Village Theatre News

Come out & PLAY! October 13th through the 19th when Theatre Puget Sound hosts Live Theatre Week 2008. This 4th Annual Live Theatre Week will be the biggest one ever with over 50 theaters and performing arts organizations participating at over 100 different events throughout Puget Sound.

WAKE UP MARCONI! is pleased to announce the production of THE SPITFIRE GRILL, directed by Robert Francis Perillo.

Village Theatre announces the cast of Saint Heaven, the new American musical by Keith Gordon and Martin Casella, on stage September 17 - October 26, 2008 in Issaquah and October 31-November 23, 2008.

Village Theatre opens the 2008-2009 Season with the West Coast Premiere of the new American musical, Saint Heaven.

New Repertory Theatre, in residence at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, is excited to present Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl. From the acclaimed playwright of The Clean House comes this beautiful and devastating story about love and choice.

WAKE UP MARCONI! is pleased to announce the production of THE SPITFIRE GRILL, directed by Robert Francis Perillo.

Village Theatre's highly anticipated annual Festival of New Musicals returns for an eighth year, featuring staged readings of six new musicals- Chasing Nicolette, Killala Bay, Dennis The Menace, The Alchemists, The Gypsy King, and The Yellow Wood. These are fully sung presentations, performed with script-in-hand, of six brand new musicals.

Today it was announced that GUYS AND DOLLS will open on Broadway for the first time in 17 years in the spring of 2009 at a Nederlander Theatre to be announced. With music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, this production is the first joint Broadway project by director Des McAnuff and Sergio Trujillo since Jersey Boys.

Broadway's Eden Espinosa and Jenna Leigh Green have just been added to the guest list of performers who will join Composer and Lyricist Scott Alan at London West End Duchess Theatre for the one night only Benefit concert, 'Never Neverland: The Music of Scott Alan.

Composer and Lyricist Scott Alan will make his London Concert debut on September 21st, 2008 at the Duchess Theatre for the one night only Benefit concert, 'Never Neverland: The Music of Scott Alan, which will help raise money for the charities, Ovarian Cancer Action and NCH.

Due to scheduling conflicts with the previous theatre, the Northwest premiere of ZANNA, DON'T! will now be performing at Seattle Repertory Theatre's PONCHO Forum opening June 27 with a run through July 6.

Village Theatre presents Zing Go The Strings featuring the talents of Correo Aéreo and The Tallboys at the Everett Performing Arts Center on Friday, June 27, 2008 at 8:00 PM.

'One Red Flower,' a new musical production starring Maureen McGovern, Elijah Kelley (Hairspray) and Hunter Parrish (Weeds), produced and created by Emmy Award-winning director Paris Barclay, is presented in a staged reading format.

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) is pleased to announce its new Board Members, selected from NAMT's membership of over 140 musical theatre producing organizations from around the world.

Village Theatre is pleased to announce its exciting director line-up for the 2008-2009 Mainstage Season. Andrea Dymond, Resident Director of Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago, will direct the new musical and season opener, Saint Heaven. Dymond comments, 'I'd originally directed an earlier version of Saint Heaven in a developmental workshop production, about five years ago, at the Stages Festival at Theatre Building Chicago. That's when I got to know Marty [Martin Casella, book writer] and Keith [Keith Gordon, lyricist and composer] who are every bit as gorgeous to work with as is their musical. I think Saint Heaven is unique in the fullness of its telling, the richness of its characters, and the variety of forms of deeply American music it uses to engage us in the story.' At Victory Gardens Theater, Dymond has staged a wealth of productions such as Gloria Bond Clunie's Shoes (Best Director nomination, Black Theatre Alliance) and Charles Smith's Free Man of Color (winner of the Jeff award for Best New Work). Steve Tomkins, Artistic Director for Village Theatre is set to direct the charming Disney classic Beauty and the Beast. Tomkins gave his directorial debut at Village Theatre with the 1988 production of Gypsy. This upcoming season marks his sixteenth season as Artistic Director for Village Theatre. David Ira Goldstein will direct Oscar Wilde's classic play The Importance of Being Earnest. 'I have been eager to direct Wilde's greatest comedy ever since I directed his earlier play A Woman of No Importance for the University of Washington School of Drama in 1994. If any play can invoke a spirit of pure pleasure for two hours, it is certainly Wilde's Earnest,' Goldstein comments. As artistic director of Arizona Theatre Company (ATC), Goldstein has received the 2003 Governor's Arts Award as Individual Artist for his contributions to the arts in Arizona. He has directed over 30 mainstage productions for ATC and has been a guest director across the country. Before living in Arizona, he was the associate Artistic Director of A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle. Steve Tomkins will also take on the original work Stunt Girl this season. His last three new musical projects, which include Once Upon A Time in New Jersey (2006-2007), Girl of My Dreams (2005-2006), and The Ark (2002-2003), quickly became huge hits amongst Village Theatre audiences. Lastly, Village Theatre is thrilled to announce Jerry Dixon as the director of the musical masterpiece, Show Boat. Dixon began his career as an actor with original Broadway cast performances in Once On This Island and Five Guys Named Moe, with other original roles in Bright Lights, Big City, The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, new yorkers, and tick, tick…BOOM!. Dixon's directing credits vary and include tick, tick…BOOM! (Korea and Singapore), Crowns (Kalamazoo Civic), and concerts and special events for Tony winner LaChanze, recording artist Raúl Midón, Carnegie Hall, and the Belgium National Symphony. Dixon's directorial work was last seen at Village Theatre in 2007, when he was brought from New York to direct the Village Originals production of Barnstormer.

TheatreWorks, the nationally-acclaimed theatre of Silicon Valley, opens its 39th season with the dazzling West Coast Premiere of Snapshots, the latest musical from legendary Broadway (Wicked) and Hollywood (Enchanted) composer Stephen Schwartz.

The Wilshire Theatre Beverly Hills continues its 2008 season with the Los Angeles premiere of LOVE, JANIS for five performances only: May 29 - June 1. The life and music of rock-n-roll icon Janis Joplin explodes onto the stage in LOVE, JANIS.

Village Theatre Village Originals announces the return of the musical, 'The Last Starfighter' as a workshop presentation.

DreamWorks Theatricals and Neal Street Productions, Ltd. are pleased to announce that Puget Sound native Keaton Whittaker has joined the cast of SHREK THE MUSICAL for the Seattle engagement.