Nick Hern News

As the summer months heat up, so do the Columbus stages. Check out BWW's top 5 picks that the whole family can enjoy without breaking the bank this summer:

The Steppenwolf Theatre Company Ensemble has announced its newest member, playwright Bruce Norris. Among his many accomplishments, Norris is the author of The Qualms, playing July 3 - August 31 in Steppenwolf's Downstairs Theatre. Since 2000, Steppenwolf has produced seven of Norris's plays, including Clybourne Park and the world premieres of A Parallelogram, The Unmentionables, The Pain and the Itch, We All Went Down to Amsterdam, Purple Heart and The Infidel.

Bloomsbury Publishing, the UK's leading publisher of dramatic texts, is thrilled to announce that L.A. Theatre Works will be joining Drama Online with a new audio collection launching in January, 2015. The addition of 400+ audio files of recorded plays will add another dimension to the 1000+ play texts on the platform, allowing students to engage with the plays as performed as well as read.

The 2013 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has been awarded to U.K. playwright Lucy Kirkwood for her play Chimerica. In addition, a Special Commendation has been awarded to Phoebe Waller-Bridge for her debut play, Fleabag.

Michael Pennington, two-time Olivier Award nominee, an artist of international stature and one of England's greatest classical actors, will play the title role in William Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear directed by Arin Arbus. For the second production in Theatre for a New Audience's inaugural season at its first permanent home, the new Polonsky Shakespeare Center, 262 Ashland Place in Brooklyn, Mr. Pennington leads a company of 22 actors. King Lear begins previews March 14 for an opening March 27 and a run through May 4.

English Touring Theatre announced today that Alan Bennett's internationally renowned play The History Boys has been voted the Nation's Favourite Play.

English Touring Theatre announced today that Alan Bennett's internationally renowned play The History Boys has been voted the Nation's Favourite Play.

Anna Jordan is today, Friday 22 November, announced as the winner of the £16,000 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting for her play, Yen.

The cast has been announced for the winner of the Papatango New Writing Prize 2013, in partnership with the Finborough Theatre. The world premiere of UNSCORCHED by Luke Owen will be directed by Justin Audibert. Featuring designs by Georgia Lowe, lighting by Joshua Carr, and sound by Richard Hammarton.

The cast has been announced for the winner of the Papatango New Writing Prize 2013, in partnership with the Finborough Theatre. The world premiere of UNSCORCHED by Luke Owen will be directed by Justin Audibert. Featuring designs by Georgia Lowe, lighting by Joshua Carr, and sound by Richard Hammarton.

Unscorched will star Ronan Raftery (Juno and the Paycock, National Theatre; The Shawshank Redemption, West End; Fresh Meat) and John Hodgkinson (A Walk On Part, National Tour; The Seagull, National Theatre; Skyfall; Peep Show).

Kindertransport will open at the Belgrade Theatre Coventry from Wednesday 23 October and will tour the UK until April 2014.

The winner of the fifth Papatango New Writing Prize, in its third year in partnership with the Finborough Theatre, is Unscorched by first time playwright Luke Owen. It will be directed by Justin Audibert, former Resident Director at the National Theatre Studio, and will receive a four week run at the Finborough Theatre, opening on Tuesday, 29 October 2013 (Press Night: Thursday 31 October 2013 at 7.30pm).

FINBOROUGHFORUM presents EIGHT BURNING QUESTIONS ABOUT PLAYWRITING, curated by Elizabeth Kuti and Luke Holbrook.

FINBOROUGHFORUM presents EIGHT BURNING QUESTIONS ABOUT PLAYWRITING, curated by Elizabeth Kuti and Luke Holbrook.

West End Producer is the anonymous blogger and Twitter sensation whose hilarious and unfailingly accurate barbs satirising and celebrating the theatre industry have won him over 35,000 followers. And now West End Producer (WEP) has written a book, Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Acting (But Were Afraid To Ask, Dear), to be published by Nick Hern Books on 21st November 2013. [And no, his publishers don't know his real identity, either. So don't ask]

Mark Rylance directs James Earl Jones and Vanessa Redgrave in Shakespeare's timeless comedy Much Ado About Nothing opening on 19 September 2013 with previews from 7 September. Further cast includes Tim Barlow, Penelope Beaumont, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Katherine Carlton, Beth Cooke, Alan David, Michael Elwyn, Lloyd Everitt, James Garnon, Melody Grove, Trevor Laird, Leroy Osei-Bonsu, Mark Ross, Peter Wight and Danny Lee Wynter.

"Without Papatango my play FOXFINDER would still have been languishing in the depths of my hard drive." Dawn King, winner of the OffWestEnd Award for Most Promising Playwright for writing 2011 Papatango Prize winner FOXFINDER. Papatango Theatre Company in partnership with the Finborough Theatre is delighted to announce the winner of the fifth Papatango New Writing Prize.