Second Stage News

Pittsburgh Opera announces its 2018-19 season, its 79th. The season continues Pittsburgh Opera's tradition of performing world-class productions of old favorites and exciting new works. The 80th season will feature four operas produced at the Benedum Center and two Resident Artist operas- the annual production at Pittsburgh CAPA Theater and Second Stage Project at Pittsburgh Opera Headquarters.

This morning, Monday, February 5, 2018 at 10:00am, Second Stage Theater (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director; Casey Reitz, Executive Director) hosted the official lighting ceremony for its new Broadway home, The Hayes Theater (240 West 44th street). Designed by David Rockwell of Rockwell Group, this landmarked, newly renovated venue has become, under Second Stage's ownership, the first Broadway theater dedicated exclusively to living American Playwrights.

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.

New Repertory Theatre and Boston Center for American Performance (BCAP) present Ripe Frenzy, performed February 24-March 11, 2018 at the Boston University College of Fine Arts Studio ONE, 855 Commonwealth Ave, Boston. Tickets may be purchased by calling the New Rep Box Office at 617-923-8487 or visiting newrep.org.

The box office for LOBBY HERO at Second Stage's Hayes Theater (240 West 44th street) will officially open on Tuesday, February 13 at 12pm (EST). The first 10 ticket buyers in line will receive a special sneak peek of the newly renovated landmark Theater. The Hayes Theater box office will be open Tuesdays - Sundays from 12:00pm to 6:00pmor until curtain. It is closed Mondays.

The sixteenth annual Seattle Festival of Improv Theater (SFIT) features five unique, unforgettable nights of live comedy in the U District. From February 14-18th, audience members will laugh with 25 of the funniest local and worldwide improv comedy groups.

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.

In Toho Stage's return engagement of Dogfight patrons may recognize several company members. All but three actors were part of the Japanese premiere in 2015 at Theater Crea in Chiyoda. Based on the 1991 Warner Brothers film written by Bob Comfort, the musical stays faithful to the screenplay. This current revival in three cities- Osaka, Tokyo, and Nagoya­- features the all-Japanese cast in a distinctly American story set in the backdrop of the Vietnam War.

Barrington Stage Company (BSC), under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd, announces the 2018 Associate Artists - director Joe Calarco, costume designer Jennifer Caprio, music director Vadim Feichtner, and actress Elizabeth Stanley.

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.

On the heels of a critically-acclaimed off-Broadway run, Goodman Theatre Artistic Associate and Alice Center Resident Artist Dael Orlandersmith brings her one-woman show, Until the Flood to Goodman Theatre, April 27 - May 13.

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.

The Writing/Composing team of Aryanna Garber and Benjamin Velez are the winners of the Weston Playhouse Theatre's 12th Annual New Musical Award for their musical BORDERLINE. The only award of its kind in the country, the Weston New Musical Award brings the creator or creators of a promising new project together with a small ensemble of actors to rehearse and record selections from the winning score with Grammy winner Kurt Deutsch of Sh-K-Boom Records.

Telemundo and Copa90 To create First Ever US Hispanic Content Creator Network For 2018 Fifa World Cup Russia

PAGE 73 PRODUCTIONS (Page 73) (Michael Walkup, Producing Artistic Director; Jenny Lagundino, Managing Director; Liz Jones and Asher Richelli, Founding Directors) has named C.A. Johnson the 2018 P73 Playwriting Fellow. Selected from over 400 applicants, Johnson will receive a $10,000 award and additional $10,000 budgeted for developing several new plays over the course of the year.

Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA; Jeffrey Horowitz, Founding Artistic Director) has added a performance (February 8 at 9pm) to its critically lauded world premiere production of Adrienne Kennedy's He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box, directed by Evan Yionoulis. The run will conclude, as a scheduled, on February 11.

PlayPenn, Philadelphia's artist-driven organization dedicated to the development of new plays and playwrights, has teamed up with R. Eric Thomas, Senior Staff Writer for ELLE Magazine (known for his 'Eric Reads the News' column) and winner of the 2016 Barrymore Best New Play Award for his work TIME IS ON OUR SIDE, to present an innovative and fun seminar designed to unlock the creative writer in any of us. Thomas, along with Yale-Horn Drama winning playwright Jacqueline Goldfinger, will present ART FOR ALL: A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR LEADING A CREATIVE LIFE on February 18 at 4PM.

Good morning BroadwayWorld! Today's top stories: Taylor Trensch begins performances in Dear Evan Hansen, In the Body of the World opens, and more!

In last season's GROUNDHOG DAY, the exceedingly charismatic Andy Karl was given the unenviable task of playing out a romantic comedy as a thoroughly despicable character. Now, in Greg Pierce's Cardinal at Second Stage, Anna Chlumsky's perfectly fine performance is similarly weighed down.

This morning, Monday, February 5, 2018 at 10:00am, Second Stage Theater (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director; Casey Reitz, Executive Director) hosted the official lighting ceremony for its new Broadway home, The Hayes Theater (240 West 44th street). Designed by David Rockwell of Rockwell Group, this landmarked, newly renovated venue has become, under Second Stage's ownership, the first Broadway theater dedicated exclusively to living American playwrights.