Arena Stage News

It's likely of little surprise to anyone that follows the workings of the highest court in our nation that any legal battle situation involving conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and an opponent is ripe for theatricalization. Arena Stage's resident playwright John Strand has done just that with his world premiere play, THE ORIGINALIST. However, the play he wrote is not the one we all might expect.

Long Wharf Theatre's inaugural Contemporary American Voices Festival, a weekend of new play readings, will take place on Saturday, April 18 and Sunday, April 19, 2015.

The Old Globe is delighted to welcome one of the true geniuses of the American theatre, Tony Award winner Mary Zimmerman, who makes her long-awaited San Diego directing debut with an enchanting theatrical spectacle with live music and sumptuous visuals, The White Snake, continuing the Globe's 80th Anniversary festivities as part of the Balboa Park Centennial Celebration. The Southern California Premiere of The White Snake, written and directed by Zimmerman, will run tonight, March 21 through April 26 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center.

UrbanArias: DC's contemporary opera company presents the world premiere of BLUE VIOLA by composer Peter Hilliard and librettist Matt Boresi.

Award-winning, multi-talented performers, Felicia Fields, Chic Street Man and Sugaray Rayford, heat up The Rep's Stackner Cabaret in Low Down Dirty Blues. Audiences will forget about the cold weather when they come see these powerhouse entertainers belt out the blues. Directed by Randal Myler, the production begins performances in The Rep's Stackner Cabaret tonight, March 20, 2015 and runs through May 24, 2015. Opening night is Sunday, March 22, 2015.

Four-time Helen Hayes Award winner Edward Gero (Red) returns to Arena Stage as one of America's most brilliant and polarizing figures: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. When a bright, liberal, Harvard Law School graduate embarks on a nerve-wracking clerkship with Justice Scalia, she discovers him to be both an infuriating sparring partner and an unexpected mentor. How will their relationship affect one of the most incendiary cases ever to reach the nation's highest court? From Charles MacArthur Award winner John Strand (Lovers and Executioners) comes this daring new work about passionate people risking heart and soul to defend their version of the truth. This production will be performed in the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle in an exciting new three-quarter thrust configuration. Check out a first look at the production below!

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater presents the Washington, D.C. premiere of Christopher Durang's Tony Award-winning comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike runs April 3-May 3, 2015 in the Fichandler Stage. Click below to watch a fun promo for the show!

Four-time Helen Hayes Award winner and acclaimed D.C. actor Edward Gero stars as one of America's most brilliant and polarizing figures-Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia-in the world-premiere political drama The Originalist, by Charles MacArthur Award winner and Arena Stage resident playwright John Strand. The Originalist runs now through April 26, 2015. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and Women's Project Theater present the world premiere of The Undeniable Sound of Right Now, written by Laura Eason (S e x with Strangers,'House of Cards') and directed by Kirsten Kelly (Slipping), beginning tonight, March 19 at 7pm at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 224 Waverly Place, west of Seventh Avenue South. Opening night is set for Thursday, April 2 at 7pm. The production is set to run through Saturday, May 2.

Olivier Award-winning playwright Katori Hall returns to Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater with the world premiere of her most personal project to date-the fierce comedy-drama The Blood Quilt. Hall is an inaugural resident playwright of Arena Stage's American Voices New Play Institute, and The Blood Quilt is one of three plays from Hall receiving world premieres around the country this season. Hall reunites with director and Howard University alumna Kamilah Forbes (artistic director of the Hip-Hop Theater Festival) following their Broadway collaboration on The Mountaintop. The Blood Quilt runs April 24-June 7, 2015 in the Kreeger Theater.

Atlantic recording group Halestorm has made rock history once more as their scintillating new single, 'Apocalyptic,' ascends to #1 at Active Rock radio outlets

The first Broadway revival of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning Wendy Wasserstein play The Heidi Chronicles officially opens tonight, March 19, 2015, at the Music Box Theatre (239 West 45th Street). Scroll down to learn more about the cast and watch interviews with the company!

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad will join Event Chair and Arena Stage Board member Shawna Watley (Senior Policy Advisor with Holland & Knight) as the Honorary Chair for The Blood Quilt World Premiere Celebration on Thursday, May 7, 2015. The new play by Katori Hall (The Mountaintop, Our Lady of Kibeho) is directed by Kamilah Forbes and runs April 24-June 7, 2015 in the Kreeger Theater.

Virginia's Signature Theatre presents the world premiere production of Soon, a new musical by Nick Blaemire (Glory Days, A Little More Alive). Directed by Matthew Gardiner(Signature's Sunday in the Park with George, Really Really), the ensemble piece will feature Alex Brightman (Jonah; Broadway's Matilda, Big Fish, Wicked), Natascia Diaz(Adrienne; Signature's The Threepenny Opera, Broadway's Man of La Mancha), Jessica Hershberg (Charlie; Broadway's Cinderella, Baby It's You), and Joshua Morgan (Steven; Woolly Mammoth's A Bright New Boise, Arena Stage's Fiddler on the Roof). Soon is produced in association with Tricia Small. Check out a first look at highlights below!

Virginia's Signature Theatre has just released the first photos of the world premiere production of Soon, a new musical by Nick Blaemire (Glory Days, A Little More Alive). Check out a first look below!

The Georgetown University Theater & Performance Studies Program presents for one-night only Belgrade-based DAH (meaning "breath") Teatar, known for its acutely personal yet profoundly political performances. The Monday, March 30, 2015 workshop performance at 8 p.m. of their duet piece "The Quivering of the Rose," excerpted from a larger ensemble work called The Presence of Absence, gives voice to the pain and constant presence of absence endured by families of the missing - those lost to ethnic and political conflict, crime and misfortune, and to the unknown and undefined.

Adventure Theatre MTC takes us on a reimagined journey through Oz in a world premiere play by Jacqueline Lawton. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz runs from April 3- May 25, 2015, based on the classic American children's book by L. Frank Baum starring Helen Hayes nominated Paige Hernandez as Dorothy.

Peter Hilliard and Matt Boresi answered a few questions from BroadwayWorld DC about what audiences might expect from the world premiere of BLUE VIOLA, their writing partnership, history with UrbanArias, and of course the whole contested debate about musical theatre vs. opera.

Olney Theatre Center, a Mid-Atlantic destination for extraordinary theater performance and education, celebrates the 70thAnniversary of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel with a reimagined production of the classic musical, running April 15 - May 10, 2015 on the Mainstage.

Milwaukee Repertory Theater presents the World Premiere production of Five Presidents. Broadway and television veterans Mark Jacoby, Martin L'Herault, Steve Sheridan, Jeff Steitzer, and Brit Whittle, along with Rep Associate Artist Reese Madigan, make up the cast of Five Presidents from Emmy Award-winning writer Rick Cleveland (The West Wing, House of Cards, Mad Men, and Six Feet Under). Directed by Milwaukee Rep Artistic Director Mark Clements, the production opens tonight, March 13, 2015 and runs through April 5, 2015.