Andrew W. Mellon News

Danspace Project will present Yoshiko Chuma and The School of Hard Knocks/ROOT CULTURE in the debut of 'Not About Romanian Cinema: POONARC' from June 4 to 13, 2009 as part of its City/Dans series. This next installment in Chuma's ten year project, 'A Page Out of Order' (culminating in 2011), features artists of all disciplines from Japan, Romania and the USA. The word 'POONARC' in the title is an acronym for 'Page Out of Order Not About Romanian Cinema.'

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) Artistic Director James C. Nicola and Managing Director William Russo have announced that they will present Wright/Rush, a conversation between Academy Award-winning actor Geoffrey Rush and Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Doug Wright. The one-night-only event to benefit NYTW takes place Monday, May 11, at 8:00pm, at NYTW, 79 East 4 Street.

The August Wilson Center for African American Culture and the Pittsburgh Dance Council proudly co-present One Shot: Rhapsody in Black & White by Ronald K. Brown/Evidence on Saturday, May 2, 2009, 8 p.m. at the Byham Theater.

Summer 2009 will be like none other at The Joyce Theater! With debuts from four (out of eight) companies including a hilarious Australian duo and a sensational contemporary ballet troupe, in addition to internationally renowned favorites returning to The Joyce, there is something for everyone to enjoy.

?I Love Paris? is the theme of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra?s April 17th pops performance at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts. The Symphony returns for their third pops performance in four years, and once again maestro Matthew Garbutt will lead a full symphony orchestra through a program that places a premium on audience accessibility and family fun. Garbutt has selected a variety of classical and contemporary works that celebrate one of Europe?s most romantic cities, celebrated for its beauty, inspirational light and old world architecture.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will embark on a two-week journey of South American music with conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya and the ¡Música Ardiente? Festival, May 27-June 6.The festival, presented by CNN en Español, will feature three programs.

Intiman Theatre's Board of Trustees elected a new slate of officers, including new Board President Kim A. Anderson, and four new Board members in a unanimous vote at the Theatre's Annual Meeting on Monday, April 6, 2009.

The Tony Award-winning Vineyard Theatre (108 East 15th Street) will open its 2009-10 season with the New York premiere A BOY AND HIS SOUL, written and performed by Colman Domingo (PASSING STRANGE), set to begin previews in September.

Jennifer Muller/The Works announces The Works' 35th Anniversary Season at The Joyce Theater at 175 Eighth Avenue (at 19th Street), NYC from June 9 - 14, 2009. The 2009 Season features the World Premieres of Bench, part of The Joyce Theater's 25th anniversary commissioning initiative, Tangle and Walk It Off. Tickets are $19 - 49 and are available at 212-242-0800 or www.joyce.org.

Previews begin April 4 and the play is slated to run through May 3. Directed by noted Off-Broadway wunderkind Trip Cullman, American Hwangap makes fresh the homecoming structure with a heartbreaking Korean American experience set against a canvas of highway 80, desert, and mythic cowboy lore. As a recipient of the Lark Play Development Center's 'Launching New Plays into the Repertoire Initiative' supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, American Hwangap will follow its production at the Magic with performances at the Denver Center Theatre Company, Ma-Yi Theatre Company, The Play Company in New York, and Tanghalang Pilipino in the Philippines.

THE BURNT PART BOYS -- a new musical by Mariana Elder (book), Nathan Tysen (lyrics) and Chris Miller (music), directed by Erica Schmidt ('Humor Abuse') -- will have an innovative production and development schedule on its way to an Off-Broadway premiere in the spring of 2010 when it will be presented as a co-production by Playwrights Horizons (Artistic Director, Tim Sanford; Managing Director, Leslie Marcus) and the Vineyard Theatre (Artistic Director, Douglas Aibel; Executive Director, Jennifer Garvey-Blackwell) at Playwrights Horizons, it has been announced by both non-profit theaters.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) presents (in order of speaking) Nathan Lane (Estragon), Bill Irwin (Vladimir), John Goodman (Pozzo), David Strathairn (Lucky) and in a new Broadway production of Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett and directed by Tony? award winner Anthony Page. Waiting for Godot will now begin previews one week earlier on Friday, April 3rd, 2009 and open officially on Thursday, April 30th, 2009 at Studio 54 on Broadway (254 West 54th Street). This will be a limited engagement. The cast will also include Matthew Schechter (Boy). The design team includes Santo Loquasto (Sets), Jane Greenwood (Costumes) and Peter Kaczorowski (Lights).

Under the new leadership of General Manager and Artistic Director George Steel, and with all performances taking place in the newly renovated David H. Koch Theater (formerly the New York State Theater), New York City Opera will present five operas in 2009-2010, in fall and spring seasons. With repertoire that spans opera history from the early 18th to the late 20th centuries - including the premiere of a new production - the 2009-2010 season reaffirms the company's historic mission to present innovative productions, to champion contemporary works, to rediscover early and lesser-known operas, and to promote American artists.

Previews begin April 4 and the play is slated to run through May 3. Directed by noted Off-Broadway wunderkind Trip Cullman, American Hwangap makes fresh the homecoming structure with a heartbreaking Korean American experience set against a canvas of highway 80, desert, and mythic cowboy lore. As a recipient of the Lark Play Development Center's 'Launching New Plays into the Repertoire Initiative' supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, American Hwangap will follow its production at the Magic with performances at the Denver Center Theatre Company, Ma-Yi Theatre Company, The Play Company in New York, and Tanghalang Pilipino in the Philippines.

?I Love Paris? is the theme of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra?s April 17th pops performance at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts. The Symphony returns for their third pops performance in four years, and once again maestro Matthew Garbutt will lead a full symphony orchestra through a program that places a premium on audience accessibility and family fun. Garbutt has selected a variety of classical and contemporary works that celebrate one of Europe?s most romantic cities, celebrated for its beauty, inspirational light and old world architecture.

Intiman Theatre, under the leadership of Artistic Director Bartlett Sher and Managing Director Brian Colburn, announces that Abe Lincoln in Illinois will conclude its 2009 season - the year of the Lincoln Bicentennial - under the direction of Sheila Daniels, Intiman's Associate Director. Robert E. Sherwood's epic play, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, will launch Intiman's second American Cycle, a series of large-cast plays and free community programs. Through great plays and conversations at Intiman and throughout the Puget Sound region, the American Cycle bring artists and audiences together to share the issues and hopes we feel in our community and as citizens of our country at this moment in its history.

Two Obie Award-winning theater companies -- The Play Company and Ma-Yi Theater -- will collaborate this spring to present the New York premiere of Lloyd Suh's new play AMERICAN HWANGAP, with previews to begin May 9, prior to an official press opening May 17 Off-Broadway at The Wild Project (195 East 3rd Street) in Manhattan. Trip Cullman directs an ensemble cast featuring some of the country's most accomplished Asian American actors, including James Saito (TV's 'Eli Stone' and Obie winner for DURANGO), Michi Barall (Charles Mee's QUEENS BOULEVARD), Mia Katigbak (DOGEATERS), Peter Kim (THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE), and Hoon Lee (YELLOWFACE).

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) and LAByrinth Theater Company (Artistic Director John Ortiz; Co-Artistic Director Philip Seymour Hoffman; Co-Artistic and Executive Director John Gould Rubin) announced complete casting and creative team today for KNIVES AND OTHER SHARP OBJECTS, the third play of the 2008-2009 Public LAB season. Written by Ra?l Castillo and directed by Felix Solis, KNIVES AND OTHER SHARP OBJECTS will begin performances on Friday, March 27 and run through Sunday, April 19 with an official press opening on Sunday, April 12. Tickets are $10 for all performances and are on-sale now.

BAM is delighted to present a new staging of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice from Edward Hall's award-winning company Propeller. Last at BAM with renowned productions of The Taming of the Shrew and Twelfth Night (2007 Spring Season), comedies that revel in the trials and inevitable tribulations of romantic love, Propeller returns with an audaciously compelling interpretation of The Merchant of Venice, critically acclaimed in its recent U.K. run.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) Artistic Director James C. Nicola and Managing Director William Russo have announced that they will present three staged readings of Caryl Churchill's short play Seven Jewish Children, Wednesday, March 25 through Friday, March 27 at 7pm, at NYTW, 79 East 4th Street, between Second Avenue and Bowery. Each reading will be followed by a moderated discussion, with several notable authorities (from both the Israeli/Jewish and Palestinian communities) attending each performance to illuminate the dialogue. After the discussion, there will be a second reading of the ten-minute play.