McCarter Theatre Center News

Unveiling Emily Mann's final season as Artistic Director and Resident Playwright, McCarter Theatre Center has announced the full schedule for its upcoming 2019-2020 Theater Series, dubbed "Signature Emily." The highly anticipated series pays homage to Mann's trailblazing career, embodying the powerful themes that have cemented her personal legacy and influenced the American theater at large: giving a voice to women and people of color, embracing risk in pursuit of art that inspires social dialogue, discovering and mentoring emerging talent, and championing inventive cross-company collaborations.

Flordelino Lagundino, Park Square Theatre's John W. Harris Artistic Director, has announced the eight recipients for the pilot year of a new Artist Fellowship program at Park Square: Ricardo Beaird, Ernest Briggs, Mary Capers, Maxwell Collyard, Ashawnti Sakina Ford, Sophie Peyton, Lindsey C. Samples, DJ Kool Akiem Scott.

Continuing McCarter's tradition of producing timely, socially relevant work that engages with the central questions of our culture, McCarter has partnered with Princeton University's Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS) on The Migration Plays: a new initiative focusing on the nature of migration, how it is represented culturally, and the ways in which it shapes the world around us.

Shakespeare Theatre Company's Artistic Director Michael Kahn invites theatre-lovers to a series of intimate conversations about life in the D.C. theatre scene as he prepares to retire from the STC stage. Open, unrehearsed, and off the record, invited speakers will swap anecdotes and share memories about Michael Kahn's 33-years at Shakespeare Theatre Company. Following his career trajectory, the discussions will focus on three distinct eras in STC's history by mapping D.C.'s changing theatre scene. The first Michael Kahn and Friends: Off the Record will focus on the formation of The Shakespeare Theatre Company in its first location: Folger Theatre (1986-1992).

GLORIA: A Life, the groundbreaking play celebrating the life of activist and icon Gloria Steinem, will complete its extended run as scheduled on March 31, 2019. The production was originally scheduled to close on January 27, 2019, but extended to March 31 due to popular demand.

Hartford Stage announced today the cast and creative team for Jeeves & Wooster in "Perfect Nonsense." The Olivier Award-winning comedy from brothers David and Robert Goodale will perform at Hartford Stage Thursday, March 21, through Saturday, April 20. Original director Sean Foley returns to stage the show, which is making its North American premiere at Hartford Stage. Three Broadway actors - Chandler Williams, Arnie Burton, and Eddie Korbich - star in the three-hander.

A young Classics professor puts her career-and her love life-in peril, and calls on the gods of Ancient Greece to save her. Things don't go according to plan when the gods who show up are The Gods of Comedy!

Geffen Playhouse will present the West Coast premiere of The Niceties, it was announced today, written by Eleanor Burgess (Chill, Start Down) and directed by Kimberly Senior (Disgraced, Career Suicide). This world premiere production of The Niceties is currently running at McCarter Theatre Center in New Jersey, and replaces Antigone on the Geffen Playhouse 2018/2019 season lineup.

On Saturday, May 4, 2019, McCarter Theatre Center will host its Annual Gala. The evening raises significant funds for McCarter, enabling the organization to bring world-class performing arts and outstanding education programs to the community.

American Repertory Theater (A.R.T) announces the cast and creative team for Endlings by Celine Song. Directed by Sammi Cannold and featuring Wai Ching Ho, Emily Kuroda, Jiehae Park, and Jo Yang, Endlings begins previews Tuesday, February 26; opens Friday, March 1; and closes Sunday, March 17, 2019 at the Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge, MA.

Hartford Stage announced today the cast and creative team for Dominique Morisseau's Detroit '67. The powerful drama, produced in association with the McCarter Theatre Center, will perform at Hartford Stage Thursday, February 14, through Sunday, March 10.

NYU Skirball will present Elevator Repair Service's multi award-winning play, Gatz, the critically lauded performance of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby," for eight performances, January 23 - February 3 at NYU Skirball. Gatz will be presented as a marathon eight-hour event, including two intermissions and a dinner break.

Cleveland Play House (CPH) is raising the swashbuckling stakes on the Robin Hood folklore with an exciting adventure that conjures up joy, romance and merriment. Ken Ludwig's Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood, is a lightning speed tale full of playful characters that will take over the Allen Theatre at Playhouse Square from February 2nd through February 24th, 2019.  

Building on 40 years of producing powerful contemporary theatre, Studio Theatre is pleased to announce a new class of commissioned playwrights and directors to Studio R&D, its incubator to support the creation of new work from inception to first production. Incoming Studio R&D artists are playwrights James Fritz, James Ijames, Steph Del Rosso, and Emily Schwend, as well as directors Carl Cofield, Lila Neugebauer, and Eric Ruffin. These exciting talents from the US and UK will have Studio's full support in creating aesthetically diverse new work to be presented in future seasons and introduced into the international repertoire. As they create Studio-specific works, commissioned artists will visit Studio to get to know its theatres, programming, and audiences in person.

Award-winning playwright and director Emily Mann, who has served as the Artistic Director and Resident Playwright of the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, New Jersey since 1990, will retire from the position following the upcoming 2019-2020 season, McCarter announced. A fierce champion of works by women and people of color, Mann's final season, which will be announced in March, will be "Signature Emily" - a capstone series of plays celebrating diverse and emerging artists that will pay homage to her monumental 30-year tenure at McCarter.

Whether it is a Shakespearean sword fight, a mock boxing duel, or a danced-out gang rumble, combat can be an essential and exciting aspect of live drama. A panel of experts in theatrical combat, led by University of Washington Drama School instructor Geoffrey Alm, will discuss and demonstrate the secrets of choreographing dynamic, suspenseful stage fights - while protecting the actors involved from harm.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley presents the West Coast premiere of the roof-raising musical play Marie and Rosetta. Developed at TheatreWorks' 2015 New Works Festival by Lucille Lortel Award-winner George Brant, Marie and Rosetta shares the saga of a musical legend. From stirring up churchgoers in the morning to rocking the Cotton Club at night, Sister Rosetta Tharpe inspired Elvis, Ray Charles, and more on her way to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Growing competition on the 1940s Gospel Circuit finds Rosetta auditioning a new partner with a voice made from heaven. Will they break, blend, or find harmony at last?

We are pleased to announce the winners for the 2018 BroadwayWorld New Jersey Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Nominations were reader-submitted and voted on by you - the local theatergoers!

David R. Jimenez, President of the Board of Directors of Hartford Stage, announces that OBIE Award-winning director Melia Bensussen has been named the next Artistic Director of the Tony Award-winning theatre. She will assume the role in June.

It's the last week to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld New Jersey Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.