Arena Stage News

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.

New Line Theatre, 'the bad boy of musical theatre,' has secured the rights to three premieres for its 22nd season of alternative, adult musical theatre -- the outrageous emo rock musical BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON, running Sept. 27-Oct. 20, 2012; the powerhouse Pulitzer Prize-winning rock opera NEXT TO NORMAL, running Feb. 28-March 23, 2013; and the hilariously dark, adult musical comedy BUKOWSICAL, running May 30-June 22, 2013.

The Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble presents the West Coast premiere of ELMINA'S KITCHEN, written by award-winning playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah, directed by Gregg T. Daniel. This gut-wrenching drama is set in the notorious "Murder Mile" section of London's East End. ELMINA'S KITCHEN examines the bitter clash of values between three generations of black men and its effect on their family and community. The play runs tonight, August 11 through September 9. Fridays & Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 4pm. The Lost Studio, 130 S. La Brea, Los Angeles, Calif.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) Artistic Director James C. Nicola and Managing Director William Russo have announced that Red Dog Howls, written by Alexander Dinelaris and directed by Ken Rus Schmoll, will begin performances Wednesday, September 5, 2012, at 7pm at NYTW, 79 East 4 Street, between Bowery and Second Avenue. Opening night is scheduled for Monday, September 24 at 7pm.

Everyman Theatre's 22nd season opener, Time Stands Still by Donald Margulies, is one of the final two shows that will be produced at Everyman's Charles Street home this Fall. In January, 2013, Everyman Theatre will be making an historic move to its brand new theatre located downtown on Fayette Street. Critically acclaimed in New York, Time Stands Still was nominated for a Tony for Best Play in 2010. Everyman Theatre's production marks its Baltimore premiere.

As part of its multi-year process to create a strong operating model, Georgia Shakespeare today announced the key elements of its 2013 artistic programming, which include a more focused approach to its summer productions, as well as further development of 'Shakespeare in the Park' into one of Atlanta's signature cultural events.