Oscar Wilde News

Williamstown Theatre Festival Artistic Director Jenny Gersten announced the plays and artists participating in the annual Fridays @ 3 Reading Series, beginning today, July 13 at the Paresky Center on the Williams Campus. Every week, WTF presents a reading of a new play featuring Festival performers, written and directed by some of the most exciting theatre artists working today.

Williamstown Theatre Festival today opens Last of Last of the Red Hot Lovers, which began performances July 11.

Williamstown Theatre Festival Artistic Director Jenny Gersten announced today the plays and artists participating in the annual Fridays @ 3 Reading Series, beginning July 13 at the Paresky Center on the Williams Campus. Every week, WTF presents a reading of a new play featuring Festival performers, written and directed by some of the most exciting theatre artists working today.

Yee-haw! It's time to start two-steppin' and boot-scootin' in the aisles, as Signature Theatre kicks off its 2012/13 season with the Tony Award-winning musical comedy The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, beginning performances on Tuesday, August 14.

Walking Shadow Theatre Company has announced the following shows for its upcoming season.

Williamstown Theatre Festival Artistic Director Jenny Gersten announced today the full cast and creative team for A Month in the Country, the last Main Stage production of the season which will be presented from August 1 through August 19 (opening August 2). The cast began rehearsals today on the idyllic Williams College campus in preparation for their run in the Festival's 2012 season.

Glam rock icon Michael Des Barres' CD is released 'Carnaby Street' on Gonzo MultiMedia, UK, today, July 10, 2012.

Tony Award® winner Judith Ivey joins Academy Award® nominee Jessica Chastain, Academy Award® nominee and Emmy® Award winner David Strathairn and the leading man of "Downton Abbey" Dan Stevens in a new production of the unforgettable drama and Tony Award® winning play The Heiress. Written by Ruth & Augustus Goetz, The Heiress will be directed by Tony Award® nominated playwright and director Moises Kaufman. The Heiress will be produced by Paula Wagner, Roy Furman and Stephanie P. McClelland.

Williamstown Theatre Festival Artistic Director Jenny Gersten has announced a series of special events that will enhance the previously announced 2012 summer season. Additions to the Festival's 58th season include one-night-only stand-up comedy performances from Lewis Black tonight, July 9th and Susie Essman (who will also appear in the Nikos Stage production of Last of the Red Hot Lovers) on July 23rd. Also added to the schedule is a reading of Dustin Lance Black's political docudrama 8, presented in partnership with Broadway Impact as a benefit for the American Foundation for Equal Rights. The Festival's popular Late-Night Cabaret Series returns, featuring Festival stars in rarely seen performances.

Georgia Shakespeare presents its first-ever play by the great Oscar Wilde with the truly fun farce The Importance of Being Earnest, July 5 - August 3 at the Conant Performing Arts Center on the campus of Oglethorpe University. Opening Night is tonight, July 6, 2012 at 8 p.m.

Directed by Neil Armfield at the Hampstead Theatre, The Judas Kiss is a fascinating insight into Oscar Wilde's relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas. Focussing on two critical moments in Wilde's last years - the eve of his arrest and the night after his release from two years imprisonment; The Judas Kiss speculates on the consequences of his self-destructive fatalism, betrayal and love without trust. Rupert Everett and Freddie Fox will be joined by Alister Cameron, Tom Colley, Ben Hardy, Cal Macaninch and Kirsty Oswald in The Judas Kiss, David Hare's powerful portrait of the fall from grace of Oscar Wilde.

The inmates are running the asylum! Well, not really, but it might be better if that were the case, in Joe Orton's classic sex-farce-with-a-kick What the Butler Saw, beginning its run at Fort Worth's Stage West tonight, July 5. Get a first look at the production in the photos below!

Sink or Swim has announced THE CHANGE SEASON: A reparatory of David Auburn's PROOF, directed by Jessi D. Hill and Oscar Wilde's AN IDEAL HUSBAND, directed by Michael Hardart. The rotating repertory will play a four-week limited engagement at The Connelly Theater (220 East 4th Street, NYC). Performances begin tonight, July 5 and continue through Sunday, July 29. PROOF Opening Night is Tuesday, July 10 (7 p.m.). AN IDEAL HUSBAND Opening Night is Wednesday, July 11 (8 p.m.).

Williamstown Theatre Festival presents The Importance of Being Earnest at the Main Stage now playing through July 14. Check out the full production photos below.

Right from the Broadway production of Godspell, Hannah Elless joins the cast of Michael Ogborn's award winning musical Baby Case, playing the role of Adela St. John. Baby Case is directed by Jeremy Dobrish and produced by Charlie Fink, Michael Ogborn, Robert Soslow, Juliana Schauerman, Dorothy Flynn, Caroline Castagno, Glenn Gunderson, Kathy Lou Leone, Diane Santillo, and Anne Makara. Baby Case will play from July 16 - 22, 2012, at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 W 42 St). Baby Case is presented by The New York Musical Theatre Festival.

The hit of last year's Toronto Fringe Festival, THE GIANT'S GARDEN is going to try to take a bite out The Big Apple when it gets its first New York reading as part of The Puzzle: Marble's Festival of New Work on Saturday June 30th.

Williamstown Theatre Festival Artistic Director Jenny Gersten announced today the full cast and creative team for The Elephant Man, which will be presented on the Nikos Stage from July 25 through August 5 (opening July 26).

Aurora Theatre Company announces that it will add an additional four performances of its current hit production SALOMANIA, Aurora Theatre Company Artistic Director Tom Ross's first new play commission for the company, written and directed by award-winning Bay Area auteur Mark Jackson (Metamorphosis, Salome, Miss Julie).

Williamstown Theatre Festival Artistic Director Jenny Gersten has announced the opening of the first two productions of the 2012 season: The Importance of Being Earnest on the Main Stage and the World Premiere of The Blue Deep on the Nikos Stage on June 28. It is the first time in the Festival's 58-year history that two shows have opened on the same night to kick-off the season.

The day will commence with a Fourth of July Parade at 11:00am with appearances from stars of the Williamstown Theatre Festival 2012 season followed by the annual Reading of the Founding Documents at WCMA at 1:30pm. The celebration comes to a close with a performance of David Hyde Pierce's hilarious new production of The Importance of Being Earnest at 7:30pm.