Charles MacArthur News

Dan Wackerman, Artistic Director and frequent stage director for the Peccadillo Theatre Company, has regularly displayed a golden touch for mounting crackling revivals of long-forgotten Broadway plays like Elmer Rice's Counsellor-at-Law, Dorothy Parker and Arnaud d'Usseau's The Ladies of the Corridor and, in an absolutely hilarious mounting, John Murray and Alan Boretz's Room Service. But with Charles MacArthur's 1942 political screwball farce, Johnny On A Spot, he and his Peccadillo cohorts attempt their toughest feat of alchemy yet in belief that this 4-performance Broadway flop was an unfortunate victim of the public's squelched taste for satire a mere month after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Local playwright Karen Zacarías offers Arena Stage audiences the world premiere of Legacy of Light, a funny and moving romp about the passion for truth as lived by two different women in their separate eras.

The West Side YMCA Writer's Voice will host a staged reading of Charlie Schulman's latest play: The Great Man, on May 11 at 4pm. Directed by acclaimed director Matt August (of How the Grinch Stole Christmas - the Broadway musical, and others), the play is loosely inspired by James Atlas's decade-long experience writing the biography of the Nobel Prize winning author Saul Bellow.

t was a boisterous crowd that filled the seats of the beautifully restored Warner Theatre where the Greater Washington theater community came together to applaud itself and recognize those artists who achieved greatness during the past theater season. How many people attended shows this past season? Would you believe close to two million people, the highest attendance in four years?

The 25th Annual Helen Hayes Awards were presented last night as one of our nation's most prestigious cultural events. Nearly 2,000 theatre artists and supporters filled the majestic Warner Theatre in downtown DC for an evening of dazzling entertainment replete with humor, celebration, and great tributes to Washington area professional theatre.

Local playwright Karen Zacarías offers Arena Stage audiences the world premiere of Legacy of Light, a funny and moving romp about the passion for truth as lived by two different women in their separate eras.

Local playwright Karen Zacarías offers Arena Stage audiences the world premiere of Legacy of Light, a funny and moving romp about the passion for truth as lived by two different women in their separate eras.

Even as it announces a new season filled with hot plays and another show bound for Broadway, Berkeley Repertory Theatre concludes its current season with the world premiere of a smart and sassy script featuring favorite local artists: You, Nero, a new comedy written by Amy Freed and directed by Sharon Ott, rules the Thrust Stage this spring. Starring Danny Scheie as the preposterous emperor of ancient Rome, You, Nero begins previews on May 15, opens May 20, and closes June 28.

Van Hill Entertainment is proud to announce that ROOMS a rock romance garnered five nominations from the prestigious Helen Hayes Awards, in recognition of their world premiere engagement at MetroStage in Washington, DC. Nominations were presented to ROOMS a rock romance in the following categories: Outstanding Director - Resident Musical, Outstanding Lead Actor - Resident Musical, Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Musical, the Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play or Musical, and Outstanding Resident Musical.

The Awards Gala The 25th Anniversary Helen Hayes Awards will be held on Monday, April 13, 2009 at the Warner Theatre and JW Marriott Hotel.

Written by one of the most exciting young playwrights today, Roberto Aguire Sacasa saw five of his new plays produced between 2006 through 2008 at major U.S. Theatres : Based on a Totally True Story, at the Manhattan Theatre Club, Good Boys and True (at Second Stage), The Velvet Sky at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre, King of Sorrows (Working Theatre) at and Dark Matters at the Rattlestick Theatre. He is the author The Muckle Man, which earned two Helen Hayes Award nominations, including The Charles MacArthur Award for Best New Play. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. Additionally, Roberto proudly writes The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man for Marvel Comics and is developing Dark Matters into a horror screenplay for Warner Brothers.

Director Ed Shea keeps the authors' light touch on heavy issues in this comedy that plays at the Warren, RI theater through February 15th

TheatreWorks, the nationally-acclaimed theatre of Silicon Valley, is proud to present the regional premiere of TWENTIETH CENTURY by Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur, based on a play by Charles Bruce Milholland in a new adaptation by Ken Ludwig. Broadway and Hollywood collide in this classic screwball comedy set in the 1930s, in which a rapidly declining Broadway impresario looks to revive his sagging career. Using mistaken identity, chicanery, and catastrophe, he attempts to coax his unforgiving former flame (now a mercurial silver screen starlet) into starring in his next stage production while aboard a train roaring across the U.S.

TheatreWorks presents the Tony nominated comedy hit Twentieth Century. Adapted by celebrated farceur Ken Ludwig, this classic screwball comedy, based on the 1930's play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, tells the tale of a Broadway impresario on the decline,who, desperately seeking to revive his sagging career, used mistaken identity, chicanery, and catastrophe to coax his unforgiving former flame and mercurial silver screen starlet into starring in his next production.

South Coast Repertory starts off the New Year with the World Premiere of You, Nero, a comedy by Pulitzer Prize finalist Amy Freed. Commissioned by SCR, You, Nero imagines a meeting during the declining years of the Roman Empire between Scribonius, a put-upon playwright, and Emperor Nero, the all-powerful, narcissistic arbiter of art. The Roman romp stars Danny Scheie as Nero and John Vickery as Scribonius. Produced in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre and directed by Sharon Ott,You, Nero will run from Jan. 4 through Jan. 25, 2009 on the Julianne Argyros Stage. Low-priced previews are available from Jan. 4 through Jan. 8. Opening night is Jan. 9. Press night is Saturday, Jan. 10 at 7:45 p.m. Tickets to You, Nero may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office.

TheatreWorks, the nationally-acclaimed theatre of Silicon Valley, is proud to present the regional premiere of TWENTIETH CENTURY by Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur, based on a play by Charles Bruce Milholland in a new adaptation by Ken Ludwig. Broadway and Hollywood collide in this classic screwball comedy set in the 1930s, in which a rapidly declining Broadway impresario looks to revive his sagging career. Using mistaken identity, chicanery, and catastrophe, he attempts to coax his unforgiving former flame (now a mercurial silver screen starlet) into starring in his next stage production while aboard a train roaring across the U.S.

Chicago Dramatists continues its 30th anniversary season with resident playwright Will Dunne's new comedy, 'How I Became an Interesting Person.'

TheatreWorks presents the Tony nominated comedy hit Twentieth Century. Adapted by celebrated farceur Ken Ludwig, this classic screwball comedy, based on the 1930's play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, tells the tale of a Broadway impresario on the decline,who, desperately seeking to revive his sagging career, used mistaken identity, chicanery, and catastrophe to coax his unforgiving former flame and mercurial silver screen starlet into starring in his next production.

Chicago Dramatists continues its 30th anniversary season with resident playwright Will Dunne's new comedy, 'How I Became an Interesting Person.'

South Coast Repertory starts off the New Year with the World Premiere of You, Nero, a comedy by Pulitzer Prize finalist Amy Freed. Commissioned by SCR, You, Nero imagines a meeting during the declining years of the Roman Empire between Scribonius, a put-upon playwright, and Emperor Nero, the all-powerful, narcissistic arbiter of art. The Roman romp stars Danny Scheie as Nero and John Vickery as Scribonius. Produced in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre and directed by Sharon Ott,You, Nero will run from Jan. 4 through Jan. 25, 2009 on the Julianne Argyros Stage. Low-priced previews are available from Jan. 4 through Jan. 8. Opening night is Jan. 9. Press night is Saturday, Jan. 10 at 7:45 p.m. Tickets to You, Nero may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office.