Manhattan Theatre Club News

The Off-Broadway League today announced nominations in 18 categories for the 30th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway. The Lortel Awards will be handed out on Sunday, May 10, 2015 at NYU Skirball Center beginning at 7:00 PM EST, and hosted by Emmy-nominated actors Anna Chlumsky (“Veep,” Broadway's Living on Love) and Jesse Tyler Ferguson (“Modern Family,” this summer's The Tempest). This year's event will once again benefit The Actors Fund.

The NATIONAL NEW PLAY NETWORK (NNPN), the country's alliance of non-profit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, announces its 48th and 49th Rolling World Premieres: Chad Beckim's Lights Rise on Grace and Lauren Yee's in a word, as well as openings for its 43rd, 44th, and 47th plays, Uncanny Valley by Thomas Gibbons, Colossal by Andrew Hinderaker, and River City by Diana Grisanti.

BroadwayWorld has just learned that Rita Wilson has temporarily stepped out of Broadway's FISH IN THE DARK for a temporary medical leave. In her absence, the role of 'Brenda' is being played by Glenne Headly. Wilson is set to return to the production on May 5, 2015.

In Jim Neu's musical 'The Floatones,' four rather strange characters meet at their encounter group and decide the best way to get better is through show business. They form a vocal quartet on the cutting edge of a new fusion between entertainment and self-help. Their night club act shares their group insights in speech and song, interweaving their individual stories, creating a post-Chorus Line. 'The Floatones' debuted in 1995 and will be revived by La MaMa E.T.C. on the play's 20th anniversary, March 1 to 10, 2015 co-directed by Catherine Galasso and Keith McDermott. It is the first production of a Jim Neu play since his death in 2010.

?Dallas Theater Center announced today complete details for the rolling world premiere of Colossal, a new play by Andrew Hinderaker. DTC artistic director Kevin Moriarty directs the Kennedy Center Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award-winning play, which is choreographed by founder and artistic director of Dark Circles Contemporary Dance Joshua L. Peugh. Colossal begins with previews tonight, April 2 with a Pay-What-You-Can performance and runs through Sunday, May 3.

Bailiwick Chicago will conclude its 2014-15 season with the Chicago premiere of the intense off-Broadway rock musical MURDER BALLAD, conceived by and with book and lyrics by Julia Jordan, music and lyrics by Juliana Nash, directed and choreographed by James Beaudry with musical direction by Nicholas Davio. MURDER BALLAD will play tonight, April 2 - May 9, 2015 at the Flat Iron Arts Building, 1579 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago.

In Jim Neu's musical 'The Floatones,' four rather strange characters meet at their encounter group and decide the best way to get better is through show business. They form a vocal quartet on the cutting edge of a new fusion between entertainment and self-help. Their night club act shares their group insights in speech and song, interweaving their individual stories, creating a post-Chorus Line. 'The Floatones' debuted in 1995 and will be revived by La MaMa E.T.C. on the play's 20th anniversary, March 1 to 10, 2015 co-directed by Catherine Galasso and Keith McDermott. It is the first production of a Jim Neu play since his death in 2010.

Manhattan Theatre Club has just announced it will produce the New York premiere of Our Mother's Brief Affair, the new play by Tony Award winner Richard Greenberg, directed by MTC's award-winning Artistic Director Lynne Meadow, starring Tony and two-time Golden Globe Award winner Linda Lavin.

?Dallas Theater Center announced today complete details for the rolling world premiere of Colossal, a new play by Andrew Hinderaker. DTC artistic director Kevin Moriarty directs the Kennedy Center Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award-winning play, which is choreographed by founder and artistic director of Dark Circles Contemporary Dance Joshua L. Peugh. Colossal begins with previews on Thursday, April 2 with a Pay-What-You-Can performance and runs through Sunday, May 3.

Leah Franqui, Victoria Frings and Joseph Pickard are proud to present After Ever After, a web series about fairy-tale couples and their real-life couples therapist.

The Ovation Award-winning IAMA THEATRE COMPANY is thrilled to present the World Premiere of A DOG'S HOUSE, written by Micah Schraft and directed by Trip Cullman. A DOG'S HOUSE will preview tonight, March 27 at 8pm and will open on Saturday, March 28 and run through Sunday, April 26 at the Elephant Theatre, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd. (one block west of Vine) in Hollywood.

Williamstown Theatre Festival Artistic Director Mandy Greenfield has announced a New Play Commissioning Program and New Musical Commissioning Program, through which the Festival will commission and develop three to five projects annually from playwrights, composers and collaborative devisers from across the career spectrum. The program launches with inaugural artists Fernanda Coppel (whose new play King Liz premieres this summer at Second Stage), Halley Feiffer (I'm Gonna Pray for You So Hard, which just finished an acclaimed run at the Atlantic Theater Company), and Benjamin Scheuer (creator of the current Off Broadway hit The Lion). Each commission also includes a writing residency at Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Philadelphia Theatre Company continues its 40th Anniversary season with the hit of the Humana Festival brownsville song (b-side for tray) by Kimber Lee May 1-31. Co-produced with Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, CT, brownsville song (b-side for Tray) is directed by Eric Ting, and features a cast including Sung Yun Cho, Curtiss Cook, Jr., Catrina Ganey, Anthony Martinez-Briggs, and Kaatje Welsh.

THE ROAD THEATRE COMPANY and Taylor Gilbert, Founder/Artistic Director together with Sam Anderson, Artistic Director, are thrilled to announce that the second show of its 2014-2015 season, the critically-acclaimed (LA Times' CRITICS CHOICE!) Los Angeles Premiere of THE OTHER PLACE, written by Sharr White and directed by Andre Barron and starring Sam Anderson, Taylor Gilbert, Dirk Etchison and Danielle Stephens is EXTENDING through SUNDAY, APRIL 26 at the Road Theatre Company's second home, the Road on Magnolia, located in The NoHo Senior Arts Colony, 10747 Magnolia Blvd. in North Hollywood.

Award winning Broadway director Steve Zuckerman and noted playwright, screen and television writer John Bunzel are tapped by The New American Theatre Artistic Director Jack Stehlin to offer Los Angeles a 'first look' at the new comedy 63 TRILLION, opening at the Odyssey Theatre on April 25, 2015.

The Old Globe is delighted to welcome one of the true geniuses of the American theatre, Tony Award winner Mary Zimmerman, who makes her long-awaited San Diego directing debut with an enchanting theatrical spectacle with live music and sumptuous visuals, The White Snake, continuing the Globe's 80th Anniversary festivities as part of the Balboa Park Centennial Celebration. The Southern California Premiere of The White Snake, written and directed by Zimmerman, will run now through April 26 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Opening night is tonight, March 26 at 8:00 p.m.

?Today, The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep's Center for the Creation and Development of New Work announces that it has selected 14 projects for its fourth Summer Residency Lab featuring works from more than 20 talented artists.

The Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company will present the world premiere of mother and son writing team, Kathy Kacer and Jake Epstein's THEREFORE CHOOSE LIFE, which will also launch the company's residency at the new Greenwin Theatre at the Toronto Centre for the Arts.

Kansas City Repertory Theatre continues its 50th anniversary season with Sticky Traps, a powerful new play by KC Rep's Playwright in Residence, Nathan Louis Jackson, Directed by Resident Director, Kyle Hatley. Sticky Traps focuses on a small town not far from Kansas City, where a mother protects her gay son's honor when his funeral is protested by a local church. Her actions have unintended consequences that will test her whole family - and the power of their love -- in the face of hate. The production begins Friday, April 24th and runs through Sunday, May 24th at Copaken Stage in downtown Kansas City.

SEATTLE, WA - Pacific Northwest Ballet's Swan Lake, choreographed by Founding Artistic Director Kent Stowell, returns to the McCaw Hall stage as the fifth offering of PNB's 2014-15 season. This beloved story ballet, revered by audiences and dancers alike, is classical ballet at its very best. Sumptuous scenery, costumes, and lighting, and an achingly beautiful Tchaikovsky score, set the stage for the ethereal corps de ballet and the ultimate challenge for ballerinas all over the world—the dual role of Odette, trapped in the body of a white swan until the oath of her true love sets her free; and Odile, the “Black Swan” temptress. With an added performance on opening weekend, Swan Lake runs for nine performances only, from April 10 through 19 at Seattle Center's Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. Tickets start at $30. For more information, contact the PNB Box Office at 206.441.2424, in person at 301 Mercer Street, or online at PNB.org.