William Shakespeare News

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC) will celebrate its 20th year serving the community in 2015. It will kick off its anniversary season on September 19, 2014, with a once-in-a-lifetime gift to the City of Boston - Shakespeare at Fenway. This is a first-ever event of this kind to be presented at a major league ballpark. More information will be available later this summer at www.commshakes.org.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) along with Chicago's civic and cultural leaders celebrate William Shakespeare's 450th Birthday with the premiere of 'Our City, Our Shakespeare,' a documentary exploring Shakespeare's enduring presence in Chicago, featuring Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Art Institute of Chicago, Joffrey Ballet, among others. Produced by Emmy award-winning HMS Media, the program premieres May 1 at 8:00 p.m. on WTTW Channel 11. Shakespeare's 450th birthday on April 23 begins the internationally recognized Shakespeare Quadricentennial Celebration through 2016, marking 400 years of Shakespeare's legacy since his death in 1616. On this occasion, Chicago's cultural community heralds the prolific poet and playwright's lasting impact on our lives-through our everyday speech and in cultural institutions, schools and neighborhoods across the city.

Director Joss Whedon has released the first three minutes of his new film IN YOUR EYES which is debuting this week at the Tribeca Film Festival. The story, starring Broadway vet Zoe Kazan (granddaughter of legendary producer and director Elia Kazan) and Michael Stahl-David as two people with seemingly no connection unexplainably drawn together across the continent. Kazan plays a wife and mother in New England who shares a metaphysical connection with Stahl-David's ex-con in New Mexico.

The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is pleased to announce initial details for the 2014-15 Mainstage Series of opera, musical theatre and drama productions.

In honor of William Shakespeare's 450th birthday, the Hole in the Wall Theater will be holding a celebration after their general meeting at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, April 23rd.

The Poor Mouth Theatre Company presents 'The Campaign Manager,' a new play by Stephen Smallhorne. Scroll down to see some pictures from the production!

The Shakespeare Theatre Company's well-crafted, well-acted and magnificently directed revival of William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1 is an exciting production perfect for a novice theatergoer or the most seasoned Shakespearean veteran.

In the midst of their milestone 20th anniversary season, Lantern Theater Company today announced the productions that will comprise their 2014/15 season. Continuing a critically acclaimed tradition of presenting classic, modern and original works that authentically and intimately explore the human spirit, the season will open with Tom Stoppard's thrilling masterpiece Arcadia, directed by the Lantern's Associate Artistic Director Kathryn MacMillan. Arcadia will be presented in conjunction with a sixth annual festival of special events and guests, inviting audiences into the work and inspiring continued conversation. In the winter months, Barrymore Award-winning actors Mary Martello and Ben Dibble will headline John Patrick Shanley's Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning Doubt: A Parable, also directed by MacMillan. In the spring, Lantern Artistic Director Charles McMahon helms a fresh, sexy take on William Shakespeare's comedy of the sexes, The Taming of the Shrew. The season will close with an inventive and cheeky adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, featuring Dave Johnson.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa announced today that PlayMakers Repertory Company will receive a $50,000 NEA Art Works grant for its fall 2014 repertory productions. PlayMakers is the professional theater company based in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Closing the award-winning African-American Shakespeare Company's 19th season is William Shakespeare's glorious comedy of love delayed, Much Ado About Nothing. Celebrating the joy of love and the power of redemption, the play chronicles the clever banter and sincere affection of two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) has been awarded an $80,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support the 2014 production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona. OSF is one of 886 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant, which will help fund 38 performances as well as surrounding education and audience engagement events for William Shakespeare's comedy of young male bonding and betrayal, which OSF will present with an all-female cast.

Today, April 17-20, Pontine Theatre presents Shakespeare's Will performed by guest artist, Tannis Kowalchuk. The production is underwritten by Piscataqua Savings Bank. Anne Hathaway married William Shakespeare in 1582, raised their children, and buried her husband in 1616. The rest of their 32 years of marriage is one of literary history's great mysteries. This mystery provides a dark and comedic playground for this beautiful and lyrical solo performance piece written by Vern Thiessen.

At the gates of our favorite bars and nightclubs are the Sentinels who stand between ourselves and utter chaos. But what goes on in the minds and nights of those imposing guards that give their lives to save us from ourselves? John Godber's high-octane hit 'Bouncers' comes to The Public House Theatre, with four frenetic actors playing the quartet of doormen, as well as the dozens of denizens of the debauched Midnight Circus.

The highly celebrated New York troupe Fiasco Theater will make their Washington, DC debut with their production of William Shakespeare's clever comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona at Folger Theatre. Directed by company members Jessie Austrian and Ben Steinfeld, The Two Gentlemen of Verona will play at the Folger from today, April 17 - May 25, 2014.

With the snow barely melted, it's a challenge believing that it's almost time to break out the picnic baskets and blankets and beat a path to the nearest park for Repercussion Theatre's annual Shakespeare-in-the-Park festival. From July 3rd to August 2nd, the epic tale of Harry the King, The Famous Victories of Henry V will unfold both in and out of the city.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company, recipient of the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award, presents its Annual Dinner and Mock Trial at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) on Monday, May 19, 2014. This marks the 20th year that Shakespeare Theatre Company has produced the Mock Trial. The evening begins with dinner at 5:30 p.m. followed by the Trial at 7:30 p.m. The dinner will be held in the Forum while the Trial will be in Sidney Harman Hall. This year's trial includes a special session of the Supreme Court of Austria, convening at Sidney Harman Hall to hear the case of Isabella v. The Duke of Vienna. Some of the allegations include illegal secret surveillance, false imprisonment, negligent appointment of an unfit deputy, and disrespect of commitment to religious vows.

A Noise Within, led by Producing Artistic Directors Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott, announces its 23rd season of classic theater in Southern California. Informed by the climate of social and economic upheaval in which we live, the season's theme-reflected in a kaleidoscopic palette of plays-is REVOLUTION.

Impro Theatre is set to celebrate William Shakespeare's 450th birthday on Friday, April 25 with a special performance of its currently running production, Shakespeare UnScripted, a post-show discussion, and a champagne reception complete with birthday cake. The curtain will rise at 8pm at the Carrie Hamilton Theatre (upstairs at The Pasadena Playhouse) in Pasadena.

Cincinnati S This May, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company is proud to become one of the first five theaters in the United States to "Complete the Canon" by producing all 38 plays by William Shakespeare. The final play needed to "Complete the Canon" is William Shakespeare's "The Two Noble Kinsmen", which CSC will open on May 2, 2014. This production is generously sponsored by Charles Parsons and Bill McKim and the Canon Club. The design sponsor is PNC Bank.