Laura Eason News

For this year's 9th Annual Thomas Barbour Playwrights' Award, The Episcopal Actors' Guild will partner with New York's HB Studio in presenting staged readings of three new works, with one writer being awarded a prize of $500.

George Street Playhouse today announced the cast of Laura Eason's Sex With Strangers, which runs March 8 through March 27 at the New Brunswick theatre.  Kyle Coffman (Newsies, West Side Story on Broadway) will portray young, brash writer Ethan Kane; JoAnna Rhinehart (TV's Elementary, Damages) will play novelist and teacher Olivia Lago.  The production will be helmed by George Street Playhouse Artistic Director David Saint.

Two-time Tony Award-nominee and film actress Kathleen Turner kicks off Philadelphia Theatre Company's 2016 Theatre Masters series on February 29 at 7:00 PM at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets). 

? Lookingglass Theatre Company announces the election of its newest Artistic Director, Ensemble Member Heidi Stillman. Stillman has served as Artistic Director of New Work since 2004 and replaces current Artistic Director, Ensemble Member Andrew White. White, who has held the post since 2010, will serve as the company's first Connectivity and Engagement Director. Ensemble Member Philip R. Smith remains on the artistic leadership team in his role as Producing Director. In this spirit of ensemble and collaboration, Lookingglass Ensemble members routinely vote on the position of artistic director every three years. Elections are then ratified by the Lookingglass Board of Directors, and this artistic transition is effective immediately.

Geffen Playhouse announces the cast for its production of Sex With Strangers written by Laura Eason.  Kimberly Senior (director of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize winning play Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar) directs Sex With Strangers starring Stephen Louis Grush as Ethan and Rebecca Pidgeon as Olivia.

Philadelphia Theatre Company presents MacArthur Award-winning actress, playwright, and educator Anna Deavere Smith in a special presentation of selected excerpts from her latest work in progress, Notes >From the Field: Doing Time in Education, on Monday, February 8 at 7:00 PM at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets). Tickets starting at $15 are available by calling the PTC Box Office at 215-985-0420 or visiting PhiladelphiaTheatreCompany.org.

Second Stage Theatre's 37th Anniversary Gala celebration will honor Producer DAVID STONE, celebrating his ongoing 12 year relationship with the Off-Broadway Company.  The evening's Honorary Chair is James M. Nederlander and the Co-Chairs are Marc Platt, Patrick Catullo, and Nancy Coyne.  The gala evening, which will be directed by James Lapine, will be held on Monday, May 2, 2016 at Cipriani 42nd Street.  The evening's entertainment, which will feature stars who have appeared in Stone's productions over the years, will be announced at a later date.  This is the first time Second Stage's annual gala will be honoring a Broadway producer.

Philadelphia Theatre Company will present the gripping and timely play Exit Strategy by "Chicagoan of the Year" Ike Holter January 29-February 28.  Directed by Kip Fagan, the production features an ensemble cast with Michael Cullen, Aime Donna Kelly, Rey Lucas, Deidre Madigan, Christina Nieves, Brandon Pierce, and Ray Spahn. Exit Strategy is the first of several new American plays and presentations at PTC in 2016 which also includes an evening of excerpts from Anna Deavere Smith's new work, Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education, the Philadelphia premiere of Sex With Strangers by Laura Eason, and the East Coast premiere of Hillary and Clinton by Lucas Hnath.

The majestic, mysterious and fabulously wealthy Phileas Fogg wagers his life's fortune that he can circumnavigate the globe in just 80 days. Join Fogg and his loyal valet, Passepartout, as they voyage from the misty alleys of Victorian London to the exotic subcontinent and the Wild West in a race against the clock.

Wild and wacky fun, just in time for the holidays, is onstage when Philadelphia Theatre Company presents the hilarious McCarter Theatre/Arena Stage production of Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery running November 27-December 27 at PTC's home, the Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets). Directed by Amanda Dehnert, the ensemble cast features Henry Clarke, Crystal Finn, Adam Green, Ron Menzel, and Matt Zambrano.

City Theatre Company is excited to introduce a series of Pay-What-You-Want performances throughout the 2015/16 Season.

George Street Playhouse Artistic Director David Saint has announced the slate of plays scheduled for the New Brunswick theatre's 2015-2016 season. George Street's 42nd Season consists of a slate of four plays ranging from Mysterious Musical Comedy Mayhem to Sex With Strangers. 

Stray Cat Theatre scores a huge hit with SEX WITH STRANGERS. Heather Lee Harper and Tyler Eglen deliver spell-binding performances.

Laura Eason's sexy, funny grown-up fling SEX WITH STRANGERS heats up the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park's 2015-16 season with both sexual and intellectual tensions. The provocative new play runs tonight, Sept. 26 through Oct. 25 on the Playhouse's intimate Thompson Shelterhouse stage.

Arizona Theatre Company, in a special collaboration with Stray Cat Theatre, will present Laura Eason's new comedy about the calculations people are making to find love or fame in an age of social media, brightly-lit phone screens and blogging. SEX WITH STRANGERS plays tonight, Sept. 24, through Oct. 11 in Stage West at the Herberger Theater Center, 222 E. Monroe.

Keyboardist, alto horn player, composer, and founding member of Loose Tubes Django Bates will compose the score for a new stage production of Jules Verne's classic 1873 novel, Around the World in 80 Days, running at the St. James Theatre from 26 November 2015 - 17 January 2016 with a press night on 3 December 2015. In an adaptation by playwright Laura Eason, a writer on hit Netflix series House of Cards, the production will be directed by Lucy Bailey and produced by Simon Friend Entertainment, St. James Theatre Productions and Ros Povey Productions. Casting will be announced shortly.

The Philadelphia Theatre Company announced today that it has repurchased the iconic Suzanne Roberts Theatre from TD Bank, thanks in large part to a spirited community effort led by the Roberts family that raised over $3 million and enabled PTC to reclaim its longtime home, which is the final piece to its remarkable fiscal and artistic turnaround.

American Theatre's annual lists of the 10 most produced plays of the upcoming season and the 20 most produced playwrights.

Philadelphia Theatre Company (PTC) is pleased to announce James Ijames as the recipient of the fourth Terrence McNally New Play Award for the development of his play White. The Terrence McNally New Play Award is a $10,000 cash prize given annually to recognize a new play that celebrates the transformative power of art. The Award will also include a year of development support at PTC, including readings as well as administrative support and networking to help manage the future of the play beyond its time at PTC.

As the final show of their 2015 Mainstage Season, Dorset Theatre Festival will present The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Laura Eason, adapted from the novel by Mark Twain. Continuing the tradition of closing out the summer season with a fall presentation open to and specifically geared towards families and school groups, Tom Sawyer follows 2014's Travels with Mark Twain (starring Ron Crawford) and 2013's This Verse Business (starring Gordon Clapp as poet Robert Frost).