Shakespeare & Company News

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley continues its 2015/2016 season with the Regional Premiere of the dazzling romance, CYRANO, a new sprightly adaptation by Michael Hollinger (Opus) and Aaron Posner (My Name is Asher Lev, The Chosen) of Edmond Rostand's classic Cyrano de Bergerac.

The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, welcomed more than 200 schoolchildren from across east Kent on to its main stage this week (Monday). The young performers were taking part in THE DREAM: MET BY MOONLIGHT, their version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The performances - one from each school - took place in front of a packed audience. Scroll down for photos!

?The West End's long-running show - the Olivier Award-Winning comedy, The 39 Steps - will visit the Theatre Royal Glasgow from Monday 16 to Saturday 21 May 2016, on a special 10th anniversary tour.

Theatre Royal Bath Productions and The James Grant Group are delighted to announce the pre-West End dates of STEPPING OUT by Richard Harris, starring Amanda Holden, Angela Griffin and Nicola Stephenson. Directed by Maria Friedman, the production opens at the Theatre Royal Bath, 12th - 22nd October followed by Richmond Theatre and Cambridge Arts Theatre (additional date to be announced).

The Lyric Stage Company of Boston's 2015-16 Season continues April 8 with MR. BURNS, a post-electric play by Anne Washburn, with a score by Michael Friedman and lyrics by Anne Washburn. Directed by A. Nora Long, the production also features music director Allyssa Jones and choreographer Yo-El Cassell. MR. BURNS runs through May 7, 2016, with the official opening slated for April 10.

Nearly 50 years after the groundbreaking film inspired the world, Asolo Rep is thrilled to present Todd Kreidler's electric stage adaptation of the iconic Academy Award-winning film GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER.  

In a major theatrical event marking the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death, BAM, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and The Ohio State University present the US Premiere of Shakespeare's History plays in KING AND COUNTRY: SHAKESPEARE'S GREAT CYCLE OF KINGS. Following performances at the Barbican, and in China in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, the plays are directed by RSC Artistic Director Gregory Doran and performed in repertory at the BAM Harvey Theater from Mar 24 through May 1, 2016.

The Broadway Education Alliance, the fiscal sponsor for the Gershwin Awards, announced today that the program has been renamed The Roger Rees Awards for Excellence in Student Performance-to celebrate the exceptional life and career-long artistic excellence of Broadway's beloved actor, Roger Rees. Formerly known as The Gershwin Awards, the 2015-2016 Roger Rees Award for Excellence in Student Performance will be held on Sunday, May 22 at the Beacon School in Manhattan.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) has announced an extension for RED SPEEDO, the third production of the New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) 2015/16 Season. RED SPEEDO began previews on Wednesday, February 17, 2016 and officially opened on Thursday, March 3, 2016 at New York Theatre Workshop (79 E. 4th Street New York, NY 10003), and will now run through Sunday, April 3, 2016. Tickets for RED SPEEDO are on sale at www.nytw.org.

Actors from The London Stage, an international touring theater troupe based in London and the University of Notre Dame in the U.S., are in residency at Rice University beginning today March 10, through March 12 performing William Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.

A wonderfully absurd and deeply philosophical hero story dramatized in the world of the graphic novel, the premiere of THE SUPERHERO AND HIS CHARMING WIFE is an entertaining wild journey into our fear of the unknown. Presented by Not Man Apart-Physical Theatre Ensemble, written and directed by NMA associate artistic director Aaron Hendry and choreographed by Michelle Broussard, opens at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica on April 15.

Philadelphia Theatre Company's next production promises to excite with SEX WITH STRANGERS by Laura Eason on April 8-May 8 at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets).  Directed by David Saint, the production features Kyle Coffman as the young, brash writer Ethan Kane and JoAnna Rhinehart as novelist and teacher Olivia Lago. 

59E59 Theaters will host the US premiere of TOAST, written by Richard Bean and directed by Eleanor Rhode. Produced by Snapdragon Productions, in association with Jagged Fence Theatre for the 2016 Brits Off Broadway festival, TOAST begins performances on Wednesday, April 20 for a limited engagement through Sunday, May 22.  Press opening is Wednesday, April 27 at 7 PM. 

The Actors Shakespeare Company, the equity professional theatre company in residence at The Snyder Academy in Elizabeth, NJ will present a free staged reading of the 16th Century Morality play EVERYMAN on Sunday, March 20th at 3pm.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) announced today that tickets are now on sale for HADESTOWN, written by celebrated singer-songwriter Anais Mitchell and developed with and directed by the inventive two-time OBIE award-winning director Rachel Chavkin (Three Pianos; Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812) transforms Mitchell's 'phenomenal concept album' (Rolling Stone) into a bold new work for the stage.

Jeffrey Horowitz, Theatre for a New Audience Founding Artistic Director, has just announced an extension of PERICLES through Sunday, April 10 at Polonsky Shakespeare Center, 262 Ashland Place, due to wide acclaim and box office demand. PERICLES by William Shakespeare, with music composed by Shaun Davey and directed by Trevor Nunn, features OBIE Award-winner Christian Camargo in the title role and leading a company of 22 actors.

The full cast is announced for the final production in the Coronet's spring season, DEATHWATCH, from April 11 to May 7. This new Print Room production of Jean Genet's powerful and provocative first play, in a translation by David Rudkin, marks its first major revival in almost 30 years. Deathwatch stars Danny Lee Wynter, Joseph Quinn, Tom Varey and Emma Naomi, and is directed by Geraldine Alexander, who received critical acclaim for the direction of her own play, Amygdala, at The Print Room's former space in 2013. The Coronet is also working with playwright David Rudkin on complementary activity around the production.

Nearly 50 years after the groundbreaking film inspired the world, Asolo Rep is thrilled to present Todd Kreidler's electric stage adaptation of the iconic Academy Award-winning film GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER.  

The wonderfully inventive and wildly hilarious Reduced Shakespeare Company® (RSC) returns to Folger Theatre for the eagerly anticipated world premiere of William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play (abridged). The RSC will bring their signature style (dubbed "intellectual vaudeville" by The New York Times) of witty wordplay and physical finesse to the Folger for a limited engagement from April 21 through May 8, 2016. William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play (abridged), stars RSC members Reed Martin, Teddy Spencer, and Austin Tichenor. The play is written and directed by Mr. Martin and Mr. Tichenor, co-directors of RSC. Tickets are available online at www.folger.edu/theatre or by calling the Folger Box Office at (202) 544-7077.

If you like a gripping drama, you will want to catch Tony nominee Michael Cumpsty (Boardwalk Empire,' End of the Rainbow and Michael Crane in The Body of an American, now playing at the Cherry Lane Theatre, directed by Obie winner Jo Bonney (Father Comes Home from the Wars..., Lost Girls) and presented by Primary Stages and Rhoda R. Herrick, in association with Hartford Stage. Winner of the 2014 Horton Foote Prize for Outstanding New American Play and the Inaugural Edward M. Kennedy Award (shared with Tony-winner All The Way). The Body of an American tells the true story of an extraordinary friendship as two men, a war photojournalist and playwright, journey from some of the most dangerous places on earth to the depths of the human soul. Winning rave reviews for its previous productions in London and elsewhere, The Body of an American by Guggenheim Fellow Dan O'Brien is 'a play that tightens its grip as it probes where war lives, and discovers we each carry it inside ourselves.'