Marty Lodge News

E.Faye Butler shines in pivotal role in this tale of racism and stereotypes in the theater

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater kicks off the second year of programming in the company's new home with the 2011/12 Season Opening Celebration September 15, 2011. The evening, which benefits Arena Stage's Community Engagement and educational programs, will include cocktails and dinner featuring the presentation of the American Artist Award to Tony and Emmy award-winning actress Leslie Uggams, followed by the highly anticipated season opening performance of Trouble in Mind by Alice Childress in the Kreeger Theater.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater kicks off the second year of programming in the company's new home with the 2011/12 Season Opening Celebration September 15, 2011. The evening, which benefits Arena Stage's Community Engagement and educational programs, will include cocktails and dinner featuring the presentation of the American Artist Award to Tony and Emmy award-winning actress Leslie Uggams, followed by the highly anticipated season opening performance of Trouble in Mind by Alice Childress in the Kreeger Theater.

After a memorable and record-breaking inaugural year, Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater celebrates its 61st anniversary season with Trouble in Mind, written by playwright Alice Childress. Childress was the first African-American woman to have her plays professionally produced in New York, and she became the first woman of color to win an Obie Award, in 1956 for Trouble in Mind (Best Original Production).

E. Faye Butler, who portrays Aunt Eller in the summer revival of Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater's acclaimed and record-setting production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, will transition out of her Helen Hayes-nominated role to begin rehearsals for Arena Stage's 2011/12 season opening play Trouble in Mind. Butler will be replaced by Terry Burrell, who was last at Arena Stage in the 2007/08 world-premiere musical The Women of Brewster Place. Burrell joins the Oklahoma! company August 2, and her first performance will be August 9. Burrell was 'lovely and heartbreaking...spellbinding' in Signature Theatre's Show Boat (TalkinBroadway.com), and will be a strong addition to the cast.

On Sunday, May 1, at 7 p.m. the Ford's Theatre Society presents a staged reading of 'Empires Fall,' a new play based on the diplomatic relationship of George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev during the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

On Sunday, May 1, at 7 p.m. the Ford's Theatre Society presents a staged reading of 'Empires Fall,' a new play based on the diplomatic relationship of George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev during the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Martin's intriguing exploration of two great minds meeting remains, however, lowbrow humor that begins to wear thin, especially so during a time traveling Elvis character (Cyrus Alexander) plunking into the bar to further play up the contrasts of creativity. There is enough to laugh about in Picasso at the Lapin Agile to keep audiences pleased, and thanks to Martin, also slightly engaged in the argument...

Arena Stage will present a major revival of the award-winning contemporary comedy The Heidi Chronicles in loving tribute to the late Wendy Wasserstein.