Tony Cisek News

Adam Bock's A Life, commissioned by Portland Center Stage at The Armory, will receive its West Coast debut at The Armory following the success of the play's world premiere in New York.

Adam Bock's A Life, commissioned by Portland Center Stage at The Armory, will receive its West Coast debut at The Armory following the success of the play's world premiere in New York. A Life begins preview performances on September 29, opens on October 5, and runs through November 11 in the Ellyn Bye Studio. Associate Artistic Director Rose Riordan, who has frequently partnered with Bock, will direct. Nat DeWolf (Broadway: Take Me Out) will make his company debut as the astrology-loving and hopelessly single Nate Martin. DeWolf is joined by Cycerli Ash, also making her debut at The Armory, as well as returning artists Dana Green (Major Barbara and many others) and Gary Norman (Our Town).

Theatre Philadelphia, the region's marketing and leadership organization for theatre, proudly announces the 2018 nominees for the Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theatre. Celebrating the rich, diverse professional theatre scene in the Greater Philadelphia region, the Barrymore Ceremony will be held on Monday, November 5th at 7pm at the Bok Building at 1901 S. 9th Street in South Philadelphia. Guests will continue the festivities with an after-party Celebration at the same location. Tickets for artists, supporters, and the general public are now on sale at www.theatrephiladelphia.org.

Portland Center Stage at The Armory's 2018-2019 season launches with the Tony Award-winning musical The Color Purple, adapted from Alice Walker's classic novel about the sisterhood, resilience and self-empowerment found in a community of black women living in rural Georgia in the early 20th century. The Color Purple begins preview performances on September 15, opens on September 21, and runs through October 28 on the U.S. Bank Main Stage. Timothy Douglas directs the production, joined by music director Darius Smith, who will bring the Grammy Award-winning score to life.

Rampant ambition and minds unhinged. Shrieking owls and prophesies foretold. Folger Theatre begins its 2018/19 season with Macbeth, Shakespeare's murderous tragedy seen anew and here, set in London's famous Bedlam asylum for a groundbreaking production integrating period music into a famous variation of the play. The Restoration-era adaptation by Sir William Davenant, which mesmerized audiences from the re-opening of London theaters in the 1660's until well into the 18th century, blends music performed by Folger Consort and the seminal tragedy of the Scottish king.

People's Light presents the wildly successful off-Broadway hit Skeleton Crew, a powerful story of love and loyalty by New Play Frontiers writer Dominique Morisseau. This funny, incisive, and "deeply American" (The New York Times) play that "theatergoers won't want to miss" (Huffington Post) centers on a group of Detroit autoworkers as they confront the eroding manufacturing industry. Steve H. Broadnax III, who directed the theatre's critically-acclaimed staging of The Mountaintop in 2016, returns for the production. Skeleton Crew opens on June 13 and has already extended to July 15 on the Steinbright Stage at People's Light.

A musical/play about Vietnamese refugees you will always remember.

Studio Theatre is serving up a spectacle of a show that mashes satire and high emotion. VIETGONE, directed by Natsu Onoda Power, presents a truly diverse story with the potential to challenge entrenched ideas about the Vietnam War and the immigrant experience. Playwright Qui Nguyen's fresh voice bounces off the rafters and finds its fullest embodiment in the company's impressive and expressive physicality.

Vietgone by Qui Nguyen is the Vietnamese-American playwright's own creation story-a telling of his parents' 1975 refugee camp romance in a "geek theater" spectacle that's at turns affecting, sage, raucous, and fantastical. A screenwriter for Marvel Studios and founder of Obie Award-winning company Vampire Cowboys, Nguyen's work champions representation and diversity on stage while dripping with pop culture nods, contemporary music, and action-adventure narrative. The production pairs this Studio-commissioned playwright with director and Studio Cabinet member Natsu Onoda Power. Drawing on Vietgone's comic book aesthetics, Studio's Stage 4 is transformed into a garage concert with a live band and original funk-rock-punk-n-roll score, giving audiences a front row seat to this anything-but-typical story of boy meets girl.

Serene in his knowledge of what he has done, and why he had to do it, Jon Hudson Odom's performance of Nat Turner never wavers; the man is determined to die the death of a martyr-unrepentant, unafraid, certain of his reward.

The Alliance Theatre is pleased to announce its upcoming production TWO ONE-ACT PLAYS BY PEARL CLEAGE, featuring Hospice and Pointing at the Moon, performed back-to-back.  Pearl Cleage is a beloved Atlanta author and playwright, perhaps best known for her novel What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day, an Oprah Book Club selection, and her play Blues for an Alabama Sky.  Hospice was first performed in 1983 and was honored with five AUDELCO Awards for achievement Off Broadway; Pointing at the Moon is a world premiere.  Performances are March 23 - April 15, 2018, at the Southwest Arts Center while the Alliance Theatre undergoes a complete renovation.  Opening night is Thursday, March 29. 

Syracuse Stage has once again brought an intense and gripping production to the local stage. This time around it is Lorraine Hansberry's American classic play A Raisin in the Sun (in a co-production with Indiana Repertory Theatre) captivating audiences.

Syracuse Stage continues its critically acclaimed season with a sterling production of Lorraine Hansberry's classic American play "A Raisin in the Sun," Feb. 21 - March 11, at the Syracuse Stage/Syracuse University Drama Complex in the Archbold Theatre, 820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse.

The nominees for the 2018 Helen Hayes Awards were announced on February 5, 2018. One of the country's most prestigious cultural honors, The Helen Hayes Awards recognizes and celebrates excellence in professional theatre throughout the Washington metropolitan area. The National Theatre's Helen Hayes Gallery set the scene for the announcement of nominees in 47 categories for artistic excellence, and the theatre companies eligible for the 2017 John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company. The recipient of the 2018 Helen Hayes Tribute will be announced shortly.

The world premiere of Astoria: Part Two the conclusion of a two-part stage adaptation of Peter Stark's best-selling bookASTORIA: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire; A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival adapted and directed by Chris Coleman begins preview performances at The Armory on January 20, opens January 26 and closes February 18.

A Raisin in the Sun, the seminal work of playwright Lorraine Hansberry, tells the story of Walter Lee Younger and his family. Their dreams and plans have been thwarted and yet a ray of hope remains in the form of a life insurance check which could provide a new future for all of them. The Indiana Repertory Theatre is producing the play just in time for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Black History month.

The world premiere of Astoria: Part Two the conclusion of a two-part stage adaptation of Peter Stark's best-selling book ASTORIA: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire; A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival adapted and directed by Chris Coleman begins preview performances at The Armory on January 20, opens January 26 and closes February 18.

Today's subject Robert Richmond is currently living his theatre life at Folger Theatre as director for Anthony and Cleopatra. The production runs through November 19th.

A condensed 'Antony and Cleopatra' at the Folger Theatre still has time for a couple of ensemble dance numbers straight out of 'Solid Gold,' a battle scene that's almost as well choreographed and a whole lot of kissing.

Folger Theatre launches its 2017/18 season of power, passion, and politics with William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra, onstage now through November 19, 2017. Click below to watch the building of the set and hear about the show from the cast and creative team!