McCarter Theatre News

Christopher Durang was the talk of 2013 because of his gloomy new comedy VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE. Following a successful 2012 World Premiere in New Jersey, the show moved Off-Broadway before transitioning to Broadway and earned numerous award nominations, a handful of awards, and many positive reviews. When the Alley Theatre announced the show for this season, anticipation was high. Sadly, Houston audiences aren't quite getting the show they expected.

Waiting for Gilgamesh: Scenes from Iraq; presented by Fort Point Theatre Channel. Performances run June 26-28, Thurs.-Sat. at 8 pm, with a special 2 pm matinee on Sat. June 28. Tickets: $20, $15 for students, seniors. and veterans. Held at Arsenal Center for the Arts, Black Box Theatre, 321 Arsenal St., Watertown, MA 02472. For general information, www.fortpointtc.org, 617.750.8900; for advance tickets, call 800.838.3006 or visit www.brownpapertickets.com/event/690754.

Dixon Place (Ellie Covan, Artistic Director) presents the 23rd Annual HOT!, the NYC Celebration of Queer Culture. The world's longest-running LGBTQ Performance Festival, HOT! offers theater, music, dance, puppetry, performance art and homoeroticism for the whole family! HOT! is the pioneering festival of queer performance and culture - and the oldest annual festival of its kind in the world. Dixon Place is proud the HOT! serves as the model for other queer festivals across the globe and has become a performance destination for emerging talent in the LGBTQ community. This year's HOT!, featuring hundreds of participating artists presenting their newest creations, will run July 5th through August 2nd at Dixon Place, located at 161A Chrystie Street in New York City.

Kathy Evans, Founding Executive Director, announced the nine musicals and twenty-six writers selected for the 2014 Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, its fourth year of providing working retreats for musical theatre writers. For nine consecutive weeks beginning June 29th, each writing team will have an individual weeklong residency in Rhinebeck, New York to write their musical. They are provided with a private home, transportation, food, and a stipend. All costs are fully funded by donors including The ASCAP Foundation, The Dramatists Guild Fund, and The Noel Coward Foundation. Writers participating this year include Broadway's Mindi Dickstein (Little Women), this year's Kleban Prize winner Nathan Tysen (Burnt Part Boys), and Peter Mills, past winner of the Kleban, Fred Ebb Award, and Richard Rodgers prize. The musicals' subjects cover 19th century nautical mysteries, 20th century fairy tales, a 1970's gay bar, and modern-day meth addicts. Every score is original and styles include 16th century Renaissance, big band, folk, rock, and electronic music.

SPAIN arts & culture and The Shakespeare Theatre Company present a staged reading of Life is a Dream (La vida es sueño) by Pedro Calderon de la Barca, newly translated by Helen Edmundson. In this special presentation at the Former Residence of the Ambassadors of Spain, the philosophical masterpiece comes to life in a one-night-only staged reading by some of Washington's finest actors.

Tony Award-winning comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike will feature Resident Actor Jeffrey Bean as Vanya, Sharon Lockwood returning to the Alley as Sonia, Alley Artist Josie de Guzman returning as Masha, and Resident Actor Jay Sullivan as Spike. Rounding out the cast and making their Alley debuts are Rachael Holmes as Cassandra and Sarah Nealis as Nina. Jonathan Moscone, Artistic Director of California Shakespeare Theater, helms the production and returns after having directed the Alley's 2011 production of Amadeus.

Steppenwolf for Young Adults (SYA) has announced its 2014/15 season: George Orwell's Animal Farm, adapted for the stage by Althos Low, directed by SYA Artistic and Educational Director Hallie Gordon; and the world premiere of This Is Modern Art by Kevin Coval and Idris Goodwin, directed by Lisa Portes.

The Ensemble Theatre is currently producing a revival of John Henry Redwood's 1997 dramedy THE OLD SETTLER. The interesting piece, which examines various types of love, first premiered at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey. During it developmental stages it was part of the 1995 Eugene O'Neill Theatre Conference in Waterford, Connecticut and was rehearsed and performed in several Russian cities in 1996 by both an American and Russian cast. PBS also filmed it for a TV Movie adaption starring Debbie Allen and Phylicia Rasad, which originally aired on April 25, 2001. Additionally, the show has proven to be quite popular in regional theatres, and The Ensemble Theatre's entertaining production ensures Houston audiences know why.

The famed Princeton Triangle Club, now in its 123rd year, returns to McCarter Theatre for Reunions Weekend with two performances: Friday, May 30 at 8:00 pm and Saturday, May 31 at 7:00 pm.

The Old Globe presents Christopher Durang's Tony Award-winning farce Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, which will include Candy Buckley as Masha, Marcia DeBonis as Sonia, Tyler Lansing Weaks as Spike, Allison Layman as Nina, Martin Moran as Vanya, and Haneefah Wood as Cassandra. Jessica Stone will direct, based on the Tony-nominated Broadway direction of Old Globe Associate Artist Nicholas Martin, whose loss on April 30 devastated the theatre world*. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike will run today, May 17 - June 22, 2014 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run tonight, May 17 through the 21st. Opening night is May 22 at 8:00 p.m.

Building on Slant Theatre Project's success with last season's The Steadfast, the company has announced the full cast for The Cloud, a world premiere mistaken-identity comedy written by playwright/comedian Matt Moses. Wes Grantom (Eager to Lose, The Steadfast) directs a cast of four including Teddy Bergman* (B'way: Peter and the Starcatcher, Off-B'way: Sex Lives of Our Parents), Mikaela Feely-Lehmann* (B'way: Cyrano de Bergerac), Ryan King* (Now Or Later at Huntington Theatre, The Intelligent Design Of Jenny Chow at the Atlantic Theater Company), and Polly Lee* (Marie Antoinette at Yale Rep, Wasps at Studio 42). *Member, Actors' Equity Association. AEA Showcase.

John Schreiber, NJPAC's President and CEO, and David Rodriguez, Executive Producer of the Arts Center, announced today a 2014-15 season packed with new, NJPAC- created, season-long series', collaborations with renowned artists and companies, an expansion of diverse programming, further integration of NJPAC's arts education programs within mainstage performances, and a continuation of the Arts Center's 17-year tradition of presenting world-class artists. With over 100 performances and special events announced for the acoustically superb 2,800- seat Prudential Hall, intimate 514-seat Victoria Theater, 250-seat Chase Room, and outdoors in Theater Square, by artists ranging from Patti LaBelle to The Metropolitan Opera Rising Stars; from Chris Botti to Potted Potter: The Unauthorized Harry Experience; from Golda's Balcony with Tovah Feldshuh to the Brick City Jazz Orchestra; from Bela Fleck to Lula Washington Dance Theatre; from Beres Hammond to Audra McDonald; and from The Second City to Dinosaur Train Live!, NJPAC's new season has something for everyone.

Playwrights Theatre is pleased to announce the winners of the 31st Annual New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest. From the 470 plays submitted by young writers throughout the state, a panel of theatre professionals has selected four High School plays, three Junior High School plays and four Elementary Schools plays. In each category, selection was blind; plays were selected without knowledge of playwrights' schools, grade or background. The 31st Annual New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest Festival will be held on June 2 and 3, 2014, as part of a partnership between Playwrights Theatre and Premiere Stages at Kean University. Select plays from this festival may be reprised at Playwrights Theatre's nationally-recognized Forum Reading Series in December 2014. This reading series brings together writers from all over the United States.

The Public Theater will begin performances for Public Studio's two inaugural plays, THE URBAN RETREAT by A. Zell Williams, and MANAHATTA, by Mary Kathryn Nagle, tonight, May 15. The two plays will be presented as pared-down productions and run in repertory through Sunday, May 25 in The Public's Shiva Theater.

Playwrights Theatre's will present a free reading at the Chase Room of the Madison Public Library, 39 Keep Street, Madison, NJ tonight, May 15, 2014 beginning at 7:00pm. Penny Harter will be reading excerpts of new poetry book THE RESONANCE AROUND US.

The Public Theater will begin performances for Public Studio's two inaugural plays, THE URBAN RETREAT by A. Zell Williams, and MANAHATTA, by Mary Kathryn Nagle, on Thursday, May 15. The two plays will be presented as pared-down productions and run in repertory through Sunday, May 25 in The Public's Shiva Theater.

The Old Globe today announced the cast of Christopher Durang's Tony Award-winning farce Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, which will include Candy Buckley as Masha, Marcia DeBonis as Sonia, Tyler Lansing Weaks as Spike, Allison Layman as Nina, Martin Moran as Vanya, and Haneefah Wood as Cassandra.

Christopher Durang won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play with this hilarious comedy.

Playwrights Theatre's will present a free reading at the Chase Room of the Madison Public Library, 39 Keep Street, Madison, NJ on May 15, 2014 beginning at 7:00pm. Penny Harter will be reading excerpts of new poetry book THE RESONANCE AROUND US.