Ang Lee News

Today the Los Angeles Film Festival, in conjunction with Presenting Media Sponsor the Los Angeles Times and Host Partner L.A. LIVE, announced Academy Award-winning director William Friedkin as Guest Director for the 2012 Festival. (more...)

Lucas Papaelias, of Broadway’s ONCE is set to join the line up of the previously announced 17th annual LOWER EAST SIDE (LES) FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS. Papaelias is also known as LPfunK and is an actor/guitarist/composer who was nominated for a Drama Desk Award (Best Original Music in a Play) for his work in Adam Rapp's “Essential Self-Defense” at Playwrights Horizons. Most recently, he co-wrote the rock musical PYRAMIDICA: Songs of Freedom, which takes place live in a pyramid scheme company's “free” orientation, and was presented at the Vineyard Arts Project’s New Writers / New Plays Festival. He also conceived of, and composed, the rock opera ITHACA: a Perpetual Shredfest, the story of a Lower East Side rock band performing their final concert, which had presentations at Joe’s Pub and ARS Nova. (more...)

Lifetime has green lit the Original Movie THE JUNE CARTER CASH STORY (working title), starring four-time Grammy(R) Award-nominee Jewel and based on John Carter Cash's narrative of his mother June Carter Cash's life, Anchored in Love: An Intimate Portrait of June Carter Cash. (more...)

THE LOWER EAST SIDE (LES) FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS celebrates its seventeenth year of bringing together under one roof, in just three days, over 100 performing arts organizations, local and international celebrities, independent artists, poets, playwrights, musicians, puppeteers, film makers and many others — all of whom reside, work or have their roots in the culturally diverse, willfully anarchistic Lower East Side — for New York City's most diverse FREE 3-day festival, from Friday, May 25 through Sunday, May 27, at Theater for the New City (155 1st Avenue, between E. 9th and 10th Sts.) in Manhattan. OBIE Award-winning actress Crystal Field is co-founder and Artistic Director of Theater for the New City. (more...)

The Museum of Modern Art has announced its ongoing and upcoming screenings and discussions through the end of May. See details below. (more...)

Last weekend the documentary STEVEN CARAS: SEE THEM DANCE won the prestigious Grand Remi Award – or “Best of Show” – at the 45th annual Worldfest-Houston International Film Festival, one of the world’s oldest and most respected international film festivals. (more...)

LIFE OF PI, the best-selling novel by Yann Martel, is coming to the big screen in a Hollywood adaptation from director Ang Lee. The film stars Tobey Maguire, Gérard Depardieu, Suraj Sharma, Adil Hussain and Ayush Tandon. (more...)

Roundabout Theatre Company has announced that movie star Jake Gyllenhaal will be making his American stage debut in If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet, a comedic drama by Nick Payne at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre this fall. The play will be directed by Michael Longhurst, with three additional actors and the design team to be announced shortly. (more...)

Center Theatre Group has announced that “Spring Awakening” and “Glee” actor Jonathan Groff will be featured opposite previously announced Alfred Molina in the Donmar Warehouse production of the 2010 Tony Award-winning Best Play “Red” by John Logan at the Mark Taper Forum, August 1 through September 9, 2012. The opening performance is scheduled for August 12. (more...)

Atlantic Theater Company (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director) presents the world premiere of STOREFRONT CHURCH, written and directed by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award® winner John Patrick Shanley and starring Bob Dishy, Giancarlo Esposito, Zach Grenier, Ron Cephas Jones and Tonya Pinkins. STOREFRONT CHURCH will begin previews Wednesday, May 16; officially open Monday, June 11; and play a limited engagement through Sunday, June 24 Off-Broadway as the first production to return to Atlantic’s main stage Linda Gross Theater in Chelsea following completion of a historic $8.3M renovation. (more...)

Due to demand, SpeakEasy Stage Company is adding a seventh and final week of performances for its production of the groundbreaking musical NEXT TO NORMAL. The show will now play thru Sunday, April 22, after which it must close. Tickets for these new dates go on sale Wed., March 28 at 9am (online) and noon (phone and walk-up). (more...)

To inaugurate a new quarterly series of in-depth conversations with top behind-the-scenes talent from film, television, and video-game production, Museum of the Moving Image will present an afternoon with celebrated production designer Mark Friedberg. In coming months, the Moving Image Master Class series will feature leading cinematographers, editors, special-effects artists, game designers, and more. “The Master Class series is in keeping with the Museum’s mission to not only show the best moving image works, but also to explore the creative and collaborative process,” said Executive Director Carl Goodman. (more...)

Tony Award-nominated actor Kevin Chamberlin ("Jessie," Broadway's "The Addams Family") will be starring in Disney Channel's TEEN BEACH MUSICAL, a modern "no more complications, just good vibrations," break into song and dance comedy in which surfer girl McKenzie and her boyfriend Brady literally go into a classic surf movie musical. (more...)

To inaugurate a new quarterly series of in-depth conversations with top behind-the-scenes talent from film, television, and video-game production, Museum of the Moving Image will present an afternoon with celebrated production designer Mark Friedberg. In coming months, the Moving Image Master Class series will feature leading cinematographers, editors, special-effects artists, game designers, and more. “The Master Class series is in keeping with the Museum’s mission to not only show the best moving image works, but also to explore the creative and collaborative process,” said Executive Director Carl Goodman. (more...)

Beginning March 9, SpeakEasy Stage will present the Boston premiere of NEXT TO NORMAL. Get a first look at the production below! (more...)

The Queensland Performing Arts Centre has announced a new QPAC International Series. Tagged ‘Bringing the World to Brisbane’, the program, initially planned to run over the next five years and beyond, will see some of the world’s performing arts companies travelling to Brisbane for exclusive appearances in that city. (more...)

Classic Stage Company has announced complete casting for their upcoming production of Shakespeare’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, which begins previews at CSC on Wednesday, April 4 for a limited engagement through Sunday, May 20. Joining two-time Tony Award winner Bebe Neuwirth (Hippolyta/Titania) and acclaimed film/television/stage star Christina Ricci (Hermia) in the cast are Jordan Dean (Demetrius), Nick Gehlfuss (Lysander), David Greenspan (Flute/Fairy), Halley Wegryn Gross (Helena), Anthony Heald (Theseus/Oberon), Erin Hill (Starveling/Fairy), Chad Lindsey (Snout/Fairy), Taylor Mac (Egeus/Puck), James Patrick Nelson (Snug/Fairy), Steven Skybell (Bottom) and Rob Yang (Quince/Fairy). Directed by Tony Speciale (Unnatural Acts), A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM has its official opening Sunday, April 29. (more...)

Directors Guild of America President Taylor Hackford today announced the DGA’s nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Television and Commercials for the year 2011. (more...)

According to TVLine, Broadway veteran and frequent GLEE guest star Jonathan Groff is set to visit CBS' 'The Good Wife' this winter. Groff will play 'Jimmy, a plaintiff suing a software company after his sister disappears during a peaceful protest in Syria.' The episode is set to air in February. (more...)

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick, has announced that acclaimed actress Christina Ricci will join two-time Tony Award winner Bebe Neuwirth in the company’s upcoming production of William Shakespeare’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM. Directed by Tony Speciale, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM will begin performances Wednesday, March 28 and play a limited engagement through Sunday, May 6. Neuwirth will play the role of Titania and Ricci the role of Hermia. Additional casting will be announced early in the new year. Tickets will go on sale to the general public February 6. CSC is currently presenting the highly-acclaimed, sold-out production of Anton Chekhov’s THE CHERRY ORCHARD (through January 8 only) and will next present Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham in Bertolt Brecht’s GALILEO, directed by Brian Kulick, beginning performances Wednesday, February 1. (more...)