The Last Night of Ballyhoo - 2008 - Los Angeles Articles Page 8

New York's OBIE Award-winning Epic TheatreEnsemble (Zak Berkman, Melissa Friedman, Ron Russell, Founding Executive Directors) has announced its 9 th Anniversary Season of new works: the world premiere of Mahida's Extra Key To Heaven by Russell Davis, and the New York Premiere of Passion Play by Sarah Ruhl. Also scheduled is Shakespeare Remix MacBeth a collaboration with Epic's unrivaled After School Shakespeare Program at Chelsea High School.

Center Theatre Group is announcing casting for the upcoming Donmar Warehouse production of the musical 'Parade,' starting previews on September 24, 2009, at the CTG/Mark Taper Forum. Opening is set for October 4 and performances will continue through November 15.

Producers Emanuel Azenberg and Ira Pittelman are pleased to announce that THE NEIL SIMON PLAYS, new productions of Neil Simon's BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS and BROADWAY BOUND, will play Broadway's beautifully restored Nederlander Theatre (208 West 41st Street). The productions will be directed by David Cromer (Our Town).

Producers Emanuel Azenberg and Ira Pittelman are pleased to announce casting for THE NEIL SIMON PLAYS - new productions of two of Neil Simon's most beloved and successful works, BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS and BROADWAY BOUND. David Cromer (currently represented in New York with the critically acclaimed production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town) directs THE NEIL SIMON PLAYS, which will be performed in repertory at a theatre to be announced.

The Drama League (Jano Herbosch, President) is pleased to announce that Jeremy Irons (Broadway's Impressionism) and Cynthia Nixon (Off-Broadway's Distracted at the Roundabout Theatre Company), who first starred together as father and daughter in the 1984 Broadway production of The Real Thing, will reunite this spring to serve as co-hosts for The 75th Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony and Luncheon.

Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, under the leadership of Executive Director Stacie Burgua, announces the cast of Franklin & Figaro, by Kristina Sutherland. The production, directed by the playwright, features Bob Atkinson, Tom Churchill, Ed Cornachio, Patricia Duff, Deana Duncan, David Gignac, Dave Mayer, L. Bennett Nolen, and Katie Woodzick.

New Village Arts (NVA) concludes its 2008-2009 season with Four Dogs and a Bone by award-winning playwright and recent Oscar-nominee John Patrick Shanley. NVA Associate Artistic Director Joshua Everett Johnson directs this brutally hysterical satire of Hollywood. Four Dogs and a Bone runs June 4 through 28 at the New Village Arts Theatre, located at 2787 State Street in Carlsbad Village. Tickets range from $25 - $30 and are available by calling the box office at 760-433-3245 or by visiting www.NewVillageArts.org.

Atlantic Theater Company announces complete casting for the world premiere of Leslie Ayvazian's new comedy MAKE ME, directed by Atlantic Associate Artistic Director Christian Parker. Broadway veterans Anthony Arkin (I'm Not Rappaport); Candy Buckley (After The Fall); Jessica Hecht (Julius Caesar); J.R. Horne (The Crucible); Richard Masur (Democracy) and Ellen Parker (The Heidi Chronicles) will star in Atlantic's final production of its 2008-2009 season, beginning previews at Atlantic Stage 2 on May 19 and opening May 31. Playwright and screenwriter Ayvazian's hit Off-Broadway play Nine Armenians won the Kennedy Center's Roger L. Stevens Award, the John Gassner Outer Critics Award and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

Florida Studio Theatre opens Frank Higgins' Black Pearl Sings in its continuation of the Winter Mainstage Season. Work shopped at Florida Studio Theatre last spring, Black Pearl Sings! 'Connects us to our heritage, our culture, and each other, while asking the simple question: who owns culture?' stated Richard Hopkins, FST Artistic Director.

Florida Studio Theatre opens Frank Higgins' Black Pearl Sings in its continuation of the Winter Mainstage Season. Work shopped at Florida Studio Theatre last spring, Black Pearl Sings! 'Connects us to our heritage, our culture, and each other, while asking the simple question: who owns culture?' stated Richard Hopkins, FST Artistic Director.

Celebrated American author and playwright Quiara Alegr?a Hudes returns to the Alliance Theatre in March, bringing with her a tender and funny new play about family. A finalist in the National Endowment for the Arts New Play Development Program, 26 Miles takes audiences on a road trip with a teenage daughter and her mother in an '83 Buick Regal. Along the way, they discover plenty about themselves, their relationship and what family really means. Alliance Theatre Associate Artistic Director Kent Gash is thrilled to direct this remarkable and very humorous World Premiere presented in association with the National New Play Network on the intimate and decidedly underground Hertz Stage.

26 Miles, a world premiere by Quiara Alegr?a Hudes (directed by Kent Gash) will be performed at the Alliance Theatre from March 20 to April 12, 2009.

The Drama League (Jano Herbosch, President) is pleased to announce that Jeremy Irons (Broadway's Impressionism) and Cynthia Nixon (Off-Broadway's Distracted at the Roundabout Theatre Company), who first starred together as father and daughter in the 1984 Broadway production of The Real Thing, will reunite this spring to serve as co-hosts for The 75th Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony and Luncheon.

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) begins 2009 with the New York premiere of THE SAVANNAH DISPUTATION, a new play by Evan Smith (Psych and The Uneasy Chair at Playwrights Horizons, Remedial English for the Young Playwrights Festival at Playwrights Horizons, Servicemen at The New Group). This will be Mr. Smith's fourth collaboration with the theater company.

Visionary director Martha Clarke brings Hieronymus Bosch's provocative painting to life in Garden of Earthly Delights, exploring heaven, hell, and the beauty and sins amid, began performances Saturday, November 8 at Off-Broadway's Minetta Lane Theatre, 18 Minetta Lane.

Theater News from Broadway and the Baltimore/Washington Area

Celebrated American author and playwright Quiara Alegr?a Hudes returns to the Alliance Theatre in March, bringing with her a tender and funny new play about family. A finalist in the National Endowment for the Arts New Play Development Program, 26 Miles takes audiences on a road trip with a teenage daughter and her mother in an '83 Buick Regal. Along the way, they discover plenty about themselves, their relationship and what family really means. Alliance Theatre Associate Artistic Director Kent Gash is thrilled to direct this remarkable and very humorous World Premiere presented in association with the National New Play Network on the intimate and decidedly underground Hertz Stage.

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) continues its 2008/2009 Season with the New York premiere of THE SAVANNAH DISPUTATION, a new play by Evan Smith (Psych and The Uneasy Chair at Playwrights Horizons, Remedial English for the Young Playwrights Festival at Playwrights Horizons, Servicemen at The New Group). This will be Mr. Smith's fourth collaboration with the theater company. Directed by Tony Award winner Walter Bobbie (Chicago, New Jerusalem), in his Playwrights Horizons debut, the production will began previews on Friday, February 6, 2009 with an Opening Night set for Tuesday, March 3 at 7PM. The limited engagement will run through Sunday, March 15 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street).

Dori Berinstein, three-time Tony? award-winning Broadway producer and award-winning producer, director, and writer of film and television, will be presented The Commercial Theater Institute?s Robert Whitehead Award for ?outstanding achievement in commercial theatre producing? at a reception at Sardi's Restaurant on Tuesday, March 10th.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) is proud to announce the full cast for the upcoming New York premiere of Distracted, by Lisa Loomer, directed by Mark Brokaw. Distracted will begin previews on Saturday, February 7th and open officially on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street).

Atlanta's nationally acclaimed Alliance Theatre has been awarded a $1.1 million 2008 Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination (AEMDD) grant from the U.S. Department of Education through its Office of Innovation and Improvement. The grant money will be distributed over a four-year period and will be used in planning, researching and implementing programs to introduce young English Language Learners (ELL) to the theatre art form and build verbal communication abilities. There were 74 applicants for the grant nation wide. The Alliance ranked first out of 15 awardees.

Winner of the 1967 Pulitzer Prize, Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance comes to Arena Stage in a contemporary and provocative new staging under the direction of experienced Albee collaborator Pam MacKinnon. Featuring Broadway stars Kathleen Chalfant (Wit, Angels in America), Terry Beaver (Henry IV, The Last Night of Ballyhoo), Ellen McLaughlin (Angels in America) and Carla Harting (Eurydice),joined by Helen Hedman and James Slaughter, A Delicate Balance runs February 6-March 15, 2009 at Arena Stage in Crystal City. The press opening performance is Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. 'Albee is fearless about writing stories that get us in the solar plexus, and he does so with his brilliant wit, dynamic storytelling and rigorous use of language,' shares Artistic Director Molly Smith. 'His work draws the best artists, and with this production audiences are fortunate to have an enormously strong cast and creative team-approved by Albee himself.' A frequent director of Albee plays, MacKinnon has directed The Play About the Baby, the world premieres of Peter and Jerry: Homelife and The Zoo Story (now titled At Home at the Zoo) and Occupant, as well as the U.S. regional and European premieres of The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) continues its 2008/2009 Season with the New York premiere of THE SAVANNAH DISPUTATION, a new play by Evan Smith (Psych and The Uneasy Chair at Playwrights Horizons, Remedial English for the Young Playwrights Festival at Playwrights Horizons, Servicemen at The New Group). This will be Mr. Smith's fourth collaboration with the theater company.

Playwright Julia Brownell's Smart Cookie is a wickedly funny comedy about how a shocking surprise helps a wealthy Manhattan socialite become the woman she never realized she wanted to be. The clear favorite of the 2008 Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition judges, this World Premiere play combines laugh-out-loud humor with a provocative story about social image and the powers that can change a person's attitudes.

To coincide with the World Premiere of the 2008 Kendeda GPC winning play, Julia Brownell's Smart Cookie, Atlanta's finest actors and directors will present a first look at the 2008 Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition finalists. This is an intimate chance to hear works by some of America's most interesting up-and-coming writers.