Alan Bennett News

Alan Bennett's PEOPLE will make its National Theatre debut this October, The Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye confirms today.

La Mirada and McCoy Rigby are set to present the third show of their 2011-2012 season with the Los Angeles regional theatre premiere production of THE 39 STEPS, adapted by Patrick Barlow (based on the Alfred Hitchcock film) and directed by Jessica Kubzansky.

The Nineteenth Century Club will present the acclaimed Avalon Strings in a performance of Beethoven's 'Song of Heavenly Thanks,' Wednesday, Feb 3 at 3PM. 178 N. Forest Avenue, Oak Park.

The Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Keen Company (Carl Forsman, Artistic Director/Damon Chua, Executive Director) today announced that John Cunningham would join Kathleen Chalfant and Kate Turnbull for Tina Howe's Painting Churches, the 1983 Pulitzer Prize finalist. Keen Artistic Director Carl Forsman directs. Mr. Cunningham replaces the previously announced Richard Easton, who had to withdraw due to a scheduling conflict. Performances will begin February 14, with Opening Night set for March 6.

La Mirada and McCoy Rigby are set to present the third show of their 2011-2012 season with the Los Angeles regional theatre premiere production of THE 39 STEPS, adapted by Patrick Barlow (based on the Alfred Hitchcock film) and directed by Jessica Kubzansky.

The Tabard Theatre (2 Bath Road, London W4 1LW) hosts a rare revival of Alan Bennett's hilarious one act play, GREEN FORMS, and sees actress and broadcaster, Janet Ellis, return to the stage in aid of Maggie's Cancer Caring Charity.

La Mirada and McCoy Rigby are set to present the third show of their 2011-2012 season with the Los Angeles regional theatre premiere production of THE 39 STEPS, adapted by Patrick Barlow (based on the Alfred Hitchcock film) and directed by Jessica Kubzansky.

TONY Award-Nominee Kathleen Chalfant has been announced to join Matthew Modine and Melissa Errico in the cast of MORE BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH.

The Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Keen Company (Carl Forsman, Artistic Director/Damon Chua, Executive Director) today announced that Kate Turnbull would join Kathleen Chalfant and Richard Easton for Tina Howe's Painting Churches, the 1983 Pulitzer Prize finalist. Keen Artistic Director Carl Forsman directs.

Today, BroadwayWorld.com is announcing the nominees for the 2011 BroadwayWorld Chicago Awards! Representatives of 67 different theater productions, which played at 40 different Chicagoland theaters, are nominated in the 25 categories for the second annual Awards. As these are the only Theater Fan Choice Awards for the internationally known Chicago theater scene, the nominees rightly come from both Equity and Non-Equity theater companies, and from the worlds of plays, musicals, revues and touring shows.

Kim Cattrall and Paul Gross will star on Broadway this autumn in Noël Coward's Private Lives directed by Richard Eyre at the Music Box Theatre (239 West 45th Street). Previews will begin on Sunday November 6; opening night is Thursday November 17. The limited engagement runs through February 5 2012.

Stephen Poliakoff will direct the world premiere of My City, his first new play for 12 years, running at the Almeida Theatre from 8 September - 5 November, with press night on 15 September 2011.

The Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Keen Company (Carl Forsman, Artistic Director/Damon Chua, Executive Director) today announced that Kathleen Chalfant and Richard Easton would lead the cast of Tina Howe's Painting Churches, the 1983 Pulitzer Prize finalist. Keen Artistic Director Carl Forsman directs.

Stage One, the charity committed to developing and supporting producers for the commercial theatre industry, today announced that producer Joseph Smith will be succeeding Nick Salmon as Chief Executive of the organisation, taking up the role from the beginning of November.

According to Variety, The Madness of George III, which is touring the UK will make a West End transfer n the near future. The production, which is directed was Christopher Luscombe, will play the Apollo Theater, January 18 - March 31.

The Ambassador Theatre Group Ltd (ATG) today announced plans to re-name London's Comedy Theatre, The Harold Pinter Theatre , after the distinguished playwright, screen writer, director, political activist and actor.

The Studio Theatre follows up its 2008 hit production of The History Boys with Alan Bennett's next play, The Habit of Art. Deep in the bowels of London's National Theatre, rehearsals for a new play go apace: Benjamin Britten is having trouble with his latest opera and seeks out his collaborator, poet W. H. Auden, after a twenty-five year separation. Between visits by a rent boy and a biographer-whom Auden briefly mistakes for the rent boy-these aging artists wrestle with their desires, their jealousies, the ephemeral connection between creativity and inspiration, and all the reasons their friendship fell apart.

Jamie Parker, star of stage, radio and screen versions of The History Boys, will make his Pheasantry debut September 12 in a specially devised show ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience' featuring material from Sondheim, Guettel, Rodgers and Hammerstein and Hart. He will be joined by special guests Sam Barnett (also an alumnus of The History Boys) and his wife, singer Deborah Crowe (Sound of Music, Phantom of the Opera).

'The 2011 edition of the annual Carols for a Cure album is now in the works. Produced by Rock-it Science Records and currently in it's thirteenth year, purchase of the album benefits Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. This highly anticipated annual holiday release features casts from the current Broadway line-up of shows performing new and traditional holiday music. Broadway's Carols for a Cure offers a 'snapshot' of each season, as the casts and orchestras from each show on Broadway perform their own holiday track. Since 1999, Broadway's Carols for a Cure has featured the creative talents of thousands of Broadway's brightest stars and has raised over $3 million for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Cameron Mackintosh's musical comedy BETTY BLUE EYES, based on the Alan Bennett and Malcolm Mowbray film ‘A Private Function', will close at the Novello Theatre on Saturday 24 September 2011 after a run of six months. First Night Records will release the original cast album for the show. The release date has not yet been announced.