A.R. Gurney News

A couple of years ago I went to The Flea Theater and had a fun time with A.R. Gurney's then newest play, Post Mortem. It was a clever little piece taking place in the future about a college student writing his thesis on a long-forgotten playwright named A.R. Gurney, and was filled with self-referential zingers based on his reputation for writing 'middle class comedies of manners' that made him popular with WASP theatergoers.

Westport Country Playhouse incoming artistic director Mark Lamos and managing director Michael Ross announce a new look to the 2009 season. The Playhouse will open its 79th season in April with 'Around the World in 80 Days' directed by Michael Evan Haney. 'Around the World in 80 Days' was original scheduled for a September run, but will now open the 2009 season. 'Around the World in 80 Days,' an adventure tale adapted from the book by Jules Verne and written by Mark Brown, will play April 21 through May 9. Hailed by the New Yorker as 'a riveting testament to the ingeniousness of the human imagination,' and heralded by Associated Press as 'a clever, action-packed production skillfully directed by Michael Evan Haney,' 'Around the World in 80 Days' is a wild, global adventure for the whole family about Phileas Fogg and his ever loyal man-servant Passepartout---complete with elephants, steamboats and trains. Following 'Around the World in 80 Days,' the season's second play will be 'Children,' a timeless and touching family drama by A.R. Gurney, the playwright who penned 'The Dining Room,' 'Sylvia' and 'Love Letters.' It will run May 26 through June 13. When their mysterious brother, Pokey, returns to the family's beachside vacation home, all the family plans crumble as love affairs and family secrets explode. Westport favorite John Tillinger will direct.

The Flea Theater presents the World Premiere of KASPAR HAUSER: a foundling's opera, a music-theater piece by Tony-nominee and Obie-winner Elizabeth Swados and Erin Courtney of 13P. Commissioned by The Flea in 2006, the piece marks Swados return to The Flea, where she previously wrote, composed and directed the long-running hit JABU. Performances of KASPAR HAUSER begin previews on February 13th, with opening night set for February 28th.

Primary Stages (Casey Childs, Executive Producer; Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director; Elliot Fox, Managing Director) continues the second half of their 24th season with its special Pay What You Can ticket offer (a policy instituted earlier this season and offered by Primary Stages only) that will be available for the first two preview performances of Shipwrecked! An Entertainment - The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (As Told by Himself) by Donald Margulies, a story-telling adventure suitable for all ages from the author of Sight Unseen, Collected Stories and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Dinner with Friends, in its New York Premiere. Mr. Margulies returns to Primary Stages where his play The Model Apartment won an Obie Award for Playwriting.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Executive Director) continues its 30th Anniversary Season with the New York premiere of Gina Gionfriddo's play, BECKY SHAW, directed by Peter DuBois.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) continues its 2008-09 season with John Guare's Rich & Famous, directed by John Rando (Urinetown, The Musical and Wedding Singer on Broadway) in its first major revival since its 1976 New York debut. From the ingenious mind of John Guare, who brought Six Degrees of Separation and The House of Blue Leaves to the American stage, this delicious dark comedy springs to life with twisted humor, rapid-fire dialogue, and outrageous plot twists. The revival script includes significant rewrites to the original text, as well as hilarious songs freshly scribed by Guare himself. In Rich and Famous, playwright Bing Ringling yearns to savor the sweet taste of celebrity, and he's hoping play number 844 will be his lucky break. But on opening night, he slips into a nightmarish phantasmagoria that shows him just how wrong things can go.

Theater veterans Mark Lamos and Michael Ross have been named artistic director and managing director, respectively, of Westport Country Playhouse in Westport, Connecticut, as the historic theater enters its 79th season. The new leadership team will assume their positions on February 1, 2009.

Making Books Sing - now in its 13th season - announces the World-Premiere of the new musical JOS? LIM?N: THE MAKING OF AN ARTIST. In conjunction with the 100th anniversary of Jos? Lim?n's birth Book & Lyrics by Barbara Zinn Krieger Music by Charles Greenberg Directed by Brad Malow & Choreography by Eric Jackson Bradley

Today's Broadway Blogs on BroadwayWorld.com from Sunday, December 28, 2008.

George Street Playhouse begins 2009 with its production of Donald Marguiles' Sight Unseen. When first presented in 1992, the play won the OBIE Award for Best New American Play, was nominated for a Drama Desk, and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. George Street Playhouse Artistic Director will helm the production, slated to run at the New Brunswick theatre January2020 - February 15, 2009. Matthew Arkin, last seen at GSP in their production of Theresa Rebeck's The Scene, leads an ensemble including Heidi Armbruster, Christopher Curry and Kathleen McNenny.

Rubicon Theatre Company continues its 'Brave New World' Season with Edward Albee's most intoxicated and haunting play, WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? The play will begin previews Thursday, January 29, open on Saturday, January 31 at 7pm and run through Sunday, February 22, 2009 at the Rubicon Theatre, 1006 E. Main Street in Ventura.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Executive Director) will continue its 30th Anniversary Season with the New York premiere of Gina Gionfriddo's play, BECKY SHAW, directed by Peter DuBois.

The Flea Theater will present the World Premiere of Itamar Moses' LOVE/STORIES (OR BUT YOU WILL GET USED TO IT), a collection of five short new plays. Moses is the author of The Four of Us, Bach at Leipzig, Back Back Back and Celebrity Row, a playwright whose sensibility is the perfect match for The Bats, The Flea's resident company of emerging artists. Performances begin previews on January 29 with opening night slated for Monday, February 16.

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) New York premiere of PRAYER FOR MY ENEMY, a new play by two-time Tony Award nominee, Pulitzer Prize finalist and two-time Obie Award winner Craig Lucas (Small Tragedy at Playwrights Horizons, The Light in the Piazza, Prelude to a Kiss, Reckless, The Dying Gaul) officially opens tonight Off-Broadway.

Veteran Broadway General Managers Richard Frankel and Laura Green have announced the formation of FRANKEL GREEN THEATRICAL MANAGEMENT.

Primary Stages (Casey Childs, Executive Producer; Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director; Elliot Fox, Managing Director) has announced complete casting for the New York premiere of Shipwrecked!

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) continues its 2008-09 season with John Guare's Rich & Famous, directed by John Rando (Urinetown, The Musical and Wedding Singer on Broadway) in its first major revival since its 1976 New York debut. From the ingenious mind of John Guare, who brought Six Degrees of Separation and The House of Blue Leaves to the American stage, this delicious dark comedy springs to life with twisted humor, rapid-fire dialogue, and outrageous plot twists. The revival script includes significant rewrites to the original text, as well as hilarious songs freshly scribed by Guare himself. In Rich and Famous, playwright Bing Ringling yearns to savor the sweet taste of celebrity, and he's hoping play number 844 will be his lucky break. But on opening night, he slips into a nightmarish phantasmagoria that shows him just how wrong things can go.

Celebrate the holiday season with famed cabaret performer Jamie deRoy and her Multi MAC Award-winning variety show, Jamie deRoy & friends on Thursday, December 4th (7PM) at the New York hotspot, Metropolitan Room (34 West 22nd Street ~ between 5th & 6th Avenues).