Marsha Norman News

Surfside Players announces its Second Stage production 'NIGHT, MOTHER, a drama by Marsha Norman, running tonight, April 19-28, 2013.

Williamstown Theatre Festival Artistic Director Jenny Gersten has announced that Festival veteran Steven Pasquale will play 'Robert Kincaid' in this summer's World Premiere of The Bridges of Madison County. As previously announced, the new musical, which runs on the Main Stage from August 1 - 18, 2013, features a book by Marsha Norman, music & lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, and direction by Bartlett Sher. Pasquale returns to WTF after appearing opposite Kelli O'Hara last summer in the World Premiere of Far From Heaven.

Columbia Stages will present NEW PLAYS NOW, the annual festival of new plays by emerging artists from the MFA Theatre Program at Columbia University School of the Arts. NEW PLAYS NOW will run from tonight, April 17 to May 11 and will feature original works by Paulina Barros, Keith Boynton, Talya Chalef, Angelica Cheri, Pei-Chieh Chiang, Paola Lazaro Muñoz, Alessandra Most, Christina Quintana, Torrey Townsend, and Zhao Binghao.

New York's Rattlestick Playwrights Theater presents its Los Angeles premiere of the critically-acclaimed play Slipping, written and directed by Daniel Talbott, which began previews Thursday, April 4, 2013 at Elephant Stages' Lillian Theatre in Hollywood, Calif. and will run through May 5, 2013. The opening night party for Slipping, the first Los Angeles production from Rattlestick, was held at the Elephant Stages' Lillian Theatre on Saturday, April 13, 2013 in Los Angeles, Calif. Scroll down for photos from the celebrations!

MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) today announced the first two productions of its 2013-14 Main Stage Season: the Broadway premiere of The Snow Geese by MCC alum Sharr White, which is a co-production with Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC); and the New York premiere of John Pollono's Small Engine Repair, which had previously been scheduled for the MCC 2012-13 Season. An announcement regarding the remaining productions of the MCC Theater 2013-14 Main Stage Season is forthcoming.

Second Stage Theatre's acclaimed production of Jason Robert Brown's musical, THE LAST FIVE YEARS, has received a third and final one-week extension, and will now end its run on Saturday, May 18. The musical has broken box office records for the off-Broadway institution and ranks among the longest-running productions in Second Stage's 34 year history.

Alessandra Most's PRIVATE POLICY a circus in two acts will receive its world premiere at the Pershing Square Signature Center in the Studio Theatre April 26 - 29. The work will be presented as part of the Columbia University School of the Arts New Plays Now Festival. Jill Harrison will direct the production. This play is mentored by Marsha Norman.

Pulitzer Prize winner Marsha Norman has selected playwright Jen Silverman as the winner of the 2013 Yale Drama Series for her play Still, chosen from almost 1100 entries from 30 countries. As winner of the competition, Still will be published by Yale University Press, receive a staged reading at Lincoln Center Theater's Claire Tow Theater, and Ms. Silverman will be presented with the David Charles Horn Prize, a cash award of $10,000.

Williamstown Theatre Festival Artistic Director Jenny Gersten has announced additions to the Festival's 59th Season, including Blood Play, The Debate Society's off- Broadway hit, which will play the Nikos Stage, August 7 - 18, 2013. It was also announced today that celebrated comedian (and Williamstown Theatre Festival regular) Lewis Black will return to the WTF Main Stage for My Fair Lewis, a one-night-only evening of stand-up, on Monday, July 22, and that the Festival's signature Late-Night Cabaret series - featuring Festival stars in rarely seen cabaret performances - returns to Goodrich Hall, July 11 - 13, July 25 - 27, August 8 - 10 at 10:30 PM.

On Monday, May 13, 2013, Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, will honor Ruth and Stephen Hendel and Ming Cho Lee with a Gala Evening at the Angel Orensanz Foundation in New York City. The Gala co-chairs are playwright Lydia R. Diamond and interior designer Jasmine M. Keller. The Gala honorary chairs are Anne Kaufman, Obie award-winning director; Nelle Nugent, Broadway producer; Judith O. Rubin, chairman of the board of Playwrights Horizons; and Liz Smith, columnist and 'The Grand Dame of Dish'.

The Los Angeles Premiere of Slipping will begin tonight, April 6, and run through Sunday, May 5, 2013, as Rattlestick Playwrights Theater's first LA production. The show will play Elephant Stage's Lillian Theatre, 1076 Lillian Way in Los Angeles, Calif.

New York's Rattlestick Playwrights Theater presents the Los Angeles premiere of the critically-acclaimed play Slipping, written and directed by Daniel Talbott, which begins previews tonight, April 4, 2013 at Elephant Stages' Lillian Theatre in Hollywood, CA. The five-week limited engagement is scheduled to open Sunday, April 7, 2013 at 7:00pm and run through Sunday, May 5, 2013.

Surfside Players announces its Second Stage production 'NIGHT, MOTHER, a drama by Marsha Norman, running April 19-28, 2013.

Shalita Grant makes her Broadway debut as the inimical, yet well-meaning psychic maid Cassandra in Christopher Durang's newest romp Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike now playing at the Golden Theatre.

Columbia Stages will present NEW PLAYS NOW, the annual festival of new plays by emerging artists from the MFA Theatre Program at Columbia University School of the Arts. NEW PLAYS NOW will run from April 17 to May 11 and will feature original works by Paulina Barros, Keith Boynton, Talya Chalef, Angelica Cheri, Pei-Chieh Chiang, Paola Lazaro Muñoz, Alessandra Most, Christina Quintana, Torrey Townsend, and Zhao Binghao.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary season, this May at the Hudson Guild Theatre (441 West 26th Street), the White Horse Theater Company will present an exciting new production of Marsha Norman's Pulitzer Prize-winning play 'night, Mother which will star Broadway veteran Joy Franz as Thelma, with Laura Siner playing daughter Jessie (who previously starred in White Horse's acclaimed In The Bar of a Tokyo Hotel). The production will run from May 3-May 19 and will feature direction from White Horse's Producing Artistic Director Cyndy A. Marion, who will be staging a bold, visually alluring version of the dramatic work, heightening the theatricality and sharpening the focus on Jessie's looming bedroom door.

The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize honors 10 Finalists for its prestigious playwriting award, now celebrating its thirty-fifth year.

MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) has just announced that Leslie Bibb (Iron Man, ABC's 'GCB') and Jenna Fischer (NBC's 'The Office') will be making their New York City stage debuts opposite Josh Hamilton (The Coast of Utopia) and Fred Weller (MCC's Still Life and In a Dark Dark House) in the world premiere of MCC Playwright-in-Residence Neil LaBute's new play, Reasons to Be Happy, which LaBute will also direct. Reasons to Be Happy is a companion piece to LaBute's critically-acclaimed award-winning play, Reasons to Be Pretty, first produced at MCC Theater in 2008 before moving to Broadway where it was nominated for three 2009 Tony Awards, including Best Play. Performances begin at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) on May 16, 2013 and continue through June 23, 2013. An official opening is set for June 11, 2013 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are now on sale.

The producing team behind The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Arts Theatre) and The Children of Eden Gala Concert (Prince of Wales Theatre), Aria Entertainment and Knockhardy Productions are delighted to announce that their concert revival of Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman's three times Tony Award winning musical The Secret Garden will transfer to the Greenwich Theatre for one night only as part of the Greenwich children's theatre festival following a successful run at The King's Head Theatre.

Broadway and Hollywood actress Frances Conroy has revealed exciting new details about her role on the upcoming third season of the mega-hit FX horror anothology series AMERICAN HORROR STORY, confirming that filming will commence in New Orleans later this year.