American Shakespeare Festival News

Winning the prestigious Woodward/Newman Award for best play, while being developed at Rogue Machine for their 2012 season, brought with it a fully funded production mounted at the Bloomington Play Project in Indiana. It turned out to be one of their most successful projects to date. A Holland New Voices Award came shortly afterwards, and now playwright Henry Murray is ready for its close-up at Rogue Machine, known for staging new works. This will be a West Coast Premiere in one of the country's most vibrant cities for new plays, Los Angeles, opening September 15, 2012.

The 20th annual New American Playwrights Project (NAPP) takes the stage at the Utah Shakespeare Festival August 9 to August 31. Three plays will be presented as staged readings in the Auditorium Theatre at 10 a.m. on selected dates. Chosen from hundreds of plays submitted, this year's lineup includes The Greater Love by Frankie Little Hardin, Turquoise Wind by Kurt Proctor, and Play Desdemona by Daniel Hintzsche.

One of America's most distinguished playwrights, Tony Award winner Terrence McNally, will be honored at "The Full McNally: A Celebration of the Writing and Works of Terrence McNally," presented by Westport Country Playhouse at the theater's annual fundraising gala on the evening of Monday, September 24.

William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet will be performed under the stars this summer at three unique venues in Bridgeport and Stratford: The Peacock Pavilion at CT's Beardsley Zoo, historic McLevy Green in Bridgeport's flourishing downtown area; and on the grounds of The American Shakespeare Festival Theater in Stratford as part of Festival! Stratford.

The Colony Theatre presents the first production of its "Season of Premieres" with the Los Angeles Premiere of THE SAVANNAH DISPUTATION, written by Evan Smith and directed by award-winning Cameron Watson, the show stars three-time Los Angeles Drama Critics Award-winning actress Anne Gee Byrd. THE SAVANNAH DISPUTATION opens tonight, June 16 at 8:00pm and continues through Sunday, July 8 at The Colony Theatre, 555 North Third Street (at Cypress) adjacent to the Burbank Town Center.

Today we are shining a light on one of the most respected and revered stage and screen stars of the last several decades who is known the world over for not only his stirring and commanding dramatic performances and touching and rib-tickling comedies on film, but also for his iconic roles on the stage playing Shakespeare, and, perhaps most of all, for his essaying of Captain Von Trapp in the celebrated Robert Wise film adaptation of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Tony Award-winning THE SOUND OF MUSIC - the elegant, graceful and eminently gifted Christopher Plummer. Looking back at a career spanning nearly seven decades, today we will focus on Plummer's most important and most fondly remembered roles to date - ranging from Sidney Lumet's STAGE STRUCK in 1958 to his Shakespeare stage work, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, THE RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER, TV's THE THORN BIRDS, and, of course, his Academy Award-winning turn in last year's BEGINNERS - with a look ahead to the exceptionally enticing new Fathom in-cinema presentation of Des McAnuff's Stratford Shakespeare Festival production of THE TEMPEST starring Plummer as Prospero, in movie theaters nationwide on June 14 - what the 83-year-old actor has promised will be his final Shakespeare performance onstage. So, if there were ever a time to take a look back at one of the most remarkable Broadway/Hollywood crossover stars of the last century or the current one as he reaches yet another peek in a career populated with many highs, now is certainly the time! After all, as the oldest Oscar-winner to date, a midsummer night's dream has evidently quite quickly turned to a winter's tale - but with sound and fury signifying much, as we will see.

CT Free Shakespeare is performing Romeo and Juliet outdoors in July and early August at destination venues in Fairfield County, Connecticut.

The Colony Theatre presents the first production of its "Season of Premieres" with the Los Angeles Premiere of THE SAVANNAH DISPUTATION, written by Evan Smith and directed by award-winning Cameron Watson and will star three-time Los Angeles Drama Critics Award-winning actress Anne Gee Byrd.

The Tony Award-winning Hartford Stage, under the leadership of Darko Tresnjak, Artistic Director, and Michael Stotts, Managing Director, presents William Shakespeare's magical masterwork, The Tempest, directed by Darko Tresnjak, playing now through June 10, 2012 (press opening: Wednesday, May 16 at 7:30pm). Tony Award nominee Daniel Davis, best known for his recent NYC roles in Classic Stage's The Cherry Orchard, Lincoln Center's The Invention of Love, and the 2004 Broadway revival of La Cage aux Folles, as well as six seasons as Niles the Butler on TV's "The Nanny, plays Prospero. See photos of Davis and the rest of the cast on stage below!

The Tony Award®-winning Hartford Stage, under the leadership of Darko Tresnjak, Artistic Director, and Michael Stotts, Managing Director, presents William Shakespeare's The Tempest, directed by Darko Tresnjak, playing May 18 through June 10, 2012 (press opening: Wednesday, May 16 at 7:30pm).

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) continues its 2011/12 Season with the A.R.T./MXAT Institute's production of William Shakespeare's comedy AS YOU LIKE IT, directed by David Hammond.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) continues its 2011/12 Season with the A.R.T./MXAT Institute's production of William Shakespeare's comedy AS YOU LIKE IT, directed by David Hammond.

Westport Country Playhouse will stage Shakespeare's beguiling comic masterpiece, 'Twelfth Night, or What You Will,' directed by Playhouse artistic director Mark Lamos, playing through November 5. Laughter and melancholy, gorgeous poetry and song, and endlessly delightful romantic entanglements abound in this fresh and inventive production of a timeless classic. It is the fifth of five productions in the historic theater's 80th year.

Westport Country Playhouse will stage Shakespeare's beguiling comic masterpiece, 'Twelfth Night, or What You Will,' directed by Playhouse artistic director Mark Lamos, playing through November 5. Laughter and melancholy, gorgeous poetry and song, and endlessly delightful romantic entanglements abound in this fresh and inventive production of a timeless classic. It is the fifth of five productions in the historic theater's 80th year.

The American Bus Association (ABA) announced that the Utah Shakespeare Festival has been designated by an experienced expert tourism industry selection committee as one of the Top 100 Events in North America for 2012. Inclusion in the Top 100 list, published as a supplement to the September/October issue of Destinations magazine, indicates that the Utah Shakespeare Festival offers excellent entertainment value to both tour groups and individual travelers from around the world, according to the ABA.

Westport Country Playhouse will stage Shakespeare's beguiling comic masterpiece, 'Twelfth Night, or What You Will,' directed by Playhouse artistic director Mark Lamos, playing through November 5.

Westport Country Playhouse will stage Shakespeare's beguiling comic masterpiece, 'Twelfth Night, or What You Will,' directed by Playhouse artistic director Mark Lamos, playing October 11 through November 5. Laughter and melancholy, gorgeous poetry and song, and endlessly delightful romantic entanglements abound in this fresh and inventive production of a timeless classic. It is the fifth of five productions in the historic theater's 80th year.

Westport Country Playhouse will stage Shakespeare's beguiling comic masterpiece, 'Twelfth Night, or What You Will,' directed by Playhouse artistic director Mark Lamos, playing October 11 through November 5. Laughter and melancholy, gorgeous poetry and song, and endlessly delightful romantic entanglements abound in this fresh and inventive production of a timeless classic. It is the fifth of five productions in the historic theater's 80th year.

The world premiere of acclaimed actor/writer Alan Alda's Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie, a bioplay about the passions and conflicts of the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize, will feature Anna Gunn as the title character.

Westport Country Playhouse will stage Shakespeare's beguiling comic masterpiece, 'Twelfth Night, or What You Will,' directed by Playhouse artistic director Mark Lamos, playing October 11 through November 5. Laughter and melancholy, gorgeous poetry and song, and endlessly delightful romantic entanglements abound in this fresh and inventive production of a timeless classic. It is the fifth of five productions in the historic theater's 80th year.