Ars Nova News

The Douglas Morrisson Theatre (DMT) is excited to announce the first production in the 2015-2016 'Bare Bones' staged reading series: The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin by Steven Levenson, a riveting story about the price we pay for defaulting on our loved ones.

This September, 54 BELOW presents an exciting lineup of the brightest talent from Broadway and beyond. Located just below the legendary Studio 54 at 254 West 54th Street.

Tongue in Cheek Theater Productions (Jake Lipman, producing artistic director) has cast its world premiere adaptation of the popular novel, THE INN AT LAKE DEVINE by Elinor Lipman (Vintage Contemporaries), which will run for 16 performances, October 7-24, 2015, in midtown NYC.

The Play Company (PlayCo), led by Founding Producer Kate Loewald and Executive Producer Lauren Weigel celebrates its 15th Anniversary season with programming that exemplifies its unique commitment to premiering plays from around the world, including the U.S., to advance a dynamic, international experience of contemporary theater as part of the American repertoire.

ShakesBEER by the New York Shakespeare Exchange announced their September dates for entertaining pub crawls in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City. Join the merriment on Saturday, September 12th and Saturday, September 19th.

?"Heads," the story of four people - an American engineer, a British embassy employee, a network journalist, and a freelance photographer, who are thrown together when they are taken hostage during the early years of the war in Iraq, opens in New York at The Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row, for a limited run, September 11-20, 2015 (410 West 42nd Street).

Theater Wit moves the company's smash hit Chicago premiere of BAD JEWS back to the city, after its virtually sold-out summer run at Skokie's North Shore Center for the Performing Arts. Starting tonight, August 28, Wit's production of playwright Joshua Harmon's smart, funny new play about young Jews grappling with faith, family and identity will reopen at the Royal George Theatre, 1641 N. Halsted St., in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood.

One of Broadway's favorite leading men - Kyle Dean Massey, co-star of the hit ABC series Nashville - will conduct a master class in Music City on Wednesday, September 2. Presented by VWA Theatricals, which made its local debut with the critically acclaimed The Last Five Years in August, and The First Night Honors, the master class will be conducted from 6 to 10 p.m. at Van Wye Vocal Studio, 30 Music Square West, Suite 201.

Salty Brine proudly announces the premiere of a new cabaret, He's So Unusual, as the sixth installment in his series, Salty Brine's Spectacular Living Record Collection Cabaret.  Salty Brine's Spectacular Living Record Collection Cabaret, which performs on Wednesdays as part of Brine's residency at The Red Room (85 E. 4th St.), explores a different iconic album each month in a live cabaret setting.  He's So Unusual, inspired by by Cyndi Lauper's debut album She's So Unusual, will run on September 9, 16, 23 and 30 with doors opening at 7:30pm and shows beginning at 8:00pm.

The Representatives in association with The Olmsted Salon present this site-specific re-imagining of VERITAS by Stan Richardson, beginning Thursday, October 21st with an Opening on Monday, October 26. The theatre for the production is The Cave @ St. George's in Gramercy Park, 209 East 16th Street, NYC 10003.

InViolet Theater Company, under the direction of Founding Co-Artistic Directors Michael Henry Harris and Angela Razzano, In association with Melanie Maras, Bryan Tallevi and Andrea Kiefer have announced the off-off Broadway run of SOMMERFUGL, a new play written by Bixby Elliot inspired by the true story of Lili Elbe, the first person to have gender reassignment surgery in 1930. The production begins previews September 19 at the 4th Street Theater (83 East 4th Street) and will have its official opening on September 24. Stephen Brackett directs.  www.InViolettheater.com

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Sarah Benson and Executive Director Cynthia Flowers, Soho Rep. has continually produced work by bold artists who harness the intimate power of the organization's own 73-seat black box theater, as well as other spaces, to create transformative experiences. Soho Rep.'s 2015-16 season, announced today, comprises two more ambitious new works-both characterized by irreverent humor, wild theatricality, and extraordinarily inventive language-and Write with Us, a series of open-to-the-public writing workshops led by acclaimed, Soho Rep.-produced playwrights.

One Year Lease Theater Company presents the World Premiere of Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally by Brooklyn-based playwright Kevin Armento (Good Men Wanted - 2015 O'Neill National Playwriting Finalist/PlayPenn Finalist, 2015-2016 Ars Nova Artist-in-Residence, Companion Piece at Pleasance Theatre, London)for a limited Off-Broadway run from September 30 to October 24 at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, NYC). Tickets for Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally are $35 (59E59 Members $24.50) and can be arranged online at www.59e59.org or by calling 212.279.4200. Running time: 75 minutes, no intermission. Opening night October 3, 2015.

Today, Phillipa Soo speaks exclusively with BWW and fills us in on the exciting events which have transpired over the past several months.

Dave Thomas Brown, recently of Heathers: The Musical at New World Stages, leads a cast that also includes Wayne Duvall (O Brother Where Art Thou?, Leatherheads), Matt McGrath (Cabaret, Hedwig and the Angry Inch), Keith Nobbs (Lombardi, 'The Black Donnellys') and Afton C. Williamson ('Nashville,' 'Homeland'), in Matthew Lopez's THE LEGEND OF GEORGIA MCBRIDE, the first production of MCC's 2015-16 Main Stage Season. THE LEGEND OF GEORGIA MCBRIDE begins previews tonight, August 20, 2015 ahead of a September 9, 2015 opening night.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University, under the leadership of Artistic Director Diane Paulus, presents the first offering of its 2015/16 OBERON Presents series - GHOST QUARTET, with Music, Lyrics, & Text by Dave Malloy, Developed & Arranged by Ghost Quartet, and Directed by Annie Tippe. Performances run September 9, 10, and 11 at 7:30PM, September 12 at 4PM and 7:30PM at OBERON, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge.

Brand new play incubator Brooklyn Yard presents a showcase production of STORM, STILL, a three-person adaptation of King Lear, by playwright Gabrielle Reisman, in Reisman's own backyard in south Bushwick this fall.

New York Shakespeare Exchange, creator of the viral smash The Sonnet Project, is thrilled to announce their return to Hell's Kitchen for their September ShakesBEER. NYC's original Shakespearean pub-crawl takes place on Saturday, September 12 and Saturday, September 19.

En Garde Founder Anne Hamburger, a Pioneering Producer of Site-Specific Theater in New York, Returns with New Festival Challenging 26 Emerging Artists to Think Big

We're thrilled to present a brand new song by Carmel Dean and Jenny Stafford! 'I LOVE YOU is a song about the love/hate relationship every New Yorker has with their city'. Here is If/Then's Ryann Redmond singing it at our concert at 54 Below.