Thursday evening marked the world premiere of BRONTË: THE WORLD WITHOUT at the Stratford Festival's Studio Theatre. Written by Jordi Mand, and developed in the Stratford Festival's Laboratory, this piece explores the relationship between Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte, as well as the brilliance and passion for writing that each sister possessed. Director Vanessa Porteous and the small but mighty cast of Beryl Bain, Jessica B. Hill, and Andrea Rankin explore the genius, jealousy, and genuine love of writing and of each other shared by these iconic sisters.
Lovers of new theatre will gather this August for an advance look at tomorrow's hits at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley's 2018 New Works Festival at Palo Alto's Lucie Stern Theatre. This unique festival offers audiences an extraordinary opportunity to experience new plays and musicals in their early stages of development, and hear about the creative process in a "Meet the Artists" panel discussion. With multiple performances of each work, playwrights and composers are able to rewrite scenes, add or delete songs, revise and refine, allowing audiences to return and watch the exciting evolution of brand new pieces of American theatre.
Corkscrew Theater Festival presents delicacy of a puffin heart, written by Stefani Kuo and directed by Theo Maltz. Running July 25-August 5, delicacy of a puffin heart traces the stories of two pairs of immigrant/first generation women living in the same San Francisco apartment, twenty years apart: in the 1990s, a lesbian couple hoping to have a child, and in the present, their adult daughter living with her best friend. Both pairs of women struggle to maintain their intimate connection while facing mental and physical illness. Performed by Dominique Brillon, Diane Chen, Cleo Gray, Drita Kabashi, and O'mer Koren, delicacy of a puffin heart is the fourth production in the second annual season of Corkscrew Theater Festival, a new summer theater festival that provides early-career artists with a high level of production support.
Pittsburgh CLO's THE FULL MONTY will take it all off at the Benedum Center this summer July 6 - 15. With a book written by Terrence McNally (Ragtime) and the music/ lyric talents of David Yazbek (The Band's Visit, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Women On The Verge of a Nervous Breakdown), this duo cooks up an aggressive crowd-pleaser that is both highly-entertaining and charmingly uplifting.
The new Chicago-area theater company Ogorod Productions (whose name is taken from the Russian word for 'vegetable garden') has announced their cast and production team for THE FANTASTICKS, with book & lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt.
59E59 Theaters (Val Day, Artistic Director; Brian Beirne, Managing Director) is thrilled to welcome Throughline Artists (J.J. Kandel, Producing Artistic Director) with SUMMER SHORTS 2018, the annual festival of six short plays tailor-made for summer viewing, now celebrating its 12th season. SUMMER SHORTS 2018 begins on July 20 and runs through September 1. The general performance schedule is Tuesday - Friday at 7:15 PM; Saturday & Sunday at 2:15 PM and 7:15 PM. Please note, there are no matinee performances on Saturday, July 21, Sunday, July 22, or Saturday, July 28. Individual calendar schedule of performance dates for Series A and Series B is available for viewing/download. Press Opening for Series A is Sunday, July 29 at 2:15 PM. Press Opening for Series B is Sunday, August 5 at 2:15 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Single tickets are $35 ($24.50 for 59E59 Members). A Pair of Shorts (a ticket package to both Series A & B, available through August 15) is $55. To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or visit www.59e59.org.
Premiere Stages at Kean University will present Craig Garcia's Linger July 12-29 in Kean University's Bauer Boucher Theatre Center (Vaughn Eames Hall, 1000 Morris Avenue, Union, N.J.). Recently selected from over 570 submissions as the winner of the 2018 Premiere Play Festival, Linger will feature actors Will Ehren, Michael Frederic, Robby Haltiwanger, Jonathan C. Kaplan, Sarah Kathryn Makl and Danielle Skraastad. John J. Wooten, producing artistic director of Premiere Stages, will direct.
Steppenwolf Theatre Company presents the Chicago premiere production of The Roommate by Jen Silverman, directed by Tony Award Winner Phylicia Rashad. A unique story that expresses how early-life choices can lead to mid-life challenges and the humorous, touching and unexpected rewards of bridging the divide, the Steppenwolf production will feature ensemble members Ora Jones as Robyn and Sandra Marquez as Sharon.
The OBIE Award-winning NAATCO, National Asian American Theatre Company, kicks off their 28th season with Stephen Brown-Fried's new adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry VI.
FST Improv announces its summer season with three distinct shows that will bring spontaneity, playfulness, and a bit of history to Sarasota. Playing through June 30 is the fresh and daring Comedy Freestyle, where audience members will see free-form improv-a challenging improv style with no rules or limits. Playing on July 7 only is When X Meets Y: American Revolution, FST's special holiday improv show celebrating Independence Day, which follows a band of American colonists fighting the British, but adds a thrilling romantic twist. Starting July 28 is Comedy Lottery, FST's short-form improv show built off the audience's suggestions and favorite games. All three programs play on Saturdays at 7:30 pm in FST's Bowne's Lab. Full menu and bar are available for all performances. Doors open one hour prior to the show. Tickets are $15 and may be purchased from the FST Box Office in person, by calling (941) 366-9000, or online at www.floridastudiotheatre.org.
HB Studio Theatre, 124 Bank Street, will present a staged reading of a new musical on Tuesday, June 26th at 7 pm at the HB Studio Theatre as part of their Transgressions series, which features plays selected from the 2018 Rehearsal Space Residency Applicants.
Red Bull Theater (Jesse Berger, Artistic Director | Jim Bredeson, Managing Director) today announced that their eighth annual festival of 10-minute plays of heightened language and classic themes will feature two brand new commissions from Tina Howe and Doug Wright, alongside 6 brand new plays chosen from hundreds of submissions from playwrights across the country.
Hope Summer Repertory Theatre is currently in rehearsals for its upcoming production of THE WIZ by Charlie Smalls & William F Brown, and BroadwayWorld has a behind-the-scenes look at rehearsals below!
Florida Studio Theatre (FST) announces the onsale of single tickets for its 10th Anniversary Sarasota Improv Festival. Over the course of the three-day Festival (July 12, 13, and 14), locals and tourists will travel to this destination event to see some of the world's best improvisers from all over the nation and as far as France and Spain. Known in the improv community as the "Festival of Headliners," the 10th Anniversary Sarasota Improv Festival is a whirlwind of laughter, comedy, and surprises, packed with over 75 artists and 28 performances over the course of the three-day event.
In response to popular demand, Soho Rep. (Sarah Benson, Artistic Director; Cynthia Flowers, Executive Director) extends the world premiere of Jackie Sibblies Drury's Fairview, directed by Sarah Benson, through July 22. In Fairview, the Frasier family (MaYaa Boateng, Charles Browning, Roslyn Ruff, and Heather Alicia Simms) is gearing up for Grandma's birthday, and Beverly needs this dinner to be perfect. But the silverware's wrong, the radio's on the fritz, her sister Jasmine is drinking, her husband Dayton isn't helping, her daughter Keisha is a typical teenager, and her brother Tyrone might not show up at all!
