Tony Kushner News

Legendary designers WILLIAM IVEY LONG and BOB CROWLEY are among the four recipients of 2009 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards to be presented at a ceremony this Friday, March 27 at 6:30pm, at the Hudson Theatre (145 West 44th Street). Five-time Tony Award winning costume designer William Ivey Long will receive the 2009 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for theatrical costume design, and, for his achievements as both a costume and scenic designer, Bob Crowley (also a five-time Tony Award winner) will receive the TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards' special Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatrical Design.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) Artistic Director James C. Nicola and Managing Director William Russo have announced that they will present three staged readings of Caryl Churchill's short play Seven Jewish Children, Wednesday, March 25 through Friday, March 27 at 7pm, at NYTW, 79 East 4th Street, between Second Avenue and Bowery. Each reading will be followed by a moderated discussion, with several notable authorities (from both the Israeli/Jewish and Palestinian communities) attending each performance to illuminate the dialogue. After the discussion, there will be a second reading of the ten-minute play.

Today, even as it celebrates sending another show to Broadway, Berkeley Repertory Theatre announced a new season of adventurous plays for local theatre lovers. Tony Taccone, artistic director of the Tony Award-winning company, revealed five bold shows selected for the upcoming year.

Today, even as it celebrates sending another show to Broadway, Berkeley Repertory Theatre announced a new season of adventurous plays for local theatre lovers. Tony Taccone, artistic director of the Tony Award-winning company, revealed five bold shows selected for the upcoming year. His ambitious agenda for the 2009/10 season includes three world premieres: a compelling script commissioned from Naomi Iizuka, a captivating new collaboration from Lisa Kron and Leigh Silverman, and the debut of a beautiful musical from Matthew Sweet and Todd Almond. The Theatre?s 42nd season also includes a West Coast premiere by Tony Kushner, the Bay Area?s introduction to Aurélia?s Oratorio, and two plays to be named at a later date. Best of all, the cost of a subscription to Berkeley Rep will not increase this year, meaning that some seats for these shows can be snatched up at the 1998 price!

The Cherry Lane Theatre will present the 11th season of its Obie Award-winning Cherry Lane Mentor Project with the new play HOUSEBREAKING - written by Jakob Holder, mentored by playwright Charles Mee - with performances set to run March 24-April 4 at The Cherry Lane Studio (38 Commerce Street) in Manhattan. Daniella Topol directs.

APRIL AT THE METROPOLITAN ROOM Join them every Friday and Saturday from 11PM-2AM for our nightly piano lounge. No cover, no minimum! 4/1 7PM Barbara Brussell 'Brilliance from on High...BORN IN THE BRONX' Accompanied by musical director Tex Arnold, this marks their first time venturing a new show together.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG) is pleased to announce the publication of the fully revised 25th edition of the Dramatists Sourcebook, with more than 850 opportunities for playwrights, translators, composers, lyricists and librettists, including script-submission procedures for 330 professional theatres, 120 prizes and scores of publishers, fellowships, residencies, developmental programs, agents, service organizations, state arts agencies and reference publications.

The Broadway production of Yasmina Reza's GOD OF CARNAGE opens on Sunday, March 22. The play, directed by Matthew Warchus began previews on Saturday, February 28 at the Bernard Jacobs Theatre (242 West 45 Street). Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden star in GOD OF CARNAGE, the new play by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton, directed by Matthew Warchus.

The Cherry Lane Theatre presents the world premiere production of Deirdre O'Connor's JAILBAIT--a new play about two teenaged girls and the men they meet when they pose as college students during a night out at a club in Boston--as the inaugural production at Cherry Lane's newest Off-Broadway theatre, the 90-seat Cherry Pit (155 Bank Street), with previews set to begin March 19 prior to its official press opening on March 25. Suzanne Agins directs.

Marin Theatre Company presents the final show of its highly successful 2008-09 season with a seminal work of modern comedy, Joe Orton's uproarious farce What the Butler Saw in MTC's Boyer Theatre beginning June 4.

Blending blues, gospel, and traditional Jewish melodies in a breathtaking score, Caroline, or Change, the hit musical from Pulitzer Prize-winner Tony Kushner (Angels in America), will be presented by Workshop Theatre and Blue Cross Blue Shield March 20 - April 4.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) Artistic Director James C. Nicola and Managing Director William Russo have announced that they will present three staged readings of Caryl Churchill's short play Seven Jewish Children, Wednesday, March 25 through Friday, March 27 at 7pm, at NYTW, 79 East 4th Street, between Second Avenue and Bowery. Each reading will be followed by a moderated discussion, with several notable authorities (from both the Israeli/Jewish and Palestinian communities) attending each performance to illuminate the dialogue. After the discussion, there will be a second reading of the ten-minute play.

The Cherry Lane Theatre will present the 11th season of its Obie Award-winning Cherry Lane Mentor Project with the new play HOUSEBREAKING - written by Jakob Holder, mentored by playwright Charles Mee - with performances set to run March 24-April 4 at The Cherry Lane Studio (38 Commerce Street) in Manhattan. Daniella Topol directs.

The multi-award-winning NoHo Arts Center Ensemble (NoHo ACE) in association with David Elzer are thrilled to announce that their critically-acclaimed (LA Times 'SENSATIONAL!' LA Weekly PICK OF THE WEEK! Backstage CRITIC'S PICK!) all-new look at the timeless classic, DRACULA, dramatized by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston, based on Bram Stoker's novel , and directed by Ken Sawyer (The Woman in Black, Lovelace) is NOW EXTENDING through SUNDAY, APRIL 26 at the NoHo Arts Center, 11136 Magnolia Blvd. (at Lankershim) in North Hollywood.

Broadway heats up this summer when three-time Emmy Award nominee and 'Grey's Anatomy' star Chandra Wilson steps into the celebrated role of Matron 'Mama' Morton, the reigning cellblock diva of the smash hit musical CHICAGO, for a four-week limited engagement, Monday, June 8 through Sunday, July 5, 2009 at the Ambassador Theatre (219 W. 49th St.).

The Cleveland Play House is excited to announce that Mimi Kennedy, best known for playing Dharma's hippie mom Abby on ABC's 'Dharma & Greg,' will star as Ann Landers in The Lady With All the Answers by David Rambo (God's Man In Texas, The Ice-Breaker). Seth Gordon, Associate Artistic Director for The Play House, will direct this hilarious and touching sneak-peek into the inner-life of famed columnist Ann Landers.

BroadwayWorld's cameras were there to celebrate the production and catch the starry crowd as they arrived to welcome Jane Fonda back to Broadway!

Due to very strong ticket sales, Classic Stage Company's new production of Anton Chekhov's UNCLE VANYA, starring Tony Award winner Denis O'Hare as Vanya, Maggie Gyllenhaal as Yelena and Peter Sarsgaard as Astrov, has extended its limited engagement through Sunday, March 8, it was announced today by CSC Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Jessica R. Jenen. Directed by Austin Pendleton, UNCLE VANYA will begin previews on this Saturday, January 17 at Classic Stage Company at 136 East 13th Street, with an official opening set for Thursday, February 12. The cast of UNCLE VANYA also features Mamie Gummer (Sonya), Louis Zorich (Waffles), George Morfogen (Srebryakov), Delphi Harrington (Maria) and Cyrilla Baer (Marina). UNCLE VANYA will feature scenic design by Tony Award winner Santo Loquasto, who received wide acclaim last season at CSC for his design of The Seagull and who has designed numerous Chekhovian productions in his esteemed career including the famed Lincoln Center production of The Cherry Orchard in 1977. Costume design is by Suzy Benzinger, who also designed last season's The Seagull, and lighting design is by Jason Lyons. The play is translated by Carol Rocamora. O'Hare, who last performed at CSC in Yasmina Reza's A Spanish Play, stars as Vanya, the quintessential superfluous man, who wakes up one morning to discover he has wasted his life in the service of others, in Chekhov's tragicomic masterpiece of dashed dreams, thwarted love and eternal longing. The play was first performed at the legendary Moscow Art Theater in 1899, directed by Constantine Stanislavsky.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) will begin previews on Tuesday, March 3 for Tracey Scott Wilson's THE GOOD NEGRO, which will run through Sunday, April 19 with an official press opening on Monday, March 16. Directed by Liesl Tommy and presented in association with Dallas Theater Center, THE GOOD NEGRO is the first new play to transfer from the Public LAB initiative to a full main stage production at The Public.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will present Terrence McNally's Nights at the Opera - an event showcasing three of the playwright's works including Master Class, The Lisbon Traviata, and Golden Age concurrently in Kennedy Center theaters from March 20 - April 18, 2010. Directors include Walter Bobbie for Master Class and Christopher Ashley for The Lisbon Traviata.