Billy Crudup News

Members of the Naughton Family - two-time Tony Award winner and Weston, Connecticut resident James Naughton, daughter Keira Naughton, son Greg Naughton, and Greg's wife Tony Award nominee Kelli O'Hara - plus Blythe Danner, Jordan Coughtry, Edward Herrmann, Chad Kinsman, Jake Robards, Mark Shanahan, and Dana Steingold are cast in Westport Country Playhouse's Script in Hand playreading of "The Philadelphia Story," the romantic comedy classic by Philip Barry, set for one-night-only on Monday, December 10, 7 p.m. Director is Anne Keefe, Playhouse artistic advisor.

Tony award-winner Billy Crudup (The Coast of Utopia) teams up with Broadway performer Susan Blackwell ([title of show]), Tony nominee Maria Dizzia (In the Next Room), television, theater and film actor Peter Jacobson (House, M.D.) and Broadway performer and director Jessica Stone (Match) for a one-day acting intensive on November 17th at the Manhattan Theatre Club.

Broadway producer Dede Harris has optioned the music catalogue of Diane Warren, one of the most popular and successful contemporary songwriters of our time, to create a new musical for the Broadway stage.

Labyrinth Theater Company (Co-Artistic Directors Stephen Adly Guirgis, Mimi O'Donnell, Yul Vazquez and Managing Director, Danny Feldman), the award-winning, downtown ensemble, announced today its annual signature benefit Celebrity Charades 2012 will be postponed due the lingering effects of Hurricane Sandy. A new date has not yet been selected but is expected to be announced in the coming days. Labyrinth Theater Company's annual star-studded fundraising event remains one of the most popular 'happenings' of the year in New York City and was originally scheduled for Monday, November 5th at Capitale.

The 16th Annual Hollywood Film Awards, presented by the Los Angeles Times, previously announced that Academy Award winning actress Marion Cotillard will receive the 'Hollywood Actress Award' for her distinguished performance in Jacques Audiard's 'Rust and Bone,' a Sony Pictures Classics release, at the Hollywood Film Awards Gala ceremony tonight, October 22.

According to the NY Post, the cast for the annual 24 Hour Plays on Broadway has just been announced. Participants will include: Seth Green, Sam Rockwell, Brooklyn Decker, Brooke Shields, Amber Tamblyn, America Ferrera, Anthony Mackie, Billy Crudup, Carla Gugino, Diane Neal, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Fisher Stevens, Gabourey Sidibe, Jack McBrayer, Kathy Najimy, Liev Schreiber, Leslie Bibb, Michelle Trachtenberg, Rachel Dratch, Rosie Perez and Zosia Mamet.

The 16th Annual Hollywood Film Awards, presented by the Los Angeles Times, announce that Academy Award winning actress Marion Cotillard will receive the 'Hollywood Actress Award' for her distinguished performance in Jacques Audiard's 'Rust and Bone,' a Sony Pictures Classics release, at the Hollywood Film Awards Gala ceremony on October 22.

BIG FISH, a new musical based on the novel by Daniel Wallace and the 2003 Columbia Pictures film written by John August, will star Norbert Leo Butz as Edward Bloom, and have its pre-Broadway world premiere at Chicago's Oriental Theatre (24 West Randolph Street) in a limited 5-week engagement beginning performances Tuesday, April 2, 2013, and playing through Sunday, May 5, 2013.

According to Variety, Ben Foster will star in the upcoming film adaptation of Adam Rapp's play Red Light Winter, replacing the previously announced Mark Ruffalo. Foster will be joined by Kirsten Dunst and Katherine Waterston.

Stage and screen star Sanaa Lathan (A Raisin in the Sun, Contagion) returns to the title role in Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage's By the Way, Meet Vera Stark for its West Coast premiere at the Geffen Playhouse. Lathan, who originated the character of Vera Stark in the critically acclaimed New York run, will once again take the stage as the 1930's era maid turned movie star, reunited with original cast member Kimberly Hebert Gregory (Spike Lee's Red Hook Summer) reprising her role as fellow aspiring African American actress Lottie. Broadway vet and Geffen alum Merle Dandridge (Spamalot, Rent, Aida) will take on the spicy role of Anna Mae, who fakes a Brazilian accent for a slice of fame, and former leading lady of ABC's Man Up, Amanda Detmer, will portray Gloria Mitchell, the white starlet dubbed "America's little sweetie pie" and Vera's first employer. Helmed by award-winning director Jo Bonney, the West Coast premiere cast also features Kevin Carroll (Paid in Full, Being John Malkovich), Spencer Garrett (Iron Man 3, Air Force One) and Geffen alum Mather Zickel (Extraordinary Chambers, Rachel Getting Married).

In 1976, Coal Miner's Daughter, country star Loretta Lynn's autobiography (written with journalist George Vecsey) became a New York Times Bestseller; in 1980 the book was made into an Academy Award-winning film starring Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones. Now, it's headed for Broadway, with actress Zooey Deschanel playing Loretta Lynn.

Like Clockwork: The 52nd Street Project's Party Time Benefit is set for this Monday, May 7, hosted by Tony Award nominee Bobby Cannavale at Ars Nova. The benefit will feature songs with lyrics by Project kids, set to music and performed by professional artists.

The American Theatre Wing (Theodore S. Chapin, Chairman, Board of Trustees; Heather Hitchens, Executive Director) is now accepting applications for the 2012 SpringboardNYC summer program, being held June 5 - 16 in New York City. Limited to 35 participants, SpringboardNYC provides financial aid and multiple scholarship programs to students who qualify.

This July, many of Broadway's finest will head to North Carolina to participate in The Performing Arts Project Summer Intensive (www.performingartsproject.com). The Performing Arts Project was formed by a group of respected industry professionals to educate young performers in all aspects of the performing arts. Under the Artistic Direction of Jonathan Bernstein (Broadway: Chicago, The Iceman Cometh), The Performing Arts Project Summer Intensive artists include Tony winners Laura Benanti and Billy Crudup as well as Tony nominees Hunter Bell, John Ellison Conlee, Gavin Creel, Nancy Dussault, Christopher Gattelli, Celia Keenan-Bolger and Smash's Brian d'Arcy James as well as Broadway casting director Dave Clemmons, Dexter's Josh Cooke, The Good Wife's Monica Raymund and This Means War's Abigail Spencer, among many others.

On last night's 'Watch What Happens Live' on Bravo TV, guest Ryan Murphy confirmed to the talk show's host Andy Cohen that actress Jessica Lange would be returning for Season 2 of FX's AMERICAN HORROR STORY.

Second Stage Theatre celebrated its annual All-Star Bowling Classic last night, February 6th. For over 20 years, stars of stage and screen have come out to bowl in support of Second Stage's award-winning seasons and to assist the theatre in its fund-raising efforts.

ATO Pictures has just released the trailer for the upcoming film THIN ICE. THE crime drama is directed by Jill Sprecher (Clockwatchers) and stars Greg Kinnear, Billy Crudup, Alan Arkin and Lea Thompson and will hit theaters on February 17th.

Not to be outdone by their female counterparts, the men of Broadway can boast a banner year. Norbert Leo Butz won a second Tony for Catch Me If You Can, Harry Potter mega-star Daniel Radcliffe made his debut in a Broadway musical to tremendous acclaim, Matt Stone, Trey Parker and Robert Lopez rocked Broadway to its core with the Rialto's latest certified Blockbuster, The Book of Mormon, and Pee-Wee Herman came to the stage at last.

BroadwayWorld has confirmed that the musical adaptation of Tim Burton's BIG FISH, will hold a private industry reading next week in New York City. As previously announced, the show, which was initially aiming for Broadway in spring 2012, is now set to open in spring 2013.

New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT), which has supported the advancement of women in the entertainment industry for more than 30 years, will present their 31th annual Muse Awards at a gala luncheon to be held Wednesday, December 7th at the New York Hilton.