Manhattan Theatre Club News

The New Group presents the New York premiere of Annapurna by Sharr White, directed by Bart DeLorenzo and featuring Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman, in a limited Off-Broadway engagement April 13 - June 1. Official Opening Night is set for Monday, April 21 at 7:00pm, at The New Group @ Theatre Row (The Acorn Theatre, 410 West 42nd Street).

From four-time Tony Award® winner Harvey Fierstein (Kinky Boots, Newsies, La Cage aux Folles) comes CASA VALENTINA, his first play in almost thirty years and his first-ever collaboration with Manhattan Theatre Club. Two-time Tony Award winner Joe Mantello (Take Me Out, Wicked) directs this funny, fascinating world premiere based on actual events. BroadwayWorld brings you a first look at the cast in action below!

Theater Wit has announced it will extend its current hit Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England through May 17th.

The Washington Stage Guild completes its Season of Dreams with the area premiere of Simon Bent's ELLING, a whimsical comedy of the power of friendship when everyday life is an adventure. Bent's London hit is based on a quartet of novels by the Norwegian writer Ingvar Ambjornsen that was the source of an Oscar-nominated film in 2002. ELLING is the story of a pair of misfits who, after rooming together for years in an institution, are offered an independent life - if they can cope with it. Elling and Kjell Bjarne must learn to deal with the world and each other's fears and quirks, and Elling's discovery of literary ambition becomes a path to a 'normal' life. Along the way the two have a series of offbeat adventures as they struggle with bureaucracy, relationships, and their own demons.

Previews begin tonight, Thursday, April 10, for the Lincoln Center Theater production of THE CITY OF CONVERSATION, a new play by Anthony Giardina, directed by Doug Hughes, at the Mitzi E. Newhouse (150 West 65th Street). Opening night is Monday, May 5. The cast includes John Aylward, Phillip James Brannon, Kristen Bush, Beth Dixon, Barbara Garrick, Jan Maxwell, Luke Niehaus, Kevin O'Rourke and Michael Simpson.

Welcome to BWW's exclusive talk show, BACKSTAGE WITH Richard Ridge. Follow Richard as he visits the theater's best and brightest in their dressing rooms, on their stages and favorite hang outs to talk about their lives, careers and all of the things you don't know, but want to know. In the special interview below, Broadway's new bad guy, Will Swenson, talks all things Les Miserables- plus he shares stories about how he got his start in theatre, his past Broadway roles, and more. Check out the full interview below!

The Old Globe today announced that two-time Golden Globe Award nominee Blair Underwood-who most recently made his acclaimed Broadway debut in the iconic role of Stanley in Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire and garnered rave reviews opposite Cicely Tyson in Lifetime's The Trip to Bountiful-will make his Globe debut in the title role of Shakespeare's classic tragedy Othello, the first show of the Globe's 2014 Summer Shakespeare Festival. Underwood's films include Something New, Deep Impact, Gattaca, and Rules of Engagement, and his television credits include 'Ironside,' 'In Treatment,' 'The New Adventures of Old Christine,' and 'Sex and the City.' Joining him and also making their Globe debuts are the previously announced Emmy Award winner Richard Thomas ('The Americans,' 'The Waltons') as Iago and Kristen Connolly ('House of Cards,' The Cabin in the Woods) as Desdemona.

Strawdog Theatre Company and Interim Artistic Director Hank Boland are proud to announce the final production to their 2013 - 2014 season, Jessica Dickey's Charles Ives Take Me Home, May 9 - June 21, direction by Keira Fromm with music direction by Strawdog Theatre Company Member Mike Przygoda and original music composition by Christopher Kriz, at Strawdog Theatre Company, 3829 N. Broadway Street. Preview performance tickets are $15 with performances Friday, May 9, Saturday May 10, Thursday, May 15 and Friday, May 16 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 18 at 4 p.m. There is a Board Preview performance, Saturday, May 17 at 7 p.m., with $50 tickets that include access to a post-performance reception. Opening/press night is Monday, May 19 at 8 p.m. Industry night is Monday, June 2 at 8 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. Single tickets are $28 and are currently on sale. Subscriptions, group, senior and student discounts are also available. Tickets may be ordered online at strawdog.org or by calling OvationTix toll-free: 866-811-4111.

PATTI ISSUES - the hit solo play hailed as 'heartfelt and cleverly constructed' ' by The Boston Globe and called 'spellbinding, one of the best (and now longestrunning) offerings of the year,' by The Village Voice - is set to play Miami Beach on Friday, May 9th at 8 PM (presented by legendary Broadway and concert producer-director Richard Jay-Alexander in association with Edison Farrow and South Beach Cabaret) at The Cabaret South Beach (233 12th Street, Miami Beach, FL 33139), return engagements in San Francisco (Wednesday, May 14th at 7 PM and at 9 PM at Rebel,1760 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94102), Los Angeles (Thursday, May 15th at 7:30 PM and at 9 PM at the Cavern Club Celebrity Theater at Casita Del Campo,1920 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027) and Fire Island Pines (Saturday, July 26th at 10 PM at Fire Island Pines Pavilion, Fire Island Pines, NY 11782), as well as two performances as an Official Selection of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival on Saturday, June 21st at 4 PM and 7:30 PM at the Space Theatre, King William Road, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia. Tickets for all shows at www.PattiIssues.com.

The Colony Theatre is thrilled to present Ian Buchanan and Mariette Hartley starring in THE LION IN WINTER, written by James Goldman and directed by Stephanie Vlahos. THE LION IN WINTER will preview on Wednesday, April 16; Thursday, April 17; and Friday, April 18 at 8:00pm and will open on Saturday, April 19 at 8:00pm and continue through Sunday, May 18 at The Colony Theatre, 555 N. Third Street (at Cypress) adjacent to the Burbank Town Center Mall.

Today, Artistic Director Robert Falls announces that his longtime associate, Producer Steve Scott, will direct Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Christopher Durang's Tony Award-winning, 'deliriously funny, hilariously demented' Broadway hit, in Spring 2015 (dates TBA). A loving send-up of Chekhov's greatest works, Vanya makes its Chicago premiere in the Albert Theatre as part of the Subscription series in the theater's 90th Anniversary 'Season to Celebrate.' (One play is TBA.)

Manhattan Theatre Club has confirmed complete casting for the upcoming world premiere production of WHEN WE WERE YOUNG AND UNAFRAID, the new play by Sarah Treem ('House of Cards,' 'In Treatment'), directed by Tony Award winner Pam MacKinnon (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Clybourne Park).

The 2013-2014 season at Cleveland Play House (CPH) continues with the compelling world premiere production of Deborah Zoe Laufer's Informed Consent. Co-produced with Geva Theatre Center, this incredibly thought-provoking production is inspired by the real life court case between the Havasupai Indian tribe and Arizona State University, and sparks an intriguing debate on both ethicality and morality. Directed by Sean Daniels and Sponsored by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic and MetroHealth, Informed Consent will serve as the centerpiece to CPH's 2014 New Ground Theatre Festival and will run from April 23 - May 18 in the Second Stage.

BAY STREET THEATRE NEW WORKS FESTIVAL will take place on April 25-27 at the Bay Street Theatre on the Long Wharf in Sag Harbor, NY. The Festival is produced in Association with SPACE on Ryder Farm. The media sponsor for the festival is Dan's Papers Literary Prize Contest.

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd announces the cast and creative team for Alan Ayckbourn's science fiction comedy Communicating Doors. Eleven plays penned by Alan Ayckbourn have been produced by the Alley, including the American premiere of Henceforward, directed by Ayckbourn, in 1987 and House & Garden in 2002. Alan Ayckbourn has been inducted into the American Theatre's Hall of Fame, received the 2010 Critics' Circle Award for Services to the Arts, became the first British playwright to receive both Olivier and Tony Special Lifetime Achievement Awards and was knighted in 1997 for services to the theatre.

Yale Repertory Theatre, in a co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, presents the world premiere of The House that will not Stand by Marcus Gardley, directed by Patricia McGregor. The House that will not Stand will be performed at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street) April 18-May 10. Opening Night is Thursday, April 24.

Horse Trade Theater Group and StrangeDog Theatre will present the New York Premiere of ENCHANTED ARMS written by Ben Clawson, Stacie Lents, Joseph Palestina, and John Wooten, May 15-31 at UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1st Avenue and Avenue A). This evening of new plays is conceived by Ben Clawson (The High Water Mark, Luna Stage) and directed by Artem Yatsuov (Basic Help, Sell Out Award Winner, FRIGID NYC 2014) with choreography by Annalisa Ledson (NACHMO 4 NYC). Featuring: Tony K Knotts (Master Harold…and the Boys!, Luna Stage), Michelle Lupo, Tracy Shar, Annalisa Ledson, Gary Martins, Shannon Sullivan, Seth Michael, Lee Ann Hoover, and David Hoffman. The creative team will include Lighting and Sound Design by Harrison J. Adams, Original Art Work by Sara Sciarrabbarasi, and Press Photography by Anthony Gusevich. The production will be Stage Managed by Rachael Tucker.

The couple that plays together, stays together. Real-life couple Megan Mullally (Will & Grace) and Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation) star together in the Off-Broadway premiere of the play Annapurna, beginning April 13 at The New Group @ Theatre Row. They join us to talk about staying together, onstage and off, with playwright Sharr White.

The Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Keen Company today announced the plays for the inaugural Keen Playwrights Lab: Skopje by Gabe McKinley, directed by Christian Parker; The Human Court by Jessica Dickey, directed by Davis McCallum; and Dust by Qui Nguyen, directed by Linsay Firman. This year's Keen Playwrights Lab will offer this year's readings at Art-NY's Bruce Mitchell Room, beginning April 8th.

Long Wharf Theatre, under the leadership of Artistic Director Gordon Edelstein and Managing Director Joshua Borenstein, will present The Last Five Years, written and composed by Jason Robert Brown, from May 7 through June 1, 2014 on the Claire Tow Stage in the C. Newton Schenck III Theatre.