Mark Twain News

Though idiots like the academic assortment of Richard Nelson's Some Americans Abroad, his 1989 satire of Yankee cultural self-loathing, may be high on Gilbert and Sullivan's Lord High Executioner's little list of those whose loss would be a distinct gain to society at large, this verbose crew would undoubtedly escape the axman's blade. After all, they have tenure. And just like, as one character argues, a life sentence with no chance of execution gives a convict the freedom to kill a prison guard without fear of harsher punishment, tenure is the desired life sentence that defends these plastic-souled elitists against the consequences of their own ignorance.

The Kennedy Center will posthumously award the eleventh annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor to the late George Carlin, one of America's foremost humorists.

Producers Ben Sprecher and Louise Forlenza announced today the formation of GLOBAL BROADWAY PRODUCTIONS INC., a new production entity created to develop and produce new musicals for Broadway, the road, and international stages.

Cole Porter's effervescent music and lyrics fizzle rather than sizzle at Zero Arrow Club Cabaret in Cambridge

Sundance Institute today announced the acting company for its 2008 Sundance Institute Theatre Lab, to be held July 7 to July 27 at the Sundance Resort in Utah. The 2008 ensemble company includes: Satya Bhabha, (Queens Boulevard) Reed Birney (Stuff Happens), J. Alex Brinson (The Happening), Amari Cheatom (Histoire du Soldat), Michael Chernus (Hunting and Gathering), Tracee Chimo (Water and Discarded Hair), Jennifer Dundas (Good as New), Greg Felden (Naked Will), Chinai Hardy (In the Red and Brown Water),Erin Hill (a-ha), Nicholas Hormann (The Little Foxes), Ella Joyce (Roc), Lisa Joyce (U.S. Drag), Christina Kirk (Well),David Margulies (Angels in America, 45 Seconds from Broadway, Wonderful Town), James McDaniel (Malcolm X), Kristine Nielsen (Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Green Bird), Deirdre O'Connell (In the Blood, 'Tis a Pity She's a Whore), Nija Okoro (August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone), Alison Pill (The Lieutenant of Inishmore), Susan Pourfar (The Last Sunday in June), Gita Reddy (Hindustan), Heidi Schreck (Major Barbara), Jeanine Serralles (Hold, Please), Lois Smith (The Trip to Bountiful, Buried Child, The Grapes of Wrath) and Susie Sokol (The Sound and the Fury).

Atlantic Theater Company has just announced its exciting 2008-2009 season. The main stage season at the Linda Gross Theater will mark premieres from Academy Award® winning filmmakers Ethan Coen and Martin McDonagh, who return to the Atlantic stage, and the debut of young playwright and screenwriter Beau Willimon.

Studio Dante, founded in 2003 by Michael & Victoria Imperioli, proudly presents Ron Fitzgerald's 'Safe', directed by Zetna Fuentes in a limited Off-Broadway engagement running Tuesday, June 10 - Saturday, June 28.

With the opening last night of the Manhattan Theatre Club's Top Girls, the 2007- 2008 Broadway Season officially comes to an end.

There will be two invitation only industry readings of the original new musical Empire, written by Caroline Sherman and Robert Hull. Directed by Clayton Phillips, New Hampshire Theater's Best Direction Award winner, the cast will include Matt Cavenaugh (A Catered Affair, Grey Gardens), Karen Ziemba (Curtains, Contact), Michael McCormick (Curtains, The Pajama Game), Mark Lotito (Jersey Boys, Fiddler on the Roof), Megan Sikora (Curtains, Wonderful Town), and Kevyn Morrow (Smokey Joes Café, Dreamgirls). A 2003 Ovation Award winner in Los Angeles and 2004 featured production at Connecticut's Stamford Center for the Arts, Empire is a celebration of the American spirit embodied by those who bravely banded together to build what was then the tallest structure in the world, the Empire State Building. Michael, an architect, hired to build the Empire State building in record time, takes on politicians, deadlines, and a nosy but beautiful reporter, Hildy, dead set on derailing the project. A classic struggle of idealism versus advancement, Empire is filled with romance, dreams, and the struggles that surrounded us when we face a monumental challenge. Written in the spirit of the classic musicals of the 40's and the 50's with big dance numbers and pop-driven melodies, the musical premiered at LA's Hudson Backstage Theatre in 2003. At the Hudson, Empire played to sold out audiences, excellent reviews and garnered 3 LA Theatre Ovation Award-nominations, including Best Musical, and won the award for Best Choreography. Daily Variety called the show 'A fast, flavorful, exciting tale … joyously fresh …', and Backstage West said Empire was a 'Tribute and testimony to the dreamers, doers, and unsung heroes … big and brave, like the building it celebrates …'. The production was then chosen to open the 2004 season for the SCA's Rich Forum and was called 'An outstanding new musical' by the Scarsdale Inquirer. Clayton Phillips, who recently won the New Hampshire Theater Award for Best Direction and Best Musical for Slow Dance with a Hot Pickup by John Pielmeier and Matty Selmen, has been at the helm of the production since its York Theater reading in 2001. The industry readings will be produced by Ricky Stevens and John O'Boyle whose credits include, Is He Dead by Mark Twain, A Catered Affair, by Harvey Fierstein and John Bucchino, Glory Days by Nick Blaemire and James Gardiner, and Marguerite Music by Michel Legrand, Book by Alain Boublil/Claude-Michel Schönberg, Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer.

Norbert Leo Butz ran away with the Tony for his remarkable performance in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. This season he took on the hilarious Mark Twain comedy Is He Dead? and once again had audiences howling.

he American Theatre Wing and XM Satellite Radio proudly present an interview with playwright David Ives, on their weekly theatrical interview show, 'Downstage Center,' on XM's On Broadway (XM Channel 28).

CINNA PRODUCTIONS is pleased to announce that its well-received production of 'MARK TWAIN'S BLUES,' the new play with music--with book and music by WALT STEPP and lyrics by Mr. Stepp and MARK TWAIN--will transfer to the DR2 Theatre for an extended 6 week off-Broadway run. Directed by TOM HERMAN with Music Direction by DAVID WOLFSON and Choreography by JAMES BEAUDRY, the production will run from April 2nd through May 10th with an opening scheduled for Sunday, April 13th at DR2 Theatre, 103 East 15th St. The performance schedule is Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8:00 PM, with matinees on Wednesdays at 2:00 PM and on Saturdays and Sundays at 4:00 PM. Tickets are $40 and are available from Telecharge at (212) 239-6200 or via the web at www.Telecharge.com. For more information, please log onto the production's website at www.MarkTwainsBlues.com.

The Organic Theater Company presents their spring 2008 season (details following), running in repertory from April 18 through May 11, 2008 (no previews): The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad, adapted by Alexander Gelman, world premiere adaptation runs April 18 and May 3 at 8 p.m., and April 26 and May 11 at 2 p.m. The Dressing Room by Kunio Shimizu, runs April 19 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Play Strindberg by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, runs April 20 and May 3 at 2 p.m., and April 25 and May 10 at 8 p.m. Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville, adapted by Alexander Gelman and company, runs April 26 at 8 p.m., and April 27 at 2 p.m. The $30,000 Bequest by Mark Twain, adapted by Alexander Gelman, runs May 2 at 8 p.m., and May 4 at 2 p.m. Man with Bags by Eugene Ionesco, translated by Marie-France Ionesco, adapted by Israel Horovitz, runs May 9 at 8 p.m., and May 10 at 2 p.m.

Is He Dead?, the new comedy by master American novelist and satirist Mark Twain, adapted by David Ives, and directed by two-time Tony Award winner Michael Blakemore, will close at Broadway's Lyceum Theatre (149 West 45th Street) this Sunday, March 9, 2008, following 105 performances and 13 previews.

IS HE DEAD?, the new comedy by master American novelist and satirist Mark Twain, adapted by David Ives, and directed by two-time Tony Award winner Michael Blakemore, will close at Broadway's Lyceum Theatre (149 West 45th Street) on March 9, 2008, following 105 performances and 13 previews.

Is He Dead? star Norbert Leo Butz will be interviewed on NY-1's 'On Stage' by Donna Karger in a segment that will air Saturday, February 16th and Sunday, February 17th at 9:30 AM and 7:30 PM, and Monday, February 18th (early Tuesday) at 12:30 AM.

Nicholas Martin today announced the programming for Williamstown Theatre Festival's (WTF) 54th Season, the first under his aegis as Artistic Director. Collaborators include David Ives, Michael Greif, Scott Ellis, Theresa Rebeck, and Julie White.

Theatre luminaries host 'A Musical Celebration of Broadway Honoring Roger Berlind' presented as the the 24th annual spring gala benefit concert for The Drama League at The Rainbow Room on Monday February 11, 2008.

Cinna Productions is pleased to announce the World Premiere of Mark Twain's Blues, a new play with songs by Walt Stepp about a lecture by the famed author that's interrupted by the arrival of two of his most famous characters who accuse Twain of betrayal. Directed by Tom Herman with Music Direction by David Wolfson and Choreography by James Beaudry, the production runs from February 15 through March 8 with an opening scheduled for February 21 at Altered Stages.

Tony Award-winner John Lithgow visited his former Dirty Rotten Scoundrels co-star, Tony Award-winner Norbert Leo Butz backstage after catching a performance of Is He Dead?, a new comedy by Mark Twain at the Lyceum Theatre on Tuesday, January 15.