Monique News

This week at the O'Neill the performances of national playwrights and national music theater conferences continue. There will be a freee Theatermakers performances on Tuesday, July 8th. PERFORMANCES OF NATIONAL PLAYWRIGHTS, NATIONAL MUSIC THEATER CONFERENCES CONTINUE! FREE THEATERMAKERS PERFORMANCE ON TUESDAY, JULY 8 The National Playwrights Conference continues with two new projects, SMUDGE and MAGNOLIA. National Music Theater Conference presents performances of MAX UNDERSTOOD and begins performances of IRON CURTAIN. SMUDGE by Rachel Axler Directed by Daniel Aukin Performances: Thurs., July 10 at 8:15 pm; Sat., July 12 at 8:15 pm When a young couple's first child doesn't turn out as expected, they're forced to revise their notions about what constitutes a life, and figure out -- in their own, specific ways -- how to be parents. A very, very, very dark comedy. CAST: Maria Dizzia* Mike Doyle* Jonathan Walker* MAX UNDERSTOOD Book by Nancy Carlin; Lyrics by Nancy Carlin and Michael Rasbury; Music by Michael Rasbury Directed by Jack Cumming Performances: Fri., July 11 at 8:00 pm; Sun., July 13 at 3:00 pm The transformative journey of a 7-year old autistic boy and those who love him, and how the need to communicate overcomes an unintelligible chasm. This sound-scaped musical may leave you feeling autistic yourself…and that's OK. CAST: Matthew Gumley* Jonathan Hammond* Hannah Laird* Lauren Marcus* Kerry O'Malley* Ben Roseberry* Paul Oakley Stovall* MAGNOLIA* by Regina Taylor Directed by Regina Taylor Performances: Fri., July 11 at 8:15 pm; Sunday, July 13 at 5:15 pm Magnolia is set in winter, 1963, as the schools, stores and real estate markets of Atlanta, Georgia are beginning to desegregate-much to the resentment of the white community. Lily, a white landowner, returns from Paris to find the Forest Estate, her family's land, on the brink of ruin. Thomas, a successful businessman and the descendent of former slaves to the estate, has a plan to save the land: turn it into subdivisions and sell it to the white families fleeing the city. Tensions build as members of the estranged family reunite to try and save their beloved land-magnolia trees and all. *MAGNOLIA is a collaboration with Chicago's The Goodman Theatre, Robert Falls, Artistic Director CAST: Tyla Abercrumbie* Tory Davis* Ted Dasy* Harriett Foy* Mattie Hawkinson* Stephen Henderson* Brandon Miller* Caitlin O'Connell* Tim Rhoze* David Ross* Stephen Schnetzer* Makela Spielman* IRON CURTAIN*** Book by Susan DeLallo, Lyrics by Peter Mills, Music by Stephen Weiner Directed by Cara Reichel Performances: Sat., July 12 at 8:00 pm; Weds., July 16 at 8:00 pm; Fri., July 18 at 8:00 pm; Sat., July 19 at 3:00 pm New York, 1956: two down-on-their luck songwriters are kidnapped by the KGB and brought to Moscow, where they are forced to write Communist Propaganda musicals. A madcap farce about fame vs. freedom, filled with divas and dominatrixes, stooges and spies, mishaps and misdirects as our heroes try desperately to get back home. ***IRON CURTAIN is funded in part through The ASCAP Residency. CAST: David Abeles* Alison Briner* Stephen Bogardus* Monique French* David Gregory Daniel Levine* Anne Torsiglieri* Dan Sharkey* Robby Sharpe* Lucy Sorenson* Gordon Stanley* Jessica Snow Wilson* *member of Actors' Equity Association THE PUB is open to the public before and after all performances. Come enjoy your favorite beverage and spend some time with our artists! COMING UP NEXT WEEK will be performances of THUNDER ABOVE, DEEPS BELOW and MISTAKES WERE MADE at the National Playwrights Conference, and IRON CURTAIN continues the National Music Theater Conference! Also Coming Soon: The Summer Gala Musicals Under the Star:, Celebrating 31 years of the National Music Theater Conference and NMTC co-founder and Artistic Director Paulette Haupt! July 19th at 6:30pm. For tickets and more information see www.theoneill.org or contact Suzanne Hendrix at 860-443-5378 x 217. All schedules and artists subject to change. Please call the O'Neill Box Office at 860-443-1238 for times, prices and reservations. Outdoor performances will be moved indoors in the event of rain. The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, founded in 1964, is the pre-eminent center for the development of new works and new voices for the American theater. It has been home to more than 1,000 new works for the stage and 2,500 emerging artists. Scores of projects developed at the O'Neill have gone on to full productions at other theaters around the world, including Broadway, off-Broadway and major regional theaters. The O'Neill has received a special Tony Award, the National Opera Award, the Jujamcyn Award for Theater Excellence and the Arts and Business Council Encore Award. The O'Neill's programs include the National Playwrights Conference, National Music Theater Conference, Puppetry Conference, Cabaret & Performance Conference, National Critics Institute, and the National Theater Institute, which includes semester-long, fully accredited intensive theater-training programs and a six-week accredited summer program, Theatermakers. In addition, the O'Neill owns and operates the Monte Cristo Cottage, a National Historic Landmark and the childhood home of Nobel Prize-winning and four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Eugene O'Neill. For more information regarding the Center, please visit the O'Neill website at www.TheONeill.org or call 860-443-5378.

This week at the O'Neill the performances of national playwrights and national music theater conferences continue. There will be a freee Theatermakers performances on Tuesday, July 8th. PERFORMANCES OF NATIONAL PLAYWRIGHTS, NATIONAL MUSIC THEATER CONFERENCES CONTINUE! FREE THEATERMAKERS PERFORMANCE ON TUESDAY, JULY 8 The National Playwrights Conference continues with two new projects, SMUDGE and MAGNOLIA. National Music Theater Conference presents performances of MAX UNDERSTOOD and begins performances of IRON CURTAIN. SMUDGE by Rachel Axler Directed by Daniel Aukin Performances: Thurs., July 10 at 8:15 pm; Sat., July 12 at 8:15 pm When a young couple's first child doesn't turn out as expected, they're forced to revise their notions about what constitutes a life, and figure out -- in their own, specific ways -- how to be parents. A very, very, very dark comedy. CAST: Maria Dizzia* Mike Doyle* Jonathan Walker* MAX UNDERSTOOD Book by Nancy Carlin; Lyrics by Nancy Carlin and Michael Rasbury; Music by Michael Rasbury Directed by Jack Cumming Performances: Fri., July 11 at 8:00 pm; Sun., July 13 at 3:00 pm The transformative journey of a 7-year old autistic boy and those who love him, and how the need to communicate overcomes an unintelligible chasm. This sound-scaped musical may leave you feeling autistic yourself…and that's OK. CAST: Matthew Gumley* Jonathan Hammond* Hannah Laird* Lauren Marcus* Kerry O'Malley* Ben Roseberry* Paul Oakley Stovall* MAGNOLIA* by Regina Taylor Directed by Regina Taylor Performances: Fri., July 11 at 8:15 pm; Sunday, July 13 at 5:15 pm Magnolia is set in winter, 1963, as the schools, stores and real estate markets of Atlanta, Georgia are beginning to desegregate-much to the resentment of the white community. Lily, a white landowner, returns from Paris to find the Forest Estate, her family's land, on the brink of ruin. Thomas, a successful businessman and the descendent of former slaves to the estate, has a plan to save the land: turn it into subdivisions and sell it to the white families fleeing the city. Tensions build as members of the estranged family reunite to try and save their beloved land-magnolia trees and all. *MAGNOLIA is a collaboration with Chicago's The Goodman Theatre, Robert Falls, Artistic Director CAST: Tyla Abercrumbie* Tory Davis* Ted Dasy* Harriett Foy* Mattie Hawkinson* Stephen Henderson* Brandon Miller* Caitlin O'Connell* Tim Rhoze* David Ross* Stephen Schnetzer* Makela Spielman* IRON CURTAIN*** Book by Susan DeLallo, Lyrics by Peter Mills, Music by Stephen Weiner Directed by Cara Reichel Performances: Sat., July 12 at 8:00 pm; Weds., July 16 at 8:00 pm; Fri., July 18 at 8:00 pm; Sat., July 19 at 3:00 pm New York, 1956: two down-on-their luck songwriters are kidnapped by the KGB and brought to Moscow, where they are forced to write Communist Propaganda musicals. A madcap farce about fame vs. freedom, filled with divas and dominatrixes, stooges and spies, mishaps and misdirects as our heroes try desperately to get back home. ***IRON CURTAIN is funded in part through The ASCAP Residency. CAST: David Abeles* Alison Briner* Stephen Bogardus* Monique French* David Gregory Daniel Levine* Anne Torsiglieri* Dan Sharkey* Robby Sharpe* Lucy Sorenson* Gordon Stanley* Jessica Snow Wilson* *member of Actors' Equity Association THE PUB is open to the public before and after all performances. Come enjoy your favorite beverage and spend some time with our artists! COMING UP NEXT WEEK will be performances of THUNDER ABOVE, DEEPS BELOW and MISTAKES WERE MADE at the National Playwrights Conference, and IRON CURTAIN continues the National Music Theater Conference! Also Coming Soon: The Summer Gala Musicals Under the Star:, Celebrating 31 years of the National Music Theater Conference and NMTC co-founder and Artistic Director Paulette Haupt! July 19th at 6:30pm. For tickets and more information see www.theoneill.org or contact Suzanne Hendrix at 860-443-5378 x 217. All schedules and artists subject to change. Please call the O'Neill Box Office at 860-443-1238 for times, prices and reservations. Outdoor performances will be moved indoors in the event of rain. The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, founded in 1964, is the pre-eminent center for the development of new works and new voices for the American theater. It has been home to more than 1,000 new works for the stage and 2,500 emerging artists. Scores of projects developed at the O'Neill have gone on to full productions at other theaters around the world, including Broadway, off-Broadway and major regional theaters. The O'Neill has received a special Tony Award, the National Opera Award, the Jujamcyn Award for Theater Excellence and the Arts and Business Council Encore Award. The O'Neill's programs include the National Playwrights Conference, National Music Theater Conference, Puppetry Conference, Cabaret & Performance Conference, National Critics Institute, and the National Theater Institute, which includes semester-long, fully accredited intensive theater-training programs and a six-week accredited summer program, Theatermakers. In addition, the O'Neill owns and operates the Monte Cristo Cottage, a National Historic Landmark and the childhood home of Nobel Prize-winning and four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Eugene O'Neill. For more information regarding the Center, please visit the O'Neill website at www.TheONeill.org or call 860-443-5378.

Thirty years after its Tony Award-winning world premiere, Ain't Misbehavin'comes to Goodman Theatre in a brand new production.

Wendy C. Goldberg, Artistic Director of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference (NPC) and Paulette Haupt, Artistic Director of the National Music Theater Conference (NMTC), announced the actors cast in their 2008 projects. The actors include a mix of award-winning actors from stage and screen, seasoned O'Neill performers, and new talent.

A Disney tradition now in its 38th year (2008), the Candlelight Processional is a moving presentation of the Christmas story in readings by a celebrity narrator and music by a Mass choir and 50-piece orchestra.

LAByrinth Theater Company (John Ortiz, Artistic Director; Philip Seymour Hoffman, Co-Artistic Director; John Gould Rubin, Co-Artistic Director & Executive Director) has announced complete casting for the new play in development, Penalties & Interest by Rebecca Cohen, the sixth play in the inaugural PUBLIC LAB series. Directed by John Gould Rubin, the cast features LAByrinth Theater Company members Julian Acosta ('Dirt'), Elizabeth Canavan (The Little Flower of East Orange), Yetta Gottesman (The Last Days of Judas Iscariot), Craig 'muMs' Grant (A View From 151st Street, 'Oz'), and Michael Puzzo (Dirty Story). The development production begins performances Tuesday, June 10th for a limited engagement through June 28th at The Public Theater (425 Lafayette Street at Astor Place). The insular existence of office life is a Petri dish for contemporary society in Rebecca Cohen's comedy, Penalties & Interest. Lollie, Lyle and Amy try to keep their heads above water, and their boss, Dick, bobs up when they least expect it. LAByrinth first presented Penalties & Interest behind closed doors at its annual retreat, the Summer Intensive, and then presented it as a free reading at the 2006 Barn Series festival. Now, this bare-bones PUBLIC LAB production marks the next stage in LAByrinth's unique play development process, taking the collaboration between the playwright, director, designers and audiences, to the next level. To follow this process, from planning through rehearsals and closing night, members of the general public are invited to contribute to the Penalties & Interest Blog (at www.LABtheater.org), where author, director, company and creative team are talking about the play's development, and hosting a forum for audience response. The creative team for Penalties & Interest includes Chris Barreca (Scenic Design), Oana Botez-Ban (Costume Design), Nicole Pearce (Lighting Design), Betsy Rhodes (Sound Design) and Paula Pizzi (Dramaturg). Penalties & Interest will play the following performance schedule: Tuesdays - Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $10 and available at The Public Theater Box Office, by calling (212) 967-7555, or online at www.publictheater.org. The Public Theater is located at 425 Lafayette Street. The performance of Penalties & Interest on Tuesday, June 24th will feature open-captioning for members of the Hard-of-Hearing community. For reservations and information, contact LAByrinth at (212) 513-1014 or visit LABtheater.org. LAByrinth's Accessibility Project is made possible with a grant from Theatre Development Fund's TAP Plus program. Open-Captioning provided by c2 (caption coalition) inc.

Final show in Artistic Director Nicholas Martin's eight-year reign at The Huntington plays up the jaunty style but sacrifices the sentimental substance of Bock and Harnick's musical gem

Nicholas Martin brings his new revival of the Joe Masteroff/Sheldon Harnick/Jerry Bock musical She Loves Me to the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Casting announced for the Atlanta date of 'The Color Purple' National Tour.

Mike Carobonaro's Big Apple Comic Book, Art, and Toy Expo to be June 7th and 8th.

The New Group will present the U.S. premiere of Ayub Khan-Din's Rafta, Rafta… in a limited Off-Broadway run from April 18 - June 21.

Vineyard Theatre, in association with New Georges, hosts 'The Program' for Jenny Schwartz's 'God's Ear' -- a special free event featuring a pre-show discussion and cocktail party with critics David Cote and Helen Shaw and playwright/essayist Jeffrey Jones on Thursday, May 15, beginning at 6:45pm, at The Vineyard Theatre.

Director and choreographer Kenny Ortega helm Walt Disney Pictures' upcoming film High School Musical: 3 for the big-screen, featuring all principal cast members from the two previous tween-phenomenon TV events; including Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu and Monique Coleman.

You wouldn't expect a 1937 Broadway musical that satirized American profiteering from wartime rumblings in Europe and was written to showcase the unique comedy talents of 'The Perfect Fool' Ed Wynn to be especially playable in the year 2008, but The Medicine Show, on their tiny stage way out west on W. 52nd Street, do a bang-up job with Hooray For What!

LAByrinth Theater Company (Artistic Director John Ortiz; Co-Artistic Director Philip Seymour Hoffman; Co-Artistic Director and Executive Director John Gould Rubin) and The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Mara Manus) have joined forces again to reunite the powerhouse writer/director team behind such groundbreaking urban dramas as The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train. Playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis and Director Philip Seymour Hoffman have partnered on the world premiere of The Little Flower of East Orange, an inter-generational ghost story set in an upper Manhattan charity hospital, beginning previews on Tuesday, March 18. The cast for The Little Flower of East Orange will include Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream), Elizabeth Canavan (LAByrinth's Jesus Hopped The A Train), Liza Colón-Zayas (LAByrinth's A View From 151st Street), Arthur French (Dividing the Estate at Primary Stages), Gillian Jacobs (A Feminine Ending at Playwrights Horizons), Ajay Naidu (Office Space), Howie Seago (Peter Sellars' Ajax), Michael Shannon (Tracy Letts' Bug), Sidney Williams ('The Sopranos'), and David Zayas ('Dexter'). The Little Flower of East Orange will run through Sunday, April 20 with an official press opening on Sunday, April 6 at 7 PM. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased by visiting www.publictheater.org.

Jenny Schwartz's new play that was developed by Vineyard Theatre and debuted at New Georges last year -- will return to The Vineyard (108 East 15th Street) as the company's third mainstage production of the 2007-08 Season, with previews set to begin April 9, prior to its official press opening April 17, it has been announced by Douglas Aibel, artistic director of Vineyard Theatre. Directed by Anne Kauffman (THE THUGS), the production was critically acclaimed when it opened at New Georges in May 2007. GOD'S EAR -- which The Vineyard will present in association with New Georges -- is a compelling and moving new play about a young couple struggling through their relationship after the loss of their child. About bringing GOD'S EAR back to The Vineyard for a mainstage production, Mr. Aibel says, 'It's really thrilling for me to welcome Jenny Schwartz and GOD'S EAR to The Vineyard. Jenny first worked with The Vineyard as an intern in our literary office some years ago, and then we had the honor of collaborating with her on a series of readings and workshops of GOD'S EAR. We were proud to see the play go on to a production at New Georges last season in a limited engagement - and absolutely delighted that the play will now have the opportunity to return to New York and The Vineyard.' The cast of GOD'S EAR includes Gibson Frazier, Judith Greentree, Christina Kirk, Raymond McAnally, Matthew Montelongo, Monique Vukovic, and Rebecca Wisocky. The production features original songs by Michael Friedman, with additional lyrics by Jenny Schwartz. GOD'S EAR has scenic design by Kris Stone; costume design by Olivera Gajic; lighting design by Tyler Micoleau; sound design by Leah Gelpe.

Paper Mill Playhouse's production of Steel Magnolias officially opened on Sunday, March 9 at their Millburn Theatre, with performances through April 6. The cast of Steel Magnolias stars Kelly Bishop as Clairee, Charlotte Booker as Truvy, Beth Fowler as Ouiser, Monique Fowler as M'Lynn, Kelly Sullivan as Shelby and Kate Wetherhead as Annelle.

Paper Mill Playhouse's production of Steel Magnolias began at their Millburn Theatre on Wednesday, March 5; to officially open Sunday March 9 at 7:30PM with performances through April 6. The cast of Steel Magnolias stars Kelly Bishop as Clairee, Charlotte Booker as Truvy, Beth Fowler as Ouiser, Monique Fowler as M'Lynn, Kelly Sullivan as Shelby and Kate Wetherhead as Annelle.

Broadway composer Stephen Flaherty taught a Master Class in the black box theatre at Paper Mill Playhouse (Millburn, NJ) on Saturday, March 1.

On March 3rd at 7:30PM the University of Michigan Entertainment Coalition (UMEC) and the U of M Club of New York will present Bravo Blue! This 'Musical Homecoming' Concert will feature over 40 U of M alumni professionals and friends in a fast paced sampler of musical theatre, classical and contemporary music, jazz, opera, and dance. The performance will be held at the Peter Norton Symphony Space, Leonard Nimoy Thalia on Broadway at 95th St at 7:30PM.