O'Neill News

be mean to me, a new play by Sofya Levitsky-Weitz, will make it's premiere at the IATI Theatre and run April 18th-April 27th. This production is directed by Sarah Blush.

 BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) is proud to announce that film composer and celebrated jazz musician Terence Blanchard will be named a BMI Icon at the 35th annual BMI Film, TV & Visual Media Awards in recognition of his significant contributions to the cinematic community.  The ceremony will also honor award-winning composer, arranger, orchestrator and conductor William Ross with the BMI Classic Contribution Award, and salute the top performing composers in film, TV and visual media of the past year. Hosted by BMI President and CEO Mike O'Neill and BMI Vice President Creative - Film, TV & Visual Media Doreen Ringer-Ross, the private event will be held on Wednesday, May 15 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA.

"Lysistrata" tells the story of the legendary Athenian, Lysistrata, who calls upon the women of Greece to help put an end to the Peloponnesian War. In order to do so, all women must refuse to have sex with their husbands until they agree to peace in Greece. Inspired by Aristophanes and adapted by Ellen McLaughlin, "Lysistrata" is directed by award-winning actor/director Rufus Bonds Jr., and runs from April 12-May 5, 2019 in the Hallberg Theatre on campus.

BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) was thrilled to celebrate legendary singer/songwriter Paul Anka at the 71st Annual BMI/NAB Dinner held last night at the Wynn Encore in Las Vegas. Anka was honored with the BMI Board of Directors Award for his immense impact on contemporary music.

CHERNOBYL dramatizes the 1986 nuclear accident, one of the worst human-made catastrophes in history, and tells the story of the brave men and women who made incredible sacrifices to save Europe from unimaginable disaster, all the while battling a culture of disinformation.

Atlantic Theater Company announces casting for the New York premiere production of Nomad Motel, written by Carla Ching (Fast Company, Atlantic/Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation commissionee) and directed by Ed Sylvanus Iskandar (The Mysteries).

Full cast and crew have been announced for Pride Films and Plays season closer - the world premiere of DESIRE IN A TINIER HOUSE by the Chicago playwright Ryan Oliveira, a 2016 Romulus Linney Scholar and Eugene O'Neill Theatre Conference semi-finalist. The production, which had a workshop by Chicago's Commission Theatre in 2017, will be directed by Pride Films and Plays Artistic Associate Topher Leon, who made the casting announcement today.

Pasadena Playhouse, State Theatre of California, continues their exciting partnerships with Caltech Theatre and the USC School of Dramatic Arts this Spring, with MACH 33: The Caltech|Pasadena Playhouse Festival of New Science Driven Plays, presented by Caltech Theater and Pasadena Playhouse May 9 -11 and the New Works Festival Year 3 May 17-18, presented by USC School of Dramatic Arts and hosted by Pasadena Playhouse. These plays are part of Playhouse community programming. Danny Feldman is the Producing Artistic Director of Pasadena Playhouse.

Former Royal Ballet Principal Ivan Putrov has been curating regular galas in London in recent years with hit and miss results. 2017's Men in Motion fell into the latter category however, returning now with Against the Stream, the result is an engaging evening of dance from some of ballet's most starry names.

Everything is Illuminated, a play based on the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, goes onstage at the New Vic in a production by Ensemble Theatre Company beginning April 10th. The story takes the audience on a journey with Jonathan (Jeremy Kahn), an American searching the Ukraine for the woman who may have saved his Jewish grandfather's life during the Holocaust.

Hartford Stage announced today the last two plays of the 56th season. Incoming Hartford Stage Artistic Director Melia Bensussenwill stage the Eugene O'Neill coming-of-age comedy Ah, Wilderness! It will be Bensussen's first production as Artistic Director at Hartford Stage. Former Hartford Stage Artistic Director Michael Wilson will return to direct the original play that inspired the Oscar-winning film The King's Speech, written by its Oscar-winning screenwriter David Seidler.

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will present the grand opening of its new exhibition It's Always Pandemonium: The Puppets of Bart Roccoberton, on Saturday, April 27, 2019, with refreshments at noon followed by a free tour of the new exhibition at 12:30 p.m. All events will take place at the Ballard Institute, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs. The exhibition will be on display through Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019.

The Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre busts loose with an evocative new adaptation of "The Shawshank Redemption. Audiences cannot escape being drawn in by this beloved tale and the strong ensemble that director Bob Paisley has brought to the Warwick Theatre stage. The Shawshank Redemption performs at the Warwick Theatre on Main Street in Kansas City, MO from April 4-21, 2019 Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre is located at 3927 Main St, Kansas City, MO 64111. There is ample parking behind the building. For tickets, call 816-569-3226. Visit www.metkc.org for more information or to purchase tickets online.

Portland favorites Gretchen Corbett and Sharonlee McLean take the stage beginning May 4 to star in David Hare's The Breath of Life, a two-woman play The Daily Telegraph called "bitingly funny." When Francis Beale (McLean) decides she wants one last word with her ex-husband's ex-lover (Corbett), both women are forced to confront their past, their failed relationships, dashed ideals and the lens through which they choose to view their futures. Ken Rus Schmoll (readings in six of the last ten JAW Festivals at The Armory, productions at Playwrights Horizons and New York Theatre Workshop) will direct.

Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts is pleased to announce Title Wave at Bay Street: The 6th Annual New Works Festival, May 3 - 5. All readings are free, but tickets are required, as these events typically sell out. Tickets are available now at baystreet.org or by calling the Bay Street Theater Box Office at 631-725-9500, open Tuesday through Saturday 11 am to 5 pm, or until show time.

Writers Theatre, under the leadership of Artistic Director Michael Halberstam and Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma, continues its 2018/19 season with A Number, written by Caryl Churchill and directed by Robin Witt. A Number runs March 20 - June 9, 2019 in The Gillian Theatre at 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe. The Press Opening is Wednesday, March 27 at 7:30 p.m.

Florida Studio Theatre announces that, in association with the National New Play Network (NNPN), it will produce and host the NNPN Women in Playwriting Festival this spring. Part of FST's Sarasota Festival of New Plays, this three-week Festival will take place throughout April and May, with staged readings of the featured plays in FST's Keating Theatre on April 26, May 3, and May 10, and in FST's Bowne's Lab Theatre on April 24.

The UC San Diego Department of Theatre and Dance presents a university production of EVERYBODY BLACK, by Dave Harris and directed by Steve Broadnax.

Due to high demand, The Factory Theater is adding an additional performance Thursday, March 21 at 8 p.m. of the Jeff Recommended and critically acclaimed production of May the Road Rise Up.