Kirk Douglas News

From a field of 12 local high school students, Shaila Essley, Philip Patrick Bucknor and Wayne R. Mackins-Harris have been selected to represent Los Angeles in the August Wilson Monologue Competition (AWMC) national finals. Contestants this year featured high school students from four Southern California cities, who performed in the regional finals at the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum, Monday night, March 2, 2015. Scroll down for photos from the competition!

Academy Award winner Helen Mirren will return to Broadway this spring as Elizabeth II in Peter Morgan's The Audience, directed by two-time Tony Award winner Stephen Daldry. Opening Night is tonight, March 8, 2015; the limited engagement runs through June 28, 2015 at Broadway's Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. Scroll down to learn more about the company!

MCC THEATER has announced that the New York premiere of Jennifer Haley's The Nether directed by Anne Kaufman has now extended through Sunday, March 22, 2015 due to popular and critical acclaim. The production opened on Tuesday, February 24th and was previously scheduled through March 15, 2015 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street). A production of The Nether also just opened to great critical acclaim in London's West End at the famed Royal Court Theatre. The play had its world premiere in Los Angeles in 2013 at Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre. For info and tickets, please visit www.mcctheater.org.

Lexikat Artists, in association with Chapman University, is proud to present the return of IF ALL THE SKY WERE PAPER on Saturday, March 14 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, March 15 at 2:30 pm at The Kirk Douglas Theatre, 9820 Washington Blvd. in Culver City. The play is a moving, dramatic reading of real wartime letters by soldiers, Marines, sailors, and airmen, as well as their family members at home.

'Walking the Tightrope' by Mike Kenny, directed by Debbie Devine, comes to the Kirk Douglas Theatre as part of Center Theatre Group's DouglasPlus programming at 3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on May 2 and 3, 2015. (Student performances April 28 through May 1). This is a production of the 24th STreet Theatre.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Music Director Jeffrey Kahane serves as musical 'tour guide' for LACO's annual 'Discover' program, which this season features a special one-night-only exploration of Mozart's incomparable and deeply moving Requiem in D minor with special guests Alison King, soprano; Emily Fons, alto; Nicholas Phan, tenor; Aubrey Allicock, bass; and the Los Angeles Master Chorale, tonight, February 19, 2015, 8 pm, at Pasadena's Ambassador Auditorium.

Marin Theatre Company begins 2015 with the Bay Area premiere of The Convert, which marks the Bay Area debut of award-winning Zimbabwean-American playwright Danai Gurira, running tonight, Feb 19-March 15.

The Board of Directors for Center Theatre Group elected Kiki Ramos Gindler as President of the Board at the organization's board meeting on February 12, 2015. With this appointment, Gindler becomes the organization's first Latina president as well as the Music Center's first Latina board leader. Gindler will succeed William H. Ahmanson, who assumes the position of chairman of the board.

Louis Jourdan, a French actor famous for American film and television appearances in the Oscar-winning musical GIGI, MADAME BOVARY, CAN-CAN, and THE FIRST OLYMPICS: ATHENS, 1896, as well as Broadway appearances in shows such as ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER, has died. The Hollywood Walk of Fame winner was 93.

Broadway's 40 theatres aren't the only places to catch performances from your favorite stars! Well after Broadway orchestra's begin their overtures, ensemble members take their dance breaks, and performers belt out their eleven- o'clock numbers, the party continues at various cabaret venues throughout New York City. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you some cabaret highlights for this week as picked by our theatre editors, including: Melissa van der Schyff in "The Summer In Winter;' The Songs of Yandura & Melocik; Midnight at 9:30 Featuring Joanna Gleason, Aaron David Gleason, and More; Tovah Feldshuh: Aging Is Optional; and The Skivvies.

The Nether is now in playing at the Duke of York's Theatre. Directed by Jeremy Herrin,Jennifer Haley's critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning play is booking for 12 weeks only to 25 April 2015. David Calder (Doyle) joins original cast members Amanda Hale (Morris), Ivanno Jeremiah (Woodnut) and Stanley Townsend (Sims) who are joined by Jaime Adler, Zoe Brough, Perdie Hibbins and Isabella Pappas who alternate the role of Iris. Set designs are by Es Devlin, with costume designs by Christina Cunningham, lighting by Paul Pyant, compositions by Nick Powell, sound by Ian Dickinson and video design by Luke Halls.

The Geffen Playhouse announces the cast for its West Coast premiere production of Conor McPherson's The Night Alive, helmed by Geffen Playhouse Artistic Director Randall Arney. This production will feature Paul Vincent O'Connor (August: Osage County at the National Theatre, London), Fiona O'Shaughnessy (Utopia), Dan Donohue (The Lion King on Broadway), Denis Arndt (Basic Instinct), and Peter O'Meara (Band of Brothers).

Powerhouse Latino theatre group Culture Clash's 'Chavez Ravine: An L.A. Revival,' opened last night, February 4, at the Center Theatre Group/Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. Performances run through March 1, 2015. BroadwayWorld has photos from the opening night festivities below!

In observance of the centennial of the Armenian Genocide, Center Theatre Group, in partnership with the Armenian Dramatic Artists Alliance (ADAA), will present 'Staging the Unstageable: The Esthetics of Dramatizing Atrocity' at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, Tuesday, April 28 at 8 p.m.

Powerhouse Latino theatre group Culture Clash's 'Chavez Ravine: An L.A. Revival,' opens tonight, February 4, at the Center Theatre Group/Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. Performances run through March 1, 2015. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the cast in action!

The Geffen Playhouse announces the cast for its West Coast premiere production of Conor McPherson's The Night Alive, helmed by Geffen Playhouse Artistic Director Randall Arney. This production will feature Paul Vincent O'Connor (August: Osage County at the National Theatre, London), Fiona O'Shaughnessy (Utopia), Dan Donohue (The Lion King on Broadway), Denis Arndt (Basic Instinct), and Peter O'Meara (Band of Brothers).

The Civilians' 'Pretty Filthy,' A New Musical About The Other Hollywood,' with music and lyrics by Michael Friedman, book by Bess Wohl and directed by Steve Cosson, is set to open tonight, January 31 and play through March 1, 2015, at the Abrons Arts Center in New York City.

Powerhouse Latino theatre group Culture Clash's 'Chavez Ravine: An L.A. Revival,' opens next Wednesday (February 4) at the Center Theatre Group/Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. Performances run through March 1, 2015. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the cast in action!

Sonia Friedman Productions, Scott M Delman and Tulchin Bartner Productions present the West End transfer of Jennifer Haley's critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning The Nether. In a Headlong and Royal Court Theatre co-production directed by Jeremy Herrin, The Nether previews at the Duke of York's Theatre from tonight 30 January 2015, opens on 23 February and is booking for 12 weeks only to 25 April 2015.