The seven originating theaters of the Women's Voices Theater Festival - Arena Stage, Ford's Theatre, Round House Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Signature Theatre, Studio Theatre and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company - have announced preliminary details for the second installment of the Women's Voices Theater Festival, January 15 - February 15, 2018.
Theater Close-Up -- the unique collaboration between THIRTEEN and the large community of New York City area Off-Broadway and regional theaters - continues with John Strand's The Originalist, captured live on-stage at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., Monday, March 13 at 9 p.m. on THIRTEEN, with an encore presentation on Sunday, March 19 at 3:40 a.m. The play will also air Sunday, March 26 at 10 p.m. on WLIW21. The play, directed on the stage by Molly Smith, will be available for streaming for two weeks after the broadcast. L to R: Edward Gero as Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and Kerry Warren as Cat in The Originalist at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Credit: C. Stanley Photography. Four-time Helen Hayes Award winner Edward Gero (Red) returned to Arena Stage as one of America's most brilliant and polarizing figures: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. When bright, liberal, Harvard Law School graduate Cat (Kerry Warren) embarks on a nerve-wracking clerkship with Justice Scalia, she discovers him to be both an infuriating sparring partner and an unexpected mentor. How will their relationship affect one of the most incendiary cases ever to reach the nation's highest court? Along the way, Cat's relationship with Scalia is complicated further by Brad (Harlan Work), an adversarial law clerk on Scalia's staff. Gero had last appeared at Arena Stage as Mark Rothko in 'Red.' He is a four-time Helen Hayes winner and 14-time nominee. Regional credits include Mark Rothko in 'Red' at the Goodman Theatre; the title role of 'Sweeney Todd' at Signature Theatre; 'The Chosen' at Theater J; Ebenezer Scrooge in 'A Christmas Carol' and Horace Vandergelder in 'Hello, Dolly!' at Ford's Theatre; 'American Buffalo,' 'Shining City' (Helen Hayes nomination) and 'Skylight' (Helen Hayes Award) at Studio Theatre; and 'The Matchmaker' at Center Stage. In 30 seasons with the Shakespeare Theatre Company, he's played 70 roles, including Helen Hayes-winning turns in 'Henry IV,' 'Richard II' and 'Macbeth.' In New York, he's appeared at South Street Theatre and Classic Stage. Author John Strand is a resident playwright with Arena Stage through the American Voices New Play Institute. His previous work at Arena Stage includes 'The Miser,' an adaptation of the Moliere play set in Reagan-era America; 'Lovers and Executioners,' winner of the Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play; and Tom Walker, also commissioned by Arena Stage. His recent work includes the book and lyrics for 'Hat! A Vaudeville,' a new musical with a score by composer Dennis McCarthy (South Coast Repertory); 'Lincolnesque,' a dark comedy about politics and madness in D.C. (The Old Globe, dir. by Joe Calarco); and 'Lorenzaccio,' his adaptation of Alfred de Musset's 1834 French classic (Shakespeare Theatre Company, dir. by Michael Kahn). Of the Arena Stage production, The New York Times wrote, '... The meat of the play draws a portrait of the private man in accordance with the public record: rigid in his views, deeply moralistic and unafraid to express his florid contempt for those benighted souls who see things from any perspective other than his own. Also: He's funny.' DC Theatre Scene opined, 'Arena and director Molly Smith have given this fine work a good, rigorous production ... Edward Gero is a continuing wonder ...' Theater Close-Up on THIRTEEN has most recently featured Rasheeda Speaking from The New Group, Fashions for Men from Mint Theater, Wiesenthal filmed at the Acorn Theatre at Theatre Row, Repairing a Nation from Crossroads Theatre Company in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Incident at Vichy from Signature Theatre Company, The Woodsman recorded at New World Stages, Buried Child from The New Group, and Buyer & Cellar from Westport Country Playhouse. THIRTEEN is using its unrivaled expertise in producing national PBS arts programming - which began with such classic series as Theater in America, part of the award-winning series Great Performances and special limited series such as Stage on Screen -- to provide New Yorkers with unparalleled access to great Off-Broadway and regional offerings. The Originalist is a production of Stage17, and was directed for television by Diana Basmajian. For Theater Close-Up, Mitch Owgang is producer; Bill O'Donnell is series producer; and David Horn is executive producer. Executive-in-charge for WNET is Neal Shapiro. Major support for this presentation of Theater Close-Up is provided by the Howard Gilman Foundation, and Bernard and Irene Schwartz. # # # About WNET WNET is America's flagship PBS station and parent company of THIRTEEN and WLIW21. WNET also operates NJTV, the statewide public media network in New Jersey. Through its broadcast channels, three cable services (KidsThirteen, Create and World) and online streaming sites, WNET brings quality arts, education and public affairs programming to more than five million viewers each week. WNET produces and presents such acclaimed PBS series as Nature, Great Performances, American Masters, PBS NewsHour Weekend, Charlie Rose and a range of documentaries, children's programs, and local news and cultural offerings. WNET's groundbreaking series for children and young adults include Get the Math, Oh Noah! and Cyberchase as well as Mission US, the award-winning interactive history game. WNET highlights the tri-state's unique culture and diverse communities through NYC-ARTS, Reel 13, NJTV News with Mary Alice Williams and MetroFocus, the daily multi-platform news magazine focusing on the New York region. In addition, WNET produces online-only programming including the award-winning series about gender, First Person, and an intergenerational look at tech and pop culture, The Chatterbox with Kevin and Grandma Lill. In 2015, THIRTEEN launched Passport, an online streaming service which allows members to see new and archival THIRTEEN and PBS programming anytime, anywhere: www.thirteen.org/passport. About Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater Under the leadership of Artistic Director Molly Smith and Executive Director Edgar Dobie, is a national center dedicated to American voices and artists. Arena Stage produces plays of all that is passionate, profound, deep and dangerous in the American spirit, and presents diverse and ground-breaking work from some of the best artists around the country. Arena Stage is committed to commissioning and developing new plays and impacts the lives of over 10,000 students annually through its work in community engagement. Now in its seventh decade, Arena Stage serves a diverse annual audience of more than 300,000. Arenastage.org For media only: Photos and press releases can be accessed here: http://www.thirteen.org/13pressroom/press-release/theater-close-originalist/
The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center celebrates dozens of shows on Broadway, off-Broadway, and in theaters across the globe this 2016-17 season. Projects from the National Playwrights Conference and National Music Theater Conference have moved on to significant productions and even the Academy Awards.
Arena Stage hosted a Power Lunch on Monday, February 27, to officially kick off the theater's ambitious Power Plays initiative, which will commission and develop 25 new plays over the next 10 years, focused on politics & power. Scroll down for photos from the event!
Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith and Executive Director Edgar Dobie announce the 2017/18 season lineup for the company's 68th season. The season reflects Arena Stage's commitment to championing diverse voices and producing work that is politically and socially-relevant.
The Pasadena Playhouse (Danny Feldman, Producing Artistic Director and Sheldon Epps, Artistic Director Emeritus) announced today that they will present THE ORIGINALIST and HOLD THESE TRUTHS as part of the theater's 2016-2017 Season. THE ORIGINALIST, by John Strand (Charles MacArthur Award-winning Lovers and Executioners), directed by Molly Smith (Camp David and Artistic Director of Arena Stage), and starring four-time Helen Hayes Award-winner Edward Gero (Goodman Theatre's Red), tells the story about a liberal law student's nerve-wracking clerkship with Justice Antonin Scalia.
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announced today that Curtis T. Bell has made a $2.5 million gift towards the theater's ambitious Power Plays initiative. Over the next 10 years, Arena Stage will commission and develop 25 new plays and musicals focused on stories of politics and power. Bell's contribution will be leveraged as a matching gift challenge, ultimately raising an additional $2.5 million to fully fund the Presidential Voices cycle of the initiative.
Jacqueline E. Lawton's new political thriller Intelligence makes its world premiere at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Under the direction of Daniella Topol (Round House's Ironbound), Intelligence explores the cost of deception and the consequences of speaking truth to power. Due to popular demand, the production has been extended for one week with eight additional performances and will run February 24-April 9, 2017 in the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle.
National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, announces four Rolling World Premieres: Halftime with Don by Ken Weitzman, Doublewide by Stephen Spotswood, The Arsonists by Jacqueline Goldfinger, and Building the Wall by Robert Schenkkan. The four plays will receive a total of 15 NNPN RWP productions, with each play seeing at least three distinct productions in a discrete 12-month period.
Manhattan Theatre Club has announced the lineup for this spring's Ted Snowdon Reading Series, formerly titled the Ernst C. Stiefel Reading Series.
Four intellectuals - a doctor, an actress, a psychologist and a neurobiologist studying the human brain's response to race - search for love, acceptance and identity in Lydia R. Diamond's comedy-drama Smart People, which makes its D.C. debut at Arena Stage.
The 'play that changed American theater forever' (New York Times) comes to Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater for the first time ever this spring.
Due to popular demand, Asolo Rep has added two additional performances of THE ORIGINALIST to its nearly sold-out run.
Arena Stage announces full casting for Lillian Hellman's Watch on the Rhine, winner of the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play. Four-time Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner Marsha Mason, known for her performances in the films Cinderella Liberty, The Goodbye Girl, Chapter Two and Only When I Laugh, stars as Fanny Farrelly under esteemed director Jackie Maxwell, former artistic director of Canada's Shaw Festival. Set in Washington, D.C. on the brink of U.S. involvement in World War II, Hellman's suspenseful drama was hailed by the Chicago Tribune as "dramatically gripping and genuinely moving." Watch on the Rhine runs February 3-March 5, 2017 in the Fichandler Stage.
This season at Asolo Rep, in celebration of the fifth and final year of its American Character Project, the theatre's three winter repertory shows are all set in the political hotbed of the nation's capital: Washington, D.C. The winter rep season began on January 13 with THE GREAT SOCIETY, Robert Schenkkan's thrilling depiction of LBJ's divisive presidency. On Inauguration Day, January 20, the theatre opened THE ORIGINALIST, John Strand's remarkably timely play about Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and the search for the political middle. BORN YESTERDAY, Garson Kanin's beloved classic comedy about a not-so-dumb blonde's journey into Washington high society, opens February 10 - officially kicking off The Washington Trilogy: Three Hot Shows - One Blazing City.
The 2017 Helen Hayes Award nominations were announced tonight. A line-up of leading theatre artists announced nominations in 47 categories of artistic excellence. Award recipients will be announced at the Helen Hayes Awards gala event to be held at the Lincoln Theatre on Monday, May 15 with an after-party hosted at Washington's legendary 9:30 Club.
Good Theater's Executive/Artistic Director Brian P. Allen has a remarkable sixth sense about choosing plays whose situations and characters resonate with originality and empathy. The latest production, Molly Smith Metzler's The May Queen, is an engaging portrait of five small town characters who all work in the local insurance agency and whose lives and paths remain interconnected because of their shared high school past. Metzler's comedy explores the surface banality of these characters, as it slowly and skillfully makes its way toward revealing some deeper poetic truths.
Citadel Theatre's 2016-17 season continues with Molly Smith Metzler's Elemeno Pea, a comedy about social class and sibling rivalry that premiered at the 2011 Humana Festival of New Plays and has since enjoyed productions across the country in prestigious theaters like South Coast Repertory in southern California, Pittsburgh's City Theatre and Atlanta's Horizon Theatre.
Arena Stage presents Lillian Hellman's Watch on the Rhine, winner of the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play.
This season at Asolo Rep, in celebration of the fifth and final year of its American Character Project, the theatre's three winter repertory shows are all set in the political hotbed of the nation's capital: Washington, D.C. The winter rep season began on January 13 with THE GREAT SOCIETY, Robert Schenkkan's thrilling depiction of LBJ's divisive presidency. On Inauguration Day, January 20, the theatre opened THE ORIGINALIST, John Strand's remarkably timely play about Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and the search for the political middle. BORN YESTERDAY, Garson Kanin's beloved classic comedy about a not-so-dumb blonde's journey into Washington high society, opens February 10 - officially kicking off The Washington Trilogy: Three Hot Shows - One Blazing City.
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