Rachel Chavkin News

Producers Nelle Nugent, Steve Traxler, Kenneth Teaton, Benjamin Feldman, Doug Morris and Spencer Ross today announce full casting for the first Broadway revival of David Henry Hwang's Tony Award®-winning play, M. BUTTERFLY, directed by Tony Award® winner Julie Taymor.

Okieriete 'Oak' Onaodowan plays his final performance as Pierre in Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 today, and in light of the tragic events taking place in Charlottesville, Virginia, he has dedicated his final performance to Heather Heyer who was killed when a car drove through the crowd.

By day, one of the most respected stage directors, actors, writers, and impresarios in Europe; by night, a cabaret chanteuse expunging life's pain and love's agony-this unusual artistic double identity comes together when the director of Festival d'Avignon Olivier Py makes a rare US stage appearance in Olivier Py Sings Les Premiers Adieux de Miss Knife.

HERE proudly announces its 2017-2018 producing season, marking the 25th Anniversary of this award-winning, boundary-stretching institution.  The 2017-2018 HERE lineup features three HERE Resident Artist world premieres; the world premiere of a HERE Artistic Director production by Kristin Marting; innovative works from the Dream Music Puppetry Program including a revival of Symphonie Fantastique by Basil Twist, internationally acclaimed artist and Artistic Director of HERE's Dream Music Puppetry Program; the sixth annual PROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/Now festival, and HERE's yearly CULTUREMART festival, where HERE serves up a first look at new work in process from artists in the HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP).  The multidisciplinary productions in HERE's milestone 2017-2018 season represent the culmination of commissions and developmental residencies of up to three years in the HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP) and/or the Dream Music Puppetry Program.  

Asshole is a bracing new play by Justin Kuritzkes about a doctor who works for the government and is obsessed with the smell of his own asshole. He has a patient whom he can't seem to get out of his mind. In fact, he finds her continued presence to be a little...disturbing. Directed and designed by Knud Adams, this world premiere features Polly Lee and Ikechukwu Ufomadu. 

This just in - NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 will play its final performance on Broadway Sunday, September 3rd at the Imperial Theatre.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) Artistic Director Carey Perloff announced today that single tickets for A.C.T.'s 2017-18 subscription season are now available. Filled with vital, brave, and imaginative storytelling that unites vigorous, highly theatrical works with a stunning gathering of contemporary artists, A.C.T.'s 2017-18 season features William Shakespeare's Hamlet, starring Obie Award winner and 2017 Tony Award nominee John Douglas Thompson in the title role, joined by stage and screen star Carl Lumbly; Bess Wohl's critically acclaimed comedy Small Mouth Sounds; Harold Pinter's classic drama The Birthday Party; Qui Nguyen's irreverent new comedy Vietgone; Simon Stephens's new hit play Heisenberg; and Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks's Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), an epic, music-infused take on the Odyssey set against the backdrop of the Civil War. Closing out the 2017-18 season will be the world-premiere musical A Walk on the Moon, based on the 1999 movie of the same name. Single tickets for all shows start at $15 and are available now by calling the A.C.T. Box Office at 415.749.2228 or online at www.act-sf.org.

Brittain Ashford took to social media to confirm she will be returning to GREAT COMET following Ingrid Michaelson's departure from the production. Rumors have been circulating about the fate of the show following the controversy of replacing Okieriete Onaodowan with Mandy Patinkin - who withdrew from the production following the outcry.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) has announced casting for the first show of the 2017/18 NYTW season, MARY JANE, written by NYTW Usual Suspect and Pulitzer Prize Finalist Amy Herzog (4000 Miles, Belleville) and directed by two-time Obie Award winner Anne Kauffman (Sundown, Yellow Moon; A Life).

Long Wharf Theatre and Eva Price will present the opening of the 2017-2018 National Tour of the Obie Award-winning Small Mouth Sounds, by Bess Wohl, directed by Tony-nominee Rachel Chavkin (Natasha Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812).

So what happened to Oak? Producer Howard Kagan explains: 'This continues our show's remarkable history of having great actors and singers see the show as audience members, only to tell us they are inspired to join the cast! Whenever possible we will accommodate them as we did here with Mandy and his Homeland TV schedule. Oak, who was scheduled to appear as Pierre for this period graciously agreed to make room for Mandy, and we sincerely hope that Oak will return to us in the fall or winter. He is a terrific Pierre.'

Tony and Emmy Award winner Mandy Patinkin will make his long-awaited return to Broadway in NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812, starring as 'Pierre' from August 15 - September 3 only.

Sehnsucht unpacks the longing we can feel for another time and place, whether real or imagined.

Below, watch as The Great Comet ensemble member Ashley Perez Flanagan performs 'Sonya Alone'!

Having recently joined ACE's National Portfolio, Independent theatre studio China Plate are set to bring a collection of four shows and readings to the 70th Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

The Public Theater will kick off the 2017-18 season in September with a free Public Works musical adaptation of William Shakespeare's As You Like It, adapted by Shaina Taub and Laurie Woolery, with music and lyrics by Shaina Taub, and the company has just been announced!

WaxFactory presents a work-in-progress showing of PUT YOURSELF TOGETHER!, a modern, media-enhanced riff on Anton Chekhov's classic The Seagull.

The world of a charming songwriter is on the rocks in Daniel Zaitchik's contemporary new musical Darling Grenadine.

Songwriter/performer Shaina Taub sets up camp this year at Joe's Pub with her monthly concert residency.

The Imperial is no stranger to accomplished musicians, but it's no doubt that GREAT COMET has brought a whole new level of musical genius to the stage. The latest in a long line of artistic shenanigans is a cover of the epic Game of Thrones theme song to celebrate the show's return tonight. Check out the video below!