Williamstown Theatre News

The New Group has announced four productions for its 2017-2018 Season.

Lesser America (Half Moon Bay, The Bachelors, Carnival Kids, Trevor) presents the New York Premiere of IN A WORD by Lauren Yee, winner of the 2016 Francesca Primus Prize and a finalist for the ATCA/Steinberg Award. Directed by Tyne Rafaeli (The Bridges of Madison County national tour, Actually at Geffen Playhouse), previews began June 16 at Cherry Lane Theatre, where Lesser America continues its run as the inaugural Company in Residence. Opening night is slated for tonight, June 21.

North Coast Repertory Theatre closes Season 35 with the San Diego premiere of AT THIS EVENING'S PERFORMANCE, an uproarious comedy about a bohemian theatre troupe appearing in an Eastern European police state.

Victory Gardens Theater announces the lineup for the 2017 IGNITION Festival of New Plays, including Tuvalu, or The Saddest Song by Antoinette Nwandu; This Land Was Made by Tori Sampson; Spin Moves by Ken Weitzman; Tell Them I'm Still Young by Julia Doolittle; Wolf Play by Hansol Jung; and Suspension by Kristiana Rae Colon.

d4rkly your retrorockets fl4re, a multi-media sci-fi theatrical adventure, makes its world premiere this summer at the Flamboyan Theater (107 Suffolk Street, in the Clemente Center) as part of the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity.

Victoria Theatre Association's Premier Health Broadway Series will present Disney's THE LITTLE MERMAID, the under-the-sea spectacle swimming into the Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center Aug. 8-13, 2017. Tickets for the timeless fairytale go on sale Wednesday, June 21.

???????Tickets are now on sale to the inaugural Corkscrew Theater Festival, running August 7 - September 3 at the Paradise Factory (64 East 4th Street, Manhattan). Presented by The Brewing Dept. and Fortress Productions, this new summer theater festival provides early-career artists a high level of production support and features five world premieres and five readings performed in repertory over four weeks. Special attention has been given to theater makers who are developing work through innovative and unusual collaborative models. A majority of the participating artists identify as female.

Manhattan Theatre Club's world premiere of Fulfillment Center, the new play by Abe Koogler (Kill Floor), directed by Daniel Aukin (Fool For Love at MTC), opens tonight, June 20, at The Studio at Stage II - Harold and Mimi Steinberg New Play Series at New York City Center - Stage II (131 West 55th Street).

Big Babies will be performed as part of Adirondack Theatre Festival's new play reading series. The readings will take place at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 5, and Thursday, July 6, in the cabaret space of the Charles R. Wood Theater.

The YALE INSTITUTE FOR MUSIC THEATRE (Mark Brokaw, Artistic Director) announces the creative teams and casting for the two original book musicals, COWBOY BOB, created by Molly Beach Murphy, Jeanna Phillips, and Annie Tippe, book by Molly Beach Murphy, music and lyrics by Jeanna Phillips; and GUMBO, music by Brett Macias and book and lyrics by Christina Quintana, conceived by Brett Macias and Christina Quintana, which are being developed in an intensive two-week summer lab at Yale School of Drama, June 13-24. Scott Frankel is the Artistic Advisor, and Catherine Sheehy is the resident Dramaturg for this year's Institute, which culminates with open rehearsal readings of each project, presented as part of New Haven's International Festival of Arts & Ideas on June 23 and 24.

Samuel French's Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival, the nation's premier short play competition, announces this year's top 30 playwrights. Additionally, ticket sales open today for its 42nd Festival.

This summer, The K.G. Scully Players are pleased to present VICTORY GIRLS, by Kristina Poe, directed by Jill DeArmon, as part of the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity.

Prospect Theater Company, under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Cara Reichel and Managing Director Melissa Huber, will present WORLD VIEWS, a collection of new mini-musicals in concert, the culmination of Prospect's 2017 Musical Theater Lab. WORLD VIEWS, the company's 11th lab performance, will be presented on July 8, 2017 at 8pm at The TimesCenter.

New York playwright Stephanie DiMaggio has written a play that wrestles with the impact of family secrets, and the fallout that ensues when fame and fortune don't necessarily bring happiness. Now, American Theater Group will present a reading of Levity at the South Orange Performing Arts Center Loft on June 25 at 7 p.m. Tony Award-winning actress Michelle Pawk, and Tony Award-nominated John Dossett, who is currently appearing on Broadway in War Paint, will take the leads in this riveting story. David Ross and playwright Stephanie DiMaggio will round out the cast. The reading gives professional actors a chance to bring life to the play as they read with script-in-hand, and gives audiences the opportunity to provide valuable feedback to the playwright as she continues to refine the work. Benjamin Endsley Klein will direct.

Bradley King has won the 2017 Tony Award for Best Lighting Design of a Musical for NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812. His collaborations with Rachel Chavkin include Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 (Broadway), Hadestown (NYTW), Preludes (LCT3), The Fairy Tale Lives of Russian Girls (Yale Rep), and the upcoming The Royal Family (The Guthrie).

Pittsburgh CLO has joined forces with Kansas City Starlight to produce a 21-week tour of Disney's THE LITTLE MERMAID, coming to the Benedum Center June 14-25.

Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA; Jeffrey Horowitz, Founding Artistic Director) is pleased to announce casting for British director Simon Godwin's new staging of Measure for Measure, William Shakespeare's dark comedy about justice, faith, power, sex, and family. The production, which marks Godwin's first time directing Shakespeare for an American company, runs June 17 - July 16 at Polonsky Shakespeare Center (262 Ashland Place) in the Brooklyn Cultural District.

The Hangar Theatre has just announced the shows for its upcoming cutting edge Wedge Series.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Today's big news: The musical adaptation of the cult '90s hit ROMY AND MICHELE'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION makes its World Premiere in Seattle!

La Jolla Playhouse announces the cast and creative team for its world-premiere production of At the Old Place, by Rachel Bonds, directed by Playhouse Associate Artistic Director Jaime Castañeda, running in the Mandell Weiss Forum July 5 - 31.