Wallace Shawn News

A stellar cast has been assembled for an invitation-only reading of Rich Orloff's award-winning comedy, Advanced Chemistry, at the National Arts Club today, January 14th.

A stellar cast has been assembled for an invitation-only reading of Rich Orloff's award-winning comedy, Advanced Chemistry, at the National Arts Club on Monday, January 14th.

The New Group announced today the world premiere of Clive, written by Jonathan Marc Sherman and directed by and featuring Ethan Hawke in the title role.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham; UTR Festival Director, Mark Russell) will begin performances for the 2013 UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL on Wednesday, January 9. Now in its ninth year, this acclaimed downtown festival committed to tracking new theater from across the U.S. and around the world will run for 12 days through January 20 at The Public Theater at Astor Place. Excluding Life and Times, all single tickets to UTR shows are $20; Member tickets are $15.

La MaMa will present The Fever, a gripping play by Wallace Shawn (My Dinner With André, Vanya on 42nd Street, and Grasses of A Thousand Colors), in a new production directed by Lars Norén, one of Sweden's most prominent playwrights/directors, and featuring acclaimed French-Romanian actress Simona Maicanescu. This powerful dramatic monologue, written between 1985 and 1990 but more relevant now than ever, is a fierce, forensic examination of social inequality and the links between the affluence many take for granted and the poverty and suffering that haunt the lives of millions.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies' Coney Island Christmas started previews at the Geffen November 20 with a scheduled opening set for November 28. This work, commissioned by the Geffen, will honor past artistic director Gilbert Cates, who passed away last year, and promises to be very special. Margulies, who is renowned also for Dinner with Friends, Time Stands Still, Collected Stories, Sight Unseen and Brooklyn Boy among other plays, recently sat down to chat about the play, playwriting and the writers who have influenced his work. Margulies most definitely agrees that with the recent devastation to Coney Island by hurricane Sandy, audiences will look at his new play from a slightly different angle.

Off-Broadway's Page 73 Productions - a company dedicated to producing and developing works by early-career playwrights - will present readings of their 2012 P73 Playwriting Fellow Max Posner's play THE FAMISHED today, November 16 at 2pm and 7pm at Manhattan Theatre Club's Creative Center (311 West 43rd Street, 8th Fl). OBIE Award winner Ken Rus Schmoll (TELEPHONE, A MAP OF VIRTUE) will direct.

The New Group presents the first production in its 2012-2013 season, the world premiere of The Good Mother, a new play by Francine Volpe. Directed by Scott Elliott, this production features Mark Blum, Darren Goldstein, Gretchen Mol, Alfredo Narciso and Eric Nelsen. Previews began October 31 in advance of an Official Opening Night tomorrow, November 15 at 7:00pm. The limited Off-Broadway engagement is slated through December 22 at The New Group @ Theatre Row (The Acorn Theatre / 410 West 42nd Street / Acorn Theatre). Get a first look at the production in the photos below!

The New Group has announced that Brooks Ashmanskas, Vincent D'Onofrio and Zoe Kazan have joined the cast of Clive, up next in the company's 2012-2013 season. Written by Jonathan Marc Sherman and directed by and featuring Ethan Hawke in the title role, Clive begins a limited Off-Broadway engagement on January 17, 2013. Official Opening Night is set for Thursday, February 7 at 7:00pm. This production is slated through March 9 at The New Group at Theatre Row (The Acorn Theatre / 410 West 42nd Street).

The New Yorker has just announced that after twenty years as the publication's chief theatre critic, John Lahr will give up regular reviewing to focus on the profiles he also contributes to the magazine, as well as book projects.

On Sunday, November 11 at 6:00pm, The New Group offers the first presentation in this season's continuing series Dark Nights at The New Group: "WOMEN in 3-D: Creating Complex, Sexual Female Characters" with playwrights Francine Volpe, Julia Jordan and Marsha Norman.

Academy Award® winning director Jonathan Demme will receive the Cinema Audio Society Filmmaker Award at the 49th CAS Awards on February 16, 2012 at the Crystal Ballroom of the Millennium-Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles.

Anchor Bay Films has released the trailer for Clueless director Amy Heckerling's new comedy VAMPS, starring Alicia Silverstone, Krysten Ritter, Sigourney Weaver, Kristen Johnston, Richard Lewis, Wallace Shawn, Justin Kirk, Dan Stevens, Todd Barry, Marilu Henner, Zak Orth and Malcolm McDowell. Check it out below!

To mark John Cage's centennial year, Symphony Space is proud to present the composer's rarely-heard 1989 conceptual work 'How to Get Started' in a series of three performances by pairs of noted musicians and writers who know each other well. Author Oscar Hijuelos and bandleader Arturo O'Farrill take the stage tonight, November 1; playwright Wallace Shawn and his composer sibling Allen Shawn perform today, November 15; and poet Robert Pinsky joins singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding today, December 13.

While the scariness of the season may be all too real and in-your-face to East Coast BroadwayWorld readers due to Hurricane Sandy, late October is indeed the most frightening time of the year, so let's take a look at some of the top picks for Halloween 2012 - whether you are looking to pass some time in the storm, boiling up a cauldron of witch's brew for trick or treaters or donning devilish duds yourself.

Mark Blum has joined the cast of The New Group's The Good Mother, written by Francine Volpe and directed by Scott Elliott. He joins Darren Goldstein, Gretchen Mol, Alfredo Narciso and Eric Nelsen in the premiere of this new play, replacing the previously announced Bill Sage, who had to withdraw due to a scheduling conflict prior to start of rehearsals. Mark Blum's Broadway credits include Gore Vidal's The Best Man, Twelve Angry Men, A Thousand Clowns, Lost in Yonkers, and more. He has appeared previously at The New Group in Wallace Shawn and Allen Shawn's play/opera The Music Teacher, among others.

After having played in theaters with Disney's recent release of Finding Nemo 3D and debuting on the Disney Channel this Monday, Disney/Pixar has now released the full short PARTYSAURUS REX. Click here to check it out!

Mark Blum has joined the cast of The New Group's The Good Mother, written by Francine Volpe and directed by Scott Elliott. He joins Darren Goldstein, Gretchen Mol, Alfredo Narciso and Eric Nelsen in the premiere of this new play, replacing the previously announced Bill Sage, who had to withdraw due to a scheduling conflict prior to start of rehearsals. Mark Blum's Broadway credits include Gore Vidal's The Best Man, Twelve Angry Men, A Thousand Clowns, Lost in Yonkers, and more. He has appeared previously at The New Group in Wallace Shawn and Allen Shawn's play/opera The Music Teacher, among others.

To mark John Cage's centennial year, Symphony Space is proud to present the composer's rarely-heard 1989 conceptual work 'How to Get Started' in a series of three performances by pairs of noted musicians and writers who know each other well. Author Oscar Hijuelos and bandleader Arturo O'Farrill take the stage on Thursday, November 1; playwright Wallace Shawn and his composer sibling Allen Shawn perform on Thursday, November 15; and poet Robert Pinsky joins singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding on Thursday, December 13.

Anchor Bay Films has released the trailer for Clueless director Amy Heckerling's new comedy VAMPS, starring Alicia Silverstone, Krysten Ritter, Sigourney Weaver, Kristen Johnston, Richard Lewis, Wallace Shawn, Justin Kirk, Dan Stevens, Todd Barry, Marilu Henner, Zak Orth and Malcolm McDowell. Check it out below!