Christopher West News

THE MEN MIDDLE BIT will have a four performance run at HERE July 31 - August 2 at 8:30pm and August 3 at 4pm. Tickets are $15 and are available through here.org. Press and industry tickets are available.

The 2014 Planet Connections Theatre Festivity Gala 'One Acts for a Cause' is set to take place tonight, June 22 at 7:30pm at the East 13th Street Theater (136 East 13th Street).

Casting has been announced for the 2014 Planet Connections Theatre Festivity Gala 'One Acts for a Cause' set to take place on Sunday, June 22 at 7:30pm at the East 13th Street Theater (136 East 13th Street).The evening, which will benefit the non-profit NYC food services agency City Harvest, will feature Academy Award-winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter)?, three-time Tony Award nominee Mary Beth Hurt (Crimes of the Heart, films The World According to Garp & The Age of Innocence), Caissie Levy (currently starring as Fantine in LES MISERABLES), Phoebe Strole (Spring Awakening, Glee), Jonathan Walker (Rocky, The Assembled Parties), Eric Lenox Abrams (All The Way), Kellie Overbey (The Coast of Utopia) Tina Benko (Irena's Vow, Top Girls) & Andrew Garman (Salome with Al Pacino), Obie Award-winners Russell G. Jones (Ruined) & ?Eisa Davis (Sustained Excellence, Passing Strange), and Courtney Thomas (Eve Ensler's Emotional Creature), Jon Norman Schneider (The Architecture of Being) and Quincy Tyler Bernstine (Ruined, Chappelle's Show).

Creative teams have been announced for the 2014 Planet Connections Theatre Festivity Gala 'One Acts for a Cause' set to take place on Sunday, June 22 at 7:30pm at the East 13th Street Theater (136 East 13th Street). The evening, which will benefit the non-profit NYC food services agency City Harvest, will showcase world premiere one-act plays by four acclaimed playwrights: Obie Award-winner Israel Horovitz's St Anne's Soup which will be directed by Planet Connections Festivity founder and Co-Artistic Director Glory Kadigan (Neil LaBute world premieres Over the River at The Signature, Two Minute Warning), Wendy MacLeod's Community Service which will be directed by Lucille Lortel nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Hand to God), Snap! by Winter Miller which will be directed by Jessi D. Hill (Associate Artistic Director at terraNOVA Collective) & Eric Ehn and the Tenderloin Opera Company's Frail/Ingilin which will be directed by Mia Rovegno (Good Goods, Exquisite Corpse). Casting will be announced in May.

Off Broadway's interactive, improvised musical The Greatest Pirate Story Never Told!, written by Christopher Leidenfrost and directed by Rick Leidenfrost-Wilson, has been extended for a second time, and continues to commandeer the Snapple Theater Center's Jerry Orbach Theater every Saturday at 11 a.m.

Off Sides Entertainment Inc. has announced that after highly successful runs at Planet Connections Theatre Festivity (garnering 10 award nominations, including Best Musical) and the Crown and Anchor Theatre in Provincetown, MA, an open-ended run of Christopher Leidenfrost's new half-scripted/half-improvised musical comedy, THE GREATEST PIRATE STORY NEVER TOLD! Rated Arrrrrrr! will run at the Snapple Theater Center on Broadway. The production is now in previews and will officially open on Thursday, December 5th at 8:00 p.m. The adult 'Rated ARRRRRRR!' show will play Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. and a specifically family-friendly version will run on Saturdays at 11AM. Rick Leidenfrost-Wilson will direct. www.greatestpiratestory.com

Off Sides Entertainment Inc. has announced that after highly successful runs at Planet Connections Theatre Festivity (garnering 10 award nominations, including Best Musical), the Crown and Anchor Theatre in Provincetown, MA, and following its second side-splitting season at the New York Renaissance Faire, an open-ended run of Christopher Leidenfrost's new half-scripted/half-improvised musical comedy, THE GREATEST PIRATE STORY NEVER TOLD! will begin previews at the Snapple Theater Center tonight, November 2, 2013 at 8:00 p.m. The production will officially open on Thursday, November 5th at 8:00 p.m.

Metropolitan presents the first revival of 1856 social satire SELF from November 15 - December 15, 2013.

Off Sides Entertainment Inc. has announced that after highly successful runs at Planet Connections Theatre Festivity (garnering 10 award nominations, including Best Musical), the Crown and Anchor Theatre in Provincetown, MA, and following its second side-splitting season at the New York Renaissance Faire, an open-ended run of Christopher Leidenfrost's new half-scripted/half-improvised musical comedy, THE GREATEST PIRATE STORY NEVER TOLD! will begin previews at the Snapple Theater Center on Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 8:00 p.m. The production will officially open on Thursday, November 5th at 8:00 p.m. The show will run Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. and Saturdays at 11 a.m. Rick Leidenfrost-Wilson will direct. www.greatestpiratestory.com

Penny Rock Theatre Productions Ltd and Aria Entertainment present an Inner Circle Production of WHEN MIDNIGHT STRIKES by Kevin Hammonds and Charles Miller, UPSTAIRS AT THE GATEHOUSE, Highgate Village, London, N6 4BD. Previews: tonight and tomorrow - 11th & 12th September. Press Night 13th September, run until 29th September.

Penny Rock Theatre Productions Ltd and Aria Entertainment present an Inner Circle Production of WHEN MIDNIGHT STRIKES by Kevin Hammonds and Charles Miller, UPSTAIRS AT THE GATEHOUSE, Highgate Village, London, N6 4BD. Previews: 11th & 12th September. Press Night 13th September, run until 29th September.

The Metropolitan Playhouse--2011 Obie Award winner--presents a revival of A Man's World, by Rachel Crothers, from September 14 - October 13, 2013. Directed by Michael Hardart at Metropolitan's home: 220 E 4th Street.

The 'invaluable' and 'indispensable' Metropolitan Playhouse--2011 Obie Award winner--presents a ballet for the whole family - The Ugly Duckling, from the story by Hans Christian Andersen. Choreographed by Rachael Kosch at Metropolitan's home: 220 E 4th Street.

The Planet Connections Theatre Festivity Gala 'One Acts for a Cause' is set for tonight, June 16 at 7:30pm at the Alice Griffin Jewelbox Theatre in the Pershing Square Signature Center. The evening will raise funds for the non-profit Safe Horizon and showcase three new one-act plays by acclaimed playwrights Neil LaBute, John Patrick Shanley and Winter Miller (Neil LaBute and Winter Miller's pieces will be world premieres).

The 'invaluable' and 'indispensable' Metropolitan Playhouse--2011 Obie Award winner--presents a ballet for the whole family - The Ugly Duckling, from the story by Hans Christian Andersen. Choreographed by Rachael Kosch at Metropolitan's home: 220 E 4th Street.

A dark, anti-semetic joke alluding to cycling made the rounds in Europe between the First and Second World Wars and was the inspiration for a bitter absurdist cabaret called The Last Cyclist written in 1944 in the Terezin Concentration Camp by the young Czech playwright, Karel Švenk. This Chaplin-esque play was seen by many Terezin Ghetto inmates during rehearsals but it was banned by the ghetto's Council of Jewish Elders after its dress rehearsal. Švenk was sent to Auschwitz a few months later and his script was lost forever. Playwright Naomi Patz has reconstructed and reimaged Švenk's integral work and is bringing the The Last Cyclist to New York City audiences for the first time. Performances begin Today May 25 at the West End Theatre at Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew (263 W 86th St).

Casting has been announced for the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity Gala 'One Acts for a Cause' on Sunday, June 16 at 7:30pm at the Alice Griffin Jewelbox Theatre in the Pershing Square Signature Center. The evening will raise funds for the non-profit Safe Horizon and showcase three new one-act plays by acclaimed playwrights Neil LaBute, John Patrick Shanley and Winter Miller (Neil LaBute and Winter Miller's pieces will be world premieres).

A dark, anti-semetic joke alluding to cycling made the rounds in Europe between the First and Second World Wars and was the inspiration for a bitter absurdist cabaret called The Last Cyclist written in 1944 in the Terezin Concentration Camp by the young Czech playwright, Karel Švenk. This Chaplin-esque play was seen by many Terezin Ghetto inmates during rehearsals but it was banned by the ghetto's Council of Jewish Elders after its dress rehearsal. Švenk was sent to Auschwitz a few months later and his script was lost forever. Playwright Naomi Patz has reconstructed and reimaged Švenk's integral work and is bringing the The Last Cyclist to New York City audiences for the first time. Performances begin Saturday May 25 at the West End Theatre at Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew (263 W 86th St).

On Sunday, June 16 at 7:30pm at the Alice Griffin Jewelbox Theatre in the Pershing Square Signature Center, the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity Gala 'One Acts for a Cause' will showcase three new one-act plays by acclaimed playwrights Neil LaBute, John Patrick Shanley and Winter Miller (Neil LaBute and Winter Miller's pieces will be world premieres). The evening, which will start with a VIP reception with the playwrights at 6:30pm followed by the performance at 7:30pm, will raise funds for the non-profit Safe Horizon, the leading victim services agency in the United States. VIP tickets are $300 (orchestra ticket & reception ticket); show-only tickets are $200 (orchestra) and $150 (mezzanine) and tickets can currently be purchased online at www.PlanetConnections.org.

MTWorks and Artistic Director David Stallings present Oscar Wilde's THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, adapted and directed by Glory Kadigan. THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY will play a four-week limited engagement at The WorkShop Theater (312 W 36th St, 4th Fl, Manhattan). Performances run now through Sunday, April 14th, 2013. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!