John Guare News

The South Camden Theatre Company, a nonprofit professional theatre organization located in Camden, New Jersey announces its eleventh season for 2015 and 2016 featuring works written by Robert Berger, Patrick Daniels, Irving Gregory, John Guare and Tennessee Williams.

Following its artistic and popular successes of the past 12 months, which included multiple Jeff nominations for The Playboy of the Western World, praise for the rarely produced Vieux Carre by Tennessee Williams, universal acclaim for All My Sons and the Chicago premiere of Horton Foote's Dividing the Estate, Raven Theatre will produce a five-show subscription season for the first time in the company's 33-year history. Three of the subscription-season plays will be performed on the company's 140-seat East Stage and two will be played in its intimate 60-seat studio, the West Stage.

The Public Theater announced additional casting today for the 2015 Free Shakespeare in the Park season, beginning Wednesday, May 27 at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. This summer will feature Shakespeare's late romances with THE TEMPEST, directed by Tony Award nominee Michael Greif, and CYMBELINE, directed by Tony Award winner Daniel Sullivan. Jesse Tyler Ferguson will return to the Park this summer as Trinculo in THE TEMPEST, along with Hamish Linklater and Lily Rabe teaming up again with Daniel Sullivan on CYMBELINE to play Posthumus Leonatus/Cloten and Imogen, respectively.

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and Women's Project Theater present the world premiere of The Undeniable Sound of Right Now, written by Laura Eason (S e x with Strangers,'House of Cards') and directed by Kirsten Kelly (Slipping), beginning tonight, March 19 at 7pm at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 224 Waverly Place, west of Seventh Avenue South. Opening night is set for Thursday, April 2 at 7pm. The production is set to run through Saturday, May 2.

Rebel Theater Company and the Nuyorican Poets Cafe present the world premiere production of R+J: An Uncivil Tale, a new adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet. The play, which was written by Adam Mace and Kaitlyn Schirard, is set in the border-state of Kentucky in 1863 during the American Civil War. Romeo, son of the former-slave Montague's, meets Juliet, daughter of the Confederate Capulet's.

'If music be the food of love, play on.' Even before the invention of the musical comedy (more on that later), William Shakespeare knew the importance of music in telling stories on stage. For our March feature, my colleague Jeff Walker and I thought that instead of marking the Ides of March with songs about murder, betrayal, and fate, we would focus on the synergy between showtunes and Shakespeare.

Today in 2002, Sweet Smell of Success opened at the Martin Beck Theatre (now the Al Hirschfeld Theatre), where it ran for 109 performances. Created by Marvin Hamlisch (music), Craig Carnelia (lyrics), and John Guare (book), the show is based on the 1957 movie of the same name. It tells the story of a powerful newspaper columnist named J. J. Hunsecker (based on famed New York columnist Walter Winchell) who uses his connections to ruin his sister's relationship with a man he deems inappropriate. The show starred John Lithgow as J.J. Hunsecker, and Brian d'Arcy James as Sidney Falcone.

There are some plays that are easily categorized. They fit a very specific label, nice and neat and tidy. Hamlet is a tragedy. Noises Off is a comedy. There's little room for doubt or debate. On the other hand, some plays defy definition. They challenge you to put them into a category or give them a label. When that happens, you can sometimes get a muddled, confused mess that never really works. Or, as in the case of The House of Blue Leaves, currently playing at the Gamm Theatre, you get an exciting and entertaining piece of theater that surprises in part because of just how well it works.

FOR THE LAST TIME is a new jazz musical by celebrated writer/composer Nancy Harrow (Maya The Bee, This Side of Paradise), directed by Will Pomerantz (The Blue Flower) with music direction by Cody Owen Stine, will get an invite-only industry reading on March 13, 2015.

Screen Actors Guild Foundation and BroadwayWorld have partnered for an inaugural filmed Conversations Q&A series to recognize and celebrate the vibrant theatre community in New York City and the union actors who aspire to have a career on the stage and screen. On Monday, March 16 (6-8PM), join us for a career Conversations with Stockard Channing moderated by Broadway World's Richard Ridge of 'Backstage with Richard Ridge!'

The Ovation Award-winning IAMA THEATRE COMPANY is thrilled to present the World Premiere of A DOG'S HOUSE, written by Micah Schraft and directed by Trip Cullman. A DOG'S HOUSE will preview on Friday, March 27 at 8pm and will open on Saturday, March 28 and run through Sunday, April 26 at the Elephant Theatre, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd. (one block west of Vine) in Hollywood.

The Guthrie Theater today announced that its outgoing Director Joe Dowling, the longest tenured artistic director in Guthrie history, will appear for an In Conversation moderated by New York Post theater columnist Michael Riedel on Tuesday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m. on the Wurtele Thrust Stage.

On Monday, May 4th, 2015, the American Cancer Society will present A Spring Tribute to Marvin Hamlisch featuring the music of 'Sweet Smell of Success' at the Hudson Theatre at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York City. Proceeds from the Gala and the performance will benefit the critical cancer research, education, advocacy and patient services supported by the American Cancer Society.

MCC THEATER has announced the final production of its four-show 2015-16 Main Stage Season, which runs August 2015 through June 2016. Playwright Halley Feiffer (I'm Gonna Pray For You So Hard) will make her MCC Theater debut with her play A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center of New York City. Trip Cullman returns to direct after helming this season's critically acclaimed hit Punk Rock. Full details below. This also marks the reunion of Feiffer and Cullman following their hit production of I'm Gonna Pray For You So Hard at the Atlantic Theater Company in early 2015.

The Off-Broadway League has announced details for the 2015 Lucille Lortel Awards, which will celebrate 30 years of recognizing Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway. The 30th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards will be handed out on Sunday, May 10, 2015 at the NYU Skirball Center, beginning at 7:00 PM EST. The program will be co-hosted by Emmy Award Nominees Jesse Tyler Ferguson ("Modern Family") and Anna Chlumsky ("Veep," Broadway's upcoming "Living on Love").

The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (The Gamm) continues its 30th anniversary season with American playwright John Guare's dark comedy The House of Blue Leaves. This multi-award-winning piece of comic chaos by the author of Six Degrees of Separation is the story of a family so obsessed with fame and the American Dream that its members are incapable of connecting with each other. Fred Sullivan, Jr. directs a crazy cast of characters including a zoo-keeper who aspires to be a songwriter (Tom Gleadow) and his wife who won't leave the house (Jeanine Kane) in a production that is by turns laughable, thought-provoking and deeply moving.

Aurora Theatre Company continues its 23rd season with TALLEY'S FOLLY. In a season dedicated to his memory, the company pays homage to one of the most prolific and revered American playwrights of the 20th century, Lanford Wilson, with 'The Talley Trilogy,' of which TALLEY'S FOLLEY is the first entry in the series of three interrelated plays.

The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize previously announced 12 Finalists for its prestigious playwriting award, the oldest and largest prize awarded to women playwrights. The winner of the 2014-2015 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize will be named at the Awards Presentation today, March 2 in New York City.

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.

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and Women's Project Theater will present the world premiere of The Undeniable Sound of Right Now, written by Laura Eason (S e x with Strangers,'House of Cards') and directed by Kirsten Kelly (Slipping), beginning Thursday, March 19 at 7pm at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 224 Waverly Place, west of Seventh Avenue South. Opening night is set for Thursday, April 2 at 7pm. The production is set to run through Saturday, May 2.