Angela Bassett News

The Open Fist Theatre Company presents their First Ever, FIRST LOOK FESTIVAL OF NEW PLAYS, with new works written by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, Steven Haworth, Karen Hartman, Julie Hebert, Neil LaBute, Rick Pagano and directed by Bjorn Johnson, Neil LaBute, Marya Mazor, Charles Otte and Randee Trabitz. The Festival began on Thursday, July 23 and runs through Sunday, September 13 at The NEW Open Fist Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd. (former home of The Actor's Gang) in Hollywood.

The producers of the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway production of' Thornton Wilder's Our Town, have announced that Obie Award-winner Jason Butler Harner will assume the central role of 'Stage Manager' in David Cromer's staging of Wilder's timeless play. Beginning Tuesday, August 25th, Mr. Harner will succeed Mr. Cromer who departs the company to begin rehearsals for his Broadway directorial debut this fall with Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound.

The Open Fist Theatre Company presents their First Ever, FIRST LOOK FESTIVAL OF NEW PLAYS, with new works written by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, Steven Haworth, Karen Hartman, Julie Hebert, Neil LaBute, Rick Pagano and directed by Bjorn Johnson, Neil LaBute, Marya Mazor, Charles Otte and Randee Trabitz. The Festival began on Thursday, July 23 and runs through Sunday, September 13 at The NEW Open Fist Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd. (former home of The Actor's Gang) in Hollywood.

The Open Fist Theatre Company presents their First Ever, FIRST LOOK FESTIVAL OF NEW PLAYS, with new works written by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, Steven Haworth, Karen Hartman, Julie Hebert, Neil LaBute, Rick Pagano and directed by Bjorn Johnson, Neil LaBute, Marya Mazor, Charles Otte and Randee Trabitz. The Festival will begin on Thursday, July 23 and run through Sunday, September 13 at The NEW Open Fist Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd. (former home of The Actor's Gang) in Hollywood.

The Open Fist Theatre Company presents their First Ever, FIRST LOOK FESTIVAL OF NEW PLAYS, with new works written by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, Steven Haworth, Karen Hartman, Julie Hebert, Neil LaBute, Rick Pagano and directed by Bjorn Johnson, Neil LaBute, Marya Mazor, Charles Otte and Randee Trabitz. The Festival will begin on Thursday, July 23 and run through Sunday, September 13 at The NEW Open Fist Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd. (former home of The Actor's Gang) in Hollywood.

The Encores! Summer Stars production of The Wiz will hold two free post-matinee talkbacks and audience Q&A sessions with Encores! Artistic Director Jack Viertel and members of the company on Wednesday, June 24 and Wednesday, July 1 at New York City Center, 131 W. 55th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenue).

The Encores! Summer Stars production of The Wiz will hold two free post-matinee talkbacks and audience Q&A sessions with Encores! Artistic Director Jack Viertel and members of the company on Wednesday, June 24 and Wednesday, July 1 at New York City Center, 131 W. 55th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenue).

The Encores! Summer Stars production of The Wiz, starring Ashanti, LaChanze and Orlando Jones, will open on Thursday, June 18 at New York City Center. (Previews begin June 12). Easing down the road with Ashanti's Dorothy will be Joshua Henry, James Monroe Iglehart, Christian White, Tichina Arnold and Dawnn Lewis.

Nigel, a brindle-hair Cairn Terrier, will be making his professional stage debut as Toto in the Encores! Summer Stars production of The Wiz, starring Ashanti as Dorothy, June 12 - July 5 at New York City Center, 131 W. 55th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues).

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) announces the final show of its 2008-09 season: Edward Albee's At Home at the Zoo, staged by acclaimed director Rebecca Bayla Taichman (world premieres of Theresa Rebeck's The Scene and Mauritius and Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone). This new spellbinder by the master playwright who also penned Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and A.C.T.'s The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, is a meticulously calibrated and dangerously brutal look at relationships intimate and unexpected. The story opens with Peter, a tweedy book editor, and his wife, Ann, whose everyday conversation takes an unexpected turn into dangerously personal territory. It's the kind of conversation that can drive a husband out for a walk-to Central Park, where Jerry, a desperate outcast, awaits. An unforgettable pairing of Albee's original The Zoo Story with a freshly penned prequel, At Home at the Zoo (formerly titled Peter and Jerry) bares its teeth to threaten the delicately balanced world its characters inhabit. Artistic Director Carey Perloff has put together an all-star artistic team on this production, featuring Tony Award-nominated actor Manoel Felciano (Ragtime at The Kennedy Center, A.C.T.'s Rock 'n' Roll, and Sweeney Todd on Broadway) as Jerry and scenic designer Robert Brill, who received a Tony Award nomination last week for his work on Guys and Dolls on Broadway. Hailed by critics as 'a thoroughly satisfying package of jagged-edged provocation' (Newsday) and 'an essential and heartening experience' (The New York Times), Edward Albee's At Home at the Zoo plays at A.C.T. June 5-July 5, 2009. Opening night is Wednesday, June 10, 2009, at 8 p.m. Tickets-starting at $14-are available by calling A.C.T. Ticket Services at 415.749.2228, or at www.act-sf.org.

Orlando Jones will play The Wiz, and Tony Award-winning actress LaChanze will play Glinda, the good witch, in the Encores! Summer Stars production of The Wiz, starring Ashanti, June 12 July 5 at New York City Center. Glinda's sister-witches will include Tichina Arnold as Evillene and Dawnn Lewis as Addaperle. Easing down the road with Ashanti's Dorothy will be Joshua Henry as the Tinman, James Monroe Iglehart as the Lion and Christian White as the Scarecrow.

The Theatre School at DePaul University is pleased to announce that MICHAEL SHANNON (actor, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD, BUG) will join ANGELA BASSETT (actress, NOTORIOUS, WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT, ER) and Theatre School alumnus DENNIS DUGAN (director, I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY, BIG DADDY) as a recipient of the 2009 Award for Excellence in the Arts on Tuesday, April 28, 2009.

The Theatre School at DePaul University is pleased to announce that MICHAEL SHANNON (actor, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD, BUG) will join ANGELA BASSETT (actress, NOTORIOUS, WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT, ER) and Theatre School alumnus DENNIS DUGAN (director, I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY, BIG DADDY) as a recipient of the 2009 Award for Excellence in the Arts on Tuesday, April 28, 2009.

stageFARM (Carrie Shaltz, Founder/Executive Director and Alex Kilgore, Artistic Director) announced the complete cast for the upcoming World Premiere The Gingerbread House by Mark Schultz, directed by Alex Kilgore. Performances were set to begin Friday, April 11th, but the first few previews were delayed and the production starts this evening Monday April 13th as a visiting production at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater (224 Waverly Place). Opening Night is set for Saturday evening, April 18th at 8 p.m.

Signature Theatre Company (James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director; Erika Mallin, Executive Director) will celebrate Douglas Turner Ward, founder of the Negro Ensemble Company, with their 2009 Annual Gala on Monday, March 30th at Espace (635 West 42nd Street). Cocktails will begin at 6:30pm with dinner at 7:30 PM and performance/tribute to follow. The evening will be hosted by Phylicia Rashad and Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Individual ticket prices range from $600-$1,200 with table prices ranging from $6,000-$25,000.

Signature Theatre Company celebrated the Opening Night performance of Charles Fuller's ZOOMAN AND THE SIGN on Tuesday March 24th, the play is the final production of Signature Theatre Company's (James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director; Erika Mallin, Executive Director) 2008-2009 season celebrating the historic Negro Ensemble Company (NEC). BroadwayWorld's cameras were there to celebrate to opening of the production!

Signature Theatre Company (James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director; Erika Mallin, Executive Director) will celebrate Douglas Turner Ward, founder of the Negro Ensemble Company, with their 2009 Annual Gala on Monday, March 30th at Espace (635 West 42nd Street). Cocktails will begin at 6:30pm with dinner at 7:30 PM and performance/tribute to follow. The evening will be hosted by Phylicia Rashad and Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Individual ticket prices range from $600-$1,200 with table prices ranging from $6,000-$25,000.

Signature Theatre Company's (James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director; Erika Mallin, Executive Director) production of ZOOMAN AND THE SIGN, written by Charles Fuller and directed by Stephen McKinley Henderson, opens tomorrow, Tuesday, March 24. ZOOMAN AND THE SIGN is the final production of Signature's 2008-2009 Season, celebrating the historic Negro Ensemble Company (NEC).

the stageFARM (Carrie Shaltz, Founder/Executive Director and Alex Kilgore, Artistic Director) has announced the complete cast for the upcoming World Premiere The Gingerbread House by Mark Schultz, directed by Alex Kilgore. Performances begin Friday, April 11th as a visiting production at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater (224 Waverly Place), with Opening Night set for Saturday evening, April 18th at 8 p.m.

Signature Theatre Company (James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director; Erika Mallin, Executive Director) is proud to announce casting for ZOOMAN AND THE SIGN, by Charles Fuller and directed by Stephen McKinley Henderson. ZOOMAN AND THE SIGN is the final production of Signature's 2008-09 season celebrating the historic Negro Ensemble Company (NEC).