John Lenartz News

Phoenix Theatre Ensemble announces that Joe Orton's dark comedy Entertaining Mr. Sloane will begin performances May 4th and will run for 13 performances only through May 14 at The Wild Project  in NYC.   

???????Yes, it's King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, and Lancelot in Camelot but not as you might expect them. Written in 1937 when Jean Cocteau was emerging from opium addiction, he dreamed Camelot as a barren wasteland.

He's arrogant, cocky, virginal and he doesn't know it yet, but he's going to have a thing for mom in Jean Cocteau's witty and urbane retelling of the Oedipus story,The Infernal Machine. In this magical modernization of the Greek tragedy the enigmatic Sphinx is a bored young girl who slips him an answer to that tricky riddle because well,... she's bored and he's handsome and a welcome diversion.

October 20 - November 13 THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI by Bertolt Brecht in a new translation by Stephen Sharkey, directed by Kevin Confoy With Desmond Confoy, Sergio Fuenzalida,  John Lenartz,  Zach Lusk,  Ellen Mandel,  Craig V. Smith, Jim  Sterling, Elise Stone, Antonio Suarez,  and Josh Tyson Lighting Design by Harold Mulinex; Sound Design by Ellen Mandel; Costume Design by Deborah Hobson; Multimedia design by Andrew Lazarow; Stage Management by Irene Lazaridis Produced by Phoenix Theatre Ensemble Performance schedule: Oct. 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27 @ 8PM; Oct. 22 @ 2PM; Oct. 23 @ 3PM Nov.  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10 11, 12 @ 8PM; Nov. 2 & 5 @ 2PM; Nov. 6 & 13 @ 3PM  Tickets: $25

Phoenix Theatre Ensemble announces that Bertolt Brecht's political farce, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, will lead off the company's 13th season on October 20 and will play for 21 performances through November 13, 2016 at The Wild Project in the East Village.  Previews will start October 20 with an official opening Saturday, October 22 @ 8PM.

Phoenix Theatre Ensemble announces that Bertolt Brecht's political farce, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, will lead off the company's 13th season from October 20 through November 13, 2016 at The Wild Project in the East Village. Previews will start October 20 with an official opening Saturday, October 22 @ 8PM.

Last night, March 3rd, The ReGroup Theatre premiered several of master playwright William Inge's final One Acts in New York. The plays, including the previously produced A Social Event are joined by the NY premieres of A Love Death, Moved In, Bad Breath and The Power of Silence. Scroll down for a look at the company in action!

Chasen Schneider, son of John Schneider of The Dukes of Hazzard fame, will once again be in the 13 person ReGroup ensemble as it proudly announces its first production of 2016 -William Inge's A Complex Evening, featuring a night of Inge's rare One-Acts in their New York debut.

The ReGroup Theatre Company, Inc announces its first production of 2016 - An Inge Complex featuring an evening of Inge's lost One-Acts in their New York debut.

Phoenix Theatre Ensemble (PTE) announces that its winter rep will run from January 21 through February 14 with the world premiere of Glyn Maxwell's The Gambler based on the novella by Dostoevsky, and David Greig's dynamic version of Strindberg's Creditors, and a late-night production of Al Pagano's Filibusted, an irreverent view of the current US political mileau. All performances will be at the Wild Project @ 195 East 3rd Street in the East Village. 

Phoenix Theatre Ensemble (PTE), now in its 12th season, announces that Olivier-nominated playwright Glyn Maxwell's The Gambler will begin performances on January 21, 2016 at The Wild Project at 195 East 3rd Street in NYC's East Village.  It will be playing in repertory with Strindberg's Creditors through February 14. 

Join the ReGroup in the 1920's Napa-Valley vineyards!

Next in ReGroup Reads Series: The Great American Playwrights is William Inge. Join us for Inge at his most unhinged and uninhibited.

ReGroup's FOLLIES OF GOD Benefit and Book Launch for James Grissom's forthcoming book, 'Follies of God: Tennessee Williams and the Women of the Fog' was held February 23, 2015 at TBG Mainstage Theatre. Lois Smith and Kathleen Chalfant joined the ReGroup members in performing Williams' 'Moony's Kid Don't Cry' and Lord Byron's 'Love Letter'. Scroll down for photos from the benefit!

ReGroup Theatre Company's production of Preston Jones's THE LAST MEETING OF THE KNIGHTS OF THE WHITE MAGNOLIA played it's first preview last night, and officially opens tonight, Aug 8th, 2014, at the renovated McAlpin Hall, 165 W 86th St, N/E corner of Amsterdam.

Commonly known as A Texas Trilogy, the three plays centered on small-town life set the theatre world afire in 1974. Originally presented at the Dallas Theatre Center, the plays drew such attention that NY critics and theatre luminaries were soon flying to Dallas to witness American theatre at its finest. Signed by legendary agent Audrey Wood, who had also discovered Tennessee Williams and William Inge, Jones's plays then transferred to a sold-out run at the Kennedy Center. Preston Jones went from obscurity to being on the cover of many national magazines. The Saturday Review cover proudly proclaimed him "The Next O'Neill." A bidding war then broke out to bring the plays to New York, and, directed by Alan Schneider, they finally arrived on Broadway in 1976.

As a featured event of its Tenth Anniversary Spring Rep season, Phoenix Theatre Ensemble (www.PhoenixTheatreEnsemble.org) will present 'Dogg's Hamlet, Cahoot's Macbeth' by Tom Stoppard from May 2 to 23, 2014 at The Wild Project 195 E. 3rd Street (at Ave. B). It's an evening of two short plays in which Stoppard radically shortens 'Hamlet' and 'Macbeth' to craft a witty Shakespearean two-step on serious themes of artistic dissent. Kevin Confoy directs.

CAT ON MY HEAD PRODUCTIONS premiered Brooklyn College Alumni Tom Kelly's BLEACHED BLONDE BETTY. With original music by the Allison Leyton-Brown and directed by Dan Patrick Brady, BLEACHED BLONDE BETTY played a limited engagement at the Workshop Theater (316 West 35th Street, 4th Floor). Performances began Thursday, March 14 and continued through today - Sunday, March 24.

CAT ON MY HEAD PRODUCTIONS has announced the world premiere production of Tom Kelly's BLEACHED BLONDE BETTY, with original music by the award-winning Allison Leyton-Brown and directed by Dan Patrick Brady. BLEACHED BLONDE BETTY play a limited engagement at the Workshop Theater (316 West 35th Street, 4th Fl.). Performances begin Thursday, March 14 and continue until Sunday, March 24. Opening Night is Thursday, March 14 (8 p.m.). Press are invited to all performances.