Wendy Katz Hiller News

Open Book Theatre Company will close its 12th season with Peter Shaffer's Tony Award-winning comedy LETTICE AND LOVAGE, featuring community leaders as guest stars in each performance.

Open Book Theatre Company will kick off its twelfth season this fall with the beloved musical The Fantasticks, running September 12–28, 2025, at its intimate Trenton venue. The production marks the company’s first foray into musical theatre, directed by Wendy Katz Hiller with music direction by Doug Scott.

Open Book Theatre Company has announced its season opener, A DOLL'S HOUSE PART 2, in Metro Detroit.

Get a first look at The Children by Lucy Kirkwood, running now through Dec. 11th at Open Book Theatre in Trenton, MI. 

Something is clearly lurking below the surface when Rose pays an unexpected visit to her old friends and colleagues.  The Children, playing through December 11 at Open Book Theatre in Trenton, slowly peels back the layers of its complicated characters, revealing decades of history and some startling revelations about the future. 

In the future, Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology will be used to help humans through all sorts of difficulties, from memory loss to depression. At least, that’s the world playwright Jordan Harrison imagines in Marjorie Prime, opening January 21st at Open Book Theatre in Trenton.

Open Book will open their season with This Random World: The Myth of Serendipity running Sept 10 – Oct 10, 2021.

Open Book Theatre Company's newest show puts a twelve-step participant center stage.  What Brought Me Here introduces us to Kevin, who is leading a group online for the first time. As he shares the story of how he came to this point in his life, he reveals how the connections he has made make him feel less alone.

We've seen a rise in internet celebrities, or influencers, as anyone with a smart phone and a social media account can create an online personality and fanbase. But how does that online presence influence the influencer? How does our online presence influence even those of us who aren't celebrities?

Warm up this winter with Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (Jan 24- Feb 22, 2020) at Open Book Theatre Company. “The play is deceptively simple,” explained director Wendy Katz Hiller, “two middle-aged 'losers' have what could be a one-night-stand or, possibly, the start of a relationship. The tension between our wants and our fears, masks and vulnerabilities, alienation and connection are explored throughout one important night. But the playwright, Terrence McNally, doesn't let this fall into melodrama or pontification. The play is filled with funny, biting, ironic moments, as well as the sweet hope of the possibility of love.”

Warm up this winter with Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (Jan 24- Feb 22, 2020) at Open Book Theatre Company. 'The play is deceptively simple,' explained director Wendy Katz Hiller, 'two middle-aged 'losers' have what could be a one-night-stand or, possibly, the start of a relationship.

Local audiences are looking forward to another season of thought-provoking, professional theatre at Open Book Theatre Company (OBTC) in Trenton as they gear up for their sixth season. Open Book theatre was named Trenton Business of the Year for 2019, has won several Michigan theatre awards, and is quickly becoming a key player in the cultural scene Downriver. The theatre hires professional actors, directors, and designers from the Metro Detroit area. With so many wonderful, local eateries nearby many patrons go out for dinner or drinks before or after the show, making it a full night out with friends or a wonderful date.

The Dio - Dining & Entertainment, Livingston County's professional, award winning dinner theatre, is excited to launch their sixth season of shows with the popular American play, Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling, directed by Steve DeBruyne.

The news out of Philadelphia about the decade-spanning sexual abuse and coverup in the Catholic Church hadn't been released when Doubt was chosen to be part of the Open Book season, but it proves to have been a timely choice. In the play Sister Aloysius, a Bronx school principal, takes matters into her own hands when she suspects the young Father Flynn of impropriety. What follows is an engaging examination of the grey areas between suspicion, certainty and doubt.

Open Book Theatre Company in Trenton gears up for another season of plays worth talking about

Open Book Theatre Company is pleased to announce its fifth season.  The award winning professional theatre will present 5 plays, including a Michigan Premiere.  Two of the plays won Tony Awards for Best Play, and one of those also earned the Pulitzer.

Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Donald Margulies' Time Stands Still focuses on a couple trying to maintain a relationship as they make a living reporting on the world's atrocities. Photojournalist Sarah is home recovering from injuries sustained from a roadside bomb in a war-torn country, eager to return to work.

The "deliriously funny" (NY Times) 2013 Tony Award winning play Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike is set to take the stage at Open Book Theatre February 23 - March 18.

???????Open Book Theatre Company is helmed by Grosse Ile resident Krista Schafer Ewbank.  "I've always been aware of the lack of roles, both onstage and off, for women.  There are far more women at auditions and vying for jobs, but theatre is often still a man's world."  According to a recent study by Wellesly Centers for Women less than 27% of theatres have women in the artistic director role.   A 2015 study by the Dramatists Guild found that 78% of plays produced were written by men.  "I always look for plays that feature strong roles for women. It's harder than you might think with so many plays being written by men. I think we've found a really good balance."

The producers of BoxFest Detroit are pleased to announce BoxFest Detroit 2016, an annual theatre festival that showcases and creates opportunities for women directors.