Thornton Wilder News

The Skidmore College Department of Theater has announced its Fall 2013 season.

On Friday October, 11 the Bonstelle Theatre opens the 2013-14 season with Thornton Wilder's Our Town. Deemed, "the finest American play ever written," by the esteemed playwright and director Edward Albee, this story illuminates profound truths about the human condition by following two unexceptional families living unremarkable lives in small town America. Observing the everyday endeavors of life, love, and death reveals that these simple feats are indeed the very essence of life itself. Tickets are $15-$20 and are available by calling (313) 577-2960, visiting www.bonstelle.com, or the Wayne State University Theatre Box Office located at 4743 Cass Avenue on the corner of Hancock. Check out the just-release promo shots below!

The Matchmaker is coming to Taproot Theatre this September, promising a story of love, adventure and humor with heart. Thornton Wilder's hit comedy about love, money and the love of money has matchmaking busybody Dolly Levi brokering true love for a wealthy businessman. Will anyone get what their heart desires? Unlikely circumstances and hilarious complications bring surprises at every corner in this play that inspired Hello, Dolly!. Producing Artistic Director, Scott Nolte directs The Matchmaker, which opens tonight, September 20 and runs through October 19, 2013. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

The Theatre School at DePaul University is pleased to present OUR TOWN as the inaugural production at the new Theatre School building, located at Racine and Fullerton on the Lincoln Park Campus. The Fullerton Stage Theatre is a 250-seat thrust theatre located on the first floor of the school. Thornton Wilder's OUR TOWN is directed by Damon Kiely, premieres on Friday, October 4, and runs through Sunday, October 13, 2013. Performances are Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 PM and Sundays at 2 PM. An additional matinee performance will be held at 2 PM on Saturday, October 5. Previews are on October 2 and 3, at 7:30 PM.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) will kick off the fourth season ofPUBLIC FORUM with the new series Drama Club, a book club for plays that will feature one-night-only readings and discussions of works by Kia Corthron, Tony Kushner, and Thornton Wilder at Joe's Pub. Curated by Jeremy McCarter, the popular PUBLIC FORUM series presents the theater of ideas: conversations and performances with leading voices in politics, media, and the arts.

Pittsburgh Public Theater's MASTERPIECE SEASON begins with Our Town, the beloved American classic by Thornton Wilder, featuring an all-Pittsburgh cast. Directed by Ted Pappas, Our Town runs Sept. 26 - Oct. 27 at the O'Reilly Theater, Pittsburgh Public Theater's home in the heart of Downtown's Cultural District. Our Town is presented by PNC.

The season includes Hello Dolly, The Sunshine Boys, Footloose and The Will Rogers Follies.

Pittsburgh Public Theater's 'Masterpiece Season' begins with OUR TOWN, the beloved American classic by Thornton Wilder, featuring an all-Pittsburgh cast. Directed by Ted Pappas, OUR TOWN runs Sept. 26 - Oct. 27 at the O'Reilly Theater, Pittsburgh Public Theater's home in the heart of Downtown's Cultural District.

Red Bull Theater (Jesse Berger, Artistic Director) will present their Tenth Anniversary Season at Off-Broadway's Lucille Lortel Theater, including Off Broadway revivals of modern classics by the iconoclastic Joe Orton and Charles Ludlam - writing in the tradition of Marlowe and Aristophanes - alongside Revelation Readings of Jacobean gems such as 'Tis Pity She's a Whore and The Roaring Girl, and of rarities like the American Premiere of Nabokov's Tragedy of Mr. Morn, Brecht & Weill's musical Happy End, and Thornton Wilder's Alcestiad, offering something for every lover of classic theater to relish.

Goodspeed Musicals, the first two time Tony Award-winning theatre in the country, presents Hello, Dolly! running through September 14, 2013. Check out the cast in this musical romp celebrating the diva in every woman. This witty music video inspired by the Shania Twain hit 'MAN! I Feel Like a Woman' was shot on location at the Goodspeed Opera House. Check it out below!

The Theatre School at DePaul University has announced the 2013-2014 season. Founded as the Goodman School of Drama in 1925, The Theatre School presents public programming as a professional extension of the classroom. Under the leadership of an award-winning faculty and staff, theatre artists from all disciplines collaborate during their final years of training to create a full and diverse season of programming.

ACT Theatre has announced the Seattle premiere of Will Eno's whimsical and poetic comedy drama, Middletown. In his contemporary take on Thornton Wilder's classic Our Town, Will Eno (2012 PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award) digs acutely into American life, bringing the deeply human journeys of neighbor and stranger together in an 'Everytown USA.' Eno's critically acclaimed new play explores how the imponderable mysteries of the universe reveal themselves through the apparently everyday lives and relationships of ordinary people in an ordinary place.

America's most beautiful play. A drama that demolishes the stage. The musical heartbeat of Manhattan. An intimate encounter with an epic tale. Wit as dazzling as diamonds. The funniest farce of the last 50 years. Welcome to 'The Masterpiece Season,' six essential and lasting theatrical works specially chosen by Producing Artistic Director Ted Pappas to create a unique year of theatergoing in Pittsburgh Public Theater's 2013-14 season.

The Performing Arts Department Theatre program at Eastern CT State University is pleased to announce its Fall 2013-Spring 2014 Harry Hope Theatre (High and Valley Streets, Willimantic, CT 06226) performance schedule.

Surflight Theatre presents the award-winning Peanuts musical You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown from September 4 through September 8.

Goodspeed Musicals, the first two time Tony Award-winning theatre in the country, announced today that the wildly popular Hello, Dolly! has been extended and will now play to enthusiastic audiences for 12 additional performances. This beloved American musical will now run through September 14, 2013. Check out the photos below of some star-studded visitors!

As yet another summer comes to a close, back-to-school preparations have begun to migrate back to the top of many-a to-do list. In this hectic time peppered with carpool schedules, lunch-packing, and homework help, cultural pursuits may tend to fall by the wayside. BroadwayWorld Pittsburgh has thus distilled Pittsburgh's cultural offerings into a comprehensive list perfect for those on-the-go during the fast-approaching autumn season!

Acclaimed playwright and screenwriter Noah Haidle returns to Chicago with his newest work, Smokefall, which examines life's big questions through the prism of an ordinary family. Hailed by The New Yorker as "formidably talented, with a sort of freewheeling intuitive daring," the Michigan native playwright most recently wrote the 2012 film Stand Up Guys (starring Alan Arkin, Christopher Walken and Al Pacino) and previously authored Mr. Marmalade, Vigils (at the Goodman in 2006) and Persephone for the stage. Director Anne Kauffman, in her Goodman debut, assembles an ensemble cast for the Goodman production, including legendary Chicago actor Mike Nussbaum (Henry VIII at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre) as the Colonel; Catherine Combs (The Delling Shore at Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival) in the roles of Beauty and Blessing; Katherine Keberlein (Boeing, Boeing at Drury Lane Oakbrook) as Violet; Guy Massey (Failure: A Love Story at Victory Gardens Theater) as Footnote and Fetus Two; and Eric Slater (Gloryana at New York City's Public Theater) as Daniel and Fetus One. A world-premiere co-production with South Coast Repertory, Smokefall runs October 5 - November 3 in the Owen Theatre (opening night is Monday, October 14). Tickets ($10-$40; subject to change) are on sale now at GoodmanTheatre.org/Smokefall, by phone at 312.443.3800 or at the box office (170 North Dearborn). Bank of America is the 2013/2014 Owen Season Sponsor.

Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, presents the Tony Award-winning musical sensation HELLO, DOLLY!, previewing October 17, opening October 24 at 8 p.m., and running through January 5, 2014. HELLO, DOLLY! stars Tony Award winner Karen Ziemba as "Dolly Levi." She received the Tony Award, the Drama Desk Award, and the Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance in Lincoln Center Theatre's Contact. Ziemba also received Tony Award nominations for her roles in Steel Pier, Never Gonna Dance, and Curtains and the Drama Desk Award for And the World Goes 'Round, as well as the Outer Critics Circle Awards for both Never Gonna Dance and Curtains. She has starred in productions at The New York City Opera, Carnegie Hall for PBS' Great Performances, and NY City Center Encores. Other Broadway roles include "Diana Morales" in A Chorus Line, "Peggy Sawyer" in the original production of 42nd Street, "Polly Baker" in Crazy for You, and "Roxie Hart" in Chicago.