Amanda Dehnert News

The Tony Award-winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival opens its 74th year the weekend of February 20-22 and celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Elizabethan Stage. In honor of that milestone, OSF is dedicating the 2009 season to principal theatre and scenic designer, Richard L. Hay, acknowledging his creative work that spans more than 50 years at OSF and includes the design of all three theatre spaces, beginning with the current Elizabethan Stage in 1959, half a century ago. 'I am deeply moved as I reflect on the achievement and commitment of our extraordinary theater artist, Richard Hay,' OSF Artistic Director Bill Rauch said, 'whose dedication to our artform and to OSF is an inspiration to all of us. The remarkable spaces he designed allow for a connection between actors and audiences that make OSF's theater experience unique and richly satisfying. And he remains an unstoppable creative force, designing scenery for two world premiere adaptations this season: The Servant of Two Masters and Don Quixote.' The 2009 season opens at 8:00 p.m. Friday, February 20, in the Angus Bowmer Theatre on the battlefields of Scotland with William Shakespeare's tragic play, Macbeth, directed by guest artist Gale Edwards. On Saturday, February 21 at 1:30 p.m. in the Angus Bowmer Theatre, theatergoers will have the opportunity to see the rarely produced Death and the King's Horseman,, written by Nigeria's Nobel Laureate playwright Wole Soyinka and directed by Goodman Theatre resident artist Chuck Smith. At 8:00 p.m. that evening, audiences will be treated to Meredith Willson's classic American musical The Music Man, directed by Rauch.

?Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) continues its 2008-09 CST Family Series with Short Shakespeare! A Midsummer Night's Dream, a 75-minute abridged production of Shakespeare's classic comedy, adapted and directed by Amanda Dehnert. CST's Short Shakespeare! Series is designed for parents, grandparents, teachers?and all adults with children in their lives?to introduce young people to theater. Tickets are $16 for students (18 and younger), and $20 for adults. Immediately following each performance, the actors remain on stage for a brief question-and-answer session and then join the audience in the Lobby for one-on-one conversations and photo opportunities. The production will run for seven Saturdays at 11 a.m., January 24 through March 7, 2009 in Chicago Shakespeare's Courtyard Theater on Navy Pier. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.chicagoshakes.com/shortshakes.

?Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) continues its 2008-09 CST Family Series with Short Shakespeare! A Midsummer Night's Dream, a 75-minute abridged production of Shakespeare's classic comedy, adapted and directed by Amanda Dehnert. CST's Short Shakespeare! Series is designed for parents, grandparents, teachers?and all adults with children in their lives?to introduce young people to theater. Tickets are $16 for students (18 and younger), and $20 for adults. Immediately following each performance, the actors remain on stage for a brief question-and-answer session and then join the audience in the Lobby for one-on-one conversations and photo opportunities. The production will run for seven Saturdays at 11 a.m., January 24 through March 7, 2009 in Chicago Shakespeare's Courtyard Theater on Navy Pier. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.chicagoshakes.com/shortshakes.

Chicago Shakespeare opens three shows in the month of January reflecting the Theater's diverse programming. Artistic Director Barbara Gaines stages Macbeth in the Courtyard Theater, January 2-March 8, 2009; CST's World's Stage international program initiative, presents a company from Rwanda performing The Investigation in the Theater Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare, January 21-31, 2009; and CST welcomes families to the theater with an abridged production of one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies, Short Shakespeare! A Midsummer Night's Dream, January 24-March 7, 2009, on Saturdays in the Courtyard Theater.

Chicago Shakespeare opens three shows in the month of January reflecting the Theater's diverse programming. Artistic Director Barbara Gaines stages Macbeth in the Courtyard Theater, January 2-March 8, 2009; CST's World's Stage international program initiative, presents a company from Rwanda performing The Investigation in the Theater Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare, January 21-31, 2009; and CST welcomes families to the theater with an abridged production of one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies, Short Shakespeare! A Midsummer Night's Dream, January 24-March 7, 2009, on Saturdays in the Courtyard Theater.

Under the new leadership of Artistic Director Henry Godinez and Managing Director Barbara Butts, the Theatre and Interpretation Center (TIC) at Northwestern University will kick off its 28th season in October with the Tony Award-winning musical 'Sweeney Todd' by Hugh Wheeler and Stephen Sondheim.

Fools and Foes Share the Stage in CST's 2008/09 Season

With Shakespeare firmly established as the centrepiece of the 2008 playbill, the Stratford Festival of Canada now announces two musicals and a Shaw classic.

Tony Award Winning Set Designer Eugene Lee has incorporated pieces of the old Rocky Point Midway to bring amazing, local, authenticity to the beloved musical

Asphalt Beach, a new Andrew Lippa musical, will have its premiere as a stage musical at Northwestern University this fall

Cyrano is Trinity Rep's final production of the theater season.

Trinity Rep hammers home the clues in this non-stop musical melodrama

Rhode Island's Trinity Rep launches world premiere of Charles Strouse's bubbly new concoction in grand style.