Portia News

Minnetonka Theatre will be celebrating this holiday season with Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical classic, The Sound of Music. Timeless songs including 'My Favorite Things', 'Do-Re-Mi', and 'Edelweiss' will enchant audiences on the Arts Center on 7 Main Stage December 9-18.

A Shakespearean mash-up of comic proportions! Playwright Aden Ross (2006's sold-out run of AMERIKA) has thrown tidbits of MACBETH, TWELFTH NIGHT, OTHELLO, HAMLET, KING LEAR and THE MERCHANT OF VENICE into a theatrical blender. Lady Macbeth and her sister, Queen Gertrude of Denmark, have both been widowed recently under suspicious circumstances.

Tweiss Productions will present the revival of Hell's Belles, a satirical musical comedy featuring famous women in Hell.

In SEMINAR, four aspiring young novelists (Ms. Rabe, Mr. Linklater, Mr. O'Connell and Ms. Park) sign up for private writing classes with Leonard (Mr. Rickman), an international literary figure. Under his recklessly brilliant and unorthodox instruction, some thrive and others flounder, alliances are made and broken, sex is used as a weapon and hearts are unmoored. The wordplay is not the only thing that turns vicious as innocence collides with experience in this biting new comedy. Previews will begin on Thursday, October 27, 2011 at The Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street) with an Opening Night set for Sunday, November 20 at 6:30 PM. EW.com featured a behind the scenes look at the cast's recent photoshoot. Click here to check it out!

Red Branch Theatre Company, the professional theatre company in residence at Drama Learning Center opens their final show of the season, Once On This Island. Performances will be October 14-29.

Steppenwolf for Young Adults launches its 2011/12 season with The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter adapted by Rebecca Gilman, based on the novel by Carson McCullers and directed by Hallie Gordon, playing October 11 - November 4, 2011 in Steppenwolf's Upstairs Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St. The production features ensemble member Alan Wilder with Jessica Honor Carleton, Derrick C. Cooper, Walter Coppage, Ann Joseph, Loren Lazerine, Colm O'Reilly, Jay Reed, Robert Schleifer and Nick Vidal. Weekday matinees (Tuesdays through Fridays) are reserved for school groups only, with weekend (Saturday and Sunday) performances available to the public. Single tickets and tickets for school groups are currently on sale.

Ars Nova (Jason Eagan, Artistic Director; Jeremy Blocker, Managing Director) announces the lineup for ANT Fest 2011.

In William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, the men and women of Rome are torn: relinquish the freedoms of the Republic by making Caesar King, or assassinate Caesar and keep Rome free?

Theater for the New City (Crystal Field, Artistic Director) has announced that it will present Too Much Too Soon, an evening of short plays by Nikole Beckwith, Dean Imperial, Nick Jones, Melissa Ross, Emily Schwend, and Ken Urban, beginning Thursday, September 29 and running through Sunday, October 9 at Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue, between 9 and 10 Streets.

Don't miss the opening of our 20011-2012 Main Stage season with CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF.

Complete casting has just been announced for two-time Tony Award nominee, Emmy Award and Golden Globe winner Alan Rickman (Private Lives, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, the Harry Potter franchise) making his eagerly-anticipated return to Broadway starring in the World Premiere of SEMINAR, a new play by Pulitzer Prize finalist and Peabody Award winner Theresa Rebeck (Mauritius, The Understudy, Omnium Gatherum, The Family of Mann, Spike Heels, NBC's upcoming TV series 'Smash'). The production is directed by acclaimed Obie Award winner Sam Gold (Circle Mirror Transformation, The Aliens, Kin, The Coward) in his Broadway debut.

Tickets go on sale to the general public beginning tonight, Friday, September 16 at midnight for two-time Tony Award nominee, Emmy Award and Golden Globe winner Alan Rickman (Private Lives, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, the Harry Potter franchise) making his eagerly-anticipated return to Broadway starring in the World Premiere of SEMINAR, a new comedy by Pulitzer Prize finalist and Peabody Award winner Theresa Rebeck (Mauritius, The Understudy, Omnium Gatherum, The Family of Mann, Spike Heels, NBC's upcoming 'Smash'). Directed by acclaimed Obie Award winner Sam Gold (Circle Mirror Transformation, The Aliens, Tigers Be Still, Kin, The Coward) in his Broadway debut, the production will also star Tony Award nominee Lily Rabe (The Merchant of Venice, Steel Magnolias, this summer's lauded A Doll's House at Williamstown) and Obie Award winner Hamish Linklater (The School for Lies, Twelfth Night, 'The New Adventures of Old Christine').

Steppenwolf for Young Adults launches its 2011/12 season with The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter adapted by Rebecca Gilman, based on the novel by Carson McCullers and directed by Hallie Gordon, playing October 11 - November 4, 2011 in Steppenwolf's Upstairs Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St. The production features ensemble member Alan Wilder with Jessica Honor Carleton, Derrick C. Cooper, Walter Coppage, Ann Joseph, Loren Lazerine, Colm O'Reilly, Jay Reed, Robert Schleifer and Nick Vidal. Weekday matinees (Tuesdays through Fridays) are reserved for school groups only, with weekend (Saturday and Sunday) performances available to the public. Single tickets and tickets for school groups are currently on sale.

Red Branch Theatre Company, the professional theatre company in residence at Drama Learning Center has announced its next production.

Tweiss Productions will present the revival of Hell's Belles, a satirical musical comedy featuring famous women in Hell.

In her smart comedy The Book Club Play, D.C.-area playwright Karen Zacarías examines the intricacies of book clubs, with their unspoken rules, high-spirited debates and strong bonds formed when least expected. With an ensemble cast featuring Fred Arsenault, Ashlie Atkinson, Rachael Holmes, Eric Messner, Kate Eastwood Norris and Tom Story, this is Zacarías' second collaboration with Director Molly Smith at Arena Stage and is the first work of a Resident Playwright to be produced as part of their three-year residencies through the American Voices New Play Institute. The Book Club Play runs October 7-November 6, 2011 in the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle.

Producers Jeffrey Finn, Jill Furman, John N. Hart Jr., Patrick Milling Smith and Roy Furman have announced the on-sale Ticketing schedule for two-time Tony Award nominee, Emmy Award and Golden Globe winner Alan Rickman (Private Lives, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, the Harry Potter franchise) making his eagerly-anticipated return to Broadway starring in the World Premiere of SEMINAR, a new comedy by Pulitzer Prize finalist and Peabody Award winner Theresa Rebeck (Mauritius, The Understudy, Omnium Gatherum, The Family of Mann, Spike Heels, NBC's upcoming 'Smash'). Directed by acclaimed Obie Award winner Sam Gold (Circle Mirror Transformation, The Aliens, Tigers Be Still, Kin, The Coward) in his Broadway debut, the production will also star Tony Award nominee Lily Rabe (The Merchant of Venice, Steel Magnolias, this summer's lauded A Doll's House at Williamstown) and Obie Award winner Hamish Linklater (The School for Lies, Twelfth Night, 'The New Adventures of Old Christine'). SEMINAR will begin previews on Thursday, October 27, 2011 at The Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street) with an Opening Night set for Sunday, November 20 at 6:30 PM.

The Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh runs 20 July - 3 September at the Main House

Quintessence Theatre Group launches its second season with two classic comedies: Carlo Goldoni's THE VENETIAN TWINS, in a translation by Ranjit Bolt, and William Shakespeare's THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, to be presented in repertory and directed by Alexander Burns.

Steppenwolf for Young Adults launches its 2011/12 season with The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter adapted by Rebecca Gilman, based on the novel by Carson McCullers and directed by Hallie Gordon, playing October 11 - November 4, 2011 in Steppenwolf's Upstairs Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St. The production features ensemble member Alan Wilder with Jessica Honor Carleton, Derrick C. Cooper, Walter Coppage, Ann Joseph, Loren Lazerine, Colm O'Reilly, Jay Reed, Robert Schleifer and Nick Vidal. Weekday matinees (Tuesdays through Fridays) are reserved for school groups only, with weekend (Saturday and Sunday) performances available to the public. Single tickets and tickets for school groups are currently on sale.