William Shakespeare News

The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) opens its 2014-15 Mainstage Series with William Shakespeare's dark and twisted tragedy Macbeth. Under the direction of Brant Russell, Assistant Professor of Drama, Macbeth will make its CCM debut Oct. 2 through 5 in CCM's Patricia Corbett Theater, with a preview performance at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 1.

The third SCrIBE Scriptwriting Competition has given five local playwrights a chance to develop their work, with three grand prizes to be won when their plays are staged at the Cape Town Fringe Festival this week. The top entries for this annual competition will have their plays presented at nightly staged readings, with a professional director and cast, from today, 30 September to 3 October at the Garrick Theatre in the Waterfront Theatre School, with the winners being announced at an awards ceremony on 4 October. Each night will be hosted by a prominent member of the theatre community.

The Old Globe will celebrate its 80th Anniversary as part of the Balboa Park Centennial Celebration with a 2015 Summer Season featuring Shakespeare onstage and in film. 2014 Tony Award winner for A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder and former Old Globe Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak returns to direct the spectacular musical classic Kiss Me, Kate, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Sam and Bella Spewack, and choreography by Peggy Hickey, in association with Hartford Stage.

The third SCrIBE Scriptwriting Competition has given five local playwrights a chance to develop their work, with three grand prizes to be won when their plays are staged at the Cape Town Fringe Festival this week. The top entries for this annual competition will have their plays presented at nightly staged readings, with a professional director and cast, from 30 September to 3 October at the Garrick Theatre in the Waterfront Theatre School, with the winners being announced at an awards ceremony on 4 October. Each night will be hosted by a prominent member of the theatre community.

William Shakespeare's swift and relentless tragedy, Macbeth, comes to Theater at Monmouth. Filled with ghosts, witches, and dark prophecies, Macbeth will run for one weekend only in Cumston Hall October 17-19 before heading out on the road as part of the theatre's Shakespeare in Maine Communities Education Tour. Macbeth will tour for three weeks to schools and community centers across the state.

Cincinnati Shakespeare Company continues their season with a Regional Premiere for the Halloween season of "The Birds" by Conor McPherson, from the short story by Daphne du Maurier October 17- November 8, 2014. This production is directed by Cincinnati Shakespeare's Producing Artistic Director, Brian Isaac Phillips and features Cincinnati Shakespeare's Resident Ensemble members Sara Clark, Sherman Fracher, Nicholas Rose and Brent Vimtrup. The design is generously sponsored by Raymond James.

On September 15, 2014, Mine is Yours officially announced their upcoming production of R&J, William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, edited and gender-reversed by Hannah Pell, and directed by the bold and brilliant Abby Craden*.

Present Company, a sponsored project of the Austin Creative Alliance, will return to East Austin's Rain Lily Farm this Fall for 12 performances of William Shakespeare's The Tempest. Promoting the philosophy of 'accessible & immediate art,' SHAKESPEARE ON THE FARM is a free, professional production, presented as a gift to the community with the support of local businesses and organizations. Performances will run October 9th- November 1st, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at Rain Lily Farm, 914 Shady Lane.

The American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theater School Institute for Advanced Theater Training, in partnership with Playwrights of New York (PoNY), presents Samuel D. Hunter's (2014 MacArthur Genius Grant Recipient) comedy, A Bright New Boise, directed by Marcus Stern. Performances will take place at the Zero Church Performance Space, Harvard Square on October 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, and 18 at 7:30PM.

Bootless Stageworks will present the first officially licensed production of Terminator, The Second, a staged adaption of the hit Hollywood blockbuster Terminator 2: Judgment Day. What makes Terminator, The Second such a unique theater production is that it is completed entirely in Shakespearean language. Every line and phrase is taken from the original folios of William Shakespeare, with changes only to proper nouns, pronouns, and verb-tenses that serve to create a hilarious parody about a boy and his cyborg protector with the utmost accuracy.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC), recipient of the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award, opens its 2014-2015 mainstage season with William Shakespeare's romantic comedyAs You Like It, directed by Michael Attenborough in his American regional directing debut. As You Like It will play at the Lansburgh Theatre (450 7th Street NW) from October 28-December 7, 2014.

A Noise Within (ANW), the acclaimed classical repertory theatre company, continues its 2014-2015 REVOLUTIONary season with The Dance of Death by August Strindberg in a new adaptation by Irish playwright Conor McPherson, which opens on Saturday, October 18 and runs through Sunday, November 23, 2014.

The University of Southern Maine (USM) Department of Theatre is presenting an innovative and enlightening six-show season for 2014-2015, replete with skirt-chasing dames, lonely love-torn souls, original dance, a production at the Portland Stage Studio Theater featuring a satirical southern belle and her hypochondriac son, followed by a pistol-packing nun, and the Maine premiere of the sensational new musical, 'Catch Me If You Can,' as well as one of Shakespeare's most beloved comedies 'shadowed' by American Sign Language interpreter-performers.

A first look at international stage and screen superstar Benedict Cumberbatch in the new BBC TV adaptation of William Shakespeare's historical tragedy RICHARD III is now available to view.

Actress / playwright Renee Flemings tackles William Shakespeare's most powerful female characters in her solo performance 'Women, Power & The Bard' on Saturday, October 11th at The Actors Fund Arts Center at the Schermerhorn (160 Schermerhorn Street) in downtown Brooklyn, NY.

Registration is now open for TheatreWorks Kids (TW Kids) eight-week Fall Program, a Shakespeare Workshop of 'The Tempest' beginning October 19. Instructor Amy Emke has designed a unique and exciting program WITH MUSIC for students ages 5 to 7 and ages 8 to 18, which will culminate in a final performance on Saturday December 13.

Actors' Shakespeare Project (ASP), under the leadership of Artistic Director Allyn Burrows, Executive Producer Sara Stackhouse, and Mara Sidmore Director of Education Programs, Projects, and Partnerships enters its second decade presenting a season of powerful stories, awesome artists, diverse venues, and integrated youth and community education projects.

Folger Theatre launches its 2014/15 season in Rome with William Shakespeare's enduring political tragedy, Julius Caesar from October 28 - December 7, 2014. Robert Richmond (Richard III and Henry V at Folger) directs the epic portrait of the battle between ambition and honor, conspiracy and loyalty, leading an outstanding ensemble including Anthony Cochrane (Broadway's War Horse and Folger's Henry VIII) as the honorable Marcus Brutus, and Maurice Jones, making his Folger Theatre debut as Caesar's closest ally, Mark Antony.

Heart-stirring, crowd-rousing and life-changing education programs are a bedrock of Shakespeare & Company. This year, the company presents the New England Tour of Hamlet and the Shakespeare & Company original hit Shakespeare and the Language that Shaped a World. Both Tours sold out last year, so be sure to book now to secure one of these performances in your school!

A new featurette showcasing the Blu-ray debut of master director Roman Polanski's adaptation of William Shakespeare's bloody tragedy MACBETH is now available to view.