Shakespeare & Company News

Last night at Opening Night of Carson Kreitzer's Lasso of Truth, Marin Theatre Company's artistic director Jasson Minadakis and managing director Michael Barker announced the company's 2014-15 season programming today. Featuring six new plays by living contemporary playwrights in MTC's intimate 231-seat mainstage Boyer Theatre, the season includes:

What has audiences and critics alike falling in love in theaters around the world? Kneehigh's Tristan & Yseult is a theatrical force of nature that combines vibrant storytelling with breathtaking spectacle, set to a rich musical tapestry of original songs and familiar scores performed by a roving ensemble of musicians. Lauded internationally for its trademark vitality, the artistic collective Kneehigh makes its long-awaited Chicago debut at Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) with the iconic work that first catapulted the company to international fame. Tristan & Yseult will delight audiences for a limited run March 30 through April 13 in CST's Courtyard Theater.

Cincinnati Shakespeare Company announces its 2014-2015 Season 21 schedule. CSC's Season 21 is generously sponsored by The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation and all productions will feature Cincinnati Shakespeare Company's Resident Company of Actors. Season 21 subscription packages went on sale February 3, 2014 and experienced a record breaking first day of sales. Single tickets are now on sale and seats are already in high demand!

Barry O'Farrell announced today that the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Matilda The Musical will make its Australian Premiere at Sydney Lyric Theatre in August 2015.

The Prague Shakespeare Company will present Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Main Street Theater will host the production at its Rice Village location. MST and PSC have co-produced Shakespeare's Henry V and Richard III during the past two seasons and both productions were critically acclaimed in Houston and in Prague.

The Wooster Group is currently developing its work CRY, TROJANS! (Troilus & Cressida) in preview performances at The Performing Garage (33 Wooster Street). The Group will celebrate the official premiere tonight, February 27, with the show running through March 9 at REDCAT in Los Angeles.

Marin Theatre Company begins the second half of its 2013-14 Season with the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of Lasso of Truth, which was co-commissioned by MTC and NNPN in 2010 from Minnesota-based playwright Carson Kreitzer. Running for a limited time now through March 16, this multimedia theatrical event explores the history of Wonder Woman - from her creation as a comic book superhero character to her lasting influence in American pop culture. The play is directed by MTC artistic director Jasson Minadakis and features local actors Lauren English, Jessa Brie Moreno and Liz Sklar, as well John Riedlinger (Minnesota) and Nicholas Rose (Ohio). Based in Mill Valley, MTC is a 47-year old professional nonprofit theater that is a destination for exhilarating performances, inspired new American plays and powerful theatrical experiences.

INTAR today announced the cast for the next production of its 2013-14 season: Adoration of the Old Woman, by Academy Award-nominated and Obie Award winning Jose Rivera and directed by Patricia McGregor will star Raul Castillo (HBO's 'Looking'), Danielle Davenport, Jose Joaquin Perez, Socorro Santiago and Carmen Zilles. This limited Off-Broadway engagement begins March 13th and continues through April 6th only. Opening Night is set for Wednesday March 19th.

Only one other writer could compete with Shakespeare for the title of the most quoted playwright, and that is Oscar Wilde. Seattle Shakespeare Company produces their first production of a Wilde play with The Importance of Being Earnest directed by Victor Pappas this spring.

Music has always played the role of Muse for me as a stage director. Occasionally, when I am stuck creatively or wanting to be around the actors in the rehearsal room or need to assistance in focusing, I will play the same piece of music over and over. I have meditated on Dvorak when considering the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West in Vita & Virginia, on Bach's cello concertos when considering Julius Caesar, on Bartok when constructing A Midsummer Night's Dream, Zoe Keating for The Tempest, Rachmaninoff for Hamlet, and many others.

Philadelphia Theatre Company's PTC@Play Festival of new work will host a special onstage conversation with PTC's artist-in-residence playwright/performer ANNA DEAVERE SMITH, and two evenings of staged readings by the winners of the Terrence McNally New Play Award, playwrights BILL CAIN and A. ZELL WILLIAMS, all at PTC's home, the Suzanne Roberts Theatre at Broad and Lombard Streets.

The Nominating Committee of the Independent Reviewers of New England has just announced nominees for the 2014 IRNE Awards. The Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) Awards, founded by Beverly Creasey of the Journal Newspapers and Larry Stark of TheaterMirror in 1997, recognize the extraordinary wealth of talent in the Boston theatre community.

Meet the new theatrically trained actor who is going to star in the new NBC adaption of DC Comics 'Constantine'.

Philadelphia Theatre Company's PTC@Play Festival of new work will host a special onstage conversation with PTC's artist-in-residence playwright/performer ANNA DEAVERE SMITH, and two evenings of staged readings by the winners of the Terrence McNally New Play Award, playwrights BILL CAIN and A. ZELL WILLIAMS, all at PTC's home, the Suzanne Roberts Theatre at Broad and Lombard Streets.

The first ever production in more than fifty years of Terence Rattigan's Variation on a Theme opens at the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre in a strictly limited four-week season from today, 25 February 2014, starring twice Olivier Award nominated Rachael Stirling.

Drive Theatre Company will present the World Premiere of Allison Volk's 'Rite of Seymour' from March 14 through March 30, 2014 at the Son of Semele Theater in Silver Lake, with a preview performance March 13.

Award winning actress, singer and artistic activist Suzzanne Douglas and Nehassaiu deGannes star in a benefit reading of Stay With Me by Belgium playwright Olivier Coyette at Luna Stage on Sunday, March 16th at 7pm.

Mark Arden as Fred, Ryan Molloy as Horace, Stefan Booth as Tosher, Christopher Ryan as Red Hot, Vivian Carter as Myrtle, Stevie Hutchinson as Ted/PC 2, John Olohan as Paddy, Gary Watson as Norman/PC 1 andJoanna Woodward as Margaret join the previously announced BAFTA nominated Jessie Wallace (EastEnders) as Lil, Gary Kemp (The Krays/ The Bodyguard/Spandau Ballet) as PC Collins, Sarah Middleton as Rosie, Ruth Alfie Adams as Brenda, Will Barton as Percy and Suzie Chard as Betty to complete the cast of Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be.

Directed and edited by Tarell Alvin McCraney, this international collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Miami's Gable Stage began previews at The Public on Tuesday, February 18 and runs through Sunday, March 23 in The Public's Anspacher Theater, with an official press opening on Wednesday, March 5. BroadwayWorld brings you photos of the cast in action below!

In the 2014-15 season, David Mirvish will present 16 shows in Toronto, consisting of seven shows in the Mainstage Subscription Series, three in the Off-Mirvish Subscription Series and six shows off-subscription. Check out the video below!