Shuler Hensley News

Many of Broadway's best and brightest talents will perform in Westport Country Playhouse's one-night-only fundraising gala, 'Playing Our Songs: Celebrating 80 Years of Musical Theater,' a fully orchestrated and choreographed retrospective of musicals that have been produced at the Playhouse since its founding in 1931, on Monday evening, September 19.

Last season, playwright Richard Nelson invited us to spend election night 2010 at the Rhinebeck home of schoolteacher Barbara Apple and her aging uncle, Benjamin as her left-leaning sisters and brother gathered for dinner and conversation about family matters and the country's political climate. Titled That Hopey Changey Thing after a sarcastic post-election quip Sarah Palin once directed at Obama voters, Nelson referred to it as a 'disposable' play, written quickly and heavily steeped in the national conversation of its time.

I've heard of some directors who, as soon as they've taken on a new play, grab a black marker and scratch out every stage direction the playwright wrote into the script, as though the author's only business was to write dialogue and allow each individual stager to create the rest.

Many of Broadway's best and brightest talents will perform in Westport Country Playhouse's one-night-only fundraising gala, 'Playing Our Songs: Celebrating 80 Years of Musical Theater,' a fully orchestrated and choreographed retrospective of musicals that have been produced at the Playhouse since its founding in 1931, on Monday evening, September 19.

The Public Theater announced the first Public Forum of the 2011-2012 season, 'The 9/11 Decade: New York and America After the Towers.' Moderated by Alec Baldwin, the discussion will immediately follow the 7:30 p.m. performance of Richard Nelson's Sweet and Sad at The Public Theater on Thursday, September 8. Additional guests to be announced at a later date.

The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Joey Parnes Interim Executive Director) has announced the line-up of the best-selling author and journalist Kurt Andersen, Pulitzer Prize-winner Carl Bernstein, and the playwright and director of Sweet and Sad Richard Nelson, for the first Public Forum of the 2011-2012 season, 'The 9/11 Decade: New York and America After The Towers.'

The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Joey Parnes Interim Executive Director) is proud to announce the line-up of the best-selling author and journalist Kurt Andersen, Pulitzer Prize-winner Carl Bernstein, and the playwright and director of Sweet and Sad Richard Nelson, for the first Public Forum of the 2011-2012 season, 'The 9/11 Decade: New York and America After The Towers.' Hosted by Alec Baldwin, the discussion will take place at The Public Theater on Thursday, September 8. Single tickets to this special event, which includes the 7:30 p.m. performance of Sweet and Sad and The Public Forum immediately following, are $25, and can be purchased by calling (212) 967-7555.

Amanda is the showgirl with a sweet tooth, and with a husband who's also a Broadway performer.

The Public Theater will begin previews for the world premiere of Richard Nelson's new play SWEET AND SAD on Tuesday, September 6. The first show in the 2011-2012 Public Lab season, SWEET AND SAD takes place over Sunday brunch on the 10th Anniversary of 9/11 with a cast that features Jon DeVries, Shuler Hensley, Maryann Plunkett, Laila Robins, Jay O. Sanders and J. Smith-Cameron.

Channel 2, WSB-TV announces the date and time of the 2011 telecast of the awards show, which celebrates excellence in greater Atlanta high school music theatre.

Channel 2, WSB-TV announces the date and time of the 2011 telecast of the awards show, which celebrates excellence in greater Atlanta high school music theatre.

The Public Theater announced the first Public Forum of the 2011-2012 season, 'The 9/11 Decade: New York and America After the Towers.' Moderated by Alec Baldwin, the discussion will immediately follow the 7:30 p.m. performance of Richard Nelson's Sweet and Sad at The Public Theater on Thursday, September 8. Additional guests to be announced at a later date.

If you're looking for a quick recap of the events in the theatre world this week, look no further - here are some of the best stories that the week had to offer!

Michael Reidel reports in the New York Post this morning that Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson star Benjamin Walker will be back in the New York theater loop when he leads a reading of Bus Stop next month as cowboy Bo Decker. Amanda Seyfried will co-star alongside Walker as Cherie. Shuler Hensley will also participate. Hollywood's Paula Wagner, who owns the rights to the project will produce. Scott Ellis directs. A revival of Bus Stop is reportedly bound for Broadway.

TRICKS THE DEVIL TAUGHT ME, a new play written and directed by Tony Georges, is aiming for an off-Broadway run this year, most probably with a summer or fall preview and opening.

Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis announced the line-up today for The Public's 2011-2012 Season. The 56th Season will feature new works by Mike Daisey, Nathan Englander, David Henry Hwang, Richard Nelson, and Stew and Heidi Rodewald, as well as the premiere of FEBRUARY HOUSE, a new musical by Gabriel Kahane and Seth Bockley that is the first commission of The Public's Musical Theater Initiative.

'The Thomashefskys' were on stage again last night as Michael Tilson Thomas & the New York Philharmonic presented his acclaimed multi-media concert of the Music and Memories of Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky This years gala honored David and Sylvia Steiner as well as Tilson Thomas. Folksbiene is the sole surviving professional Yiddish Theatre in America and it preserves and adds to the legacy of Yiddish theatre, which flourished on Second Avenue and was domnated by Tilson Thomas's legendary grandparents ‘The Thomashefskys.'

Michael Tilson Thomas will conduct and host a staged presentation of The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in Yiddish Theater, Tuesday and Wednesday, April 5-6, 2011, at 7:30 p.m., with the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall. Directed by Patricia Birch, the multimedia evening celebrates Mr. Tilson Thomas's grandparents, Bessie and Boris Thomashefsky, by following the story of these European immigrants who played major roles in the development of American Yiddish theater, a central part of life on Manhattan's Lower East Side at the beginning of the 20th century. Starring are Judy Blazer as Bessie and Shuler Hensley as Boris; the performances feature Eugene Brancoveanu and Ronit Widmann-Levy - all making their New York Philharmonic debuts.

The temperatures are rising, everything is in bloom and spring has sprung. For parents, that means it's time to reserve your child's spot in the acclaimed Aurora Academy summer programs.

Michael Tilson Thomas will conduct and host a staged presentation of The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in Yiddish Theater, Tuesday and Wednesday, April 5-6, 2011, at 7:30 p.m., with the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall. Directed by Patricia Birch, the multimedia evening celebrates Mr. Tilson Thomas's grandparents, Bessie and Boris Thomashefsky, by following the story of these European immigrants who played major roles in the development of American Yiddish theater, a central part of life on Manhattan's Lower East Side at the beginning of the 20th century. Starring are Judy Blazer as Bessie and Shuler Hensley as Boris; the performances feature Eugene Brancoveanu and Ronit Widmann-Levy - all making their New York Philharmonic debuts.