Susan Smith News

Critically acclaimed theatre company The Playwrights Realm has announced the cast and creative team for the New York premiere of Lauren Yee's new play The Hatmaker's Wife, directed by recent OBIE Award winner Rachel Chavkin (Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812). The Hatmaker's Wife marks the first Playwrights Realm production at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater (416 West 42nd Street) in midtown Manhattan, following previous engagements in several downtown Off-Broadway venues. Previews begin Tuesday, August 27, for an opening Thursday, September 5.

YALE REPERTORY THEATRE (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) has announced that two-time OBIE Award winner Rachel Chavkin (Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812) will direct THE FAIRYTALE LIVES OF RUSSIAN GIRLS by 2012 Whiting Writers' Award winner Meg Miroshnik, January 31-February 22, 2014.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Time Warner Foundation, South Coast Repertory is launching its new CrossRoads Commissioning Project-a community-based initiative within the theatre's renowned new work program. As part of the project, SCR has commissioned eight playwrights, locally and nationally, to create new work inspired by residencies that explore the incredible diversity of Orange County.

From Chicago's Steppenwolf theatre comes a new x-ray of the embattled American psyche. In a "first ring" suburb outside a mid-sized American city, Ben and Mary fire up the grill to welcome the new neighbors who've moved into the long-empty house next door. The fledgling friendship soon veers out of control, shattering the fragile hold Ben and Mary have on their way of life. Winner of the 2013 Obie Award for Best New American Play and a finalist for the 2012 Pulitizer Prize, DETROIT is a fresh, off-beat look at what happens when we dare to open ourselves up to something new. DETROIT runs September 19-October 5, 2013.

The play will have one performance, Tuesday, July 30, 2013, at 8:00pm, at the Douglas Morrisson Theatre, 22311 N. Third St. in Hayward, CA. Tickets are $10 (open seating), and are available through the Box Office at (510) 881-6777 or online at www.dmtonline.org.

To conclude its 45th season, Berkeley Repertory Theatre welcomes back a pair of acclaimed collaborators: Sarah Ruhl and Les Waters, the creators of Eurydice, Three Sisters, and In the Next Room (or the vibrator play), return to Berkeley Rep with another tale of love and longing in Dear Elizabeth.

Aurora Theatre Company opens its 22nd season with the Bay Area Premiere of Obie-winning playwright Amy Herzog's (4000 Miles, Belleville, The Great God Pan) family drama AFTER THE REVOLUTION. Joy Carlin (Body Awareness, Jack Goes Boating,Awake and Sing!) directs this drama about what we do with history and how we appropriate it for our own personal needs. Featuring Adrian Anchondo, Jessica Bates, Peter Kybart, Sarah Mitchell, Ellen Ratner, Rolf Saxon, Victor Talmadge, and Pamela Gaye Walker, AFTER THE REVOLUTION plays August 30 through September 29 at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. For tickets ($32-60) and information the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org.

Lauren Yee's new play The Hatmaker's Wife will have its New York premiere directed by recent OBIE Award winner and Drama Desk nominee Rachel Chavkin and produced by critically-acclaimed not-for-profit theatre company The Playwrights Realm, Katherine Kovner, Artistic Director and Renee Blinkwolt, Producing Director. The Hatmaker's Wife begins previews at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater, 416 West 42nd Street, Tuesday, August 27, for an opening Thursday, September 5, at 7:30 pm.

Murder Ballad's Caissie Levy & Will Swenson will be on NY1 'On Stage' this weekend beginning Saturday, June 22 and repeated 5 times over the weekend on channel 1.

The original New York cast -- Amy Brenneman (Judging Amy, NYPD Blue, Private Practice), Beth Dixon, Virginia Kull, Kellie Overbey andLee Tergesen (Monster, Wayne's World, Weird Science) - are set for the West Coast premiere of Rapture, Blister, Burn, written by Gina Gionfriddo, in the Gil Cates Theater at the Geffen Playhouse, opening Wednesday, August 21, 2013 (previews begin August 13).

The New Group launches its 2013-2014 Off-Broadway season with the New York premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner Beth Henley's The Jacksonian, arriving in Fall 2013. Directed by Tony Award winner Robert Falls, this production features Ed Harris, Glenne Headly, Amy Madigan and Bill Pullman. The Jacksonian was first produced at the Geffen Playhouse in 2012. In Winter 2014, as the second production in the company's season, The New Group delivers the world premiere of Thomas Bradshaw's Intimacy, directed by Scott Elliott. The third production of The New Group's upcoming season is to be announced.

Main Street Theater Announces its 39th MainStage Season and 34th Theater for Youth Season. Founded in 1975, Main Street Theater is a fully professional theater which operates out of 2 spaces: its Times Blvd. location in Rice Village and our Chelsea Market space on Montrose.

Southwark Playhouse announces its Autumn 2013 season, including: the UK Premiere of Beau Willimon's Farragut North; the first major revival in over 30 years of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's The Love Girl and the Innocent; and the world premiere of Timberlake Wertenbaker's Our Ajax. Details below!

Third Rail Repertory Theatre's Mentorship Company presents Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom by Jennifer Haley, directed by Ryan Mooney with designs by Kaye Blankenship. The final production in Third Rail's inaugural Mentorship Class will run tonight, June 15 - 23, 2013.

YALE REPERTORY THEATRE (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) has announced that Rene Augesen will play Blanche DuBois and Joe Manganiello will play Stanley Kowalski in its first-ever production of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, the Pulitzer Prize winning masterpiece by Tennessee Williams. Directed by Mark Rucker, the production, which will open Yale Rep's 2013-14 season, will play September 20-October 12, at the University Theatre (222 York Street).

An incessantly ringing cell phone in a quiet cafe. A stranger at the next table who has had enough. And a dead man, with a lot of loose ends. Richard Israeldirects Dead Man's Cell Phone, a wildly imaginative and off-center romantic comedy by MacArthur 'Genius' Grant recipient Sarah Ruhl, opening tonight, June 7 at International City Theatre (ICT) in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the production below!

Philadelphia Young Playwrights has kicked off its 25th anniversary celebration by announcing the launch of the Paula Vogel Mentors Project, a living award honoring the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and teacher and extending her mentorship legacy. The three-year pilot program will bring together five acclaimed professional playwrights as mentors for five promising young playwright fellows, who will embark on yearlong playwriting journeys.

Conceived by Jonathan Larson, Murder Ballad is the story of a twisted love triangle. With a book by Blackburn Prize Winner Susan Smith and music and lyrics by rock singer Julia Nash, Murder Ballad is an electrifying story that captivates audiences through perfectly executed songs.

Third Rail Repertory Theatre's Mentorship Company presents Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom by Jennifer Haley, directed by Ryan Mooney with designs by Kaye Blankenship. The final production in Third Rail's inaugural Mentorship Class will run June 15 - 23, 2013.