William Shakespeare News

Today is my dad's birthday. As a father myself now, I think of him daily and nightly as I have my hands full with twin three-year-old boys and running a theatre company. I mostly consider how often he went without being thanked by me when I was a child. He did an awful lot I am thankful for now.

WORKSHOP THEATER COMPANY has announced, as part of its 20th Anniversary Season, their upcoming production of William Shakespeare's THE WINTER'S TALE, directed by Ryan Lee. THE WINTER'S TALE will play a four-week limited engagement at The WorkShop Theater Main Stage (312 West 36th Street, 4th Floor). Performances begin tonight, February 20 and continue through Saturday March 15. Opening Night is Thursday, February 20 (7 p.m.). Press are invited to all performances.

California Shakespeare Theater will launch its year-long 40th anniversary celebration in February 2014 with William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in the company's first-ever performance tour to community settings throughout San Francisco and the East Bay. A co-production with San Francisco-based Intersection for the Arts, Twelfth Night will be directed by Michelle Hensley, Artistic Director of Minneapolis-based Ten Thousand Things, one of the country's most highly regarded classics-based theaters.

From March 7 through April 5, 2014, SpeakEasy Stage Company will present the New England premiere of the acclaimed Off-Broadway drama THE WHALE by Samuel D. Hunter.

Artistic Director Richard Rose and General Manager Gideon Arthurs proudly rolled out Tarragon Theatre's 8-play 2014-15 season today, filled with adventurous theatrical experiences both on and off the stage, and set Tarragon up for a fresh, affordable and seductive reinvention of the theatre-going experience. Tarragon's 44th season, dubbed 'Lies, Sex & What Comes Next', features works from some of Canada's greatest talents alongside brilliant artistry from Germany for a roster that showcases five world premieres of Canadian plays, two English-language premieres of cutting-edge German works and a brand new, home-grown Shakespeare adaptation.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will host 22 theatrical offerings from 20 different countries during WORLD STAGES: International Theater Festival 2014 that will run for three weeks March 10-30, 2014 throughout the Center. The international festival features contemporary theater works offering 13 fully staged productions, 4 theater-focused installations, 3 readings of new works, and 2 forums. From Olivier and Tony Award-winning puppetry to innovative perspectives on old classics, a diverse showcase of theatrical expression will be represented by countries spanning the globe including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, England, France, Iceland, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Pakistan, Palestine, Scotland, South Africa, Sudan, Syria, and the United States.

Welcome to this week's edition of our new WEEKLY GROSSES ANALYSIS, part of our new Industry Insights section that will feature insider industry information, commentary and insights! Read on for all the weekly grosses statistics for the movers and shakers from the latest grosses, 2/16/2014.

Boiling Point Players, an exciting new theatre company founded by Autumn Clack, Melanie Martin, and Ruth S. McCleskey, has announced its inaugural season opening May 22, 2014. In Juliet's Garden imaginatively presents William Shakespeare's best-known heroines discussing their critical - and often hilarious - opinions of their respective storylines. Secrets of a Soccer Mom, directed by Christine Weems, reveals what happens when three soccer moms discover surprising insights as they play a parent-child game against their sons. The two shows run concurrently on alternating nights, May 22 through May 31, 2014.

The critically acclaimed Bedlam productions of William Shakespeare's Hamlet and George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan, directed by Eric Tucker, are currently playing at off-Broadway's Lynn Redgrave Theater (45 Bleecker Street, NYC) through March 9, 2014. Beginning February 18, 2014 the cast will feature Tom O'Keefe, Andrus Nichols, Eric Tucker and Stephan Wolfert. Original company member Edmund Lewis will play his final performance February 16, 2014.

The Laguna Playhouse Executive and Artistic Directors, Karen Wood and Ann E. Wareham invite you to take 83 books, with three chameleon-like actors in 98 minutes, and mix it all up into one hilarious evening of ridiculous fun! It's the Reduced Shakespeare Company's production of ALL THE GREAT BOOKS (abridged), written and directed by Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor with additional material by Matthew Croke and Michael Faulkner. ALL THE GREAT BOOKS (abridged) will begin previews on Tuesday, March 4 and will open on Saturday, March 8 at 7:30pm and run through Sunday, March 30, 2014 at the LagunaPlayhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach.

The Harold Clurman Playwrights Division, a program of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, has chosen actor/writer Dennis Staroselsky as it's Playwright-in-Residence for 2014. Previous residents include Halley Feiffer, Mia Chung, Anton Dudley, Christina Gorman, Zayd Dohrn, and Peter Nickowitz. Over seventy writers submitted applications and full-length plays for consideration in the merit-based annual search.

Christopher Scheer is a favorite with Central Vermont audiences. Vermont theater-goers have seen him in a number of Lost Nation Theater productions, including THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (ABRIDGED), A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, and THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP. When we spoke this past week, Christopher shared some thoughts about his work with Lost Nation and filled me in on some of his upcoming projects.

Today in 1980, the first Broadway revival of WEST SIDE STORY opened at the Minskoff Theatre, where it ran for 333 performances. West Side Story is an American musical with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and conception and choreography by Jerome Robbins. It was inspired by William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. Set in New York City in the mid-1950s, the musical explores the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds. Bernstein's score for the musical has become extremely popular; it includes 'Something's Coming', 'Maria', 'America', 'Somewhere', 'Tonight', 'Jet Song', 'I Feel Pretty', 'A Boy Like That', 'One Hand, One Heart', 'Gee, Officer Krupke' and 'Cool'.

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE is coming to the stage and has found its leading players. According to the Daily Mail, Tom Bateman will star as William Shakespeare opposite Lucy Briggs-Owen as Viola de Lesseps in the upcoming West End adaptation by Lee Hall.

As You Like It, a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare, opens at Theatre Memphis in the Next Stage today, February 14 and continues through March 2, 2014.

The Lyric Stage Company of Boston presents DEATH OF A SALESMAN, running tonight, February 14 - March 15, 2014. The play, by Arthur Miller, will be directed by Spiro Veloudos.

The Tony Award-winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 2014 preview performances begin tonight, February 14, and the season will open Friday night, February 21 in the Angus Bowmer Theatre with Shakespeare's The Tempest (director, Tony Taccone). On Saturday, Lorraine Hansberry's The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window (Juliette Carrillo) takes the stage, as does the classic Marx Brothers musical The Cocoanuts (David Ivers), and Sunday afternoon Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors (Kent Gash) opens in the Thomas Theatre.

The critically acclaimed Bedlam productions of William Shakespeare's Hamlet and George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan are offering a $20 ticket special for the 7:30PM performances tonight, Friday, February 14. These specially priced tickets are available for purchase using the code EPIC at the Lynn Redgrave Theater box office (45 Bleecker Street) and online here for Saint Joan and here for Hamlet.

Tickets to Shakespeare & Company's provocative and ambitious 37th Summer Performance Season are now on sale. Artistic Director Tony Simotes has planned a celebratory season packed with Shakespeare, modern works, premieres and special events in honor of the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth. To purchase tickets or for more information please visit us online at www.shakespeare.org, call the Box Office at (413) 637-3353, or stop by in person at 70 Kemble Street, Lenox Ma.