Tony Kushner News

Due to popular demand, Signature Theatre Company (Founding Artistic Director James Houghton; Executive Director Erika Mallin) is pleased to announce a one-week extension for Tony Kushner's THE ILLUSION, directed by Michael Mayer. The production, originally slated to run through July 10, 2011, will now play through Sunday, July 17, 2011. THE ILLUSION began previews Tuesday, May 17 at the Peter Norton Space (555 W. 42nd Street) with opening night scheduled for June 5.

As Signature Theatre Company prepares for the January 2012 opening of their new Frank Gehry-designed home, Signature Center, they have launched a new video series featuring interviews with a wide array of playwrights, directors, actors, and others connected to the Theatre. Called 'Signature Stories,' the videos capture personal reminiscences about time spent at Signature and offer a 'behind the scenes' glimpse into the inner-workings of the Company. The first three multi-subject videos in the series have featured architect Frank Gehry and Signature alumni Ethan Hawke, Frankie Faison, Kate Mulgrew and more talking about the Company's new home, as well as past Signature Playwrights-in-Residence, actors, directors and designers reflecting on their artistic experiences at Signature.

The multi-award-winning NoHo Arts Center Ensemble (NoHo ACE) presents a newly revised version of the play developed by the company, DEPARTURES, written by Michael Catlin, Effie Hortis, Jim Lunsford, James J. Mellon, Duane Poole, Penelope Richards, Jed Schlanger and Mark Wyrick, and directed by James J. Mellon.

Wendy C. Goldberg, Artistic Director of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center?s National Playwrights Conference, today announced the eight directors for plays previously selected for its 47th season.

Route 66 Theatre Company will hold its annual benefit, Milemarkers on June 14, 2011 at 7:30PM at the Mercury Theater, the current home of its critical and box office smash A Twist of Water, which plays through June 26. This is a one night only event on June 14.

Signature Theatre Companypresents Tony Kushner's THE ILLUSION, directed by Michael Mayer. THE ILLUSION begins performances on May 17, 2011 at The Peter Norton Space (555 West 42nd Street). Opening night will be June 5. heck out recently released production shots from the show below!

Award-winning screen and stage actress Maggie Gyllenhaal steps into the role of history's most famous woman scientist for a special reading of Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie, a new play by actor/writer Alan Alda. Gyllenhaal replaces the previously announced Meryl Streep, who had to bow out due to a sudden and unforeseen scheduling conflict. Through a spokesperson, Streep says she regrets the conflict and that she is 'very disappointed to miss this important and inspiring event.'

The New York Civil Liberties Union (The New York State affiliate of the ACLU) today announced a star-studded lineup of award-winning performers for Broadway Stands Up for Freedom, its annual benefit show scheduled for Monday, July 25 at the NYU Skirball Center for Performing Arts.

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, May 29, 2011 - Sunday, May 29, 2011.

Upcoming MTI Shows - 5/29 for Toronto

KTC presents the World Premiere of MAD WOMEN, conceived, written and performed by John Fleck, directed by Ric Montejano.

Welcome home Miss Doolittle! It's so loverly to finally greet you. An innovative and fresh reinterpretation of My Fair Lady brings Eliza Doolittle's London vibrantly to life and reinvigorates the memorable melodies and lyrics of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. Molly Smith, Artistic Director of Washington D.C.'s Arena Stage, returns to The Shaw to direct a delight for the senses. MY FAIR LADY will officially open at the Shaw Festival on May 28, 2011.

The 2011 Tony Award nominees were announced live from the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in New York City on Tuesday, May 3, 2011. The next day, proud nominees gathered at the Millenium Hotel in Times Square to celebrate and meet the press. Broadway Beat was on hand, of course, to speak with all of the proud nominees. In anticipation of Tony night on June 12, 2011, BroadwayWorld will be bringing you new clips of the stars in conversation each week so be sure to check back! Below, we bring you George C. Wolfe, Best Director of a Play nominee for The Normal Heart. Wolfe gained national recognition with his 1991 musical Jelly's Last Jam, a musical about the life of jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton; after a Los Angeles opening, the play moved to Broadway, where it received 11 Tony nominations and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical. Two years later, Wolfe famously directed Tony Kushner's Angels in America: Millennium Approaches to great critical acclaim, as well as a Tony award. Wolfe also directed the world premiere of the second part of Angels, Perestroika, the following year. Wolfe served as artistic director and producer of the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater from 1993-2004. During his tenure, he created the musical Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk, which won him a second Tony Award for direction. Additional credits include Tony Kushner's Caroline, or Change, The Wild Party, Suzan-Lori Parks' Pulitzer Prize-winning play Topdog/Underdog,and a new translation of Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park starring Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Austin Pendleton.

THE KATSELAS THEATRE COMPANY is proud to announce the extension of the smash hit World Premiere MAD WOMEN, conceived, written and performed by John Fleck, directed by Ric Montejano.

Upcoming MTI Shows - 5/22 for Toronto

Penumbra Theatre Company, the nation's preeminent African American theatre, announces the casting of I Wish You Love, by Dominic Taylor, directed by Lou Bellamy. The production features Dennis W. Spears as Nat 'King' Cole, singing over 20 of Mr. Cole's beloved songs. This world premiere closes May 22, 2011.

The Herb Alpert Foundation and California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) have awarded the 17th Alpert Award in the Arts to five exceptional mid-career artists. The award, an annual prize of $75,000, recognizes past performance and future promise to artists working in Dance, Film/Video, Music, Theatre and Visual Arts, the five major fields of investigation at CalArts.

Culled from as A-list a list as you are ever likely to acquire - Steven Spielberg, Robert Greenblatt, Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, Michael Mayer, Theresa Rebeck and Marc Shaiman/Scott Wittman onwards - SMASH is the adult answer to riveting dramatic musical entertainment coming with heart, laughs, unforgettable characters and some of the biggest twists this side of the starry stages on the Great White Way. Oh, yeah, and those hallowed Broadway halls, too. Plus, SMASH provides a great new opportunity to showcase the unbelievable talent on display on the stages of Broadway and Off-Broadway and beyond, particularly given the fact that it is shot in New York and it is being cast by the biggest casting director on Broadway, Bernie Telsey. Consider the theatre-centric casting LAW & ORDER times seventy six (trombones). All of New York is the talent pool from which the stage of SMASH shall be set. And, what exactly is SMASH about, anyway? Well, SMASH is all about Broadway and what makes a musical tick - from the very inception of the show's idea by the songwriters, through writing, rehearsals and the road; all the way to the big Broadway opening where dreams are made - and nightmares born - on one magnificent, momentous night. As viewers, we are taken inside the ticking clock of the show and we experience each and every one of the multitude of machinations enacted by everyone from the stars - Marilyn Monroe, and the actress playing her, Ivy; and, more importantly, her alternative, Karen - to the overworked director (Derek), harried songwriters Tom and Julia, and the speculative and cutthroat producer behind it all, Eileen.