Rains are coming and going, altering the barometric pressure in the air and creating what feels like a mix between a pressure cooker and sauna. It's that time of year where summer takes it last, lingering steps before being put to bed for a handful of months in Houston. All of this occurs simultaneously with a new season of theatre dawning in the city. On a particularly humid, rainy Saturday evening, Kim Tobin and Philip Lehl, co-founders and Artistic Directors of Stark Naked Theatre Company, invited me to chat with them in their studio at Spring Street Studios. On the floor below us, Studio 101 is well on its way to be a hot locale for local theatre and the starting point for our conversation.
Winning the prestigious Woodward/Newman Award for best play, while being developed at Rogue Machine for their 2012 season, brought with it a fully funded production mounted at the Bloomington Play Project in Indiana. It turned out to be one of their most successful projects to date. A Holland New Voices Award came shortly afterwards, and now playwright Henry Murray is ready for its close-up at Rogue Machine, known for staging new works. This will be a West Coast Premiere in one of the country's most vibrant cities for new plays, Los Angeles, opening tonight, September 15, 2012.
A Bucks County farmhouse is the setting for Christopher Durang's new comedy,VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE, starring Sigourney Weaver, David Hyde Pierce, and Kristine Nielsen. NJTV's STATE OF THE ARTS visits the playwright in his own Bucks County farmhouse, and talks to Hyde Pierce and Nielsen about working with Durang, who is also their longtime friend and colleague.
CENTERSTAGE announces its electrifying, one-of-a-kind artistic initiative, MY AMERICA-50 new monologues by 50 of America's leading and emerging playwrights, all filmed by award-winning filmmaker Hal Hartley. The films will debut at the theater on September 28, and begin a staggered release online, culminating on Election Day, November 6th.
CENTERSTAGE announces its electrifying, one-of-a-kind artistic initiative, My America-50 new monologues by 50 of America's leading and emerging playwrights, all filmed by award-winning filmmaker Hal Hartley. The films will debut at the theater on September 28, and begin a staggered release online at www.centerstage.org/MyAmerica, culminating on Election Day, November 6.
A new Chekhov-inspired play by Christopher Durang, an Edward Albee classic, and one of Shakespeare's late romances directed by Rebecca Taichman will be produced at McCarter Theatre Center during the 2012-2013 season.
Maryland Ensemble Theatre (MET) is kicking off its 2012-13, 15th anniversary mainstage season with The 39 Steps. Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have The 39 Steps, a fast-paced whodunit for anyone who loves the magic of theatre. Get a complete look at the production photos below.
Maryland Ensemble Theatre (MET) is kicking off its 2012-13, 15th anniversary mainstage season with The 39 Steps. Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have The 39 Steps, a fast-paced whodunit for anyone who loves the magic of theatre! This 2-time Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning treat is packed with nonstop laughs, over 150 zany characters (played by a ridiculously talented cast of 4), an on-stage plane crash, handcuffs, missing fingers and some good old-fashioned romance! MET Associate Artistic Director Gene' Fouche' directs Patrick Barlow's adaptation of John Buchan's 1915 novel and the 1935 film by Alfred Hitchcock which opened on Broadway in 2008 and won the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. The show which The New York Times called, 'theatre at its finest' and the New York Post raved was, 'the most entertaining show on Broadway' ended its New York run after three years and record setting number of performances for a comedy, 1,135.
City Theatre anticipates the presidential election season with Electile Dysfunction: The Kinsey Sicks for President, a City Events special presentation blending the Kinsey Sicks' harmonious theatrics with colorful, election-year parodies. Electile Dysfunction: The Kinsey Sicks for President runs on City Theatre's Mainstage from tonight, September 6-9, 2012.
The Drama League (Executive Director, Gabriel Shanks; Artistic Director, Roger T. Danforth) have announced their Fall/Winter 2012 Programming Schedule of over 40 special performances, events and educational offerings that include intimate evenings with actors David Schwimmer, Michael Shannon, David Hyde Pierce and casting director Bernard Telsey.
Maryland Ensemble Theatre (MET) is kicking off its 2012-13, 15th anniversary mainstage season with The 39 Steps. Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have The 39 Steps, a fast-paced whodunit for anyone who loves the magic of theatre. Get a first look at the cast onstage in the photos below!
The Juilliard School will offer its first Master of Fine Arts in Drama with classes beginning in the Fall of 2012, a watershed moment in the Drama Division's forty-four year history.
PEN American Center has just announced the winners and runners-up of the 2012 PEN Awards, the most comprehensive literary awards program in the country. This year marks PEN's 90th anniversary. For more than 50 of those years PEN's Literary Awards program has honored many of the most outstanding voices in literature.
Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) has announced additional casting for its 2012/2013 Season, with initial casting for THE GREAT GOD PAN, the World Premiere of a new play by Obie Award winner Amy Herzog (After the Revolution at PH, 4000 Miles), directed by Carolyn Cantor (After the Revolution and Essential Self-Defense at PH, Pumpgirl, Orange Water Flower).
The Astoria Performing Arts Center (APAC), recipient of the 2012 Caffe Cino Fellowship Award from the Innovative Theatre Foundation, has announced their additional IT Award Nominations and their 12th Season featuring the New York Premiere of Gregory S. Moss's (punkplay, House of Gold) Billy Witch and Willy Russell's (Educating Rita, Shirley Valentine) Blood Brothers. APAC is also fortunate to be working on a developmental piece with Grammy and Tony-award winning composer Galt MacDermot (Hair), Gone Tomoro. APAC's performance venue is located at Good Shepherd United Methodist Church, 30-44 Crescent St (@30th Rd) in Astoria, Queens.
New City Stage Company has announced its 2012-13 season. New City Stage will be in residence again at the Adrienne Theater, 2030 Sansom Street in center city Philadelphia. The first show, RFK, will be performed on the Second Stage as well has have two days of community outreach performances at the Playground for two days before the presidential election.
