Shakespeare Theatre Company News

The new musical ROCKY, starring Andy Karl and Margo Seibert, opens tomorrow, March 13, at Broadway's historic Winter Garden Theatre. Scroll down to learn more about the full company, plus watch footage of Sylvester Stallone's speech following the first preview of Rocky on Broadway!

The Shakespeare Theatre Company, recipient of the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award, presents Shakespeare's Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 as part of the Clarice Smith Repertory. STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn will direct both parts of this sweeping epic - one of Shakespeare's culminating achievements in the history play genre - over multiple nights. As Kahn says, describing Parts 1 and 2 as his favorite Shakespearean drama: 'It brings to the stage every issue we as human beings experience.' The two productions will run in the Company's Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) from March 25 - June 8, 2014.

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd announces the cast and creative team for Alan Ayckbourn's science fiction comedy Communicating Doors. Eleven plays penned by Alan Ayckbourn have been produced by the Alley, including the American premiere of Henceforward, directed by Ayckbourn, in 1987 and House & Garden in 2002. Alan Ayckbourn has been inducted into the American Theatre's Hall of Fame, received the 2010 Critics' Circle Award for Services to the Arts, became the first British playwright to receive both Olivier and Tony Special Lifetime Achievement Awards and was knighted in 1997 for services to the theatre.

Writers Theatre presents The Dance of Death by August Strindberg, in a new version by Conor McPherson and directed by Henry Wishcamper. The production runs April 1 - July 20, 2014 at 664 Vernon Avenue, Glencoe. The press openings are April 9 and 10, 2014 at 7:30pm.

Director Christopher Bayes and comic actor Steven Epp - the duo behind the uproarious A Doctor in Spite of Himself - return to Berkeley Repertory Theatre with Accidental Death of an Anarchist, the explosive political farce by Nobel Prize-winning Italian playwright Dario Fo. A Berkeley Rep favorite, Epp delighted audiences in Figaro and The Miser - now the master comedian returns in a criminally funny production about corruption. Only one man can cut through massive bureaucratic duplicity and reveal what happened to the suspected anarchist who died from a fall out of a fourth-floor police station window. Did he jump? Or was he pushed? In this contemporary take on a beloved classic, Berkeley Rep hauls you down to the station for a hilarious interrogation of our culture. This madcap comedy starts previews in the Roda Theatre tonight, March 7, opens March 12, and runs through April 20.

The Old Globe today announced the complete cast and creative team for the Globe's revival of J.B. Priestley's period classic Time and the Conways. Directed by Rebecca Taichman, Time and the Conways will run March 29 - May 4, 2014 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run March 29 - April 2. Opening night is Thursday, April 3 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company will present the international hit Brief Encounter as a part of its STC Presentation Series.This U.K. production comes to Washington, D.C. from Cornish theatre company Kneehigh on its acclaimed international tour. Brief Encounter has riveted audiences with its innovative blending of theatre and film mediums in England, Australia and New York and earned nominations for two Tony Awards: Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play and Best Sound Design of a Play. Adapted and directed by Kneehigh Joint Artistic Director and Deputy Chief Executive Emma Rice and originally commissioned and produced by David Pugh & Dafydd Rogers and Cineworld, Brief Encounter will run from March 29-April 13 at the Lansburgh Theatre (450 7th Street NW).

Washington National Opera (WNO), led by Artistic Director Francesca Zambello, today announced its 2014-2015 season. It includes the company premiere of Daniel Catán's Spanish-language Florencia in the Amazon, a brand-new production of Puccini's classic La bohème, the company premiere of Rachel Portman's family opera The Little Prince, an English-language production of Poulenc's 20th-century drama Dialogues of the Carmelites, a revival of Wagner's epic The Flying Dutchman, and an acclaimed new-to- Washington staging of Rossini's Cinderella. A third season of the American Opera Initiative, including the world premiere of Penny by two alumni of the program, continues WNO's efforts to commission new works and expand the American repertory. Highlights from the 2014-2015 season will be performed by the WNO Orchestra and special guests at a free preview concert on Wednesday, May 14, 2014 at 6 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Opera House.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company, recipient of the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award, presents Shakespeare's Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 as part of the Clarice Smith Repertory. STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn will direct both parts of this sweeping epic - one of Shakespeare's culminating achievements in the history play genre - over multiple nights. As Kahn says, describing Parts 1 and 2 as his favorite Shakespearean drama: 'It brings to the stage every issue we as human beings experience.' The two productions will run in the Company's Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) from March 25 - June 8, 2014.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to present Buyer & Cellar as a part of its STC Presentation Series. Written by Jonathan Tolins and directed by Stephen Brackett, Buyer & Cellar will launch its North American tour in Chicago in May before coming to D.C. Buyer & Cellar had its world premiere in April 2013 at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, where it received rave reviews and played a sold-out, extended run before transferring to the Barrow Street Theatre where it opened June 24, 2013. Buyer & Cellar stars Michael Urie (Ugly Betty) as a struggling (and recently fired) L.A. actor named Alex More, who finds himself taking an odd job working in the Malibu basement of a Hollywood mega-star (and though her name is not mentioned, there are numerous similarities to Barbara Streisand). When the A-lister makes a rare appearance one day, the comedy launches into an outrageous look at fame and the price that accompanies it. Buyer & Cellar will run from June 20-29, 2014, at STC's Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW).

Gulfshore Playhouse will present the hilarious-whodunit-meets-screwball comedy, Ken Ludwig's The Game's Afoot tonight, February 21st through March 16th, with a $25 preview performance on February 20th.

Alley Theatre presents the world premiere of a new comedy by Theresa Rebeck, Fool. In Rebeck's new comedy, two kings get together and place a wager on their fools - a jester competition, and the funniest one gets to keep his head. Two evil minions have a lot to say about this, but not as much as the kitchen wench. And what's the queen been up to all night? A dramatical comical farcical tragical play about power, love and laughter, set in a medieval kitchen. Adult Language, Adult Situations, Beheadings.

The Broadway Cast - led by Hannah Yelland and Tristan Sturrock - will appear in the internationally celebrated Kneehigh production of Noel Coward's Brief Encounter, which will have a 43-performance limited engagement at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts today, February 15 to March 23, 2014 (press opening February 19).

Celebrity Series of Boston will present a duet performance of poetry and jazz by the Vijay Iyer Trio and former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky in POEMJAZZ on Friday, March 14, 2014, at 8:00pm at Sanders Theatre, Memorial Hall, Harvard University, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA. Sponsored by Amy and Joshua Boger.

Gulfshore Playhouse will present the hilarious-whodunit-meets-screwball comedy, Ken Ludwig's The Game's Afoot February 21st through March 16th, with a $25 preview performance on February 20th.

Best for ages 5-10, Cinderella: the Remix runs in Imagination Stage's Annette M. and Theodore N. Lerner Family Theatre April 9-May 25, 2014. Tickets start at $10, and may be purchased online at www.imaginationstage.org, at the Imagination Stage box office, or via phone at 301-280-1660. Group rates are available.

The Kennedy Center presents the world premiere production of Orphie and the Book of Heroes in the Family Theater, today, February 8 - 23, 2014.

Playwrights Horizons presents the New York premiere production of STAGE KISS, a new play marking the eagerly-awaited return of two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl (Dead Man's Cell Phone at PH; The Clean House, In the Next Room...) to the theater company. Directed by Rebecca Taichman (Milk Like Sugar at PH; the current Marie Antoinette, Orlando, The Scene, Luck of the Irish), the production begins previews this evening, February 7 at 8PM with an Opening Night set for Sunday, March 2 at 7PM. The limited engagement will play through Sunday evening, March 23 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street).