Signature Theatre News

It is always exciting when you sit in a theater to see the world premiere of a new musical. The Arena Stage's Kreeger Theater was a buzz in anticipation of SNOW CHILD which is a co-production with Alaska's Perseverance Theatre. Why Perseverance? Well, Arena Stage's Artistic Director Molly Smith actually grew up in Alaska, returned there after schooling and founded the Perseverance Theatre in Juneau. She served as Artistic Director there for 19 years before coming to Arena Stage. Four years ago, Smith and Perseverance Artistic Director Art Rotch discussed the idea for an adaptation for SNOW CHILD.

The Actors' Equity Foundation's 2018 Clarence Derwent Awards for most promising female and male performers on the New York metropolitan scene have gone to Ashley Park (Mean Girls, KPOP) and Sean Carvajal (Jesus Hopped the A Train).

Agent 355, a new musical with music, lyrics, and book by Preston Max Allen, and book and dramaturgy by Jessica Kahkoska, will have a concert presentation at (le) Poisson Rouge on May 22nd at 8pm. Agent 355 is directed by Sammi Cannold and features music direction and orchestrations by Madeline Smith.

The Off-Broadway League are presenting awards in 19 categories for the 33rd Annual Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway and we're bringing you the winners live.

Creative Cauldron presents a beguiling new version of E.B. White's beloved classic story Charlotte's Web with music and lyrics by Broadway composer Charles Strouse (Annie, Bye Bye Birdie) and a book adapted by national award-winning playwright, Joseph Robinette. E.B. White's classic tells the story of Wilbur, a little pig who becomes famous with the help of his clever friend Charlotte the spider and their animal friends. The beautiful lessons of friendship and loyalty embedded in the story have made this tale one of the most famous classics of children's literature. Press night for Charlotte's Web is Saturday, May 26, 2018 at 8:00 PM at ArtSpace Falls Church, 410 South Maple Avenue, Falls Church, VA.

Soho Rep. (Sarah Benson, Artistic Director; Cynthia Flowers, Executive Director), in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, presents the world premiere of Jackie Sibblies Drury's Fairview, directed by Soho Rep. Artistic Director Sarah Benson, May 29 - July 1. Following her "inventive," "pulse-pounding" We Are Proud to Present…(The New York Times, Time Out New York, and New York Magazine Critics' Picks), Sibblies Drury returns to Soho Rep. with Fairview, a play that shows us that nothing's funnier than "family drama."

Goodman Theatre announces the cast and creative team for the Chicago premiere of Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) by Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks, directed by Niegel Smith. Parks, in her "finest work yet" (New York Times), serves up "an American story as much about our present as it is about our past" (Los Angeles Times). Filled with wit, poetry and original music composed by Grammy Award winner Justin Ellington and performed on stage nightly by Chicago native blues musician Melody Angel, the production follows Hero (Kamal Angelo Bolden), a Texas slave, who faces a simple yet monumental choice: join his master in the Confederate army to win his freedom-or remain enslaved at the plantation. Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) appears May 25 - June 24, 2018 (opening night is June 4 at 7pm) in Goodman Theatre's 350-seat flexible Owen Theatre. The estimated run time is 2 hours and 30 minutes. Tickets ($10 - $40; subject to change) are available at GoodmanTheatre.org/Father , by phone at 312.443.3800 or at the box office (170 N. Dearborn). The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation is the Major Production Sponsor and American Airlines is the Contributing Sponsor.

Abingdon Theatre Company (Tony Speciale, Artistic Director; Denise Dickens, Producing Director) presents the final main stage production of its 25th Anniversary season, Fruit Trilogy, a new trilogy of plays by Tony Award winner Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues, In the Body of the World) and directed by Mark Rosenblatt

Arena Stage announces the full cast and creative team for Dave. By Thomas Meehan, Nell Benjaminand Tom Kitt, Dave is inspired by the Academy Award-nominated American political comedy film.

Prospect Theater Company (Cara Reichel, Producing Artistic Director / Melissa Huber, Managing DIrector) is pleased to announce the line-up of performers for its 2018 Spring Gala event, to be held on Monday, May 14, 2018 from 6 - 10pm at Manhattan Penthouse (80 Fifth Avenue at 14th Street).

Rhinebeck Writers Retreat is presenting a private reading of the new musical, THE PROXY MARRIAGE, book and lyrics by Michele Lowe and music and lyrics by Adam Gwon, on May 7 in New York City, which includes actors Jason Tam (Jesus Christ Superstar Live on NBC, Broadway: A Chorus Line, If/Then), Whitney Bashor (The Bridges of Madison County), Anika Larsen (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Avenue Q), and Daniel Jenkins (Mary Poppins, Billy Elliot, Big River). The reading is directed by Lonny Price (Sunset Boulevard starring Glenn Close) and music directed by Vadim Feichtner (Falsettos Broadway revival).

The John W. Engeman Theater announces the cast and creative team for SINGIN' IN THE RAIN. Performances begin on Thursday, May 17 at 8:00pm and run through Sunday, July 1, 2018.

REBEL AND MISFITS PRODUCTIONS is thrilled to announce their upcoming production of "The Realistic Joneses" by award-winning Will Eno, presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc. This production, directed by Edward M. Coffield, is the St. Louis premiere of arguably the best work yet from one of America's most clever and perceptive playwrights of the past decade. The event will run for three weeks, Thursday through Sunday, from July 26th through August 12th at the Kranzberg Arts Center Theater

Ensemble for the Romantic Century (Eve Wolf, Executive Artistic Director) is proud to announce that the cast Tchaikovsky: None but the Lonely Heart, the final production of the 2017-'18 season, at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street between Dyer and 10th Avenues) beginning May 17th. Opening Night is set for May 31st.  This limited Off-Broadway engagement runs through June 17th only.

Signature Theatre (Paige Evans, Artistic Director; Harold Wolpert, Executive Director; James Houghton, Founder) will host several special events in connection with Dominique Morisseau's Paradise Blue this spring at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues), the company announced today. These events are part of the Signature Spotlight Series.

Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts is pleased to announce Summer Theater Camps and Teen Master Classes this July and August. Bay Street Theater will offer camps and classes for children and teens ages 4 - 18 that are taught by professional teaching artists and theater industry professionals. Enrollment is now open, and available online at baystreet.org, or by calling Bay Street Theater's Education Department at 631-725-0818.

Elevator Repair Service, "one of the city's few truly essential theater companies" (New York Times), is pleased to present the world premiere of Everyone's Fine With Virginia Woolf, a new play written by longtime company member Kate Scelsa and directed by Elevator Repair Service Artistic Director John Collins.

Bay Street Theater is pleased to announce Confessions of a Mormon Boy as a special Mainstage Season bonus production this summer, written and performed by Outer Critics Circle Award Nominee Steven Fales and directed by Bay Street Theater's Artistic Director, Scott Schwartz.

Sundance Institute's Theatre Lab kicks off on May 6th, and today announced this year's participating acting company and creative advisors. The Lab, which runs through May 27 at the Fellah Hotel outside Marrakech, Morocco, is supervised by Artistic Director Philip Himberg and Producing Director Christopher Hibma, and is the centerpiece of the Institute's year-round work with the theatre community, alternating locations between Sundance Resort in Utah and a venue in the Middle East/North African region, as part of a multi-year commitment to international work and a means of facilitating cultural exchange between artists writing in English and Arabic.

The Playwrights Foundation, a launchpad for exceptional plays and playwrights announces the lineup for the 2018 Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF) running July 20-29, 2018. The six Playwrights were selected from more than 700 submissions nationally, 85% from outside the bay area, from more than 2 dozen states and Canada - coast to coast a very North American cohort.