Joyce James News

London's annual celebration of contemporary visual theatre -- the 2014 LONDON INTERNATIONAL MIME FESTIVAL -- will run today 8 January - Saturday 1 February.

Ars Nova kicks off 2014 with Game Play, this year's incarnation of Ars Nova's annual Play Group production. An evening of original short plays and live music inspired by classic board game titles, Game Play features Peter Benson, Marcia DeBonis, Dashiell Eaves, Brandon Gill, Ben Graney, Susan Heyward, Jessica Love and Carmen Zilles. This production plays 10 performances, January 29 - February 8.

Alice Ripley won a Tony Award for her leading role in the Pulitzer Prize winning musical "Next to Normal," and was a Tony-nominee for the musical "Sideshow" on Broadway. This January, she joins the star-studded lineup of the celebrated Broadway at NOCCA series, on January 6, 2014 at 7:00 PM for one show only. Jessica Means joins her at piano. For tickets please visit http://www.broadwaynola.com/ or call 1-800-838-3006. This holiday season, NOCCA is making available tickets to two Tony-winners for the price of one. Both Alice Ripley and Sutton Foster may be purchased together with The Broadway @ NOCCA Holiday Pass for just $50.

The Board of Trustees of The Public Theater just announced that Arielle Tepper Madover has been elected as The Public's new Board Chair. Madover, who joined the board in 2009, has been an active member of the Executive Committee, serving as Board Vice-Chair for the last year and Chair of The Public's Commercial Projects Committee since 2011. She was Co-Chair of The Public's 2013 Gala and the 50thAnniversary Gala in 2012, achieving the highest grossing galas in Public Theater history. A Tony Award-winning producer, Madover will serve a three year term effective immediately.

The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Patrick Willingham, Executive Director) is proud to announce that the acclaimed THE APPLE FAMILY PLAYS: SCENES FROM LIFE IN THE COUNTRY, written and directed by Richard Nelson, will be recorded for television by THIRTEEN Productions LLC for WNET the week of December 16, following the end of the epic run at The Public Theater on Sunday, December 15. All four plays will be captured for posterity and broadcast at a future date. Fans of THE APPLE FAMILY PLAYS can attend a taping of one or all four of the plays by visiting www.publictheater.org.

The National Yiddish Theatre - Folksbiene's hit musical based on the 1975 Academy-Award-nominated film Lies My Father Told Me adapted from the works of Ted Allan will end its highly acclaimed run Sunday, December 15.

The legendary Birdland was packed to the gills for the latest presentation of Jim Caruso's Broadway at Birdland Series, Jonathan Brielle's I Saw Broadway. An all star gathering of Broadway's greatest vocalists and musicians wowed the audience with one crowd pleaser after another from the musicals of the prolific Brielle.

Today, December 6th at 3:00pm, the Irish Repertory Theatre's 2013-2014 reading series will present a staged reading of Irish playwright Ed Malone's THE BALLAD of CHARLIE and CATE, directed by the playwright.

On Friday, December 6th at 3:00pm, the Irish Repertory Theatre's 2013-2014 reading series will present a staged reading of Irish playwright Ed Malone's THE BALLAD of CHARLIE and CATE, directed by the playwright.

Jessica Burrows Van Kipp will join Jonathan Brielle & Friends In I Saw Broadway on Monday, November 25 at 7pm. The night also features Deborah Cox, Matt Bogart, Veanne Cox, Rose Hemingway, and Ken Prymus.

Court Theatre continues its 2013-2014 season with the revival of the OBIE Award-winning play An Iliad by Denis O'Hare and Lisa Peterson, directed by Artistic Director Charles Newell and starring Timothy Edward Kane. An Iliad will run tonight, November 13 - December 8, 2013 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Avenue.

Now in its 16th season, Lincoln Center's acclaimed series American Songbook will continue to expand its scope celebrating the best in American singing and songwriting. New this year, the opening night concert will befree, in the David Rubenstein Atrium, on Wednesday, January 22, 2014. 'Live From Lincoln Center,' the Emmy Award-winning program broadcast nationally on PBS stations, will shoot four of the first week's American Songbook concerts in The Allen Room: by James Naughton, Lawrence Brownlee, Jason Isbell, and Patina Miller. These performances will be broadcast nationally beginning in Spring 2014. In addition, American Songbook concerts taking place in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse at Lincoln Center will be live-streamed via http://watch.lincolncenter.org.

Playwrights Horizons has announced initial casting for the New York premiere production of STAGE KISS, a new play marking the eagerly-awaited return of two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl(Dead Man's Cell Phone at PH; The Clean House, In the Next Room...) to the theater company. Directed by Rebecca Taichman (Milk Like Sugar at PH; the current Marie Antoinette, Orlando, The Scene, Luck of the Irish), the production will begin previews Friday evening, February 7 at 8PM with an Opening Night set for Sunday, March 2 at 7PM. The limited engagement will play through Sunday evening, March 23 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street).

Coming up this week, 54 BELOW, the performance venue located just below the legendary Studio 54 at 254 West 54th Street, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond:

Deadline reports that Christopher Walken And Lenny Kravitz will co-star in LITTLE ROOTIE TOOTIE from writer/director Dan Algrant. Grammy winner composer Terence Blanchard will score original music for the film.

Now in its 16th season, Lincoln Center's acclaimed series American Songbook will continue to expand its scope celebrating the best in American singing and songwriting. New this year, the opening night concert will befree, in the David Rubenstein Atrium, on Wednesday, January 22, 2014. 'Live From Lincoln Center,' the Emmy Award-winning program broadcast nationally on PBS stations, will shoot four of the first week's American Songbook concerts in The Allen Room: by James Naughton, Lawrence Brownlee, Jason Isbell, and Patina Miller. These performances will be broadcast nationally beginning in Spring 2014. In addition, American Songbook concerts taking place in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse at Lincoln Center will be live-streamed via http://watch.lincolncenter.org.

For its 99th season, the National Yiddish Theatre - Folksbiene will present one of the largest productions in its history, the American premiere of a new musical based on the 1975 Academy-Award-nominated film Lies My Father Told Me adapted from the works of Ted Allan. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast in rehearsal below!

For the second year in a row, producers Eugene Dizon and Cory Goodrich have recorded a new album of holiday music, SEASON OF CAROLS 2013, which features nearly one hundred Chicago theatre artists, singers and musicians. This entirely new holiday CD was produced to raise funds for Season of Concern, which supports Chicago artists in need. SEASON OF CAROLS 2013 is available pre-order at www.seasonofcarols.com and will be kicked-off with a special concert on Monday, December 9 at 7:00 p.m. at Mercury Theater Chicago.

West Palm Beach's only professional multi-award-winning resident theatre, Palm Beach Dramaworks, will launch Dramalogue --- a new series that explores working in the theatre --- beginning Tuesday, December 10 live onstage at The Don & Ann Brown Theatre (201 Clematis Street). Produced by Mark Perlberg and Sponsored by Nancy and Jay Parker, this new series will consist of conversations and presentations spotlighting iconic theatre artists and professionals. Presentations will include a range of scene readings, video clips and, where applicable, musical numbers, as well as one-on-one interviews. The series will run on select Tuesdays thru April 8th, 2014.

Playwrights Horizons presents its New York premiere production of Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play, a new play by Anne Washburn, with music by Obie Award winner Michael Friedman. Directed by Steve Cosson, the Obie Award-winning Artistic Director of The Civilians, Mr. Burns is being presented as the first production of Playwrights Horizons' 2013/2014 Season.