Haruki Murakami News

The Play Company (PlayCo), led by Founding Producer Kate Loewald and Executive Producer Lauren Weigel celebrates its 15th Anniversary season with programming that exemplifies its unique commitment to premiering plays from around the world, including the U.S., to advance a dynamic, international experience of contemporary theater as part of the American repertoire.

?Today, The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep's Center for the Creation and Development of New Work announces that it has selected 14 projects for its fourth Summer Residency Lab featuring works from more than 20 talented artists.

Japan Society proudly presents a staged reading of Dancing with the Bird by Japanese playwright Seiji Nozoe, translated and directed by New York-based theater artist James Yaegashi. As part of Japan Society's 2014-15 Performing Arts Season, Dancing with the Bird marks the 11th installment of the Society's annual Play Reading Series of contemporary Japanese plays in English translation.

On Monday, March 16, 2015, the League of Professional Theatre Women (LPTW), a not-for-profit organization committed to promoting visibility and increasing opportunities for women in the professional theatre, is pleased to recognize the talents of five outstanding women: Mary-Mitchell Campbell, Kathleen Chalfant, Sandra A. Daley-Sharif, Rachel Dickstein, and Donyale Werle.

Nigel Redden, Director of Lincoln Center Festival, today announced the line-up for the 20th edition of the Festival, which runs from July 6 through August 2, 2015. The Festival will unfold in six venues on and off the Lincoln Center campus. There will be a total of 58 performances by artists and ensembles from Germany, China, England, Ireland, Russia, USA, and Japan.

Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director) and Barry Grove (Executive Producer) announce recent recipients of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Initiative commissions for Manhattan Theatre Club. The commissioned writers are Jeff Augustin (Little Children Dream of God), Courtney Baron (A Very Common Procedure) and Juliana Nash (Murder Ballad), Nell Benjamin (The Explorers Club), Madeline George (The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence), Tom Holloway (And No More Shall We Part), Nathan Jackson (Broke-ology), Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (An Octoroon), Greg Pierce (Slowgirl), and Alexandra Wood (The Initiate).

As schools are opening their doors and welcoming students back, class at the Mad Cow Theatre Company is also back in session with a production of Alan Bennett's 2005 Tony Winning Play, THE HISTORY BOYS. My review on the production, running through September 7th, will be up early next week. In the meantime, I was able to interview some of the cast members. Instead of your basic interview with straightforward questions, I kept with the spirit of Bennett's scholastic play by passing out the blue books with three open-ended questions about some of the themes from the play. Although these answers will not be graded, I am sure if Irwin took a glance at them he would not be regarding them as "abysmally dull".

Since there's no end-all-be-all 'best seller' list, BWW Books has rounded up both The New York Times' top sellers as well as Amazon's - providing you with your one-stop look at this week's top reads!

Nothing defines a summer more than the experience of being engrossed in a really good book. Its ability to sweep the reader away to another time, to be part of another family, or even to inhabit a world of crime and intrigue - all from the comfort of one's own deck chair - is a seduction few readers can refuse. Indeed, whether it's a critically acclaimed novel, an 800 page romp, or a chilling page-turner, there is nothing quite like getting lost in a book on a summer's day.

Dominic Walsh Dance Theater (DWDT) will continue its 2013-2014 season with an innovative dance film project, to premiere today, April 25, 2014 at Asia Society Texas Center. Co- conceived by DWDT Artistic Director Dominic Walsh and Belgian artist Frederique de Montblanc, the film is set to feature Japanese ballerina Hana Sakai and Italian danseur Domenico Luciano, who last performed together in 2012's Uzume.

Following its successful transfer of the Edinburgh Fringe hit The Peculiar Tale of Pablo Picasso and the Mona Lisa to the Brockley Jack Studio Theatre in February and its current Marlowe450 season at Canterbury's Marlowe Theatre, the Fourth Monkey Theatre Company can now reveal the remainder of its spring programme.

Author Jasper-Lee Williams uncovers four stories that will enchant readers in his new publication, 'Gabriel and Other Tales.' With a dose of organic characters and coupled with fantastic elements, this book is an incredible solution to everyday people's problems.

Following its successful transfer of the Edinburgh Fringe hit The Peculiar Tale of Pablo Picasso and the Mona Lisa to the Brockley Jack Studio Theatre in February and its current Marlowe450 season at Canterbury's Marlowe Theatre, the Fourth Monkey Theatre Company can now reveal the remainder of its spring programme.

Dominic Walsh Dance Theater (DWDT) will continue its 2013-2014 season with an innovative dance film project, to premiere on Friday, April 25, 2014 at Asia Society Texas Center. Co- conceived by DWDT Artistic Director Dominic Walsh and Belgian artist Frederique de Montblanc, the film is set to feature Japanese ballerina Hana Sakai and Italian danseur Domenico Luciano, who last performed together in 2012's Uzume.

An incredible work of investigative journalism, THE SNOWDEN FILES: The Inside Story of the World's Most Wanted Man by Luke Harding (The Guardian) tells the story of the individuals behind the biggest intelligence leak in history and the forces that tried to stop them. The first, and definitive, book on Edward Snowden,THE SNOWDEN FILES deftly synthesizes many disparate sources and strands of this story into one cohesive insider narrative that reads like an espionage novel. THE SNOWDEN FILES will be published by Vintage Books as a paperback original on February 11, 2014.

The Vineyard Theatre world-premiere production of the musical THE LANDING - with book and lyrics by Greg Pierce, music by John Kander and directed by Walter Bobbie - will conclude its acclaimed run with a special VIP benefit reception for patrons following the final performance today, November 24 at 3 p.m. at The Vineyard. (108 E. 15 St.)

The Vineyard Theatre world-premiere production of the musical THE LANDING - with book and lyrics by Greg Pierce, music by John Kander and directed by Walter Bobbie - will conclude its acclaimed run with a special VIP benefit reception for patrons following the final performance on Sunday, November 24 at 3 p.m. at The Vineyard. (108 E. 15 St.) A $200 VIP ticket includes premium seating for the show as well as a champagne toast with the musical's cast and creative team onstage after the performance. For reservations and information contact Julie Erhart at 212-353-3366 or jerhart@vineyardtheatre.org.

The Vineyard Theatre has announced its world-premiere production of the musical THE LANDING -- with book and lyrics by Greg Pierce, music by John Kander and directed by Walter Bobbie -- will extend its previously-announced engagement by two weeks, now scheduled to play through November 24 at The Vineyard (108 E. 15 St.). THE LANDING began preview performances October 3 with opening night set for October 23.

The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) has announced SpinOff 2013, a new annual dance series premiering today, October 6-November 3. This month-long celebration of contemporary dance will present work by emerging and mid-career, Midwest-based choreographers and dance companies. All performances are FREE and feature Chicago and world premieres as well as excerpts from works-in-progress as part of DCASE Theater and Dance programming.

The Cultch presents the world premiere of Up-in-the-air Theatre's Inside the Seed, a re-imagining of Oedipus Rex as a modern-day tragedy. Inside the Seed is set in a giant bio-genetics corporation that aspires to grow the perfect seed-The Golden Grain, and to thusly feed the world and end starvation. Deeply relevant, with a hard edge of comedy- Inside the Seed is passionately and unabashedly political with the tension, pace and the energy of a thriller. Inside the Seed is directed by Richard Wolfe and designed by Florence Barrett (costumes), Jerguš Opršal (Set, Lights, Projections) and Jordan Lloyd Watkins (sound). The large, fully professional, multi-cultural cast, includes: Mia K Ingimundson, Carl Kennedy, Tamara McCarthy, Adele Noronha, Alison Raine, Patrick Sabongui, Dallas Sauer and Tetsuro Shigematsu. Inside the Seed runs October 2-12, 2013 at the The Cultch.