Mark Bennett News

The Casting Society of America (CSA) has announced its feature film nominees for the 31st Annual Artios Awards.

More than 100 local and national theatre artists representing nearly than 60 San Diego theatrical productions will compete for the 2015 Craig Noel Awards, the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle announced today.

Anthony Giardina's Off-Broadway smash hit THE CITY OF CONVERSATION, about a Georgetown political hostess, makes its Washington, D.C. debut at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Following his direction of the 2014 world premiere at Lincoln Center Theater, Tony Award winner Doug Hughes returns to direct this political drama spanning three decades, from Carter's presidency through the Reagan era and ending with Obama's inauguration. THE CITY OF CONVERSATION runs January 29-March 6, 2016 in the Fichandler Stage.

Whatever the past is, it is immortal to the person reliving it, and acknowledging the truth of this statement and thus questioning its relevance in the life of Homer's Poet is something the audience is faced with throughout An Iliad. In this beautiful one-man production, the sole man on stage offers his "immortality" to an audience of those who will listen through his tales of the Trojan War, not retelling epic battles and regurgitating facts that can be found in any history book, but conveying to his fellow listeners a story of his past. This past is one he has lived and continues to live through, boasting of and lamenting over brave men who were his friends, his enemies, his comrades in a war that he makes both he can make so simultaneously dreadful and beautiful. Not knowing for sure of his actual involvement in the events of the time, or for what reason he decides to recount and retell such events even though they cause him a considerable amount of anguish (very similar to Carraway in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby), An Iliad is just that: an epic telling of a man's past that he, presumably, must tell again and again, making his words that much more poignant as he tells of a not so distinguishable time ago.

SALOME is a visually stunning world premiere that brings us deeply complex characters struggling for command and dignity in one of history's most highly contested strips of land. Yael Farber, the award-winning adaptor-director, returns to the Shakespeare Theatre Company. With SALOME she has shaped a compelling work of power and contradiction. This production upends the traditional view of Salome, considering her as principled and calculated rather than a monstrous harlot. Here, Salome uses the tools she has - access, sensuality, brains - to effect change. Even within the limitations society placed on her, Salome sees opportunity.

Turning away from what she calls Oscar Wilde's "Dance of Death" and instead creating a "Dance of Life," internationally acclaimed adaptor-director Yael Farber has reinterpreted the biblical figure known as Salome as an agent of revolution whose mysterious act-demanding the head of John the Baptist-changed the course of history. The world premiere of Salome opens the Shakespeare Theatre Company's 2015-2016 Mainstage Season and marks the Company's entry in the Women's Voices Theater Festival. The production runs October 6-November 8, 2015, at the Lansburgh Theatre (450 7th Street NW).

For the first time in two decades, The Kitchen will present a new edition of the acclaimed performance series And That's How the Rent Gets Paid, written by downtown legends Jeff Weiss and Richard C. Martinez. For three nights only (July 14-16), Weiss and Martinez's thrilling serial drama, which follows a charming serial killer through the queer underbelly of New York City, will be brought to life by director and producer Brooke O'Harra with Kate Valk and Nicky Paraiso. The three-day marathon performance features an eclectic group of 50 performers including David Cale, Jennifer Miller, Keith McDermott, Becca Blackwell, Jess Barbagallo, Moe Angelos and Mark Bennett, among others. Weiss will appear in the production, in various cameo performances, throughout the three-day run.

Original ensemble members, Michael Winther, Kimberly Grigsby, Shane Shanahan are joined by cellist, Peter Sachon as they reunite with Pulitzer prize-winning lyricist, Mark Campbell and many of the composers for a special one-night-only concert event, celebrating the ten year anniversary of Songs from an Unmade Bed, the critically acclaimed, theatrical song cycle originally produced off-Broadway by New York Theatre Workshop in 2005.

Original ensemble members, Michael Winther, Kimberly Grigsby, Shane Shanahan are joined by cellist, Peter Sachon as they reunite with Pulitzer prize-winning lyricist, Mark Campbell and many of the composers for a special one-night-only concert event, celebrating the ten year anniversary of Songs from an Unmade Bed, the critically acclaimed, theatrical song cycle originally produced off-Broadway by New York Theatre Workshop in 2005.

The Old Globe presents George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man, joining celebrated director Jessica Stone, who recently made her Globe debut with Christopher Durang's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Shaw's romantic comedy, which continues the Globe's 80th Anniversary festivities as part of the Balboa Park Centennial Celebration, will run May 9 - June 14, 2015 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Opening night is Thursday, May 14 at 8:00 p.m. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the cast in costume!

The Old Globe today announced the complete cast and creative team for George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man, joining celebrated director Jessica Stone, who recently made her Globe debut with Christopher Durang's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Shaw's romantic comedy, which continues the Globe's 80th Anniversary festivities as part of the Balboa Park Centennial Celebration, will run May 9 - June 14, 2015 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run May 9 through 13. Opening night is Thursday, May 14 at 8:00 p.m.

Paper Mill Playhouse presents its winter comedy, Christopher Durang's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. This touching and wickedly hysterical Tony Award-winning best play features Broadway, television and film veterans: Philippe Bowgen (Spike), Gina Daniels (Cassandra),Carolyn McCormick (Masha), Mark Nelson (Vanya), Michele Pawk(Sonia) and Jamie Ann Romero (Nina). Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike will be directed by Don Stephenson. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike will run eight times a week at the Millburn, New Jersey, theater, now through February 15, 2015. The official press opening night is Sunday, January 25, at 7:00pm. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

La Jolla Playhouse is pleased to bring back its acclaimed new play development initiative, the DNA New Work Series, a two-week run of workshops and readings of new works, taking place February 16 - March 1, 2015.

Court Theatre Artistic Director Charles Newell and Executive Director Stephen J. Albert present the world premiere of The Good Book by Denis O'Hare and Lisa Peterson, directed by Lisa Peterson. The Good Book runs March 19 - April 19, 2015 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Avenue. Press Opening is Saturday, March 28, 2015 at 8:00PM.

Paper Mill Playhouse has announced casting for its winter comedy, Christopher Durang's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. This touching and wickedly hysterical Tony Award-winning best play features Broadway, television and film veterans: Philippe Bowgen (Spike), Gina Daniels (Cassandra), Carolyn McCormick (Masha), Mark Nelson (Vanya), Michele Pawk (Sonia) and Jamie Ann Romero (Nina). Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike will be directed by Don Stephenson. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike will run eight times a week at the Millburn, New Jersey, theater from January 21 through February 15, 2015. The official press opening night is Sunday, January 25, at 7:00pm. Paper Mill Playhouse's 2014-2015 Season is sponsored by Investors Bank.

On Monday, September 29 (8 pm), Symphony Space will present Sundance…Sings!, spotlighting songs from groundbreaking shows developed with support from the Sundance Institute Theatre Program, sung by a stellar cast. Christine Ebersole, Ann Harada, Annie Golden, Joshua Henry, and fourteen other notables will take the stage at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre in selections from the Broadway oeuvre of Stew + Heidi Rodewald, Scott Frankel, Adam Guettel, Lisa Kron, Michael John LaChiusa, Bill Finn, Steven Lutvak, Duncan Sheik, and others.

After two extensions, the Lincoln Center Theater's critically-acclaimed production of The City of Conversation ends its Off-Broadway run today. The City of Conversation was written by Anthony Giardina and directed by Doug Hughes. It originally opened on May 5.

This week's New York Times In Performance video features Tony Award-nominated actress Jan Maxwell in a scene from Anthony Giardina's play "The City of Conversation,"

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 271 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures. Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy's membership in 2014.

The Old Globe presents Christopher Durang's Tony Award-winning farce Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, which will include Candy Buckley as Masha, Marcia DeBonis as Sonia, Tyler Lansing Weaks as Spike, Allison Layman as Nina, Martin Moran as Vanya, and Haneefah Wood as Cassandra. Jessica Stone will direct, based on the Tony-nominated Broadway direction of Old Globe Associate Artist Nicholas Martin, whose loss on April 30 devastated the theatre world*. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike will run now through June 22, 2014 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe'sConrad Prebys Theatre Center. The show is currently in previews, and opening night is May 22 at 8:00 p.m. Below, BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action!