Anna-Deavere Smith News

Country music star, CMA Winner, ACM Winner and four-time Grammy Nominee Joe Nichols has been offered the role made famous by George Strait in the Broadway production of the hit movie, Pure Country. According to producer Randall L. Wreghitt, the musical is in the process of securing the remainder of its financing and casting, and plans to open in early 2010.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Executive Director) will launch its 31st season this fall with the New York premiere of Anna Deavere Smith's LET ME DOWN EASY. Conceived, written, and performed by Ms. Smith and directed by Leonard Foglia, LET ME DOWN EASY will begin preview performances on Tuesday, September 15 and will officially open in early October.

Even as it announces a new season filled with hot plays and another show bound for Broadway, Berkeley Repertory Theatre concludes its current season with the world premiere of a smart and sassy script featuring favorite local artists: You, Nero, a new comedy written by Amy Freed and directed by Sharon Ott, rules the Thrust Stage this spring. Starring Danny Scheie as the preposterous emperor of ancient Rome, You, Nero begins previews on May 15, opens May 20, and closes June 28.

Is Sadie Hawkins Day a women's project? This is 2009, right? Well, it is a Women's Project project, especially when its goal is to raise money to support women theatre artists. So, in keeping with the dictum that anything a man can do, a woman can do just as well, but backwards and in heels, Women's Project's spring fund-raiser is a Sadie Hawkins Dance Spectacular Wednesday, April 29, from 9:00 pm at Touch Nightclub, 240 West 52nd Street.

16th Street Theater announces the second annual WORDS IN MOTION festival curated by Artistic Director Ann Filmer at the Berwyn Cultural Center April 2 - 25, 2009. Tekki Lomnicki's Blurred Vision opens Thursday, April 2 at 7:30 PM, followed by two intergenerational takes on mixing the races: mother and daughter team Marilyn Campbell & Maria Merrin with their humorous take on hair and feminism Mixing It Up opens Thursday, April 16 at 7:30 PM, while Martie Sanders' The Me, Mom & Dad Show! (performed with her 80-year old father!) opens Friday, April 17 at 7:30 PM. Yes, you will see Charlie Sanders recreate that tap dance he presented in 1967 to the all-African American student body of Spain Junior High in Detroit where he was assistant principal.

Today, even as it celebrates sending another show to Broadway, Berkeley Repertory Theatre announced a new season of adventurous plays for local theatre lovers. Tony Taccone, artistic director of the Tony Award-winning company, revealed five bold shows selected for the upcoming year.

Today, even as it celebrates sending another show to Broadway, Berkeley Repertory Theatre announced a new season of adventurous plays for local theatre lovers. Tony Taccone, artistic director of the Tony Award-winning company, revealed five bold shows selected for the upcoming year. His ambitious agenda for the 2009/10 season includes three world premieres: a compelling script commissioned from Naomi Iizuka, a captivating new collaboration from Lisa Kron and Leigh Silverman, and the debut of a beautiful musical from Matthew Sweet and Todd Almond. The Theatre?s 42nd season also includes a West Coast premiere by Tony Kushner, the Bay Area?s introduction to Aurélia?s Oratorio, and two plays to be named at a later date. Best of all, the cost of a subscription to Berkeley Rep will not increase this year, meaning that some seats for these shows can be snatched up at the 1998 price!

16th Street Theater announces the second annual WORDS IN MOTION festival curated by Artistic Director Ann Filmer at the Berwyn Cultural Center April 2 - 25, 2009. Tekki Lomnicki's Blurred Vision opens Thursday, April 2 at 7:30 PM, followed by two intergenerational takes on mixing the races: mother and daughter team Marilyn Campbell & Maria Merrin with their humorous take on hair and feminism Mixing It Up opens Thursday, April 16 at 7:30 PM, while Martie Sanders' The Me, Mom & Dad Show! (performed with her 80-year old father!) opens Friday, April 17 at 7:30 PM. Yes, you will see Charlie Sanders recreate that tap dance he presented in 1967 to the all-African American student body of Spain Junior High in Detroit where he was assistant principal.

Estelle Parsons, the legendary actress and star of Broadway's August: Osage County; Lucia Hwong Gordon, instrumentalist and composer; Susan K. Reed, editor-in-chief of O, The Oprah Magazine; and Susan Sobbott, President of American Express OPEN, will be declared Women of Achievement by Women's Project, America's oldest and largest stage company dedicated to producing theater created by women, at ceremonies Monday evening, March 2, in the grand ballroom of the Pierre Hotel, 2 East 61st Street at 5th Avenue.

Estelle Parsons, the legendary actress and star of Broadway's August: Osage County; Lucia Hwong Gordon, instrumentalist and composer; Susan K. Reed, editor-in-chief of O, The Oprah Magazine; and Susan Sobbott, President of American Express OPEN, will be declared Women of Achievement by Women's Project, America's oldest and largest stage company dedicated to producing theater created by women, at ceremonies Monday evening, March 2, in the grand ballroom of the Pierre Hotel, 2 East 61st Street at 5th Avenue.

The National Arts Club announced the recipients of its Kesselring Fellowship (formerly the Kesselring Award) supporting the work of extraordinary playwrights who have yet to achieve national recognition. An industry panel of writers, literary managers, actors, producers and directors and critics evaluated twenty-five finalists. In a rare move based on extraordinary merit, the 2009 panel and the National Arts Club choose to give out two lead awards rather than one. These two playwrights, Rajiv Joseph (Bengal Tiger at the Baghad Zoo, upcoming at the Mark Taper Forum) and David Adjmi (Stunning, upcoming at Lincoln Center 3) were awarded Kesselring Fellowships. Playwrights Jenny Schwartz and Tarrel Alvin McCraney were also named as Kesselring Honorees

16th Street Theater, a part of the North Berwyn Park District, is proud to announce its production of Anna Deavere Smith?s Fires in the Mirror directed by Artistic Director Ann Filmer

Virginia Woolf wrote Freshwater in 1923. She returned to it again in 1935. It was performed as a much-needed, unbuttoned, laughing evening for her friends and family.

Women's Project and SITI Company present Virginia Woolf's Only Play, FRESHWATER, directed by Anne Bogart

In her 13 years as artistic director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Sharon Ott led the company to new artistic heights, national prestige, and a well-deserved Tony Award. Now, after a 12-year absence, she returns with a gripping production of Fyodor Dostoevsky's classic Crime and Punishment. The scene of this Crime is Berkeley Rep's intimate Thrust Stage, where Ott earned her reputation as a dazzling director. The show begins previews on February 27, opens March 4, and closes March 29. Its executive producers are John and Helen Meyer and Richard H. Rubin and H. Marcia Smolens, with production sponsorship from the Bernard Osher Foundation. BART and Wells Fargo are the season sponsors for Berkeley Rep's 41st year of fearless theatre.

Virginia Woolf wrote Freshwater in 1923. She returned to it again in 1935. It was performed as a much-needed, unbuttoned, laughing evening for her friends and family.

16th Street Theater, a part of the North Berwyn Park District, is proud to announce its production of Anna Deavere Smith?s Fires in the Mirror directed by Artistic Director Ann Filmer

Women's Project and SITI Company present Virginia Woolf's Only Play, FRESHWATER, directed by Anne Bogart

Renowned Playwright Anna Deavere Smith will present a new piece in Phoenix inspired by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

International actress, playwright and director Esther Chae continues to conquer her artistic goals by balancing a recurring role on The Young and the Restless and recently attending the Pusan International Film Festival, and touring both North and South Korea as a USC NetKal Fellow, www.netkal.org.