The Public Theatre News

Australian cabaret artist KIM SMITH returns to Joe's Pub at the Public Theatre with 'MORPHIUM,' a dark and whimsical evocation of the decadence and decay of 1930's Europe. Singing in German, French, and English, Kim Smith reinterprets works by Weimar-era composers, and modern-day artists alike, from Mischa Spoliansky and the Supremes, to Kurt Weill and Kylie Minogue, as he charts a ruinous path through the arrivals and departures of a neo-Weimar, musical misfit. Jerry Steichen accompanies on piano, Christian Coulson directs.

Gregory Itzin (TV's '24,' Broadway's ENRON) has been cast in a multi-episode arc on the new USA Network drama Covert Affairs.

Pascal Productions is pleased to announce that the role of Mexican painter, Diego Rivera, in the World Premiere production of MODOTTI, will now be played by Marco Greco (Behind The Counter With Mussolini and Den of Thieves).

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC) is pleased to announce thecasting for the company's 15 th annual free Shakespeare on the Common production, WilliamShakespeare's immortal drama, Othello, directed by CSC Founding Artistic Director Steven Maler. Othello will be performed at the Parkman Bandstand on Boston Common from July 28 to August 15.

Leigh Silverman is set to direct a reading of CHINGLISH June 10 and 11. The reading will take place at The Lark Play Development Center in association with the Public Theatre.

Know Theatre of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Fringe Festival is proud to announce The 2010 Cincinnati Fringe Festival. The 7th annual festival is scheduled to kick-off June 1st with CityBeat's official Fringe Kick-off Party. The festival will continue through June 12th with 29 productions and more than 170 artists.

Miracle Theatre Group and Staged! Portland's Musical Theatre Series present a collaborative production of SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD. Music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown

Variety reports today that John Guare's FREE MAN OF COLOR, which will premiere at Lincoln Center next season, is the recipient of a $100,000 grant from National Actors Theater Foundation. The Tony Randall Theatrical Fund has granted Lincoln Center an additiona, undisclosed amount of money to help support it's production of non-profit shows. Both organizations are run by late actor Tony Randall's daughter, Heather.

The BMI-Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop announces its Spring Smoker, a semi-annual showcase for new songs from Workshop writers. The event will be held at the The Actors Temple Theatre, 339 West 47th Street, (between 8th and 9th Aves) at 5:30PM and is open to members of the entertainment industry as well as Workshop members.

This spring, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Center Theatre Group present In the Wake, a powerful world premiere from the creators of Broadway's Well. Obie Award-winners Lisa Kron and Leigh Silverman reunite for a searing show which questions whether we as Americans appreciate our freedom.

Previews will begin today at Virginia's Signature Theatre for the world premiere musical Sycamore Trees written by Ricky Ian Gordon, the award-winning composer of the opera The Grapes of Wrath and the musicals Dream True and My Life with Albertine. A starry Broadway cast portrays Gordon's own family story - complete with a tough Bronx-born father and former 'Borscht Belt' singer/comedian mother - in a tale of two generations' struggles and triumphs in the decades from World War II through the 1990s.

After three successful years of the Playwrights of New York (PONY) Fellowship, the Lark PlayDevelopmentCenter is proud to announce that playwright Tommy Smith will be the 2010-11 PONY Fellow, one of the most unique artist fellowships in the country. He will succeed Katori Hall (Olivier Award, THE MOUNTAINTOP) in October 2010.

Signature Theatre, the current recipient of the Tony Award® for Regional Theatre, presents the world premiere musical Sycamore Trees by Ricky Ian Gordon, composer of the acclaimed opera The Grapes of Wrath and the OBIE Award-winning Orpheus and Euridice, as well as the musicals My Life with Albertine and Dream True.

Whidbey Island Center for the Arts and Hedgebrook present THE WOMEN PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL at WICA, 565 Camano Avenue, on Sunday, May 16 at 4.00pm.

The WEIRD gets cinematic! Jeremy X. Halpern will be exporting his weirdness to the South of France to broadcast live from the fabulous Cannes Film Festival. Mr. X will be reviewing the premiere of Mathieu Amalric's Tournée and Woody Allen's You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, and of course will be attending all the best parties! Celebrities and fashion will be robbed of their normality at Cannes this year

The award-winning actor PETER FRANCIS JAMES ('Stuff Happens') has joined the cast of PROPHECY, Karen Malpede's play which will begin previews Off-Broadway on May 29 prior to an official press opening on June 8 at the East Fourth Street Theatre (83 E. 4 St.) in Manhattan.

The WEIRD gets cinematic! Jeremy X. Halpern will be exporting his weirdness to the South of France to broadcast live from the fabulous Cannes Film Festival. Mr. X will be reviewing the premiere of Mathieu Amalric's Tournée and Woody Allen's You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, and of course will be attending all the best parties! Celebrities and fashion will be robbed of their normality at Cannes this year

Whidbey Island Center for the Arts and Hedgebrook present THE WOMEN PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL at WICA, 565 Camano Avenue, on Sunday, May 16 at 4.00pm.

THROUGH THE NIGHT, a solo play written and performed by Obie-Award winner Daniel Beaty, will open off Broadway at The Riverside Theatre, 91 Claremont Avenue on Friday, May 7th (Previews begin on May 4th). THROUGH THE NIGHT, recently premiered as a co-production with the Crossroads Theatre (New Brunswick, NJ) and The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles to great acclaim.

Helen Stenborg and Stephen McKinley Henderson have been named to receive the annual Richard Seff Award presented by the Actors' Equity Foundation. The award, a $1,000 check and crystal trophy for each, honors a veteran female and male character actor for the best performance in a supporting role in a Broadway or Off-Broadway production.