John Houseman News

The magic is real at Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway! Prepare to be on the edge of your seat as Harry, Ron and Hermione launch into a thrilling new adventure that begins 19 years later. The entire theatre has been transfigured to immerse you in this spectacular world where epic duels, extraordinary spells and beloved characters come to life. Filled with unprecedented stagecraft and thrilling storytelling, this Tony Award-winning show is a singular, unforgettable experience. Get to know the current cast of the Broadway production!

Due to technical issues (or spy interference) the Off Broadway premiere of I Spy A Spy, a new (declassified) musical comedy, with book and lyrics by Jamie Jackson and book & music by SoHee Youn, directed and choreographed by Bill Castellino (Cagney, Desperate Measures) with musical direction by Dan Pardo (Amazing Grace) will now begin its limited engagement (through September 21) at The Theatre at St. Clement's (423 West 46th Street - between 9th & 10th Avenues) on Saturday, July 6th at 8pm. The show will have its official opening on Thursday, July 18th at 7pm.

The Acting Company (Founded by John Houseman and Margot Harley; Ian Belknap, Artistic Director; Elisa Spencer-Kaplan, Executive Director) announced casting today for the next reading in the 23rd John McDonald Salon Reading Series, Jessica Swale's Olivier Award-winning, music-filled comedy Nell Gwynn. The reading will take place on Monday, June 24 at 7 PM at the Mainstage Theater at Playwrights Horizons (416 W. 42nd Street, New York, NY). Tickets are available now online at www.theactingcompany.org.

The American Theatre Wing and The Village Voice announce that Artistic Director of New York Theatre Workshop, James C. Nicola, and Artistic Director and founder of Theatre For A New Audience, Jeffrey Horowitz, will receive special Obie Awards for Lifetime Achievement at the 64th Annual Obie Awards, which will be held on Monday, May 20, 2019 at Terminal 5 (610 West 56th Street).

Now onstage through Mother's Day (Sunday, May 12) in a much anticipated and gleefully subversive production from Nashville Opera, The Cradle Will Rock remains hard to define: It could be described as a work of art whose meaning, its very raison d'etre, can be bent to suit any conceivable justification. Variously, Blitzstein described his 1937 work as a 'play in music' or an 'opera for actors' and its history clearly paints it as either or even as both.

THEATER 2020, Brooklyn Heights' NY award winning professional theater company is pleased to announce its June 2019 run of the masterwork 'THE CRADLE WILL ROCK,' in a limited run of 16 performances (indoors & out) Friday, June 7th - Sunday, June 30th, 2019.

The Acting Company (Founded by John Houseman and Margot Harley; Ian Belknap, Artistic Director; Elisa Spencer-Kaplan, Executive Director) announced casting today for the second reading in the 23rd John McDonald Salon Reading Series, Frederick Knott's classic thriller Wait Until Dark. The reading will take place on Monday, May 20 at 7 PM at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Playwrights Horizons (416 W. 42nd Street, New York, NY). Tickets are available now online at www.theactingcompany.org.

The Civilians, under the leadership of Founding Artistic Director Steve Cosson and Managing Director Margaret Moll, is proud to present the world premiere of Paul Swan is Dead and Gone by Claire Kiechel, a former member of The Civilians' R&D Group where the play was first developed. Directed by Cosson and starring Tony Torn as the real-life Paul Swan, the production marks Kiechel's New York debut and runs April 25 - May 19, with an opening night set for May 1. For an audience of only 30, the intimate and immersive performance takes place at Torn Page (435 West 22nd Street, Manhattan), a salon-style performance space located inside a historic Chelsea townhouse originally purchased by Torn's parents, Geraldine Page and Rip Torn.

In June of 1937, the United States government padlocked New York's Maxine Elliot Theatre and sent security guards to prevent the performance of a new musical, but the unknown leading lady Olive Stanton courageously fought her fears and led an act of defiance that made headlines the morning after opening night.

Last week, Broadway Twitter got a wonderful and unexpected treat when Tony Award-winner Patti LuPone made her first official appearance on the social networking site. Working under the handle @PattiLuPone, LuPone joined the social network with an immediately verified account - but had yet to tweet, like, quote, or grace us with any content whatsoever.

Tonight, Broadway Twitter got a wonderful and unexpected treat when Tony Award-winner Patti LuPone made her first official appearance on the social networking site. 

Physical Theater Festival Chicago organizers have revealed a second wave of international live theater acts ready to delight Chicago and defy all norms, to complete the 2019 festival's nine-day line-up, May 31-June 8 at Chicago's Stage 773.

The Acting Company (Founded by John Houseman and Margot Harley; Ian Belknap, Artistic Director; Elisa Spencer-Kaplan, Executive Director) announced today complete casting for the first reading in the 23rd John McDonald Salon Reading Series, Lillian Hellman's acclaimed drama Watch on the Rhine. The reading will take place on Monday, March 18 at 7 PM at the Mainstage Theater at Playwrights Horizons (416 W. 42nd Street, New York, NY). Tickets are available now online at www.theactingcompany.org.

In the spirit of Classic Stage Company's new production of The Cradle Will Rock, Marc Blitzstein's historic pro-labor American play in music (March 21 - May 19), CSC is implementing a policy through which members of any union will receive $25 rush tickets to the show. In order to redeem these tickets, patrons must show their union ID at the box office the day of the performance they would like to attend, pending availability. This will be in addition to CSC's regular and student rush policies.

The McCallum Theatre presents Neil Berg's Fifty Years of Rock and Roll for three performances - Tuesday, March 5, at 8:00pm, and Wednesday, March 6, at 2:00pm and 8:00pm.  With a cast consisting of both stars from Broadway's greatest rock musicals, as well as incredible Rock and Roll singers, Neil Berg shares the often-unknown stories from the fifty-year history of the music that changed the world forever. From the progenitors of Rock and Roll in the 1940s, through the glory years of the '50s, '60s, and '70s, up until MTV in the early '80s,

T. Fellowship, in association with Columbia University School of the Arts, announces the next T. Fellow is Rachel Sussman, the seventh fellow in the one year program designed to educate and empower new creative producers. The fellow will receive a stipend of $10,000 with a $20,000 budget for the development of a new theatrical production, and will have access to courses in Columbia's MFA Theatre Management & Producing Program.

Classic Stage Company presents Marc Blitzstein's allegorical play in music The Cradle Will Rock, directed by John Doyle, March 21 - May 19, 2019. A Depression-era indictment of rampant capitalism told almost entirely in song, The Cradle Will Rock maintains a twinkle in its eye while bearing sharp fangs. The 1937 premiere of this story of American class tensions-directed by Orson Welles-was famously shut down on the eve of opening night by federal authorities over so-called 'budget cuts,' commonly considered a thin veil for fears of the play's pro-labor stance. The artists involved rebelliously circumvented its cancellation, making for one of the most memorable stories in 20th century theater history. While Blitzstein's libretto is very much a product of its own 1930s political context, The Cradle Will Rock pulses with immediacy in an era of expanding economic inequality and policy for purchase. CSC's 2018-2019 season began with The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Bertolt Brecht's allegory about the rise of fascism via a charismatic tyrant; this spring, it closes with an all-American Brecht-and-Weill-inspired work, which carries a message of defiance built into its very title.

To celebrate last week's successful release of the cast recording as well as two prestigious Critics' Circle Awards for Marianne Elliott's critically acclaimed production ofCompany, broadcaster Paddy O'Connell will be hosting a post-show Q and A at the Gielgud Theatre, with two of the show's stars - Rosalie Craig, who plays the central role of Bobbie and Patti LuPone, who plays Joanne.

A male plumber and a female woodworker take the the art world by storm in 'Catapult!' by Matthew James Fitzgerald, to be presented by Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave.,  February 21 to March 10.  The piece is a subversive commentary on the pretensions and 'artspeak' of the gallery scene. Fitzgerald is an actor, author, union carpenter, furniture designer and sometime history/english teacher.

Cincinnati Shakespeare Company continues its 25th Anniversary Season at The Otto M. Budig Theater with August Wilson's "Fences", directed by Christopher V. Edwards and features "ranney" [sic] as Troy Maxson, Torie Wiggins as Rose and Crystian Wilshire as Cory. This production is generously sponsored by Frost Brown Todd, BB&T, and Johnson Investment Council.