Alliance Theatre News

Beginning performances Sunday, July 5th, Wicked will welcome two-time Tony and Emmy Award nominee MICHELE LEE in the role of Madame Morrible. A veteran of the stage and screen, she is perhaps best known for her fourteen seasons as Karen Mackenzie on the landmark CBS television drama, 'Knots Landing.'

The Muny presents Hairspray, winner of the 2003 Tony Award for Best Musical, featuring music by Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman with a book by Mark O'Donnell & Thomas Meehan. The Muny's production of Hairspray is directed and choreographed by Dan Knechtges and music directed by Charlie Alterman.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University, under the leadership of Artistic Director Diane Paulus, began rehearsals today (pictured, left) for the world premiere musical Waitress. Based on the motion picture written by Adrienne Shelly the new musical has a book by Jessie Nelson, music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles, direction by Diane Paulus, and choreography by Chase Brock.

Bay Street Theater has announced that FIVE PRESIDENTS, the new play by Emmy Award-winning writer Rick Cleveland (Six Feet Under, The West Wing, and House of Cards), will extend its run for an additional week due to popular demand. The production will now run from tonight, June 23-July 19. 

Aurora Theatre Company closes its 23rd season with the Bay Area Premiere of Lisa D'Amour's (Anna Bella Eema, Airline Highway) wicked Obie-winning satire about our uncertain economic times, DETROIT. Josh Costello (Wittenberg) directs this explosive dark comedy, featuring Amy Resnick (Body Awareness, Collapse), Jeff Garrett, Luisa Frasconi, and Patrick Kelly Jones (Metamorphosis), that brilliantly captures our current economic moment. DETROIT plays tonight, June 19 through July 19 at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley.

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd announced the cast and creative team for The Foreigner, the last play in the "Alley Theatre @ UH" season. Alley Resident Company member Jeffrey Bean returns to one of his signature roles as Charlie Baker.

At its 2015 Annual Conference, the National New Play Network (NNPN) announced its 2015-2016 grant recipients with over $125,000 in awards, including awarding Atlanta theater maker Clifton Guterman a Producer Residency at Actor's Express.

Twenty students will gather at the Alliance Theatre next week to begin the 14th annual Palefsky Collision Project. This diverse group of teenagers from around the metro Atlanta area will explore a classic text under the guidance of a professional playwright. The provocative 1955 play Inherit the Wind will serve as the source text that will inspire a new performance piece developed by the students. Under the guidance of the Alliance Theatre's Mellon Playwright in Residence, Pearl Cleage, and Director Patrick McColery, students will explore themes of intellectual freedom, tolerance, and the role of religion and science on education, and will examine how these themes are manifested in modern times.

Megan Hilty will star in New York City Center's annual Gala Annie Get Your Gun: In Concert, a one-night-only performance of the classic Irving Berlin musical, on October 27, 2015. Directed by Tony Award winner John Rando, the Gala will feature The Encores! Orchestra led by Encores! Music Director Rob Berman. Additional casting will be announced at a later date. The event will help fund New York City Center's artistic and education programs.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University, under the leadership of Artistic Director Diane Paulus, announces the principal casting for the world premiere of Waitress. Based on the motion picture written by Adrienne Shelly the new musical has a book by Jessie Nelson, music and lyrics by Sara Bareiles, direction by Diane Paulus, and choreography by Chase Brock.

The National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, announced its 2015-16 grant recipients, including the Smith Prize for Political Theatre, the 2015 Annual Commission, two Playwright Residencies, five Producer Residencies, and two Collaboration Fund awards that will support partnership between eight of its members on two productions. In all, NNPN committed over $125,000 to fourteen Core Member Theaters and nine Affiliated Artists.

Bay Street Theater has announced that FIVE PRESIDENTS, the new play by Emmy Award-winning writer Rick Cleveland (Six Feet Under, The West Wing, and House of Cards), will extend its run for an additional week due to popular demand. The production will now run from June 23-July 19. 

Eisa Davis, Gabriel Ebert, Nikki M. James, Joseph Keckler, Chris Sarandon, and Or Matias, on piano, lead LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater production of PRELUDES, a new musical by Dave Malloy, inspired by the music of Sergei Rachmaninov, developed with and directed by Rachel Chavkin. PRELUDES, a world premiere and the first musical to be produced by LCT3 in the Claire Tow Theater, began performances on May 23 and opens tonight, June 15, running through Sunday, July 19 at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65th Street).

My Fair Lady (running tonight, June 15, through June 21) is the opening production of The Muny's 97th summer season. 

Quintet of the Americas will present In Pursuit of Freedom, a concert on Sunday, June 21 - 2:00 PM at St. Philip's Episcopal Church, 204 W. 134th Street, New York NY.

59E59 Theaters will the 2015/2016 5A Season with the New York premiere of THREESOME, written by Yussef El Guindi, and directed by Portland Center Stage Artistic Director Chris Coleman.

Upcoming Equity Auditions from Sunday, May 31, 2015.

Pure Imagination celebrates the songs of Leslie Bricusse, one of the most prolific and well loved film and musical theatre songwriters of our time.

Save the date! The Alliance Theatre, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, High Museum of Art, and Young Audiences are thrilled to present the second annual TODDLER TAKEOVER: an arts festival for the very young, this weekend, May 29-31, 2015, at the Woodruff Arts Center.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is proud to announce the lineup for the 10th annual First Look, a program dedicated to new play development, August 11 - 16, 2015 in the Upstairs Theatre (1650 N Halsted St). Providing an early look at works-in-progress from some of the most dynamic playwrights in the field, First Look develops new plays for future production at Steppenwolf and other theaters across the country. Since its inception in 2005, First Look has developed 14 plays that have received subsequent world premiere productions at other theatres, as well as Sex with Strangers by Laura Eason, which premiered on the Steppenwolf stage.