Caryl Churchill News

CLOUD9 by Caryl Churchill opened February 13 at Spotlighters Theatre to near Sell-Out Crowds. Running now through March 8th - Fri & Sat at 8pm, Sun at 2pm - and one Thursday performance - Mar 5th at 8pm.

Scanning director Brad J. Ranno's notes about the Spotlighter's Theater production of acclaimed English playwright Caryl Churchill's 'Cloud 9,' I was less than enthused. With references to race, gender and feminism, weighty, stolid issues that 'resonate in our social conscious' (ugh), I wondered, why can't a play just be fun? Instruct, but don't preach. Enlighten, but don't lecture. And above all, pleeeezzzz-ENTERTAIN.

The American Conservatory Theater Master of Fine Arts Program presents Maxim Gorky's Philistines in a fresh new version by Andrew Upton, the co-artistic director of Australia's Sydney Theatre Company and an acclaimed adaptor of Russian plays.

The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has announced ten finalists for the prestigious playwriting award, now entering its fourth decade. The awards are given annually to recognize women from around the world who have written works of outstanding quality for the English-speaking theatre.

The 2009 Master Playwright festival offered theatre and film enthusiasts the chance to experience the hard-hitting socio-political analogies and moving family dramas of one of the greatest playwrights of all time, Arthur Miller. Highly anticipated from the beginning, the festival started off with a bang, selling out of MillerPasses prior to opening. The momentum didn't slow down after that, with the lecture series attracting an impressive 333 people. Overall paid attendance reached 11,264, up from 10,249 at last year's MametFest. MillerFest is the second best attended Master Playwright Festival after BrechtFest in 2002, which had a ticketed attendance of 11,779.

The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has announced ten finalists for the prestigious playwriting award, now entering its fourth decade. The awards are given annually to recognize women from around the world who have written works of outstanding quality for the English-speaking theatre.

Goodman Theatre is proud to present the world premiere of Naomi Iizuka?s newest work, Ghostwritten directed by Lisa Portes as part of the Goodman?s ?Strong Women, Strong Voices? Owen Theatre Series. The 2004 recipient of the Joyce Award, Ghostwritten runs April 4 ? May 3, 2009 in the Owen Bruner Theatre. Tickets are $10 ? $39. In conjunction with the ?Strong Women, Strong Voices? series, Goodman Theatre partners with six of Chicago?s most exciting theater companies focused on presenting and supporting work by women for ?Taking the Stage: A Celebration of Women Making Theater,? a celebration of the distinct voices and visions of women theater artists, and the opportunities and obstacles facing women working in the theater today. Further information regarding these events will be announced at a later date. Ghostwritten is a Goodman commission supported by The Joyce Foundation. The Sara Lee Foundation is the Owen Season Corporate Sponsor.

Theater News from Broadway and the Baltimore/Washington Region

Seven Jewish Children - A Play for Gaza by Caryl Churchill will receive a limited run at the Royal Court Theatre, beginning on 6 February. Written in response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and examining the history of Israel, the play will be performed for free in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, with a collection taken afterwards for the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP): Emergency Appeal for the People of Gaza. It will be directed by Dominic Cooke, Artistic Director of the Royal Court. With a running time of around 10 minutes, the short play will be performed at 9pm each night after the scheduled 7.30pm performance of The Stone by Marius von Mayenburg. Tickets will be available from the Royal Court box office (not online) from Monday 26 January. Although there will be no official Press Night, the production will be open to the press from 10 February onwards. The script will be available to download for free from 11 February from the websites of the Royal Court Theatre, Caryl Churchill's publisher Nick Hern Books and her agents Casarotto Ramsay Ltd. There will be no charge for performance rights, on the condition that a collection is made for MAP. Casting is still to be confirmed.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre greets the new year by proudly presenting its 50th world premiere, a new comedy about marriage, intimacy, and electricity from the creators of Eurydice. Celebrated playwright Sarah Ruhl and Obie Award-winning director Les Waters come together again for the debut of In the Next Room (or the vibrator play). Commissioned by Berkeley Rep and staged in the state-of-the-art Roda Theatre, this hotly anticipated play begins previews on January 30, opens February 4, and closes March 15. BART and Wells Fargo serve as season sponsors for Berkeley Rep's 41st year of fearless theatre, and the executive producer for this show is the Strauch Kulhanjian Family.

The Clockwork Theatre is pleased to announce the cast for their upcoming production of CHERRY SMOKE by JAMES McMANUS (winner of the 2006 Princess Grace Playwriting Award), directed by JADE KING CARROLL. The title role of Cherry will be portrayed by MARIANNA McCLELLAN, with JAY ROHLOFF playing opposite her in the role of Fish. Mr. Rohloff, who serves as Clockwork's Artistic Director, was most recently seen in the company's revival of Caryl Churchill's A Number at Theatre Row in September, 2008, for which he received praise for portraying a man and two very unique clones of that man.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre greets the new year by proudly presenting its 50th world premiere, a new comedy about marriage, intimacy, and electricity from the creators of Eurydice. Celebrated playwright Sarah Ruhl and Obie Award-winning director Les Waters come together again for the debut of In the Next Room (or the vibrator play). Commissioned by Berkeley Rep and staged in the state-of-the-art Roda Theatre, this hotly anticipated play begins previews on January 30, opens February 4, and closes March 15. BART and Wells Fargo serve as season sponsors for Berkeley Rep's 41st year of fearless theatre, and the executive producer for this show is the Strauch Kulhanjian Family.

Primary Stages (Casey Childs, Executive Producer; Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director; Elliot Fox, Managing Director) has announced complete casting for the New York premiere of Shipwrecked!

Seven Jewish Children - A Play for Gaza by Caryl Churchill will receive a limited run at the Royal Court Theatre, beginning on 6 February. Written in response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and examining the history of Israel, the play will be performed for free in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, with a collection taken afterwards for the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP): Emergency Appeal for the People of Gaza. It will be directed by Dominic Cooke, Artistic Director of the Royal Court. With a running time of around 10 minutes, the short play will be performed at 9pm each night after the scheduled 7.30pm performance of The Stone by Marius von Mayenburg. Tickets will be available from the Royal Court box office (not online) from Monday 26 January. Although there will be no official Press Night, the production will be open to the press from 10 February onwards. The script will be available to download for free from 11 February from the websites of the Royal Court Theatre, Caryl Churchill's publisher Nick Hern Books and her agents Casarotto Ramsay Ltd. There will be no charge for performance rights, on the condition that a collection is made for MAP. Casting is still to be confirmed.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) announced initial casting for Christopher Durang's WHY TORTURE IS WRONG, AND THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM and Craig Lucas's THE SINGING FOREST. Nicholas Martin will direct Why Torture Is Wrong... with a cast of seven that includes Amir Arison, David Aaron Baker, Kristine Nielsen and John Pankow. Mark Wing-Davey will direct a cast of nine that includes Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis in The Singing Forest. The cast for Why Torture Is Wrong..., which runs March 24 to April 26, will include Amir Arison (Queens Boulevard at Signature), David Aaron Baker (Dead Man's Cell Phone at Playwrights Horizons), Kristine Nielsen (Crazy Mary at Playwrights Horizons), and John Pankow (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at The New Group). Early casting for The Singing Forest, running April 7 to May 17, will feature Olympia Dukakis (Academy Award winner for Moonstruck) as Loe Reiman. Ms. Dukakis' New York stage credits include the Encores! production of 70, Girls, 70, Barra Grant's A Mother, A Daughter and a Gun, Social Security directed by Mike Nichols, Rose (Outer Critics Award and Drama Desk nom.), Who's Who in Hell, The Aspern Papers, Night of the Iguana, Christopher Durang's The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Obie Award), Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class, Peer Gynt, Titus Andronicus, Electra, Vaclav Havel's Memorandum, Brecht's A Man's a Man (Obie Award), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and A View From the Bridge (Theatre World Award).

The American Conservatory Theater Master of Fine Arts Program presents Maxim Gorky's Philistines in a fresh new version by Andrew Upton, the co-artistic director of Australia's Sydney Theatre Company and an acclaimed adaptor of Russian plays.

The Huffington Post is reporting that Police in Illinois have stated that actor and playwright Sam Shepard has been arrested on preliminary charges of speeding and drunken driving. Police Lt. Mark Kotte says officers stopped Shepard early Saturday morning, January 3rd in the central Illinois town of Normal.

Soho Rep - the nine-time OBIE Award-winning, Off-Broadway theatre company - which sold out its initial run and its first extension, announces a second extension of its critically acclaimed production of Sarah Kane's landmark play BLASTED which will now play an unprecedented additional six weeks - through December 21st, according to Soho Rep's Artistic Director Sarah Benson.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre greets the new year by proudly presenting its 50th world premiere, a new comedy about marriage, intimacy, and electricity from the creators of Eurydice. Celebrated playwright Sarah Ruhl and Obie Award-winning director Les Waters come together again for the debut of In the Next Room (or the vibrator play). Commissioned by Berkeley Rep and staged in the state-of-the-art Roda Theatre, this hotly anticipated play begins previews on January 30, opens February 4, and closes March 15. BART and Wells Fargo serve as season sponsors for Berkeley Rep's 41st year of fearless theatre, and the executive producer for this show is the Strauch Kulhanjian Family.

Primary Stages (Casey Childs, Executive Producer; Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director; Elliot Fox, Managing Director) has announced complete casting for the New York premiere of Shipwrecked!