Arena Stage News

Victory Gardens opens its 2012-13 season with the Chicago Premiere of Equivocation, written by Bill Cain and directed by Sean Graney. The production runs September 14 - October 14, 2012 at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln Park. The Press Opening is Monday, September 24, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.

Since reuniting in 1991, the band (now a quintet) has toured hundreds of cities and countries worldwide and continuously reach new audiences with their stellar string of classics, all easily dubbed "Good Time Music." This chart-topping group, which was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, features three of the original band members-Steve Boone, Joe Butler and Jerry Yester- together with Mike Arturi and Phil Smith. They close out the Spencer Theater's summer season with an evening of good time music on Saturday, September 1 at 8 p.m.

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey will launch the Fall portion of its 50th Anniversary Season with the critically acclaimed stage adaptation of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist by British playwright, author, and director, Neil Bartlett. The production begins on September 12, with several discounted Preview performances, and continues through Oct. 7 at The Shakespeare Theatre's Main Stage - the intimate F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre.

Roundabout Theatre Company announced the full cast this July for the new Broadway production of Rupert Holmes' Tony Award-winning musical comedy The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The show is set to open on November 13, 2012 and will star Stephanie J. Block as Edwin Drood. Meet the whole cast in the video and bios below!

Five powerful productions have been scheduled for Center Theatre Group's 2013 season at the Mark Taper Forum, it was announced today by CTG Artistic Director Michael Ritchie.

Alice Ripley won a Tony Award for her leading role in the recent Pulitzer Prize winning musical Next to Normal, and was a Tony-nominee for Sideshow on Broadway. This Labor Day weekend, she joins the star-studded lineup of Broadway at The Art House in Provincetown, on Sept 1 & 2 for three shows only. Series host Seth Rudetsky joins her at piano. For tickets please visit www.ptownarthouse.com or call 508-487-9222.

Broadway's Leslie Kritzer joins the cast of Rick Crom's Off-Broadway musical revue NEWSical the Musical beginning Sept. 8. Internet gossip columnist Perez Hilton was announced last week as joining the cast of the long-running show.

The Jeff Awards Committee announced 197 nominations in 34 categories for Chicago Equity theatrical productions, which opened between August 1, 2011, and July 31, 2012. The Jeff Awards judges attended opening nights of 118 Equity productions offered by 55 producing organizations. From these openings, 96 productions were 'Jeff Recommended,' which made them eligible for award nominations.

The Jeff Awards Committee today announced 197 nominations in 34 categories for Chicago Equity theatrical productions, which opened between August 1, 2011, and July 31, 2012. The Jeff Awards judges attended opening nights of 118 Equity productions offered by 55 producing organizations. From these openings, 96 productions were 'Jeff Recommended,' which made them eligible for award nominations.

On hiatus from the AMC smash hit Mad Men, Vincent Kartheiser comes to the Bay Area to lead a vibrant cast in San Jose Rep's world premiere of the Jonathan Marc Feldman drama The Death of the Novel, directed by Rick Lombardo.The cast also includes Vaishnavi Sharma (Sheba), Patrick Jones, Zarah Mahler and Amy Pietz. Pietz is well-known to TV audiences for her roles in The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Burn Notice, Nip/Tuck, The Closer and Private Practice.

Everyman Theatre has announced a new series of Master Classes for the fall called "The Actor's Body." Designed for aspiring and professional actors, the series of three classes focuses on different movement techniques for the stage. The classes will take place on Monday evenings (6 PM to 9 PM) from September 10th through September 24th. Classes may be purchased individually or as the complete series.

Fresh off its acclaimed run at the Cleveland Play House, One Night with Janis Joplin will take D.C. audiences on a musical journey into the life and inspirations of one of rock 'n' roll's greatest legends. The production is led by Cleveland native Mary Bridget Davies, who performs with Joplin's original band Big Brother and the Holding Company, and also features Sabrina Elayne Carten as the Blues Singer who pays homage to the artists that influenced Joplin's incomparable blues-rock blend. Created, written and directed by Randy Johnson, the production is produced in partnership with Cleveland Play House in association with Todd Gershwin and Daniel Chilewich of Premiere Media, with support from The Estate of Janis Joplin and Jeff Jampol of JAM, Inc. One Night with Janis Joplin runs September 28 - November 4, 2012 in the Kreeger Theater. Get a first look at the show in the photos below!

Round House Theatre Producing Artistic Director Ryan Rilette announces the addition of Bill Cain's How to Write a New Book for the Bible and Gina Gionfriddo's Becky Shaw to the company's 2012/13 Bethesda season.

ANNIE, the new production of the Tony Award-winning musical, went into rehearsal today in New York City with its full company. The production begins previews October 3, 2012 and opens November 8, 2012 at the Palace Theatre (Broadway at 47th Street). Meet the full cast below!

Fresh off its acclaimed run at the Cleveland Play House, where The Plain Dealer called it "a feel-good, fist pumping, must-see concert," One Night with Janis Joplin will take D.C. audiences on a musical journey into the life and inspirations of one of rock 'n' roll's greatest legends.

La Jolla Playhouse presents An Iliad, a one-man adaptation of Homer's classic tale, adapted by Denis O'Hare (Tony Award-winning actor in Take Me Out) and Lisa Peterson (director of The Playhouse's Surf Report and Be Aggressive), based on a translation by Robert Fagles, directed by Lisa Peterson. A co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, An Iliad features Henry Woronicz as the "Poet," with Brian Ellingsen as the "Musician" and runs now through September 9 in the Mandell Weiss Forum. Get a first look Woronicz and more on stage below!

Lookingglass Theatre Company will open its 25th Anniversary Season with Metamorphoses, based on the Myths of Ovid, written and directed by Lookingglass Ensemble Member Mary Zimmerman. The show will play September 19 - September 28, 2012. The return of Lookingglass' seminal production, coinciding with the 10th Anniversary of the Broadway run, will open at Lookingglass in the fall of 2012 and will then move to Washington D.C.'s Arena Stage.

The York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director) in association with Edward Negley, Neil Berg and Adam Friedson, has announced a new addition to one of the best reviewed Off-Broadway shows of the year, Closer Than Ever with Lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr. and Music by David Shire: Broadway veteran Leslie Kritzer (A Catered Affair, Sondheim on Sondheim, Legally Blonde, The Musical) beginning August 28, 2012. Ms. Kritzer will step in for Julia Murney who departs the cast on August 25th.

Yee-haw! It's time to start two-steppin' and boot-scootin' in the aisles, as Signature Theatre kicks off its 2012/13 season with the Tony Award-winning musical comedy The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, beginning performances tonight, August 14.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces that Obie Award-winning playwright Samuel D. Hunter will join the American Voices New Play Institute (AVNPI) as a yearlong resident playwright in 2013.