Eureka News

Carrie Fisher set box-office records at Berkeley Repertory Theatre with her hilarious solo show, Wishful Drinking. Then it became a New York Times bestseller and played to sold-out crowds on a six-city national tour. Now Fisher returns to Berkeley Rep's Roda Theatre, her last stop before the show bursts onto Broadway! This limited run - 15 performances only - begins July 9 and ends July 23.

Untitled Theater Co. #61 will present a Festival of Jewish Theater & Ideas May 20th through June 14th. The Festival, which will include production by theater companies from around the US & Canada, will frame the Association for Jewish Theatre - International Conference (June 6-10), which will be hosted by Untitled Theater Co. #61, Artistic Director Edward Einhorn. This international conference of Jewish theater professionals is held annually in a different city.

Guthrie Director Joe Dowling today announced directors for the three productions slated to headline the theater's 2009 Tony Kushner celebration, in addition to three speaking events designed to expand and enhance the issues raised in the work of this Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright.

42nd Street Moon?s 2008/09 season draws to a close with Maureen McVerry starring in Cy Coleman?s rip-roaring musical treat, Wildcat, book by N. Richard Nash, lyrics by Carolyn Leigh, and music by Cy Coleman. The show previews on May 7 and 8, and opens on Saturday, May 9. It runs at the Eureka Theatre through May 24.

Today Berkeley Repertory Theatre announced an addition to the royally talented cast of You, Nero. Mike McShane - the popular comic who became a regular on Whose Line is it Anyway? - takes the local stage for the first time in more than 20 years to perform in this smart and sassy show.

Untitled Theater Co. #61 will present a Festival of Jewish Theater & Ideas May 20th through June 14th. The Festival, which will include production by theater companies from around the US & Canada, will frame the Association for Jewish Theatre - International Conference (June 6-10), which will be hosted by Untitled Theater Co. #61, Artistic Director Edward Einhorn. This international conference of Jewish theater professionals is held annually in a different city.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director), in association with Jonathan Reinis, Jamie Cesa, Eva Price & Berkeley Repertory Theatre, is proud to present the Broadway premiere production of Wishful Drinking, created and performed by Carrie Fisher and directed by Tony Taccone at Studio 54 on Broadway (254 West 54th St).

In collaboration with 42nd Street Moon, a workshop production of a dramatic new musical Shadows of Pompeii debuts at the Eureka Theatre, April 16 - 26.

42nd Street Moon today announced that the previously scheduled non-subscription program The Great Revues has been replaced with the dramatic new musical Shadows of Pompeii to run April 16 - 26, 2009. The show will be submitted in 2010 to the National Alliance for Musical Theatre's Festival of New Musicals. A saga of Romans living in the seaside village of Pompeii in AD 79 at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, Shadows of Pompeii was written by Bay Area playwright R.C. Staab, with music and lyrics by Keith Herrmann, the Tony-nominated composer of Romance, Romance, Onward Victoria (also featured on Broadway) and Prom Queens Unchained, an off-Broadway hit.

Greg MacKellan, artistic director of 42nd Street Moon, and Stephanie Rhoads, producing director, today announced details of the upcoming 2009-10 season of uncommon musical theater. The offering has been called 'Forget Your Troubles' and as Rhoads explains: 'In this time of turmoil and uncertainly, we hope that 42nd Street Moon will be a place to experience the sweet joy that a visit to vintage Broadway musicals can offer.'

In collaboration with 42nd Street Moon, a workshop production of a dramatic new musical Shadows of Pompeii debuts at the Eureka Theatre, April 16 - 26.

Artistic Director, Nick A. Olivero, has tapped into a desperate and titillating underground in the world-premiere urban rock musical Rent Boy Ave.: A Fairy's Tale. Closing Boxcar's 2008-2009 season themed 'fairy tales' the story follows David, a new kid to the street, and Mark, a veteran of male prostitution at the early age of seventeen. The two of them struggle to survive a nasty world littered with innocent looking old men with an indecent taboo sensibility, sharp pangs of irreconcilable hunger and a bible-thumping fishnet-wearing nun. As a modern day Hansel and Gretel, they navigate their way through dangerous alleys and pal around with Jackie, a Little Red Riding Hood-like prostitute fighting a drug addiction to meth with a big bad wolf pimp who won't let her go. However, it doesn't take long for David to slip down the rabbit's hole and start selling drugs and eventually conspire with Jackie to kill her pimp. Mark, on the other hand, becomes engrossed by the fairy godmother nun, Sister Mercy, and escapes the embittered streets to a destiny unknown.

42nd Street Moon takes pride in presenting 'Craig Jessup Sings Noel Coward,' a tribute to writer, actor, director, composer and bon vivant Noel Coward, for four performances only at 7 pm on April 5, 7, 8 and 12 at the Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson Street. Jessup will be accompanied by acclaimed Bay Area pianist, Ken Muir.

42nd Street Moon?s 2008/09 season draws to a close with Maureen McVerry starring in Cy Coleman?s rip-roaring musical treat, Wildcat, book by N. Richard Nash, lyrics by Carolyn Leigh, and music by Cy Coleman. The show previews on May 7 and 8, and opens on Saturday, May 9. It runs at the Eureka Theatre through May 24.

Greg MacKellan, artistic director of 42nd Street Moon, today announced that the company would postpone the production of The Baker's Wife scheduled in early spring, and replace it with High Spirits, the musical version of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, opening March 21 and running through April 5, 2009.

42nd Street Moon proudly presents High Spirits, the musical version of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, opening March 21 and running through April 12 at the Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson Street in San Francisco. As previously announced, it replaces The Baker's Wife, which will be presented next season. High Spirits, with a book, lyrics and music by Hugh Martin and Timothy Gray, adheres closely to Coward's original text, which was about a man who is haunted by the mischievous spirit of his dead wife. The playwright was delighted with the adaptation, and agreed to direct the Broadway show, which starred Edward Woodward, Louise Troy, Tammy Grimes and Beatrice Lillie. The show garnered eight Tony nominations in 1964, and proved to be Ms. Lillie's final Broadway appearance.

Rubicon Theatre Company continues its 'Brave New World' Season with FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. The musical begins previews Thursday, March 19, open on Saturday, March 21 at 7pm and run through Sunday, April 26, 2009 at Rubicon Theatre, 1006 E. Main Street in Ventura. FIDDLER ON THE ROOF is the Tony Award? winning musical that captured the hearts of people all over the world with its universal appeal. The play tells the story of Tevye, a Jewish milkman coping with day-to-day 'shtetl' life, Jewish traditions and the women in his life in pre-Revolutionary Russia.

Marin Theatre Company presents the final show of its highly successful 2008-09 season with a seminal work of modern comedy, Joe Orton's uproarious farce What the Butler Saw in MTC's Boyer Theatre beginning June 4.

Rubicon Theatre Company continues its ?Brave New World? Season with Fiddler on the Roof. The musical begins previews Thursday, March 19, open on Saturday, March 21 at 7pm and run through Sunday, April 26, 2009 at Rubicon Theatre, 1006 E. Main Street in Ventura.

Join the members of the Martin E. Segal Theatre for a two-day celebration of The Living Theatre, including screenings of work, documentaries, panel discussions, staged readings, and more. Invited participants include: Thomas Walker, Alisa Solomon, Carlo Altomare, Kenneth Brown, Joan MacIntosh, Cyndy Rosenthal, Marvin Carlson, and David Savran. The event will cuminate in the presentation of the Edwin Booth Award by the Doctoral Theatre Students Association to Judith Malina.