American Repertory Theater News

The horrific future depicted in George Orwell's cautionary tale '1984' feels that much more frightening in 2016 because so much of the oligarchical world predicted by the visionary author in his dystopian 1949 novel has come to fruition. The power gap between the haves and the have-nots is alarming. Politicians use doublethink to twist hypocrisies into mind-numbing (and brainwashing) campaign slogans. Three-second sound bites and 140-character tweets are the newspeak that distills thought into easily regurgitated propaganda.

The new auction hosted by Charitybuzz offers tickets for one of the most highly-anticipated new musicals of the season.

Lorin Latarro talks about her choreography in the new Broadway musical, WAITRESS.

New Repertory Theatre announces the National New Play Network (NNPN) Rolling World Premiere of BLACKBERRY WINTER, March 26-April 17, 2016 in the Charles Mosesian Theater at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown, MA. The press opening will be Monday, March 28 at 7:30 p.m. 

American Theater Company (ATC), 1909 W. Byron Street, announces casting for its Midwest Premiere of Kill Floor, a contemporary drama written by Abe Koogler and directed by Jonathan Berry, being presented March 25 - May 1, 2016 (Press opening: Tuesday, March 29).  The cast, all making their ATC debuts, includes: Audrey Francis (as Andy), Sol Patches (B), Eric Slater (Rick), Darci Nalepa (Sarah), and Louie Rinaldi (Simon).

Peter Friedman, Keilly McQuail, Naian Gonzalez Norvind, Robbie Collier Sublett, Joyce Van Patten and Mare Winningham are featured in the LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater world premiere of HER REQUIEM, by Greg Pierce, directed by Kate Whoriskey. HER REQUIEM opens tonight, February 22, and runs for six weeks only through Sunday, March 20 at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65 Street).

The Old Globe's world premiere of Anna Ziegler's THE LAST MATCH, directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch (who directed Bethany at the Globe in 2014), opens tonight, February 18, 2016.

The world premiere of THE WILDNESS: SKY-PONY'S ROCK FAIRY TALE, with text by Obie Award winner Kyle Jarrow and Lauren Worsham and songs by Kyle Jarrow, presented by Ars Nova in collaboration with The Play Company, plays a limited Off-Broadway engagement, tonight, February 16, through March 19, with an official opening night on Monday, February 29, 2016.

After a winter hiatus American Repertory Theater of WNY resumes the 2015-16 season with a presentation of the 1966  pioneering work by John Guare, The House of Blue Leaves. Under the directorial eye of ART/WNY alumni, Drew McCabe (The Crucible and Dead English), the work centers on one man's desire to rise above his mundane life by becoming a successful songwriter only to see this dream remain elusive because of the eccentric circumstances surrounding the life he leads. Robert Ernie Insana will return to the ART/WNY stage as the befuddled 'Artie Shaughnessy' in this compelling American play. The House of Blue Leaves opens on March 10th and runs until April 2nd in ART/WNY's new location, 330 Amherst Street, Buffalo (next to the Sportsman Tavern). All show-times are 8 pm, Thursday through Saturday.

The Old Globe's world premiere of Anna Ziegler's THE LAST MATCH, directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch (who directed Bethany at the Globe in 2014), will run in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, tonight, February 13, through March 13, 2016.

The highly anticipated new musical WAITRESS, opens Sunday, April 24, 2016 at Broadway's Brooks Atkinson Theatre (256 West 47th Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue), with previews starting on Friday, March 25, 2016.

What happened all around our Broadway World this week?  We're featuring the best stories in Raleigh, Sacramento, China, and more. Check out our top 10 list, which includes NCT's GREASE, HAIRSPRAY in Sacramento, and STUPID F***ING BIRD in Albuquerque, just to name a few.

Pie and hot coffee in cold midwinter will be on order this Monday February 15 at 10 AM when the box office opens for the eagerly anticipated musical Waitress! Costumed waitresses will serve the first 100 ticket buyers a homemade pie created by Production Pie Consultant Stacy Donnelly at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre (256 West 47th Street).

The extraordinary journey of the Broadway revival of PIPPIN began at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge a few years back, and now that triumphant Tony Award-winning musical, directed by Diane Paulus, is back in Boston via the national tour. While some tweaks have since been made to the production that had its Broadway tryout at the A.R.T., the show's exuberant joie de vivre and circus-inspired excitement are still intact. If anything, the show's politics and humor have been heightened in this iteration, thanks largely to its sensational cast.

Still not over the news of HAMILTON performing at the Grammys? Getting ready to hear Amber Riley crush it in DREAMGIRLS on the West End? Didn't have time to check in on your favorite Broadway stars? Well don't worry BroadwayWorld has rounded up some of the biggest stories from this week from Broadway and beyond with BroadwayWorld's 'This Week in Pictures.'

Rehearsals begin Monday, February 8 for the spring Broadway production of Waitress, following its sold-out limited engagement at the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. 

The Old Globe presents the West Coast premiere of THE METROMANIACS by supremely clever playwright David Ives (All in the Timing, Time Flies). This uproarious new 'translaptation' of a classic French farce, Alexis Piron's La Metromanie, will be directed by one of America's most renowned stage directors, Michael Kahn, presented in association with Shakespeare Theatre Company.

Robert Schenkkan's Tony Award-winning drama All the Way, about President Lyndon Baines Johnson's impassioned struggle to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, makes its Washington, D.C. debut at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Kyle Donnelly, who has directed more than 20 productions at Arena Stage, returns to helm this "sure-fire, action packed hit" (Huffington Post) about a country still reeling from the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the man tasked with calming the storm. Hailed as a "sensational night of theater" (NPR), All the Way runs April 1-May 8, 2016 in the Fichandler Stage.

The American Repertory Theater of WNY, in association with the Sportsman Americana Music Foundation and Buffalo NY's Sportsman Tavern owner Dwane Hall, will be operating out of a new performance space located in Buffalo's Black Rock neighborhood on 330 Amherst Street (next to the Sportsman Tavern). The flexible black-box 50 seat performance space will retain much of American Repertory Theater of WNY's boutique theater intimacy reputation and, in addition to the remaining 2015-16 season and beyond, will serve as a forum for events including community educational programs, dramatic arts performances, music, film screenings and poetry. The 330 Amherst Street production space will see its first production as American Repertory Theater of WNY presents John Guare's pioneering work The House of Blue Leaves on March 10th and runs until April 10th. 

The Vilcek Foundation just announced the winners of its annual Vilcek Prizes, recognizing immigrant contributions to the American arts and sciences. The 2016 Vilcek Prize in Theatre, presented to an immigrant artist with a record of major achievement in his/her field, is awarded to Blanka Zizka, the recipient of a $100,000 prize.