Susan Smith News

Next up at the Echo Theater Company: the world premiere of Sheila Callaghan's newest play - a funny, sexy and unconventional romance with music. Jennifer Chambers directs Kate Morgan Chadwick, TW Leshner and Johnathan McClain in BED, opening Feb. 6 at Atwater Village Theatre.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company presents the Chicago premiere of Annie Baker's 2014 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, The Flick. Under the direction of Dexter Bullard, who also directed the Chicago premiere of Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation, the cast features Danny McCarthy, Caroline Neff and Travis Turner as the three hapless employees of The Flick movie house. Previews begin February 4 (opening night is February 14; press performances are Saturday, February 13 at 3pm and Tuesday, February 16 at 7:30pm) and runs through May 8, 2016 in Steppenwolf's Upstairs Theatre (1650 N Halsted St). Tickets ($20 - $89) are available through Audience Services (1650 N Halsted), 312-335-1650 and steppenwolf.org.

The gulf between what's said and what isn't is at the heart of the sweet and whimsical comedy The Language Archive by Julia Cho, next up at Bristol Riverside Theatre on January 26-February 14.  Directed by Adam Immerwahr, the ensemble cast features Keith Baker, Irungu Mutu, Jo Twiss, Tiffany Villarin, and Julianna Zinkel.

The Old Globe today announced it will present the Third Annual New Voices Festival, a weekend of readings of new American plays by professional playwrights, January 15 - 17, 2016.

This January, Pipeline Theatre Company presents seven never before seen plays written by its PlayLab Class of 2016 in this year's Matchstick Series: Strange Tongues at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe (236 E. 3rd St, New York, NY). This year's PlayLab includes: Matthew Barbot, Jen Browne, Gina Femia, Reina Hardy, Jacob Marx Rice, Callan Stout, and Amy E. Witting. Performances will be January 13-15th at 7PM. Early bird tickets ($15) are now on sale and regular tickets ($18) go on sale on January 1st. Tickets are available for purchase online at www.pipelinetheatre.org/tickets. The show runs approximately 75 minutes, with no intermission.  

Playwrights Horizons presents the New York premiere of 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist Marjorie Prime, a new play by Jordan Harrison (Maple and Vine, Doris to Darlene at PH; Amazons and Their Men; Kid-Simple; 'Orange is the New Black'). Commissioned by Playwrights Horizons and directed by Obie Award winner Anne Kauffman (Detroit, Maple and Vine, Your Mother's Copy of the Kama Sutra at PH; Belleville; This Wide Night; The Thugs), the play is the third production of the theater company's 2015/2016 Season. The production opens tonight, December 14, at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street), and will play a limited engagement through Sunday, January 3.

Basement Arts presents THE NETHER, Written By Jennifer Haley, Directed by Madeline Rouverol, at Walgreen Drama Center (Studio One), tonight, Saturday, Dec. 5 at 8pm.

Actor's Express presents THRESHOLD, a new festival of new play readings this weekend, December 5-6, 2016. This year's festival focuses on works by local playwrights.

Jessika Malone directs Actors Bridge Ensemble's 20th Anniversary Season's upcoming production of Jennifer Haley's The Nether, opening December 4 at the new Actors Bridge Studio at the Darkhorse Chapel, 4610 Charlotte Avenue (entrance on 47th Avenue).

Coming off of their Obie Award winning production of A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Great Lakes at City Center in January and the critically acclaimed Heartbreak at The Bushwick Starr in May, New Georges announces their final production of 2015, the World Premiere of HOW TO GET INTO BUILDINGS by Trish Harnetiaux (If You Can Get to Buffalo with Incubator Arts Project) at The Brick (579 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn; www.bricktheater.com) as part of The Brick's Resident Artist program, tonight, December 3-19.

59E59 Theaters will welcome playwright Lauren Gunderson (Bauer) back to the 5A Season with NY premiere of her award-winning play I AND YOU, directed by Sean Daniels, and produced by Merrimack Repertory Theatre in association with Richard Winkler.

The world premiere of a new North Korean story from award-winning playwright In-Sook Chappell, P'yongyang opens at the Finborough Theatre for a four week limited season on Tuesday, 5 January 2016 (Press Nights: Thursday, 7 January and Friday, 8 January 2016 at 7.30pm).

MR. BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY by Anne Washburn, featuring a score by Michael Friedman with lyrics by Anne Washburn, will be directed by Theodore Swetz and co-produced with UMKC Theatre at Unicorn Theatre this December.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre continues its 2015-16 season with the new emotional family drama AUBERGINE, written by Julia Cho and directed by Michael Leibert Artistic Director Tony Taccone. This will be the first production presented on the newly renovated Thrust Stage and the second world premiere of the 2015 -16 season, following AMELIE, A NEW MUSICAL.

South Coast Repertory today announced that OFFICE HOUR, a commissioned work from Julia Cho, will receive its world premiere in performances April 10-May 1, 2016. Stage, film and television actor Sandra Oh will lead the cast for this production, which also is part of the Pacific Playwrights Festival. Neel Keller will direct OFFICE HOUR on the Julianne Argyros Stage.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

Playwrights Horizons presents the New York premiere of 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist Marjorie Prime, a new play by Jordan Harrison (Maple and Vine, Doris to Darlene at PH; Amazons and Their Men; Kid-Simple; 'Orange is the New Black'). Commissioned by Playwrights Horizons and directed by Obie Award winner Anne Kauffman (Detroit, Maple and Vine, Your Mother's Copy of the Kama Sutra at PH; Belleville; This Wide Night; The Thugs), the play is the third production of the theater company's 2015/2016 Season. The first preview is tonight, November 20 at 8PM at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street). The production has an Opening Night set for Monday, December 14 and will play a limited engagement through Sunday, January 3.