Tony Kushner News

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.

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 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 Drama League (Jano Herbosch, President) is pleased to announce that Jeremy Irons (Broadway's Impressionism) and Cynthia Nixon (Off-Broadway's Distracted at the Roundabout Theatre Company), who first starred together as father and daughter in the 1984 Broadway production of The Real Thing, will reunite this spring to serve as co-hosts for The 75th Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony and Luncheon.

Theater for the New City presents the premiere of Walking from Rumania, a journey to freedom in 1899, by award-winning playwright Barbara Kahn Theater for the New City, Crystal Field, Executive Artistic Director, proudly announces the world premiere production of Walking from Rumania, a historical drama written and directed by Barbara Kahn.

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.

Broadway's most talked about new musical and the biggest Tony Award-winner in years is coming to Cleveland. Spring Awakening, the 8-time Tony Award? winning Broadway musical, will open at PlayhouseSquare's PalaceTheatre and play for 16 performances, March 3-15. Spring Awakening is part of the KeyBank Broadway Series at PlayhouseSquare. Spring Awakening swept the 2007 Tony Awards? winning eight out of its eleven nominations, including Best Musical, Best Director (Michael Mayer), Best Book (Steven Sater), Best Choreography (Bill T. Jones), Best Orchestrations (Duncan Sheik), Best Lighting Design (Kevin Adams), Best Featured Actor (John Gallagher Jr.).

Guthrie Director Joe Dowling today announced casting for the three productions slated to headline the theater?s Tony Kushner Celebration. A company of more than 25 Minneapolis and New York actors will come together at the Guthrie from April through June to participate in a one-of-a-kind celebration the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright?s work. More information on the Kushner Celebration can be found at www.CelebrateKushner.com.

The Humana Festival of New American Plays, Actors Theatre of Louisville's main venue for producing new work, is an annual event held in February and March.

The Theatre and Interpretation Center at Northwestern University will continue its 2008-09 season in April with the Mainstage productions of a musical adaptation of Aesop's fables, two performance hours, an adaptation of a Pierre Corneille classic and two performance hours hosted by the performance studies department.

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.

The 2009 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has been awarded to British playwright and Liverpool native, Chloe Moss for her critically acclaimed play This Wide Night.

FRIGID NEW YORK PRESENTS Y Marilyn Unstitched, created by Irene Glezos and Brad Calcaterra. Starring Irene Glezos and directed by Brad Calcaterra February 25-March 8 at UNDER ST. Marks/94 St. Marks Place, New York, New York 10009 Wednesday, February 25, 2009 7:30 p.m. Saturday, February 28, 2009 5:30 p.m.

For four performances only February 25 - 28, Goodman Theatre welcomes the world renowned and 'refreshingly daring' (The New York Times) Toneelgroep Amsterdam and their contemporary adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's Rouw Siert Electra (Mourning Becomes Electra). Using a unique fusion of video, television and live performance, acclaimed director Ivo van Hove 'brings new meaning to the term ?in your face' (Variety). Presented in Dutch with English supertitles, performances of Rouw Siert Electra (Mourning Becomes Electra) are scheduled February 25 - 28 in the Goodman's Owen Bruner Theatre. Tickets are $18 - $25; a full calendar, including dates, times, ticket prices and information about the free special event, appears at the end of the release.

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.

On Monday Evening, February 23 at 7:00 PM, six New York theater institutions will participate in a special panel discussion featuring five current and upcoming Off-Broadway shows. Harlem Stage (150 Convent Avenue at West 135th Street) will host producing companies Classical Theatre of Harlem, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theater and Signature Theatre Company in an evening titled I'VE KNOWN RIVERS: A Conversation with Christina Anderson, Charles Fuller, Lynn Nottage & Liesl Tommy. The event marks a unique collaborative effort between six New York theater institutions: a panel discussion in which five gifted African-American theater artists - all of whom have projects happening almost simultaneously at five of New York's most respected non-profit theaters - will discuss their lives, work, and current projects. Moderated by actress Sabrina LeBeauf (Three Sisters, Classical Theatre of Harlem in partnership with Harlem Stage, February/March), the evening's four panelists will be Christina Anderson (author, Inked Baby, Playwrights Horizons, March/April), Charles Fuller (author, Zooman and the Sign, Signature Theatre Company, March/April), Lynn Nottage (author, Ruined, Manhattan Theater Club, January-March) and Liesl Tommy (director, The Good Negro, The Public Theater, March/April). The event title comes from a poem by Langston Hughes, 'The Negro Speaks of Rivers.'

On Monday Evening, February 23 at 7:00 PM, six New York theater institutions will participate in a special panel discussion featuring five current and upcoming Off-Broadway shows. Harlem Stage (150 Convent Avenue at West 135th Street) will host producing companies Classical Theatre of Harlem, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theater and Signature Theatre Company in an evening titled I'VE KNOWN RIVERS: A Conversation with Christina Anderson, Charles Fuller, Lynn Nottage & Liesl Tommy.