Alliance Theatre News

Today's top stories: Vanessa Carlton begins in Beautiful, and more!

The Alliance Theatre in Atlanta announced today casting for its upcoming world premiere BECOMING NANCY. Based on the best-selling British novel by Terry Ronald, this new musical is directed and choreographed by two-time Tony Award® winner Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots, Hairspray), with a book by Elliot Davis (Peter Pan, Loserville), and a score by the songwriting team of George Stiles (Music) and Anthony Drewe (Lyrics) (Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, Honk!). BECOMING NANCY will open the Alliance Theatre's 51st season on its newly renovated Coca-Cola Stage, September 6 - October 6, 2019. Opening Night is Wednesday, September 18.

Today we're celebrating the birthday of two-time Tony nominee Sarah Stiles! In honor of the occasion, we're throwing it back her opening night in the Tony-nominated play Hand to God alongside her co-stars Steven Boyer, Geneva Carr, Marc Kudisch, Michael Oberholtzer, and of course Tyrone the Puppet. Check out all the footage below!

The American Shakespeare Center (ASC) announces their ensemble for the 2019 Summer Festival Season which runs at the Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, Va, June 25 - September 1. The season features three plays in repertory: Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and Antony & Cleopatra, and George Bernard Shaw's Caesar & Cleopatra.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, announces the recipients of the first round of the 2019 Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards. The awards, totaling $509,000, allow 13 productions extra time for the development and rehearsal of new plays with the entire creative team, hoping to extend the life of the world premiere play after its first run.

While Barry Manilow is preparing to bring his concert to the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre next month as part of this summer's IN RESIDENCE series, he announced on Saturday night at his Las Vegas residency that he is finally going to be bringing another show to New York.

Check out the latest cast of Drifters, Shirelles, and music industry legends that make up the company of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical!

Victory Gardens Theater Artistic Director Chay Yew, Executive Director Erica Daniels and Director of New Play Development Skyler Gray announce the lineup for the 2019 IGNITION Festival of New Plays, including The Tasters by Meghan Brown; The Gradient by Steph Del Rosso; [hieroglyph] by Erika Dickerson-Despenza; #NEWSLAVES by Keelay Gipson; Reckoning: Furies from a New Queer Nation by Geraldine Inoa; and They Could Give No Name by Exal Iraheta. The 2019 Festival runs August 2 -4, 2019 at Victory Gardens Theater, located at 2433 N Lincoln Avenue.

Horizon Theatre Company is continuing its 35th Anniversary Season with a production that packs more family drama than your laugh-box will be able to stand! SWEET WATER TASTE, a new comedy from Gloria Bond Clunie, will hit the Little Five Points stage from July 12 - August 18, 2019.

Goodman Theatre announces a line-up of free readings written by members of its Playwrights Unit-a year-long residency for Chicago-based writers to develop their plays-in-progress with the Goodman's artistic team, in partnership with Chicago Dramatists. Members of the 2018/2019 Playwrights Unit include Georgette Kelly, Dianne Nora, Marisela Treviño Orta and Stacey Rose. Free, one-time-only readings take place July 5-7 at Goodman Theatre (170 N. Dearborn); to make a reservation call 312.443.3800 or visit GoodmanTheatre.org/PlaywrightsUnitReadings. Availability is extremely limited. More information about each writer follows; headshots can be found in the Press Room.

Bay Street Theater is pleased to announce THE PROMPTER, the first production of the 2019 Mainstage Season, had a successful opening night on June 1. The show runs through June 16. This World Premiere stars Tovah Feldshuh (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The Walking Dead, Golda's Balcony) and Wade Dooley (Jersey Boys), who is also the playwright. Single tickets on sale now or tickets can be purchased now as part of the 3-play subscription package for the 2019 Mainstage Season. Call the Box Office at 631-725-9500; open daily 11 am - showtime or log on to baystreet.org.

Amy Rubenstein, Artistic Director and Evelyn Jacoby, Managing Director of Windy City Playhouse (3014 W. Irving Park Rd.) announce the promotion of Carl Menninger to Associate Artistic Director and welcome David H. Bell as an Artistic Associate for the Playhouse effective immediately.

California Shakespeare Theater continues its 2019 summer season with The Good Person of Szechwan by Bertolt Brecht, translated by Wendy Arons and adapted by Tony Kushner, playing July 3 through July 21, 2019 at the Bruns Amphitheater. A Pay What You Can performance will be held on Wednesday, July 3. Tickets will be available starting at 10am on the day of the show through TodayTix and the Cal Shakes Box Office at 510.548.9666.

The Alliance Theatre is pleased to announce its upcoming world-premiere production for youth and family audiences, MAX MAKES A MILLION. Poetry, dance, jazz, visual art, and most of all, dreams coalesce in a glorious theatrical adaptation of Maira Kalman's delightful one-of-a-kind book MAX MAKES A MILLION. Adapted and directed by celebrated theatre artist Liz Diamond, this play follows the beat-poet dog Max Stravinsky on his quest to get from New York to Paris and celebrates those wishful thinkers who dare to dream beyond what seems possible.

Diversionary Theatre, the Nation's 3rd Oldest LGBT Theatre presents The 3rd Annual Spark New Play Festival featuring a program of new plays never before seen in San Diego.

Beth Leavel is a 2019 Tony nominee for The Prom! In honor of this being a big year for Beth, we are flashing back to her run in Young Frankenstein in 2008!

Kansas City Ballet Artistic Director Devon Carney today announced that the creative team for The Wizard of Oz including Septime Webre (choreography), Matthew Pierce (composer), Michael Raiford (set design) and Liz Vandal (costume design) have been nominated for the Prix Benois de la danse, considered to be the most prestigious ballet award in the world. Awards will be given in Moscow, Russia on May 21st during which Kansas City Ballet Company dancers Lilliana Hagerman (Dorothy), Lamin Pereira dos Santos (Tin Man), and Jeremy Hanson (Toto puppeteer) will perform a short excerpt from the production at the historic Bolshoi Theatre.

Compagnia de' Colombari, an international collective of performing artists founded and directed by Karin Coonrod, presents More Or Less I Am: a music-theater piece drawn entirely from Walt Whitman's revolutionary free verse long poem, 'Song of Myself,'one of the original twelve pieces that comprise his 1855 collection Leaves of Grass. The next performance in this series, spanning multiple venues throughout the five boroughs, will take place on Sunday, May 26, 2019, 7:30 pm at Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn.  

It's time to dance because The Prom's Becca Lee is taking over BroadwayWorld's Instagram Story tomorrow, May 20th! Be sure to tune in as Becca takes you behind the scenes of the show's special performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert! Life's no dress rehearsal, so you're not gonna want to miss this!

The Last Night of Ballyhoo was first performed at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre and found its way to the Broadway stage in 1997 at the Helen Hayes Theatre. Written by Alfred Uhry, The Last Night of Ballyhoo takes place in 1939 in the home of Adolph Freitag in Atlanta, Georgia. The play explores themes of identity, prejudice, and inter-Jewish racism through the lives of Adolph and his sister Beulah 'Boo' Levy, their sister-in-law Reba Freitag, cousins Lala Levy (Beulah's daughter) and Sunny Freitag (Reba's daughter), and two young men-Joe Farkas from New York and Peachy Weil of the Louisana Weils. Oyster Mill Playhouse takes on this deep yet humorous play through May 12th.