Charles L. Mee News

Artist Bob Rauschenberg presented new ways of looking at life, the world and the United States through groundbreaking collages - 'Combines' - that incorporated everyday objects and assorted images of people, places and things. Random at times, and deliberate at others, each collection of items told a host of stories within a single canvas

Columbia Stages presents Big Love, written by Charles L. Mee and directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh, running February 18th - 21st, 2009, at The Riverside Theatre, located in the historic Riverside Church at 91 Claremont Avenue between 120th and 122nd Streets.

Artist Bob Rauschenberg presented new ways of looking at life, the world and the United States through groundbreaking collages - 'Combines' - that incorporated everyday objects and assorted images of people, places and things. Random at times, and deliberate at others, each collection of items told a host of stories within a single canvas. Thanks to playwright Charles L. Mee, the artist's spirited, yet unconventional, vision was transplanted to a theater setting by New York's SITI Company in 'bobrauschenbergamerica' in 2001. Soon, Houstonians will have the opportunity to experience this unique stage production when it is presented by the University of Houston's School of Theatre & Dance.

Columbia University School of the Arts Theatre Arts Program and Columbia Stages Present MASTERPIECES: Part Two of SPRING, a Series of Three Springtime Events Celebrating Columbia's M.F.A. Playwriting Class of 2009 Columbia University School of the Arts Theatre Arts Program and Columbia Stages present MASTERPIECES, the second event in SPRING, a celebration in three parts of Columbia's M.F.A. Playwriting Class of 2009. In MASTERPIECES, each playwright presents a staged reading of a full-length play in various locations around New York City.

Plays written by notable Brooklyn playwrights-four of whom are still alive, well and living in Brooklyn-make up the roster of five works to be presented as part of the Sixth Annual Play Reading Salon Series from Brave New World Repertory Theatre. Based in Brooklyn, Brave New World is known for its bold, critically acclaimed productions of Fahrenheit 451, The Great White Hope and Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, based on Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass (all for Celebrate Brooklyn at the Prospect Park bandshell); and To Kill a Mockingbird, staged on the front porches of a tree-lined Ditmas Park street.

Is it better to die with a secret than to live with one? The Bickford Theatre at the Morris Museum, 6 Normandy Heights Road, in Morristown, NJ, continues its 2008-2009 Mainstage Season with Fiction, Stephen Dietz's spellbinding drama about a dying author's wish to read her author husband's journals and the unexpected tale that unfolds when secrets the couple harbors are ultimately revealed. Fiction runs March 5 through March 29.

Columbia Stages presents Big Love, written by Charles L. Mee and directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh, running February 18th - 21st, 2009, at The Riverside Theatre, located in the historic Riverside Church at 91 Claremont Avenue between 120th and 122nd Streets.

This year, 83 schools from region II of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival staged 210 productions. Of those 210, 68 were nominated to participate at the festival January 14 - 17 at The University of the Arts. Through a blind selection process, nine were selected for staging, and include everything from the classic Shakespeare comedy 'Love's Labour's Lost' to new student-written and directed productions. $10 general admission tickets can be purchased for 45 minutes before the show. For information and inquiries, call 215/717-6499 or email sotatickets@uarts.edu.

Plays written by notable Brooklyn playwrights-four of whom are still alive, well and living in Brooklyn-make up the roster of five works to be presented as part of the Sixth Annual Play Reading Salon Series from Brave New World Repertory Theatre. Based in Brooklyn, Brave New World is known for its bold, critically acclaimed productions of Fahrenheit 451, The Great White Hope and Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, based on Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass (all for Celebrate Brooklyn at the Prospect Park bandshell); and To Kill a Mockingbird, staged on the front porches of a tree-lined Ditmas Park street.

This year, 83 schools from region II of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival staged 210 productions. Of those 210, 68 were nominated to participate at the festival January 14 - 17 at The University of the Arts. Through a blind selection process, nine were selected for staging, and include everything from the classic Shakespeare comedy 'Love's Labour's Lost' to new student-written and directed productions. $10 general admission tickets can be purchased for 45 minutes before the show. For information and inquiries, call 215/717-6499 or email sotatickets@uarts.edu.

Resonance Ensemble begins 2008-09 season with two plays inspired by Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: the World Premiere of Christopher Boal's 23 KNIVES and Bernard Shaw's CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA beginning January 11, opening January 18, 2009 at Theatre Row's CLURMAN THEATRE

Following visionary New York productions of The Misanthrope (2007) and Hedda Gabler (2004), Flemish director Ivo van Hove returns with Opening Night, a U.S. premiere engagement that also marks the New York debut of his company, Toneelgroep Amsterdam. A joint production by Toneelgroep Amsterdam and the Belgium-based company NTGent, Opening Night transforms director John Cassavetes' award-winning 1977 film to the stage. Five performances of Opening Night will take place in the BAM Harvey Theater on Dec 2-6 at 7:30pm.

South Coast Repertory will present the Southern California premiere of Dead Man's Cell Phone, Sarah Ruhl's fantastical new play about a woman who answers a dead man's cell phone and finds her life turned upside down. Directed by Bart DeLorenzo, Dead Man's Cell Phone runs Sept. 21 - Oct. 12 on the Julianne Argyros Stage.

COLUMBIA STAGES, the award-winning producing arm of Columbia University's Graduate Theatre Program, announces its 2008-2009 season. The highly political season will include Baal and The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht; Euripides' Medea; Big Love by Charles L. Mee; The Woman by Edward Bond; a co-production with Origin Theatre Company; a new adaptation of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales and the 5th annual New Voices New Play Festival. The 2008-2009 season begins October 22nd at The Riverside Theatre, 91 Claremont Avenue between 120th and 122nd Streets.

Alan Schuster, Martin Davis, Davo Entertainment LLC and Margaret Cotter in association with Barbara Foy present
The Two River Theater Production
of
Garden of Earthly Delights in a limited 12-week Off-Broadway engagement beginning Wednesday, October 8.

South Coast Repertory will present the Southern California premiere of Dead Man's Cell Phone, Sarah Ruhl's fantastical new play about a woman who answers a dead man's cell phone and finds her life turned upside down. Directed by Bart DeLorenzo, Dead Man's Cell Phone runs Sept. 21 - Oct. 12 on the Julianne Argyros Stage.

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Jessica R. Jenen, will open its 2008-09 season with Tony Award winner Mandy Patinkin starring in William Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST, to be directed by Kulick. Performances begin Wednesday, September 3. The official press opening is Thursday, September 18.

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Jessica R. Jenen, has completed casting of its upcoming production of William Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST, starring Tony Award winner Mandy Patinkin, directed by Kulick.

Resonance Ensemble (Artistic Director, Eric Parness; Managing Director, Rachel Reiner) presents a reading of the new play 23 KNIVES - by Christopher Stetson Boal (Crazy for the Dog) and directed by Eric Parness - on Monday, June 23 at 7:00pm at Manhattan Theatre Club (311 West 43rd Street, 8th Floor).