William Shakespeare News

In New York City, summer and Shakespeare go hand in hand. For their 2014 Season the dell'Arte Opera Ensemble is producing 'A Summer of Shakespeare,' and they kicked off this season with a fully staged production of Henry Purcell's THE FAIRY QUEEN. While giving the show a modern twist, dell'Arte Opera Ensemble followed traditional convention and has set the piece into an abridged version of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. The end product is a light-hearted yet ambitious production that enchants.

The world premiere of Echoes of Octavia opened Friday August 8 at the Just Off Broadway Theatre in Kansas City, Mo. Harvey Williams directs the Meltingpot KC production that runs through August 24. The premiere concludes the 2013-2014 season for Meltingpot KC that highlighted plays by local female writers.

Chautauqua Theatre Company, under the leadership of Vivienne Benesch, Artistic Director, and Sarah Clare Corporandy, Managing Director, presents William Shakespeare's magical masterwork, The Tempest, directed by Jade King Carroll, playing August 8-15 on the Bratton Theatre Mainstage. The press opening is tonight (August 9) at 6:00pm.

Shakespeare's tale of shipwrecks, sorcery and young love, adapted and directed by Aaron Posner and Teller, arrives at South Coast Repertory to open the 2014-15 season, Aug. 29-Sept. 28, on the Segerstrom Stage.

From September 4-14, 2014, Houston Ballet launches its 45th season with the company premiere of John Neumeier's three-act ballet A Midsummer Night's Dream. The ballet is based on Shakespeare's lighthearted play of the same name and follows the hijinks and hilarity that ensues when a well-intentioned plan with a love potion goes awry. Created in 1977, A Midsummer Night's Dream has served as Mr. Neumeier's calling card, being seen as one of his most joyous and popular creations. Houston Ballet is the first American ballet company to perform the famous work and it is the first piece by Mr. Neumeier to enter the Houston Ballet repertoire.

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey presents Ben Jonson's The Alchemist, a rowdy tale of con artists and their gullible prey. This production marks the premiere of Artistic Director Bonnie J. Monte's new adaptation of the 17th century work. Performances begin August 6 at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, 36 Madison Avenue in Madison. Tickets start at $25 for all preview performances. All regular performances offer tickets starting at $32. Student rush tickets for all performances are $15, available a half-hour before curtain for with a valid student ID. Performances are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays at 7:30 p.m.; Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. For tickets, call the Box Office at 973-408-5600 or visit www.ShakespeareNJ.org.

"Tragedy is easy... comedy is hard." The short stories and sketches of James Thurber, Dorothy Parker, and the legendary Mark Twain fill the bill of Centenary Stage Company's ninth GREAT AUTHORS ALOUD series for this free staged reading event on Sunday, September 7th at 3 pm in The Kutz Black Box Theatre. This exploration of the human foibles, comic frustrations and eccentricities of ordinary people will be read by Randall Duk Kim and Anne Occhiogrosso. At a time when the world seems to be falling down around our ears and human behavior has left the sanest of us baffled, a healthy dose of these three might be exactly what the doctor ordered to reassure ourselves that the world isn't going crazy; it's simply always been that way.

James Cady's all-male version of Hamlet plays at the Musical Theatre Southwest Center for Theatre August 14-24.

This summer SPT's Youth Program is taking The Taming of the Shrew to the high seas - prepare for a wild voyage through one of Shakespeare's earliest and most controversial comedies, about a strong-willed couple hell-bent on confusing and outwitting each other right up to the play's equivocal conclusion. There are many exciting questions to ask with this screwball comedy and this production seeks to answer them with plenty of slapstick, gender bending…and pirates!

Today, in honor of Steven Spielberg's admission this week that he is contemplating a big screen remake of it, we salute one of the most high profile musicals ever written, WEST SIDE STORY.

The new musical, MACBETH, will open at The Players Theatre on September 5, 2014 for its strictly limited Off-Broadway premiere. Below, check out a first look at the show's stars, Tyler Nye and Dominic Sellers, in just-released publicity images!

Multi-award-winning director and producer Steven Spielberg has confirmed preliminary plans to consider creating a new cinematic adaptation of the iconic Golden Age musical WEST SIDE STORY according to a new interview that occurred earlier this week.

The Watermill is delighted to announce its Autumn/Winter 2014 Season, with highlights including the World Premiere of But First This, A Musical Homage to Radio 4 written by Radio 4 newsreader Kathy Clugston, a new 75-minute three-man adaptation of Hamlet, and a Christmas production of Peter Pan with original music by Simon Slater. Full season on sale now.

Experience the passion of a cast of emerging professionals who will take you on a flight of emotions with Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, and Jerome Robbin's classic 'WEST SIDE STORY'

In their third season, the Half Moon Bay Shakespeare Company will present William Shakespeare's beloved comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Opening Labor Day weekend, the company has moved to downtown Half Moon Bay and will present the play in John L. Carter Memorial Park, located just north of the historic and controversial bridge on Main Street. 'The park is a perfect location for outdoor theatre and since the inception of the company, we have wanted to use it for our productions.' said Company Artistic Director and director of the play, Robert Pickett. 'We felt Midsummer would be the best show to open in the park because of the redwood trees and forest setting. The park is a perfect amphitheatre and set far enough away from the street.'

This summer, as the world celebrates the 450th birthday of William Shakespeare, the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival celebrates two dates of their own - the 150th anniversary of the first full Shakespeare play produced on campus and the 15th season of the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival (NDSF). "We're honoring our 1864 kinsmen by producing Henry IV, the same title performed by Notre Dame 150 years ago," says Grant Mudge, Ryan Producing Artistic Director for the Festival. A tale of rebels and rebellion, Henry IV explores the journey of a prodigal prince torn between two fathers - an ailing king and an errant knave.

Artistic Director Tony Simotes welcomes Award-Winning Canadian Playwright Vern Thiessen for a special Talk Back focusing on his provocative one-woman play Shakespeare's Will, on Saturday, August 9th immediately following the 3:00pm performance. The 85-minute play, directed by Daniela Varon and starring Kristin Wold, both of whom will be on-hand for the Talk Back, imagines the bold and unapologetic journey of Shakespeare's enigmatic wife, Anne Hathaway, and the couple's unconventional courtship and marriage. Shakespeare's Will kicked off the Company's celebratory season back in May honoring the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth. Performances continue to run in the Bernstein Theatre through August 24.