Slate.com called the evening "so deliciously icy that it left me shivering with fear and delight." The May show will feature special guest Erin Markey in addition to the previously-announced Cole Escola, Nadia Quinn of "Summer & Eve" and John Early. Brett Every serves as Music Director.

Joe's Pub at The Public presents A Good Read, a new ongoing no-frills reading series of classic works of prose and poetry curated by writer and actor John Cameron Mitchell. On Tuesday, June 3 and Wednesday, June 11 at 7:00 PM, actor Denis O'Hare will join Mitchell for Volume 2: Luminous Nictitation - an Evening of Russian Metafictional Absurdity at Joe's Pub. The actors will perform two-hander adaptations of works by Vladimir Nabokov. Tickets ($20) are available online and at The Public Theater Box Office (425 Lafayette, NYC, 212-967-7555).

Lapham's Quarterly announced today that their annual DECADES BALL will be celebrating the 1870s. The gala event will take place on Monday, June 2, beginning at 6:00 p.m. with cocktails followed by dinner at Gotham Hall (1356 Broadway). The 1870s gave birth to street lamps in New York City, to The Kentucky Derby, The Brooklyn Bridge, phonographs and the telephone, the first Harvard/Yale game, and P.T. Barnum's "Greatest Show on Earth." The themed evening will be sponsored by Encyclopedia Britannica and will celebrate Lapham's Quarterly's seventh year of publication.

The 80th Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony and Luncheon is being held this afternoon, May 16, at the Marriott Marquis Times Square, where winners will be announced for Distinguished Production of a Play, Distinguished Production of a Musical, Distinguished Revival of a Play, Distinguished Revival of a Musical, and the much coveted Distinguished Performance Award. This year's event, which began at noon, is hosted by Broadway veteran Jesse Tyler Ferguson. BroadwayWorld is updating the winners live! Check back in to find out who took home the big awards!

Glenn Close, John Lithgow, Lindsay Duncan, Bob Balaban, Clare Higgins, and Martha Plimpton will star in a new Broadway production of Edward Albee's A DELICATE BALANCE this fall at the Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street). The production, which will be directed by Pam MacKinnon, begins previewsMonday, October 20 and plays an 18-week limited engagement through Sunday, February 22, 2015. Opening night is Thursday, November 20.

The Public Theater will begin performances for Public Studio's two inaugural plays, THE URBAN RETREAT by A. Zell Williams, and MANAHATTA, by Mary Kathryn Nagle, tonight, May 15. The two plays will be presented as pared-down productions and run in repertory through Sunday, May 25 in The Public's Shiva Theater.

The seventh installment of BC Beat on Monday, May 19th highlights award winning choreographers and performers from television, film and Broadway who have created and performed in some of the year's most anticipated productions.

Joe's Pub has announced their lineup of events for May 14-25. There is sure to be some thing for everyone - check out all the details below!

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) announces nine awards granted from their National Fund for New Musicals, a major funding program to support NAMT member not-for-profit theatres in their collaborations with writers to create, develop and produce new musicals. Now in its sixth year, the Fund will provide grants totaling $35,500 to nine organizations across the country.

The Bard SummerScape festival is proud to present the world premiere of Love in the Wars, an adaptation of Heinrich von Kleist's romantic drama Penthesilea by the Booker Prize-winning novelist John Banville. Starring Obie Award-winner Birgit Huppuch and One Life to Live's Chris Stack, Bard's premiere production is by Ken Rus Schmoll, the Obie Award-winning director. Representing a fresh, playful and earthy take on Kleist's original, Love in the Wars will be presented in two previews and eight performances between July 10 and 20 in Theater Two of the Fisher Center - designed byFrank Gehry and celebrated since its opening as a major architectural landmark - on Bard's glorious Hudson Valley campus

The Public Theater, The Roots, and Def Jam Recordings announced today that they will present …and then you shoot your cousin, a two-night concert event celebrating the release of The Roots' new album of the same name tonight, May 13 and Wednesday, May 14 at 8:30 p.m. in The Public's intimate 260-seat Anspacher Theater. A limited number of tickets are on sale now to benefit The Public Theater.

New York Stage and Film and Vassar College, this summer celebrating thirty years of their Powerhouse Theater collaboration, have announced the Play Readings Festival lineups that will bookend their upcoming 30th Powerhouse Theater Season, running from June 20 - July 27 at Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, New York).

The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre, the acclaimed comedy/variety show, will continue its engagement at JOE'S PUB at The Public Theater on Sunday, May 18 at 9:30 PM with a celebration of the pop diva Janet Jackson. After a highly-successful season at 54 Below, The Meeting* has returned to its downtown roots this year with shows through May. The Meeting* has been called "delicious and delightfully droll" by The New York Post, and "hilarious and sardonic" by The Village Voice. A recent story for Slate.com called the evening "so deliciously icy that it left me shivering with fear and delight." The May show will feature special guests Cole Escola, Nadia Quinn of "Summer & Eve" and John Early, with others to be announced.

Futureleap Media (Marcus Lovingood, Founder/CEO), as part of its Broadway LIVE: Unplugged Series (Spencer Howard, Executive Producer), presents Broadway LIVE: Unplugged with Jonathan Reid Gealt, a one-night only special event on Monday, June 16 at 9:30 p.m. at Joe's Pub (425 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10003).

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, May 11, 2014 - Sunday, May 11, 2014.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University, under the leadership of Diane Paulus, Artistic Director and William Russo, Managing Director; presents the last production of its 2013/14 Season, THE TEMPEST, adapted and directed by Aaron Posner and Teller from the play by William Shakespeare, with magic by Teller, music by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, and movement by Matt Kent of Pilobolus.

On Sunday, May 11th, 2014 at 7:00pm, BroadwayWorld.com will continue its 2014 concert series at legendary cabaret venue Joe's Pub at The Public Theater, hosting an all-star tribute concert and benefit celebrating the music of incomparable multi-award-winning composer Jule Styne, while also honoring Mother's Day, raising funds for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

On Sunday, May 11th, 2014 at 7:00pm, BroadwayWorld.com will continue its 2014 concert series at legendary cabaret venue Joe's Pub at The Public Theater, hosting an all-star tribute concert and benefit celebrating the music of incomparable multi-award-winning composer Jule Styne, while also honoring Mother's Day, raising funds for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

A reading of the prolific actor's play about the 1994 Rwanda genocide will stream live and include a web-assisted talkback with people in Rwanda.

Welcome to BWW's exclusive talk show, BACKSTAGE WITH Richard Ridge. Follow Richard as he visits the theater's best and brightest in their dressing rooms, on their stages and favorite hang outs to talk about their lives, careers and all of the things you don't know, but want to know. In the special interview below, Tony-winning director Diane Paulus, updates us on her latest project- AMALUNA, plus she reminisces about HAIR, PORGY AND BESS, PIPPIN, and more. Check out the full interview below!