Second Stage News

In response to popular demand, Soho Rep. (Sarah Benson, Artistic Director; Cynthia Flowers, Executive Director) extends the world premiere of Aleshea Harris's Relentless Award-winning Is God Is, directed by Taibi Magar by two weeks, through March 25. In this play, which dauntlessly cracks jokes as it eviscerates, twin sisters Anaia (Alfie Fuller) and Racine (Dame-Jasmine Hughes) undertake a murderous journey from the Dirty South to the California desert, seeking payback for a horrendous act. Is God Is treats both morality and genre as notions to be exploded, drawing on the ancient, the modern, the tragic, the Spaghetti Western, hip-hop and Afropunk in its subversion of theatrical constructs.

Back by popular demand, radio host/standup comic Maureen Langan returns to The Marsh San Francisco for a special limited engagement of her 2017 smash hit Daughter of a Garbageman. This comedic and moving tale was declared one of the "Top 3 Shows of 2017" by Theatre Eddys ("a one-woman tour-de-force, jam-packed with moments to be relished and remembered").

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

Broadway spouses Kate Baldwin and Graham Rowat are both stars in their own right. Baldwin is currently in Hello, Dolly! and Rowat was most recently seen in the 2017 revival of Sunset Boulevard. Today we flash back on the pair attending the closing night performance After Party for the NY City Center ENCORES! production of 'Finian's Rainbow.'

Artisan Children's Theater proudly presents PINKALICIOUS THE MUSICAL at its 148 seat Second Stage facility.  The theater is located at 444 East Pipeline Road in Hurst.  The show runs Friday, February 16, 2018 through Saturday, March 24, 2018.  Performances are Fridays at 5:00pm and Saturdays at 10:00am and 12:00pm. Additional performances March 12-16 at 10:00am and 12:00pm and March 20 at 12:00pm. Reserved seating tickets are $7.00 for children 12 and under and $11.00 for adults.  The box office number is 817-284-1200.  More information can be found on the website at ArtisanCT.com.

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.

Pittsburgh CLO presents the world premiere of UP AND AWAY, January 25 - April 15, 2018 at the CLO Cabaret. As part of its Next Generation Capital Campaign efforts, Pittsburgh CLO debuted a staged reading of this new musical comedy this past spring during New Musicals Weekend at the Benedum Center. Tickets are now available online at CLOCabaret.com, by phone at 412-456-6666 or in person at the Theater Square Box Office. UP AND AWAY is also available as part of a CLO Cabaret Series subscription package.

Written by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by Anne Occhiogrosso, Centenary Stage Company's mainstage theatrical season continues in the Lackland Performing Arts Center with Reza's 1998 Tony Award and 1996 Olivier Award winning comedy Art from February 16 through March 4.  "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).

Inspired by the classic Cyrano de Bergerac, Michael Golamco's 'Cowboy vs. Samurai' is not only a tale of misplaced love, it's also an insightful and wonderfully funny meditation on being Asian in middle America, on self-identity, and on the ways we categorize ourselves as well as each other. Pear Theatre's production of 'Cowboy vs. Samurai,' directed by Jeffrey Lo, previews on March 15, with press and Opening Night on Friday, March 16, followed by a champagne gala. The show runs Thursdays through Sundays through April 8. All performances are held at the Pear Theatre, 1110 La Avenida St., Mountain View. Tickets can be purchased by visiting www.thepear.org or calling (650) 254-1148.

A full production of Anna Deavere Smith's 'Notes from the Field' opened in late 2016 at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass., and immediately transferred to off-Broadway, opening at Second Stage Theater in New York. In this unique one-woman show, Smith dramatized the accounts of students, parents, TEACHERS and administrators affected by American's school-to-prison pipeline, which pushes underprivileged, minority youth out of the classroom and into incarceration.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) will begin previews on Tuesday, February 13 for the American premiere of THE LOW ROAD, written by Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner Bruce Norris. Directed by Tony Award nominee Michael Greif, THE LOW ROAD is part of The Public's Astor Anniversary Season at their landmark downtown home on Lafayette Street, celebrating 50 years of new work and the 50th Anniversary of HAIR.

The Marsh San Francisco announces a new solo show by David Kleinberg, Return to the Scene of the Crime. Kleinberg - who chronicled his year as an army combat correspondent in Vietnam with his hit show Hey, Hey, LBJ! - describes his return for the first time in 50 years to Vietnam.

THE WIZARD OF OZ opens at Artisan Center Theater on Friday, February 9, 2018 and runs through Saturday, March 17, 2018. The 196 seat theater-in-the-round is located at 444 East Pipeline Road in Hurst. Performances are at 7:30pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday with 3:00pm matinees on Saturdays beginning February 17. Reserved seating tickets are $24.00 for adults, $22.00 for students and seniors, and $12.00 for children 12 and under.  Monday through Thursday tickets are $22.00 for adults and $10.00 for children 12 and under. Tickets can be purchased online at ArtisanCT.com, or by calling the box office at 817-284-1200.

In this joyful romance of gender roles and expectations, Orlando the man wakes up, after a particularly wild night in 17th-century Constantinople, to find himself a woman! She abandons herself to three centuries of navigating love, desire, and the world from an entirely different perspective.  Oft described as the most charming love letter in literature - written by Woolf to Vita Sackville-West - Sarah Ruhl brings the novel to life on stage in a grand, epic adventure that transcends time, place, and gender.   

Second Stage Theatre just celebrated opening night of the world premiere production of Greg Pierce's play, Cardinal, directed by Kate Whoriskey. Let's see what the critics had to say...

Rehabilitation Through The Arts (RTA) will present a reading of Home is a Verb, a new play by Melissa Cooper based on true stories about the challenges faced when returning home after prison.

Join us on a special occasion to mark the start of celebrations for the 100th Anniversary of Poland regaining its Independence. This unique gala concert features accomplished pianists, Chopin specialists, international competition winners, performing renowned works of Chopin and Paderewski. The tribute concert to Paderewski, taking place on the anniversary of his last performance at Carnegie Hall will be presented by the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in New York together with the Gazeta Polska Community of America foundation.

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Andre Bishop) has announced complete casting for its upcoming production of Lerner & Loewe's MY FAIR LADY. As previously reported, Lauren Ambrose will be playing as Eliza Doolittle and Harry Hadden-Paton will play Henry Higgins, alongside Norbert Leo Butz as Alfred P. Doolittle and Diana Rigg as Mrs. Higgins. Just announced are: Allan Corduner as Colonel Pickering, Jordan Donica as Freddy Eynsford-Hill, Linda Mugleston as Mrs. Pearce, and Manu Narayan as Zoltan Karpathy.

Second Stage Theatre just celebrated opening night of the world premiere production of Greg Pierce's play, Cardinal, directed by Kate Whoriskey. Cardinal features Becky Ann Baker ('Girls') as Nancy Prenchel, Anna Chlumsky ('Veep') as Lydia Lensky, Alex Hurt (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) as Nat Prenchel, Adam Pally ('Happy Endings') as Jeff Torm, Stephen Park(Aubergine) as Li-Wei Chen, and Eugene Young (Geek!) as Jason Chen.

What if, instead of drowning, Shakespeare's Ophelia had splashed through the brook water and found a parallel universe on the other side? In playwright Caridad Svich's lyrical deconstruction of Hamlet, Ophelia cuts a new path for herself through a neo-Elizabethan Appalachia. In this world, Hamlet is known as Rude Boy, Gertrude is a brothel madam, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are her androgynous helpers.