Next Theatre Company News

Following its hit production of MACHINAL, Greenhouse Theater Center will continue its 2017-18 season with the return of Laurence Leamer's critically acclaimed drama ROSE.

Following its hit production of MACHINAL, Greenhouse Theater Center is pleased to continue its 2017-18 season with the return of best-selling author Laurence Leamer's critically acclaimed drama ROSE. After a sold-out run during last season's Solo Celebration! Series, celebrated Chicago actress Linda Reiter reprises her Joseph Jefferson nominated performance as matriarch Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy in this intimate piece directed by Steve Scott. ROSE will play January 12 March 11, 2018 at the Greenhouse Theater Center (Downstairs Main Stage), 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago. Single tickets go on sale Monday, November 13, 2017 at greenhousetheater.org, in person at the box office or by calling (773) 404-7336. Season Flex passes are also available. The press opening is Monday, January 15, 2018 at 7:30 pm.

Lookingglass Theatre Company opens its 30th Anniversary Season with the return of the award-winning, circus-infused Hard Times, adapted and directed by Artistic Director and Ensemble Member Heidi Stillman from the book by Charles Dickens and in association with The Actors Gymnasium.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) presents the first show of the 2017/18 NYTW season, Mary Jane, written by NYTW Usual Suspect and Pulitzer Prize Finalist Amy Herzog (4000 Miles, Belleville) and directed by two-time Obie Award winner Anne Kauffman (Sundown, Yellow Moon; A Life).

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) has announced casting for the first show of the 2017/18 NYTW season, MARY JANE, written by NYTW Usual Suspect and Pulitzer Prize Finalist Amy Herzog (4000 Miles, Belleville) and directed by two-time Obie Award winner Anne Kauffman (Sundown, Yellow Moon; A Life).

Peninsula Players Theatre, America's Oldest Professional Resident Summer Theatre and Door County's theatrical icon, announces artistic company members for its 82nd season, running June 13 through October 15, 2017. 

The Greenhouse Theater Center is pleased to announce its 2017-18 Season, kicking off this summer with Artistic Director Jacob Harvey and Elizabeth Margolius' bold reimagining of Sophie Treadwell's most celebrated play MACHINAL, inspired by the first woman to be executed by the electric chair. 

The Geffen Playhouse today announced that Jerry MacKinnon (Sleepy Hallow) and Samantha Ressler (This is the End) will star in award-winning playwright Anna Ziegler's Actually, a co-world premiere with the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Tyne Rafaeli will direct the Geffen's production which runs May 2, 2017 through June 11, 2017 in the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at the Geffen Playhouse. Opening night is May 10, 2017. 

Writers Theatre, under the leadership of Artistic Director Michael Halberstam and Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma, continues its 2016/17 season with The Mystery of Love & Sex written by Bathsheba Doran and directed by Marti Lyons. The production runs April 5 - July 2, 2017 in The Gillian Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe. The Press Opening is Wednesday, April 12, 2017 at 7:30 p.m.

The cast and creative team is complete for Objects in the Mirror, a Goodman Theatre-commissioned world premiere by Charles Smith. Directed by Resident Director Chuck Smith, Objects in the Mirror is inspired by the playwright's real-life friendship with a Liberian refugee-turned-actor, Shedrick Yarkpai-portrayed by Daniel Kyri, in his Goodman debut. The production was developed through the 2015 New Stages festival and features a 5-member cast who brings to life the gripping account of one Liberian refugee's attempts to find peace by exposing a potentially dangerous lifelong secret. Objects in the Mirror appears April 29 through June 4 (opening night is May 8) in the Albert Theatre. Tickets ($20-$75; subject to change) are now on sale and available at GoodmanTheatre.org/Objects, the box office (170 N. Dearborn) or by phone at 312.443.3800.

The Old Globe today announced it will present the fourth annual New Voices Festival-with a new moniker: the Powers New Voices Festival, a weekend of readings of new American plays by professional playwrights, playing January 13 - 15, 2017.

Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls announced today that his longtime creative collaborator, Artistic Associate and Producer Steve Scott, will direct the theater's production of Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness! this spring. Scott assumes this responsibility from Falls, who was originally announced as the production's director.

The Old Globe today announced it will present the fourth annual New Voices Festival-with a new moniker: the Powers New Voices Festival, a weekend of readings of new American plays by professional playwrights, playing January 13 - 15, 2017.

Rehearsals are underway for the Steppenwolf-commissioned world premiere production of Erika Sheffer's The Fundamentals, directed by ensemble member Yasen Peyankov, who also directed Sheffer's Russian Transport at Steppenwolf in 2014.

Rehearsals are underway for the Steppenwolf-commissioned world premiere production of Erika Sheffer's The Fundamentals, directed by ensemble member Yasen Peyankov, who also directed Sheffer's Russian Transport at Steppenwolf in 2014.

Eclipse Theatre Company announces its Eighth Annual Corona Award, to be presented to Joseph Drummond, Goodman Theatre Production Stage Manager. The Corona Award honors an individual who has played an important role in supporting and nurturing the growth of the Chicago theater community as well as small- to medium-sized ensembles such as Eclipse Theatre. The Corona Award derives its name from the Latin word, meaning crown, as well as outer atmosphere of the sun most easily seen during a total eclipse.

Following the critically acclaimed opening of the UK premiere of the hit Off Broadway musical Adding Machine: A Musical, composed by Joshua Schmidt, with libretto by Jason Loewith and Joshua Schmidt, and based on the classic play by Elmer Rice, two further matinee performances have been added to the sell-out run - on 12 and 19 November at 3pm. Josh Seymour directs Joseph Alessi (Mr Zero), Kate Milner-Evans (Mrs Zero), Joanna Kirkland (Daisy Dorothea Devore) and Edd Campbell Bird (Shrdlu), with James Dinsmore (Mr One and as cast), Helen Walsh (Mrs One and as cast), George Rae (Mr Two and as cast), and Sue Appleby (Mrs Two and as cast).

Rehearsals are underway for the Steppenwolf-commissioned world premiere production of Erika Sheffer's The Fundamentals, directed by ensemble member Yasen Peyankov, who also directed Sheffer's Russian Transport at Steppenwolf in 2014.

One could say that the Machine chose me first, then I chose it. Adapting Elmer Rice's 1923 expressionist juggernaut was the long-time dream of librettist Jason Loewith. Apparently he had approached other composers with the project to no avail. When he finally inquired as to my interest in the project in January of 2004, I was working as a sound designer on a show he was producing at the Next Theatre Company in Evanston, Illinois, where he served as Artistic Director. Up to that point, I had never written a musical, nor did envision myself writing one and I had never read, seen or even heard of Elmer Rice's The Adding Machine.

On Monday, September 26, 2016 at 7:30pm, Works & Process at the Guggenheim presents a discussion with the creators and excerpts of Steppenwolf Theatre Company's The Fundamentals by Erika Sheffer prior to the play's world premiere on November 10.