Anton Chekhov News

Michael Pennington, two-time Olivier Award nominee, an artist of international stature and one of England's greatest classical actors, will play the title role in William Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear directed by Arin Arbus. For the second production in Theatre for a New Audience's inaugural season at its first permanent home, the new Polonsky Shakespeare Center, 262 Ashland Place in Brooklyn, Mr. Pennington leads a company of 22 actors. King Lear begins previews March 14 for an opening March 27 and a run through May 4.

The Segal Centre for Performing Arts is proud to announce that three performances have been added to its new production of The Seagull, adapted and directed by Peter Hinton.

Productions of Translations and Afterplay, produced as part of a season of work dedicated to the Irish playwright Brian Friel, will play Sheffield Theatres this spring.

Kristin Scott Thomas is done with films. After starring in 65 features over the course of 30 years, the actress told the Guardian that she reached her breaking point at some point last September. Nor will she be appearing on television. Off-screen and onstage seems to be the way Thomas is headed. She played the title role in BERENICE in France in 2001 and loved it.

Real-life mother and son Tony and Emmy Award nominee Kate Burton (The Corn is Green, The Cherry Orchard, Hedda Gabler at the Huntington) and Morgan Ritchie (The Corn is Green) will play mother and son onstage together for the first time when they return to the Huntington Theatre Company for a lush new production of Anton Chekhov's passionate classic The Seagull. Huntington favorite Maria Aitken (The Cocktail Hour, Betrayal) will direct the Paul Schmidt translation of the classic of world drama about love, missed connections, and what it means to be an artist. Performances of The Seagull begin at the Avenue of the Arts / BU Theatre on March 7, 2014.

While outright racism has never ceased to exist in the modern American society, neither did the humor that was a means of coping with it. Re-examining the lives of African Americans who carried the burden of being free men in a society still unable to totally accept the fact, the Virginian Clarence E. Freeman presents a witty but balanced account of federal racism and compartmentalization in a refreshingly different perspective with 'O.U.C.H! Our Unwelcome Colored Help'. It is about his experience of bigotry in the workplace through long years at his job in the Quality Control and Methods Engineering Branches, Planning Administrative Division, Supply Department, Naval Air Station, Norfolk, Virginia.

Master of Absurd Comedy Christopher Durang blends the characters and themes from Anton Chekhov's dramas in the hilarious Tony Award-winner Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike running March 21 - April 20 at Philadelphia Theatre Company's Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets). Directed by James J. Christy, the ensemble features Grace Gonglewski, Deirdre Madigan, Kianne Muschett , Clare O'Malley, Alex Shaw, and Kraig Swartz.

54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Patrick Page in 'Good to be Bad' tonight, January 28th at 9:30 pm.

The Seagull by Anton Chekhov will play in a new version by Anya Reiss, directed by Chris Honer, and running Friday 21 February - Saturday 8 March 2014 with the Library Theatre Company. The Seagull, one of Anton Chekhov's masterpieces, in a vibrant and critically acclaimed new version by Anya Reiss, is the final production under The Library Theatre Company banner before it becomes HOME, the new organisation created by its merger with Cornerhouse.

Uptown Players opens its 2014 season with the zany Broadway comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, winner of the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play. Written by Christopher Durang and directed by B. J. Cleveland, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike runs at the Kalita Humphreys Theater from February 14 to March 9, 2014.

Tony-nominated and Obie-winning Chekhov director Austin Pendleton helms and appears in Mississippi Mud Productions' SeaGull69, a new version of Anton Chekhov's masterpiece, The SeaGull. This is a world premiere of an adaptation by Austin Pendleton and the acting company drawing on Marian Fell's translation. Set in Los Angeles in the summer of 1969, the play looks at family and friends pursuing the American dream of fame, love, and fortune in Hollywood, the land of dreams. Chekhov's sense of humor along with his tender and honest look at life is explored through the terrain of this family and their circle's life in Hollywood from 1969-1971. Tickets on sale online @ http://seagull69.brownpapertickets.com - $17 general admission, $14 student/senior.

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Greg Reiner, will present BRECHT FEST, a special series exploring the songs, poetry and stories of Bertolt Brecht, to be presented on Monday, February 3 and Monday, February 10 at CSC (136 East 13th Street). CSC is currently presenting Brecht's A MAN'S A MAN, directed by Brian Kulick and with a new score and new songs by Tony Award-winning composer Duncan Sheik, continuing the company's exploration of the works of Brecht, which began in 2011 with the sold-out production of Galileo and was followed by last season's The Caucasian Chalk Circle.

This February, Actors Shakespeare Project is presenting a production of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, directed by longtime theatre practitioner Melia Bensussen. The production runs February 12 through March 9 at the Dane Estate at Pine Manor College.

Tony-nominated and Obie-winning Chekhov director Austin Pendleton helms and appears in Mississippi Mud Productions' SeaGull69, a new version of Anton Chekhov's masterpiece, The SeaGull. This is a world premiere of an adaptation by Austin Pendleton and the acting company drawing on Marian Fell's translation. Set in Los Angeles in the summer of 1969, the play looks at family and friends pursuing the American dream of fame, love, and fortune in Hollywood, the land of dreams. Chekhov's sense of humor along with his tender and honest look at life is explored through the terrain of this family and their circle's life in Hollywood from 1969-1971. Tickets on sale online @ http://seagull69.brownpapertickets.com - $17 general admission, $14 student/senior.

The Chicago Humanities Festival (CHF) hosts author Gary Shteyngart in conversation with Chicago writer Aleksandar Hemon today, Jan. 22, 2014 at 6 p.m. at First United Methodist Church at The Chicago Temple (77 W Washington St).

54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Patrick Page in 'Good to be Bad' on Tuesday, January 28th at 9:30 pm

Theatre Horizon continues its season with the Philadelphia area premiere of Annie Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation. This Obie Award winning play runs February 20-March 16. Opening night is February 27 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $20-$35. Theatre Horizon is located at 401 DeKalb St. More information can be found at www.theatrehorizon.org or by calling 610.283.2230.

Table 8 Productions in association with Off-Strip Productions presents the madcap mashup Anton Chekhov's "Cherry Orchard of the Living Dead, written and directed by Troy Heard. The world premiere comedy's limited run begins Friday, February 21, 2014, at the Onyx Theatre in Commercial Center and plays through March 9. This production is made possible in part by a grant from the Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Actors' Shakespeare Project will present The Cherry Orchard, Anton Chekhov's absurdist comedy of human frailties in an evolving world, February 12 to March 9, 2014 at The Dane Estate at Pine Manor College, 400 Heath Street, Chestnut Hill, MA. The production is directed by Obie Award-winner Melia Bensussen.

Huntington Theatre Company favorite and frequent director Maria Aitken (The Cocktail Hour, Betrayal, Private Lives, Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps) will return to the Huntington this spring to direct Tony Award nominee and television star Kate Burton in Anton Chekhov's passionate classic, The Seagull. Aitken replaces Nicholas Martin who was previously slated to direct the production but has withdrawn for personal reasons.