Arena Stage News

The Young People's Chorus of New York City will be hosting a Gala Benefit on March 15th featuring Tony nominee, Maurice Hines, along with other special guests. The evening will feature Hines performing several numbers from the musical revue Sophisticated Ladies, based on the music of Duke Ellington, and he will be joined by cast members from the Arena Stage production of the show. Funds raised will support YPC's work to better the lives of thousands of New York City children of all economic, religious and ethnic backgrounds from ages 7 to 18.

Broadway and Off-Broadway producer Ken Davenport (author of the popular blog, www.TheProducersPerspective.com) will present THE DAVENPORT THEATRICAL DEVELOPMENTAL READING SERIES, four readings of new works (plays and/or musicals) beginning Monday, March 15th at a theater to be announced.

Edward Watts, most recently seen on Broadway in Finian's Rainbow, will assume the role of El Gallo in The Fantasticks, the world's longest-running musical, on Monday, March 22, 2010. He replaces Lewis Cleale, who will play his final performance on March 14.

Theatre Zone's production of The Beast of Broadway, about Broadway's most famous producer, David Merrick, will close on March 14, 2010.

59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer) welcomes Babel Theatre Project with the World Premiere of BRACK'S LAST BACHELOR PARTY, written by Sam Marks and directed by Geordie Broadwater. The show will play its final performance on March 14.

MetroStage's production of MAHALIA starring Bernardine Mitchell, S. Renee Clark and William Hubbard will end the award-winning production of Mahalia, a gospel musical, by Tom Stolz, on March 14th. The production began performances on January 21st.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company continues its 30th Season (2009/10) with a four-week run of Clybourne Park, the newest work by Bruce Norris (playwright of The Unmentionables), directed by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company's Artistic Director, Howard Shalwitz. Clybourne Park recently opened at New York's Playwrights Horizons to rave reviews.

UNCHAIN MY HEART, The Ray Charles Musical, featuring the music of Ray Charles with a book by Suzan-Lori Parks, directed by Sheldon Epps will begin previews October 8, 2010 and open officially November 7, 2010 on Broadway at a Shubert Theatre to be announced.

Asolo Rep announces additional casting for award-winning Managing Maxine, Janece Shaffer's new play that takes a straight forward look at sex, love and life after 70. The cast features Howard Elfman as Louis, the role he originated last season in the world premiere of Managing Maxine at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta.

New York's OBIE Award-winning Epic Theatre Ensemble (Zak Berkman, Melissa Friedman, Ron Russell, Founding Executive Directors) today announced the cast and creative team for the New York premiere of Sarah Ruhl's Passion Play (In The Next Room… or the vibrator play) and directed by Mark Wing-Davey (The Singing Forest). The cast will include Brendan Averett, Polly Noonan, Daniel Pearce, Alex Podulke, Keith Reddin, Godfrey L. Simmons Jr., T. Ryder Smith, Felix Solis Jr., Kate Turnbull and Nicole Wiesner.

Last Month, Arena Stage announced six productions and two major festivals that will inaugurate the company's new venue the Mead Center for American Theater next year. In addition to those exciting projects, Artistic Director Molly Smith is pleased to complete the 2010/11, 60th anniversary season lineup with the inclusion of the pre-Broadway world premiere of A Time to Kill-an adaptation by Rupert Holmes of the acclaimed John Grisham novel presented by special arrangement with Daryl Roth-and Let Me Down Easy, conceived, written and performed by Anna Deavere Smith. Both productions will be staged in the Mead Center's restored and remarkably intimate Kreeger Theater.

National Corporate Theatre Fund (NCTF) will hold its Annual Chairman's Awards Gala and benefit on Monday, April 19 at the St. Regis New York hotel. This year, NCTF Chairman James S. Turley, Chairman & CEO of Ernst & Young, will honor Nathan Lane (returning to Broadway this season in The Addams Family), set designer Eugene Lee (Wicked) and Wells Fargo & Company. Accepting the award on behalf of Wells Fargo will be Joe Kirk, Regional President for New York and Connecticut. All net proceeds of the event will be distributed as the NCTF/WELLS FARGO FUND FOR NEW AMERICAN THEATRE.

BLUEBARN Theatre continues its 21 st season with Paula Vogel's dark comedy, Hot ‘N' Throbbing, which opens March 11 and runs through April 3, 2010. BLUEBARN's ArtisticDirector, Susan Clement-Toberer directs this surreal and yet hilarious drama which showcasescostumes by Jenny Pool, scenic design by Martin Scott Marchitto, lighting design by CarolWisner, and sound design by Martin Magnuson.

Following a highly successful run at the Folger Theatre in Washington D.C., Two River Theater Co. is proud to present the world premiere of Orestes A Tragic Romp, Anne Washburn's razor sharp modern adaptation of the Greek tragedy by Euripides, directed by Two River Artistic Director Aaron Posner.

What do you do when the only thing the man you're in love with wants to do is kill you? Seduce him, disguised as a man impersonating another woman, while fending off the affections of both his uncle and his aunt, of course... which is exactly what happens in Triumph of Love, a musical comedy romp.

Legendary costume designer ALBERT WOLSKY and world renowned scenic designer MING CHO LEE are among the 2010 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards recipients. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Friday, April 23 at 6:30pm at the Hudson Theatre (145 West 44th Street). Two-time Academy Award-winner Albert Wolsky will receive the 2010 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for costume design, and Tony Award-winning scenic designer and educator Ming Cho Lee will receive the TDF/Irene Sharaff Robert L.B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design.

Edward Watts, most recently seen on Broadway in Finian's Rainbow, will assume the role of El Gallo in The Fantasticks, the world's longest-running musical, on Monday, March 22, 2010. He replaces Lewis Cleale, who will play his final performance on March 14.

In its 17th year, Plays in Progress is part of Geva Theatre Center's ongoing commitment to developing and producing new work for the American theatre. Geva Theatre Center is proud to present the spring program of its Plays in Progress series of new play readings.

Broadway and Off-Broadway producer Ken Davenport (author of the popular blog, www.TheProducersPerspective.com) will present the first selection of THE DAVENPORT DEVELOPMENTAL READING SERIES, four readings of new works (plays and/or musicals) on Monday, March 15th at the Producer's Club (358 West 44th Street, between Eighth & Ninth Avenues).

Kate Baldwin, the star of Broadway's Finians Rainbow, will sing songs from her bestselling PS Classics release 'Let's See What Happens' in concert at Birdland on Monday, March 8 at 7pm. This concert is part of the long-running Broadway at Birdland concert series, presented by Jim Caruso. Material will include 'Moments Like This,' 'Come Back To Me,' and 'How Are Things In Glocca Morra?'