The Public Theatre News

Classic Stage Company (CSC), under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Jessica R. Jenen, will present two-time Academy Award-winner Dianne Wiest in THE FOREST, by Alexander Ostrovosky, translated by Kathleen Tolan, and directed by Brian Kulick, beginning performances Friday, April 23 at CSC (136 East 13th Street) with an official press opening Thursday, May 6 at 7pm.

Classic Stage Company (CSC), under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Jessica R. Jenen, will present two-time Academy Award-winner Dianne Wiest in THE FOREST, by Alexander Ostrovosky, translated by Kathleen Tolan, and directed by Brian Kulick, beginning performances Friday, April 23 at CSC with an official press opening Thursday, May 6 at 7pm. THE FOREST will also star Obie Award-winning actor John Douglas Thompson, who earned great acclaim last year for his title role performance in Othello at Theatre for a New Audience. THE FOREST will play a limited engagement through Sunday May 30 only.

NEW YORK NEO-FUTURISTS are pleased to present their first prime-time show of the decade in honor of the 30th Anniversary of Women?s History Month, THE SOUP SHOW, written and performed by Desiree Burch, Cara Francis & Erica Livingston, directed by Lauren Sharpe.

The Upright Cabaret is proud to announce the Los Angeles debut of acclaimed singer-songwriter and musical theater composer JEREMY SCHONFELD. The 9:00pm concerts will take place on Friday, February 26 & Saturday, February 27, 2010 at the Upright at Vermont, 1714 Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles CA.

Rising stars of the alternative rock nation, Long Island's Black Suit Youth will be special guests on Jeremy X. Halpern's weekly music show aired on www.Weirdos.TV Jeremy X. Halpern and Black Suit Youth will jam at Halpern's Williamsburg studio on Tuesday March 9, 2010.

Charles L. Mee's fast-paced, physical tragicomedy focuses on a furious battle of the sexes. Love and marriage fuel the fire between the play's men and women, and audiences won't soon forget the intense outcome.

terraNOVA Collective will present three new plays from its 2009 Groundbreakers Playwrights Program February 22nd and March 1st & 8th at Performance Space 122 (150 First Avenue at 9th Street). All readings begin at 7pm. Admission is open to the public with a $5 suggested donation.

This year, Mile Square Theatre's production of its annual fundraiser 7th Inning Stretch features a selection of seven 10-minute plays from some of America's finest writers.

Humor, pathos, romance and suspense fill the rarified Syrian air as Northern Stage presents the first-ever U.S. production of the award-winning Damascus by David Greig, from February 17 through March 7 at the Briggs Opera House in downtown White River Junction, VT, directed by Northern Stage Artistic Director Brooke Ciardelli, featuring Broadway Tony nominee John Herrera.

Following its sold-out run at the Central Square Theater in Cambridge, Harriet Jacobs, Lydia R. Diamond's play that tells the harrowing true story about the life of a slave in the years leading to the Civil War, will make two more stops in New England.

The SF Playhouse (Bill English, Artistic Director; Susi Damilano, Producing Director) announces the casting for its Regional Premiere of Stephen Adly Guirgis's Den of Thieves.

Author Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has taken a different approach to depicting race in his upcoming play, NEIGHBORS, reports the New York Times, set to open at the Public Theatre on February 16th. Jacobs-Jenkins has his black actors play the roles in black face, as was often done in minstrel performances during the Vaudeville era.

Barbara Manocherian, Richard Willis and Anthony Barrile in association with Naked Angels (Geoffrey Nauffts, Artistic Director; John Alexander, Managing Director; Andy Donald, Associate Artistic Director; Brittany O'Neill, Producer) are pleased to announce that the critically acclaimed original cast will return for the Broadway run of NEXT FALL, the new American play by Geoffrey Nauffts and directed by Sheryl Kaller. The production will open on Broadway on Thursday, March 11, 2010 with preview performances beginning Tuesday, February 16, 2010 at the Helen Hayes Theatre (240 West 44th Street).

Charles L. Mee's fast-paced, physical tragicomedy focuses on a furious battle of the sexes. Love and marriage fuel the fire between the play's men and women, and audiences won't soon forget the intense outcome.

The passionate world of opera comes to life in Philadelphia Theatre Company's world premiere of Terrence McNally's Golden Age. Final performance is slated for February 14.

In celebration of Black History Month 2010, The Working Theater (Mark Plesent, Producing Director) will present award-winning Broadway star André De Shields performing his solo work-in-progress entitled Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory: From Douglass to Deliverance. The final performance is slated for February 14. Conceived, researched and written by Mr. De Shields, Mine Eyes is directed by Alfred Preisser, former Artistic Director, Classical Theatre of Harlem, where Mr. De Shields has frequently performed.

Artistic Director/CEO Kate Maguire has announced the schedule for the 2010 Berkshire Theatre Festival season. This season features one world premiere, two musicals, and multiple classics from the theatrical canon. Critically-acclaimed directors David Auburn, Anders Cato, Kyle Fabel, Wes Grantom, Eric Hill, John Rando, and E. Gray Simons III will be charged with bringing this season of theatre that matters to life. Among the actors appearing this year in Stockbridge are Jayne Atkinson, David Chandler, Jeremy Davidson, Richard Easton, Michel Gill, and Randy Harrison.

Executive Producer Lou Spisto today announced principal casting for the Globe's 2010 Shakespeare Festival performed in repertory.

WeildWorks is pleased to announce the New York Premiere of Fêtes de la Nuit, Charles L. Mee's sexy meditation on lust, beauty and the divine experience of love.

Talk about a makeover. Just over one year ago, Diane Paulus was merely a freelance director with a hit on her hands. Now, that hit - Hair - is a Tony Award winning musical, and she a Tony-nominated director, newly appointed Artistic Director of one of the most prestigious regional theaters in the country (A.R.T. in Boston), and soon to be triple tasking on productions on Broadway, in London, and at her theater in Boston. Did I mention she's also a mother of two?