Tony Kushner News

Tickets for the Shaw Festival's 50th season went on sale to Shaw Festival Members and Visa Infinite cardholders on November 6 and December 4, respectively, and the response has been wonderfully strong. Compared to the same time last year, Members ticket sales are 5% ahead, with group sales reaching the $1 million mark, 15% ahead of the same time last year. Next season's productions of My Fair Lady and The Admirable Crichton are very popular with families, reflecting a remarkable 143% increase in family package sales.

Carla Cook, Brandon Victor Dixon, Jared Grimes and Adriane Lenox have been cast in Duke Ellington's Cotton Club Parade, opening November 18 at New York City Center.

The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. announced today that in celebration of the Statue of Liberty's upcoming 125th Anniversary on October 28th, Macy's has committed the proceeds from the sale of its newly recorded song 'Gift of Light' to benefit the Foundation's non-profit mission for projects at Liberty and Ellis Islands, working in partnership with the National Park Service.

The University of Michigan Press has announced that they will publish GREAT LENGTHS- Seven Works of Marathon Theater by Jonathan Kalb.

The Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation today named ten recipients of the 2011 Whiting Writers' Awards. The awards, now $50,000 each totaling $500,000, have been given annually since 1985 to writers of exceptional talent and promise in early career.

Previews begin this tonight at 8PM at The Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street) for two-time Tony Award nominee, Emmy Award and Golden Globe winner Alan Rickman (Private Lives, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, the Harry Potter franchise) making his eagerly-anticipated return to Broadway starring in the World Premiere of SEMINAR, a new comedy by Pulitzer Prize finalist and Peabody Award winner Theresa Rebeck (Mauritius, The Understudy, Omnium Gatherum, The Family of Mann, Spike Heels, NBC's upcoming 'Smash').

Atlantic Theater Company (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director) has just announceD complete casting for the world premiere production of Academy Award® winning film maker Ethan Coen's HAPPY HOUR, directed by Atlantic Artistic Director Neil Pepe (Speed-the-Plow).

It's 1963. Martin Luther King has just told the world of his dream. John F. Kennedy is about to be assassinated. And in the basement of a Jewish family's home in Louisiana, their African-American maid spends her days doing laundry and being the only friend of a boy who has lost his mother.

Zoetic Stage and The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County proudly present the world premiere of Christopher Demos-Brown's CAPTIVA, a funny dark comedy about weathering family, November 3 - 20, 2011, in the intimate Carnival Studio Theater (Ziff Ballet Opera House). Following Zoetic Stage's highly acclaimed 2010 debut of South Beach Babylon, this new production launches the company's adventurous 2011-12 season as part of the Arsht Center's Theater Up Close season.

Upcoming MTI Shows - 10/23 for Toronto

New York Theatre Workshop's production of The Select (The Sun Also Rises), created by Elevator Repair Service (ERS) based on Ernest Hemingway's novel, The Sun Also Rises, and directed by John Collins, will close on Sunday, October 23 at NYTW, 79 East 4th Street, between Second Avenue and Bowery.

In its continuing series Dark Nights, The New Group welcomes filmmaker Todd Solondz in conversation with playwright Thomas Bradshaw.

Barrow Street Theatre and The National Theatre of the World present Impromptu Splendor, an improvised play series by the Canadian Comedy Award-winning troupe. Heralded by Time Out Chicago as 'brave, brainy and incredibly agile,' Matt Baram, Ron Pederson and Naomi Snieckus unite to create captivating live theatre through the art of improvisation with Impromptu Splendor. Performances for Impromptu Splendor will be held at the Barrow Street Theatre, 27 Barrow Street, New York, NY 10014 for two performances only, Friday, October 21st and Saturday, October 22nd, 2011 at 10:30pm.

Created stitch by loving stitch, The AIDS Memorial Quilt remains an uplifting symbol of hope and a stirring memorial to lives cut short from the ongoing disease, which has become a major staple of our generation. On the heels of World AIDS Day, a new star-studded theatrical gala will commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the 25th Anniversary of The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.

The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. announced today that in celebration of the Statue of Liberty's upcoming 125th Anniversary on October 28th, Macy's has committed the proceeds from the sale of its newly recorded song 'Gift of Light' to benefit the Foundation's non-profit mission for projects at Liberty and Ellis Islands, working in partnership with the National Park Service.

La MaMa in Association with The Katselas Theatre Company presents the New York Premiere of MAD WOMEN, conceived, written and performed by John Fleck.

The Public Theaterhas just announced the final line-up for its two upcoming fall Public Forum events. The 2011-2012 Public Forum season will continue on October 23 with 'The Legacy of Steve Jobs,' a provocative discussion with Mike Daisey, the creator and performer of The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs; Robert Krulwich, the science correspondent of NPR and co-host of Radiolab; and Dan Lyons, the technology editor at Newsweek Daily Beast and creator of 'Fake Steve Jobs,' the persona behind the notorious tech blog The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs. Single tickets, priced at $25, are on sale now.