John Steinbeck News

Steppenwolf Theatre Company's Chicago premiere production of DOMESTICATED, a scandalously entertaining play written and directed by ensemble member Bruce Norris, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Clybourne Park, The Qualms and The Pain and The Itch, features ensemble member Tom Irwin as publicly shamed politician Bill Pulver opposite venerable Chicago actress Mary Beth Fisher, who plays his wife. DOMESTICATED begins previews tonight, December 3, 2015 (press performances are December 12 at 3pm and December 15 at 7:30pm; opening night is December 13) and runs through February 7, 2016 in the Downstairs Theatre.

Turkeys are on-sale at your local supermarket, so there's no better way to know Thanksgiving is just around the corner - yep, less than two weeks away! - which means that local theater companies will be unleashing their holiday season productions with enough productions of A Christmas Story (both the musical and the play), It's A Wonderful Life and Ebenezer Scrooge-led shows that you could shake a stick at!

Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts is pleased to announce the cast of this November's Literature Live! production of John Steinbeck's OF MICE AND MEN, directed by Joe Minutillo. Performances will be held at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, NY from November 9 to 28.

Thus, we are happy to present the return of one our most popular features: The Nashville Theater Calendar, a comprehensive - maybe even exhaustive (lord knows we're exhausted from putting it together, gathering all the info from all over the interwebs!) - listing of theatrical openings for the 2015/16 season. We'll update the calendar every Monday, clearing out the shows that have closed and adding additional information on the shows still to come. Something's missing? That's an easy fix: just send us a message here, on Facebook, or by email at jeffreyellis37215@att.com.

Halloween's all done in, there are still three weeks ahead before we officially give thanks, and Christmas - and all its accompanying frenzy and frivolity - is about seven weeks away! So what's there to do for all the theatrical types jonesing for a trip to make believe? Plenty! Theater companies all over middle Tennessee are showing off their best and brightest, with a number of eagerly anticipated shows opening this weekend and/or continuing from their earlier opening nights and next Tuesday there's a sparkling new Broadway musical swinging through Music City to entertain you…

Rehearsals are underway for Steppenwolf Theatre Company's Chicago premiere production of DOMESTICATED, a scandalously entertaining play written and directed by ensemble member Bruce Norris, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Clybourne Park, The Qualms and The Pain and The Itch. Featuring ensemble member Tom Irwin as publicly shamed politician Bill Pulver opposite venerable Chicago actress Mary Beth Fisher, who plays his wife, DOMESTICATED begins previews December 3, 2015 (press performances are December 12 at 3pm and December 15 at 7:30pm; opening night is December 13) and runs through February 7, 2016 in the Downstairs Theatre.

In Of Mice and Men, writer John Steinbeck relates the tale of two lifelong friends whose hard-scrabble lives are played out against the backdrop of the Great Depression: two men whose bleak existence is made even more challenging by the cruel realities of the world at that time. Since its publication in 1937, Steinbeck's slim novella has inspired artists to offer different interpretations of the story - to varying degrees of success, to be certain - including numerous film versions, a Carlisle Floyd opera, ballets and stage productions, including a recent Broadway run and, closer to home, a production now onstage from Middle Tennessee's oldest community theater organization.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts is pleased to announce the cast of this November's Literature Live! production of John Steinbeck's OF MICE AND MEN, directed by Joe Minutillo. Performances will be held at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, NY from November 9 to 28. Public performances will be presented on Fridays and Saturdays November 13-14, 20-21, and Thanksgiving Weekend, November 27-28 at 7 pm. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast in rehearsal below!

It's Halloween weekend and every dramatic personage and theatrical type we've ever encountered is caught up in the annual rush to find just the right costume for their holiday revelries (we confess we've never had the knack for coming up with Halloween get-ups - not since we went in drag to a party at the First Baptist Church as the age of 12…tongues were wagging, we are certain, but we lived to tell about it, so it couldn't have been that bad). In the meantime, there are all sorts of onstage happenings this weekend to keep you otherwise engaged should the difficulty of selecting your costume prove to be too much.

Today, Eric Butler (who plays Curlie) and Tony Nappo take on our Friday Five questions, to give you some insight into the two actors. Here's your chance to get to know them before seeing the show which runs for three weekends, through November 15.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company presents the highly anticipated Chicago premiere production of Annie Baker's The Flick, winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Directed by Dexter Bullard, the cast features Will Allan, Danny McCarthy, Caroline Neff and Travis Turner. The Flick runs February 4 - May 8, 2016 in the Upstairs Theatre. Tickets ($20 - $89) are now on sale through Audience Services (1650 N Halsted), 312-335-1650 or steppenwolf.org.

Newcomers and Chicago favorites are cast in Goodman Theatre's 12th annual NEW STAGES, a festival of new plays designed to give playwrights an opportunity to experience their work with set, lighting, costume and sound elements and to implement audience response.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

It clearly is more than evident at this dinner: politics and religion are two topics one would consider to be off topic at any social gathering. What playwright Ayad Akhtar's Disgraced shows is that both topics, central and crucial in one play, makes for an evening of theatre spent on the edge of your seat.

ACA Galleries is pleased to present its first exhibition of John Mellencamp's paintings, opening tonight, October 22, from 6 to 8pm.  Check out a sneak peek below!

ACA Galleries is pleased to present its first exhibition of John Mellencamp's paintings, opening tonight, October 22, from 6 to 8pm.

Newcomers and Chicago favorites are cast in Goodman Theatre's 12th annual NEW STAGES, a festival of new plays designed to give playwrights an opportunity to experience their work with set, lighting, costume and sound elements and to implement audience response.