Christopher Durang News

Dress Circle Publishing will celebrate their new book THE UNTOLD STORIES OF BROADWAY, VOLUME 3 - the latest in a series by acclaimed historian and producer Jennifer Ashley Tepper - with a special event at The Drama Book Shop (250 West 4oth Street in Manhattan) on Thursday, December 1 at 5:30 PM.

Gulfshore Playhouse, Southwest Florida's Premiere Professional theatre, is very excited to announce that 2016 Tony Award-nominee Carmen Cusack will star in the one-woman, world premiere of Do This by Karen Siff Exkorn, which will run from January 7th through the 28th.

The Dramatists Guild Fund presents a screening of the third volume of The Legacy Project documentary series featuring a conversation with Alan Menken and Kristen Anderson-Lopez at The TimesCenter 242 West 41st Street on Saturday, December 3 at 6:00 PM.

City Theatre adds to its season of contemporary plays and exciting CityEvents, announcing Tamara Tunie: Legends from the 'Burgh. Pittsburgh native and Law & Order: SVU star, Tamara Tunie returns to her roots, performing songs by hometown legends. Her band includes Roger Humphries on drums, Jeff Grubbs on bass, and Max Leake conducting and playing piano. Ms. Tunie, a Tony and Drama Desk Award winner has performed Legends from the 'Burgh on tour and in New York City to packed houses and critical acclaim. Performances are December 9 and 10 at 7:30 p.m. on the Main Stage. Tickets are on sale now.

Update / New Performances are: Sunday, Monday & Wednesday at 7:00 pm; Thursday, Friday & Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sunday matinees at 3:00 pm.  No performance on Thanksgiving 11/24. 

What do you get when you cross Christopher Durang, the master of anxious comedy, with Anton Chekhov, the master of Russian despair? You get VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE, an evening of melancholia and mirth. While Durang starts with Chekhov he soon runs off in every direction. Chekhov and Walt Disney? California Suite and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie? Why not? He ends up delivering a warmhearted, surprisingly personable play that is a mixture of clever and sweet that's hard to pull off. The production now on stage at The Wimberley Playhouse pulls it off beautifully. Chekhov's characters are full of angst and dissatisfaction, and so are Durang's. The key difference is that while tragic Chekhov can be funny, Durang is pretty much flat out bonkers.

Who would've thought serious topics like rape, dismemberment and molestation could be met with humor? All of these horrific acts occur in the hysterically angry Betty's Summer Vacation by Christopher Durang. The play begins with the arrival of Betty and Trudy arriving at their summer timeshare hoping for a relaxing summer. Tranquility soon ends when Betty realizes that she will be spending her summer with the hyper energetic Trudy who breaks her promise of limiting her talking, Keith, a bi-sexual serial killer who hides body parts in hat boxes, Mrs. Seizmagraff, the landlady of the time share who is also Trudy's mother and is jealous of her own daughter due to her serial molester husband, Buck an extremely horny frat-jock, and Mr. Vanislaw, a flasher. In addition to this dynamic cast of characters is a mysterious laugh track that emits from an unknown source within the time share and serves as the play's Greek chorus.

McCarter Theatre Center has announced its reimagined production of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Directed by Adam Immerwahr, A Christmas Carol runs December 9 - 31 in the Matthews Theatre. Press opening is Saturday, Dec. 10.

Theatre East presents A Name for a Ghost to Mutter by Cyndi Williams at Urban Stages, 259 West 30th Street NYC. Performances begin for the limited engagement tonight, November 11, 2016.

City Theatre is adding a musical CityEvent to the fall production calendar. Benjamin Scheuer, writer and star of the hit show The Lion, returns to Pittsburgh for a series of concerts with his band, featuring drummer Brian Wolfe of Sufjan Stevens and bass player Geoff Kraly of paris_monster.

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE by Christopher Durang won the Tony and Drama Desk Awards for the Broadway production of this show. Having never seen the comedy before, I was thrilled to find out a production was taking place at the Edgemar Center for the Arts in Santa Monica and rushed to arrange my tickets. And now I can understand why the show got so many rave reviews in the past and am happy to add mine to them.

City Theatre is thrilled to again showcase original works by emerging young artists in the EQT Young Playwrights Festival 2016. Under the direction of City Theatre Artistic Producer Reginald L. Douglas, the festival features six professionally-produced world premiere plays written by local middle and high school students. Student matinee performances run November 30-December 9 with public performances December 3-4 in the Lester Hamburg Studio. In partnership with the theater departments at University of Pittsburgh, Seton Hill University, and Point Park University, a reading of three Honorable Mention plays will take place on Friday, December 9 at 7 p.m.

Just last night, the 33rd Annual Drama League Centennial Musical Celebration of Broadway honored Tony and Emmy Award winner David Hyde Pierce at The Plaza (768 Fifth Avenue) in New York City.

Nashville audiences can look forward to the warm-hearted and comedic holiday treat when Nashville Repertory Theatre produces A Christmas Story for an eighth consecutive season. This familiar story of young Ralphie's wintertime woes has become a tradition that many Middle Tennessee families eagerly attend year after year.

MadKap Productions is pleased to present BEYOND THERAPY for 10 performances at the Skokie Theatre, 7924 Lincoln Ave in Skokie. Nov 4 - Nov 20, 2016. Todays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm, Sunday Nov 6 at 2:30 pm, other Sundays at 2:00 pm, with a matinee on Wednesday, November 9 at 1:30 pm. Tickets are $34 general admission, $29 for seniors, and $24 for students and can be purchased online at SkokieTheatre.org or by calling 847-677-7761. Tickets for Beyond Therapy are included in a 3 show subscription package for $57 which includes upcoming productions of The Seven Year Itch and Equus.

Due to critical and popular demand, Playwrights Horizons has announced a second extension of their hit world premiere production of A Life, a new play by Obie Award winner Adam Bock (A Small Fire and The Drunken City at Playwrights, The Receptionist, The Thugs, Swimming in the Shallows).

Each play recorded for public radio and podcast will be followed by a conversation with its playwright, cast and director led by Playing on Air's founder and artistic director, Claudia Catania.

Theatre East presents A Name for a Ghost to Mutter by Cyndi Williams at Urban Stages, 259 West 30th Street NYC.

City Theatre is excited to welcome playwright Steven Dietz for a writing residency October 31-November 1, 2016.

Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor Bryan Cranston will appear on the City Theatre Main Stage in this CityEvent, produced in partnership with Classic Lines bookstore.