McCarter Theatre News

American Repertory Ballet will be celebrating its 50th Annual Nutcracker Season throughout downtown Princeton. American Repertory Ballet's 50th Annual Nutcracker Season will come to McCarter Theatre Thanksgiving weekend: Wednesday, November 27, 2013 at 7:00pm; Friday, November 29 at 1:00pm and 4:30pm; and Saturday, November 30 at 1:00pm and 4:30pm. Directly following the 4:30pm performance on November 30, at 6:30pm, American Repertory Ballet will hold a celebratory reception at The Nassau Club in Princeton.

Fresh on the heels of their sold out run of season opener The Grapes of Wrath, Trinity Rep continues their 50th anniversary season with the New England premiere of Christopher Durang's smash-hit comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Directed by The Richard L. Bready Artistic Director Curt Columbus, the show beings in previews November 21st in the intimate Dowling Theater and runs through December 22nd. Taking takes his cue from some of Anton Chekhov's most recognizable characters, Durang wickedly adds more than a dash of pop culture, a huge helping of dark humor and then lets the characters stew in a pressure cooker of their own devising. The result is a whirlwind weekend of classic Durang barbs, over the top tirades and ridiculously hysterical situations hailed as "Terrifically kooky!" by Entertainment Weekly. For those that are not familiar with Uncle Vanya or Cherry Orchard, Critics agree that 'Even if you've never read a word of Chekhov, you're likely to find plenty to make you laugh…' (The New York Times.) Tickets on sale now through the box office at 201 Washington, by phone at (401) 351-4242 and online at www.trinityrep.com.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University, under the Artistic Direction of Diane Paulus, iwill present the second production of the 2013/14 Season: David Farr's The Heart of Robin Hood, directed by Gisli Örn Gardarsson, to begin performances Wednesday, December 11, 2013 at the Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge. The production runs through Sunday, January 19, 2014.

Writers in the New Play Program are drawn from across the country, including our affiliation with the National New Play Network, a nation-wide group of theatres dedicated to the development and production of new work. Teaching Artists in our Education Programs are professional artists working in their field in the New Jersey, New York, and Philadelphia metropolitan areas.

TREASURE ISLAND, by Ken Ludwig. Arena Stage's Director of Community Engagement, Anita Maynard-Losh makes her return to Perseverance Theatre with a swashbuckling adventure the whole family can enjoy. Treasure Island is showing on the Perseverance Theatre Mainstage Nov 8- Dec 8, 2013. Tickets are now available through Hearthside Books, the JACC, online at perseverancetheatre.org or by calling 907-463-TIXS (8497). There are two Pay-As-You-Can Previews on Sunday, Nov 3 and Wednesday, Nov 6 at 7:30p.m. and two Pay-As-You-Can Performances on Sunday, Nov 10 and Thursday, Nov 14 at 7:30p.m.

The Old Globe today announced its 2014 Summer Season. Old Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein will make his Summer Shakespeare Festival directorial debut with Shakespeare's great tragedy Othello. Presented in the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, the Festival will also include Shakespeare's comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona, directed by Globe alumnus and Tony Award nominee Mark Lamos (Compleat Female Stage Beauty, Pentecost, Resurrection Blues). The Summer Season will also feature Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Tony Award-winning musical Into the Woods, which made its World Premiere at The Old Globe in 1986, in an inventive reimagining by Fiasco Theater, directed by Noah Brody and Ben Steinfeld, in a production that originated at McCarter Theatre Center. Rounding out the season is Ronald Harwood's comedy Quartet, directed by Richard Seer. Into the Woods will run on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre and Quartet in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, both part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Tickets to the Globe's 2014 Summer Season are currently available by subscription only, and prices range from $92 to $332. Subscription packages may be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the box office.

Orlando Shakespeare Theater in Partnership with UCF is thrilled to present the epic theatrical event The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Parts I and II. Written by David Edgar and adapted from the novel by Charles Dickens, the production is produced in Collaboration with Theatre UCF. Co-directed by Artistic Director Jim Helsinger and Theatre UCF Chair/Artistic Director Christopher Niess, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Parts I & II is presented in rotating repertory from January 22 to March 9, 2014 at the John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center in Loch Haven Park. Tickets ($17-$40) are available by calling (407) 447-1700, online at http://orlandoshakes.org, or in person at 812 East Rollins St., Orlando, FL 32803. Dinner and hotel packages are also available at http://www.orlandoshakes.org/nickleby.

Arden Theatre Company continues its 26th season of great stories with Stick Fly by Lydia R. Diamond under the direction of Walter Dallas. The production appears on the Arden's Arcadia Stage from tonight, October 24 through December 22, 2013 at 40 N. 2nd Street in Philadelphia.

Magic Theatre welcomes award-winning playwright Victor Lodato and Obie Award-winning composer Polly Pen with the world premiere of their musical Arlington. This unique musical production runs November 13 - December 8, 2013.

Long Wharf Theatre, in co-production with the McCarter Theatre, presents August Wilson's Fences, directed by Phylicia Rashad.

Georgia Ensemble Theatre (GET), North Fulton's only professional theatre company, will continue its record-setting 21stseason with the classic thriller Deathtrap by Ira Levin. Fresh from the success ofAlmost Heaven, John Denver's America, which garnered the highest attendance ever for a season opening production, director by Robert J. Farley will once again take the helm for Deathtrap. This show runs November 7-24, 2013, at the Theatre's home, the Roswell Cultural Arts Center, 950 Forrest Street, Roswell, GA. The production is generously sponsored by The Atlanta Sold Sisters Real Estate Team.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG) announces the 2013 Cycle A recipients of the Leadership U[niversity]-Continuing Ed program. Through the support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, grants of up to $5,000 will support four mid-career and veteran theatre professionals at TCG Member Theatres for learning opportunities to advance their leadership skills. The goal of this program is to strengthen the field by developing the individuals who are the core and the future of theatre. The Cycle B Continuing Ed grant application process will launch in October of 2013.

The Theatre @ Boston Court announces PLAY/ground, the annual New Play Festival November 9-10, 2013 at Boston Court Performing Arts Center in Pasadena, CA. Literary Managers Aaron Henne and Emilie Beck, in concert with Artistic Directors Jessica Kubzansky and Michael Michetti, have selected four plays to be presented as staged readings in the Marjorie Branson Performance Space.

New Jersey Theatre Alliance, the service organization for the state's professional theatres, will celebrate with their member theatres, friends and supporters at Curtain Call on Monday, October 21st at Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ.

Signature Theatre has announced the pairing of one of the theatre's most celebrated friends with the upcoming 2013/14 season's newest play. Shakespeare Theatre Company Artistic Director Michael Kahn returns to Signature this fall for the first time in nearly twenty years to direct the world premiere of Pride in the Falls of Autrey Mill, the new play by Paul Downs Colaizzo.

Tony Award-winning director and playwright Mary Zimmerman will transform the Matthews stage of McCarter Theatre Center with her sublime theater magic with her production of The White Snake, based by the classic Chinese fable. This electrifying, radiant, and delightful play will run October 15 through November 3.

American Repertory Ballet's 50th Annual Nutcracker Season will run November 23 through December 22 at venues across New Jersey. ARB's Nutcracker is a holiday classic featuring Tchaikovsky's score and a cast of over 100 performers. The Company has been performing Nutcracker for 50 consecutive years, making it the longest-running Nutcracker production in New Jersey and one of the longest consecutively-running in the United States next to a very few, including New York City Ballet, Ballet West, Ballet Austin, San Francisco Ballet, and Washington Ballet.

Arden Theatre Company continues its 26th season of great stories with Stick Fly by Lydia R. Diamond under the direction of Walter Dallas. The production appears on the Arden's Arcadia Stage from October 24 through December 22, 2013 at 40 N. 2nd Street in Philadelphia.

In celebration of the 75th anniversary of Thornton Wilder's great dramatic homage to small-town American life and the greater universal experience of life, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey presents Our Town beginning October 17th and continuing through November 17th at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, 36 Madison Ave. (at Lancaster Road) in Madison. Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased by calling the Box Office at973-408-5600 or by visiting www.ShakespeareNJ.org. Performances are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays at 7:30 p.m.; Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. Individual tickets range from $35 to $70; student rush tickets are available 30 minutes prior to curtain for $15.