Lisa Rothe News

Play On Shakespeare today announces an expansive list of compelling actors and dynamic directors confirmed to participate in the Play on! Festival, presented in association with Classic Stage Company (CSC) and Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF). Play on! features 39 readings of new, work-in-progress translations of Shakespeare's plays into contemporary modern English by some of today's most exciting playwrights-May 29-June 30 at the Lynn F. Angelson Theater at CSC (136 E. 13th Street). In 2015, Oregon Shakespeare Festival launched an ambitious 39-play, three-year commissioning project, Play on!, tasking 36 playwrights-more than half of whom were women and playwrights of color, each paired with a dramaturg-to translate Shakespeare's canon in celebration of the enduring impact of the Bard's work. Supported by a generous grant from the Hitz Foundation and inspired by long-time patron Dave Hitz's passion for Shakespeare, the project was and continues to be led by Lue Morgan Douthit. For more information, visit playonfestival.org.

Barrington Stage Company announced today casting for its 25th Anniversary season. Casting will include Elijah Alexander, Mara Davi, Carson Elrod, Joel de la Fuente, Mykal Kilgore, Alyse Alan Louis, Kate MacCluggage, Jeff McCarthy, Julia Murney, Jonathan Raviv, Debra Jo Rupp and more. Full casting for the 25th Anniversary season is below.

Kansas City Repertory Theatre celebrated the end of its 2018/2019 run and the new works theater community with the OriginKC: NEW WORKS FESTIVAL, running April 19 through May 19, 2019. The focal point of the Festival is the three-day intensive Festival Launch Weekend, May 3, 4 and 5, that features staged readings, panel discussions, two premiere opening nights, and post-show conversations.

On Monday, March 25th The League of Professional Theatre Women (Kelli Lynn Harrison & Catherine Porter, Co-Presidents) presented the 2019 Theatre Women Awards at The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture (18 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012).

Kansas City Repertory Theatre wraps up its 2018/19 season with the fourth annual OriginKC: NEW WORKS FESTIVAL, April 19 through May 19, 2019. The OriginKC: NEW WORKS FESTIVAL positions Kansas City as a major player and national center for the cultivation and production of new works, while offering theatre artists from across the country the financial, creative, and artistic resources required to develop vital, diverse works of theatre.  

IN MY CHAIR is such an inimitable, witty and potent production that's anything but a conventional play. It's deeper than a one-woman show. It's a participatory theatrical event that takes its audience around the world on the journey of a lifetime, sometimes including them in the dialogue; while introducing the stories of dozens of women, all performed to glorious perfection by the brilliant DeVirgilis.

The League of Professional Theatre Women (Kelli Lynn Harrison & Catherine Porter, Co-Presidents) will present the 2019 Theatre Women Awards at The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture (18 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012) on Monday, March 25 beginning at 6:30pm (doors open at 6pm). Tickets ($85-$250) are available for advance purchase at www.theatrewomen.org.

Kansas City, MO-Kansas City Repertory Theatre on Monday evening announced the 2019/2020 prospective season in front of a packed Posinelli Conference Center audience including members of the news media. Executive Director Angela Gieras, Interim Artistic Director Jason Chanos, and Assistant Artistic Director Kim Martin- Cotton announced the plays and musicals slated for the new season beginning in September 2019 at the Spencer Theatre on the UMKC campus and at the Copaken Stage downtown.

Kansas City Repertory Theatre offered local audiences a sneak peek at their 2019/2020 season this evening at a special invitation-only event for Subscribers and local press, announcing the featured plays and musicals slated for next season at its two venues, Spencer Theatre, and Copaken Stage.

Theatre Bay Area, the third-largest regional theatre service organization in North America, held its fifth annual TBA Awards Celebration on Monday, November 5. The event took place at the Herbst Theatre with almost 700 people in attendance.

Irish Repertory Theatre announced today the next production on the W. Scott McLucas Studio Stage, and an upcoming special event.

Voyage Theater Company/PARTS UNKNOWN Play Reading Series will present a staged reading of acclaimed Turkish playwright Sedef Ecer's e-smuggler.com, in a new English-language translation by Amelia Parenteau, directed by Lisa Rothe, at the 53rd Street New York Public Library (18 W 53 Street, across the street from MOMA), Thur October 18 at 7pm. Admission is FREE and open to the public, but reservations are highly encouraged. Please RSVP here. The performance will run approximately 70 minutes, with no intermission.

Samuel French has announced the winners of the 2018 Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival, the nation's premier short play competition.

Irish Repertory Theatre, the New York home for Irish and Irish-American theatre, will celebrate their 30th Anniversary this fall with a special public block party. The event, which is free and open to all ages, will be held on Saturday, September 15, 2018, 30 years to the day from the first-ever Irish Rep performance. Featured performers at the block party will include Tony Award winner Bill Irwin (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) and Leeyna Rideout (War Horse), each of whom have conceived and will star in their own respective solo shows at Irish Rep this fall.

Samuel French announces that award-winning playwright and cabaret artist Charles Busch (The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, Psycho Beach Party, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom) has happily stepped in for the previously announced Lauren Yee (The King of the Yees, The Great Leap, The Hatmaker's Wife) who had to recuse herself due to a scheduling conflict.

The Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival, the nation's premier short play competition, takes place August 21-25 at The Vineyard's Dimson 15th Street Theatre. Chosen from over 850 submissions from the U.S. and abroad, 30 finalist plays and musicals, each running 10-30 minutes in length, will be presented. The Saturday, August 25th presentation is the culmination of the week-long festival at which the Samuel French staff will choose the winning six pieces for licensing and publication in an anthology.

Due to popular response, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley has added a performance of Hold These Truths, with an additional matinee 2pm Saturday, August 4. Written by Jeanne Sakata and opening TheatreWorks's 49th season, Hold These Truths tells the inspiring true story of Gordon Hirabayashi, a Japanese-American student who fought internment to a relocation camp during World War II. This Northern California premiere celebrates the human spirit as it chronicles Hirabayashi's journey from college in Seattle all the way to the Supreme Court, and eventually to a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley kicked off its 2018/19 season with Hold These Truths by Jeanne Sakata, an inspiring true story following Gordon Hirabayashi, a Japanese-American student who fought internment to a relocation camp during World War II. This Northern California premiere celebrates the human spirit as it chronicles Hirabayashi's journey from college in Seattle all the way to the Supreme Court, and eventually to a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Directed by Lisa Rothe, with Joel de la Fuente starring as Hirabayashi, Hold These Truths shares the story of a young man who passionately defends his Constitutional rights against an unexpected adversary: his own country. After a gala opening on July 15, the show continues through August 5, 2018 at the Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto. For tickets ($40-$100) and more information the public may visit TheatreWorks.org or call (650) 463-1960.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley kicks off its 2018/19 season with Hold These Truths by Jeanne Sakata, an inspiring true story following Gordon Hirabayashi, a Japanese-American student who fought internment to a relocation camp during World War II. This Northern California premiere celebrates the human spirit as it chronicles Hirabayashi's journey from college in Seattle all the way to the Supreme Court, and eventually to a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Directed by Lisa Rothe, with Joel de la Fuente starring as Hirabayashi, Hold These Truths shares the story of a young man who passionately defends his Constitutional rights against an unexpected adversary: his own country. It will be presented July 11-August 5, 2018 (press opening: July 14) at the Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto. For tickets ($40-$100) and more information the public may visit TheatreWorks.org or call (650) 463-1960.

Irish Repertory Theatre will present world premiere of WILD ABANDON by Leenya Rideout (War Horse). Directed by Lisa Rothe (Hold These Truths), WILD ABANDON begins performances on September 19, 2018 at Irish Rep Theatre (132 West 22nd Street) on the W. Scott McLucas Studio Stage, with an opening night set for September 25, and will run through October 21, 2018.