Samuel Beckett News

Cutting Ball Theater continues its 14th season with the adventurous RISK IS THIS…THE CUTTING BALL NEW EXPERIMENTAL PLAYS FESTIVAL, one of the only play festivals in America solely dedicated to experimental works for the stage. Pushing the boundaries of what theater can be, this year's festival features three new works and two new "Risk Translations" in staged readings. Like the 2012 edition, which featured five new "Risk Translations" of August Strindberg's Chamber Plays, which were performed this fall as part of the main stage season as Strindberg Cycle: The Chamber Plays in Rep, this year's festival offers a unique opportunity to see plays in development, alongside the artists creating them, as the works find their theatrical voice.

Previews begin on Thursday, January 10th for the World Premiere of Michael Puzzo's Spirits of Exit Eleven at The Lion Theatre at Theatre Row (410 W. 42nd Street, NYC). Presented by Justin Reinsilber and directed by Frank Licato, this new American play is directed by Frank Licato and opens on January 17th at 8pm. The production runs through February 2nd. Tickets are $19.25 (which includes a $1.25 restoration charge) and can be purchased online at www.telecharge.com, by phone at 212-239-6200 / 800-432-7250 or in person at Theatre Row Box Office.

Robin Williams has officially signed on to star in Dito Montiel's upcoming film BOULEVARD, Camellia Entertainment announced this evening.

Three estranged brothers reunite to settle unfinished business in the world premiere of A Family Thing, a darkly funny new drama about the meaning of family by Gary Lennon (The Interlopers). The Echo Theater Company presents a five-week run at Stage 52, February 16-March 17, directed by Chris Fields.

Marin Theatre Company begins 2013 and the second half of its critically acclaimed 46th Season with Samuel Beckett's modern classic, Waiting for Godot, which runs from January 24 to February 17. MTC's artistic director Jasson Minadakis directs, returning to "this greatest of 20th-century plays" (The New York Times) over a decade after he first directed an "excellent, electrifying" (The Cincinnati Enquirer) production at Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival. MTC's production features a talented cast: Oregon Shakespeare Festival company member Mark Bedard, popular Bay Area actors James Carpenter and Mark Anderson Philips and Cirque du Soliel and Ringling Bros. clown Ben Johnson, as well as two local southern Marin youths. Opening night is on Tuesday, January 29.

On January 18th Tides Theatre Company will open their new home with a bold interpretation of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes. Director Jennifer Welch takes a modern eye to the Hubbard Family and their insatiable hunger for wealth and dominance.

The Stratford Festival's box office opens to the public this Saturday, January 5, at 9 a.m., with an online advance sale beginning at noon on Friday. Facebook fans, who want to use the Festival's new social ticketing app will be able to purchase tickets as of 9 a.m. today. Tickets are being offered at up to 25% off until January 31, with an opportunity to exchange dates with no added expense.

BroadwayWorld brings you the Best of Ireland in the year 2012. Check out the Top Theatre Stories from each month during in the year 2012. We look forward to another exciting year of theatre in 2013!

Akvavit Theatre presents two Chicago and one United States premieres of the work of Europe's most-produced living playwright, Norway's Jon Fosse, under the unified title of Gjenganger, February 28 - March 24, 2013 at the DCASE Storefront Theater, 66 East Randolph St. The 'short full-length' plays, presented in rotation (two per night and all three Sundays) are: Winter, directed by Paul S. Holmquist, Autumn Dream, directed by Breahan Eve Pautsch,* and A Summer's Day, directed by Wm. Bullion.* The performance schedule for Gjenganger is Thursdays (A Summer's Day/Winter), Fridays (Winter/Autumn Dream) and Saturdays (Autumn Dream/A Summer's Day) at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays (all three plays) at 3 p.m. ('Gjenganger' is the Norwegian word for 'those who walk again.')

Arden Theatre Company, now celebrating its 25th Season of great stories by great storytellers, presents the work of Nobel Prize winner Samuel Beckett for the first time with Endgame. Directed by Associate Artistic Director Edward Sobel, Endgame plays on the Arcadia Stage from January 16 to March 10, 2013.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) joins the international celebration of the bicentennial of Charles Dickens' birth, Dickens 2012, with a World's Stage presentation of the Olivier Award-nominated production Dickens' Women, featuring actress Miriam Margolyes, tonight, December 18-22, 2012 in the theater Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the show below.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) joins the international celebration of the bicentennial of Charles Dickens' birth, Dickens 2012, with a World's Stage presentation of the Olivier Award-nominated production Dickens' Women, featuring actress Miriam Margolyes, tonight, December 18-22, 2012 in the theater Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare.

Justin Reinsilber presents the World Premiere of Michael Puzzo's Spirits of Exit Eleven from January 10 - February 2, 2013 at The Lion Theatre at Theatre Row (410 W. 42nd Street, NYC). The play is directed by Frank Licato and opens on January 17th at 8pm. Tickets are $19.25 (which includes a $1.25 restoration charge) and can be purchased online at www.telecharge.com, by phone at 212-239-6200 / 800-432-7250 or in person at Theatre Row Box Office.

Three years ago, when opening their inaugural season with Samuel Beckett's Endgame, Palindrome Theatre promised it would expire in December 2012. Seven productions, one international festival, and a heap of critical praise (mostly) later, Palindrome is set to do just that after their premiere production of The Attic Space, by Resident Playwright, Artistic Director, and native Austinite Nigel O'Hearn.

The Theatre School at DePaul University proudly presents LIZZIE BRIGHT AND THE BUCKMINSTER BOY, based on the book by Gary D. Schmidt, adapted by Cheryl L. West, and directed by John Jenkins, as the second piece in the 2012-2013 Chicago Playworks for Families and Young Audiences Series. This production opens Saturday, January 19, and runs through Saturday, March 2, 2013, at DePaul's historic Merle Reskin Theatre.

Cutting Ball Theater continues its 14th season with the adventurous RISK IS THIS…THE CUTTING BALL NEW EXPERIMENTAL PLAYS FESTIVAL, one of the only play festivals in America solely dedicated to experimental works for the stage. Pushing the boundaries of what theater can be, this year's festival features three new works and two new "Risk Translations" in staged readings. Like the 2012 edition, which featured five new "Risk Translations" of August Strindberg's Chamber Plays, which were performed this fall as part of the main stage season as Strindberg Cycle: The Chamber Plays in Rep, this year's festival offers a unique opportunity to see plays in development, alongside the artists creating them, as the works find their theatrical voice.

The Actors Fund presents a very special Musical Monday, an evening with five grand ladies of musical theatre in LADIES OF AN INDETERMINATE AGE tonight, December 10, 2012. Anne Jeffreys, Jane Kean, Pat Marshall, Patricia Morison and Charlotte Rae - join together on the same stage to sing songs from their careers, talk about their co-stars, directors and composers and stray into their wicked (or not-so-wicked) adventures in the great tradition of "No Business Like Show Business."