Huntington Theatre Company News

Huntington Theatre Company continues its 2013-2014 Season with playwright-in-residence Melinda Lopez's latest play, the stirring new drama Becoming Cuba. Huntington Associate Producer M. Bevin O'Gara makes her Huntington directorial debut of the Huntington's playwright-in-residence's latest work. Performances of Becoming Cuba begin at the South End / Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA on March 28. Due to popular demand, the run has been extended to May 3, 2014.

Real-life mother and son Tony and Emmy Award nominee Kate Burton (The Corn is Green, The Cherry Orchard, Hedda Gabler at the Huntington) and Morgan Ritchie (The Corn Is Green) play mother and son onstage together for the first time when they return to the Huntington Theatre Company for a lush new production of Anton Chekhov's passionate classic The Seagull. Huntington favorite Maria Aitken (The Cocktail Hour, Betrayal) will direct the Paul Schmidt translation of the classic of world drama about love, missed connections, and what it means to be an artist. Performances of The Seagull continue at the Avenue of the Arts / BU Theatre through April 6, 2014 at the BU Theatre; Opening Night is tomorrow, Wednesday, March 12. Check out a first look below!

Berkeley Repertory Theatre continues the second half of its season with Tribes, a sophisticated and moving family drama by celebrated British playwright Nina Raine. Her profound and powerful new play became an award-winning hit in London and New York. Now renowned director Jonathan Moscone brings it to Berkeley Rep this April for its Bay Area premiere. Tribes follows Billy, a young man who was born deaf into a loquacious and highly opinionated academic family who raised him to lip-read and integrate into the hearing world. When he meets Sylvia - raised by Deaf parents and going deaf herself - Billy decides it's time to speak on his own terms and to be heard. Playing out in words, sign language, and sometimes mesmerizing silence, this penetrating drama examines familial love, notions of belonging, and the intersections of communication. Tribes start previews Friday, April 11, opens on April 16, and closes on Sunday, May 11, 2014.

Springfield Central High School student Courtney Stewart was named Massachusetts's 2014 Poetry Out Loud Champion Sunday at Boston's Old South Meetinghouse, repeating his victory from 2013. The sophomore bested 23 other finalists including the 2012 winner, Stephanie Igharosa from Randolph High School, who was named first runner-up. Second runner-up was Darlande Joseney from Avon Middle High School.

Pioneer Theatre Company presents the second installment in its new play reading series, called Play-By-Play: A Public Education by Jeff Talbott on March 14 and 15, 2014. Guest artist Shana Gold directs the production.

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd announces the cast and creative team for Alan Ayckbourn's science fiction comedy Communicating Doors. Eleven plays penned by Alan Ayckbourn have been produced by the Alley, including the American premiere of Henceforward, directed by Ayckbourn, in 1987 and House & Garden in 2002. Alan Ayckbourn has been inducted into the American Theatre's Hall of Fame, received the 2010 Critics' Circle Award for Services to the Arts, became the first British playwright to receive both Olivier and Tony Special Lifetime Achievement Awards and was knighted in 1997 for services to the theatre.

Previews begin tomorrow night, Saturday, March 8, for the return to Broadway of Tony Award-winner and two-time Academy Award-winner Denzel Washington, starring as Walter Lee Younger in Lorraine Hansberry's A RAISIN IN THE SUN. This new production begins previews nearly 55 years to the day that A RAISIN IN THE SUN had its Broadway premiere (March 11, 1959) at the same theatre, the Ethel Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th Street). Scroll down to learn more about the cast!

The film, directed by Jon Favreau, is based on the Kipling classic, which follows an orphaned boy who was raised by wolves and other animals. The animals act as protectors for the boy from the evil tiger Shere Khan (Elba).

In conjunction with its upcoming production of Anton Chekhov's passionate classic The Seagull, Huntington Theatre Company will host a number of special post-show conversations. Admission to onsite post-show events is free with a ticket to The Seagull, available at huntingtontheatre.org/seagull, by phone at 617 266 0800, or in person at the BU Theatre (264 Huntington Avenue) and Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA (527 Tremont Street) box offices. Tickets start at $25. Performances begin Today, March 7, 2014 at the Avenue of the Arts / BU Theatre.

From today, March 7 through April 5, 2014, SpeakEasy Stage Company will present the New England premiere of the acclaimed Off-Broadway drama THE WHALE by Samuel D. Hunter.

In conjunction with its upcoming production of Anton Chekhov's passionate classic The Seagull, Huntington Theatre Company will host a number of special post-show conversations. Admission to onsite post-show events is free with a ticket to The Seagull, available at huntingtontheatre.org/seagull, by phone at 617 266 0800, or in person at the BU Theatre (264 Huntington Avenue) and Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA (527 Tremont Street) box offices. Tickets start at $25. Performances begin Friday, March 7, 2014 at the Avenue of the Arts / BU Theatre.

Broadway stars might boast the biggest fan-bases, but without their directors, the vehicle driving their talents could easily swerve off the tracks. Keeping the runaway train at bay are season's bold Broadway 'conductors'. Scroll down to learn more about this season's intrepid and imaginative leaders!

Annie Baker takes live theater to the movies in THE FLICK, set in a rundown, second-run Worcester movie house. The audience gets to be like a fly on the wall as the ushers sweep up the detritus and muddle through their existential struggles between shows. Not much happens, but everything changes over the course of three hours.

Seventy-four high school students from across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will participate in four regional semi-final competitions this weekend, March 1 and 2 as part of the ninth annual Poetry Out Loud. Semi-final competitions will be held in Boston, Framingham, Springfield, and on Cape Cod. All upcoming competitions are free and open to the public.

Artistic Director Les Waters and Managing Director Jennifer Bielstein are delighted to announce the 38th Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville, running tonight, February 26-April 6, 2014. This year's Festival program will feature (in order of opening):

The Nominating Committee of the Independent Reviewers of New England has just announced nominees for the 2014 IRNE Awards. The Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) Awards, founded by Beverly Creasey of the Journal Newspapers and Larry Stark of TheaterMirror in 1997, recognize the extraordinary wealth of talent in the Boston theatre community.

Huntington Theatre Company has received 29 IRNE Award nominations from the Independent Reviewers of New England for its 2013 productions. The Committee recognized the Huntington with the following nominations:

Seventy-four high school students from across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will participate in four regional semi-final competitions March 1 and 2 as part of the ninth annual Poetry Out Loud. Semi-final competitions will be held in Boston, Framingham, Springfield, and on Cape Cod. All upcoming competitions are free and open to the public.

Alley Theatre presents the world premiere of a new comedy by Theresa Rebeck, Fool. In Rebeck's new comedy, two kings get together and place a wager on their fools - a jester competition, and the funniest one gets to keep his head. Two evil minions have a lot to say about this, but not as much as the kitchen wench. And what's the queen been up to all night? A dramatical comical farcical tragical play about power, love and laughter, set in a medieval kitchen. Adult Language, Adult Situations, Beheadings.