Elliot Norton News

Orfeo Group, a professional, Boston-based theatre company, is offering free admission to John Osborne's 'Look Back in Anger'.

The hit of the 2000 Broadway season and winner of 4 Tony® Awards dances across the stage in North Shore Music Theatre's New England Regional Premiere of 'Contact.'

In the spirit of last season's acclaimed VENGEANCE, the Off-Broadway theatre company the stageFARM (Carrie Shaltz, Founder / Executive Director and Alex Kilgore, Artistic Director) will present the world premiere of SPIN, a series of new short plays commissioned on the timely topic by Adam Rapp, Gina Gionfriddo, Judith Thompson, Elizabeth Meriwether, and Mark Schultz. With direction by Alex Kilgore and Special Guest Director (TBD), SPIN begins performances Friday evening, October 3, 2008 for a limited engagement through Saturday evening, November 8, 2008 at The Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce Street between Barrow & Bedford Streets). Opening night is Saturday evening, October 11, 2008 at 8:00PM.

In a ceremony held at Harvard's Sanders Theatre on May 12th, Patti Colombo received the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Choreography for North Shore Music Theatre's (NSMT) acclaimed 2007 production of SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS.

Berkshire Theatre Festival opens its 2008 80th anniversary season with Harold Pinter's 'The Caretaker', directed by Eric Hill in the Unicorn Theatre.

Culture Project has announced that it will present a special one-night-only performance of 'The Atheist', written by Ronan Noone, directed by Justin Waldman and starring Campbell Scott on May 20th.

The Public Theater announces final casting for 'Hamlet' directed By Oskar Eustis. Joining Michael Stuhlbarg will be Lauren Ambrose and Sam Waterson. Also, a new online ticketing program will be available on the Public Theatre website.

'I wanna be a Producer…' That's what everyone will be singing after experiencing North Shore Music Theatre's New England Regional Premiere of Mel Brooks' 12-time Tony Award winning hit THE PRODUCERS. Kicking off NSMT's 2008 season, THE PRODUCERS runs May 13 - June 1, 2008 and Press Night is scheduled for May 15 at 7:30pm.

In a ceremony on April 14, The Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE), a panel of critics from community papers and media outlets around the state of Massachusetts, announced the winners of the IRNE Awards honoring the best of the 2007 theater season. North Shore Music Theatre (NSMT) received 4 awards, including Best Production of a Musical.

Leave your winter coats and hats at home and get ready to jump in the pool this December when North Shore Music Theatre's (NSMT) production of DISNEY HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2 makes its New England premiere on the NSMT mainstage. DISNEY HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2 will have a limited run at NSMT from December 18, 2008 through January 11, 2009.

The award-winning North Shore Music Theatre (NSMT) has announced that single tickets for the 2008 musical season will go on sale to the general public on Monday, April 7, 2008 at 9:00 am. Individual tickets will be available for the eight shows included in the 2008 musical season. Tickets can be purchased in person at the NSMT box office at 62 Dunham Road in Beverly, MA, as well as online (www.nsmt.org) and by phone (978-232-7200).

New Repertory Theatre announces the New England Premiere of Dessa Rose, from the award-winning composer-lyricist team of Ragtime. This powerful story of two strong-willed women explores diversity and unlikely friendship in the antebellum South. Dessa Rose opens for the press on Friday, April 25, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. and plays through May 18, 2008 at the Arsenal Center for the Arts.

New Repertory Theatre in residence at the Arsenal Center for the Arts announces the World Premiere of According to Tip, a play with music by Dick Flavin, starring Tony and Emmy award-winner Ken Howard. Just in time for election season, According to Tip will open for the press on Friday, June 27, 2008 and will play through Sunday, July 13, 2008. 'Just in time for election season, New Rep brings you the World Premiere of According to Tip. Featuring Broadway and TV star Ken Howard, this play traces the colorful and historically memorable career of Thomas P. 'Tip' O'Neill, former Speaker of the House. Tip will escort you back in time from Barry's Corner in Cambridge to the White House. Get the inside scoop on politics during the Red Scare, Watergate, and Vietnam in this touching played filled with humor, music, and beguiling Irish wit,' press notes state. New 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, direction, and production. Programming at New Repertory Theatre is supported in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Lead Sponsor for According to Tip, Bank of America. The Artists Rick Lombardo (Director) is now in his twelfth season as New Rep's Producing Artistic Director. Earlier this year: A Streetcar Named Desire, A Pinter Duet: The Lover & Ashes to Ashes, The Clean House, and Dessa Rose. Last season: The Pillowman, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (which he also adapted), Silence, and The Wild Party, as well as Hamlet for Actors' Shakespeare Project. Other New Rep Credits: Ragtime (IRNE Awards-Best Director of a Musical and Best Musical); Bill W. and Dr. Bob (which he also directed Off-Broadway in the spring of 2007 at New World Stages in NY); Romeo and Juliet; Into the Woods (multiple IRNE Awards); Quills; Approaching Moomtaj; The Threepenny Opera; A Girl's War; his new musical adaptation of Moliere's Scapin; Waiting for Godot (IRNE Award, Best Drama); Sweeney Todd (2004 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director, IRNE Award for Best Director, and Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Musical Production); The Weir (IRNE Award, Best Drama); Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Director); The Scarlet Letter; American Buffalo; A Moon for the Misbegotten; Twelfth Night; Beast on the Moon; Das Barbecu; Tartuffe; and The Real Thing; among others. Additional credits include the world premiere of Moby Dick: An American Opera, for which he received the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatre by Northern Ohio Live. He is honored to be a two-time recipient of the Elliot Norton Award from the Boston Theatre Critics Association for Outstanding Director. Ken Howard (Tip) Ken Howard launched his acting career in 1968 when he won a role in the original Broadway production of Promises, Promises, for which he won both a Tony and an Emmy. He originated the role of Thomas Jefferson in 1776 for which he won a Theatre World Award. He returned to the role for the 1972 film version. He won a Tony for his work in Child's Play in 1970. From 1976 - 1981, he starred in as the title character in the TV series The White Shadow. He earned an Emmy in 1980 for his narration of The Body Human: Facts for Boys. Other film and television includes: The Thron Birds, The West Wing, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Crossing Jordan, Rambo, Cane, Smother and Michael Clayton. Upcoming work includes: Conrad in Still Waters, Sheriff Sedgewick in Two: Thirteen, Officer Ford in The Beacon, and Phelan Beale in the film adaptation of Grey Gardens. Dick Flavin (Playwright) is a nationally known writer and speaker. He has made thousands of speaking appearances all across America, chiefly addressing groups on the subject of how to use humor as a strategy in business and in life. His television commentaries have appeared on NBC-TV, CNN and WBZ-TV in Boston. He is the winner of seven New England regional Emmy Awards for writing and commentary. He was the narrator of The Teammates, an ESPN documentary that was nominated for three national Emmy Awards. Known as the 'Poet Laureate of the Boston Red Sox,' he has written countless poems and song parodies about the team and its history, some of which are being compiled into a compact disc and DVD. The most well-known of them, Teddy at the Bat, a salute to Red Sox legend Ted Williams that is based on Ernest Lawrence Thayer's immortal Casey at the Bat, has been performed by Mr. Flavin at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, at Fenway Park and in cities and towns across the country. He was the co-host of and contributing writer to Red Sox Stories, a weekly television series that ran during the 2007 baseball season. He has also written and performed special material for the Boston Pops and Symphony orchestras. In addition to According the Tip, his play on the life and times of the late Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill, Mr. Flavin has also written I Feel a Song Comin' On, a soon to be produced musical about the lyricist Dorothy Fields.

New Repertory Theatre announces the extension of My Name is Rachel Corrie. My Name is Rachel Corrie and Pieces, two solo plays, each about a young woman whose coming of age took place within the context of the Israeli/Palestinian situation run in rotating repertory until March 30, 2008. My Name is Rachel Corrie will extend until April 5, 2008. Both shows play at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown.

New Rep On Tour will close its eighth season with a three-player adaptation of Edmund Rostand's Masterpiece, Cyrano. Over five weeks, beginning March 4, 2008, the Tour will travel to over 20 Boston area schools and reach over 7,000 students.

Courtney Adler has recently been named Associate Producer at North Shore Music Theatre (NSMT). With extensive national experience in theater management, Adler brings a wealth of talent to the region's second largest non-profit performing arts organization.

For its final Downstage @ New Rep production this season, New Repertory Theatre is excited to present two plays running in rotating repertory, each expressing a unique view of the Middle East situation. Called 'Their Voices Will Be Heard,' the series of events features My Name is Rachel Corrie and Pieces, two solo plays, each about a young woman whose coming of age took place within the context of the Israeli/ Palestinian situation. Pieces opens on Sunday, March 8, 2008 at 4:00 p.m. My Name is Rachel Corrie opens on Sunday, March 8, 2008 at 8:30 p.m. Both shows play through March 30, 2008 at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown.

New Repertory Theatre presents New Voices @ New Rep, a staged reading series. Featuring four new works by established and emerging American playwrights, New Voices @ New Rep is open to the public, and admission is free.

Manhattan Theatre Club has announced full casting for the upcoming Broadway production of Theresa Rebeck's Mauritius.