The Public Theater News

This November, The Marsh San Francisco presents C.W. Nevius' The Oakland Raiders, True Crime & Coming of Age in SF. Thirty-eight years ago, Nevius came to San Francisco from a small newspaper in Colorado Springs, to work at the San Francisco Chronicle. Assigned to cover the Oakland Raiders, Nevius was taken along for the ride of his life to the Super Bowl. He was also involved in covering the story of a shocking sexual assault case at the University of San Francisco, featuring an All-American basketball player. Throughout these experiences, many lessons were learned, many from a crusty, chain-smoking editor from - of all places - Oklahoma. Directed by David Ford and written and performed by Nevius, The Oakland Raiders, True Crime & Coming of Age in SF will be presented November 16-December 15, 2018 (press opening: November 30) with performances 8:00pm Fridays and 8:30pm Saturdays at The Marsh San Francisco Studio, 1062 Valencia St., San Francisco. For tickets ($20-$35 sliding scale, $55-$100 reserved) or more information, the public may visit www.themarsh.org or call The Marsh Box office at 415-282-3055 (open Monday through Friday, 1pm-4pm).

Get a first look below at Actors Theatre of Louisville's production of A Doll's House, Part 2, onstage from October 2 - November 4, presented as part of the Brown-Forman Series. Obie Award-winning playwright and Humana Festival alumnus Lucas Hnath's work takes the stage in Louisville once again with A Doll's House, Part 2, imagining protagonist Nora's return 15 years after the final, iconic moments of Henrik Ibsen's seminal masterpiece A Doll's House.

Check out rehearsal photos for Henry V at Hartford Stage below!

The loss of Michael Friedman hit the Broadway community hard as a great talent was swept from the stage. According to social media personality Laura Heywood/BroadwayGirlNYC, the Vineyard may have an unheard musical by the late composer-lyricist in development.

Producer Diana DiMenna (The Great Comet, Three Tall Women) is proud to present the return engagement of The Public Theater production of Black Light. Performances began at the Greenwich House Theater (27 Barrow Street) on September 24 and will continue through December 31, with an opening night set for October 10.

Marking the halfway point in its commitment to present all 10 plays of August Wilson's American Century Cycle, Two River Theater announces the complete cast and creative team for its production of Wilson's "exhilarating" (The New York Times) and incendiary drama King Hedley II, directed by Brandon J. Dirden. For the first time, the theater will be presenting one of Wilson's plays in its intimate 110-seat Marion Huber Theater, with performances beginning on November 10 and continuing for an extended five-week run through Sunday, December 16. The opening night performance is Friday, November 16 at 7pm. Tickets are available from 732.345.1400 or tworivertheater.org. The production sponsors are Monmouth University and Collex Collision Experts.

Renee Elise Goldsberry, the Tony Award-winning star of Hamilton, will bring her solo concert to San Francisco's Marines' Memorial Theatre (609 Sutter St.) today, October 12 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, October 13 at 8 p.m. Presented by 'Feinstein's Presents'-Feinstein's at the Nikko's series showcasing world-class performers at larger venues throughout the Bay Area-Renee and her complement of backup singers will have the audience on their feet stomping and clapping to the high energy, non-denominational spiritual journey reminiscent of a good old-fashioned revival. Tickets for Renee Elise Goldsberry range in price from $80-$115 and are available by calling 866-663-1063 or visiting www.ticketfly.com.

This holiday season, The Marsh Berkeley brings Lisa Rothman's Dragon in the Drop-Off Lane to the Marsh Discovery Series, which showcases work under development. After her kids dodge bullets at the local park, Rothman seeks respite by bringing them to a Winter Solstice Carnival in the ritzy town where she grew up. Holding the acorn pouch she purchased for $30, Lisa can't wait to use the acorns to pay for the pagan caroling, the gingerbread man decorating, and the puppet show. But now finds she's dodging a sanctimonious parent-volunteer in Lululemon yoga pants, a fire-breathing dragon, and - the most formidable opponent of all - her father. The stage is set for a heartfelt farce in which Lisa must reckon with what her parenting choices have cost her children. Dragon in the Drop-Off Lane will be presented November 29-December 22, 2018 with performances 7:30pm Thursdays and 5:00pm Saturdays at The Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. For tickets ($20-$35 sliding scale, $55-$100 reserved) or more information, the public may visit www.themarsh.org or call The Marsh Box office at 415-282-3055 (open Monday through Friday, 1pm-4pm).

Target Margin Theater (Founding Artistic Director David Herskovits, Associate Artistic Director Moe Yousuf) is proud to present a remount of its acclaimed production, Pay No Attention to the Girl, for a limited three week run (October 25-November 11). The production brings to life interwoven stories about the sexes - their conflicts, their love, their tricks -from various translations / transmissions of The One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Silk Road, MENA (Middle Eastern / North African), and South Asian tales.

The Lark is thrilled to announce five plays and playwrights have been chosen through its Open Access Program for the 25th Annual Playwrights' Week. This year's plays, selected from a pool of over 1,200 submissions, will be: Sistren by Erin Buckley; Even Flowers Bloom in Hell, Sometimes by Franky D. Gonzalez; As Is: Conversations With Big Black Women in Confined Spaces by Stacey Rose; form of a girl unknown by Charly Evon Simpson; and Desarrollo by Juliany Taveras. The selected playwrights will participate in an intensive seven-day retreat, designed to foster a peer-based community among the writers, their creative teams, and The Lark's staff.

Julian Rozzell Jr, who portrayed the role of Harlan in seasons one and two of the Martin Scorsese produced HBO series Boardwalk Empire, has joined the cast of the staged reading of Christian Elder's provocative adult drama Insex, to be held at The Billie Holiday Theatre on Monday October 15 at 7pm.

The Public Theater has announced a special one-night-only performance of LOOKING FOR EUROPE, written and performed by philosopher, activist, and filmmaker Bernard-Henri Le?vy.

Tony Award-winning actress, singer and performer Idina Menzel's music video for her studio version of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" is out now. Watch/share the video HERE. The song comes from her upcoming album idina: live which is slated for release October 12. Along with "Bridge Over Troubled Water," Menzel recently released her live versions of Rent's "Seasons of Love," and "Don't Rain on My Parade" which premiered at Playbill and TheaterMania respectively. 

DOC NYC, America's largest documentary festival, announced the full lineup for its ninth edition, running November 8-15 at the IFC Center in Greenwich Village and Chelsea's SVA Theatre and Cinepolis Chelsea. The 2018 festival includes 135 feature-length documentaries among over 300 films and events overall. Included are 42 world premieres and 17 U.S. or North American premieres, with more than 500 doc makers and special guests expected in person to present their films or participate on panels.

Eowyn Ivey's debut novel The Snow Child is reborn as a magical new musical featuring a score that combines Alaskan string-band traditions and contemporary musical theater. On November 17t, SubCulture will present the show in a concert adaptation featuring KATE BALDWIN, MATT BOGART, FINA STRAZZA, GERARD CANONICO, SALLY MAYES and WILLIAM PARRY.

The New York premiere of Ngozi Anyanwu's GOOD GRIEF, directed by Awoye Timpo, will begin performances the Vineyard Theatre (108 East 15th Street) on Thursday, October 11.  Opening night is set for Tuesday, October 30th.

BroadwayWorld has just learned that Broadway writer and lyricist and Tony nominee Ira Gasman passed away on Saturday, October 6, in Norfolk, Virginia. He was 76 years old.

Juilliard's Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Zeger, opens its opera season with Britten's The Turn of the Screw, featuring Juilliard singers and the Juilliard Orchestra, conducted by Steven Osgood and directed by John Giampietro, on Wednesday, November 14 and Friday, November 16, 2018, at 7:30pm, and Sunday, November 18, 2018, at 2pm in Juilliard's Peter Jay Sharp Theater.

Today, influencer and talent manager ChiChi Anyanwu of the NYC Black Theater Network, Marcia Pendelton, President of Walk Tall Girl Productions/Black Theater Online, and the award-winning Vineyard Theatre (Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern, Artistic Directors; Suzanne Appel, Managing Director) announced BLACK PLAYWRIGHTS: THEY SPEAK. WHO LISTENS? A Black Theater Fall Preview: Off Broadway Edition. The event is scheduled at Vineyard Theatre (108 E. 15th Street) on Monday, October 15, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. Four-time Tony Award-winning producer Ron Simons of SimonSays Entertainment (A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Porgy & Bess, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Jitney) will host the program whose purpose is to bring attention to the unprecedented number of plays by black playwrights being produced Off-Broadway this season.

The Notting Hill Carnival comes to Illyria, bathing its mournful sadness in music and colour; this concept couldn't be more apt, given the tragedies the West London community has gone through in recent times, though coming out as resilient as ever. In 2016, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Oskar Eustis and Shaina Taub reimagined Shakespeare's popular comedy as a shortened musical version, forming part of the Public Theater's Public Works Programme (it also had another run this summer, during Shakespeare in the Park) - and now opening Kwei-Armah's tenure as Artistic Director of the Young Vic.