Second Stage Theatre News

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: husband and wife acting team Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman star in ANNAPURNA, beginning previews off-Broadway, plus the fourth episode of SUBMISSIONS ONLY airs tonight on BWW!

The Astoria Performing Arts Center (APAC) announced today, that as of April 14, 2014, Erin Moore will be the new Executive Director, replacing Taryn Sacramone, who resigned last June. This is the culmination of a nearly year-long search for that candidate whose love for the performing arts is matched only by her commitment to further the cultural vibrancy of Queens. Moore's first production as Executive Director will be Rodgers & Hammerstein's Allegro, directed by APAC's Artistic Director Tom Wojtunik, opening May 1st, 2014.

With Broadway's 2014 season now in full swing, there's a solid group of performers making their Broadway debuts this Spring. Meet all of the Great White Way's newest stars below, and be sure to let us know who you're most looking forward to seeing onstage!

San Francisco Playhouse (Artistic Director Bill English & Producing Director Susi Damilano) continues its provocative eleventh season with Seminar by recent Susan Blackburn Award nominee Theresa Rebeck (Smash, The Scene).

Yale Repertory Theatre, in a co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, presents the world premiere of The House that will not Stand by Marcus Gardley, directed by Patricia McGregor. The House that will not Stand will be performed at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street) April 18-May 10. Opening Night is Thursday, April 24.

The Marsh announces the extension of TIPPED & TIPSY, a hilarious look at life as seen from behind the bar, written and performed by Jill Vice. This 2013 'Best of Fringe' winner, originally scheduled to run through April 6, is now held over through May 17 at The Marsh San Francisco. Written by Jill Vice and developed with and directed by David Ford, TIPPED & TIPSY plays Saturdays at 5pm and Sundays at 7pm at The Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia Street. For tickets ($20-$35, reserved seats $50) the public may visit www.themarsh.org or call 415-282-3055 between 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday.

Rubicon Theatre continues the company's 16th Not Your Typical Season with a special run of Love, Loss, and What I Wore -- a witty and wise celebration of womanhood adapted by Nora and Delia Ephron, creators of such hits as 'When Harry Met Sally,' 'Sleepless in Seattle,' 'You've Got Mail,' 'The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants' and 'Silkwood.'

Currently celebrating its 35th Anniversary Season, Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) has announced complete casting for its upcoming production of LAURA EASON's drama, SEX WITH STRANGERS, directed by DAVID SCHWIMMER. The company will feature Emmy Award-Winner ANNA GUNN (Breaking Bad) as Olivia and Tony Award-Nominee BILLY MAGNUSSEN (Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike) as Ethan.

The YALE INSTITUTE FOR MUSIC THEATRE has selected two original book musicals to be developed in an intensive lab setting in New Haven, June 3-15. Afterland, with music and lyrics by Benjamin Velez and book and lyrics by Kathryn Hathaway, will be directed by Mark Brokaw; and Clouds are Pillows for the Moon, with music by Tidtaya Sinutoke and book and lyrics by Ty Defoe, will be directed by Leigh Silverman. The Institute culminates with open rehearsal readings of each project, presented as a part of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, on June 14 and 15.

The Old Globe today announced the complete cast and creative team for the California premiere of Quiara Alegria Hudes' Water by the Spoonful, winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Directed by Edward Torres, Water by the Spoonful will run April 12 - May 11, 2014 in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run April 12 - April 16. Opening night is Thursday, April 17 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. In conjunction with local organizations Combat Arts and So Say We All, The Globe will also host an ongoing exhibit of art by returning veterans, and an evening of local veterans performing stories they have written about their service.

Second Stage Theatre will continue to celebrate its 35th Anniversary Season by once again offering its popular retro prices ($19.79 - the year in which the Company was founded) as well as audience perks for all of the productions this season.

The University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance presents the four-time Tony Award winning musical In the Heights, directed by Jerry Ruiz, April 9-19, 2014 at the B. Iden Payne Theatre. Created by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Music and Lyrics) and Quiara Alegria Hudes (Book), the celebrated musical is a captivating journey into New York's vibrant Washington Heights community. With an invigorating score of Latin pop and hip hop, combined with dynamic dance, this joy-filled story is about finding your place in the world.

Producers Jayson Raitt, Barbara Whitman, Steven Chaikelson and Second Stage Theatre announced today that Murder For Two original cast member Jeff Blumenkrantz will be returning to the hit musical comedy, reprising his role of 'The Suspects' beginning Monday, March 17, 2014. Blumenkrantz, fresh from the critically acclaimed production of Sweeney Todd at New York Philharmonic, is taking over for composer Joe Kinosian, who joined the cast on Monday, January 20, 2014. Blumenkrantz reunites with current star Brett Ryback in the original musical featuring book and music by Kinosian, book and lyrics by Kellen Blair and direction by Scott Schwartz. The New York production of Murder For Two began performances at New World Stages on Wednesday, October 23, 2013, officially opened on Wednesday, November 6, 2013 and recently extended to July 6, 2014.

Marin Theatre Company's artistic director Jasson Minadakis has announced that Lauren Gunderson's I and You, which premiered at Marin Theatre Company in October with support from the National New Play Network's Continued Life of New Plays Fund, and Martín Zimmerman's Seven Spots on the Sun, which won MTC's 2012 Sky Cooper New American Play Prize and received a public staged reading at MTC in June 2013, have been selected as finalists for the 2014 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award.

The world premiere of 17 Orchard Point, a new play starring Tony Award-winner Michele Pawk, will begin performances on Friday, April 25 for a limited four-week Off-Broadway run at The Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues) through May 24. Written by Anton Dudley (Substitution, Getting Home) & Stephanie DiMaggio, and directed by Stella Powell-Jones, 17 Orchard Point will have its official opening night on Sunday, May 4 at 7pm. Tickets for 17 Orchard Point are $45 and can be arranged online at www.telecharge.com or 212.239.6200 or at the Theatre Row Box Office located at 410 West 42nd Street. For more information, please visit www.17OrchardPoint.com.

The cast and creative team of the hit Off-Broadway musical Murder For Two are teaming up with some of New York's brightest up and coming composers and BroadwayWorld.com every Monday night for their spring concert series, Murderous Musical Mondays. Composer Ryan Scott Oliver will launch the series on Monday, March 24th, 2014, immediately following the 7pm performance of Murder For Two at New World Stages (Stage 5 - 340 West 50th Street).

Currently celebrating its 35th Anniversary Season, Second Stage Theatre has announced complete casting and new performance dates for its upcoming production of JON ROBIN BAITZ's drama, THE SUBSTANCE OF FIRE. The company will feature HALLEY FEIFFER (2ST's suburbia, The House of Blue Leaves), DANIEL ERIC GOLD (2ST's subUrbia, Ugly Betty) CARTER HUDSON (The Whipping Man), JOHN NOBLE (TV's Fringe and Sleepy Hollow), and CHARLAYNE WOODARD (2ST's Sorrows and Rejoicings, Ain't Misbehavin').

A first-rate production indeed!

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd announces the cast and creative team for Alan Ayckbourn's science fiction comedy Communicating Doors. Eleven plays penned by Alan Ayckbourn have been produced by the Alley, including the American premiere of Henceforward, directed by Ayckbourn, in 1987 and House & Garden in 2002. Alan Ayckbourn has been inducted into the American Theatre's Hall of Fame, received the 2010 Critics' Circle Award for Services to the Arts, became the first British playwright to receive both Olivier and Tony Special Lifetime Achievement Awards and was knighted in 1997 for services to the theatre.

With 'SECONDS', a Festival of Play Readings, Mixed Blood Artistic Director Jack Reuler has curated a 'can't miss' opportunity to catch a glimpse of what's hot in American theatre!