TheatreWorks News

Marin Theatre Company's artistic director Jasson Minadakis and managing director Michael Barker announced the company's 2013-14 season today. Featuring six productions in MTC's intimate 231-seat Boyer Theatre, the season includes the regional premiere of David Lindsay-Abaire's national sensation Good People; a revival of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play Fences;world premieres of I and You by Bay Area-based playwright Lauren Gunderson and Lasso of Truth, which MTC commissioned from Carson Kreitzer with the support of the National New Play Network; the west coast premiere of Philip Dawkins' "whimsical beyond all imagining" Failure: A Love Story; and a unique holiday production of Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol by Tom Mula. Based in Mill Valley, MTC is a 47-year old professional nonprofit theater, a destination for exhilarating performances, inspired new American plays and powerful theatrical experiences.

TheatreWorks, the nationally acclaimed theatre of Silicon Valley, presents BEING EARNEST, the 'Wilde' new musical from Tony Award-nominated composer/lyricist Paul Gordon (TheatreWorks' hits Emma, Daddy Long Legs, and Broadway's Jane Eyre) and Grammy and Emmy-nominated composer Jay Gruska. A hit at TheatreWorks' 2012 New Works Festival, this lively and lyrical adaptation of The Importance of Being Earnest resets Oscar Wilde's comic masterpiece in 1965 London's swingin' Carnaby Street. BEING EARNEST, helmed by TheatreWorks Artistic Director Robert Kelley, plays at TheatreWorks at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts tonight, April 3 - 28, 2013 (press opening April 6). Scroll down for a look at the cast!

Arizona Theatre Company (ATC) closes its 2012-2013 season with the eagerly anticipated Arizona premiere of Bruce Norris' multi-award-winning, provocative new comedy, "Clybourne Park." Performances will be held at The Herberger Theater Center in downtown Phoenix May 2 through May 19, 2013. ATC season sponsors are I. Michael and Beth Kasser. Phoenix production sponsor is Zazu Pannee Park Regent.

Marin Theatre Company, in a co-production with Virginia Stage Company, stages the regional premiere of Matthew Lopez's Civil War drama The Whipping Man in Mill Valley from March 28 to April 21, 2013. MTC's artistic director Jasson Minadakis directs the production. Featuring popular Bay Area actors L. Peter Callender, Nicholas Pelczar and Tobie Windham, as well as the design team from MTC's 2011 San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award nominated production of Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie, this co-production rehearsed and ran at VSC in Norfolk, Virginia, from February 26 to March 17, 2013, before tonight's move to MTC. Opening night at MTC is tonight, April 2.

TheatreWorks New Milford's is now offering new opportunities for local youths to learn key performance techniques with a new course for kids ages 10 to 15 entitled STAGE ACTING FOR YOUTHS beginning Saturday April 6. Instructor Robin Frome, who has an MA in Dramatic Literature and a BFA in Acting, will be the instructor for this three week course taking place on Saturdays and Tuesdays. The course includes the basics of auditioning, improvisation, solo performance, stage dialects and Shakespeare with ample opportunity for individualized attention. These concepts and skills help strengthen the young thespian so that he or she has the abilities and confidence to pursue a performance career in high school and college theater, from first audition to final curtain. Fee is $125.00 for six classes.

I Am Harvey Milk, the new oratorio with music and words by Tony and Grammy Award nominee Andrew Lippa, will have its world premiere at The Nourse Auditorium (201-299 Hayes Street, San Francisco) as part of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus 35th Anniversary Celebration concert, "Harvey Milk 2013." The special two-night engagement will take place at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 27 and Friday, June 28. Starring Mr. Lippa as Harvey Milk and Tony Award-winner Laura Benanti as the Soprano soloist, I Am Harvey Milk is directed by Noah Himmelstein, conducted by Dr. Timothy Seelig, orchestrated by August Eriksmoen, and will feature the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus accompanied by the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony. I Am Harvey Milk is produced by Bruce Cohen, in association with Robb Nanus and Jessica Leventhal.

TheatreWorks, the nationally acclaimed theatre of Silicon Valley, will stage its annual TheatreWorks Honors gala event June 15. The evening's honorees, Tony Award-winning Broadway playwright and Joe DiPietro (Memphis, Nice Work If You Can Get It) and Chairman of Fenwick & West law firm Gordon Davidson, will be celebrated for their unwavering dedication to bringing forth vision, innovation, and creativity to the Silicon Valley and national arts communities.

E.B. White's loving story of the friendship between a pig and a spider comes to life when Theatreworks/USA presents "Charlotte's Web" at Mercer County Community College's Kelsey Theatre on Saturday, April 20 at 2 and 4 p.m. Kelsey Theatre is located on the college's West Windsor campus, 1200 Old Trenton Road.

This May, TheatreWorks New Milford will debut legendary playwright Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, SEASCAPE.

Horse Trade Theater Group (Artistic Director Heidi Grumelot, Executive Director Erez Ziv) will present a special two-night engagement of SHUT UP, EMILY DICKINSON, written by Tanya O'Debra (RadioStar; The O'Debra Twins) and directed by Stephen Brackett (American River with Lesser America). The production will star O'Debra along with Gregg Bellon and will feature Original Music by Andrew Mauriello and Costume Design by Michele Ritchie.

Playwrights Horizons, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tim Sanford and Managing Director Leslie Marcus, has announced the sixth and final production of its 2013/2014 Season.

TheatreWorks, the nationally acclaimed theatre of Silicon Valley, presents the hilarious new play WILD WITH HAPPY written by and starring award-winning playwright Colman Domingo. The production plays previews Wednesday, June 5 to Friday, June 7, 2013, with a press opening on Saturday, June 8, 2013. WILD WITH HAPPY will close on Sunday, June 30, 2013.

Paper Mill Playhouse, a not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to rediscovering and re-imagining classic musicals and plays, announces Children's Theater programming for Spring 2013. The Children's Theater Series provides charming, engaging and educational performances perfect for children.

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) announced today complete details for FAR FROM HEAVEN, a new musical with book by Tony Award winner and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Richard Greenberg (Take Me Out, Three Days of Rain, the current Breakfast at Tiffany's and The Assembled Parties both now on Broadway), music by Tony Award nominee Scott Frankel (Grey Gardens at PH and on Broadway, Finding Neverland) and lyrics by Tony Award nominee Michael Korie (Grey Gardens at PH and on Broadway, The Grapes of Wrath, Finding Neverland). The musical is choreographed by Alex Sanchez (Giant, Fiorello!) and directed by three-time Tony Award nominee Michael Greif (Grey Gardens at PH and on Broadway; Rent, Next to Normal, Giant). The musical is based on the Focus Features/Vulcan Productions motion picture Far From Heaven, written and directed by Todd Haynes. FAR FROM HEAVEN will now begin previews Wednesday evening, May 8 at 8PM with an Opening Night set for Sunday, June 2 at 7PM. The limited engagement subscription run will play through Sunday, June 30 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street). Headlining the cast is the previously-announced four-time Tony Award nominee Kelli O'Hara (nominated for her acclaimed performances in The Light in the Piazza, The Pajama Game, South Pacific and the current Nice Work If You Can Get It). One of Broadway's leading musical stars, she returns to Playwrights Horizons for the first time since starring in the World Premiere of the new musical My Life with Albertine in 2003. She will reunite with co-star Steven Pasquale (The Spitfire Grill at PH; reasons to be pretty on Broadway; The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide… at The Public; Drama Desk and Outer Critic Circle nominations for A Man of No Importance at Lincoln Center; The Grapes of Wrath at Carnegie Hall, star of the NBC series 'Do No Harm'). Ms. O'Hara and Mr. Pasquale created their respective roles in FAR FROM HEAVEN for the musical's Preview Production run at Williamstown Theatre Festival last summer. In addition to Ms. O'Hara and Mr. Pasquale, the full cast of FAR FROM HEAVEN will feature J.B. Adams (Parade, Beauty & the Beast, Me & My Girl on Broadway; Annie Warbucks Off-Broadway; the film Far From Heaven), Marinda Anderson (From the Inside, Out at NY Fringe Festival; Freedom Train for TheatreWorks USA), Olivier Award nominee Nancy Anderson (Wonderful Town, A Class Act on Broadway; Kiss Me, Kate in London; Yank! Off-Broadway), Elainey Bass (Radio City Christmas Spectacular), Obie Award winner Quincy Tyler Bernstine (In the Next Room… on Broadway; Ruined at MTC), Justin Scott Brown (Les Miserables, Spring Awakening national tours), Obie Award winner Alma Cuervo (PH's The Heidi Chronicles and Isn't It Romantic?; Titanic, Cabaret, Women on the Verge… on Broadway; Road Show at The Public; Wicked national tour), Korey Jackson (Wild with Happy at The Public; 'Homeland'), Isaiah Johnson (Peter and the Starcatcher; The Merchant of Venice on Broadway), Jake Lucas (Newsies), James Moye (Million Dollar Quartet, Ragtime, White Christmas, on Broadway; Happiness Off-Broadway), Julianna Rigoglioso (Pippi Longstocking Off-Broadway; Mary Poppins national tour, The Smurfs), Sarah Jane Shanks (Wicked, Promises Promises, Shrek, Wonderful Town, The Apple Tree on Broadway), Tess Soltau (The Addams Family on Broadway; Into the Woods for The Public/Shakespeare in the Park), Mary Stout (Cather County at PH; Jane Eyre, Beauty & the Beast, Me & My Girl on Broadway) and Victor Wallace (Mamma Mia! on Broadway, Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera national tours). FAR FROM HEAVEN will feature scenic design by Tony Award nominee Allen Moyer, costume design by five-time Tony Award winner Catherine Zuber, lighting design by Tony Award winner Kenneth Posner, sound design by Nevin Steinberg, projection design by Peter Nigrini and orchestrations by Tony Award winner Bruce Coughlin. Musical Director is Lawrence Yurman and Production Stage Manager is Judith Schoenfeld. Cathy Whitaker (Ms. O'Hara) seems to be the picture-perfect wife and mother in 1957 suburban Connecticut. But roiling beneath the surface, secret longings and forbidden desires cause her world to unravel, with incendiary consequences. With a lush score that is both jazz-inflected and hauntingly lyrical, FAR FROM HEAVEN is a powerful story of romance, betrayal and intolerance, as a woman grapples with her identity in a society on the verge of upheaval. FAR FROM HEAVEN was commissioned, developed, and produced through the Playwrights Horizons Musicals in Partnership Initiative, with leadership support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Through this initiative, the musical had a Preview Production run at the Williamstown Theatre Festival last summer, also featuring Ms. O'Hara, Mr. Pasquale, Mr. Adams, Ms. Bernstine and Ms. Stout. The program allows Playwrights Horizons to develop new works of musical theater, each in partnership with a Regional theater - wholly within the not-for-profit system. This seven-year program aims to commission at least four new works of musical theater and develop and produce three or four full-scale productions. Each of the three musicals will be produced at both one specific Regional partner and at Playwrights Horizons. Generous support for FAR FROM HEAVEN was also provided by The Laurents / Hatcher Foundation, Stacey & Eric Mindich Fund for New Musicals at Playwrights Horizons, Daniel & Joanne Smith, Cathy & Stephen Weinroth, National Alliance for Musical Theatre, Tobin Theatre Arts Fund, Thomas & Patricia Barron, Bruce Horten, Rosalee A. & Bruce Lovett, Larry Tatelbaum, Elroy and Terry Krumholz Foundation, and Nancy Roistacher & Wayne P. Merkelson. The original 2002 film, which stars Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert and Patricia Clarkson, earned over 100 awards, honors and nominations. It was nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Actress (Ms. Moore), Best Original Screenplay (Todd Haynes), Best Cinematography (Edward Lachman) and Best Original Score (Elmer Bernstein), and was named one of the 10 Best Movies of the Decade by Entertainment Weekly. It was also named Best Film of the Year by the New York Film Critics Circle Awards, Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, Independent Spirit Awards and the Village Voice, among many others. Far From Heaven also earned 4 Golden Globe nominations including Best Screenplay, a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay and a bevy of additional awards for leading actress Julianne Moore, including one from the National Board of Review Award and nominations from the Screen Actors Guild and the Golden Globes. With FAR FROM HEAVEN, Playwrights Horizons continues its commitment to developing unique and ground-breaking new musicals, including Grey Gardens, James Joyce's The Dead, Floyd Collins, Assassins, Once on This Island and Sunday in the Park with George. FAR FROM HEAVEN reunites the theater company with Mr. Frankel, Mr. Korie and Mr. Greif, the composer, lyricist and director of Grey Gardens, which was one of Playwrights Horizons' most heralded original musicals. The project also marks the long-awaited return to the theater company of Mr. Greenberg, who was last represented there in 1987 with his play The Maderati. The performance schedule for FAR FROM HEAVEN will be Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7PM, Thursdays and Fridays at 8PM, Saturdays at 2:30 PM & 8PM and Sundays at 2:30 PM & 7:30 PM. Both the Wednesday, May 8 and Tuesday, May 28 evening performances have 8PM curtains and the Sunday, June 2 matinee has an early 2PM curtain. Beginning the week of April 8, single tickets, starting at $80, may be purchased online via www.TicketCentral.com, by phone at (212) 279-4200 (Noon-8pm daily), via Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PlaywrightsHorizons or in person at the Ticket Central Box Office, 416 West 42nd Street (between Ninth & Tenth Avenues). A ticketing initiative created as part of Playwrights Horizons' Arts Access program, LIVEforFIVE makes available $5 tickets for the first preview performance of each Playwrights Horizons production through a lottery via the company's website. The LIVEforFIVE lottery for FAR FROM HEAVEN will be for tickets to the first preview on Wednesday, May 8 at 8PM. Details for the lottery are as follows: beginning Wednesday, May 1 at 12 Noon, theatergoers can enter the lottery by filling out an entry form at www.PlaywrightsHorizons.org. Entries will be accepted until Monday, May 6 at 12 Noon. Winners of the lottery will be notified via email no later than 3PM on Monday, May 6 with instructions on how to book their $5 tickets. Unclaimed tickets will be offered via email to a limited standby list starting at 12 Noon on Tuesday, May 7 on a first-come, first-served basis. One or two tickets may be purchased for $5 each. A limited number of tickets will be available for Mainstage shows via the lottery. Reflecting Playwrights Horizons' ongoing commitment to making its productions more affordable to younger audiences, the theater company will offer HOTtix, $25 rush tickets, subject to availability, day of performance only, starting one hour before showtime to patrons aged 30 and under. Proof of age required. One ticket per person, per purchase. Cash only. LIVEforFIVE and HOTtix are two of Playwrights Horizons' popular Arts Access initiatives, which allow the institution to reach out to those who may not be able to afford the cost of a full-price theater ticket. This program is supported, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and The McGraw-Hill Companies. A special open captioned performance of FAR FROM HEAVEN for theatergoers who are deaf and hard of hearing will be held on the Saturday, June 8 matinee at 2:30 PM. Funding for this program is provided, in part, by the Theodore H. Barth Foundation, and TDF and TAP Plus, which is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Hidden secrets are unearthed and family tensions fly high in Pulitzer Prize nominee Jon Robin Baitz's contemporary family drama Other Desert Cities. Helen Hayes Award winner and former Arena Stage Associate Artistic Director Kyle Donnelly returns to direct the D.C.-area premiere of the show with a cast that features Tony Award nominee and two-time Helen Hayes Award winner Helen Carey (Mary Tyrone in Arena Stage's Long Day's Journey into Night, Broadway's Hedda Gabler) as matriarch Polly Wyeth and two-time Tony Award nominee Larry Bryggman (Broadway's Harvey, CBS's As the World Turns) as patriarch Lyman Wyeth. Rounding out the cast are Emily Donahoe (Broadway's 33 Variations) as daughter Brooke Wyeth, Scott Drummond (Cherry Lane Theatre's A Perfect Future) as son Trip Wyeth and Martha Hackett (Pacific Resident Theatre's Nora) as their aunt Silda Grauman. Other Desert Cities runs April 26-May 26, 2013 in the Fichandler Stage.

Playwrights Horizons has just announced the first five productions of its 2013/2014 Season. The three World Premieres and two New York premieres (including a new musical) will be presented at the theater company's home at 416 West 42nd Street.

P.G. Wodehouse's beloved comic characters will once again come to life on the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre (MCT) stage this spring in JEEVES IN BLOOM, April 11-28, 2013. This quick-witted British comedy is written by Illinois playwright Margaret Raether, who brought us our successful 2010 production of JEEVES INTERVENES. Reprising their roles from JEEVES INTERVENES are Matt Daniels as Jeeves and director Tami Workentin. JEEVES IN BLOOM performs in the Broadway Theatre Center's Cabot Theatre in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward.

Berkeley Playhouse continues its fifth season with the Tony Award-winning GUYS AND DOLLS. Jon Tracy (Berkeley Playhouse, Aurora Theatre Company, Shotgun Players, San Francisco Playhouse, Magic Theatre) helms this musical from the Golden Age of Broadway, featuring a cast of 22, and choreography by Chris Black (Berkeley Playhouse, Aurora Theatre Company). GUYS AND DOLLS plays tonight, March 21 through April 28 (Press opening: March 23) at the Julia Morgan Theatre in Berkeley.

Artistic Director Les Waters and Managing Director Jennifer Bielstein have announced O Guru Guru Guru, or why I don't want to go to yoga class with you by Mallery Avidon, directed by former Actors Theatre directing intern Lila Neugebauer. The play will run in the Victor Jory Theatre beginning tonight, March 20, opening March 22 and running through April 7th.

Southern Rep Theatre continues its 26th Season Mainstage Series with the World Premiere of MOLD by John Biguenet at The Contemporary Arts Center directed by Mark Routhier starring Trey Burvant, Kerry Cahill, Randy Maggiore, and Carol Sutton. In MOLD, John Biguenet, Louisiana Writer of the Year 2012, completes his award-winning Rising Water Trilogy including RISING WATER and SHOTGUN about the flooding of New Orleans and its aftermath. Set the summer after the levee collapse MOLD depicts a young husband forced to choose between his wife and the city he loves. The production runs between tonight, March 20 and April 14.