Matthew M Nielson News

Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival has announced the complete principal casts, creative teams, and events planned for the previously announced summer season.

Past secrets and traditions are remembered, present feelings and resentments are exposed, and future plans collide when the death of a beloved matriarch (of a Jamaican -British family) shatters the strictures of daily life for the celebration of Nine Night (a celebration of family/friends, food, and music for the departed).

The Hangar Theater will present Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812.  After recent success off-broadway, this regional premiere of Dave Malloy's re-imagined love story from the heart of War and Peace will dazzle Hangar audiences underneath the newly covered Hangar Outdoor Stage.  

Told through the memory of 20-year-old Linda O'Shea, the play begins when the parish priest overhears Linda's bawdy-but-accurate explanation of “the birds and the bees” to her younger sister, Becky. What follows is a fast-paced chain of events that's both unexpected and hilarious. 

Theater J’s 'Tuesdays with Morrie' is a touching, emotional exploration of human connection. It’s an intimate portrait of a beautiful relationship between a man and his mentor in the face of tragic circumstances, but it’s also a greater insight into how we all relate to each other and ourselves.

Join Theater Alliance in a woven narrative by Khadijah Z. Ali-Coleman, Avery Collins, Shalom Omo-Osagie, and Leslie Scott-Jones for an exploration of the District’s vibrant communities, the challenges they face, and the hope which propels them onward.

Do not miss this three hour thriller about diplomacy about the Middle East makes its regional premiere.

Milwaukee Repertory Theater's 65th Anniversary Season concludes in the Quadracci Powerhouse with Two Trains Running, part of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson's trailblazing American Century Cycle, April 16 - May 12, 2019.

Milwaukee Repertory Theater announces the complete cast and creative teams for the 2018/19 Season final Spring shows including Ring of Fire, Every Brilliant Thing, and Two Trains Running. 

Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park will present THE LAST WIDE OPEN, a love story that encourages audiences to take a personal, humorous look at modern-day courtship, romance and relationships, just in time for Valentine's Day. It begins Feb. 9 in the Shelterhouse Theatre and runs through March 10, with support from The Rosenthal Family Foundation, Season Sponsor of New Work. Opening night is Feb. 14.

October is the ideal time to delve into the afterlife and commune with disquieted spirits. Washington Stage Guild presents the DC-area premiere of Summerland, the story of a post-Civil War "spirit photographer" to whom distraught mourners turn for images of their dead loved ones, and of the New York City police officer who is committed to prove he's a fraud.

What happens to the Bennet sisters after the events in Pride and Prejudice? Jane Austen fans can find out for themselves in the romantic comedy MISS BENNET: CHRISTMAS AT PEMBERLEY, beginning at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park Oct. 13. The Marx Theatre production runs through Nov. 10 (Opening night is Oct. 18.)

Portland Center Stage at The Armory's 2018-2019 season launches with the Tony Award-winning musical The Color Purple, adapted from Alice Walker's classic novel about the sisterhood, resilience and self-empowerment found in a community of black women living in rural Georgia in the early 20th century. The Color Purple begins preview performances on September 15, opens on September 21, and runs through October 28 on the U.S. Bank Main Stage. Timothy Douglas directs the production, joined by music director Darius Smith, who will bring the Grammy Award-winning score to life.

Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park will begin the 2018-2019 season with an adaptation of the Stephen King thriller MISERY in the Marx Theatre on Sept. 1. The production will run through Sept. 29, with opening night on Sept. 6.

The Hub Theatre, continues its foray into new plays that highlight our common humanity with the world premiere of The Secrets of the Universe (and other songs) by playwright Marc Acito. Secrets, the final production in The Hub's 10th season, will run from July 6-29, 2018 at the John Swayze Theatre in Fairfax, Virginia and is a Co-Production with the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia. Secrets marks The Hub's third production by Marc Acito, after audience favorite Birds of a Feather (2012 Helen Hayes Outstanding New Play winner; Outstanding Ensemble nominee), and How I Paid for College (starring Broadway's Tony Nominated Alex Brightman). The show will be directed by Hub's founding Artistic Director, Helen R. Murray, and produced by incoming Artistic Director, Matt Bassett.

This evening, the 34th Annual Helen Hayes Awards celebrated Washington's diverse and vital theatre community with a gala event at The Anthem, recognizing 258 Helen Hayes Award nominees and 48 award recipients drawn from 202 eligible productions presented at 64 theatres in 2017. GALA Hispanic Theatre's Spanish-language production of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegria Hudes' In The Heights received nine awards, putting them at the top of a list of 20 theatres receiving Helen Hayes Awards this year.

Audiences will set sail on the journey of a lifetime, complete with cutthroat pirates, a treasure map and a courageous boy entangled in a dangerous swashbuckling expedition, when Ken Ludwig's TREASURE ISLAND arrives at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park April 21. This epic theatrical adaptation runs through May 19 (Opening Night is April 26).

Theater Alliance closes Season 15 with the regional premiere of Gabrielle Reisman's Flood City, an absurdly dark comedy about the aftermath of tragedy. 

Audiences will set sail on the journey of a lifetime, complete with cutthroat pirates, a treasure map and a courageous boy entangled in a dangerous swashbuckling expedition, when Ken Ludwig's TREASURE ISLAND arrives at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park April 21. This epic theatrical adaptation runs through May 19 (Opening Night is April 26).

The nominees for the 2018 Helen Hayes Awards were announced on February 5, 2018. One of the country's most prestigious cultural honors, The Helen Hayes Awards recognizes and celebrates excellence in professional theatre throughout the Washington metropolitan area. The National Theatre's Helen Hayes Gallery set the scene for the announcement of nominees in 47 categories for artistic excellence, and the theatre companies eligible for the 2017 John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company. The recipient of the 2018 Helen Hayes Tribute will be announced shortly.