Mark Benninghofen News

Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company (MJTC) has announced its Twenty-First Anniversary Benefit, taking place on Tuesday, May 17, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. at The Woman's Club of Minneapolis, 410 Oak Grove St, Minneapolis MN 55403.

Hennepin Theatre Trust today announced the 2016-2017 Broadway on Hennepin Season, featuring the best of Broadway with five Minnesota premieres and five returning favorites. Making their Minneapolis premieres are Fun Home, winner of five 2015 Tony Awards including Best Musical; The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the 2015 Tony Award-winning Best Play; and Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I, the critically acclaimed 2015 Tony Award winner for Best Revival of a Musical.

Mark Benninghofen is known to many from years of performances at the Guthrie, on screen and in the ad world but not so much in musicals. Learn more about the man and this musical and get to Latte Da to see it pronto.

Friends, Theater Latte Da has done it again. They've created a music-theater production that is so stirring and chilling, it's nothing short of brilliant. After the delightfully innovative and stripped-down INTO THE WOODS this spring, they return to Sondheim with a similarly innovative and stripped-down SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET. But where INTO THE WOODS was a fun and slightly sinister mish-mash of classic fairy tales, SWEENEY is all darkness and death, albeit with a bit of dark humor. Director Peter Rothstein again cast just ten actors in the show, many playing multiple roles and all perfect for the parts, and Denise Prosek leads a pared down orchestra of just four, that still somehow sounds musically full on this gorgeous and disturbing score. With a couple of actors not known for their singing leading this talented cast, and a cohesive look to the set, costumes, and theater space that is well used, this SWEENEYis completely engaging and all-consuming, and brilliantly shows what Latte Da can do with not musical theater, but theater musically.

Dark & Stormy Productions today announces the producers, venue, and partners for its upcoming production of Extremities by William Mastrosimone. Previously, Dark & Stormy has presented Outside Providence by Edward Allan Baker, Speed-the-Plow by David Mamet, The Receptionist by Adam Bock, The Drunken City by Adam Bock, and The Hothouse by Harold Pinter. Extremities will be the first production of Dark & Stormy's 2015 season.

Dark & Stormy Productions today announces the producers, venue, and partners for its upcoming production of Extremities by William Mastrosimone. Previously, Dark & Stormy has presented Outside Providence by Edward Allan Baker, Speed-the-Plow by David Mamet, The Receptionist by Adam Bock, The Drunken City by Adam Bock, and The Hothouse by Harold Pinter. Extremities will be the first production of Dark & Stormy's 2015 season.

I don't know if you've noticed, but there's something exciting going on in downtown St. Paul. In what's usually regarded as the sleepier of the Twin Cities, Park Square Theatre has recently opened a second stage in the Historic Hamm Building on lovely 7th Place. This extra space has allowed them to do some great things in the last few months, including producing regional premieres, partnering with local theater companies (look for shows by Sandbox Theatre, Theatre Pro Rata, and Girl Friday Productions this spring and summer), an increased focus on diversity, and continuing their commitment to students. They currently have three fantastic shows playing on the two stages, including student matinees of an effectively condensed ROMEO AND JULIET. But for us grown-ups, the two stages offer two very different but both excellent choices: the bittersweet comedy SHOOTING STAR on the Proscenium Stage, and the emotional drama THE OTHER PLACE on the new Boss Stage. Read on to make your choice, but hurry, both shows close on April 19.

Park Square continues its 40th season this month with Steven Dietz's wistful comedy, SHOOTING STAR. Dietz, author of Becky's New Car, produced by Park Square in 2009, is one of America's most produced playwrights, and with SHOOTING STAR he gives us a moving new twist on the one that got away. Twin Cities favorite Sally Wingert* is joined by Mark Benninghofen* as the couple that could have been. NPR called Dietz's SHOOTING STAR '...a quick and sharp play about our lives, one that gives us all the fun and all the tears of our times.'

With Sexy Laundry opening tonight, the entire cast roster for the theatre's biggest season is almost complete. Nearly 300 Minnesota artists - including actors, directors, designers and technical operators - will mount 18 productions on two stages. The season lineup confirms Park Square's commitment to the work of women writers like Amy Herzog, Michele Riml and Alice Walker. The casting emphasizes Park Square as a home for local artists of color, from returning favorites like James A. Williams, T. Mychael Rambo and Regina Williams to dozens of debuts like Dominique Wooten, Kurt Kwan and Sarah Ochs.

History Theatre will produce the world premiere of a new play by Wisconsin native and the writer of the Broadway hit Lombardi, Eric Simonson. The Incredible Season of Ronnie Rabinovitz tells the remarkable true story of an ordinary 13-year-old boy in Sheboygan, Wis.-Ronnie-who happened to be friends with two extraordinary men: his pen pal, baseball legend and civil rights advocate Jackie Robinson, and the Democratic Senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy, who was campaigning for the Presidential nomination in the Wisconsin primary.

The comedy about a corrupt businessman from the other side of the tracks who heads to Washington, D.C., to buy influence with a senator is lead by standout Alexis Bronkovic as ditzy moll, Billie Dawn, in the Guthrie's antithesis to holiday hangover.

Escape the holiday madness and plan a date night to see BORN YESTERDAY, a deliciously witty, screwball comedy about a corrupt businessman trying to get ahead. Harry Brock, a junk-dealer millionaire on the rise, hunkers down in a lavishly decorated hotel room in Washington with his brassy chorus girl girlfriend Billie Dawn in tow. Hoping to influence a senator in some personal business dealings, he soon gets advice suggesting that the seemingly dim-witted blonde will need a little polish to get ahead in D.C. society. Brock hires a newspaperman for the task but gets more than he bargained for when, in a deliriously funny and romantic turn of events, he discovers a little bit of learning can be a dangerous thing. Check out a first look below!

On Saturday night, BEHOLD: A Gala Performance, honoring 50 years of the Guthrie, took place on the theater's Wurtele Thrust Stage before a packed house. The performance featured a glittering array of contributors including actors and artists linked to all aspects of the Guthrie's past and its vision for the future. BEHOLD, the centerpiece of a weekend that captivated the Twin Cities and marked the long and vital relationship between the Guthrie and the community that it calls home, marked the half-century milestone for the flagship of the American regional theater movement that first opened its doors in 1963.

The Guthrie welcomes 17 accomplished local actors and vocalists who have all appeared on the Guthrie's stages during their careers to complete the artist line-up as the vocal ensemble for BEHOLD: A Gala Performance, honoring 50 years of the Guthrie, tonight, June 22, 2013. Accompanied by a 12-piece orchestra helmed by Musical Director Andrew Cooke, the ensemble will perform songs from some of the greatest musicals of all time, in unexpected ways.

The Guthrie today announced that 17 accomplished local actors and vocalists who have all appeared on the Guthrie's stages during their careers will complete the artist line-up as the vocal ensemble for BEHOLD: A Gala Performance, honoring 50 years of the Guthrie, on Saturday, June 22, 2013. Accompanied by a 12-piece orchestra helmed by Musical Director Andrew Cooke, the ensemble will perform songs from some of the greatest musicals of all time, in unexpected ways.

The Guthrie today announced that two-time Tony Award nominee and Obie and Drama Desk Award winner Brian d'Arcy James joins the artist line-up for BEHOLD: A Gala Performance, honoring 50 years of the Guthrie, onSaturday, June 22, 2013. James is slated to sing an original song based on excerpts of text from Hamlet, as previously announced, which is being composed by Tony Award-winning composer Jason Robert Brown specifically for the celebratory evening.

The Guthrie today announced that eight artists who have graced the Guthrie's stages during its 50-year history, from the first season in 1963 to the theater's current season, are slated to participate in the Guthrie's 50th anniversary on June 22, 2013. Exclusive interviews with the legendary Zoe Caldwell and Christopher Plummer will be unveiled as part of a poignant and celebratory multi-media tribute, while stage veterans Barbara Bryne, Peter Michael Goetz and Stephen Yoakam; two graduates of the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater B.F.A. Actor Training Program, Matthew Amendt and Valeri Mudek; and an alum of A Guthrie Experience for Actors in Training, Erik Heger; will perform live for the one-night-only event.