The Old Globe News

So much theatre to see this weekend and so little time! Openings, closing, and everything in between!

Repertory Theater presents the inaugural Professional Training Institute's production of So Thrive My Soul, in the Stiemke Studio July 13 - 16, 2017. The Professional Training Institute (PTI) is a free yearlong advance actor training program for students in 8th-12th grade who may have an interest in pursuing a career as a professional theater artist.

The Old Globe presents the Globe-commissioned world premiere adaptation of The Imaginary Invalid written by Moliere and reinvented by the acclaimed theatre group Fiasco Theater. Fiasco last delighted Globe audiences with their inventive reimagining of Into the Woods in 2014. This new take on the hilarious classic tale is directed by Fiasco Co-Artistic Directors Jessie Austrian and Noah Brody. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Internationally acclaimed virtuoso pianist Hershey Felder (Broadway's George Gershwin Alone and Maestro Bernstein) will tickle the ivories as one of the most popular and prolific songwriters of the 20th century in Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin.

Flint Youth Theatre is proud to announce Michael Lluberes as the new Producing Artistic Director. Michael Lluberes is an award winning playwright and director. His work includes: The Boy in the Bathroom (New York Musical Theatre Festival, NYMF Best New Musical and Best Book Awards, Chance Theater, Bloomington Playwrights Project, Upcoming: Adirondack Theatre Festival), Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers (BroadwayWorld L.A. Theatre Award Best Play, The Blank Theatre, No Rules Theatre Company, Kennedy Center Page-to-Stage Festival), The Geranium on the Windowsill Just Died But Teacher You Went Right On (ASCAP/Dreamworks Workshop), Twelfth Night (Sonnet Rep), Bayonets of Angst (NYMF), Simon Dawes Becomes A Planet (Time Shared), 1,000 Cats (TV: HBO's Funny Or Die Presents).

Westport Country Playhouse announces that Kandis Chappell has joined the cast of "Lettice and Lovage" in the role of Miss Lettice Douffet, beginning Thursday, June 1.  Due to a health issue, the original actress playing Lettice had to leave the role during final rehearsals.  She is doing well and wished a speedy recovery.

The Old Globe today announced the complete cast and creative team of the first offering in the 2017 Summer Shakespeare Festival: William Shakespeare's epic King Richard II, helmed by award-winning director Erica Schmidt (Off Broadway's A Month in the Country, All the Fine Boys, Humor Abuse) in her Globe debut. The play will run June 11 - July 15, 2017, in the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre. Previews run June 11 - 17. Opening night is Sunday, June 18 at 8:00 p.m. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast below, plus Robert Sean Leonard in character as King Richard II!

The UC San Diego Department of Theatre and Dance presents Gruesome Playground Injuries by Rajiv Joseph, directed by Carla Harting, June 7-10, at the Arthur Wagner Theatre in Galbraith Hall, part of the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Theatre District on the university's campus.

Learn from Broadway stars this summer at Playhouse on Park! Broadway actors and teaching artists Douglas Lyons and Jason Gotay visit the Playhouse as guest teaching artists for the Musical Theatre Preparatory Program. 

The PigPen Theatre Co. bring THE OLD MAN AND THE OLD MOON to the Old Globe thorugh June 18th.

'People will say we're in love' with this wild western cast of Rodgers and Hammerstein's beloved Oklahoma! Having directed last summer's hit Bye Bye Birdie Jenn Thompson returns to The Goodspeed to take on the show that changed American musicals forever. For the first time at Goodspeed, this country classic will welcome city slickers, cowboys and everyone in between! So kick up your boots and join us for this lively and legendary musical which runs July 14-September 23 at The Goodspeed in East Haddam, Conn [Official Press Opening will be August 2, 2017].

Faith, family and frosting collide in a touching and timely new play by Bekah Brunstetter (NBC's This Is Us). The Echo Theater Company continues its 20th Anniversary Season with the world premiere of The Cake. Jennifer Chambers directs for a July 1 opening at Atwater Village Theatre.

The Old Globe presents the Globe-commissioned world premiere adaptation of The Imaginary Invalid written by Moliere and reinvented by the acclaimed theatre group Fiasco Theater. Fiasco last delighted Globe audiences with their inventive reimagining of Into the Woods in 2014. This new take on the hilarious classic tale is directed by Fiasco Co-Artistic Directors Jessie Austrian and Noah Brody. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the company below!

Junkyard Dog Productions announced today that the critically acclaimed new musical COME FROM AWAY, which is nominated for 7 Tony Awards including Best Musical, won 5 Outer Critics Circle Awards including Best Musical and 4 Helen Hayes Awards including Outstanding Musical Production, and is nominated for 9 Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical and the Drama League Award for Best Musical, will launch a North American Tour across the United States and Canada at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre in October 2018. COME FROM AWAY, which has been playing to standing room only audiences, features a book, music and lyrics by two-time Tony Award nominees and Outer Critics Circle Award winners Irene Sankoff & David Hein, direction by two-time Tony Award nominee and Outer Critics Circle winnerChristopher Ashley (Memphis), musical staging by two-time Tony Award nominee Kelly Devine (Rocky), and music supervision by Ian Eisendrath (A Christmas Story).

Producer Charlotte Cohn with SCS Innovations LLC, Franklin Theatrical Group, Neil Gooding Productions, Ralph Meranto/JCC CenterStage, Brierpatch Productions, Karen Cohen/Jack Hayflick, Bonnie E. Lautenberg, in association with NewYorkRep, announced today cast changes at Church & State.

Monday night, a kickoff dinner was held honoring the 2017 Directors Project fellows. The dinner took place at the home of Broadway producers and BroadwayHD co-founders Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley. The guest of honor of the evening was Moritz von Stuelpnagel (director of Present Laughter, Hand To God), who is a Directors Project alumnus himself.

Fresh off a cross-country tour, John Strand's critically-acclaimed political drama The Originalist, based on the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, returns to Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater under the direction of Artistic Director Molly Smith.

Silas Weir Mitchell and Dana Green star in Constellations - playwright Nick Payne's exploration of love in the multiverse - opening at The Armory on May 19, with preview performances beginning May 13, and regular performances running through June 11. Portland Center Stage at The Armory's Artistic Director Chris Coleman will direct this multifaceted love story. Silas Weir Mitchell, who starred as the beloved Blutbad Monroe in NBC's six-season series Grimm, will play the beekeeper Roland. Dana Green, who was last seen at The Armory in Great Expectations and was also featured on Grimm as the Wesen Mabel Kurlon in season four, will play Roland's love interest, the physicist Marianne.

Learn from Broadway stars this summer at Playhouse on Park! Broadway actors Douglas Lyons and Jason Gotay visit the Playhouse as guest teaching artists for the Musical Theatre Preparatory Program. Running from July 10-July 21, this two week full-day intensive musical theatre program introduces and prepares young actors (3rd-8th grade) for future training and/or performance in music, dance and theater. Additionally, both Lyons and Gotay will hold evening master classes for ages 16 and up.   

Theatre for a New Audience has announced casting for British director Simon Godwin's new staging of Measure for Measure, William Shakespeare's dark comedy about justice, faith, power, sex, and family.