Kirk Douglas News

The musical legacy of Frank Loesser, often called the most versatile of all Broadway composers, will be celebrated at Center Theatre Group's Salon XVI at the Taper, 'Happy to Make Your Acquaintance,' hosted by Michael Feinstein, Monday, November 17 at 8 p.m., at the Mark Taper Forum of the Los Angeles Music Center.

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Orange County's beloved holiday tradition, returns to South Coast Repertory for its 29th season.

Center Theatre Group announced today that one of its new plays has been chosen by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) as one of the inaugural selections in the NEA New Play Development Program.

Center Theatre Group has created a new ticket discount program - the CTG Entertainment Stimulus Package - which will make 100,000 tickets available at a $20 ticket price, it was announced today by Michael Ritchie, CTG Artistic Director.

The 20th Anniversary revival of DAVID MAMET's Speed-The-Plow is proud to announce it will now begin previews at the ETHEL BARRYMORE THEATRE (located at 243 West 47th St.) on Friday, October 3, 2008 with a new official opening set for Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 7pm.

The three theater organizations from across the nation, Golden Thread Productions in San Francisco, the Lark Play Development Center in New York, and Silk Road Theatre Project in Chicago, who formed Middle East America (MEA): A National New Plays Initiative have awarded the 2008 Middle East America Distinguished Playwright Award to Adriana Sevan.

The cast has been set for the Center Theatre Group's presentation of Douglas Carter Beane's Tony Award-nominated farce 'The Little Dog Laughed,' the second production of the Kirk Douglas Theatre's 2008-2009 season. 'The Little Dog Laughed' opens November 23, 2008, and continues through December 21. Previews begin November 16.

Beloved children's author Judy Blume's Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, an enormously popular tale of sibling rivalry and unfortunate digestive mishaps, will open South Coast Repertory's 2008-09 Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) season.

Today Tony Taccone, artistic director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre, announced additional dates for two solo shows that he staged in Berkeley before launching them on tours across the continent. Danny Hoch's Taking Over had its world premiere at Berkeley Rep in January and hit it big in Montreal this July; next week it starts an All City Tour featuring free performances in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx in addition to previously announced dates in Manhattan and Los Angeles. Moreover, after a record-breaking run in Berkeley last winter, Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking careened through Hartford, San Jose, Santa Fe, and Washington, DC this summer; now it adds Seattle to a list of upcoming destinations that also includes Boston.

On September 22nd, the 2008 Ovation Award Nominees were announced. Now in its 19th year, the LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards will celebrate the 168 theatre companies, 390 registered productions, and over 2,000 individual artists who participated in the September 1, 2007 to August 31, 2008 season

The Civilians (Steven Cosson, Artistic Director), the award-winning New York-based innovative theater troupe, today announced their newest project: Brooklyn at Eye Level, a long-term investigation of development in Brooklyn and its effect on neighborhood and community. For this work the company will connect artists, community members and local youth using their signature creative process grounded in documentary art. Brooklyn at Eye Level will examine the surge of development in Brooklyn, with a specific focus on the controversial Atlantic Yards project and its effect on the surrounding communities of Fort Greene, Boreum Hill, Downtown Brooklyn, Crown Heights, Park Slope and Prospect Heights.

Variety is reporting that the world premiere of High School Musical 2 will be directed by Jeff Calhoun at Theater of the Stars in Atlanta, Georgia. The show will run from November 7th- 16th 2008. Casting has not yet been announced.

The Civilians (Steven Cosson, Artistic Director), the acclaimed New York-based experimental theater troupe, today announced a special, one-night-only event in celebration of the West Coast Premiere of their latest work, This Beautiful City to be held on the final preview Saturday, September 27, 2008.

BroadwayWorld.com has learned that The Roundabout Theatre Company will be presenting a reading of the new Broadway-bound musical BONNIE & CLYDE on February 9, 2009. The show features a book by Ivan Menchell, music by Frank Wildhorn, lyrics by Don Black, direction by Jeff Calhoun and musical direction by John McDaniel.

South Coast Repertory kicks off the 2008-09 Season with the World Premiere of its first commissioned musical: An Italian Straw Hat: A Vaudeville.

Hip-hop has arrived at Kansas City Repertory Theatre. Eric Rosen kicks off his adventurous first season as the Rep's artistic director with the powerful new hip-hop musical Clay, written and performed by Matt Sax and developed in collaboration with and directed by Rosen. The show contains loud music, adult language and strong content.

The 20th Anniversary revival of DAVID MAMET's Speed-The-Plow is proud to announce it will now begin previews at the ETHEL BARRYMORE THEATRE (located at 243 West 47th St.) on Friday, October 3, 2008 with a new official opening set for Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 7pm.

The complete teenage cast and teenage band was announced today for 13, A New Musical, with music and lyrics by Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown (Parade, The Last Five Years).

South Coast Repertory kicks off the 2008-09 Season with the World Premiere of its first commissioned musical: An Italian Straw Hat: A Vaudeville.

In her new play, THE THIRD FROM THE LEFT, former Martha Graham dancer, Jean Colonomos, dramatizes the struggles five women face to find the emotional strength and physical endurance to master one of Graham's highly challenging works.