The Royal Shakespeare Company News

Theatre for a New Audience and director, Arin Arbus, is set to present Othello. The show will feature John Douglas Thompson as Othello, Ned Eisenberg as Iago, and Juliet Rylance as Desdemona. Previews begin February 14 at 7 pm. The show opens February 22.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company continues its 2008-09 Season with Hell Meets Henry Halfway, conceived and created by the Pig Iron Theatre Company, with text by Adriano Shaplin, after Possessed by Polish novelist Witold Gombrowicz. The Pig Iron production, directed by Dan Rothenberg, performs February 2 to March 1, 2009, beginning with two Pay-What-You-Can performances on February 2 and 3 at 8pm. Woolly Mammoth is located at 641 D Street, NW (7th & D).

The Drama Desk and Obie Award-wining Mint Theater Company (Jonathan Bank, Artistic Director) continues the 2008-2009 season with The Widowing Of Mrs. Holroyd by D.H. Lawrence beginning February 4th. In conjunction with that, they will present a series of play readings, speakers and discussions to add to the experience, all under the banner 'EnrichMINT events.' READINGS - $35 each or $95 for all three (save $10) January 19th, 2009 at 7:30 PM The Marrying Of Ann Leete by Harley Granville Barker, directed by Gus Kaikkonen with Mary Bacon, Ross Bickel, Chet Carlin, Paul Coffey, Jack Davidson, Kurt Everhart, Jonathan Hogan, Allison McLemore, Chris Mixon, Thomas M. Hammond, Laurie Kennedy, Lee Moore, Patti Perkins, Saxon Palmer, Sandra Struthers-Clerc, Marc LaVasseur, and Kyle Yackoski

The Drama Desk and Obie Award-wining Mint Theater Company (Jonathan Bank, Artistic Director) continues the 2008-2009 season with The Widowing Of Mrs. Holroyd by D.H. Lawrence beginning February 4th. In conjunction with that, they will present a series of play readings, speakers and discussions to add to the experience, all under the banner 'EnrichMINT events.' READINGS - $35 each or $95 for all three (save $10) January 19th, 2009 at 7:30 PM The Marrying Of Ann Leete by Harley Granville Barker, directed by Gus Kaikkonen with Mary Bacon, Ross Bickel, Chet Carlin, Paul Coffey, Jack Davidson, Kurt Everhart, Jonathan Hogan, Allison McLemore, Chris Mixon, Thomas M. Hammond, Laurie Kennedy, Lee Moore, Patti Perkins, Saxon Palmer, Sandra Struthers-Clerc, Marc LaVasseur, and Kyle Yackoski Written in 1899 when Granville Barker was 22, Ann Leete was the first play that Barker wrote without a collaborator. The Stage Society presented the play in 1901 but it was not seen again until the Royal Shakespeare Company produced it in 1975 with Mia Farrow in the title role. 'Its absence from the stage for more than two generations was unfortunate for English drama:' writes Dennis Kennedy in Granville Barker and the Dream of Theater, 'It is an extraordinary piece...' The play has never been produced in the U.S.

The 14th Annual Ford Honors will be held on January 24th at 6pm in Rackham Auditorium, 915 East Washington Street in Ann Arbor. The event will honor the Royal Shakespeare Company and its artistic director Michael Boyd, as well as the retiring U-M Professor of English Ralph Williams. The Ford Honors Program is a benefit that supports UMS's nationally-acclaimed arts education program. It is sponsored by Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services. The Ford Honors Program celebrates the partnership between the University Musical Society, University of Michigan and the Royal Shakespeare Company. The evening will pay tribute to Boyd and Williams and will include a performance by members of the RSC. Following the performance there will be a benefit dinner held at the Michigan League Ballroom. There will be a presentation of the UMS School and Educator of the Year Awards. The gala dinner includes the presentation of the UMS School and Educator of the Year Awards, sponsored by DTE Energy Foundation. Tickets may be purchased for the concert only, or for the gala dinner (which includes concert tickets).

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company continues its 2008-09 Season with Hell Meets Henry Halfway, conceived and created by the Pig Iron Theatre Company, with text by Adriano Shaplin, after Possessed by Polish novelist Witold Gombrowicz. The Pig Iron production, directed by Dan Rothenberg, performs February 2 to March 1, 2009, beginning with two Pay-What-You-Can performances on February 2 and 3 at 8pm. Woolly Mammoth is located at 641 D Street, NW (7th & D).

McCarter Theatre Center announces the complete cast of George Bernard Shaw's still provocative Mrs. Warren's Profession, the third show of the theater's 2008-2009 season. Directed by McCarter Artistic Director Emily Mann, the production will feature Suzanne Bertish, Robin Chadwick, Edward Hibbert, Madeleine Hutchins, Michael Izquierdo, and Rocco Sisto. Mrs. Warren's Profession begins performances in the Berlind Theatre on Friday, January 9 and runs through February 15. (Press opening Friday, January 16).

Court Theatre continues its 2008-09 season with the World Premiere translation of Henrik Ibsen's modernist classic The Wild Duck, directed by Artistic Director Charles Newell. The production will run at the MCA Stage at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 East Chicago Avenue, January 15 - February 15, 2009.

Spoleto Festival USA announced today its complete 2009 program that will see 120 performing arts performances take place in Charleston during the 17-day season, May 22 - June 7. Tickets for the 2009 Spoleto Festival USA are on sale now.

McCarter Theatre Center announces the complete cast of George Bernard Shaw's still provocative Mrs. Warren's Profession, the third show of the theater's 2008-2009 season. Directed by McCarter Artistic Director Emily Mann, the production will feature Suzanne Bertish, Robin Chadwick, Edward Hibbert, Madeleine Hutchins, Michael Izquierdo, and Rocco Sisto. Mrs. Warren's Profession begins performances in the Berlind Theatre on Friday, January 9 and runs through February 15. (Press opening Friday, January 16).

Chicago Shakespeare Theater's (CST) international programming initiative, the World's Stage Series, brings to Chicago Michael Pennington's Sweet William, a one-man show melding biography with performance of the life and works of Shakespeare for 20 performances only February 3-22, 2009 Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.chicagoshakes.com/william.

According to the web site for the Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Andre Bishop, Artistic Director, and Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer) it's new production of August Wilson's award-winning play Joe Turner's Come And Gone has finally found a home - at Broadway's Belasco Theater. The show will open on April 16, 2009, with previews beginning March 19, 2009.

Sam Mendes directs a transatlantic company of actors in a double-bill of classic works for The Bridge Project's inaugural 2009 season, which pairs a new version of The Cherry Orchard by Tom Stoppard with The Winter's Tale. A formidable transatlantic company and creative team will mount these two new productions for seven internationally renowned theaters. Simon Russell Beale leads the British/American cast, playing Lopakhin in The Cherry Orchard and Leontes in The Winter's Tale. He is joined by Sin?ad Cusack as Madame Ranevskaya and Paulina, Richard Easton as Firs and Old Shepherd, Rebecca Hall as Varya and Hermione, Josh Hamilton as Yasha and Polixenes, Ethan Hawke as Trofimov and Autolycus, and Paul Jesson as Gaev and Camilo.

Court Theatre continues its 2008-09 season with the World Premiere translation of Henrik Ibsen's modernist classic The Wild Duck, directed by Artistic Director Charles Newell. The production will run at the MCA Stage at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 East Chicago Avenue, January 15 - February 15, 2009.

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Andre Bishop, Artistic Director, and Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer) has announced that it will present a new production of August Wilson's award-winning play Joe Turner's Come And Gone, to be directed by Bartlett Sher this spring , while its production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific continues its run at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.

59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer) is thrilled to welcome Dublin, Ireland's Rough Magic Theatre Company in their US premiere with their masterful wartime musical comedy IMPROBABLE FREQUENCY, with book and lyrics by Arthur Riordan and music by Bell Helicopter.

Tony Award winners Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons return to Broadway to star together in the world premiere of Impressionism, a new American play by Michael Jacobs. The production, which will be directed by Tony Award-winner Jack O'Brien, will play the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, reports The New York Times.

Outrageous TV chat show king Graham Norton, comedienne Mel Giedroyc, 'Hairspray' leading man Michael Ball, opera diva Lesley Garrett and the stars of 'Jersey Boys' are to add glamour to the biggest and glitziest gathering of stars in the theatre year - the Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Awards launch party.

The award-winning Broadway musical MARY POPPINS celebrates its two-year anniversary at the New Amsterdam Theatre (214 West 42nd Street) on Sunday, November 16. Produced by Cameron Mackintosh and Thomas Schumacher of Disney Theatrical Productions, the Broadway production has grossed over $100 million to date and will have played 837 performances by Sunday.

Michael Attenborough will direct the European premiere of Neil LaBute's new play, In a Dark Dark House, which runs at the Almeida from 20 November 2008 - 17 January 2009, with press night on 27 November. In a Dark Dark House is designed by Lez Brotherston, with lighting by Howard Harrison and sound by Howard Wood.