Mark Brokaw News

New York Stage and Film announced today that, following a nationwide search, Christopher Burney will become its next Artistic Director. Additionally, New York Stage and Film's longtime Associate Artistic Director, Liz Carlson, has been promoted to the newly created position of Artistic Producer.

Rubicon Theatre Company opens the 2019 season with HEISENBERG by playwright SIMON STEPHENS, a quirky romance starring Ovation Award-winner FALINE ENGLAND and Emmy and L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award-winner JOE SPANO. Sweet, sexy and full of surprises, the story follows two strangers whose lives intersect in a bustling London train station. Free-spirited Georgie, an American in her 40s, unexpectedly plants a kiss on the neck of Alex, an Irish butcher in his 70s. She doesn't really know why. Or does she? When Georgie turns up in Alex's shop a few days later, full of contradictions, his conventional life becomes chaotic, uncertain and undeniably richer. Peeling away the many layers of everyday relationships with subtle humor and quiet poeticism, HEISENBERG brings to poignant theatrical life the uncertain and sometimes comical sparring match that is human connection.

Two-time Tony Award nominee Johanna Day (Sweat, Proof) takes on the title role in the world premiere Stephen Belber's JOAN, running January 19 through February 16 at HERE Arts Center (145 6th Avenue). Brooklyn-based theatre company Colt Coeur presents this poignant and probing play about the life of a contemporary American woman, with direction by Adrienne Campbell-Holt (Primary Stages' Downstairs, Colt Coeur's Zurich). Previews begin Saturday, January 19 with official opening set for Sunday, January 27. General admission tickets are priced at $25 and are available at here.org or by calling (212) 352-3101.

Celebration presents the first show in its 2019 season, Drew Droege (Die, Mommie, Die!) and Matthew Wilkas starring in the Los Angeles premiere of BORN TO WIN, written by Matthew Wilkas and Mark Setlock, choreography by Janet Roston and directed by Michael Matthews.

Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II, the fathers of the modern American musical, were advocates of social responsibility. In OKLAHOMA, they stressed the building of community. In SOUTH PACIFIC they pegged prejudice. In THE KING AND I, the duo examined intercultural understandings.

RODGERS + HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA, the 2013 Tony Award-winning Broadway musical from the creators of The King & I and The Sound of Music, will play Playhouse Square's Connor Palace for a limited engagement January 15 - 20, 2019 as a Huntington Featured Performance. Show times are Today - Friday at 7:30PM, Saturday at 1:30 and 7:30PM, and Sunday at 1:00 and 6:30PM. Tickets for CINDERELLA are available at the Playhouse Square Ticket Office (1519 Euclid Avenue in downtown Cleveland), by visiting playhousesquare.org, or by calling 216-241-6000. Group orders may be placed by calling 216-640-8600.

Rubicon Theatre Company opens the 2019 season with HEISENBERG by playwright SIMON STEPHENS, a quirky romance starring Ovation Award-winner FALINE ENGLAND and Emmy and L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award-winner JOE SPANO. 

The Drama League (Executive Artistic Director Gabriel Stelian-Shanks) has announced casting for DirectorFest 2019: The 35th Annual Directors Festival, the only festival in the United States exploring the art of contemporary stage directing. DirectorFest takes place at various locations around NYC: New Ohio Theatre (154 Christopher Street), The Drama League Theater Center (32 Avenue of the Americas), LaGuardia Performing Arts Center (31-10 Thompson Avenue, Long Island City), and Joe's Pub (425 Lafayette Street). Festival programming, tickets and additional details are available at www.directorfest.org, or by calling (212) 244-9494.

RODGERS + HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA, the 2013 Tony Award-winning Broadway musical from the creators of THE KING & I and THE SOUND OF MUSIC, will play the Washington Pavilion for a limited engagement on January 9 and 10, 2019.

RODGERS + HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA, the 2013 Tony Award-winning Broadway musical from the creators of The King & I and The Sound of Music, will play Playhouse Square's Connor Palace for a limited engagement January 15 - 20, 2019 as a Huntington Featured Performance. Show times are Tuesday - Friday at 7:30PM, Saturday at 1:30 and 7:30PM, and Sunday at 1:00 and 6:30PM. Tickets for CINDERELLA are available at the Playhouse Square Ticket Office (1519 Euclid Avenue in downtown Cleveland), by visiting playhousesquare.org, or by calling 216-241-6000. Group orders may be placed by calling 216-640-8600.

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The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts continued its Broadway Center Stage series earlier this year with Alan Menken and Howard Ashman's Little Shop of Horrors, helmed by director Mark Brokaw. The production ran Wednesday, October 24, 2018 - Sunday, October 28, 2018. Check out a video of Megan Hilty and Josh Radnor performing below!

RODGERS + HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA, the 2013 Tony Award-winning Broadway musical from the creators of The King & I and The Sound of Music, will play at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans for a limited engagement from Friday, April 12 to Sunday, April 14. Tickets for CINDERELLA will be available on Friday, Dec. 7 at 10 a.m. Presented by the New Orleans Theatre Association, Rodgers + Hammerstein's CINDERELLA, is part of the Hancock Whitney Broadway in New Orleans 2018-2019 season.

The Drama League announced today the 2019 line-up of DirectorFest, the only festival in the United States exploring the art of contemporary stage directing. For its 35th year, the festival will include six fully-staged productions, a showcase evening of a new musical, discussion forums, and conversations with America's notable directors. 

At an SRO ceremony held at Zion Lutheran Church in Pittsfield, the Board of the Berkshire Theatre Critics Association presented the Berkshire Theatre Awards on the evening of Monday, November 12, 2018. This was the third year the awards have been presented to honor and celebrate the excellence and diversity of theatre in the greater Berkshire region.

Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF), the not for profit foundation affiliated with Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, presented this year's Zelda Fichandler Award, Joe A. Callaway Awards, and Breakout Award on Sunday, November 11, 2018 in Manhattan. BroadwayWorld attended the evening and you can check out the photos from the ceremony below!

Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF), the not for profit foundation affiliated with Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, presented this year's Zelda Fichandler Award, Joe A. Callaway Awards, and Breakout Award on Sunday, November 11, 2018 in Manhattan. BroadwayWorld attended the evening and you can check out the photos from the cocktail party below!

Philadelphia Theatre Company invites theatre lovers to See and Be Scene, a one-night only staged-reading showcase on Monday, November 26, 2018 at 7:00pm. Producing Artistic Director Paige Price has assembled some of the hottest talent in local theatre for an up-close-and-personal preview of potential work for the company's 2019-2020 season.

New York Stage and Film is thrilled to announce that its annual Winter Gala will honor playwright and Emmy award-winning actress Patricia Wettig (F2M, 'Brothers and Sisters,' 'thirtysomething') and Executive Producer/director/actor Ken Olin ('This Is Us,' 'Alias,' 'Brothers & Sisters,' 'thirtysomething'), and, in recognition for her years of dedication to New York Stage and Film, Artistic Director Johanna Pfaelzer, who is stepping down from her post at the end of the 2019 Powerhouse Summer Season.

At a recent performance of Little Shop of Horrors at the Kennedy Center, composer Alan Menken stopped by! He took to the stage to say a few words to the cast, and you can watch his whole speech in the video below.