Jesse Roth News

The House Theatre of Chicago presents its multi-play fantasy epic, The Hammer Trinity, in its entirety with all-day marathon performances, including the world premiere of the all-new final chapter Part Three: The Excelsior King and revised versions of Part One: The Iron Stag King and Part Two: The Crownless King, playing at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St., February 20 - May 3, 2015. The House Theatre of Chicago Artistic Director Nathan Allen directs the world premiere of the series that he and Company Member Chris Mathews have co-written. Complete performance schedule included below. Tickets to all Friday single shows and Saturday and Sunday marathon performances are on sale now and are available at www.thehousetheatre.com or 773.769.3832. Tickets to individual parts of The Hammer Trinity during weekend marathon performances will be subject to space availability and are offered to single ticket buyers closer to the performance date.

The New Colony is pleased to announce its full 2014-15 main stage season at its new permanent home -- The Den Theatre's, 1333 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. Joining the previously announced world premiere musical PLASTIC REVOLUTION, The New Colony will present two additional world premieres: the musical comedy STANLEY IN THE NAME OF LOVE written and directed by Mr. Margaret Svetlove and the dark comedy THE TERRIBLE by Morgan McNaught, directed by Jesse Roth.

Heading into its third season, First Floor Theater continues its commitment to visceral acting, immersive design, and collaborative dramaturgy with a new artistic process, refined mission statement and staff changes reflective of this new approach. This new process explores radical collaboration between actors and designers, where all are invited to define the world of the stories we stage.

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) will present its Songwriter Spotlight concert at 54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club, on August 25 at 7pm.

Polarity Ensemble Theatre will award the 2014 Dionysos Cup to Chicago playwright Kristiana Rae Colon for her new play OCTAGON, which is set in the world of slam poetry competitions. The play was selected as one of four finalist plays to be developed in Polarity's annual Dionysos Cup Festival of New Plays. Over seventy plays by Chicago-area playwrights were submitted to the festival. Finalist plays were selected by committee and the winning play voted upon by audience members and Polarity staff. OCTAGON was also recently awarded the Arizona Latino Playwrights Award that carries a prize of $1000.

First Floor Theater has announced its Second Annual LitFest, TWAIN'S WORLD, a kaleidoscope of new work inspired by the life and work of one of America's greatest writers. Last year's GrimmFest brought together some of Chicago's most exciting writers and directors, including Bonnie Metzgar, Seth Bockley, Philip Dawkins and Greg Allen. Given the choice of three classic authors, the attendees of this year's annual season kick-off party selected Mark Twain. This moved an exciting, diverse group of playwrights to bring their voice to a conversation around themes in Twain's work, like establishing a new American identity, racism, and the satirization of civilized society. This year's fest promises a full range of adaptation, with everything from page-to-stage to a shadow puppet musical. The press opening is tonight, Friday, July 11, 2014 at 8 pm. Tickets are available at firstfloortheater.com.

First Floor Theater has announced its Second Annual LitFest, TWAIN'S WORLD, a kaleidoscope of new work inspired by the life and work of one of America's greatest writers. Last year's GrimmFest brought together some of Chicago's most exciting writers and directors, including Bonnie Metzgar, Seth Bockley, Philip Dawkins and Greg Allen. Given the choice of three classic authors, the attendees of this year's annual season kick-off party selected Mark Twain. This moved an exciting, diverse group of playwrights to bring their voice to a conversation around themes in Twain's work, like establishing a new American identity, racism, and the satirization of civilized society. This year's fest promises a full range of adaptation, with everything from page-to-stage to a shadow puppet musical. The press opening will be tonight, July 11, 2014 at 8 pm.

First Floor Theater is thrilled to announce its Second Annual LitFest, TWAIN'S WORLD, a kaleidoscope of new work inspired by the life and work of one of America's greatest writers. Last year's GrimmFest brought together some of Chicago's most exciting writers and directors, including Bonnie Metzgar, Seth Bockley, Philip Dawkins and Greg Allen. Given the choice of three classic authors, the attendees of this year's annual season kick-off party selected Mark Twain. This moved an exciting, diverse group of playwrights to bring their voice to a conversation around themes in Twain's work, like establishing a new American identity, racism, and the satirization of civilized society. This year's fest promises a full range of adaptation, with everything from page-to-stage to a shadow puppet musical. The press opening will be Friday, July 11, 2014 at 8 pm. Tickets are available at firstfloortheater.com.

First Floor Theater has announced its Second Annual LitFest, TWAIN'S WORLD, a kaleidoscope of new work inspired by the life and work of one of America's greatest writers. Last year's GrimmFest brought together some of Chicago's most exciting writers and directors, including Bonnie Metzgar, Seth Bockley, Philip Dawkins and Greg Allen. Given the choice of three classic authors, the attendees of this year's annual season kick-off party selected Mark Twain. This moved an exciting, diverse group of playwrights to bring their voice to a conversation around themes in Twain's work, like establishing a new American identity, racism, and the satirization of civilized society. This year's fest promises a full range of adaptation, with everything from page-to-stage to a shadow puppet musical. The press opening will be Friday, July 11, 2014 at 8 pm. Tickets are available at firstfloortheater.com.

Continuing with its new 'incite change' mission, Collaboraction presents SKETCHBOOK: 2049, a rapid-fire, raucous festival of 17 world premiere theatre pieces ranging from under a minute to 20 minutes in length, all set in a positive post-apocalypse and reflective of contemporary society's current challenges. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the productions!

First Floor Theater is thrilled to announce its Second Annual LitFest, TWAIN'S WORLD, a kaleidoscope of new work inspired by the life and work of one of America's greatest writers. Last year's GrimmFest brought together some of Chicago's most exciting writers and directors, including Bonnie Metzgar, Seth Bockley, Philip Dawkins and Greg Allen. Given the choice of three classic authors, the attendees of this year's annual season kick-off party selected Mark Twain. This moved an exciting, diverse group of playwrights to bring their voice to a conversation around themes in Twain's work, like establishing a new American identity, racism, and the satirization of civilized society. This year's fest promises a full range of adaptation, with everything from page-to-stage to a shadow puppet musical. The press opening will be Friday, July 11, 2014 at 8 pm. Tickets will be available at firstfloortheater.com.

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) will present its Songwriter Spotlight concert at 54 Below on April 28 at 9:30pm. Adam Halpin (Dogfight), Lisa Howard (South Pacific), Corey Mach (Hands on a Hardbody), Patti Murin (Lysistrata Jones), Mamie Parris (Wicked), Kate Rockwell (Rock of Ages), Andrew Samonsky (The Mystery of Edwin Drood) and Sarah Stiles (Vanities) have joined the line-up.

Can we practice goodness and create a world to sustain it? In Brecht's comic and complex play, this question is raised by one of his most entertaining characters, Shen Tei, the good-hearted, penniless, cross-dressing prostitute, who is forced to disguise herself as a savvy businessman named Sui Ta so she can master the ruthlessness needed to be a 'good person' in a brutal world. The Good Woman of Setzuan will run tonight, March 28-April 13, 2014 in the Loft Theater at theSyracuse Stage/Drama Complex. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Performances of Steppenwolf Theatre Company's fifth annual Garage Rep kicked off last month, featuring The New Colony's world-premiere production of reWILDing Genius and more. These innovative storefront companies perform in rotating repertory for ten weeks through April 20, 2013 (press performances are March 8 and 9, 2014). Performances are scheduled Wednesday through Sunday in the Garage Theater (1624 N Halsted St). BroadwayWorld has a first look at reWILDing Genius below!

Performances of Steppenwolf Theatre Company's fifth annual Garage Rep are scheduled to begin February 14, 2014, featuring The New Colony's world-premiere production of reWILDing Genius, Prologue Theatre Company's Chicago-premiere production of Saturday Night/Sunday Morning and Walkabout Theater Company's world-premiere production of The Wild. These innovative storefront companies perform in rotating repertory for ten weeks through April 20, 2013 (press performances are March 8 and 9, 2014). Performances are scheduled Wednesday through Sunday in the Garage Theater (1624 N Halsted St); a full performance schedule, including the line-up for Late Night @ Garage Rep, follows. Garage Rep single tickets ($20) and three-play passes ($45), as well as Late Night single tickets ($5) are on sale now through Audience Services (1650 N Halsted St), 312-335-1650 and steppenwolf.org.