Transport Group News

Queen of the Mist begins performances Tuesday, October 18 at The Gym at Judson Memorial Church in anticipation of a November 6 opening. Queen of the Mist stars D.C. Anderson (The Phantom of the Opera, The Life Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby), Stanley Bahorek (See Rock City & Other Destinations, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Theresa McCarthy (Titanic, Floyd Collins), Julia Murney (Wicked, The Wild Party, First Lady Suite), Andrew Samonsky (South Pacific, Tales of the City), Tally Sessions (The House of Blue Leaves, Yank!), and Mary Testa (On The Town, Marie Chrtistine, Xanadu, 42nd Street). The production was created by Michael John LaChiusa and directed by Jack Cummings III and choreographed by Scott Rink. Today, October 5, the company met the press and below, we bring you a sneak peek teaser of the event. Stay tuned for complete photo coverage and video interviews with the cast!

The company of the first North American tour of WICKED welcomes Mamie Parris as Elphaba tonight in Atlanta, GA.

The American Theatre Wing has announced the recipients of its 2011 National Theatre Company Grants. This year's recipients are: Buntport Theater Company (Denver, CO), FUSION (Albuquerque, NM), Mo'olelo Performing Arts Company (San Diego, CA), Pig Iron Theatre Company (Philadephia, PA), Rude Mechanicals (Austin, TX), Synchronicity Theatre (Atlanta, GA), TheatreSquared (Fayetteville, AR), TimeLine Theatre (Chicago, IL), Transport Group (New York, NY), Watts Village Theater Company (Los Angeles, CA). The companies will be celebrated at a private luncheon on October 24th, 2011 in Manhattan.

Transport Group caught a moment with Queen of the Mist, Mary Testa. Click below to watch this exclusive interview with Mary to see what went into creating the Queen that she will become for the first preview on October 18th.

In a special limited engagement, Signature Theatre presents the world premiere musical A Second Chance, featuring a book, music, and lyrics by Ted Shen. Directed by Jonathan Butterell (Signature's Giant), A Second Chance fuses jazz and musical theater stylings, with musical direction by Zak Sandler.

D. Watts' Spoken Word Preserves: The Jam, an innovative, soul revealing 'play on words' jam session, will take place on Monday, October 10th at the Helen Mills Spotlight Theatre, 139 West 26th Street (between 6th and 7th avenue), performance begins at 8pm.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) presents Outlaws: The Ballad of Billy the Kid a world premiere rock musical by Perry Liu, Joe Calarco and Alastair William King.

Queen of the Mist is a world premiere musical with words and music by 5-time Tony nominee Michael John LaChiusa (The Wild Party, Marie Christine, Hello Again).

The company of the first North American tour of WICKED welcomes Mamie Parris as Elphaba on Tuesday, October 4 in Atlanta, GA.

Broadway star and singer/songwriter, Bryce Ryness, offers a night of his heartfelt original music for one night only at LA hotspot, Barre, on Monday, September 19th at 8PM.

Rep Stage, the professional Equity theatre in residence at Howard Community College (HCC), opens its 19th season with Liz Duffy Adams' farcical comedy 'Or,'. The free love of the '60s - the 1660s - is riotously explored in this recent Off-Broadway sleeper hit based on real-life playwright Aphra Behn's life as an undercover spy and her romantic romps through Restoration England in order to gain entry into the boys' playwriting club. Michael Stebbins, Rep Stage's producing artistic director, who directed last season's critically acclaimed 'Two by J.M.Barrie: The New Word and The Old Lady Shows Her Medals,' returns to direct this regional premiere. Jason Odell Williams ('Two by J.M. Barrie...'), Christine Demuth ('Two by J.M. Barrie...' and 'The Glass Menagerie') and Broadway alum Charlotte Cohn star.

Broadway star and singer/songwriter, Bryce Ryness, offers a night of his heartfelt original music for one night only at LA hotspot, Barre, on Monday, September 19th at 8PM.

Queen of the Mist is a world premiere musical with words and music by 5-time Tony nominee Michael John LaChiusa (The Wild Party, Marie Christine, Hello Again). Based on an astounding, outrageous, and haunting true story, two-time Tony nominee Mary Testa (Guys and Dolls, Xanadu, 42nd Street) stars as Anna Edson Taylor, who, in 1901, set out to be the first woman to shoot Niagara Falls, in a barrel of her own design. Navigating both the treacherous Falls and a fickle public with a ravenous appetite for sensationalism, this unconventional heroine vies for her legacy in a world clamoring with swindling managers, assassins, revolutionaries, moralizing family, anarchists and activists. Convinced that there is greatness in her and determined not to live as ordinary, she sets out to battle her fear and tempt her fate.

Suffolk University and Boston Playwrights' Theatre present Robert Brustein's Mortal Terror, directed by Daniela Varon from September 15 through October 2 at the Modern Theatre at Suffolk University, 525 Washington Street, Boston.

The Manhattan Theatre Club has announced full casting for the upcoming world premiere of CLOSE UP SPACE by Molly Smith Metzler, directed by Leigh Silverman. Joining the cast is Academy Award & Emmy Award nominee Rosie Perez (Fearless, The Ritz) as famous author 'Vanessa Finn Adams.' Completing the cast are Jessica DiGiovanni (Off-Broadway Debut) and Colby Minifie (The Pillowman, Landscape of the Body) as well as already announced Tony Award and four-time Emmy Award winner David Hyde Pierce ('Frasier', Curtains) and Obie Award winner Michael Chernus (The Aliens, In The Wake).

The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) presents Outlaws: The Ballad of Billy the Kid a world premiere rock musical by Perry Liu, Joe Calarco and Alastair William King.

Producers Paula Herold and Alan Wasser announced today that the complete cast from the acclaimed off-Broadway production of Lysistrata Jones will transfer with the musical when it opens on Broadway this fall. Beginning previews November 12, 2011, Lysistrata Jones will officially open on December 14, 2011 at Broadway's Walter Kerr Theatre.

Douglas Carter Beane's LYSISTRATA JONES will indeed head to Broadway in the fall, beginning previews at the Walter Kerr Theatre November 12, 2011 in anticipation of a December 14 opening. The production last played the basketball court of the Judson Memorial Church Gymnasium off-Broadway in Washington Square, opening on June 5. The production was presented by the Transport Group Theatre Company. The new musical features a book by Douglas Carter Beane, music and lyrics by Lewis Flinn and will be directed and choreographed by Dan Knechtges.