Thornton Wilder News

Runs November 13 - December 5, 2009 The Vortex, 2307 Manor Road Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7 p.m. NO PERFORMANCE ON THANKSGIVING, NOVEMBER 26 Added performance Wednesday December 2

The Vortex, 2307 Manor Road- Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7 p.m. NO PERFORMANCE ON THANKSGIVING, NOVEMBER 26 Added performance Wednesday December 2

The Klezmatics, globally renowned world music superstars, will offer holiday and non-holiday music steeped in Jewish tradition at Westport Country Playhouse, on Thursday, December 17, 8 p.m.

The critically acclaimed David Cromer production of' Thornton Wilder's Our Town now on stage at the Barrow Street Theatre (27 Barrow Street), will make theater history when performance #337 makes this staging the longest-running Our Town in the 71-year worldwide history of the classic play.

The movies return to Westport---when Westport Country Playhouse presents a weekend of three classic holiday films, Friday through Sunday, December 11 - 13, featuring 'A Christmas Story,' Sing-a-long 'White Christmas,' and 'Miracle on 34th Street.'

'This Wonderful Life,' a one-man, live version of Frank Capra's classic Christmas film, will be staged on Thursday, December 10, 8 p.m., at Westport Country Playhouse, as part of the Playhouse's holiday series of theater, music, dance and film events.

I had the immense pleasure of taking another visit to Grover's Corners, New Hampshire last week, via the fascinating David Cromer production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town that opened in February at the Barrow Street Theatre. Back then I wrote that the director's non-traditional take on the play - which remains completely faithful to the author's text and themes - was one of the most exciting theatre events of the season. On second look, with a mixture of new and old cast member, I'd say it's the best theatre production I know of currently playing in New York.

The Skin of Our Teeth runs through December 5, 2009 at The Vortex, 2307 Manor Road Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7 p.m. NO PERFORMANCE ON THANKSGIVING, NOVEMBER 26 Added performance Wednesday, December 2 Pick your Price: $15, $20, $25, $30

After a successful run this past winter with the Keen Company at the Clurman Theater / Theater Row, Jonathan Hogan and Ron Holgate will reprise their roles in Heroes, by Gerald Sibleyras with a translation by Tom Stoppard and directed by Carl Forsman with the Merrimack Repertory Theatre Company. They will be joined by Ken Tigar, who will be playing the role previously performed by Broadway vet John Cullum in the Theater Row premiere. The production at the Merrick Theatre will run from November 19 through December 13.

Transport Group, the winner of a special 2007 Drama Desk Award and a 2007 Obie Award, has announced that its 2009 Gimme A Break! benefit will honor playwright Terrence McNally and director Joe Mantello on Monday, December 7 at 6:30pm, at Asia Society and Museum, 725 Park Avenue at 70th Street.

The Keen Company delivers a finely nuanced production of five Thornton Wilder short plays, which show the playwright's concern with matters spiritual and secular.

Long before New York had a Fringe Festival, New York had the Ensemble Studio Theatre's OCTOBERFEST, a marathon of new, old and developing plays crammed together on two floors of the theatre company's home at 549 West 52nd Street. The first OCTOBERFEST was in 1981.

Five years after receiving a Drama Desk nomination for Best Revival of a Play for their production of Pullman Car Hiawatha, two short plays by Thornton Wilder, Keen Company (Artistic Director Carl Forsman, Executive Director Wayne Kelton) kicks of their tenth anniversary season with the New York professional premiere of Such Things Only Happen in Books, an evening of short plays by Thornton Wilder directed by Carl Forsman and Jonathan Silverstein.

Elisabeth H. Saxe of Fairfield has been appointed Director of Institutional Advancement at Westport Country Playhouse, in Westport, Connecticut, effective December 7.

Runs November 13 - December 5, 2009 The Vortex, 2307 Manor Road Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7 p.m. NO PERFORMANCE ON THANKSGIVING, NOVEMBER 26 Added performance Wednesday December 2

The Vortex, 2307 Manor Road- Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7 p.m. NO PERFORMANCE ON THANKSGIVING, NOVEMBER 26 Added performance Wednesday December 2

Runs November 13 - December 5, 2009 The Vortex, 2307 Manor Road Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7 p.m. NO PERFORMANCE ON THANKSGIVING, NOVEMBER 26 Added performance Wednesday December 2

Acclaimed theater company Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) has announced nine initial performers who will participate in the return of its unique benefit evening STORIES ON 5 STORIES on Monday, November 9. Among those taking part in the special event will be two-time Academy Award winner and two-time Obie Award winner Diane Wiest (Memory House at Playwrights Horizons/PH, Hannah and Her Sisters, Bullets Over Broadway), Tony Award winner Debra Monk (Assassins at PH, Redwood Curtain, Curtains), Obie Award winner Jason Butler Harner (current Stage Manager in Our Town, Hedda Gabler, The Coast of Utopia), Clarence Derwent Award winner Zoe Kazan (100 Saints You Should Know at PH; Come Back, Little Sheba; Things We Want), Theatre World Award winner Cassie Beck (The Drunken City and Prayer for My Enemy at PH), Cristin Milioti (The Retributionists at PH, the upcoming The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter), Sue Jean Kim (The Drunken City and BFE at PH, 365 Days/365 Plays), Carmen M. Herlihy (The Thugs, Crooked) and Greg Keller (Broadway's Uncle Vanya, The Rainmaker). Additional performers will be announced in the coming weeks.

Acclaimed theater company Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) has announced it will present the return of its popular benefit evening STORIES ON 5 STORIES on Monday, November 9.

An audience of over 500 people attended Westport Country Playhouse's annual fundraising gala, 'An Enchanted Evening: The Music of Richard Rodgers,' featuring special tributes to Mary Rodgers Guettel, composer, presented by Stephen Sondheim, both former Playhouse apprentices; and Elisabeth Morten, Playhouse board of trustees chairman, presented by Anne Keefe and Joanne Woodward, former Playhouse artistic directors, on Monday evening, November 2.