Second Stage Theatre News

Good morning BroadwayWorld! Today's top stories come out of D.C.'s Kennedy Center: CHESS opens, starring Raul Esparza, Karen Olivo, and Ramin Karimloo; and Corey Cott, Solea Pfeiffer and more lead WEST SIDE STORY in concert!

Bright Colors And Bold Patterns - the hit play hailed as "devastatingly funny" by The New York Times - will extend its current run for a second time after stellar reviews and popular demand. The New York Times raves that new star Jeff Hiller is "riotously funny" and delivers a "surprisingly nuanced performance." RuPaul added "Jeff Hiller is fantastic! Sharp, clever, funny, witty." The show continues its triumphant run Off Broadway at SoHo Playhouse (15 Vandam Street, between 6th Avenue and Varick Street in Manhattan) with Hiller ("Nightcap," "30 Rock," Broadway's Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) through Sunday, March 11. Tickets are on sale at BrightColorsandBoldPatterns.com.

Part comedy, part mystery and part rock concert, playwright Lauren Yee's Cambodian Rock Band explores an overlooked chapter of history-1970s Cambodia with its vibrant surf-rock music scene and then under the Khmer Rouge regime. The play features songs by the Long Beach-based band Dengue Fever. The world premiere of this South Coast Repertory commission is directed by Chay Yew on the Julianne Argyros Stage, March 4-25. Tickets are available at www.scr.org.

Magician's sick in bed?! Too bad! THE SHOW MUST GO ON! The Magician's Assistant  is a physical comedy about the transformative power of believing in yourself and asking for help. Everything seems under control until the Magician's lovely Assistant blunders onstage and has to entertain the crowd in the magician's absence.

Bright Colors And Bold Patterns - the hit play hailed as "devastatingly funny" by The New York Times - will offer a "F*CK IT, I'M SINGLE!" special for one performance only on Valentine's Day, Wednesday February 14. The show, which continues its triumphant run Off Broadway at SoHo Playhouse (15 Vandam Street, between 6th Avenue and Varick Street in Manhattan), will offer a limited amount of tickets at $14 each. The new star Jeff Hiller ("Nightcap," "30 Rock," Broadway's Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) will perform the starring role in this exclusive six week extension runs through Sunday, February 25. Tickets are on sale at BrightColorsandBoldPatterns.com.

National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu has approved more than $25 million in grants as part of the NEA's first major funding announcement for fiscal year 2018.  Included in this announcement is an Art Works grant of $10,000 to Rhinebeck Writers Retreat for their musical theatre writer residencies and Triple R program - 2 readings and a residency. The Art Works category is the NEA's largest funding category and supports projects that focus on the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and/or the strengthening of communities through the arts.

Bright Colors And Bold Patterns - the hit play hailed as "devastatingly funny" by The New York Times - continues its triumphant run Off Broadway at SoHo Playhouse (15 Vandam Street, between 6th Avenue and Varick Street in Manhattan), when new star Jeff Hiller ("Nightcap," "30 Rock," Broadway's Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) opens in the starring role Sunday, February 4. This exclusive six week extension runs through Sunday, February 25. Tickets are now on sale at BrightColorsandBoldPatterns.com.

In conjunction with its current production of Bad Dates, Huntington Theatre Company will host several special events and post-show conversations. Admission to onsite post-show events is free with a ticket to Bad Dates, available at www.huntingtontheatre.org/season/2017-2018/bad-dates/, by phone at 617 266 0800, or in person at the Huntington Avenue Theatre (264 Huntington Avenue) and Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA (527 Tremont Street) box offices. Tickets start at $25. Performances run from January 26 through February 25, 2018 at the Avenue of the Arts / Huntington Avenue Theatre.

The Tank (Meghan Finn and Rosalind Grush, Artistic Directors) will present Reveries: An Immersive Theatrical Experience at The Tank (312 West 36th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues) on February 1st, 2018 with six performances through February 4th, 2018.

The Huntington Theatre Company presents the irresistible comedy, Bad Dates, featuring Haneefah Wood (Cassandra in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at the Huntington and Blanche in Fox TV's Grease Live! ), written by Theresa Rebeck (creator of NBC's Smash and the Elliot Norton and IRNE Award-winning play Mauritius, produced at the Huntington in 2006), and directed by Jessica Stone (director of Ripcord and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at the Huntington). Performances run from January 26 through February 25, 2018 at the Avenue of the Arts / Huntington Avenue Theatre.

Kathy Evans, Founding Executive Director of Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, announced applications are open for this summer. Nine musical theatre writing teams will be hosted for 9 consecutive weeklong residencies in the Hudson Valley between July 2 and September 3. All writers are eligible and their musical can be at any stage of development, as long as it has not been published or licensed. Selected writers pay nothing to participate and receive a $500 stipend. All costs are covered by donations to Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, including travel up to $750.  Writers with children are welcomed to apply and Rhinebeck Writers Retreat will accommodate their housing needs. There is no fee for applications received by February 16 and there is a fee of $20 for the final deadline of February 23.  All information, guidelines, and online application can be found at www.rhinebeckwriters.org.

Tickets are now on sale for Desert Ensemble Theatre Company's production of Election Day, an off-Broadway hit by Josh Tobiessen. Desert Theatre League Award winner Rosemary Mallett directs this farcical take on contemporary politics, described by The New York Times as An outrageous comedy...at double-espresso speed.

The Ad Council has joined with actor and producer David Schwimmer, writer and director Sigal Avin, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) and the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) to launch '#ThatsHarassment,' a national campaign to empower victims and bystanders to speak out and provide tools for employers to create a safe work environment.

Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA; Jeffrey Horowitz, Founding Artistic Director) announces a free post-performance discussion moderated by Pulitzer Prize-winning theatre critic and Negroland: A Memoir author Margo Jefferson in connection with TFANA's world premiere production of Adrienne Kennedy's He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box. The talk, which begins at 8.30 PM is open to all and features director Charlotte Braithwaite and playwrights Lydia Diamond and Jackie Sibblies Drury, follows the January 20 performance of Kennedy's first new play in a decade, which begins at 7:30 that evening, at Polonsky Shakespeare Center (262 Ashland Place, Brooklyn, NY 11217). The discussion will also be streamed live on Theatre for a New Audience's Facebook page. He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box runs January 18-February 11. To reserve a seat to this panel, visit www.tfana.org/heartpanel.

Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA; Jeffrey Horowitz, Founding Artistic Director) announces a free post-performance discussion moderated by Pulitzer Prize-winning theatre critic and Negroland: A Memoir author Margo Jefferson in connection with TFANA's world premiere production of Adrienne Kennedy's He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box. The talk, which begins at 8.30 PM is open to all and features director Charlotte Braithwaite and playwrights Lydia Diamond and Jackie Sibblies Drury, follows the January 20 performance of Kennedy's first new play in a decade, which begins at 7:30 that evening, at Polonsky Shakespeare Center (262 Ashland Place, Brooklyn, NY 11217). The discussion will also be streamed live on Theatre for a New Audience's Facebook page. He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box runs January 18-February 11. To reserve a seat to this panel, visit www.tfana.org/heartpanel.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) announces the cast and creative team for Hamlet, directed by STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn and featuring acclaimed actor Michael Urie as the tortured Danish prince. Shakespeare's most celebrated tragedy will run January 16-February 25, 2018 at Sidney Harman Hall.

The 13th Annual Goodspeed Festival of New Musicals, produced by Goodspeed Musicals' Max Showalter Center for Education in Musical Theatre, kicks off its much-anticipated three-day festival of brand-new works today, January 12, 2018 at The Goodspeed with a staged reading of the rousing new musical Five Points by Ethan D. Pakchar (Music) and Douglas Lyons (Music and Lyrics), and McKnight Fellowship winner Harrison David Rivers (Book).

The Dramatists Guild of America is proud to announce they will present the 2018 Horton Foote Playwriting Award to playwright James Anthony Tyler at the Dramatists Guild's awards presentations in 2018. This year's award finalist is Fernanda Coppel. The Richenthal Foundation is again sponsoring the award.

Congregation Rodeph Shalom, in association with Burke Cohen Entertainment, presents seven time Emmy Award winner Ed Asner and two-time Tony and Drama Desk Award nominee Johanna Day in a one-night only performance of Jeff Cohen's powerful play The Soap Myth on Wednesday, January 31st at 7 pm at Congregation Rodeph Shalom, (615 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia). The play, directed by Pam Berlin, is part of a tribute to the United Nation's International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27), the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Second Stage Theatre will soon present the world premiere production of Greg Pierce's play, Cardinal, directed by Kate Whoriskey. Cardinal will begin previews Tuesday, January 9, 2018 at the Tony Kiser Theater (305 West 43rd Street) and will officially open on Tuesday, January 30, 2018.