Take It Easy - 1996 - Off-Off-Broadway Articles Page 16

For the thirteenth consecutive year, the Alley Theatre is providing young playwrights the chance to improve and expand their writing skills with its summer program, Houston Young Playwrights Exchange (HYPE). Six plays by local teens have been selected to undergo development in a professional forum guided by the Alley?s staff, with the program culminating in a three-day public showcase of their work as staged readings ? Friday, July 31 through Sunday, August 2 on the Neuhaus stage. Some plays contain Adult Language.

South Coast Repertory has announced the lineup of actors and directors who will participate in the 12th annual Pacific Playwrights Festival (PPF). Since its creation in 1998, PPF has grown into one of the most important festivals of new scripts in the United States. This year?s Festival will take place during the May 1 through May 3 weekend and will feature five staged readings and two fully-produced World Premieres on South Coast Repertory?s Segerstrom and Julianne Argryos Stages. Tickets to PPF may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office.

South Coast Repertory has announced the lineup of actors and directors who will participate in the 12th annual Pacific Playwrights Festival (PPF). Since its creation in 1998, PPF has grown into one of the most important festivals of new scripts in the United States. This year?s Festival will take place during the May 1 through May 3 weekend and will feature five staged readings and two fully-produced World Premieres on South Coast Repertory?s Segerstrom and Julianne Argryos Stages. Tickets to PPF may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office.

Our special series for Women's History Month continues with a profile of Irish Rep's artistic director and cofounder.

Nearly 400 years ago, a young writing team succeeded Shakespeare as the Chief Dramatists for the King's Men, and quickly became the leading influence on a new generation of playwrights. The play acknowledged as their masterpiece is a 'lubriciously kinky' tale of sex, betrayal, assassination and suicide set at the court of the King of Rhodes. It begins with a masque and ends with a rebellion - in which a woman wields the first blade. The Maid's Tragedy, by Beaumont and Fletcher, is the fourth mainstage offering of Theatre Erindale's 'Demon of Men' season. It runs February 8-17 at the Erindale Studio Theatre.

These days the West End is booming, with one of the busiest slates of shows to open in recent memory. To shed some light on what's hot right now in London, as well as on the business side of the ticket broker industry - on both sides of the pond - I sat to chat with Tracy Schiller, the Managing Director for Keith Prowse, one of the leading authorized ticket agencies in the world.