The Public Theater News

Award-winning artists and activists are joining forces to bring the #MeToo movement to the stage. Inspired by the women who have come forward with personal accounts of President Donald Trump's sexual harassment and assaults, "The Pussy Grabber Plays" will premiere Monday, January 14 at 9:30 p.m. at Joe's Pub at The Public Theater. An acclaimed, all-female production team will make the play available royalty-free to theaters, community groups and colleges across the country, creating a new platform for survivors of sexual abuse.

The 2017 Tony Award nominee for Best Play and the most-produced play of the 2018-2019 season, A Doll's House, Part 2 makes its Boston debut at the Huntington Theatre Company at the Avenue of the Arts / Huntington Avenue Theatre (264 Huntington Avenue, Boston) in a co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Written by Tony Award nominee Lucas Hnath and directed by Obie Award winner Les Waters, performances will run January 4 through February 3. The press opening will be Wednesday, January 9 at 7pm. 

After his hit production of King Charles III, David Muse returns to Shakespeare Theatre Company to direct Shakespeare's Richard the Third, a mesmerizing chronicle of the megalomaniac's rampage to the throne. The production will play at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) from February 5-March 10, 2019.

Manhattan Theatre Club is hosting the Broadway premiere of Choir Boy, by Tarell Alvin McCraney and directed by Trip Cullman. Get to know the cast below as they begin Broadway performances!

The 2017-2019 Lab Culminates with Free Presentations from Collaborative Partners Shayok Misha Chowdhury & Virginia Grise, Ann Marie Dorr & Paul Ketchum, Jen Goma & Kristine Haruna Lee, Raja Feather Kelly & Daaimah Mubashshir, and Julia Mounsey & Peter Mills Weiss

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces the full company for the world premiere of Kenneth Lin's timely cautionary tale of capitalism run amok, Kleptocracy. Inspired by the power struggle between the richest of the Oligarchs and an ambitious Vladimir Putin after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Lin (House of Cards) explores U.S. - Russia relations then and now. Directed by Jackson Gay, and by special arrangement with Robert Ahrens, Mickey Liddell and Michael Mills, Kleptocracy runs January 18 - February 24, 2019 in the Kreeger Theater.

New year, new Kilroys! For the past five years The Kilroys, an LA-based collective of playwrights/producers continuing the fight to achieve gender balance in the American theater, have been advocating for equal representation on our American stages, and have released an annual list of under-produced plays by women, trans, and non-binary writers. Despite some measurable progress, we still have a long way to go before we strike that balance. So, as we approach 2019, we are beyond thrilled to introduce a fresh new gang of fearless badass leaders. These women will seize our reins and continue the fight for equality, creating random acts of disruption along the way, while the OG Kilroys will serve as an advisory board supporting the current class. 

Lantern Theater Company is thrilled to announce the world premiere of an original adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, commissioned and developed through the Lantern's New Play Program and co-created by Philadelphia-based artists Anthony Lawton, Christopher Colucci, and Thom Weaver. In this wonderfully clear and direct telling of Dickens' beloved novella, Lawton will bring the story boldly to life as only live theater can. Just in time for the holiday season, audiences of all ages are invited to come rediscover this story of a miser's miraculous redemption from a life of bitterness, greed, and isolation. Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol runs Thursday, December 13, 2018, through Sunday, January 6, 2019, in the Black Box Theater at Drexel University's URBN Center Annex; a full schedule of performances is included in the fact sheet below. 

New York City's premier TGNC cabaret returns to The Duplex with their final show of 2018 on Saturday, December 29th at 9:30pm. The show is directed by Donnie Cianciotto, with Musical Direction by Anessa Marie.

Primitive Grace Theater Ensemble will present the World Premiere of MASTER OF THE CROSSROADS written and directed by Obie Award winner and SAG Award nominee Paul Calderon (The Bad Lieutenant, Boardwalk Empire). Previews begin January 16th at The Bridge Theater. Opening is slated for Wednesday, January 23rd.

Taylor Mac's Holiday Sauce, the latest installment of the artist's award-winning A 24-Decade History of Popular Music project, will return to The Town Hall in New York City for another skewering of the sacred and the secular today, December 11th at 8pm. A follow-up to its debut at The Town Hall in December 2017, the show explores Christmas as calamity, upending our yuletide traditions and celebrating the holiday in all of its dysfunction with the families you choose to love.

Bid to win 2 house seats to School of Rock on Broadway plus a backstage tour after the show from ensemble member, Joel Waggoner!

5th Wall Theatre amps up its 2018-2019 season with Pulitzer-nominated Talk Radio starring Scott Wichmann. Written by American stage provocateur and bad-boy Eric Bogosian, Talk Radio gives us a glimpse into the night-life of talk radio host Barry Champlain. Not just a chronicle of radio life, this play weaves together juicy incites and observations on life, love, commercialism, and free speech in America.

There's just two weeks left to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld San Antonio Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

Apple hosted its annual Beer Bash employee gathering in California this week, to celebrate the start of the holiday season, according to Mac Rumors.

Tori Scott returns to the UK this December following her smash-hit run at this summer's Edinburgh Festival. Produced by Robin Rayner Productions, Scott will bring her festive show Vodka is the Reason for the Season to Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff and The Marlborough in Brighton followed by Live at Zedel in London.

The 14th Annual Goodspeed Festival of New Musicals kicks off its much-anticipated three-day festival of brand-new works on Friday, January 18 at The Goodspeed with a staged reading of The Peculiar Tale Of The Prince Of Bohemia And The Society Of Desperate Victorians.  

Crowded Fire Theater (CFT) Crowded Fire's Artistic Director Mina Morita unveiled the 2019 mainstage season lineup including two new plays that continue to uphold the company's long tradition of creating boundary-pushing theater.

Classic Stage Company devotes the beginning of 2019 to the timeless emotional and social resonance of August Strindberg, with new productions of two acclaimed adaptations-Yael Farber's Mies Julie and Conor McPherson's new version of The Dance of Death-presented in repertory.

Evermore Theatre Company is pleased to announce that Christef Desir has joined the Toronto premiere production of Dry Powder.