George Street News

The B Street Theatre presents WIT by Margaret Edson Pulitzer Prize winning play continues B Street Theatre's hit 'B3 Series' The B Street Theatre, Sacramento's professional new works theatre, is pleased to present WIT by Margaret Edson. Winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, WIT is the third production of the B Street Theatre's 2008-2009 'B3 Series.' WIT is the story of Vivian Bearing, Ph.D., renowned professor of English who has been diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. In her study of the metaphysical poems of 17th-century writer John Donne, she is intense and probing yet detached. In her journey through an experimental chemotherapy treatment, Vivian finds insight, humor and humanity. WIT was premiered in 1995 at South Coast Repertory and went on to win the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Lucille Lortel Award for best play. WIT is the first play by playwright Margaret Edson, who lives in Atlanta where she is an elementary school teacher.

Escape the winter doldrums with some red hot jazz as Broadway, TV and film veteran Suzzanne Douglas brilliantly conjures up the legendary Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill opening Thursday, January 22, and running through Sunday, February 15, at the Bickford Theatre, 6 Normandy Heights Road, in Morristown, NJ.

Tender Thread Productions and WOW Cafe Theater will present previews of playwright/director Theresa Diamond's Ridiculous play WAITING FOR THE SHOW at WOW Caf? Theatre (59 E4th St.), an Obie-winning women's theater collective, in NYC's East Village on Thursday, January 8, 2009. The official opening will be on Saturday, January 17, 2009.

The B Street Theatre presents WIT by Margaret Edson Pulitzer Prize winning play continues B Street Theatre's hit 'B3 Series' The B Street Theatre, Sacramento's professional new works theatre, is pleased to present WIT by Margaret Edson. Winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, WIT is the third production of the B Street Theatre's 2008-2009 'B3 Series.' WIT is the story of Vivian Bearing, Ph.D., renowned professor of English who has been diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. In her study of the metaphysical poems of 17th-century writer John Donne, she is intense and probing yet detached. In her journey through an experimental chemotherapy treatment, Vivian finds insight, humor and humanity. WIT was premiered in 1995 at South Coast Repertory and went on to win the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Lucille Lortel Award for best play. WIT is the first play by playwright Margaret Edson, who lives in Atlanta where she is an elementary school teacher.

South Coast Repertory today announced the cast and creative team for Michael Frayn's ingenious comedic masterpiece, Noises Off. Directed by Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award winner Art Manke, Noises Off will run from Feb. 6 through March 8 on the Segerstrom Stage. Low-priced previews are available from Feb. 6 through Feb. 12. Opening night is Feb. 13. Press night is Saturday, Feb. 14 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets to Noises Off may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office. Noises Off follows the on-and off-stage antics of an inept acting troupe as they stumble from bumbling dress rehearsal to disastrous closing night. Everything that can go wrong does, as actors desperately try to hang on to their lines, their performances and the furniture. Add a slippery plate of sardines and many slamming doors, and you have the most hilarious backstage farce ever written. Art Manke received his fifth Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for directing SCR's West Coast premiere of Bach at Leipzig in 2006. Other work with SCR includes last season's Taking Steps, the world premiere musical version of The Wind in the Willows and choreography for numerous productions. Elsewhere in Southern California, Manke has directed The Constant Wife, Private Lives and the American premiere of Noel Coward's Star Quality for Pasadena Playhouse and the world premiere of The Ice-Breaker at Laguna Playhouse. Manke was a co-founder and artistic director (1991-2001) of A Noise Within where he directed the works of Shakespeare, Moli?re, Wilde, Coward and Sophocles. Other credits include work with Denver Center Theatre Company, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Old Globe Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, American Players Theatre, among others. The cast features Nancy Bell (Belinda Blair), Bill Brochtrup (Garry Lejeune), Kandis Chappell (Dotty Otley), Winslow Corbett (Poppy Norton-Taylor), Kaleo Griffith (Lloyd Dallas), Brian Hostenske (Tim Allgood), Timothy Landfield (Frederick Fellows), Jennifer Lyon (Brooke Ashton) and Nick Ullett (Selsdon Mowbray). The creative team for Noises Off includes John Iacvelli (Set Design), Angela Balogh Calin (Costume Design), York Kennedy (Lighting Design), Vincent Olivieri (Sound Design), Ken Merckx (Movement Consultant), David Newell (Dialect Coach), Linda Sullivan Baity (Dramaturg) and Jamie Tucker (Stage Manager). Dee and Larry Higby are the Honorary Producers of Noises Off. OC Metro is the Media Partner. Associated events taking place during the run of Noises Off include: POST-SHOW DISCUSSIONS Wednesday, Feb. 18 & Tuesday, Feb. 24 Discuss the play with members of the Noises Off cast during free post-show discussions led by South Coast Repertory's literary team after the 7:30 p.m. performances on Feb. 18 and Feb. 24. INSIDE THE SEASON: Noises Off Saturday, Feb. 21, 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. $12 Inside the Season is a series of interactive classes that provide a comprehensive inside look at the theatrical production process. Each two-hour class is led by School and Community Programs Director Linda Sullivan Baity and features creative personnel from South Coast Repertory's current production. Tickets are $12 each and can be purchased by calling the Box Office at (714) 708-5555. (Tickets to Noises Off are sold separately.) TICKETS to Noises Off can be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or by visiting the box office at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa. Performances begin on Feb. 6 and continue through March 8. Ticket prices range from $20 to $64. Low-priced preview performances are available from Feb. 6 to Feb. 12. Performance times: Previews: Friday, Feb. 6 and Saturday, Feb. 7 at 8:00 p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 8, Tuesday, Feb. 10 and Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 7:30 p.m.; and Thursday, Feb. 12 at 8:00pm. Regular Performances: Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m.; and Sunday evenings at 7:30 p.m. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 25 years of age and under, educators, seniors and groups of 15 or more. There will be a 'Pay-What-You-Will' performance on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 2:30 p.m. ($10 Minimum) and an ASL-interpreted performance on Saturday, March 7 at 2:30 p.m.

Tony Award-nominee Nancy Opel will be reunited with her Tony Award-winning Urinetown director, John Rando, when she stars in the new musical, The Toxic Avenger. The casting was announced today by the show's producers, Jean Cheever and Tom Polum. Ms. Opel, who created her role in the show's world premiere at George Street Playhouse (New Brunswick, New Jersey), plays the mayor of a mythical small New Jersey town (not dissimilar to a real-life former mayor of a small Alaska town).

McCarter Theatre Center Artistic Director and Resident Playwright Emily Mann has been named one of New Jersey's most influential people by New Jersey Monthly. The magazine's new 'Power Issue', on newsstands now, lists 101 individuals, from politics to the arts, who have the most impact on the way we live in New Jersey.

GLIMPSES OF THE MOON is pleased to announce the following special guest stars have confirmed to appear Monday nights at 8pm in the Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel.

Profiles Theatre continues its 20th Anniversary Season with the acclaimed new comedy-drama Great Falls by Lee Blessing, directed by Profiles Artistic Director Joe Jahraus. The production runs January 15 - March 1, 2009, at Profiles Theatre, 4147 N. Broadway.

Escape the winter doldrums with some red hot jazz as Broadway, TV and film veteran Suzzanne Douglas brilliantly conjures up the legendary Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill opening Thursday, January 22, and running through Sunday, February 15, at the Bickford Theatre, 6 Normandy Heights Road, in Morristown, NJ.

The YORK THEATRE COMPANY (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director) and Melanie Herman, who produced The Musical Of Musicals (The Musical!), announce the final performances of the Off-Broadway Premiere of My Vaudeville Man!, a new musical based on the life of legendary eccentric tap star Jack Donahue. My Vaudeville Man! had its world premiere at last year's NY Musical Theatre Festival under the title Mud Donahue and Son.

George Street Playhouse begins 2009 with its production of Donald Marguiles' Sight Unseen. When first presented in 1992, the play won the OBIE Award for Best New American Play, was nominated for a Drama Desk, and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. George Street Playhouse Artistic Director will helm the production, slated to run at the New Brunswick theatre January2020 - February 15, 2009. Matthew Arkin, last seen at GSP in their production of Theresa Rebeck's The Scene, leads an ensemble including Heidi Armbruster, Christopher Curry and Kathleen McNenny.

The YORK THEATRE COMPANY (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director) and Melanie Herman, who produced The Musical Of Musicals (The Musical!), are proud to announce that the Off-Broadway Premiere of My Vaudeville Man!, a new musical based on The Life of legendary eccentric tap star Jack Donahue, will be recorded on January 2nd for release this Spring.

Atlantic Theater Company and Druid are proud to announce a four week extension of Martin McDonagh's hit dark comedy THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN, which will now play through Sunday, March 1st, 2009 Off Broadway at Atlantic's Linda Gross Theater (336 West 20th Street).

Soon there'll be another 'Jersey Boy' in town! The Toxic Avenger, a new musical by Joe DiPietro (I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change) & David Bryan (Bon Jovi), with direction by John Rand0 (Urinetown), will begin performances on Wednesday, March 18, 2009, at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street), it was announced today by the show's producers Jean Cheever and Tom Polum. Opening Night is set for Monday, April 6th.

Tender Thread Productions and WOW Cafe Theater will present previews of playwright/director Theresa Diamond's Ridiculous play WAITING FOR THE SHOW at WOW Caf? Theatre (59 E4th St.), an Obie-winning women's theater collective, in NYC's East Village on Thursday, January 8, 2009. The official opening will be on Saturday, January 17, 2009.

The Cardinal Group (D.H. Johnson & Richard Pepenella) present 'Avow' by Bill C. Davis, Off Broadway at the 45th Street Theatre, 354 West 45 Street. Previews begin on Thursday, February 19, 2009 and the opening is Wednesday, February 25 at 8:00 pm for the limited Off Broadway engagement which takes a timely and poignant look at contemporary religion's role in shaping social issues.

Profiles Theatre continues its 20th Anniversary Season with the acclaimed new comedy-drama Great Falls by Lee Blessing, directed by Profiles Artistic Director Joe Jahraus. The production runs January 15 - March 1, 2009, at Profiles Theatre, 4147 N. Broadway.

Due to critical acclaim and popular demand, Magic Theatre Company's Evie's Waltz extended the run through Dec 21. The play is a provocative look at parenting today's American teen.

George Street Playhouse is celebrating the December holidays in a big way with a series of musical performances for a special Holiday Cabaret. The musical celebration will feature the talents of Tony Award nominee Robert Cuccioli, who is currently performing at George Street Playhouse in Conor McPherson's The Seafarer. Mr. Cuccioli received a Tony Nomination and is perhaps best known for playing the title role in Broadway's Jekyll & Hyde. Joining Mr. Cuccioli will be fellow Tony nominee Sally Mayes from the recent Broadway revival of She Loves Me. Christopher Howatt will serve as musical director and performer for the revue. Performances take place Saturday, December 20 at 2 and 8PM, and Sunday, December 21 at 2PM.