William Shakespeare News

As we reach that wonderful time to be North Carolinians when the mildness of spring begins to fade into the heat of summer, the folks at Bare Theatre, Raleigh Little Theatre, and Cirque de Vol Studios are capitalizing on Mother Nature's generosity by bringing theater outdoors to present Two Noble Kinsmen at the Stephenson Amphitheatre at Raleigh Little Theatre. Audience members can bring their picnic blankets and beach chairs, enjoy food trucks and cold beverages while the sunset provides ambience that the best lighting designers in the world could never create and the fireflies join to watch a unique piece of theater by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher. One would be hard-pressed to think of a better way to welcome summer.

The ninth annual Charlotte Shakespeare Festival opens with a musical, 1960s staging of William Shakespeare's Love's Labor's Lost from today, May 29 to June 15 at The Green. The festival moves indoors to the Booth Playhouse from August 7 to 24 with a 1970s staging of Measure for Measure.

The Spare Change Series presents 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' Hollywood's new charitybased play reading series, The Spare Change Series, will be presenting their very first production on Monday, June 2, 2014 at 7pm at the Art of Acting Studio, located at 1017 N. Orange Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90038.

After the success of their critically acclaimed production of Julius Caesar in 2013, Iris Theatre are returning for a sixth summer season of Shakespeare in the beautiful gardens of St Paul's Church, Covent Garden, in the heart of the West End.

I cannot begin to imagine the fear that must overwhelm people in battle. And then to attempt to imagine a person taking action while overwhelmed with that fear, the action always with someone's mortality at stake, is more than I can bear.

Shobna Gulati (Coronation Street, Dinnerladies) and Joe McGann (Calendar Girls, The Upper Hand) are to star in a UK tour of John Godber's bittersweet comedy, April in Paris.

'Underling Productions' The Two Noble Kinsmen opened on Wednesday to a sold out house at Theatre 54. Underling Productions' third main stage production features Cameron Berner, Katie Fanning, Michael Goldstein, Sean Lounsbury, Emily Philio, Jake Pino, Glenn Provost, Marielle Renee Rousseau, Matt Shaw, Rebecca Smithee, and Elise Williams. The Two Noble Kinsmen is written by John Fletcher and William Shakespeare and is directed by Underling's Executive Director, Allyson Capetta.

With recent airings on PBS via the BBC's "Hollow Crown" series and a screening of the RSC production with David Tennant and celebrations being held the world over for William Shakespeare's 450th Birthday, the Delaware-Pennsylvania region has seen a mini-renaissance of Shakespeare's Richard II. The Arden Shakespeare Gild celebrates with its own production of Richard II directed by Tanya Lazar. Local actor Greg Faber will play the title role in a cast featuring 19 actors.

The "Alley Theatre @ UH" season begins with Elizabeth Ashley and Hallie Foote in the southwestern premiere of Horton Foote's wonderfully entertaining The Old Friends, directed byMichael Wilson. Alley Resident Actors Jay Sullivan, James Black, and Jeffrey Bean, and returning artist Jeremy Webb lead the cast of Dracula, the Original Vampire Play, a production that will include the iconic designs by Edward Gorey, directed by Artistic Director Gregory Boyd. Boyd also directsShakespeare's romantic comedy As You Like It featuring Alley Resident Actors Elizabeth Bunch, Chris Hutchison and Todd Waite. Resident Actor James Black and Josie de Guzman lead the cast in Arthur Miller's All My Sons, directed by renowned playwright Theresa Rebeck. The Southwestern debut of Britain's innovative and exciting theatre company Kneehigh follows, with an inventive and imaginative production of Tristan & Yseult, based on the Arthurian romance. Resident Actor Jeffrey Bean returns to a favorite role in the riotous tour de force The Foreigner.

When Artistic & Executive Director Alan Stanford was planning the 2014 PICT season, Managing Director Stephanie Riso suggested the addition of the Beckett classic Waiting for Godot. She knew Alan had a special relationship with this particular work of Beckett, having portrayed Pozzo for the Gate Theatre Dublin's touring production for more than twenty years.

'Underling Productions' The Two Noble Kinsmen opened on Wednesday to a sold out house at Theatre 54. Underling Productions' third main stage production features Cameron Berner, Katie Fanning, Michael Goldstein, Sean Lounsbury, Emily Philio, Jake Pino, Glenn Provost, Marielle Renee Rousseau, Matt Shaw, Rebecca Smithee, and Elise Williams. The Two Noble Kinsmen is written by John Fletcher and William Shakespeare and is directed by Underling's Executive Director, Allyson Capetta.

This summer, dreams really do come true and the passion of young love is alive at Coronado Playhouse with two classic love stories that have very different endings.

Bare Theatre concludes its bombastic ninth season with Two Noble Kinsmen: Fire & Shadows, a theatre/circus spectacle with food trucks in the beautiful outdoor setting beside the Raleigh Rose Garden. Following the critical and popular success of last summer's The Comedy of Errors, the company again teams up with Raleigh circus school Cirque de Vol Studios for a night of stunning drama, thrilling circus acts, pyrotechnics and shadow play. Alan Hall of CVNC said of The Comedy of Errors:

Artistic Director Tony Simotes kicks off a celebratory season in honor of the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth with Shakespeare's Will, directed by Daniela Varon and featuring Kristin Wold. This provocative one-woman play by Canadian Playwright Vern Thiessen imagines the bold and unapologetic journey of Shakespeare's enigmatic wife, Anne Hathaway, and the couple's unconventional courtship and marriage. Performances run in the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre today, May 23 - August 24.

During the run of Theatre for a New Audience's KING LEAR, Sir Ian McKellen sat down with Michael Pennington, who played the titular role, for an in-depth discussion on acting, Shakespeare, and the play. Click below to watch a conversation between two of the greatest Shakespearean actors of our time!

Tacoma Little Theatre celebrates 96 seasons of being "YOUR" theatre by bringing seven productions to the community beginning in September of 2014.

Ensemble Theatre's TheatreCLE concludes its 2013-2014 season with VOODOO MACBETH in collaboration with the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival. Originally written by William Shakespeare and adapted by Orson Welles, the production will be directed by Celeste Cosentino and Tyson Rand, opening May 23. The production plays Thurs.- Sat. at 8pm; Sunday at 2pm through June 8th. Preview performance: tonight, May 22nd.

Boiling Point Players, an exciting new theatre company founded by Autumn Clack, Melanie Martin, and Ruth S. McCleskey, has announced its inaugural season opening today, May 22, 2014.