Arena Stage News

Tectonic Theater Project to present dance/music excerpts of Carmen: A new Afro-Cuban musical in development today, March 6, 2015 in NYC. Directed by Moises Kaufman, Music Adaptation by Arturo O'Farrill (2015 Grammy Winner), Choreography by Sergio Trujillo.

Producer Eva Price is proud to announce that The Lion, the gripping, highly acclaimed autobiographical solo show written and performed by Benjamin Scheuer, will play the Portland Center Stage (128 NW 11th Avenue, Portland, OR 97209) from May 2 through June 14, 2015, with the national tour officially launching on August 22, 2015 at the Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell, Massachusetts (50 East Merrimack Street).

Proteus Spann celebrates the 20th Anniversary of New York Times best-selling author E. Lynn Harris' classic American love story INVISIBLE LIFE. This explosive new musical adaptation addresses the conflicts of sexuality, religion, HIV/AIDS and family in America.

Orwell in America, written by preeminent playwright Joe Sutton, runs live on stage at the Briggs Opera House in White River Junction, VT, March 11 through March 29. For tickets and information, call 802-296-7000 or visit www.northernstage.org. Tickets start at $15.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces the full company for the Washington, D.C. premiere of Christopher Durang's Tony Award-winning comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Helen HayesAward-winning director and playwright Aaron Posner, known for his Chekhov-inspired plays Stupid f**king Bird and Life Sucks (Or the Present Ridiculous), lends his hand to this riotous sendup, which satirizes characters and themes from Anton Chekhov's classics. In this 'sunny new play about gloomy people' (New York Times), siblings Vanya and Sonia live out their days in an endless, bleak tableau in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. All seems numbingly mundane until in sweeps hurricane Masha, their fading movie star sister, with her shiny new boy toy and a big announcement. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike runs April 3-May 3, 2015 in the Fichandler Stage. Check out a first look at the cast below!

Ten Chimneys Foundation has announced Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad will serve as the Master Teacher for the 2015 Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship Program, a national program to serve the future of American theatre.

Lanford Wilson's 'Talley Trilogy' continues on the Aurora Theatre Company main stage with FIFTH OF JULY. Aurora Artistic Director Tom Ross (A Bright New Boise, This Is How It Goes, Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance, The Shape of Things) helms FIFTH OF JULY, featuring Craig Marker (The Shape of Things, The Persians), Elizabeth Benedict, John Girot, Jennifer Le Blanc, Oceana Ortiz, Harold Pierce, Josh Schell, and Nanci Zoppi. FIFTH OF JULY plays April 17 through May 17 at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. For tickets ($32-60) and information the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org.

Tony Award-winning costume designer, JESS GOLDSTEIN (currently represented on Broadway with Jersey Boys and On the Town), and scenic designer DOUGLAS W. SCHMIDT are among the 2015 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards recipients. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Friday, May 1, at 6:30pm, at the Hudson Theatre (145 West 44th Street). Mr. Goldstein was selected to receive the 2015 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for costume design and Mr. Schmidt will receive the Robert L.B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design.

As part of New Jersey Theatre Alliance's 18th annual Stages Festival, on Wednesday, March 18th, at 7:00 p.m., McCarter Theatre Center of Princeton will offer a relaxed performance of Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery-a comedic adventure running March 10th to March 29 on McCarter's Matthews Stage.

BroadwayWorld introduces our latest weekly feature, 'At This Performance with BWW' highlighting the work of Broadway's hardest-working actors - understudies and standbys!

Tectonic Theater Project to present dance/music excerpts of Carmen: A new Afro-Cuban musical in development on Friday, March 6, 2015 in NYC. Directed by Moises Kaufman, Music Adaptation by Arturo O'Farrill (2015 Grammy Winner), Choreography by Sergio Trujillo.

Pulitzer Prize winning drama by Lynn Nottage showcases Dawn Ursula

The Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Keen Company presents the first New York revival of John & Jen, the musical with music by Andrew Lippa, lyrics by Tom Greenwald, and a book by Greenwald and Lippa. The show officially opens tonight, February 26th at The Clurman Theatre at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues).

Earlier this season, Folger Theatre announced plans to expand programming towards young patrons with Brews and Banter, a new pre-show behind-the-scenes conversation about the plays being performed on the Folger stage. Patrons are encouraged to peek behind the curtain with Folger actors engage with the greatest literature in the world at the world's largest Shakespeare library.

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 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. Preview performances run March 21 through 25. Opening night is Thursday, March 26 at 8:00 p.m.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces the full company for the Washington, D.C. premiere of Christopher Durang's Tony Award-winning comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.

Women's Project Theater, under the leadership of newly-appointed Producing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty, is pleased to present the World Premiere of BRIGHT HALF LIFE - a new play by Pulitzer Prize finalist Tanya Barfield and directed by Tony Award nominee Leigh Silverman - in a five-week limited engagement at New York City Center Stage II (131 W. 55th Street) through March 22, 2015. Opening night is set for tonight, February 25.

Columbia University and Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith announced Monday that Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan Lori Parks' epic Father Comes Home From The Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) is the 2015 winner of the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History.

Virginia's Signature Theatre has just released the first trailer for 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).

Earlier this season, Folger Theatre announced plans to expand programming towards young patrons with Brews and Banter, a new pre-show behind-the-scenes conversation about the plays being performed on the Folger stage. Patrons are encouraged to peek behind the curtain with Folger actors engage with the greatest literature in the world at the world's largest Shakespeare library.