Williamstown Theatre News

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) presents the U.S. premiere of James Fenton's acclaimed adaptation of The Orphan of Zhao, a classic Chinese legend that has its roots in the fourth century BCE.

Center Theatre Group Artistic Director Michael Ritchie has set the 11th season at the CTG/Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City.

Tickets go on sale tomorrow, Wednesday, June 4 at 10 AM exclusively to American Express Card Members for two-time Academy Award nominee Bradley Cooper, Academy Award nominee Patricia Clarkson and Alessandro Nivola in Bernard Pomerance's Tony Award-winning play THE ELEPHANT MAN, directed by Tony Award nominee Scott Ellis. Preferred seating is available to Gold Card, Platinum Card, and Centurion members. For tickets, call 212-239-6200 or visit Telecharge.com. The general public on sale will begin on Saturday, June 28 at 10 AM.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: Roundabout's JUST JIM DALE opens off-Broadway tonight, and the IF/THEN cast recording hits shelves today, along with Ahrens & Flaherty's live album NICE FIGHTING YOU.

Williamstown Theatre Festival has announced additional casting on both the Main Stage and Nikos Stage as well as special events for the 2014 Season. On the Main Stage: Diana DiMarzio, Rick Holmes, and Timothy Shew join the WTF Resident Company, appearing in both June Moon and The Visit.

Undercover Productions LLC will present the Off-Broadway Premiere of Ethel Sings, by Joan Beber beginning performances at Theatre Row's Beckett Theatre (410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues) tonight, May 31st, with Opening Night set for Friday June 6th. This limited engagement will continue through July 13th.

Earn your blood at the tag team match of the century, with the survival of two families in the balance. The Echo Theater Company presents the world premiere of an outrageously violent, seriously dark and surprisingly funny new play about backyard wrestling. Larry Biederman directs Backyard by Mickey Birnbaum, opening tonight, May 31 at the Echo's new home, Atwater Village Theatre.

Ghost, Pantages Theatre/June 27 -July13/www.hollywoodpantages.com/ The musical stage adaptation of the 1990 runaway hit film of the same title that starred Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Oscar-winning Whoopi Goldberg. Despite its mixed reviews, the show, which originated on the West End, received 3 Tony nominations for its Broadway engagement. With book/lyrics by Bruce Joel and music/lyrics by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard, Ghost's musical score includes the ever-popular 'Unchained Melody' and is bound to be an audience grabber.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company will present a special engagement of Buyer & Cellar. Written by Jonathan Tolins, directed by Stephen Brackett and starring Michael Urie, Buyer & Cellar was heralded by The New York Times as "a seriously funny and remarkably sustained slice of absurdist whimsy." Washington, D.C. marks the second stop of the production's national tour, where it will play at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW), from June 20-29, 2014.

This summer, the critically acclaimed PigPen Theatre Co. returns to the East Coast for a final tour of their celebrated signature play with music, The Old Man and The Old Moon. The limited tour, which will originate at Williamstown Theatre Festival and will play engagements in New York City (New Victory Theatre), and Boston (Paramount Center Mainstage), will be the last chance to see the original company perform The Old Man and The Old Moon. Praised as 'an all-ages journey into the frontiers of undiluted imagination' by New York Magazine, The Old Man and The Old Moon was revised extensively during its twice-extended, sold out engagement at Writers Theatre in Chicago last fall.

As New York's premier Off-Broadway theater dedicated to kids and families, The New Victory Theater has announced six NY premieres and seven U.S. premieres from eight different countries around the world in a new season that runs from September 26, 2014 through June 7, 2015.

No rural area has as many summer stages as the Berkshires of Massachusetts whose offerings overflow its borders.

Off-Broadway's award-winning Irish Repertory Theatre announces that its current production, the revival of Gardner McKay's SEA MARKS, directed by Ciaran O'Reilly, will extend through Sunday, July 13, 2014 (the production was originally scheduled to be performed through June 15th). The romantic two-hander stars Tony and Drama Desk Award nominee Xanthe Elbrick (CORAM BOY, Irish Rep's CANDIDA) and Patrick Fitzgerald (Irish Rep's GIBRALTAR). SEA MARKS began performances on April 23rd and opened on May 5th. SEA MARKS is now playing on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage of the Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd Street).

Bay Street Theatre presents the World Premiere of CONVICTION (Today, May 27-June 15) by Carey Crim and directed by Scott Schwartz, Bay Street's new Artistic Director. The production is co-produced by Bay Street Theatre, Rubicon Theatre in California, Dead Posh Productions, London and Canada's Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre.

The world premiere of 17 Orchard Point, a new play starring Tony Award-winner Michele Pawk, began performances on Friday, April 25 for a limited four-week Off-Broadway run at The Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues) through today, May 24.

We're featuring one of our favorite singer-songwriters this week, Daniel Zaitchik! Here he is performing 'New Year's Eve' at our concert at 54 Below.

SPAIN arts & culture and The Shakespeare Theatre Company present a staged reading of Life is a Dream (La vida es sueño) by Pedro Calderon de la Barca, newly translated by Helen Edmundson. In this special presentation at the Former Residence of the Ambassadors of Spain, the philosophical masterpiece comes to life in a one-night-only staged reading by some of Washington's finest actors.

Barnes & Noble will celebrate the newGhostlight Records cast recording of The Bridges of Madison County, the new romantic musical currently running at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (236 West 45th Street), with a special in-store performance and CD signing today, May 23 at 5:00 PM.

Tony Award-winning comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike will feature Resident Actor Jeffrey Bean as Vanya, Sharon Lockwood returning to the Alley as Sonia, Alley Artist Josie de Guzman returning as Masha, and Resident Actor Jay Sullivan as Spike. Rounding out the cast and making their Alley debuts are Rachael Holmes as Cassandra and Sarah Nealis as Nina. Jonathan Moscone, Artistic Director of California Shakespeare Theater, helms the production and returns after having directed the Alley's 2011 production of Amadeus.

Tony Winner Laura Benanti has signed with top talent agency CAA.