Cheryl L. West News

Primary Stages (Casey Childs, Founder & Executive Producer; Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director; Elliot Fox, Managing Director) launches its 27th season with the World Premiere of a work commissioned by the company, the new comedy, Olive and the Bitter Herbs by Charles Busch directed by Mark Brokaw.

Seattle Repertory Theatre will workshop and perform two public readings of Anne Washburn's new play Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play July 15 and 16 at 7:30 p.m. in the Poncho Forum.

Following a critically acclaimed season which included the World Premiere of Lynn Nottage's hit comedy, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, Second Stage Theatre has announced three of the four mainstage productions in the company's upcoming 33rd season.

Seattle Repertory Theatre will workshop and perform two public readings of Anne Washburn's new play Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play July 15 and 16 at 7:30 p.m. in the Poncho Forum.

Primary Stages (Casey Childs, Founder & Executive Producer; Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director; Elliot Fox, Managing Director) has announced today that David Garrison (By the Way, Meet Vera Stark) has joined the cast in the role of Robert for World Premiere of the new comedy, Olive and the Bitter Herbs by Charles Busch. Directed by Mark Brokaw, the previously announced cast will also feature Dan Butler as Trey, Julie Halston as Wendy, Marcia Jean Kurtz as Olive and Richard Masur as Sylvan. The play was commissioned by Primary Stages.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) has announced that DAVID WILSON BARNES (Second Stage's hit Becky Shaw), JUSTIN BARTHA (The Hangover, Broadway's Lend Me a Tenor), ANNA CAMP (Second Stage's The Scene, 'True Blood'), and KRYSTEN RITTER (Confessions of a Shopaholic, Second Stage's All This Intimacy) will appear in the world premiere comedy, ALL NEW PEOPLE, written by ZACH BRAFF and directed by PETER DuBOIS. ALL NEW PEOPLE will begin previews on Tuesday, June 28 and officially open on Monday, July 25 at 7:00pm at Second Stage's Tony Kiser Theatre (305 West 43rd street). For tickets or more information, please visit www.2ST.com.

Primary Stages (Casey Childs, Founder & Executive Producer; Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director; Elliot Fox, Managing Director) launches its 27th season with the World Premiere of the new comedy, Olive and the Bitter Herbs by Charles Busch. Directed by Mark Brokaw, the cast will feature Dan Butler as Trey, Julie Halston as Wendy, Marcia Jean Kurtz as Olive and Richard Masur as Sylva. The role of Robert will be announced shortly.

As Artistic Director Jerry Manning wraps up his first official season at the helm of Seattle Repertory Theatre, the theatre announces its 2011-12 season today.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) will conclude its 32nd season with the World Premiere of ALL NEW PEOPLE, a new comedy written by Zach Braff.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) has announced that DAVID GARRISON will complete the cast of Lynn Nottage's new play, BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK. This world premiere comedy will also feature the previously announced STEPHANIE J. BLOCK, DANIEL BREAKER, KIMBERLY HÉBERT GREGORY, KEVIN ISOLA, SANAA LATHAN, and KAREN OLIVO. Directed by Jo Bonney, BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK is Ms. Nottage's first play to be produced in New York since she won the Pulitzer Prize for Ruined in 2009.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) has announced the two world premiere plays which will be presented as part of the company's ninth annual Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series this summer: Michael Mitnick's Sex Lives of Our Parents, directed by Davis McCallum, and Anna Kerrigan's The Talls, directed by Carolyn Cantor.

Primary Stages (Casey Childs, Founder & Executive Producer; Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director; Elliot Fox, Managing Director) has announced the line-up for its upcoming 27th season of producing new works with the world premieres of two plays: Olive and the Bitter Herbs by Charles Busch; Rx by Kate Fodor; and the New York premiere of The Morini Strad by Willy Holtzman; and In Mother Words, conceived by Susan R. Rose and Joan Stein, and written by Leslie Ayvazian, David Cale, Jessica Goldberg, Beth Henley, Lameece Issaq, Lisa Loomer, Michele Lowe, Marco Pennette, Lisa Ramirez, Theresa Rebeck, Luanne Rice, Annie Weisman and Cheryl L. West at Primary Stages at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street).

In Mother Words, an audacious collection of stories by some of theater's most talented contemporary playwrights, makes its West Coast debut with award-winning actors Jane Kaczmarek, Saidah Arrika Ekulona and James Lecesne. Conceived Susan Rose and Joan Stein and helmed by acclaimed director Lisa Peterson, this hilarious night of theater includes works by Pulitzer Prize winner Beth Henley, Pulitzer Prize nominee Lisa Loomer, two-time Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award finalist Michele Lowe, Peabody Award winner Theresa Rebeck, best-selling author Luanne Rice, as well as Leslie Ayvazian, David Cale, Jessica, Lameece Isaaq, Marco Pennette, Lisa Ramirez, Annie Weisman and Cheryl L. West. These Goldberg playwrights' combined stories give voice to mothers and children of all ages, races and even sexes - resulting in an eye-opening, poignant and irresistible evening, which opens in the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at the Geffen Playhouse on February 23, 2011.

Following a successful extended run of Love, Loss, and What I Wore and the upcoming performances of Dick Van Dyke - Step in Time! - A Musical Memoir, the Geffen Playhouse welcomes two more productions this season into its intimate Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater: In Mother Words, a moving collection of stories on the universal subject of motherhood by award-winning contemporary playwrights, and Extraordinary Chambers, a world premiere by David Wiener about the consequences of a couple's trip to Cambodia.

Second Stage Theatre will present the New York premiere of Rajiv Joseph's (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo) Gruesome Playground Injuries featuring Pablo Schreiber and Jennifer Carpenter in 2011, the New York Times reveals today. Scott Ellis will direct. Preview will begin on January 5, 2011, with an opening night scheduled for January 31, 2011.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) has announced that Zach Braff, Bobby Cannavale, Sutton Foster, and Ari Graynor will co-star in the world premiere comedy TRUST, written by Paul Weitz, directed by Peter DuBois. Mr. Weitz returns to Second Stage Theatre, where his plays Privilege and Show People premiered in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Directed by Peter DuBois, who staged Second Stage's acclaimed production of Becky Shaw, TRUST will begin previews on Friday, July 23 at Second Stage Theatre (305 West 43rd street) and officially open on Thursday, August 12. The production runs through September 5.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) opens it's latest production, TRUST, starring Zach Braff, Bobby Cannavale, Sutton Foster, and Ari Graynor tonight, August 12. TRUST is written by Paul Weitz and directed by Peter DuBois. Mr. Weitz returns to Second Stage Theatre, where his plays Privilege and Show People premiered in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Directed by Peter DuBois, who staged Second Stage's acclaimed production of Becky Shaw, TRUST began previews on Friday, July 23 at Second Stage Theatre (305 West 43rd street). The production runs through September 5.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) has announced that Tony Award nominee JAN MAXWELL will star in Arthur Kopit's acclaimed play WINGS this fall. Directed by Tony Award winner John Doyle (Sweeney Todd, Company), WINGS will begin previews at Second Stage Theatre (305 West 43rd street) on Tuesday, October 5. The production will officially open on Sunday, October 24.