Alliance Theatre News

The NATIONAL NEW PLAY NETWORK (NNPN), the country's leading alliance of non-profit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, will award grants totaling over $140,000 to its 26 member theaters in 2009-10, with participation in nearly every region of the country.

Pasadena Playhouse Board of Directors (Board Chairman Michele Dedeaux Engemann and Vice-Chairman Sheila Grether-Marion) announced today that Stephen Eich has been named Executive Director of Pasadena Playhouse. Eich will assume his new position on July 1, 2009.

Marc (Marco Formosa), an American scholar in Berlin, uncovers the dangerous equation behind his attraction to the great German dramatist Heinrich von Kleist, who died in 1811 in a notorious double suicide. Konrad (Nate Faust), from whom he is letting a room, offers Marc help in understanding his attraction to Kleist and opens up a disturbing confrontation with identity. Konrad's girlfriend Mina (Ji-Hye Kwon) is pulled into the vortex of their discovery. The life of Kleist (David Marshall) finds its eerie parallels in Marc's awakening.

Lookingglass Theatre Company announces the limited run of Our Future Metropolis: Mr. D.H. Burnham Presents a Plain Talk for the Development of Chicago, adapted and directed by Ensemble Member John Musial, featuring Ensemble Member Raymond Fox. The production will play at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago's historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson on Monday, July 13, Monday, July 20 and Tuesday, July 21 at 7:30 p.m.

On July 20, 2009, Seattle will host a dynamic creative workshop lead by Broadway's Hunter Bell (2009 Tony nominee) and Susan Blackwell. The workshop, appropriate for individuals 16 and older, is inspired by the popular song ?Die, Vampire, Die' in the hit Broadway musical [title of show]. The song, also co-written by Susan Blackwell, defines a Vampire as 'any person, thought or feeling that stands between you and your creative self-expression'.

Lookingglass Theatre Company announces the limited run of Our Future Metropolis: Mr. D.H. Burnham Presents a Plain Talk for the Development of Chicago, adapted and directed by Ensemble Member John Musial, featuring Ensemble Member Raymond Fox.

The Fountain Theatre continues its unique relationship with one of the world's greatest living playwrights, Athol Fugard, with the West Coast premiere of Coming Home. Stephen Sachs directs Matthew Elam, Deidrie Henry, Noah Murtadha, Thomas Silcott, Timothy Taylor and Adolphus Ward in Fugard's newest work, which opens June 20 and continues through August 29. Low-priced previews begin June 13.

The scintillating sounds of doo-wop and R&B will collide on a street corner in 1960's Brooklyn during the Alliance Theatre's production of Avenue X. Award-winning composer Ray Leslee wrote the music for this revolutionary a cappella musical in which two young men search their divided community for harmony in more than just their music.

Marc (Marco Formosa), an American scholar in Berlin, uncovers the dangerous equation behind his attraction to the great German dramatist Heinrich von Kleist, who died in 1811 in a notorious double suicide. Konrad (Nate Faust), from whom he is letting a room, offers Marc help in understanding his attraction to Kleist and opens up a disturbing confrontation with identity. Konrad's girlfriend Mina (Ji-Hye Kwon) is pulled into the vortex of their discovery. The life of Kleist (David Marshall) finds its eerie parallels in Marc's awakening.

Storrs: Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT) will restart its summer theatre, the Nutmeg Summer Series, by presenting the hit musical show Crowns June 11 - 21 in the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre, Storrs.

Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT) will restart its summer theatre, the Nutmeg Summer Series, by presenting the hit musical show Crowns June 11 - 21 in the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre, Storrs. Tickets go on sale March 30. For tickets and information, call 860-486-4226 or visit www.crt.uconn.edu.

The smash hit Off-Broadway musical,' Dames at Sea opens the Saint Michael's Playhouse summer 2009 season Tuesday, June 16, and runs through June 27, starring Broadway musical talent top to bottom. Tickets for the show are discounted 20% through the run of the show if bought as part of a four-play season subscription. Performances of 'Dames' are Tuesday, June 16 through Saturday, June 20, at 8 p.m. each evening and Saturday, June 20, and Saturday, June 27, at 2 p.m., on the stage of the McCarthy Arts Center on the campus of Saint Michael's College.

The Alliance Theatre Lab returns to the South Florida theatre scene with the announcement of its 2009/2010 season. The Alliance, 'dedicated to producing contemporary dramatic works which give voice to the outsider,' is preparing to bring its vision to the Miami area with four works: Swimming in the Shallows by Adam Bock (Fall 2009), Orphans by Lyle Kessler (Winter 2010), Coyote on a Fence by Bruce Graham (Spring 2010), and Martin McDonagh's A Skull in Connemara (Summer 2010).

Geva Theatre Center is gearing up for the What's Next: Festival of New Theatre (formerly known as Hibernatus Interruptus) which offers audiences the rare opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a play in progress as well as the chance to talk to the playwrights about their work. Over the eleven days, each of the plays in the festival will undergo an intensive workshop and will then be presented in script-in-hand performances.

Georgia Shakespeare honors Atlanta arts advocates Bob and Margaret Reiser with the inaugural Spirit of Will Award which will be presented at the theatre's annual fundraiser Bard's Bash 2009: A Mad Hatter Gala, Saturday, May 30 at 6:30 p.m. at the Conant Performing Arts Center (4484 Peachtree Rd. NE, Atlanta, GA 30319). Tickets to the event are $150 each and all proceeds benefit Georgia Shakespeare's educational programs, including the upcoming production Alice in Wonderland.

The Alliance Theatre Lab is proud to announce its return to South Florida theatre with the production of Strange Snow by Stephen Metcalfe, opening May 28, 2009, and running through June 14.

Life and love are not so simple, as three couples with six different perspectives discover in the Chicago premiere of Rebecca Gilman's The Crowd You're In With at Goodman Theatre. Wendy C. Goldberg, a frequent Gilman collaborator and artistic director of the acclaimed National Playwrights Conference at The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center-where The Crowd You're In With was developed-directs this intimate and relevant new play.

Lookingglass Theatre Company presents The Arabian Nights, adapted and directed by Ensemble Member Mary Zimmerman. This Lookingglass Original completes its tour in Chicago following sold-out runs at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Kansas City Repertory Theatre. The production is scheduled to run May 20 ? July 12, 2009, at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago?s historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson.

The Fountain Theatre continues its unique relationship with one of the world's greatest living playwrights, Athol Fugard, with the West Coast premiere of Coming Home. Stephen Sachs directs Matthew Elam, Deidrie Henry, Noah Murtadha, Thomas Silcott, Timothy Taylor and Adolphus Ward in Fugard's newest work, which opens June 20 and continues through August 29. Low-priced previews begin June 13.

The scintillating sounds of doo-wop and R&B will collide on a street corner in 1960's Brooklyn during the Alliance Theatre's production of Avenue X. Award-winning composer Ray Leslee wrote the music for this revolutionary a cappella musical in which two young men search their divided community for harmony in more than just their music.