Royal Shakespeare Company News

The Theatrical Management Association (TMA) has today (Thursday 27 September 2012) announced the nominations for its Theatre Awards UK 2012 with the full list of nominations now online at www.tmauk.org

Simon Chandler (Bernard/Terence), Rachel Finnegan (Halina/Betty/Margaret), Natasha Gordon (Connie), Ryan Kiggell (Charles), Ferdinand Kingsley (Casmir/Henry), Charlotte Lucas (Ellen), and Eugene O'Hare (Pierre) join the previously announced Adrian Lester (Ira Aldridge) to complete the cast for Red Velvet. Written by Lolita Chakrabarti, and directed by theTricycle's Artistic Director, Indhu Rubasingham, Red Velvet runs from 11 October - 24 November, with press night on 16 October. Check out photos of the cast and creative team in rehearsal below!

Olney Theatre Center, the award-winning, year-round arts and entertainment destination, announces the opening of the area premiere of Over the Tavern by Tom Dudzick. Over the Tavern will grace Olney Theatre Center's Mainstage from tonight, September 26 to October 21, 2012.

In keeping with the trans-Atlantic relationship, Chicago Shakespeare and Scotland's theater community are engaged in a cultural exchange-one CST production, The Q Brothers' Othello: The Remix, is now playing to wildly enthusiastic response at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the very festival that launched two critically acclaimed National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) productions that are slated for Chicago Shakespeare's fall 2012 World's Stage series: The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, and the return engagement of Black Watch.

FREUD'S LAST SESSION will feature a post-show talkback series in October to discuss Love, Sex, the Meaning of Life and the Existence of God at the Mercury Theater, 3745 N. Southport in Chicago. Winner of the 2011 Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best Play, the Midwest Premiere of FREUD'S LAST SESSION has received rave reviews and three Jeff Award nominations, including Best Play. The production has been extended multiple times and is now in final weeks, ending its successful Chicago run on November 11. Written by Mark St. Germain, under the direction of Tyler Marchant, the production stars local theater legend, Mike Nussbaum (Emmy, Drama Desk Award, four-time Jeff Award winner, and recent Sarah Siddons Award recipient), as "Sigmund Freud" and Coburn Goss (Vigils at the Goodman Theatre, Dead Man's Cell Phone at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Off Broadway When the Messenger is Hot at 59E59) as "C.S. Lewis."

MATILDA THE MUSICAL will be holding an open call for the role of Matilda in New York City on Sunday, September 30th at Pearl Studios (519 Eighth Avenue, 12th Floor, between 35th and 36th streets). Check-in begins at 10:00 AM in Studio C on a first come / first serve basis. Auditions will begin at 11:00 AM.

41N 50W is the last known position of the Titanic before she sank at 2.20am on 15th April 1912 during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. 41N 50W is a unique new play written by Robert Neal Marshall, adapted from over 1,100 pages of the original 1912 Senate Hearings. Readings of the play will be presented at the St. James Studio Theatre on 4 and 5 October 2012.

Mischief borders on malevolence and devotion devolves into obsession in Shakespeare's "most lamentable comedy," presented by Glass Mind Theatre. A Midsummer Night's Dream is Glass Mind's introduction into Season 3: Classics Resketched.

September 25, 2012 is the launch of both the premiere cast recording and the licensing rights by R&H Theatricals of Carrie the Musical. On that Tuesday, the cast (along with the creators) will gather at Barnes and Noble on 86th Street in New York City at 5pm to perform songs from the musical and to autograph the album. Event details: http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/event/77993

According to the Daily Mail, Helen Mirren will once again play the role of Queen Elizabeth II, though this time onstage in the play The Audience at the Gielgud Theatre.

MATILDA THE MUSICAL opens this spring and for the first time ever on Broadway, Google Offers is partnering with MATILDA THE MUSICAL to provide special access to tickets.

According to Entertainment Weekly, stage and screen star F. Murray Abraham has signed on to appear in the second season of Showtime's 'Homeland.' Abraham will star as 'a brilliant intelligence operative in his 60-70's. He has worked all over the world for the Special Activities Division of the CIA.'

Olney Theatre Center, the award-winning, year-round arts and entertainment destination, announces the opening of the area premiere of Over the Tavern by Tom Dudzick. Over the Tavern will grace Olney Theatre Center's Mainstage from September 26 to October 21, 2012.

Actor Roger Rees zooms through his life in Shakespeare - from auditioning for the Royal Shakespeare Company at this very theatre as a young lad, to playing mute extras and delivering some of theatre's greatest monologues - in this one-act, one-man show

The second production in Charing Cross Theatre's second season will be the Olivier Award-winning OperaUpClose production of LA BOHEME directed by Robin Norton-Hale in a new English version by Robin Norton-Hale, with musical direction and piano accompaniment by Elspeth Wilkes.

The award-winning children's author Michael Morpurgo's Private Peaceful plays for a strictly limited 16 performances only at the Theatre Royal Haymarket from tonight, 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. The National Theatre's One Man, Two Guvnors will continue its run at the Haymarket from 1 October after this two-week break.

A new series of family-friendly performances will join the Centenary Stage programming this season, with even more live performances and plays for young audiences and their families to enjoy.

Our reporter talks to Owain Arthur, who's currently starring in the West End hit One Man Two Guvnors.

Oya can run faster than anyone-but not fast enough to escape her destiny. Shirley Jo Finney directs the long-awaited Los Angeles premiere of In the Red and Brown Water. Lyrically weaving together elements of urban contemporary realism with West African mysticism, Tarell Alvin McCraney's lusciously theatrical and boldly original new play opens at The Fountain Theatre on October 20.

Stella Adler Theatre (Los Angeles) presents Anthony Skordi in the premiere of "ONASSIS", written by Anthony Skordi and directed by Bruce Katzman, with opening set for tonight, Sept 14. The show runs through Oct. 28, 2012.