Edgar Dobie News

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater’s Artistic Director Molly Smith has announced that this July 2012 D.C.-area arts manager and artist David Snider will become the company’s Director of Artistic Programming. Snider will be leaving Young Playwrights’ Theater (YPT), where he has served since 2005 as producing artistic director and CEO, to bring his multi-faceted, award-winning talents to the artistic team of Arena Stage. (more...)

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater produces the 2011 Tony Award-winning production of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart, directed by George C. Wolfe. Wolfe, who directed the show’s sold-out Broadway engagement last season, mounts the professional D.C.-area premiere of this production, which features returning Broadway cast members Patrick Breen and Luke MacFarlane, among others. Presented by special arrangement with Daryl Roth, The Normal Heart runs June 8-July 29, 2012 in the Kreeger Theater. (more...)

Crafty con-man Harold Hill brings mischief and the magic of music to Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater this spring in Meredith Willson’s The Music Man. This five-time Tony Award-winning musical is directed by Artistic Director Molly Smith, whose cultural dynamism made Oklahoma! a record-breaking audience favorite last season. With choreography by Parker Esse and music direction by Lawrence Goldberg, The Music Man runs May 11-July 22, 2012 in the Fichandler Stage, with all performances in May already sold out. (more...)

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces a four-day festival featuring performances by 11 youth ensembles from the Community Engagement program Voices of Now. The festival will bring together more than 150 young artists, ages 11-23, from D.C., Maryland and Virginia who have been working with professional theater artists from Arena Stage for eight months to devise original one-act plays. The ensembles will come together May 9-12, 2012 to perform and discuss their work in the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle. (more...)

On Monday, March 26, 2012, Arena Stage hosted the Golden Gala: A Glittering Evening of American Musical Theater to celebrate the vibrancy of the performing arts in Washington. This black-tie signature event, chaired by WUSA9 news anchor JC Hayward, supports Arena's robust Community Engagement programs and featured a special performance by two-time Tony Award nominee Kate Baldwin and legendary composer Sheldon Harnick. View photos from the event below! (more...)

Edward Gero and Patrick Andrews star in Red at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, produced in association with Goodman Theatre. (more...)

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater today announced eight winners of the 2011/2012 Student Playwrights Project 10-Minute Play Competition–an annual event in which D.C.-area students submit original 10-minute plays into competition. Nearly 800 works were submitted from students in D.C.-area middle and high schools this year. (more...)

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces casting for Eugene O’Neill’s singular comedy Ah, Wilderness! Helen Hayes Award winner and former Arena Stage Associate Artistic Director Kyle Donnelly returns to direct her 21st show at Arena Stage. Ah, Wilderness! runs March 9-April 8, 2012 in the Fichandler Stage as part of the two-month Eugene O’Neill Festival. (more...)

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater’s Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle will be transformed into a mystical place of wonder and amusement, with a dash of ridiculousness, with Elephant Room, featuring semi-pro conjurors Dennis Diamond, Daryl Hannah and Louie Magic. (more...)

Edward Gero and Patrick Andrews star in Red at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, produced in association with Goodman Theatre. (more...)

During an all-day casting call at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in December, 120 young hopefuls from the D.C.-metro area turned up to audition for Meredith Willson’s The Music Man, which runs May 11-July 22, 2012 in the Fichandler Stage, directed by Molly Smith. From the open auditions, 19 talented young actors were invited back by Smith, Choreographer Parker Esse, Musical Director Lawrence Goldberg and Arena Stage Casting Director Daniel Pruksarnukul to vie for the roles of Winthrop Paroo and Amaryllis. As a result, Arena Stage cast five local youth, filling not only the roles of Winthrop and Amaryllis but also three other roles. (more...)

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces that the documentation and dissemination activities of the American Voices New Play Institute (AVNPI) will be relocated to Emerson College’s Office of the Arts beginning July 1, 2012 in order to provide the research and academic setting these programs now need for their continued growth. (more...)

The Arena Stage Board of Trustees has announced that it has renewed the contracts of Artistic Director Molly Smith and Managing Director Edgar Dobie for five additional years with the theater. (more...)

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater’s Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle will be transformed into a mystical place of wonder and amusement, with a dash of ridiculousness, with Elephant Room, featuring semi-pro conjurors Dennis Diamond, Daryl Hannah and Louie Magic. (more...)

Saturday, December 10, the casting office of Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater will hold a citywide casting call to fill four roles in its upcoming production of The Music Man, which runs May 11-July 22, 2012 in the Fichandler Stage and is directed by Artistic Director Molly Smith. (more...)

Edward Gero and Patrick Andrews star in Red at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, produced in association with Goodman Theatre. (more...)

The 2011/12 Arena Stage Student Playwrights Project invites all students in fifth through 12th grades in the District of Columbia and its neighboring counties to enter into competition an original 10-minute play. Entries must be delivered to Arena Stage by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, December 2, 2011. (more...)

Saturday, December 10, the casting office of Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater will hold a citywide casting call to fill four roles in its upcoming production of The Music Man, which runs May 11-July 22, 2012 in the Fichandler Stage and is directed by Artistic Director Molly Smith. (more...)

Every year, hundreds of D.C.-area military families must spend the Thanksgiving holiday away from loved ones. In gratitude for their service, Arena Stage is inviting wounded warriors, service men and women, and military families with deployed service members to a complimentary Thanksgiving dinner and performance at the Mead Center for American Theater (1101 Sixth St., S.W.) Friday, November 25. Arena Stage is working through each of the military service branch's Warrior Transition Units to distribute the tickets. It is anticipated that more than 260 guests will experience this special evening. (more...)

Every year, hundreds of D.C.-area military families must spend the Thanksgiving holiday away from loved ones. In gratitude for their service, Arena Stage is inviting wounded warriors, service men and women, and military families with deployed service members to a complimentary Thanksgiving dinner and performance at the Mead Center for American Theater (1101 Sixth St., S.W.) Friday, November 25. Arena Stage is working through each of the military service branch's Warrior Transition Units to distribute the tickets. It is anticipated that more than 260 guests will experience this special evening. (more...)