The Public Theater News

The Public Theater today presents Kevin Kline as Romeo and Meryl Streep as Juliet in a one-night-only benefit reading of ROMEO AND JULIET - the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The cast will also feature F. Murray Abraham (Friar Laurence); Christine Baranski (Nurse); John Cullum (Capulet); Raul Esparza (Sampson, Apothecary, Watchman 1); David Harbour (Abraham, Capulet Servant, Paris' Page); Bill Irwin (Montague); Jesse L. Martin (Gregory, Friar John, Watchman 2); Sandra Oh (Lady Montague); Phylicia Rashad (Lady Capulet); Jerry Stiller (Peter); Michael Stuhlbarg (Paris); Christopher Walken (Mercutio); Sharon Washington (Stage Directions); Sam Waterston (Benvolio); and Jeffrey Wright (Tybalt).

As previously reported on BroadwayWorld, stage empress Idina Menzel has launched an extensive national tour playing throughout the United States in 2012. She is set to play the Peabody Opera House tonight, June 17.

If the Tony Awards annually strike the final chord for each New York theatre season, then the overture for the next one is undoubtedly trumpeted by The New York Shakespeare Festival's free performances at the Delacorte Theater

Tony Kushner and Annie Leibovitz photograph and interview the team behind Delacorte Theater's Shakespeare in the Park and some of its biggest stars, including James Earl Jones, Oscar Eustis, Audra McDonald, Blythe Danner, Kevin Kline, Mandy Pantinkin, Jonathan Groff, Tyler Ferguson and more! Watch the Vanity Fair video feature here.

Williamstown Theatre Festival Artistic Director Jenny Gersten announced today performance schedule changes to the runs of the workshop production of Here Lies Love and the Preview Production of Far From Heaven on the Main Stage.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK: ONCE scores big at the Tonys, ROCK OF AGES hits the big screen, HARVEY returns to Broadway, and so much more!

Joe's Pub gives you a look ahead at its July 9-July 15 performances, including Amanda Holley, Bridget Everett & The Tender Moments, Matt Munisteri, Mary C., Happy Ending Music & Reading Series, Charles Perry, Kalman Balogh Gypsy Cimbalom Trio, Summer & Eve, Batz, Bhi Bhiman, Justin Robinson & The Mary annettes, Ilusha Tsinadze's Dede Ena, Russian Red with special guest Tulsa, Lori Lieberman, Michael Serveris, and Loose Cattle. See full details below!

Steppenwolf Theatre Company closes the 2011/12 season with Three Sisters, Anton Chekhov's humorous and affecting tale of longing for a better life, adapted by Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning ensemble member Tracy Letts, directed by Tony Award-winning ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro. Letts and Shapiro continue their celebrated collaboration following their acclaimed world-premiere production of August: Osage County (2007), bringing fresh insight to this classic story of a privileged family's changing fortunes. Check out photos from the cast and creative team in rehearsal below!

Streep Tease: An Evening of Meryl Streep Monologues performed by an All-Male Cast returns to LA for a limited engagement headlining the Outlaugh Comedy Festival (taking place within the Hollywood Fringe Fest), opening tonight, June 15 at Theatre Asylum, it was announced by the show's Creator and Co-Executive Producer Roy Cruz.

In an effort to get the theatre's footlights shining again, two sister theatre companies - Entr'Acte Theatrix and Palm Beach Principal Players - are co-producing JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, which will run for 10 performances at the former Caldwell Theatre, July 5-15. The dynamic rock musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice is a musical interpretation of the final days of Jesus Christ that is not so much a story about religion as it is about the emergence of a charismatic rebel who surfaces among an oppressed people to pacifistically challenge the moral state of existing affairs - all told in the musical vernacular of rock 'n' roll, just like HAIR before it.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre announced the cast and creative team for its world premiere of Eve Ensler's EMOTIONAL CREATURE. This positive and propulsive new show - from the Tony Award-winning playwright, performer, and activist who created The Vagina Monologues - features a choreographer, a composer, four top designers, and an ensemble of talented young women. Directed by Obie Award-winner Jo Bonney, Emotional Creature plays only 36 performances in the Roda Theatre. The limited engagement at Berkeley Rep begins previews tonight, June 14, opens June 22, and runs through July 15. The lead producers of this premiere are Wayne Jordan and Quinn Delaney, Marjorie Randolph, and Jack and Betty Schafer; the executive producer is the Strauch Kulhanjian Family. The development of this production has been supported in part by The Mosse Artistic Development Fund.

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) presents its next monthly networking panel, Coloring the Great White Way; Part 2: Where are the Producers of Color?, an expansion of the April panel discussion that will focus on the experience of Latino and Asian American producers. The panel will take place at the Players Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street, NYC. Doors open at 7:00pm for networking and refreshments, panel starts promptly at 7:30pm.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Patrick Willingham) began previews on Tuesday, June 5, for AS YOU LIKE IT, the first show of The Public's 50th Anniversary season at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park--home of free Shakespeare in the Park. Directed by Daniel Sullivan, AS YOU LIKE IT will continue for four weeks through Saturday, June 30, with an official press opening on Thursday, June 21. Check out photos of Paul Taylor, Andre Braugher, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Lily Rabe, David Furr, Donna Lynne Champlin, Oliver Platt, Jordan Tice, Stephen Spinella, Susannah Flood and Will Rogers in the production below!

The Public Theater announced today that Shakespeare in the Park alumni F. Murray Abraham, Christine Baranski, John Cullum, David Harbour, Bill Irwin, Sandra Oh, Phylicia Rashad, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Sharon Washington will join Kevin Kline as Romeo and Meryl Streep as Juliet in a one-night-only benefit reading of ROMEO AND JULIET on Monday, June 18 - the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Over the past five decades, more than five million people have enjoyed over 150 productions of Shakespeare and other classical works and musicals at the Delacorte.

Tony Award-winning actress, singer and songwriter Idina Menzel, star of Broadway's Wicked andthe original stage production of Rent, will tour North America, performing her brand new live show. Tickets can be purchased through local box offices or www.idinamenzel.com.

InViolet Repertory Theater presents the World Premiere of THIS IS FICTION by Megan Hart. Richard Masur stars in this dramedy directed by Shelley Butler. Performances run tonight, June 12 through June 30 at Cherry Lane Studio Theatre (38 Commerce Street between 7th Avenue & Hudson Streets).6/

KEIGWIN + COMPANY (K+C) returns to The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue, NYC, for its annual weeklong season including the World Premieres of three new dances on June 12- 17, 2012.