Elliot Norton News

San Jose Repertory Theatre announces Artistic Director Rick Lombardo?s inaugural season, a season that embraces the need to love, to laugh, to celebrate, and to connect. The season is an artful blend of timeless stories ? a diverse season balanced with a rich mix of contemporary, classic and daring work, alongside Tony? Award-winning entertainment.

Underground Railway Theater presents How Do You Spell Hope?, a theatrical experience for the whole family based on true stories of people who overcame great obstacles to learn to read, playing at the Central Square Theater Friday, February 13 through Sunday, March 1. Written by Melinda Lopez and directed by Underground Railway Theater Artistic Director Debra Wise, How Do You Spell Hope? tells the stories of the road to literacy for a Cambridge high school athlete with severe dyslexia, Frederick Douglass, and a Latina immigrant who learns to read English ? all woven together by puppets and actors in a world of giant pop-up books. The cast features award winning Boston area actors Vincent E. Siders and Ramona Alexander, as well as puppeteer Penny Benson. Press Night is set for Saturday, February 14 at 3 PM.

The American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.) presents the fifth production of its 2008-09 Season: Samuel Beckett?s iconic masterpiece Endgame, directed by Marcus Stern, at the A.R.T.?s Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge. The production begins performances on Saturday, February 14 and runs through Sunday, March 15; it will be available for press viewing from Wednesday, February 18 at 7:30pm.

Gloucester Stage Artistic Director Eric C. Engel recently announced Gloucester Stage's 30th Anniversary Season.

Boston theatergoers will have the chance to see what everyone has been talking about when SpeakEasy Stage Company presents the area premiere of David Harrower's compelling drama BLACKBIRD from February 20 - March 21, 2009. Winner of the 2007 Olivier Award for Best New Play, BLACKBIRD tells the story of a meeting between two people, Ray and Una, who fifteen years ago had a passionate affair. Emotions run high as the pair recalls their scandalous relationship and attempt to come to terms with the shattering truth of their abandoned love.

Tony Award-nominated actor Jonathan Groff and Daytime Emmy-nominated actress Mandy Bruno have joined the growing list of North Shore Music Theatre (NSMT) alumni from Broadway and members of the television community to support the financially struggling musical theatre-in-the-round at events in New York City next week.

New Repertory Theatre, in residence at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, announces it will be extending its run of Kander and Ebb's Tony Award-winning musical Cabaret. Repertory Theatre presents provocative and intelligent works of both established and emerging playwrights in an intimate setting that involves and engages the audience. New Rep has earned a reputation for dynamic productions that honor the writers and feature talented professional actors from the New England Theatre community as well as guest artists from around the U.S. New Rep has received Elliot Norton and IRNE Awards for outstanding acting, scenic design, directions, and production. New Rep's Lead Sponsor for Cabaret is Bank of America and its Broadcast Partner is Comcast. Programming at New Repertory Theatre is supported in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Tony Award-nominated actor Jonathan Groff and Daytime Emmy-nominated actress Mandy Bruno have joined the growing list of North Shore Music Theatre (NSMT) alumni from Broadway and members of the television community to support the financially struggling musical theatre-in-the-round at events in New York City next week.

Winner of the 1967 Pulitzer Prize, Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance comes to Arena Stage in a contemporary and provocative new staging under the direction of experienced Albee collaborator Pam MacKinnon. Featuring Broadway stars Kathleen Chalfant (Wit, Angels in America), Terry Beaver (Henry IV, The Last Night of Ballyhoo), Ellen McLaughlin (Angels in America) and Carla Harting (Eurydice),joined by Helen Hedman and James Slaughter, A Delicate Balance runs February 6-March 15, 2009 at Arena Stage in Crystal City. The press opening performance is Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. 'Albee is fearless about writing stories that get us in the solar plexus, and he does so with his brilliant wit, dynamic storytelling and rigorous use of language,' shares Artistic Director Molly Smith. 'His work draws the best artists, and with this production audiences are fortunate to have an enormously strong cast and creative team-approved by Albee himself.' A frequent director of Albee plays, MacKinnon has directed The Play About the Baby, the world premieres of Peter and Jerry: Homelife and The Zoo Story (now titled At Home at the Zoo) and Occupant, as well as the U.S. regional and European premieres of The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?

On Tuesday, February 3, 2009, The Friends of North Shore Music Theatre (NSMT) held a all star benefit concert on at Danversport Yacht Club, in Danvers, MA to help raise funds to keep the theatre open. The event has brought in $45,000 which will help keep the theatre operating over the few months and working towards the 4 million dollars needed to produce a 2009 Season. The Friends of North Shore Music Theatre is a volunteer committee of trustees, former employees, NSMT alumni and others.

Legendary designers WILLIAM IVEY LONG and BOB CROWLEY are among the four recipients of the 2009 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards. Five-time Tony Award winning costume designer William Ivey Long will receive the 2009 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for theatrical costume design, and, for his achievements as both a costume and scenic designer, Bob Crowley (also a five-time Tony Award winner) will receive the TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards' special Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatrical Design at a ceremony on Friday, March 27, at the Hudson Theatre in New York City.

NSMT alumni from Broadway and the NYC television community will be appearing at Joe's Pub and The theatre at Saint Peters, home of The York Theatre Company in New York City.The not-for-profit North Shore Music Theatre (NSMT) in Beverly, MA is facing severe financial difficulties. The NSMT has provided performing arts and educational programming to millions for 55 years. Effects of the crumpling economy, lower than expected donations and ticket sales all season long have left the theatre unable to cover its operating costs - a national decade-long trend that is impacting theaters across the country. In light of the current situation, the NSMT alumni from Broadway and the NYC television community will be appearing at Joe's Pub. Brian Usifer and select members of the NSMT orchestra will play as well.

New Repertory Theatre, in residence at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, is thrilled to present Exits and Entrances by Athol Fugard. Exits and Entrances opens for the press on February 25, 2009 at 7:30pm and plays through March 15, 2009 at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in the Charles Mosesian Theater. 'Exits and Entrances is a powerful play that looks at the importance of art and the impact it has on society,' states Rick Lombardo, Producing Artistic Director for New Repertory Theatre. 'With all the political and economic changes we are facing and undergoing, I could not imagine a more relevant time to stage this work.'

New Repertory Theatre, in residence at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, announces it will be extending its run of Kander and Ebb's Tony Award-winning musical Cabaret. Repertory Theatre presents provocative and intelligent works of both established and emerging playwrights in an intimate setting that involves and engages the audience. New Rep has earned a reputation for dynamic productions that honor the writers and feature talented professional actors from the New England Theatre community as well as guest artists from around the U.S. New Rep has received Elliot Norton and IRNE Awards for outstanding acting, scenic design, directions, and production. New Rep's Lead Sponsor for Cabaret is Bank of America and its Broadcast Partner is Comcast. Programming at New Repertory Theatre is supported in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

The Friends of North Shore Music Theatre (NSMT) have announced details for a rousing fundraising event to help save the region's legendary theater. The event, organized by a volunteer committee of trustees, former employees, NSMT alumni and parents, will be held on Tuesday, February 3, 2009 at Danversport Yacht Club, 161 Elliot Street in Danvers, MA at 6:30 pm. The star-studded evening will be hosted by venerable NSMT actor David Coffee. Best known for his role as Scrooge in NSMT's production of A Christmas Carol, Coffee also played Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, as well as countless other memorable roles at NSMT. Coffee will be joined by special guest George Dvorsky, star of A Christmas Carol, The Full Monty, Kiss Me, Kate, and many, many more NSMT productions. Dvorsky is currently starring in the First National Tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Also performing and lending their support during the evening will be many Boston area favorites who have performed at NSMT, including Peter S. Adams, Leigh Barrett, Maureen Brennan, Mary Callanan, Andrew Giordano, Cassandra Marsh, Cheryl McMahon, Robert Saoud, and Kathy St. George. The NSMT Orchestra led by Jay Daly will also perform, in addition to NSMT's Youth Performance Academy's Rising Stars.

Returning to Cleveland after acclaimed performances in The Color Purple on Broadway and Gone with the Wind in London?s West End, NaTasha Yvette Williams takes the stage in the lead role of The Cleveland Play House production of Mahalia: A Gospel Musical. Since 1997, when she performed in The Play House production of (I Could) Stop On a Dime and Get Ten Cents Change, Williams has also played in several Broadway national tours and performed her gospel music all over the world. Kent Gash, Associate Artistic Director of The Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, GA, is directing Williams in this musical tribute to the most celebrated gospel singer of all time. Mahalia: A Gospel Musical begins in the Bolton Theatre at The Cleveland Play House on Friday, January 30 and runs through Sunday, February 22, 2009. Tickets are on sale now at The Cleveland Play House box office by calling 216.795.7000 ext 4 or online at www.clevelandplayhouse.com. Mahalia: A Gospel Musical is presented in promotional partnership with Time Warner Cable and The Kulus Foundation. The media sponsor for Mahalia: A Gospel Musical is 107.3 FM The Wave WNMV.

Winner of the 1967 Pulitzer Prize, Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance comes to Arena Stage in a contemporary and provocative new staging under the direction of experienced Albee collaborator Pam MacKinnon. Featuring Broadway stars Kathleen Chalfant (Wit, Angels in America), Terry Beaver (Henry IV, The Last Night of Ballyhoo), Ellen McLaughlin (Angels in America) and Carla Harting (Eurydice),joined by Helen Hedman and James Slaughter, A Delicate Balance runs February 6-March 15, 2009 at Arena Stage in Crystal City. The press opening performance is Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. 'Albee is fearless about writing stories that get us in the solar plexus, and he does so with his brilliant wit, dynamic storytelling and rigorous use of language,' shares Artistic Director Molly Smith. 'His work draws the best artists, and with this production audiences are fortunate to have an enormously strong cast and creative team-approved by Albee himself.' A frequent director of Albee plays, MacKinnon has directed The Play About the Baby, the world premieres of Peter and Jerry: Homelife and The Zoo Story (now titled At Home at the Zoo) and Occupant, as well as the U.S. regional and European premieres of The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?

Screen Actors Guild Award-winner Lauren Ambrose (Awake and Sing!, 'Six Feet Under') and Tony? Award- winner Andrea Martin (My Favorite Year, Young Frankenstein) will star in Eugene Ionesco's EXIT THE KING, joining the previously announced Geoffrey Rush and Susan Sarandon. Translated by Neil Armfield and Geoffrey Rush and directed by Neil Armfield, EXIT THE KING will begin performances Saturday, March 7, 2009 at the Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th Street) and open on Thursday, March 26, 2009. This limited engagement will run for 14 weeks only, through Sunday, June 14, 2009. Additional casting will be announced soon. EXIT THE KING is a hilarious and poignant comedy about a megalomaniacal ruler, King Berenger (Rush) whose incompetence has left his country in near ruin. Despite the efforts of Queen Marguerite (Sarandon) and the other members of the court to convince the King he has only 90 minutes left to live, he refuses to relinquish any control.

It was announced today that Marin Ireland, Steven Pasquale, Piper Perabo and Thomas Sadoski will comprise the four-person cast of this season's production of Neil LaBute's new play, reasons to be pretty, under the direction of Terry Kinney. Perabo and Sadoski appeared in this summer's smash Off Broadway world premiere for MCC Theater, with Ireland and Pasquale slated to join the cast for the Broadway production. Preview performances begin Friday, March 13, 2009 at the Lyceum Theatre (149 West 45th Street) with an official opening night scheduled for Thursday, April 2, 2009. Tickets are on sale now through www.telecharge.com. reasons to be pretty confronts America's obsession with physical beauty headlong. In Neil LaBute's new play, Greg's (Sadoski) tight-knit social circle is thrown into turmoil when his off-handed remarks about a female co-worker's pretty face (and his girlfriend's lack thereof) get back to said girlfriend (Ireland). But that's just the beginning.

In her 13 years as artistic director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Sharon Ott led the company to new artistic heights, national prestige, and a well-deserved Tony Award. Now, after a 12-year absence, she returns with a gripping production of Fyodor Dostoevsky's classic Crime and Punishment. The scene of this Crime is Berkeley Rep's intimate Thrust Stage, where Ott earned her reputation as a dazzling director. The show begins previews on February 27, opens March 4, and closes March 29. Its executive producers are John and Helen Meyer and Richard H. Rubin and H. Marcia Smolens, with production sponsorship from the Bernard Osher Foundation. BART and Wells Fargo are the season sponsors for Berkeley Rep's 41st year of fearless theatre.