Tennessee Williams News

Focal Point Theatre Company (FPTC) presents its second incarnation of the popular Against Type Project. In this exciting event, the audience will experience a collection of traditional theatre scenes turned on their heads with non-traditional casting, proving that a great performer can play any role. With a wealth of Chicago's most talented directors and performers, this promises to be an evening not-to-be-missed.

TimeLine Theatre Company opens its 16th season with the Chicago premiere of 33 Variations by Moises Kaufman, directed by Nick Bowling, tonight, August 30 - October 21, 2012 (previews August 24 - 29). Note that performances will be held at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. Chicago. Press Opening performance is Thursday, August 30, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.

Pook's Hill will present SOMETHING WILD…, an evening of three rarely performed short plays by Tennessee Williams: Hello From Bertha, 27 Wagons Full of Cotton, and This Property is Condemned. Directed by Ken Schatz and starring Andrus Nichols (Off-Broadway's Saint Joan), performances begin September 14th at The Dorothy Strelsin Theatre at The Abingdon Theater Arts Complex. Opening night is sceduled for Friday, September 21st.

'Band of Brooders' and 'Abstinence Only,' two short plays by Jim Pangrazio, directed by Jason Hale, depict Americans fighting to free themselves-from Americans and are set to play The First Floor Theater (74A East Fourth Street) for Summer Shares at La Mama, tonight, August 29 to September 2, 2012. Presented by Nucleo Eclecttico Theatre, a Denis Diderot Production.

The Play About the Baby previews September 7-9 and runs through October 7 at Gough Street Playhouse.

"We are all civilized people, which means that we are all savages at heart but observing a few amenities of civilized behavior,' writes Tennessee Williams in his introduction to Sweet Bird of Youth. Goodman Theatre opens its 2012/2013 Season with a major revival of Williams' 1959 play directed by Chicago native David Cromer. As previously announced, Academy Award nominee Diane Lane portrays Alexandra del Lago, an aging Hollywood screen siren on a journey with an unlikely soul mate, Chance Wayne (Broadway's Finn Wittrock)-an ineffectual drifter whose youth and promise have begun to fade.

Theater for the New City, Crystal Field, Executive Director, presents OPEN UP as part of the Dream Up Festival, tonight, August 28 through September 2, 2012. Written by Kimberly Pau and directed by Eric Mercado, the production features designs by Rachel R. Blackwell and production stage management and additional designs by Jeromy Hunt. The cast includes Melissa Chambers, Lauren Cipriano, David Fernandez, Aaron McDaniel, Amanda Peters and Elizabeth Spano. Meet the cast in the photos below!

Charity Hope Valentine, with a shoulder bag and a heart tattooed on her left arm, works as a dancer-for-hire in a Times Square Dance Hall but longs for love.

Tennessee Williams' last great play, "The Night of the Iguana," will be presented by the Ephrata Performing Arts Center, Sept. 6 through Sept. 22, 2012, at the Sharadin Bigler Theatre, 320 Cocalico St., Ephrata, Penn.

The Robert Chesley/Jane Chambers Playwrights Project presents a reading of The Parade or Approaching the End of a Summer by Tennessee Williams, directed by Mark Finley and featuring Paul Caiola, Emily Hartford, Irene Longshore and Jeremy Lawrence. The reading is set for 7:30pm tonight, August 25, 2012.

TACT/The Actors Company Theatre (Scott Alan Evans, Cynthia Harris and Jenn Thompson, Co-Artistic Directors), the critically-acclaimed and Drama Desk nominated Off-Broadway company "dedicated to presenting neglected or rarely produced plays of literary merit," announces the cast and creative team for Lovers by Brian Friel, the first production of the company's 20th Anniversary Season. Directed by TACT Company Member Drew Barr, performances begin at Theatre Row's Beckett Theatre (410 West 42nd Street - between 9th & 10th Avenues) on Tuesday, September 18th, 2012. Opening night is Thursday, September 27th at 7:30pm. Performances will continue through Saturday, October 20th.

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams directed by Josh Altman is extending for two weeks through September 16, running Thu, Fri, Sat at 7:30pm and Sun at 3pm.

Friends and admirers from film, television and theatre presented selections of Vidal's famous works, as well as share personal remembrances and stories. Patricipants included: Susan Sarandon, John Larroquette, James Earl Jones, Alan Cumming, Christine Ebersole, and many more. BroadwayWorld was there for the celebration and we bring you full photo coverage of the star-studded arrivals below.

Friends and admirers from film, television and theatre presented selections of Vidal's famous works, as well as share personal remembrances and stories. Patricipants included: Susan Sarandon, John Larroquette, James Earl Jones, Alan Cumming, Christine Ebersole, and mnay more. BroadwayWorld brings you exclusive highlights below!

Theatre East presents "Normalcy" by Bennett Windheim, Off Broadway at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, 416 West 42nd Street, NYC. Benard Cummings directs the new play. Previews begin for the limited engagement on August 31 and the opening is Wednesday, September 5, 2012 at 7:00 pm. For this opening of its 2012-13 season, there will be a series of talk-backs throughout the run, with the author, the producers and director, as well as experts in the respective field of this emotionally charged play.

According to the New York Times, Doubleday will soon publish a biography of recently deceased playwright Gore Vidal. Jay Parini, a friend of Vidal's for many years, will write the book, which is planned to be released in 2015.

Fall 2012 will see Chicago continue to produce some of the most exciting theater in the country. Offerings from the city's more than 200 producing theaters includes a range of special fall programming, featuring everything from the latest musicals to highly anticipated world premieres.

Sam Shepard's Geography of a Horse Dreamer will be coming to Angel Island this September! It is directed by Carlo Lorenzo Garcia (Red Light Winter, Our Bad Magnet) and features Simon Ahmed, Bill Daniel, Rudy Galvan, Christopher Meister, Gavin Robinson, Matt Rockwood, Kevin Stark, & Mark Vallarta.

The Jeff Awards Committee today announced 197 nominations in 34 categories for Chicago Equity theatrical productions, which opened between August 1, 2011, and July 31, 2012. The Jeff Awards judges attended opening nights of 118 Equity productions offered by 55 producing organizations. From these openings, 96 productions were 'Jeff Recommended,' which made them eligible for award nominations.