John Gassner News

Berkeley Repertory Theatre announced today that 15 young professionals have been awarded fellowships for the 2019-20 season. Theatre graduates from universities across the nation apply for this program that provides a year-long deep dive into the operations of the award-winning theatre. Fellowships cover a variety of artistic and administrative disciplines and provide specialized training that assists fellows with embarking on a professional career in the arts. Additionally, fellows participate in career development seminars, build professional contacts, and even serve as mentors themselves for Berkeley Rep's annual Teen One-Acts Festival.

The Comrades today announced its lineup of plays for the 2019-20 season a?" a trio of dark comedies by playwrights whose works have been well-received in Chicago and will explore various types of power in human relationships. The season will lead off with a one-weekend Midwest premiere of CONTRACTIONS, by Mike Bartlett, the British author of COCK and EARTHQUAKES IN LONDON. CONTRACTIONS is a surreal two-character play concerned with the balance of power in the employer-employee relationship. The four-performance run, directed by Adrienne Matzen, will be the Chicago premiere of this play that was first seen at London's Royal Court Theatre in 2008.

Tony Award & Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan will return to Broadway with the second of his two exhilarating dramas celebrating Lyndon B. Johnson's legacy: THE GREAT SOCIETY. Get to know the cast below as they begin Broadway performances!

In the whimsically theatrical world of Jump, lights flicker, hearts heal, and a young woman finds solace on a bridge. At once heartbreaking, hilarious, and hopeful, Jump is about the connections we share - with family, with friends, with strangers - the connections that bind us together, and lead us into the unknown.

Full casting has been announced for the upcoming Broadway premiere of Slave Play, the acclaimed new work by Jeremy O. Harris, directed by Robert O'Hara.

BroadwayWorld first reported last month that SLAVE PLAY will come to Broadway this fall. Producers Greg Nobile and Jana Shea of Seaview Productions, Troy Carter, Level Forward, and Nine Stories, founded by Jake Gyllenhaal and Riva Marker, have officially announced that the acclaimed new play by Jeremy O. Harris, directed by Robert O'Hara, will be coming to Broadway's Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street) this fall. The strictly limited 17-week engagement will begin preview performances Tuesday, September 10, ahead of an official opening night of Sunday, October 6.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre today announced that The Tale of Despereaux, a new musical, will join the 2019-20 season as its second special presentation solidifying the previously announced seven-show subscription season. Coming off a successful run at The Old Globe in San Diego, where it had its world premiere, The Tale of Despereaux, written and directed by PigPen Theatre Co. and co-directed by Marc Bruni, will begin previews at Berkeley Rep on Thursday, November 21, 2019 and run through Sunday, January 5, 2020. Tickets will go on sale in early August exclusively to Berkeley Rep's 2019-20 season subscribers before being made available to the general public.

THE ROAD THEATRE COMPANY remains committed to its meaningful mission to produce and develop New Work for the Stage. They have announced their upcoming 28th season, the tenth annual Summer Playwrights Festival.

Netflix has acquired worldwide rights to Imagine Entertainment's film adaptation of Tick, Tick...Boom! 

National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that collaborate in innovative ways to develop, produce, and extend the life of new plays, announces three new Rolling World Premiere productions opening this week. Grace McLeod's Herland concludes its Roll at Greenway Court in Los Angeles, CA (May 31 - June 23;); meanwhile, Ready Steady Yeti Go by David Jacobi also wraps up its Roll in California at Venice's Rogue Machine Theatre (June 1 - July 29). Across the country in Atlanta, GA, Jump by Charly Evon Simpson continues its Roll at Actor's Express (June 1 - June 23).

MCC Theater announced today the appointment of Jocelyn Bioh as the theater's Burnt Umber Playwright-in-Residence for a three-year term through the 2022 Season.

The Outer Critics Circle Award winners have been announced! The big winner this year is Hadestown, taking home 6 awards, including Outstanding New Broadway Musical, Outstanding New Score, and Amber Gray for Outstanding Featured Actress!

Berkeley Repertory Theatre today announced the three shows that complete the seven plays of its 2019-20 subscription season: the West Coast premiere of the critically acclaimed new drama White Noise by Suzan-Lori Parks; the world premiere of Sarah Ruhl's Becky Nurse of Salem that was developed through The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep's Center for the Creation and Development of New Work; and Samuel Beckett's masterpiece Happy Days directed by James Bundy and starring two-time Academy Award winner Dianne Wiest.

In DIE MOMMIE DIE, written by and starring female impersonatorCharles Busch, tongues aren't the only thing dipped in acid. Busch stars as Angela Arden, a role he created on both stage and screen, when L.A. Theatre Works records his camp send-up of '60s melodramas for broadcast on public radio, podcast and online streaming. Four performances take place May 17 through May 19 at UCLA's James Bridges Theater.

The Outer Critics Circle, the organization of writers covering New York theatre for out-of-town newspapers, national publications and other media beyond Broadway, welcomes 'Tootsie' star Julie Halston along with 'Torch Song' sensation Michael Urie to announce the nominees for the 2018-19 season today, April 23rd. Click here to watch live!

Berkeley Repertory Theatre today announced a compelling slate of productions for its 2019-20 subscription season. Berkeley Rep's newArtistic Director Johanna Pfaelzer revealed four of the seven subscription shows that will comprise her first season at the Theatre.

Geva Theatre Center's 2018-2019 Fielding Studio Series concludes with The Royale, written by Marco Ramirez. This production comes to Geva from the Kitchen Theatre Company in Ithaca, N.Y., with the original cast and design team and is directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh. The production begins performances on April 11 and runs in the Fielding Stage through April 28.

Mad Horse Theatre Company presents LIFE SUCKS. by Aaron Posner March 21 - April 7, 2019 at Mad Horse Theatre Company, 24 Mosher Street, South Portland, ME. LIFE SUCKS. is a brash, irreverent reworking of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya.

Theatre Arlington is proud to present the compelling military courtroom drama, A Few Good Men by Aaron Sorkin. Before his 1992 movie received worldwide praise and recognition, Sorkin's play, which he wrote on cocktail napkins while bartending, opened at the Music Box Theatre in New York City in November 1989 and ran until January 1991. So strong was his dialogue and characters that the film rights were sold before his play even opened.

Mad Horse Theatre Company has delayed the opening of LIFE SUCKS. by one week due to an illness in the cast.