M. Florian Staab News

Four Walls Theater will feature its first cabaret style show featuring exclusively Artists of Color  in two nights of celebration and representation of solo performance art.

Taking place during NYC Pride, presentations of Dima Mikhayel Matta's This is not a memorized script, this is a well-rehearsed story and Victor I. Cazares's «when we write with ashes» will be staged on the Hearst Plaza Stage as part of Lincoln Center's Restart Stages Initiative on June 24 and 25, respectively.

Westport Country Playhouse will open its all-virtual 2021 production season with the regional premiere of “Tiny House,” a timely new comedy about downsizing, going green, escaping urban life, and fresh starts, written by Michael Gotch, and directed by Mark Lamos, Playhouse artistic director.

Irish Repertory Theatre announced today that their next Performance on Screen digital production is Little Gem. Reprising their roles from Irish Rep’s 2019 production are Brenda Meaney (Indian Ink), Lauren O’Leary (The Awkward Years) and four-time Academy Award nominee & Outer Critic’s Circle Award winner Marsha Mason (The Goodbye Girl).

Theater in Quarantine will present the world premiere of Honestly Sincere, a new play written by Liza Birkenmeier.

Irish Repertory Theatre has announced their Theatre @ Home Winter Festival, a four-week repertory retrospective of all of the original digital productions created by Irish Repertory Theatre during the COVID-19 shut-down, from January 26 – February 21, 2021.

'I am not a Beckett scholar,' Bill Irwin advises viewers at the outset. 'Mine is an actor's relationship to this language. By which I mean the deep knowledge that comes from committing words to memory, and speaking them to audiences.'

Irish Repertory Theatre announced today that Meet Me in St. Louis: A Holiday Special in Song and on Screen will join their fall 2020 season. Meet Me in St. Louis features a book by Hugh Wheeler, songs by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, and is based on 'The Kensington Stories' by Sally Benson and the MGM motion picture Meet Me in St. Louis.

The world premiere of a?oeBARSa??, a new drama by Pravin Wilkins will livestream on Saturday, October 17th at 8pm EST/ 7pm CST/ 5pm PT  and Sunday October 18th at 2pm EST/ 1pm CST/ 11 am PT and will be available for a limited time through October 31st.

Irish Repertory Theatre has announced its Online 2020 Fall Season. This fall will feature five Performances on Screen.

a?oeRights of Passagea??, a new drama by Michelle Tyrene Johnson will livestream on Friday, July 10th at 8pm EST/ 7pm CST/ 5pm PT and will be available for a limited time through July 24th.

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center announced today the 2020 summer season which will be held entirely online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Irish Repertory Theatre (Charlotte Moore, Artistic Director and Ciarán O'Reilly, Producing Director) has announced the cast & creative team for Lady G: Plays and Whisperings of Lady Gregory. Lady G is written by Lady Augusta Gregory with additional material by Ciarán O'Reilly (Dublin Carol), with direction by O'Reilly. Previews begin in the W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre on February 12, 2020, with opening night set for February 19, 2020, for a limited engagement through March 22, 2020.

This Sunday, December 8, the Christmas season commences at the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture (18 Bleecker Street at the corner of Elizabeth Street, NYC) with the opening of The Gospel of John, conceived and performed by award-winning Broadway veteran Ken Jennings (Sweeney Todd, Grand Hotel, Side Show). Jennings brings the Gospel to life on stage - in just 90 minutes. Directed by John Pietrowski (Artistic Director of Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey), The Gospel of John plays a limited holiday engagement through December 29 at The Sheen Center's Black Box Theater.  Currently in previews, the official opening is Sunday, December 8 at 3PM. Tickets are available online at SheenCenter.org, by phone at 212-925-2812, or in-person at The Sheen Center box office Monday to Friday noon to 5PM and one hour before performances.

This weekend, the Christmas season commences at the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture (18 Bleecker Street at the corner of Elizabeth Street, NYC) when performances begin for The Gospel of John, conceived and performed by award-winning Broadway veteran Ken Jennings (Sweeney Todd, Grand Hotel, Side Show).

Irish Repertory Theatre announces full casting for London Assurance, written by Dion Boucicault (The Shaughraun) and directed by Charlotte Moore (The Plough and the Stars). Performances begin on December 6, 2019 on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage (132 W 22nd Street) with an opening night set for December 15, for a limited run through January 26, 2020.

This holiday season, Sheen Center for Thought & Culture presents The Gospel of John, conceived and performed by award-winning Broadway veteran Ken Jennings (Sweeney Todd, Grand Hotel, Side Show). Jennings brings the Gospel to life on stage - in just 90 minutes.

While I find Beckett's plays often too intensely intellectual for my comprehension, this was not the case with Irwin's seemingly effortless way of donning a bowler hat (or 2 or 3), juggling them until the perfect one is atop his head, and then going on to flop around the stage in his baggy pants and oversize shoes as a quintessential clown while explaining his interpretation of passages reflecting a?oethe noise of lifea?? in Beckett's a?oeText for Noting,a?? a?oeWatt,a?? a?oeWaiting for Godot,a?? a?oeEndgame,a?? and a?oeThe Unnamable.a?? It was an extraordinary evening of watching a master of the stage interpret the life and brilliance of a theatre legend.

'On Beckett' opened at Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre on Wednesday, September 18 at 8 p.m. Conceived and performed by Bill Irwin.

Voyage Theater Company is pleased to present the world premiere of THE HOPE HYPOTHESIS, a wickedly humorous take on the rabbit hole that is America's immigration system. Written and directed by Cat Miller, the play explores the current climate of suspicion and fear a?" and what it means to us as individuals and as a society. Opening on Tuesday, October 29th, THE HOPE HYPOTHESIS runs from October 25th through November 15th at The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture (18 Bleecker Street). Tickets, priced at $37 ($27 for students and seniors), can be purchased at OvationTix.