Royal Shakespeare Company News

Sir Patrick Stewart, Peabody Award-winning star of stage and screen, Shakespeare plays and science-fiction blockbusters, will be the host of the 71st Annual George Foster Peabody Awards ceremony tonight, May 21, at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City.

Tickets go on sale today, Friday 18 May, for award-winning children's author Michael Morpurgo's Private Peaceful which plays for a strictly limited 16 performances only at the Theatre Royal Haymarket from 18 - 29 September 2012. Directed and adapted for the stage by Simon Reade, Private Peaceful has designs by Bill Talbot and sound by Jason Barnes. Casting will be announced shortly. The National Theatre's One Man, Two Guvnors will continue its run at the Haymarket from 1 October after this two-week break.

Today, May 17 Cake Productions, one of the most cutting-edge-aware theatre companies in the country, will present the New York Premiere of Tiffany Antone's prophetic wake-up call, "IN THE COMPANY OF JANE DOE," a new play about a woman who gets herself cloned then wants a Do-Over. There are men in the play. One of them causes all the trouble.

Jeremy Herrin directs the World Premiere of Matthew Dunster's Children's Children running at the Almeida from tonight, 17 May - 30 June 2012. Designs are by Robert Innes Hopkins with lighting by Neil Austin and sound by Ian Dickinson.

The legendary stage musical CARRIE will soon be available for licensing from R&H Theatricals, and its score will be published by Imagem Music, each a division of the Imagem Music Group. Based on Stephen King's best-selling novel, CARRIE features music by Academy Award winner Michael Gore (Fame, Terms of Endearment), lyrics by Academy Award winner Dean Pitchford (Fame, Footloose), and a book by Lawrence D. Cohen (screenwriter of the classic film).

Some Like It Hot meets Twelfth Night in Ken Ludwig's delightful madcap comedy, Leading Ladies. Richard Israel directs a four-week run, June 8 through July 1, at International City Theatre in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center. Low-priced previews take place on Tuesday, June 5; Wednesday, June 6; and Thursday, June 7.

To coincide with the 20th anniversary celebrations for the Halifax-based Northern Broadsides Theatre Company, the renowned Dean Clough Galleries has devoted its premiere exhibition space to a large-scale photography show by the highly acclaimed photographer Nobby Clark. 'Northern Broadsides - 20 years- photography by Nobby Clark' will run in Dean Clough's Crossley gallery from 26 May-16 September.

This summer, one of the greatest family musicals of all time is touching down in Grand Bend. The Huron Country Playhouse presents The Wizard of Oz for a limited three-week engagement, June 4th though June 23rd.

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, The Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical, which won big at this year's Olivier Awards, will open in New York early 2013. Matilda The Musical premiered at The Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, home of the RSC, playing to sold-out audiences for twelve weeks from November 2010 to January 2011.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) is currently presenting, William Shakespeare's rarely produced Timon of Athens, directed by CST Artistic Director Barbara Gaines and featuring Tony Award winner Ian McDiarmid in the title role. Performed in CST's Courtyard Theater from through June 10, 2012, Gaines' production also features Sean Fortunato as Flavius, James Newcomb as Apemantus and Danforth Comins as Alcibiades. Performances began April 24, 2012. Production highlights have been released and BroadwayWorld brings you a look below!

Paul Gross, one of Canada's acclaimed actors, leads the cast of Are You There, McPhee? a world premiere by John Guare at McCarter Theatre Center. Directed by Sam Buntrock, the production runs now through June 3, 2012.

The Old Globe today announced the complete cast and creative team for the 2012 Shakespeare Festival, performed in repertory in the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre.

Artistic Directors Steve Marmion and Max Roberts today announce the full cast for their joint new writing project UTOPIA, which is making its world premiere at Live Theatre on Thursday 31 May, before transferring to Soho Theatre on Wednesday 20 June, with opening night on Thursday 21 June. UTOPIA will star: Tobi Bakare (Greenland National Theatre; Crawling In The Dark Almeida Theatre and Gone Too Far, Royal Court Theatre); Laura Elphinstone (Top Girls, Chichester Festival Theatre/Trafalgar Studios; A Month in the Country, Chichester Festival Theatre and the film adaptation of The History Boys); Rufus Hound making his theatre debut, is most well-known for his regular team captainship on Argumental, Celebrity Juice, 8 Out of 10 Cats and Never Mind The Buzzc*cks; Pamela Miles (Darker Shores, Hampstead Theatre; Pygmalion, Theatre Royal Bath/Old Vic London and Lone Star Mark Three, Salisbury Playhouse); also making her stage debut Sophia Myles who is most well-known for her leading roles in film and TV including Tristan and Isolde and Spooks and David Whitaker one of the founders of Live Theatre, Newcastle, his theatre credits include The Pitmen Painters (Live Theatre/National Theatre/Broadway and West End) plus extensive credits for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Donmar Warehouse.

Due to popular demand, FREUD'S LAST SESSION at the Mercury Theater (3745 N. Southport, Chicago), will now run through July 15th with a new Chicago cast, including local theater legend, Mike Nussbaum (Emmy, Drama Desk Award and four-time Jeff Award winner) as "Sigmund Freud" and Coburn Goss (Vigils at the Goodman Theatre, Dead Man's Cell Phone at Steppenwolf Theatre Companyand Off Broadway When the Messenger is Hot at 59E59) as "C.S. Lewis". See below for production photos of Nussbaum and Goss in action!

Today in 1982, Macbeth opened at the Circle in the Square Theatre, where it ran for 21 performances. Written by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. The earliest account of a performance of what was probably Shakespeare's play is April 1611, when Simon Forman recorded seeing such a play at the Globe Theatre.

Acclaimed Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) Artistic Director Michael Boyd will receive the Samuel H. Scripps Award at Theatre for a New Audience's Spring Gala Celebrating Shakespeare's 448th Birthday. The celebration, tonight, May 7, is at the Powerhouse at the American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street.

On Thursday, May 17 Cake Productions, one of the most cutting-edge-aware theatre companies in the country, will present the New York Premiere of Tiffany Antone's prophetic wake-up call, "IN THE COMPANY OF JANE DOE," a new play about a woman who gets herself cloned then wants a Do-Over. There are men in the play. One of them causes all the trouble.

Youth Music Theatre UK's residential Summer Skills courses are back for 2012. Theatre fans between the ages of 11 and 21 are invited to discover their potential, meet like-minded friends and earn a grade 6 certificate in musical theatre from the prestigious Trinity Guildhall. All skills courses are fully residential with accommodation and rehearsal space located in some of the country's best universities and boarding schools.

The Riot Group presents the World Premiere of Sophie Gets the Horns, written by Adriano Shaplin (Edinburgh Fringe First Award winner) and directed by Rebecca Wright. Sophie Gets the Horns runs from May 4 - 20, 2012 in a limited engagement at the Incubator Arts Project, located at 131 East 10th Street at 2nd Avenue in New York City. Previews begin tonight, May 4 for a May 5 opening. See photos from the production below!

Piece by Piece productions, Rising Phoenix Repertory, and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater have announced that the world premiere of 3C, written by David Adjmi and directed by Jackson Gay, will begin performances Wednesday, June 6 at 7pm at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 224 Waverly Place. The opening night is set for Thursday, June 21 at 7pm.