Full casting is today announced for the world premiere of the new musical GROUNDHOG DAY, which previews at the Old Vic from July 11 with a press night on August 16. Carlyss Peer will play Rita Hanson, alongside the previously announced Andy Karl in the role of Phil Connors. Eugene McCoy plays cameraman Larry, and the ensemble cast includes Leo Andrew, David Birch, Ste Clough, Roger Dipper, Georgina Hagen, Kieran Jae, Julie Jupp, Andrew Langtree, Vicki Lee Taylor, Emma Lindars, Antonio Magro, Carolyn Maitland, Kirsty Malpass, Lisa Mathieson, Jenny O'Leary, Leanne Pinder, Mark Pollard, Damien Poole, Jack Shalloo, Andrew Spillett and Spencer Stafford.
New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) presents HADESTOWN, written by celebrated singer-songwriter Anais Mitchell and developed with and directed by the inventive two-time OBIE award-winning director Rachel Chavkin (Three Pianos; Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812).
Windy City Playhouse, Chicago's most sophisticated new theater, presents the off-Broadway hit This, a tart 'melanchomedy' centering on four educated, artistically inclined thirtysomething New Yorkers whose longtime friendship is tested by an act of infidelity. Writer, director and playwright Carl Menninger (a former Deerfield native) returns home from Washington, D.C. to direct this piercing, beautifully crafted new play for lovers of language by Melissa James Gibson. Previews for This begin Wednesday, June 15 at Windy City Playhouse, 3014 W. Irving Park.
Ghostlight Records will release a special EP of world-premiere recordings by acclaimed singer/songwriter SHAINA TAUB - which she wrote for and performed in the hit Off-Broadway production of Old Hats - on Friday, April 29.
Artistic Director Molly Smith announces Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and author Ayad Akhtar as Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater's next resident playwright as part of the American Voices New Play Institute, effective July 2016 through June 2017. Akhtar's emotionally-charged drama Disgraced, which won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, completes Arena Stage's 2015/16 season. Now in previews, the production officially opens April 28 and runs through May 29, 2016.
Abrons Arts Center presents the New York City premieres of EMPATHY SCHOOL / LOVE STORY, a program of two monologues, with video and original music, written and directed by Aaron Landsman.
Sundance Institute today announced the acting company, dramaturgs and creative advisors participating in its pilot Theatre Lab in the MENA region, including Sandra Oh, Hoon Lee, Deanna Dunagan, Hala Omran and Raeda Taha. The Lab, held in Morocco next month, is part of the Institute's international cultural exchange programs for independent artists and will kick off a new, multi-year commitment to support artists from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). For the Lab, the Institute will provide promising, fresh voices from the U.S. and MENA region with a rigorous artistic retreat and new opportunities for cross-cultural discovery, artistic reflection and creative experimentation.
It's only appropriate that Tommy, who's committed to diversity and an int'l perspective in theater, is helming an Africa-set play that's Broadway's first ever whose writer, director and cast are all black women.
Abrons Arts Center presents the New York City premieres of EMPATHY SCHOOL / LOVE STORY, a program of two monologues, with video and original music, written and directed by Aaron Landsman.
New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) has announced the cast for HADESTOWN, written by celebrated singer-songwriter Anais Mitchell and developed with and directed by the inventive two-time OBIE award-winning director Rachel Chavkin (Three Pianos; Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812).
To close its 32nd season the Undermain Theatre will present the World Premiere of Len Jenkin's Johan at 3200 Main Street in Deep Ellum. The premiere will open on Saturday, April 16 - curtain time 8:15 with the playwright in attendance. Preview performances will be on April 13th, 14th, and 15th. The production will run through May 7th.
Due to popular pre-sale demand, Aurora Theatre Company announces that it will again extend the West Coast Premiere of Sarah Treem's (Netflix's House of Cards, HBO's In Treatment, Showtime's The Affair) thought-provoking THE HOW AND THE WHY, the third fully staged production to be performed in the company's second stage performance space, Harry's UpStage. Acclaimed Bay Area actress and director Joy Carlin (Talley's Folly, After the Revolution, Body Awareness, Jack Goes Boating, Awake and Sing!) helms this intimate and keenly perceptive play. The company will add an additional two weeks of performances to the previously extended run dates. Originally extended through May 8, THE HOW AND THE WHY now plays through May 22nd (added performances: Tuesday, May 10, 7pm; Wednesday, May 11, 8pm; Thursday, May 12, 8pm; Friday, May 13, 8pm; Saturday, May 14, 8pm; Sunday, May 15, 2pm; Tuesday, May 17, 7pm; Wednesday, May 18, 8pm; Thursday, May 19, 8pm; Friday, May 20, 8pm; Saturday, May 21, 8pm; Sunday, May 22, 2pm) at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. For tickets ($35-45) and information the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org.
Williamstown Theatre Festival has announced that HANNAH AND THE DREAD GAZEBO by Jiehae Park is the 2016 L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award recipient. Jiehae will also receive The Jay Harris Commission to write a new play, a prize worth $10,000.
Sundance Institute today announced the eight new projects selected for its pilot Theatre Lab in the MENA region, held in Morocco, May 2016. The Lab is part of the Institute's international cultural exchange programs for independent artists, which include a new, multi-year commitment to support artists from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), broadening the work of its East African Theatre Exchange over the past 15 years. For the Lab, the Institute will provide promising, fresh voices from the U.S. and MENA region with a rigorous artistic retreat and new opportunities for cross-cultural discovery, artistic reflection and creative experimentation.
Playhouse Creatures Theatre Company will host a post-show discussion centered on the later work of Tennessee Williams following the March 5, 3pm performance of Tennessee Williams 1982. The participants include Tony-winning playwright John Guare, scholar and writer David Savran, scholar and current Tennessee Williams' editor Thomas Keith, and professor and writer Annette J. Saddik.
Aurora Theatre Company presents the West Coast Premiere of Sarah Treem's (Netflix's House of Cards, HBO's In Treatment) thought-provoking THE HOW AND THE WHY. Acclaimed Bay Area actress and director Joy Carlin (Talley's Folly, After the Revolution, Body Awareness, Jack Goes Boating, Awake and Sing!) helms this intimate and keenly perceptive play, featuring Nancy Carlin (The Monster-Builder, Hysteria, Benefactors) and Martha Brigham (San Francisco Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse). The third fully staged production to be performed at the company's second stage performance space, Harry's UpStage, THE HOW AND THE WHY plays March 18 through May 8 at the Aurora Theatre Company in Berkeley. For tickets ($35-45) and information the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org.
Actors Theatre of Louisville Artistic Director Les Waters and Managing Director Jennifer Bielstein are delighted to announce the three ten-minute plays chosen to be performed during the 40th Humana Festival of New American Plays.
Arena Stage announces casting for the final production of the 2015/16 season, Ayad Akhtar's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Disgraced. Director Timothy Douglas (Arena's King Hedley II) tackles this emotionally-charged play by Akhtar, author of the novel 'American Dervish' and currently the most produced playwright in the United States. Hailed as 'emotionally shattering, a smart and provocative work of unusual daring that should be seen by anyone who cares about serious theater' by Newsday, Disgraced runs April 22-May 29, 2016 in the Kreeger Theater.
Sundance Institute today announced the seven artists selected for the 2016 Playwrights & Composers Retreat at Ucross Foundation in Wyoming, February 2-20. The retreat is one of the 25 residency Labs the Institute hosts each year for independent artists in theatre, film, new media and episodic content, and is made possible through the generosity of the Ucross Foundation. Over 90 Sundance artists have benefitted from time at Ucross Foundation including Charlayne Woodard, Jeanine Tesori, Doug Wright, Annie Baker, Adam Guettel, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Tanya Saracho.
The Weston Playhouse Theatre Company announces Kirsten Childs' Bella: An American Tall Tale as the winner of its tenth annual New Musical Award. The only honor of its kind in the country, the Weston New Musical Award supports the production of a high-quality demo of a new work by writers and composers of notable promise, chosen from a group of national nominations.