Mike McShane News

After a record year in 2018 in which the Pleasance artists won two Fringe Firsts, two Herald Angels, one Herald Archangel award and the Holden Street Theatres Award, and Pleasance acts won both Best Newcomer and Best Show at the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Awards, Pleasance are back with another fantastic programme. Kicking things off the Pleasance Theatre Trust have put five shows on sale for those keen to start their planning early.

First Flight presents a NEW play by Maxwell Anderson: Sea-Wife. Presented as a staged reading featuring 17 actors, Sea-Wife's one-time performance is a benefit for Chicago's Season of Concern, an organization that helps Chicago theatre professionals in times of need. Written by Anderson in 1924 Sea-Wife was never published and it has never been professionally performed. Set in the 1800s on an island off the coast of Maine and based on the poem The Forsaken Merman by Matthew Arnold (1822 - 1888), the play depicts 24 hours of turmoil for the inhabitants of an insulated fishing community and the myth of mermen many of them believe in. The benefit performance date is Sunday December 16, 2018 at 6 p.m. at the iO Theater, 1501 N Kingsbury St, in Chicago. Suggested donation is $20 and tickets are available at the door. Call (773) 307-4586 or email firstflight2018@gmail.com for reservations and more information.

Lillian Hellman's THE LITTLE FOXES receives a stunning, STUNNING mounting by the always dependable Antaeus Theatre Company. Helmed with much precision by director Cameron Watson, the two-and-a-half-hour, two-intermission, three-act simply whizzes by, packed with Hellman's wonderful words coming out of the most capable troupe of actors, all.

After a three-year run at NYC's The Duplex, and sold out shows in London, Edinburgh, DC, Los Angeles, Adelaide and Melbourne, Jason Kravits's critically acclaimed solo, completely improvised cabaret OFF THE TOP! debuts at the world-famous Birdland Jazz Club on Monday Dec. 3rd. Winner of a 2017 Bistro Award, OFF the TOP! utilizes audience suggestions (pulled from a fishbowl) to create an entire life story in song, with every bit of it... melodies, lyrics, stories and character... made up on the spot! Music, comedy, improv, and magic all stirred together and poured into a martini glass, to create one exhilaratingly delicious cocktail of fun!

Antaeus Theatre Company opens its 2018-19 season with an epic drama about a Southern family in crisis directed by Cameron Watson (award-winning Antaeus productions of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Picnic, Top Girls). Kristin Couture, John DeMita, Judy Louise Johnson, Mike McShane, Rob Nagle, Calvin Picou, Deborah Puette, Jocelyn Towne, Timothy Adam Venable and William L. Warren star in The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman, opening Oct. 25 at the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center in Glendale, where performances will continue through Dec. 10. Low-priced previews begin Oct. 18.

Antaeus Theatre Company opens its 2018-19 season with an epic drama about a Southern family in crisis directed by Cameron Watson (award-winning Antaeus productions of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Picnic, Top Girls). Kristin Couture, John DeMita, Judy Louise Johnson, Mike McShane, Rob Nagle, Calvin Picou, Deborah Puette, Jocelyn Towne, Timothy Adam Venable and William L. Warren star in The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman, opening Oct. 25 at the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center in Glendale, where performances will continue through Dec. 10. Low-priced previews begin Oct. 18.

Antaeus Theatre Company opens its 2018-19 season with an epic drama about a Southern family in crisis directed by Cameron Watson (award-winning Antaeus productions of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Picnic, Top Girls). Kristin Couture, John DeMita, Judy Louise Johnson, Mike McShane, Rob Nagle, Calvin Picou, Deborah Puette, Jocelyn Towne, Timothy Adam Venable and William L. Warren star in The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman, opening Oct. 25 at the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center in Glendale, where performances will continue through Dec. 10. Low-priced previews begin Oct. 18.

A new Tory PM must unite his party's warring factions with his masterful plan for a final Brexit deal. Just... what was it again? Starring Timothy Bentinck (The Archers), Jo Caulfield, Hal Cruttenden, Pippa Evans and Mike McShane.

Just For Laughs ComedyPRO sets the bar high for all things funny when the who's who of the comedy industry meets in Montreal, Canada for four days of industry panels, keynotes, concept showcases and networking events.

BWW Reviewer Natalie O'Donoghue selects her top picks from the Theatre section of the 2018 Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme.

It's 2020 and The Gordian Knot of Brexit remains tightly tangled. To keep a united government and to achieve an exit deal remains incompatible … or is it? Is Adam Masters the man of the moment? The political miracle worker of his generation? The Wizard of Westminster? The Gary Kasparov in this drawn-out game of political chess? Adam has won the Tory leadership contest. He was the only candidate all factions of his party could agree on. But the poison chalice is not for him and he has a foolproof plan; A cunning scheme to unite his MPs for the final stages of the Brexit negotiations. It's easy; a piece of cake; child's play. All he has to do is... just …umm just … now, what was it again? …How's it supposed to go? What was that killer move? ….

The Pleasance is a place for experiences and, this year, marks Pleasance's boldest programme yet. From the funny to the sorrowful, the political to the magical, the Pleasance has always been a place for incredible stories and 2018 takes this tradition to a new level.

How do you "fix" the misogyny of Shakespeare's now antiquated THE TAMING OF THE SHREW? For playwright Amy Freed, it means injecting it with a noticeable dose of equality empowerment, and then shifting its characters' traits and motivations as if written from a female's perspective. That is the premise of South Coast Repertory's latest World Premiere production SHREW!-which continues performances in Costa Mesa through April 21. The results? A funny but flawed update with good intentions.

Playwright Amy Freed has always been a Shakespeare fan. Her breakout hit, The Beard of Avon (SCR-commissioned and premiered, 2001), was a smart, funny look at the controversy surrounding the authorship of Shakespeare's plays. Now comes SHREW! (March 24-April 21, Segerstrom Stage), in which Freed has re-imagined The Bard's play, The Taming of the Shrew, as a wickedly funny love story of two people who find their way to true, deep and mutual love. Art Manke directs SHREW!, which is an anchor production of the 2018 Pacific Playwrights Festival. Tickets are available at www.scr.org.

The return of Mr. Swallow and circus-theatre spectacular Cirque Berserk! are amongst the latest shows to be announced in the Pleasance's ever-growing festival programme, along with a host of Fringe favourites on sale from 1st March.

TV and Broadway veteran Jason Kravits (Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Drowsy Chaperone) will be joined by legendary improvisor/actor Mike McShane (Whose Line is it Anyway?, Hyprov) at the final performance of the completely improvised, completely fictional, completely ridiculous one-man musical cabaret, Off the Top!

TV and Broadway veteran Jason Kravits (Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Drowsy Chaperone) will be joined by legendary improvisor/actor Mike McShane (Whose Line is it Anyway?, Hyprov) at the final performance of the completely improvised, completely fictional, completely ridiculous one-man musical cabaret, Off the Top!

On Tuesday, August 22 at 8:00 p.m., the Barn Theatre opens the "rock opera for our time" - RENT.

Leaping onto the Barn Theatre stage with soul stirring music, amazing heart, and stunning choreography is Disney's NEWSIES, August 8 - 20. The Tony Award-winning Broadway phenomenon. The show is based on the historical newsboy strike of 1899 that shook the ivory towers of William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer.

Just For Laughs ComedyPRO, the leading event of the comedy industry, has expanded its programming for 2017 with the addition of more high profile cast and industry panels that put the business of funny front and centre. Now in its tenth year, Just For Laughs ComedyPRO is the de facto event for the industry, bringing together top talent and executives for four days of networking and deal-making.