Williamstown Theatre News

Playwrights Horizons presents Far From Heaven, a new musical with book by Tony Award winner and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Richard Greenberg (Take Me Out, Three Days of Rain, the current Breakfast at Tiffany's and The Assembled Parties both now on Broadway), music by Tony Award nominee Scott Frankel (Grey Gardens at PH and on Broadway, Finding Neverland) and lyrics by Tony Award nominee Michael Korie (Grey Gardens at PH and on Broadway, The Grapes of Wrath, Finding Neverland). The musical is choreographed by Alex Sanchez (Giant, Fiorello!) and directed by three-time Tony Award nominee Michael Greif (Grey Gardens at PH and on Broadway; Rent, Next to Normal, Giant). The musical is based on the Focus Features/Vulcan Productions motion picture Far From Heaven, written and directed by Todd Haynes.

Berkshire Theatre Group Company Member, Jayne Atkinson, who appeared as Edith Bolling Galt Wilson in last summer's world premiere of Edith, will join the cast of The Lion in Winter, in the role of Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Parade Productions will present Deborah Zoe Laufer's The Last Schwartz from January 31st through February 23rd at the Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center's Studio Theatre. The play received unanimously glowing reviews when it debuted at Florida Stage in 2002.

Following a successful winter tour of the Northeast and a fall residency at Joe's Pub in NYC, the critically acclaimed, seven-member indie-folk band/theater troupe PigPen Theatre Co. will embark on a tour of headline and festival dates this summer. The group's debut album Bremen is out now, and in celebration of the tour they will record a five-song EP to be released in conjunction with the August 2 Bowery Ballroom show. In between tour dates the guys will spend a week in June in residence at The Orchard Project developing a new full-length theater piece, The Hunter & The Bear, and will also be in residence at the Williamstown Theatre Festival July 8-20 to begin work on the Chicago production of their recent Off-Broadway hit The Old Man and the Old Moon.

People's Light & Theatre presents Bess Wohl's Barcelona running May 29-June 23, 2013 on the Steinbright Stage. Jackson Gay directs. People's Light & Theatre is located at 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, PA 19355. For tickets call 610.644.3500 or visit PeoplesLight.org.

Main Street Theater closes its 38th MainStage season with Molly Smith Metzler's Close Up Space, a comical and poignant new play about how hard it can be to communicate… in any language. With previews May 18, 19, and 22, Close Up Space opens May 23 and runs through June 16 at Main Street Theater – Rice Village, 2540 Times Blvd.

Downtown artist Tommy Smith's WHITE HOT had its New York Premiere at The Flea Theater in April. Now, The Vagrancy is honored to bring you the raw, intimate and emotionally-invasive Los Angeles Premiere helmed by Director Caitlin Hart at the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2013. This dark, psychological thriller is encased in a tight love triangle between a troubled woman, her sexy sister and opportunistic husband. The play opens at Theatre Asylum Lab and plays June 7th-June 28th.

As previously announced, John O'Hurley will star as King Arthur. Also starring will be Michelle Ragusa as The Lady of the Lake, Kevin Cahoon as Historian, John Scherer as Sir Robin, David Hibbard as Patsy, Chris Hoch as Sir Lancelot, Ben Davis as Sir Dennis Galahad, and Tally Sessions as Dennis' Mother/Sir Bedevere. Joining them will be broadcast legend Bob Costas as The Voice of God.

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Greg Reiner, will present a new production of Bertolt Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle featuring Christopher Lloyd (Azdak), directed by Brian Kulick (who directed Brecht's Galileo last season), and featuring new music by Tony Award-winning singer/songwriter Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening). The Caucasian Chalk Circle will begin performances tonight, May 3 at CSC (136 East 13th Street) for a limited engagement through Sunday, June 9. The official opening is Thursday, May 30.

The Guthrie Theater presents the world premiere of the bittersweet romance The Primrose Path by Crispin Whittell based upon the novel Home of the Gentry by Ivan Turgenev. The production will be directed by Roger Rees and will feature actors Kyle Fabel (Broadway: The Farnsworth Invention; Off-Broadway: A Free Man of Color) as Theodore Lavretsky, Suzy Kohane (Acadia Repertory Theatre; University of Minnesota/Guthrie BFA Actor Training Program) as Liza and Sally Wingert (Broadway/West End, London: La Bete; Guthrie: Other Desert Cities, Appomattox) as Maria.

Ghostlight Records will preserve the hit Second Stage Theatre production of The Last Five Years, created and directed by Jason Robert Brown. Second Stage Theatre has extended this production starring Adam Kantor and Betsy Wolfe three times.

Barrington Stage Company (BSC), under the leadership of Julianne Boyd Artistic Director and Tristan Wilson Managing Director, announces four new Associate Artists, all who are working at Barrington Stage in 2013 - award-winning choreographer Joshua Bergasse, actors Gretchen Egolf and Jeff McCarthy, and award-winning director John Rando.

The Pace University Department of Performing Arts is producing a concert of works by Adam Guettel, performed Tony award-winning composer of the musicals The Light in the Piazza, Floyd Collins, Myths & Hymns and accompanied by Pace Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) Musical Theater students and alumni.

Soho Rep presents the world premiere of Lucas Hnath's play A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney.

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd announces the cast and creative team for Kenneth Lin's Warrior Class. Kenneth Lin is a staff writer on Netflix's House of Cards and the creator of a new limited series, American Way, for USA Networks. Warrior Class, which won the Theatre Communications Group Edgerton New Play Prize, is directed by Wilson Milam and runs May 3 through June 2, 2013 on the Neuhaus Stage.

The New Theatre Project announces a one week extension to its final performance of Pookie Goes Grenading by JC Lee. Originally scheduled to close of April 28, TNTP has added Friday, May 3, Saturday, May 4, and Sunday, May 5 to the lineup and postponed its special closing night of the show and company celebration to May 5. All shows will be at 8 pm. And due to a huge demand and having to turn people away at the door, buying tickets in advance is highly recommended.

Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director), Barry Grove (Executive Producer), and Mandy Greenfield (Artistic Producer) have announced full casting for the world premiere of THE EXPLORERS CLUB, the new play by Tony Award nominee Nell Benjamin, directed by Marc Bruni.

Greek mythology meets burlesque, puppetry, and a modern Americana score in the latest original piece from acclaimed ensemble Liars & Believers, creators of last year's gritty hit, 28 Seeds. Minnie's Menagerie, a peculiar Depression-era sideshow, is raking it in with the help of Daedalus's whimsical technology. But when Daedalus's son falls in love with Minnie's daughter, the star attraction, their passion and plans to escape threaten to bring it all crashing down.