New York Shakespeare Festival News

The New York Innovative Theatre Awards, the organization dedicated to celebrating Off-Off-Broadway, has announced 2014 recipients of the 2014 Honorary Awards.

Lexikat Artists and MB Artists in association with the multi-award-winning NoHo Arts Center Ensemble (NoHo ACE) are thrilled to announce that the world premiere musical, SCARY MUSICAL The Musical, book by Richard Hochberg, music and lyrics by Richard Hochberg and Michael Paternostro, musical direction by Brent Crayon, orchestrations by Kenny Seymour and directed and choreographed by James J. Mellon will let YOU choose the killer! With three different alternate endings, this is the first theatre production that asks you to TURN ON YOUR PHONES during the show to vote!

Continuing its commitment to bringing free Shakespeare to the community and strengthening audience engagement with the arts, The Public Theater will mount its MOBILE SHAKESPEARE UNIT again this October with a free three-week tour to the five boroughs of Shakespeare's PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE, directed by Rob Melrose.

Lexikat Artists and MB Artists in association with the multi-award-winning NoHo Arts Center Ensemble (NoHo ACE) are thrilled to present a world premiere musical, SCARY MUSICAL The Musical, book by Richard Hochberg, music and lyrics by Richard Hochberg and Michael Paternostro, musical direction by Brent Crayon, orchestrations by Kenny Seymour and directed and choreographed by James J. Mellon. SCARY MUSICAL The Musical will begin previews tonight, September 12 at 8pm; will open today, September 19 at 8pm and run for eight weeks through Sunday, November 9, 2014 at the NoHo Arts Center, 11136 Magnolia Blvd. (at Lankershim) in North Hollywood.

In the summer of 1918, as the Great War rages in Europe, two individuals wage their own battle against injustice in America, risking their lives for the right to marry. Winding up the 2014 Antaeus season of modern classics, Gregg T. Daniel directs a fully partner-cast revival of Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White by Alice Childress. Wedding Band runs Oct. 18 through Dec. 7 at the Antaeus Theater in NoHo, with low-priced previews beginning Oct. 9.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) has selected John Hurt, Stacy Keach and Dame Diana Rigg as the 2014 recipients of The William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre (Will Award), which recognizes artists who have made significant contributions to classical theatre in America. The Beech Street Foundation will be awarded the Sidney Harman Award for Philanthropy in the Arts. The awards will be presented at the Harman Center for the Arts Annual Gala on Sunday, October 5, 2014, hosted by STC at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) and the National Building Museum (440 G Street NW).

The Old Globe today announced the full cast and creative team for Marco Ramirez's ('Orange is the New Black,' 'Sons of Anarchy') wildly theatrical new play The Royale, directed by two-time Obie Award-winning and Drama Desk Award-nominated Rachel Chavkin. Founding Artistic Director of New York's the TEAM, Chavkin most recently won accolades for Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (The New York Times, Time Out New York, and New York Post Critics's Picks, and Top Ten of 2012 and 2013). The Royale will run October 4 to November 2 in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run October 4 - 8. Opening night is Thursday, October 9 at 8:00 p.m.

San Francisco Opera presents the Company premiere of Carlisle Floyd's two-act opera Susannah today, September 6 at the War Memorial Opera House.

Ralph Lee's Mettawee River Theatre Company will return for its annual September season in the lovely Outdoor Garden of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine with 'The Dancing Fox: Wisdom Tales of the Middle East,' five enchanting tales from the shared folk traditions of Jews and Arabs, including the writings of Sufi mystics, along with fables and folklore of the region. Six weekend performances, September 5, 6, 7 and 12, 13, 14 at 7:30 PM in the Garden, entrance on 111th Street & Amsterdam Avenue.

DNAWORKS, in collaboration with Teatro Paraguas, will present the world premiere of 'Cascarones' by Irma Mayorga at Teatro Paraguas opening tonight, September 4, 2014 and running for 8 performances.

The New York Neo-Futurists, critically acclaimed creators of the award-winning theatrical experience Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, have announced that the company's 2014 Gala will honor actor and playwright Eric Bogosian. The event-which will include live performances by the Neo- Futurists, exciting live and silent auctions, as well as cocktails, snacks and a dessert bar- will take place at the Bowery Hotel from 7 p.m to 10 p.m., Monday, November 17, 2014. Tickets to this event are on sale now starting at $100 and can be purchased by visiting www.nynf.org.

On The Wind Productions will present a revival of CHINESE COFFEE by Ira Lewis. The production will be directed by Emmy nominee Louise Lasser (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman; Girls; Bananas on Broadway) starring Obie Award winner Austin Pendleton (My Cousin Vinny, The Diary of Anne Frank on Broadway) and Sean Walsh. Previews begin September 24 with opening slated for September 28 at the Roy Arias Stage II Theater.

Kate Mulgrew is a celebrated actress of stage, screen and television; from Broadway shows including EQUUS, MARY STUART, and TEA AT FIVE; to films like A STRANGER IS WATCHING, THROW MOMMA FROM THE TRAIN, and STAR TREK NEMISIS, to her most famous roles in RYAN'S HOPE, MRS. COLUMBO, and STAR TREK VOYAGER.

"Tragedy is easy... comedy is hard." The short stories and sketches of James Thurber, Dorothy Parker, and the legendary Mark Twain fill the bill of Centenary Stage Company's ninth GREAT AUTHORS ALOUD presentation for this free staged reading event on Sunday, September 7th at 3 pm in The Edith Kutz Theater.

The New York Innovative Theatre Awards, the organization dedicated to celebrating Off-Off-Broadway, has announced 2014 recipients of the 2014 Honorary Awards.

The 'Alley Theatre @ UH' season begins with Betty Buckley, Hallie Foote, Annalee Jefferies and Veanne Cox in award-winning Texas playwright Horton Foote's The Old Friends, a Southwestern premiere.

DNAWORKS, in collaboration with Teatro Paraguas, will present the world premiere of 'Cascarones' by Irma Mayorga at Teatro Paraguas opening September 4, 2014 and running for 8 performances. Developed at the O'Neill Playwrights conference at the Eugene O'Neill Center in 2003, 'Cascarones' is directed by DNAWORKS co-founder Daniel Banks.

San Francisco Opera presents the Company premiere of Carlisle Floyd's two-act opera Susannah September 6 at the War Memorial Opera House. Soprano Patricia Racette returns to San Francisco Opera in her role debut as the innocent, strong-willed and falsely accused young woman Susannah Polk.

The September broadcasts of The New York Philharmonic This Week - the weekly radio series of concerts and recordings by the New York Philharmonic, hosted by Alec Baldwin - begins with Music Director Alan Gilbert launching the Philharmonic's 2014 Bravo! Vail residency with Nielsen's Maskarade Overture; Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3, with the 2013-14 Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence Yefim Bronfman as soloist; selections from Grieg's Peer Gynt; and Liszt's Les Preludes. The second week, Alan Gilbert conducts the Orchestra in a performance of R. Strauss's Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks; The Marie-Josee Kravis Composer-in-Residence Christopher Rouse's Oboe Concerto, with Principal Oboe Liang Wang as soloist; and Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet, Overture-Fantasy. The following week, Bramwell Tovey conducts the New York Philharmonic at Bravo! Vail in Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man; Gershwin's "Strike Up the Band" from Strike Up the Band; Copland's Clarinet Concerto, with Associate Principal Clarinet Mark Nuccio as soloist; and Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite. In the final week of September, Music Director Alan Gilbert conducts the New York Philharmonic in a program of Mozart's final three symphonies - Nos. 39, 40, and 41, Jupiter -recorded in November 2013.

Sheldon Best, Sun Mee Chomet, Lizan Mitchell, Chris Myers and Taliyah Whitaker will comprise the cast of the upcoming LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater New York premiere production of brownsville song (b-side for tray), a new play by Kimber Lee. The production, to be directed by Patricia McGregor, will begin performances Saturday, October 4, running for six weeks only through Sunday, November 16 at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65 Street). Opening night is Monday, October 20.