Play and Other Plays - 1983 - Off-Broadway Articles Page 1

Alexandra Mardell and Dominic Mafham will lead Curve's new production of Willy Russell's EDUCATING RITA, directed by Associate Director Cara Nolan in Leicester.

Theatre has always intersected with politics, and the presence of American presidents in Broadway, off-Broadway, and regional theatre plays and musicals is a major part of this. Did you know that all of our heads of state have been featured in shows, whether as characters or as plot points that are part of the action? Dramatizing current and former leaders of our nation is a way to examine their affect on society at the time and how political events, even those of many years ago, still impact us all. 

Michael Harrison for Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals announced first casting for a new touring production of CATS, set to open at Theatre Royal Plymouth following its Regent's Park Open Air Theatre run.

Over the years, Broadway has seen a number of family acts sharing the stage. It’s extra special when family members team up to write a Broadway show together. The Great White Way has seen many instances of this historically, in a variety of different situations. While last week’s column focused on spouses penning shows together, this week is all about blood relatives partnering to write work. 

Despite some good performances, the play is bereft of context, bereft of history, bereft of detail, bereft of nuance. It simply fails to engage us.

The EXIT Theatre Fringe Festival, the second oldest fringe festival in the United States, will return for its 35th annual edition in Arcata, California, with applications open to all artists via public lottery.

Over the years, Broadway has seen a number of family acts sharing the stage. It’s extra special when family members team up to write a Broadway show together. The Great White Way has seen many instances of this historically, in a variety of different situations. 

Yvonne Strahovski, David Corenswet & François Arnaud will star in Three Days of Rain on Broadway in February 2027, directed by Anna D. Shapiro.

Stephen Spinella has spent decades helping define queer theater through work like ANGELS IN AMERICA. Now, the Tony Award winner is bringing his talents to JEROME, a moving new play that explores love, companionship & survival in the early 1990s.

The 79th Annual Tony Awards are this Sunday, June 7, 2026. It's the biggest awards show of the Broadway season and it closes out a long awards season for Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals and plays. Which Best Musical and Best Play nominees will take home the ultimate prize?

Curve Theatre in Leicester will stage a new production of Willy Russell's EDUCATING RITA, directed by Associate Director Cara Nolan, following Susan 'Rita' White's journey of self-discovery through an unlikely Open University friendship.

Rise and shine, BroadwayWorld! It is May 26, 2026 and it's time to catch up on all of the theatrical happenings you may have missed over the weekend.

Burning Coal Theatre Company's Second Stage Series will present three works by emerging artists — SHADOWS IN RED LIGHT, DANGER!, and DR. RIDE'S AMERICAN BEACH HOUSE — in repertory in Raleigh, NC.

Burning Coal Theatre Company will present WAIT TIL YOU SEE THIS! 2026, featuring three plays in repertory by emerging artists, including works by Roné Sargent, Lucius Robinson, and Liza Birkenmeier, at its Raleigh, NC venue.

What is a pro-shot and how is it different than an adapted film? Pro-shot is an abbreviation for professionally shot, denoting a stage play that was captured in its native habitat: a theatre. In general, a pro-shot seeks to film the exact experience that audience members would have at a live performance of the show, in contrast with a feature film which actually adapts the piece into a new form, including different locations, the removal of theatrical aesthetic, and changes to make the script work as a film as opposed to as a live theatrical show.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) continues its 2026 season with the opening of You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World!, a raucous, heartfelt comedy by playwright Keiko Green.

The Spring 2026 season has officially begun, and with it, comes new plays for theatre lovers of all kinds. Whether you live for intense dramas or would rather escape with zany comedies, there's something for everyone both on and off-Broadway in March 2026.

Tony Award winner Richard Maltby, Jr. discusses with Jennifer Ashley Tepper About Time, his new revue written with collaborator David Shire which, alongside Starting Here, Starting Now and Closer Than Ever, completes the writing team’s trilogy. They also chat about friendship with Stephen Sondheim, how Off-Broadway has evolved since the 1960s, the role Yale University has played, and more.

Olly Alexander and Iz Hesketh will join Vanessa Williams and Matt Henry in a UK reading of Stan Zimmerman's suicide awareness play, RIGHT BEFORE I GO, at London's Soho Theatre.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the nation’s premier ensemble theater company, is pleased to continue its 50th Anniversary Season with August Strindberg’s master class in marital warfare The Dance of Death, adapted by Conor McPherson, directed by ensemble member Yasen Peyankov and featuring an all ensemble cast. 

Four of Broadway’s ten longest running musicals are currently on the boards: Chicago, The Lion King, Wicked, and The Book of Mormon. One, The Phantom of the Opera, closed in 2023 after attaining the title of longest running Broadway show of all time.  But what about Broadway’s longest running plays?

The Broadway production of Ragtime was a glorious accomplishment, a riveting testament to the original American musical and to all that America itself could be. The show ran for 834 performances at the Ford Center, closing in the final year of the 20th century. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, taking home four.

Jermyn Street Theatre will present Orphans by Lyle Kessler in January 2026, starring Forbes Masson, Chris Walley, and Fred Woodley Evans. See photos of the production.

Lyle Kessler’s Orphans was first performed in 1983, but you wouldn’t know that from this production. The tiny stage feels overcome by Sarah Beaton’s design, retro but not too retro, a space immune to the passing decades.

One of the most effective things the musical gains by moving from page to screen to stage is permission to reframe the story without betraying it. By leaning harder into the Curtis brothers as the emotional spine, the musical clarifies a distinction that’s always been present in the text but rarely foregrounded this explicitly: Darry, Soda, and Ponyboy are family by blood, bound by obligation and grief; while the Greasers are family by choice, bound by loyalty and survival.