Jenna Jules to Star

Lynn Nottage, cred: John Lamparski, WireImage.com

Lynn Nottage’s play inspired by interviews conducted in Africa, Ruined, will be produced by Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, and the cast and creative have now been announced.  The cast will star Jenny Jules as Mama Nadi, Jeremiah W. Birkett as Christian, Rachael Holmes as Sophie, Donetta Lavina Grays as Salima, Larence Redmond as Mr. Harari, and Jamairais Malone as Josephine.

Running at the Finchlander from April 22-June 5, Ruined will be directed by Charles Randolph-Wright.  Full casting and creative will announced at a later date.

In war-torn Congo, Mama Nadi keeps the peace between customers on both sides of the civil war by serving everything from cold beers to warm beds.  This shrewd matriarch both protects and profits from the women whose bodies have become battlegrounds “ruined” by the brutality of government soldiers and rebel forces alike.

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Writing Teams Win Jonathan Larson Grants

The American Theatre Wing announced that the 2011 Jonathan Larson Grant recipients are Composer/Co-Lyricist Danny Larson and Michelle Elliott (Bookwriter/Co-Lyricsts) for the work on Cloaked; Marisa Michelson (Composer) and Joshua H. Cohen for Tamar and the River, and Andy Monroe (Composer), Jack Lechner (Lyricst), and Michael Zam (Bookwriter) for The Kid.  With grants totaling $10,000, the recipients will be presented with this honor on Tuesday, March 29 at a private event in New York City.

The grants, given annually to honor emerging composers, lyricists and book writers, to help continue Tony Award-winning composer Jonathan Larson’s dream of infusing musical theatre with a contemporary, joyful, urban vitality.

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Catch John on Television

It seems that comedian John Leguizamo is all over the media these days.  John Leguizamo’s Ghetto Klown, directed by Fisher Stevens and currently running at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre (149 West 45th Street), will be on Good Morning America tomorrow March 9 (ABC Nationally and Channel 7 in New York), VH1 Classic Rock Nights at 7PM, and on www.people.com , Thursday March 10. On Friday March 11 Ghetto Klown will also on be Live! With Regis & Kelly in the 9:30 AM half-hour.

Ghetto Klown is the next chapter of the Emmy and Obie Award winner John Leguizamo’s hugely popular, personal and professional story. It will be his fifth one man play and his third Broadway play. Ghetto Klown will open Tuesday, March 22^nd and play a 12-week engagement that will be full of his Mambo Mouth, Spic-O-Rama, Freak, and Sexaholic… Love Story uninhibited humor. Leguizamo takes audiences  from his adolescent memories in Queens, to the beginning of his acting career, to the sets of major motion pictures and on to his roles with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars.

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Show Marks Return to Broadway

In a newly released interview with Kathleen Turner, star of the this season’s Broadway play by Matthew Lombardo, High, audiences can hear from the star.  Taking on the role of Sister Jamison Connelly, Turner talks about her return to Broadway, and about the upcoming performances beginning on March 25 at the Booth Theatre (222 W. 45th Street).  The play will also feature Tony Award nominee Stephen Kunken (Enron) as Father Michael Delpapp and Evan Jonigkeit making his Broadway debut as Cody Randall, and the production will celebrate an official opening on April 19.

High explores the universal themes of truth, forgiveness, redemption and human fallability. When Sister Jamison Connolly (Turner) agrees to sponsor a 19 year-old drug user in an effort to help him combat his addiction, her own faith is ultimately tested. Struggling between the knowledge she possesses as a rehabilitation counselor and a woman of religious conviction, she begins to question her belief in miracles and whether people can find the courage to change.

Watch the interview HERE 

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Will Play Role of Georges

Christopher Sieber, cred: J. Pellegrini, WireImage.com

Following the departure of Jeffrey Tambor in the role of Georges in the Broadway revival of La Cage Aux Folles, Christopher Sieber (Spamalot, Shrek The Musical) has been confirmed to begin performances on Tuesday, March 15 opposite Harvey Fierstein as Albin.  Georges is currently being played by understudy Chris Hoch, and will continue through Sunday, March 13.  La Cage Aux Folles is currently playing at the Longacre Theatre (220 West 48th Street) on an open-run.

What happens when the son of a drag club owner and his partner gets engaged to the daughter of a right-wing politician? Broadway welcomed back La Cage Aux Folles in a new revival from London in 2010. The musical is based on the beloved French film, which also served as the inspiration for the film The Birdcage. With music and lyrics from legend Jerry Herman and a book by Harvey Fierstein, this revival has continues to be a Broadway institution.

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Williams, Black, Ibsen and Wohl Featured

Jessica Hecht, cred:  R. Kisby, WireImage.com

Artistic Director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival (WTF), Jenny Gersten, announced yesterday the Nikos Stage line-up for the 2011 festival, which marks its 57th season.  The Nikos Stage season begins on June 22, and will run through August 21.  It is set to feature revivals including Tennesee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire and Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, along with three new works: Lewis Black’s One Slight Hitch, the East Coast Premiere of Bess Wohl’s Touch(ed), and The Civilians’ production of You Better Sit Down: tales from my parents’ divorce.

Directing this upcoming season will be David Cromer, Trip Cullman, Sam Gold, Joe Grifasi and Anne Kauffman.  Actors Jessica Hecht, Paige Howard, Hamish Linklater, Lily Rabe, Sam Rockwell, Lili Taylor, and more will be featured this season.

For more information, including dates and times, please visit http://www.wtfestival.org/

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West End Production Seen in U.S.

It was announced yesterday by the London-based National Theatre Live that they will air on screens across the U.S. their West End production on Frankenstein.  Recorded and screened will be the March 17 and 18 performances at National Theatre Olivier.  Directed by Danny Boyle, the production stars Benedict Cumberpatch and Jonny Lee Miller, the production began performances on February 5, and is set for a limited engagement run through May 2.

Childlike in his innocence but grotesque in form, Frankenstein’s bewildered creature is cast out into a hostile universe by his horror-struck maker.  Meeting with cruelty wherever he goes, the friendless Creature, increasingly desperate and vengeful, determines to track down his creator and strike a terrifying deal.  Urgent concerns of scientific responsibility, parental neglect, cognitive development and the nature of good and evil are embedded within this thrilling and deeply disturbing classic gothic tale.

In New York City, screenings will be available at the Brooklyn Academy of Musica (BAM), NYU’s Skirball Center, City Cinema 123, and other locations.  For a complete list of U.S.  dates, times, and locations, visit: www.ntlive.com.

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Previews Begin April 19

Jim Parsons, cred: Vespa, WireImage.com

Producer Daryl Roth announced today that Emmy Award nominee Lee Pace (”Pushing Daisies”) and Emmy and Golden Globe-winner Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory”) will join the cast of the Broadway revival of Larry Kramer’s, The Normal Heart.  Both int their Broadway debuts, Pace will play Bruce Niles and Parsons will take on the role of Tommy Boatwright.  They will join previously announced cast members Joe Mantello, Ellen Barkin and John Benjamin Hickey.  Directed by Joel Grey, the production will begin a 12-week limited engagement at the John Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street) on Tuesday, April 19, and will open officially on Wednesday, April 27.

The classic Larry Kramer play about the rise of the AIDS epidemic in New York City makes a return to Broadway this spring after celebrating its 25th anniversary. Still as relevant today as it was when it first opened at the Public Theater, the play highlights the disturbing silence of America’s political and media powers in addressing the issue. At its core are also topics which are straight out of America’s current political scene, such as gay marriage and the health care system.

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Will Support Composer Librettist Development Program

American Lyric Theater (ALT) has been selected as a recipient of a three-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for $90,000 to support the Composer Librettist Development Program (CLDP), which is an initiative that provides professional mentorship to gifted emerging operatic writers.  Recently, the Mellon Foundation has begun to invest in companies that are at the forefront  of finding ways to improve the developmental process for creating, producing, revising, and reviving new operas, which is what ALT’s grant is aimed at.

The CLDP is a tuition-free initiative for emerging composers and librettists selected through an open, competitive application process.  The program includes a core curriculum of classroom training and hands-on workshops with some of the country’s leading working artists.  In addition, artists in the program take part in residency oberserverships at New York City Opera.

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To Be Aired June 2, 2011

Roundabout Theatre Company has announced that their Broadway production of the Oscar Wilde classic, The Importance of Being Earnest will be filmed in high definition for a broadcast to theaters and performing arts centers in the U.S. and internationally.  Filmed will be the performances from March 11 and 12 at the American Airlines Theatre (227 West 42nd Street), and the productions will be aired on Thursday, June 2 and other varying dates through June 30.

The Roundabout Theatre Company will be collaborating with L.A. Theatre Works and BY Experience to bring the comedy to theaters.

An Oscar Wilde favorite, The Importance of Being Earnest comes to Broadway in a comedic case of mistaken identity and imaginary characters. Audiences follow the stories of dashing John Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff as they pursue the witty ladies, Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew. The story is complicated as imaginary characters are invented to cover the certain on-the-sly activities. Activities that do not meet the approval of the formidable matriarch of polite society: Lady Bracknell, Gwendolen’s mother, played by the director, Brian Bedford.

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