Irene Ryan News

Free For All, one of the capital's cherished annual traditions, will return this summer to Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC), offering two weeks of free performances of the Company's 2016 production of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet. Directed by STC Associate Artistic Director Alan Paul, whose hit production of Camelot has extended through July 8 due to popular demand, the production will run at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F St NW) from August 21-September 2, providing more than 12,000 people the chance to see the play free of charge.

Rebel Theatrical Management, LLC (Harvey Butler, producer), in association with The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture, have announced, today, the cast and the creative team for the New York premiere of the new play Little Rock, written and directed by Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj. Performances are set to begin Today, May 30, 2018 for a limited run through September 8, 2018 at The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture (18 Bleecker Street). Opening Night is set for Thursday, June 14, 2018 at 7:00PM.

The Mountain Play, the San Francisco Bay Area's most magical outdoor theater experience is proud to present Mamma Mia! for its 105th Season. Directed by Jay Manley, Musical Direction by Jon Gallo, and Choreography by Nicole Helfer and Zoe Swenson-Graham.

Chelsea Marcantel is not an air guitarist. Nor is she a part of an air guitar shredding family. She found the world through a former boyfriend she met in Chicago. "I thought...this is the dumbest thing I've ever heard." The relationship did not work out, however, Marcantel found herself going down a "Youtube Wormhole" of air guitar performances. And after watching the acclaimed documentary Air Guitar Nation, she began writing a play about the world of imaginary soloing.

Rebel Theatrical Management, LLC (Harvey Butler, producer), in association with The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture, have announced, today, the cast and the creative team for the New York premiere of the new play Little Rock, written and directed by Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj. Performances are set to begin Wednesday, May 30, 2018 for a limited run through September 8, 2018 at The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture (18 Bleecker Street). Opening Night is set for Thursday, June 14, 2018 at 7:00PM.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts hosts more than 120 outstanding theater students from colleges and universities across the nation as part of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF), which runs April 9-14, 2018 in multiple locations throughout the Center. The Center also announced the national awardees for the KCACTF.

Helen Olaketi Mariah Shute-Pettaway, a 2011 First Night Honoree and one of Nashville's most revered actresses, will take on the iconic role of Regina Giddens in the ACT 1 production of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes. Directed by 2014 First Night Honoree Jeffrey Ellis, senior contributing editor for BroadwayWorld.com, The Little Foxes runs at Darkhorse Theatre May 4-19.

In March, The Studio Theatre Tierra del Sol (806 San Marino Drive, The Villages, FL) will open the fourth and final production of its second season with John Logan's six time Tony Award winning play, Red.

Cleveland Play House (CPH) is proud to announce the cast of the high-spirited, interactive musical comedy The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Broadway and TV actress Ali Stroker (Glee, Deaf West's Production of Spring Awakening) joins Broadway veterans Kirsten Wyatt (Annie, Elf, Shrek), John Scherer (Sunset Boulevard, By Jeeves, Funny Girl), Lee Slobotkin, Chad Burris (both of Book of Mormon), Kay Trinidad Karns (Little Mermaid), and more in this laugh-out-loud musical directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge on the Allen Stage through May 6th. This production is sponsored by Huntington National Bank and Zinner & Co.

The Mountain Play - Casting is complete for the Mountain Play's production of Mamma Mia! which will inject the San Francisco Bay Area with a dose of Abba elation this May.

Yale Repertory Theatre (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) presents Father Comes Home From the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3 by Suzan-Lori Parks, directed by Liz Diamond, March 16-April 7, at the University Theatre (222 York Street). Opening Night is Thursday, March 22. Father Comes Home From the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3 is a co-production with San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater, where it will play April 25-May 20.

William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew will be performed by the renowned five-member British touring group, Actors From The London Stage (AFTLS), February 28, March 1, and March 2, 2018 at Notre Dame's Washington Hall. 

William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew will be performed by the renowned five-member British touring group, Actors From The London Stage (AFTLS), February 28, March 1, and March 2, 2018 at Notre Dame's Washington Hall.

How can we understand those we do not see? That is the question one theater patron asked of Irene Ryan Award-winning actor-playwright Jeremy Gillett in the Talk-Back session following his one-man show, Black and 25 in America, which explores the issues of race, class, gender and identity through the life stories of four unforgettable characters out of Gillett's childhood growing up on the Southside of Chicago. While the characters - Big Man, Joshua Thomas Northington III, Darron, and Marcy - loom large in Gillett's memory, too few in America 'see them' or imagine the diversity of their experiences as African-Americans in our society. Gillett is staging the show this Thursday to Saturday at The Atwater Village Theater in Los Angeles. Tickets are $15 at the door, or in advance via https://blackand25.brownpapertickets.com/

Hi everyone! I'm a little late this week on my post because on Tuesday I rode down to Americus, Georgia for KCACTF (Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival).

Rachel Lind is thrilled to be debuting her solo show, I'm an Only Child: An Evening of Musical Affirmation at Feinstein's/54 Below. Rachel made her Feinstein's/54 Below debut last spring in her musical, I Was There for You, based on the popular 90's sitcom FRIENDS. She can also be recognized by her neighbors as "The Girl Who Re-Enacts Starlight Express" in her apartment at 3am.

California State University San Marcos School of the Arts presents Lauren Gunderson's uplifting and provocative I & YOU, directed by Jason Heil. This is part of the 2017-18 Season that includes The Woman in Black, The Bald Soprano, Waiting for My Summer and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.

In March, The Studio Theatre Tierra del Sol (806 San Marino Drive, The Villages, FL) will open the fourth and final production of its second season with John Logan's six time Tony Award winning play, Red.

The Oakland University Department of Theatre's production of Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet has been invited to perform at the Region III Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, which takes place January 9-14 in Indianapolis.

A theatre production developed by students at three community colleges is one of only seven student productions selected to perform at an upcoming regional Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Howard Community College (HCC), along with Carroll and Prince George's community colleges, debuted an original, collaborative production of The Farm Theatre Project-'In the Cotton' by Morgan McGuire. Directed by HCC Theatre Department Chair Bill Gillett, 'In the Cotton' is a timely play that explores perspectives of race and society, communication, and relationships. The story revolves around a hate crime that is perpetrated on a college campus, and the feelings this evokes in a group of college students.