Sam Shepard News

Two worlds collide as Blessed Unrest and the New York University Percussion Ensemble combine classical percussion and physical theatre. This explosive show is Blessed Unrest's second percussive theatre collaboration with NYU, following our sold-out run last year.

Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, under the leadership of Executive Director Stacie Burgua, presents Rabbit Hole, by David Lindsay-Abaire. The production, directed by Chris Fisher, features Max Cole-Takanikos, Patricia Duff, Tom Harris, Jill Johnson, and Melissa McAlerney. Performances will begin at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, 565 Camano Avenue, on Friday, April 10 and continue through Saturday, April 25.

Previews begin April 4 and the play is slated to run through May 3. Directed by noted Off-Broadway wunderkind Trip Cullman, American Hwangap makes fresh the homecoming structure with a heartbreaking Korean American experience set against a canvas of highway 80, desert, and mythic cowboy lore. As a recipient of the Lark Play Development Center's 'Launching New Plays into the Repertoire Initiative' supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, American Hwangap will follow its production at the Magic with performances at the Denver Center Theatre Company, Ma-Yi Theatre Company, The Play Company in New York, and Tanghalang Pilipino in the Philippines.

New Village Arts (NVA) continues its 2008-2009 season with Be Aggressive by award-winning playwright, Annie Weisman. NVA Executive Artistic Director Kristianne Kurner directs this edgy comedy centered in San Diego around the world of cheerleading. Be Aggressive runs April 4 through 26 at the New Village Arts Theatre, located at 2787 State Street in Carlsbad Village. Tickets range from $25 - $30 and are available by calling the box office at 760-433-3245 or by visiting www.NewVillageArts.org.

Following the buzz of last year's Bug, Who Wants Cake? offers another powerhouse Tracy Letts play: the pitch black, trailer-trash comedy, Killer Joe. Opening Friday, April 3 rd and playing for an exclusive four-week engagement ending on Monday, April 27 th , Killer Joe will play Fridays-Mondays at Ferndale's popular Ringwald Theatre.

Downstage @ New Rep tightens the noose on Sam Shepard's dark exploration into the volatile tug of war between abandonment and intimacy

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) will begin previews for Craig Lucas' THE SINGING FOREST on Friday, April 10. Directed by Mark Wing-Davey, THE SINGING FOREST will run through Sunday, May 17 with an official press opening on Tuesday, April 28 at 7 PM.

Previews begin April 4 and the play is slated to run through May 3. Directed by noted Off-Broadway wunderkind Trip Cullman, American Hwangap makes fresh the homecoming structure with a heartbreaking Korean American experience set against a canvas of highway 80, desert, and mythic cowboy lore. As a recipient of the Lark Play Development Center's 'Launching New Plays into the Repertoire Initiative' supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, American Hwangap will follow its production at the Magic with performances at the Denver Center Theatre Company, Ma-Yi Theatre Company, The Play Company in New York, and Tanghalang Pilipino in the Philippines.

Signature Theatre Company (James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director; Erika Mallin, Executive Director) will celebrate Douglas Turner Ward, founder of the Negro Ensemble Company, with their 2009 Annual Gala on Monday, March 30th at Espace (635 West 42nd Street). Cocktails will begin at 6:30pm with dinner at 7:30 PM and performance/tribute to follow. The evening will be hosted by Phylicia Rashad and Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Individual ticket prices range from $600-$1,200 with table prices ranging from $6,000-$25,000.

The Actors Studio Drama School presents its Inaugural Repertory Season at Pace University, designed to introduce our graduating students to the professional world and the public in fully-professional productions of the work they have created during their three years of study. Here you will witness a weekly series of scenes, one-act plays and full-length plays, some of them written by our playwrights, and all of them directed by our directors and acted by our actors.

Signature Theatre Company (James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director; Erika Mallin, Executive Director) will celebrate Douglas Turner Ward, founder of the Negro Ensemble Company, with their 2009 Annual Gala on Monday, March 30th at Espace (635 West 42nd Street). Cocktails will begin at 6:30pm with dinner at 7:30 PM and performance/tribute to follow. The evening will be hosted by Phylicia Rashad and Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Individual ticket prices range from $600-$1,200 with table prices ranging from $6,000-$25,000.

Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, under the leadership of Executive Director Stacie Burgua, presents Rabbit Hole, by David Lindsay-Abaire. The production, directed by Chris Fisher, features Max Cole-Takanikos, Patricia Duff, Tom Harris, Jill Johnson, and Melissa McAlerney. Performances will begin at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, 565 Camano Avenue, on Friday, April 10 and continue through Saturday, April 25.

Long considered the essential magazine for professional not-for-profit theatre, AMERICAN THEATRE magazine (AT), published ten times annually by Theatre Communications Group (TCG), has been providing theatre professionals, students, advocates and audiences a comprehensive journal since April, 1984. At a time when coverage of the arts may be at an all-time low, the substantive and continuing contributions of AMERICAN THEATRE put it in a class of its own.

Theater for the New City presents the premiere of Walking from Rumania, a journey to freedom in 1899, by award-winning playwright Barbara Kahn Theater for the New City, Crystal Field, Executive Artistic Director, proudly announces the world premiere production of Walking from Rumania, a historical drama written and directed by Barbara Kahn.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announces four invited productions and the Short Play Festival as part of the 41st annual Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF), April 14-18, 2009. Selected participants from eight regional festivals held in January and February at colleges and universities across the country are invited to showcase their talents at the nation's center for the performing arts, to be considered for scholarships and awards and to participate in master classes with some of the best artists in their field.

Ian Rickson will direct the European premiere of Jez Butterworth's Parlour Song which runs at the Almeida from 19 March - 9 May 2009 with press night on 26 March. Designs are by Jeremy Herbert, with lighting by Peter Mumford, sound by Paul Groothuis and music by Stephen Warbeck. Casting for Parlour Song will be announced shortly. Parlour Song is sponsored by Aspen Re.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) announced today that the first preview of Craig Lucas' THE SINGING FOREST has been moved to Friday, April 10 due to the need for additional technical rehearsals. Directed by Mark Wing-Davey, THE SINGING FOREST was scheduled to begin previews on Tuesday, April 7 and open on Monday, April 27. The show will now open on Tuesday, April 28 at 7 PM.

American Idol runner-up, Justin Guarini, will star in the industry only Equity staged reading of the new musical THE AWAKENING OF ANGEL DeLUNA - with book & lyrics by Judylynn Schmidt, and music & lyrics by Lee Ellis - produced by Kate Griffler on Monday, March 23rd at Theater 80 (80 St. Mark's Place) at 3:00pm & 7:00pm. Tracy Bersley directs and Barbara Anselmi acts as music director.

The Bull presents a pulp revival of Fool for Love wherein two lovers, Eddie and May, trapped in a motel room that only exists on the horizon of the desert, battle to the death of their love in order to escape their lurid past. Fool for Love is arguably the hippest love story to hit the stage in three decades...yet recent renditions have lacked the comedy needed to lighten the weighty themes this play provides. We prefer to take it one step further into the brutal surrealism the play already offers. The characters in our version of Fool for Love are just that, characters.

The Broadway production of Yasmina Reza's GOD OF CARNAGE opens on Sunday, March 22. The play, directed by Matthew Warchus began previews on Saturday, February 28 at the Bernard Jacobs Theatre (242 West 45 Street). Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden star in GOD OF CARNAGE, the new play by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton, directed by Matthew Warchus.