Second Stage News

Rehearsals are now underway for Lobby Hero at Second Stage's Hayes Theater (240 West 44th street). Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero, directed by Trip Cullman and starring Michael Cera, Chris Evans, Brian Tyree Henry, and Bel Powley, will begin previews on Thursday, March 1 and officially open on Monday, March 26. 

Asolo Rep continues its record-breaking season with Lisa Loomer's ROE, a poignant new play that humanizes and examines both sides of one of the most polarizing Supreme Court cases of all time: Roe v. Wade. Asolo Rep is proud to be only the fourth theater in the country to be granted the rights to this must-see production. Directed by Lavina Jadhwani and based on the original production directed by Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Artistic Director Bill Rauch,  ROE previews March 14 and 15, opens March 16, and runs in rotating repertory through April 15 in the Mertz Theatre, located in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts.

Artists Rep presents the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner Between Riverside and Crazy, by Stephen Adly Guirgis. The play is directed by Adriana Baer and runs from March 4 through April 1 on the theatre's Alder Stage.

Artistic Directors Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern announce that Irina Dvorovenko ('The Americans'), a former American Ballet Theatre principal dancer, Tony Award nominees Tony Yazbeck (ON THE TOWN, FINDING NEVERLAND) and Peter Friedman (RAGTIME, The Vineyard's THE SLUG BEARERS OF KAYROL ISLAND...), and Teagle F. Bourgere (THE CRUCIBLE, A RAISIN IN THE SUN) will be featured in the world premiere of THE BEAST IN THE JUNGLE, an original work fusing dance, drama and music by legendary composer and four-time Tony Award winner John Kander (CABARET, CHICAGO), Tony Award nominee playwright David Thompson (STEEL PIER; FLORA, THE RED MENACE), and five-time Tony Award-winning director and choreographer Susan Stroman (THE PRODUCERS, CONTACT). Performances will begin May 4, 2018 with opening night set for May 23. Kander, Thompson, and Stroman previously collaborated at The Vineyard on THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS.

Home. Love. Family.  At the heart of ANASTASIA is a story about discovering who you are and Dmitry himself recently did just that. Below, watch as Derek Klena discovers his own family heritage with the help of Ancestry.com!

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley continues its 2017/2018 Season with the regional premiere of the Obie Award-winning Skeleton Crew, in a co-production with Marin Theatre Company. A makeshift family of auto-plant workers navigate the possibility of foreclosure in this funny, tough, and tender American drama which captured critical raves. Rising star playwright Dominique Morisseau (Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of the Temptations, Sunset Baby, Detroit '67, Pipeline) creates a world in which ambitious dreams and corporate deception interweave, pushing friendships to the limit. Skeleton Crew will be directed by Jade King Carroll (Associate Director for Broadway revivals of A Streetcar Named Desire and The Gin Game) and will be presented by TheatreWorks March 7 - April 1, 2018 (opening night: March 10) at the Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto. For tickets ($40-$100) and more information the public may visit TheatreWorks.org or call (650) 463-1960.

On the heels of a sold out, twice-extended world premiere produced by Vineyard Theatre in association with Audible, Audible Inc., the world's largest producer and provider of downloadable audiobooks and other spoken-word entertainment, is pleased to announce that Tony Award winner Billy Crudup will return to the title role in Harry Clarke, written by Obie Award winner David Cale (Lillian) and directed by Leigh Silverman (Violet).

F*It Club, the New York Innovative Award-winning film and theatre company, continues its annual series of short, commissioned world-premiere plays at the IRT Theater as part of their 3B Development Series in Manhattan's West Village with The Spring Fling: Chemistry, seven new short plays by Mario Correa (Tail! Spin!), Jahna Ferron-Smith (Ensemble Studio Theatre's Youngblood), Jon Kern (Modern Terrorism), Dan McCabe (Christina Martinez), Mara Nelson-Greenberg (Do You Feel Anger?), Erica Saleh (Channel Zero, Wisdom of the Crowd) and Amy Staats (Eddie and Dave).

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!

What if, instead of drowning, Shakespeare's Ophelia had splashed through the brook water and found a parallel universe on the other side?

Aurora Theatre Company presents the modern classic A NUMBER by influential British playwright Caryl Churchill with Barbara Damashek directing. Set in the near future, the play explores human cloning, personal identity and the age-old debate of nature versus nurture. It features Paul Vincent O'Connor (American Buffalo, Death Defying Acts) and Joseph O'Malley (Kennedy Center, La Jolla Playhouse).

Written by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by theatre legend Anne Occhiogrosso, Centenary Stage Company's mainstage theatrical season continues in the Lackland Performing Arts Center this Friday, February 16 at 8PM with Reza's 1998 Tony Award and 1996 Olivier Award winning comedy Art.  "Wildly funny, naughtily provocative…" says the NY Post, it all begins when Serge buys an expensive painting by a celebrated artist.  A white canvas with white diagonal lines.  Old friends square off over the canvas, using it as an excuse to hilariously batter one another over various slights and failures.  Art is a hilarious exploration of the very notion of what constitutes art while examining the meaning of friendship.  'Anyone looking for a play that is funny, sophisticated, stylish, stimulating and moving should go to 'ART'.' (Independent, London).

Santa Fe "Actorvist" Debrianna Mansini of Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad will be in Los Angeles this June to do the LA Premiere of The Meatball Chronicles and to advocate for New Mexico congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham's? ??Bipartisan Anti-Lunch Shaming bill HR 2401 and Senator Tom Udall's senate Anti-Lunch Shaming Act, S.1064. Grisham is currently running for Governor of New Mexico, the first state to ban "Lunch Shaming" last year in 2017. California also banned the practice of "Lunch Shaming" as of January 1st, 2018 after public pressure and hard work by Children's Defense Fund's Marian Wright Edelman and CA Senator Robert Hertzberg's SB 250. 

ContemporaryMusicalTheatre.com is proud to celebrate their Fifth Anniversary at The Green Room 42 with a star-studded concert packed with great contemporary musical theatre songs on Monday, March 5 at 9:30 PM. Curated by Laura Josepher & David Sisco, Contemporary Writers' Circle: Fifth Anniversary Concert represents the best of today's wide range of contemporary musical theatre styles.

Working Theater (Mark Plesent, Producing Artistic Director) will present the World Premiere of Adam Kraar's Alternating Currents, directed by Kareem Fahmy (James Scruggs's 3/Fifths at 3LD) as part of their Five Boroughs/One City Initiative with performances in Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, Staten Island, and Brooklyn, April 26-May 27.

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.

Just last night, Second Stage Theater celebrated its annual All-Star Bowling Classic on Monday, February 12th.  For over 30 years, stars of stage and screen have come out to bowl in support of Second Stage's award-winning seasons and to assist the theatre in its fund-raising efforts.

As BroadwayWorld sadly reported yesterday, Broadway star Jan Maxwell passed away at 61 years of age after a battle with cancer. The star is survived by her husband, actor/playwright Robert Emmet Lunney, and their son William Maxwell-Lunney.

IAMA Theatre Company has named Brooklyn-based playwright and activist Geraldine Inoa as the first recipient of The Rhimes Unsung Voices Playwriting Commission. The commission, created to support an underrepresented writer of color who has not had a play professionally produced, is sponsored by TV producer/writer Shonda Rhimes (Scandal, How To Get Away With Murder, Grey's Anatomy).

Audible Inc., the world's largest producer and provider of downloadable audiobooks and other spoken-word entertainment, today announced the first class of theater commissions selected to receive support from its fund dedicated to the commission and development of innovative English-language works from playwrights around the globe. Announced earlier this year, the $5 million fund will enable the creation of one- and two-person audio plays driven by language and voice, in keeping with Audible's core commitment to elevating listening experiences through powerful performances of brilliantly composed words.