Portia News

DISTRICT MERCHANTS, Aaron Posner's new adaptation of Shakespeare's THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, explores the 'other-ness' of being outside the white male stations of power. Setting the work in post-Civil War Washington, D.C., the premiere takes a uniquely American look at race, religion, class and gender. DISTRICT MERCHANTS at the Folger Theatre is an important and compelling work that deftly balances humor among weightier, thought-provoking moments.

The West End production of Motown the Musical has proven its popularity in London.

The new SOMETHING ROTTEN! star gets to the Bottom of a song honoring the 2016 nominees.

Actor's Express announces its 29th Season including two Tony Award winners and three Atlanta premieres. The season opens July 30 with a modern take on Stephen Sondheim's game-changing musical Company directed by Actor's Express Artistic Director Freddie Ashley (Sweeney Todd, Rent). In the fall, Actor's Express will produce the Atlanta premiere of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' raucous dark comedy Appropriate, a standout at the 2013 Humana Festival of New American Plays. A visceral new production of Arthur Miller's classic American drama The Crucible kicks off 2017 followed by the Atlanta premiere of The Legend of Georgia McBride by Matthew Lopez, a music-filled comedy about an Elvis impersonator turned drag queen. The season will close with the Pulitzer Prize finalist Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), Suzan-Lori Parks' epic trilogy about a slave's journey to freedom during the Civil War.

Chester Theatre Company (CTC) has announced the casting for its 2016 season opener, the World Premiere of My Jane by Producing Artistic Director Daniel Elihu Kramer. My Jane, a contemporary exploration of Charlotte Bronte?'s sweeping novel Jane Eyre, opens June 29th and plays through July 10, 2016, at Chester's historic Town Hall, 15 Middlefield Road in Chester, MA. Camila Cano?-Flavia? will be making her professional debut in the title role of Jane.

Check out BroadwayWorld's first look of District Merchants now playing at the Folger Theatre until July 3, 2016. 

Die Spielzeit 2016/2017 des Theater Pforzheim fugt sich in ein großes Jubilaum der Stadt ein - 2017 wird  feiert Pforzheim den 250. Geburtstag der Schmuck- und Uhrenindustrie. Dementsprechend stehen Sinn und Unsinn des Goldrauschs, das Funkeln und die Widerspruchen des Strebens nach Macht und Reichtum auch im Zentrum des Programms. In der Sparte Oper stehen zwei Musicalpremieren auf dem Program, SUGAR basierend auf dem Billy Wilder Film, und die deutsche Erstauffuhrung von SHYLOCK! inspiriert von Der Kaufmann Von Venedig. Aus der letzten Saison wiederaufgenommen werden WEST SIDE STORY und das TRIBUTE TO THE BLUES BROTHERS.

Allan Glaser Productions has announced the nationwide cable and digital release of TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL.

Artistic director William Wolfgang runs an ambitious schedule for a community theatre: all Shakespeare, all the time. Area theatre veterans pitch in with high school students to make a barn in Dover the most happening place in the region.

Broadway's smash hit musical comedy Something Rotten! will welcome three new principal cast members beginning Monday, July 18 as the ten-time Tony Award-nominated show enters its second year at Broadway's St. James Theatre (246 West 44th Street).

Second Stage Theatre begins the 2016 Uptown Series with the world premiere of Sofia Alvarez's FRIEND ART, opening today, Thursday, May 26 at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre.

Second Stage Theatre will begin the 2016 Uptown Series with the world premiere of Sofia Alvarez's FRIEND ART, directed by Portia Krieger. FRIEND ART will feature ZOE CHAO, AARON COSTA GANIS, ANABELLE LEMIEUX and Tony Award nominee CONSTANTINE MAROULIS (Rock of Ages, 'American Idol'). FRIEND ART will officially open on Thursday, May 26th.

The Play Company (PlayCo), led by Founding Producer Kate Loewald and Executive Producer Lauren Weigel, closes its 15th Anniversary season with the New York premiere of Caught (August 17-September 18). In this irreverent new genre-bending piece, theatre makers Christopher Chen and Lee Sunday Evans apply their playful imaginations to the work of a Chinese dissident artist. This hybrid work instigates an exploration into the nature of authority and authenticity, inviting you to navigate the labyrinthine relationships between truth and perception, illusionary art and real jeopardy.

MOTOWN is getting a new Smokey! Not only that, but the Daily Mail writes that the West End production of Motown the Musical is extending through October 2017. Obioma Ugoala will join the cast as 'Smokey Robinson' starting July 4, 2016.

Williamstown Theatre Festival has announced additional programming and casting for the 2016 summer season. Additions to this season's slate of events include the legendary Late-Night Cabaret, the always popular Fridays@3 Reading Series, and this year's Boris Sagal and Bill Foeller Fellowship Projects.

In the preview for the episode, they stated “A Lyon Will Fall” and I guess they were being literal. But, alas, we know not which one. Hakeem's wedding was anything but a celebration as Season Two comes to a close.

Second Stage Theatre will present the world premiere of Sofia Alvarez's FRIEND ART, directed by Portia Krieger, and the New York premiere of Lucy Teitler's ENGAGEMENTS as part of the company's fourteenth annual SECOND STAGE THEATRE UPTOWN SERIES this summer.

?The Blue Horse Repertory Company present an evening of comedic readings of one-act plays and monologues for women called "Leading Ladies" at the Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill. The show is directed by Flo Hayle and features Elizabeth Breslin, Lora Lee Ecobelli, Sarah Jane Fawcett, Flo Hayle. Gayle Hudson, Nancy Rothman, and Doris Seipel performing works by Christopher Durang, Jane Martin, and Charles George.

You probably know him as the vulnerable musician with big dreams in ROCK OF AGES or perhaps the the most charismatic contestant of AMERICAN IDOL's fourth season. But Constantine Maroulis is much more than just a big voice, and this spring he's out to prove it.

Ars Nova, New York's incubator for boundary-pushing theater, is pleased to announce the line-up for its 9th Annual ANT Fest, which features new work from 42 trail-blazing artists over a four-week festival, June 6-30. This celebration of new, independent live entertainment is a prime destination for an eclectic mix of brand new shows from some of the most intrepid, adventurous artists in New York City.