Spalding Gray News

The Wooster Group will present EARLY SHAKER SPIRITUALS: A RECORD ALBUM INTERPRETATION at The Performing Garage from May 17 through June 15, 2014. The newest Wooster Group work, EARLY SHAKER SPIRITUALS is a performance based on a 1976 LP of Shaker hymns, marches, anthems, and testimony recorded by Sister R. Mildred Barker and the sisters of the Shaker community in Sabbathday Lake, Maine.

Following a 2013 world premiere at Theater Basel in Switzerland, New York City Players presents the U.S. premiere of Isolde. Returning to a core group of collaborators, Isolde, written and directed by Maxwell, features an ensemble of New York City Players veterans including Jim Fletcher, Brian Mendes, Tory Vazquez and Gary Wilmes. Maxwell's choice to not use any music in Isolde further supports a desire to excavate his own characteristically distilled approach to story telling. Isolde was inspired by the legend of Tristan and Isolde.

Drama Desk Award nominated Throes Theater (2013's Act Before You Speak at The Flea Theater) presents the premiere of HALFWAY THROUGH THE STORY OF OUR LIFE by 2013 Financial Times/Bodley Head Prize winner Alexandra Zelman-Doring in collaboration with Benedita Pereira and Emma Meltzer. Inspired by the monologues of Spalding Gray, this comedy with music begins previews May 15 at Access Theater with opening slated for May 22.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre welcomes comedian and radio talk-show host Brian Copeland for the 10th anniversary presentation of his critically acclaimed show, Not a Genuine Black Man. After over 700 performances in its initial seven-year run in more than 30 cities, the longest-running solo show in San Francisco history comes to Berkeley Rep this April for a limited engagement. In Not a Genuine Black Man, Copeland recounts his story of growing up black in the 1970s in San Leandro, California, a city once nationally known as one of the most racist in America. With wit and heartfelt passion, he explores the themes of racial identity and, ultimately, belonging. 'Very funny,' raves the San Francisco Chronicle. 'Copeland is a winning, magnetic performer. More than that, he's got an important tale to tell!' Directed and developed in part by David Ford, Not a Genuine Black Man previews on April 23, 2014, opens April 25, 2014, and plays through May 31, 2014.

Asia Society, PEN World Voices Festival and Performance Space 122 present the New York City premiere of 33 RPM and a Few Seconds, a brave new work by Lebanese theater artists Rabih Mroue and Lina Saneh, as part of the 10th Annual PEN World Voices Festival. A multi-media theater performance devoid of actors, 33 RPM and a Few Seconds reconstructs the final moments of a life after the suicide of a young Lebanese man.

Following a 2013 world premiere at Theater Basel in Switzerland, New York City Players presents the U.S. premiere of Isolde. Returning to a core group of collaborators, Isolde, written and directed by Maxwell, features an ensemble of New York City Players veterans including Jim Fletcher, Brian Mendes, Tory Vazquez and Gary Wilmes. Maxwell's choice to not use any music in Isolde further supports a desire to excavate his own characteristically distilled approach to story telling. Isolde was inspired by the legend of Tristan and Isolde.

The Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center ('the PAC') today announces the establishment of a core team of artistic leaders: David Lan (Artistic Director of London's Young Vic) as Consulting Artistic Director; Lucy Sexton (artist, producer, and Director of the New York Dance & Performance Awards (aka The Bessies)) as Associate Artistic Director; and Andy Hayles, Managing Partner of Charcoalblue (London's National Theatre, Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, and the future home of Brooklyn's St. Ann's Warehouse), as theater design consultant. Stephen Daldry (director of the films The Hours, Billy Elliot, The Reader and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and of Billy Elliot the Musical, and former Artistic Director of London's Gate Theatre and Royal Court Theatre) has joined the PAC's Board of Directors. The artistic team is collaborating with the PAC's staff, board and numerous consultants to create a place that is unique on the cultural landscapes of New York, the United States and the world.

Celebrated producer and cabaret performer Jamie deRoy will be hosting a special edition of her multi-MAC Award-winning Variety Show, Jamie deRoy & Friends, on Monday, January 27 at 7pm at Birdland. Jamie's special guests will be Beth Leavel (The Drowsy Chaperone), Kevin Meaney (Hairspray), singer-songwriter Dee Snider, known worldwide as the frontman for Twisted Sister, and Lauren Worsham, who is currently starring in A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder.

The Spalding Gray National Consortium has announced that playwright and director Richard Maxwell is the recipient of the 2014 Spalding Gray Award. Named after the groundbreaking monologist Spalding Gray (1941-2004), the award is sponsored by the consortium that includes Kathleen Russo, Gray's widow; the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh; On the Boards in Seattle; Performance Space 122 in New York; and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. It comes with a $20,000 commission to create a new work and provides for a full production of that work by each organization. In his new work, Maxwell will collaborate with choreographer Sarah Michelson, who will take charge of the production's design, and actor Gary Wilmes, one of Maxwell's oldest friends and collaborators.

The Off Broadway Alliance, the organization of Off Broadway producers, theaters, general managers, press agents, and marketing firms, will hold another in its Sunday Seminars series, focused on the culture, business and history of Off Broadway this Sunday, January 12th.

Today Berkeley Repertory Theatre announces the 10th anniversary presentation of Brian Copeland's Not a Genuine Black Man, the longest-running solo show in San Francisco history. After over 700 performances in its initial seven-year run in more than 30 cities including San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as off Broadway, Copeland's acclaimed show comes to Berkeley Rep's Osher Studio for 18 performances this April. Copeland, a writer, actor, comedian, and radio talk-show host, recounts his story of growing up black in the 1970s in San Leandro, California, a city once nationally known as one of the most racist in America. With wit and heartfelt passion, he explores the themes of racial identity and ultimately, belonging. "Very funny," raved the San Francisco Chronicle. "Copeland is a winning, magnetic performer. More than that, he's got an important tale to tell!" Directed and developed in part by David Ford, Not a Genuine Black Man previews on April 23, 2014, opens April 25, 2014, and plays through May 31, 2014. Tickets are on sale now.

Woodie King Jr's New Federal Theatre continues its 44th season with Dr. Du Bois and Miss Ovington starring Kathleen Chalfant and Timothy Simonson. Gabrielle L. Kurlander directs. Performances begin January 16h, with opening night scheduled for January 30th.

Toronto – Alexander Neef, General Director of the Canadian Opera Company, today released details of the company's new opera commission, Hadrian, composed by internationally acclaimed Canadian-American singer, songwriter and composer Rufus Wainwright with libretto by award-winning Canadian actor, director and playwright Daniel MacIvor. Inspired by the Roman Emperor Hadrian and his love for Antinous, Hadrian is currently in development and is scheduled to open the COC's 2018/2019 mainstage season.

The Fourth Annual United Solo Festival held at New York City's Theatre Row has been dominated by a Queen. 'The Bronx Queen' written and performed by Joe Gulla, to be exact. The show has had the most 'sell out' performances in the history of the festival.

The cell, a 21st century salon, and The Custom Made Theatre Company present Daytime Emmy & NAACP Image Award Winner Darnell Williams and Tamara Scott in Mark Eisman's 'Sightlines.'

A rare and intimate glimpse into the dynamic process of creating and launching new plays, Playwright: From Page to Stage follows two outstanding young playwrights through the writing, development, staging, rehearsal, and public performance of their plays.

The cell - a 21st century salon and The Custom Made Theatre Company present Darnell Williams and Tamara Scott in Mark Eisman's Sightlines. Take a journey with two strangers that come together in the strangest of places, grasping in the dark for a human connection that will guide them out of the "rabbit hole." At the cell, 338 West 23rd St., New York, NY. Nov. 23 - Dec. 15, 2013.

In promotion of the upcoming All For One Theater Festival presentation of Aaron Mark's one-man play starring Broadway regular Tom Hewitt, ANOTHER MEDEA, the writer/director and star discussed some of the themes of the play and what drew them to the subject in a new interview.

Tarragon Theatre launches its 2013-14 season with the Toronto premiere of The Best Brothers, written by award-winning playwright-in-residence Daniel MacIvor. MacIvor along with John Beale recreate the roles they originated in last season's hit Stratford Festival production of this heart-warming and hilarious two-hander. This bittersweet comedy previews opens tonight, September 25 and runs to October 27, 2013 in Tarragon's Mainspace.

THE WEIR by Conor McPherson, directed by Ciaran O'Reilly, will close after three extensions today, September 15th at the Irish Repertory Theatre.