Ensemble Studio Theatre News

The Gallery Players, bringing Broadway to Brooklyn for over 40 years, announces a new Executive Director: Cornell and Broadway League alum Neal J. Freeman. Mr. Freeman joins the executive staff after a year on The Gallery Players' Board of Directors and with seven directing credits under his belt at the theatre, most recently this season's hit Thoroughly Modern Millie.

59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer) welcomes the return of Godlight Theatre Company with Alan Lyddiard's adaptation of George Orwell's 1984, directed by Joe Tantalo. 1984 begins previews on Friday, March 13 for a limited engagement through Sunday, April 19. Opening Night is Wednesday, March 25 at 8:30 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday at 7:30 PM, Wednesday - Friday at 8:30 PM; Saturday at 2:30 PM and 8:30 PM and Sunday at 3:30 PM.

59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer) welcomes the return of Godlight Theatre Company with Alan Lyddiard's adaptation of George Orwell's 1984, directed by Joe Tantalo.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) and LAByrinth Theater Company (Artistic Director John Ortiz; Co-Artistic Director Philip Seymour Hoffman; Co-Artistic and Executive Director John Gould Rubin) announced complete casting and creative team today for KNIVES AND OTHER SHARP OBJECTS, the third play of the 2008-2009 Public LAB season. Written by Ra?l Castillo and directed by Felix Solis, KNIVES AND OTHER SHARP OBJECTS will begin performances on Friday, March 27 and run through Sunday, April 19 with an official press opening on Sunday, April 12. Tickets are $10 for all performances and are on-sale now.

The Cleveland Play House is excited to announce that Mimi Kennedy, best known for playing Dharma's hippie mom Abby on ABC's 'Dharma & Greg,' will star as Ann Landers in The Lady With All the Answers by David Rambo (God's Man In Texas, The Ice-Breaker). Seth Gordon, Associate Artistic Director for The Play House, will direct this hilarious and touching sneak-peek into the inner-life of famed columnist Ann Landers.

Commander Squish Productions invites you to the Off-Broadway Premiere of THE NEW HOPEVILLE COMICS. A hit at the 2002 New York International Fringe Festival, this new musical features music and lyrics by Nate Weida and a book co-written by Weida and Sarah Donnell. Jim Wren directs an ensemble of 20 actors backed by a 5 piece rock band. This strictly limited engagement runs March 10-28 at American Theater of Actors (315 West 54th Street), former home of the Fringe-to-Off-Broadway transfer of Urinetown.

Commander Squish Productions in association with Michael Roderick and Small Pond Entertainment, presents the Off-Broadway premiere of THE NEW HOPEVILLE COMICS beginning previews March 10 at American Theater of Actors. A hit at the 2002 New York International Fringe Festival, this new musical features music and lyrics by Nate Weida and a book co-written by Weida and Sarah Donnell. Jim Wren directs a cast that features an ensemble of 20 actors backed by a 5 piece rock band. Opening night is slated for Saturday, March 14.

Commander Squish Productions will present the Off-Broadway premiere of THE NEW HOPEVILLE COMICS beginning previews March 10 at American Theater of Actors. A hit at the 2002 New York International Fringe Festival, this new musical features music and lyrics by Nate Weida and a book co-written by Weida and Sarah Donnell. Jim Wren directs a cast that features an ensemble of 20 actors backed by a 5 piece rock band. Casting will be announced shortly. Opening night is slated for Saturday, March 14. THE NEW HOPEVILLE COMICS is set in an average US town called Hopeville. Here, your average superhero named Perfect Man protects its trusting and oblivious citizens against danger. His good deeds include grabbing a pair of scissors out of the hands of a running boy and rescuing the mayor's baby from falling out of a window. All is swell until Perfect Man's girlfriend rejects him. He loses his confidence and his power. Soon Perfect Man meets his demise in the form of a villainous trio (Sex, Drugs and Rockenroll) who have been gleefully waiting for their opportunity to turn the unsuspecting town to chaos. Can the citizens wise-up, band together to fight villainy and put the hope back into Hopeville?

Seanacha? Theatre Company Presents the Chicago premiere of OUR FATHER by M.G. Stephens Directed by Jeff Christian MONDAYS @ 8pm, March 16th - April 13th Economy got you down? Come drown your sorrows and PAY WHAT YOU CAN!' Be glad. The old man's dead.'

The Unseen is notable writer of stage and television Craig Wright's (TV's 'Lost', 'Dirty, Sexy Money', and the theatre's Recent Tragic Events and The Pavilion, et al) psychological potboiler about two prisoners trying to crack the code of their cryptic imprisonment by a brutal, totalitarian regime. Only familiar to each other by their voices, the two men keep each other mentally and emotionally going through the cell walls as they share stories of their interrogations and torture, putting the pieces together about who their captors are and what it would take to get out. The puzzle is further complicated with the introduction of a new prisoner placed near them who only poses more questions than answers.

ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATRE ((William Carden, Artistic Director, Paul Alexander Slee, Executive Director) and THE ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION (Doron Weber, Program Director) presents the Off-Broadway premiere of END DAYS, a new play by Deborah Zoe Laufer, directed by Lisa Peterson (Shipwrecked!)*. Performances begin March 25th, and continue through April 19th at E.S.T. (549 West 52nd Street).

The Barrow Group Theatre Company will present a studio theatre production of WHO YOU SEE HERE by Matt Hoverman, directed by Stacy Shane, with performances starting on Friday, March 6, 2009 (Opening is Saturday, March 7th, 2009). WHO YOU SEE HERE is a four-character comedy about a small town couple whose love is tested when a charismatic but troubled movie star stumbles into their local AA meeting.

ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATRE ((William Carden, Artistic Director, Paul Alexander Slee, Executive Director) and THE ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION (Doron Weber, Program Director) proudly announce the Off-Broadway premiere of END DAYS, a new play by Deborah Zoe Laufer, directed by Lisa Peterson*. Performances begin March 25th, and continue through April 19th at E.S.T. (549 West 52nd Street). Lisa Peterson* directs a cast that includes Molly Ephraim, Dane DeHaan, Peter Friedman, Deidre O'Connell, and Paco Tolson*. End Days will have set design by Lee Savage, lighting design by Raquel Davis, costume design by Suzanne Chesney, and sound design & original composition by Ryan Rumery.

Flying Machine Productions presents the Off-Broadway premiere of BLOOD TYPE: RAGU, a new play written and performed by Frank Ingrasciotta. Preview perfomances began February 20th with the official Opening Night on Thursday, March 5th at 7:30 p.m. at the newly restored Actors' Playhouse (100 Seventh Avenue South).

The American Actor's Company (The Traveling Lady) is proud to present the Off-Broadway premiere of The Unseen by Craig Wright. Performances of this limited Off-Broadway engagement will be at the Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce St) beginning previews March 5th, Opening March 8th and closing March 28th. Performances run Tuesdays ? Sundays at 8 PM, Saturdays at 2 PM, Sundays at 3 PM. Tickets are $45 and can be purchased by calling Telecharge at 212-239-6200 or by going to www.telecharge.com. For more information please visit www.unseentheplay.com.

Flying Machine Productions presents the Off-Broadway premiere of BLOOD TYPE: RAGU, a new play written and performed by Frank Ingrasciotta. Preview perfomances began February 20th with the official Opening Night on Thursday, March 5th at 7:30 p.m. at the newly restored Actors' Playhouse (100 Seventh Avenue South).

Florida Studio Theatre continues it's Stage III Series with ...and L.A. is Burning opening March 4 and continues through March 19, 2009. Called 'a powerful examination of a changing nation' by the Houston Press ...and L.A. is Burning recently received the Smith Prize from the National New Play Network for 2008.

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) begins 2009 with the New York premiere of THE SAVANNAH DISPUTATION, a new play by Evan Smith (Psych and The Uneasy Chair at Playwrights Horizons, Remedial English for the Young Playwrights Festival at Playwrights Horizons, Servicemen at The New Group). This will be Mr. Smith's fourth collaboration with the theater company.

Blood Type: RAGU is a hilarious and poignant exploration of the Sicilian immigrant experience based on the life of writer/performer Frank Ingrasciotta. This one-man show features more than 20 characters, who live, love and laugh as they struggle to thrive in a new culture, while nurturing the traditions of the old. It's not drama . . . it's just family! And we all have one, and now you can enjoy the family for $29.50 Tickets Any Day, Any Time!

Emmy-nominated Paul Anthony Stewart stars as Raskolnikov in a gripping 90-minute adaptation of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment at The Cleveland Play House. In addition to numerous New York and regional theatre roles, Stewart, who was nominated for his recurring role on 'Guiding Light,' recently appeared on Broadway in the revivals of Fiddler on the Roof and Cyrano - The Musical. Performed with only three actors, the adaptation of Crime and Punishment by Marilyn Campbell and Cut Columbus is being helmed by the acclaimed director of the 2005 Play House production of I Am My Own Wife, Anders Cato. Crime and Punishment begins in the Drury Theatre at The Cleveland Play House on Friday, February 27 and runs through Sunday, March 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. Crime and Punishment is presented in promotional partnership with National City and Baker & Hostetler.