Martin McDonagh News

Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV announce that the two nonprofit theaters will formally merge effective July 1, 2012 under a new name - Virginia Repertory Theatre (Virginia Rep). With a budget exceeding $5 million, four distinct venues, and an annual audience over 550,000, Virginia Rep will become the largest professional theater and one of the largest performing arts organizations in Central Virginia along with the Richmond Ballet, Richmond Symphony, and the Virginia Opera. Barksdale and Theatre IV celebrated the announcement and the unveiling of the new Virginia Rep sign today, May 20, at the November Theatre (formerly the Empire Theatre) at 114 West Broad Street at 4:00 p.m. after the closing of Seussical, thelast mainstage childrenÂ’s production under the Theatre IV name. Virginia Rep will transition into the new organization between now and July 1. (more...)

Written by Royal Court TheatreÂ’s Young Writers graduate, Jimmy Osborne, MEAT will preview at Theatre503 from 5 June with press night on 7 June. (more...)

Silver Spring Stage presents The Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh, directed and produced by Seth Ghitelman. Set in the Irish countryside, a lonely woman in her forties has her first and possibly last chance at love until her manipulative mother sets in motion a train of events that leads to a terrifying conclusion.The Beauty Queen of Leenane will perform weekends May 18 to June 9. (more...)

McDonagh’s plays are densely packed with vicious drama, wicked humor, savage truths, and deep humanity, while Senior uses her trademark vision, and Jack Magaw’s in-your-lap design, to cram McDonagh’s theatrical stew into a stage the size of a minivan—with no place to hide. McDonagh’s twisted family dramas were born for the intimacy of Redtwist. And after Kimberly’s uniquely creative staging of The Pillowman in 2009, it’s her time again. The theatre requested the performing rights two years ago, but the two-week visit by Druid Theatre at Chicago Shakespeare tied up the rights for one year prior and three months after their March, 2011, production. The request was granted last June, and the production opens on May 13. See photos from the show below! (more...)

Inis Nua Theatre Company is finishing its season with the Philadelphia premiere of Enda WalshÂ’s The Walworth Farce, a dark comedy by one of IrelandÂ’s most celebrated contemporary playwrights. The show runs May 8-27 at the Off-Broad Street Theatre at First Baptist Church, 1636 Sansom Street. Opening night is Wednesday, May 9, at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $20-$25 and are available by phone at 215-454-9776 or online at www.inisnuatheatre.org. (more...)

Summer 2012 will see Chicago offering more than 200 producing theaters includes a range of special summer programming, featuring everything from the latest musicals to highly anticipated world premieres. (more...)

Atlantic Theater Company has just announced four of its 2012-2013 Season productions, featuring world premiere plays from Olivier and Tony Award® winner John Guare and Obie Award winner Melissa James Gibson and New York premieres from Olivier Award winner Simon Stephens and Emmy Award® nominated writer Rolin Jones. (more...)

The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh, directed by Kimberly Senior, opens at Redtwist Theatre Sunday, May 13, at 3pm. (more...)

Tangent Theatre Company has announced its exciting Spring show, the first American production of the award-winning Irish play The Good Father, by Christian OÂ’Reilly. This poignant, comedic and touching play will see its first staging in the U.S. thanks to Tangent Theatre CompanyÂ’s keen interest in bringing this compelling story to an American stage. (more...)

Opening Theatre In The Park's season in September is the Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning musical Next to Normal. With what's being described as "a thrilling contemporary score by Tom Kitt and book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, Next to Normal is an emotional powerhouse of a musical about a family trying to take care of themselves and each other. Making its Triangle debut, this emotionally charged contemporary classic is not to be missed." (more...)

Atlantic Theater Company today announced the world premiere of Fernanda Coppel’s new play CHIMICHANGAS AND ZOLOFT featuring Teddy Cañez, Zabryna Guevara, Alfredo Narcisco, Xochitl Romero, and Carmen Zilles, directed by Jaime Castañeda. (more...)

The final show of Theatre Exile's 15th season, the Philadelphia premiere of the Broadway show, A BEHANDING IN SPOKANE, starts previews Thursday April 19 at Christ Church Neighborhood House (20 North American Street). In celebration of this event, they are offering $10 tickets for the first preview. (more...)

The Lantern Theater Company has just announced its 2012/13 Season which includes five shows and runs from September 4, 2012-June 9, 2013. (more...)

Now in the midst of a record-breaking year, Lantern Theater Company announces the productions scheduled for its 2012/13 season. The Lantern opens its 19th season with a remount of David IvesÂ’ New Jerusalem, The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza at Talmud Torah Congregation: Amsterdam, July 27, 1656, the best-selling play in the companyÂ’s history and featuring the original cast and creative team from the original 2011 production. This limited return engagement is followed by the Philadelphia premiere of The Liar, also by Ives, a sophisticated comedy of lies and love adapted from the French play by Pierre Corneille. Mid-season, the Lantern completes Martin McDonaghÂ’s Leenane Trilogy (A Skull in Connemara, The Lonesome West) with the darkly comic The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Lantern Associate Artistic Director Kathryn MacMillan will direct both The Liar and The Beauty Queen of Leenane. In the spring, Lantern Artistic Director Charles McMahon directs Henry V, William ShakespeareÂ’s epic journey through royal courts and battlefields. The season concludes with Heroes, a playful, bawdy, and heartbreakingly funny comedy by Tom Stoppard, adapted from Gerald SibleyrasÂ’ Le Vent De Peupliers and directed by Lantern affiliated artist M. Craig Getting. (more...)

There’s not much to do on the Irish island of Inishmaan. To pass the time, some folks stare at cows, talk to stones or await the daily dose of gossip at the general store. When a Hollywood film crew begins shooting a movie nearby, the Inishmaan islanders finally have a diversion from their everyday lives. For resident “Cripple” Billy Claven, however, a role in the film offers an opportunity to escape Inishmaan and rise above his disability. (more...)

The Trustus Black Box Theatre has been transformed into an intimate hotel room thatÂ’s ready to set the stage for a gun-toting comedic adventure as Martin McDonaghÂ’s A Behanding in Spokane comes to the Midlands. The show opens on Thursday April 19th at 7:30pm, and runs through Saturday April 28th, 2012. (more...)

Nigel Redden, Director of Lincoln Center Festival, today announced the Festival’s line-up, which runs from July 5 through August 5, 2012. Single tickets go on sale on April 2. Theater offerings include Mikhail Baryshnikov in Dmitry Krymov’s staging of a new play, In Paris, as well as Sydney Theatre Company’s acclaimed production of Uncle Vanya directed by Tamás Ascher and adapted by Andrew Upton. The stellar cast includes John Bell, Cate Blanchett, Hayley McElhinney, Richard Roxburgh, and Hugo Weaving. (more...)

WritersÂ’ Theatre, under the direction of Artistic Director Michael Halberstam and Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma, continues its 20th Anniversary Season with Hesperia by Randall Colburn, directed by Associate Artistic Director Stuart Carden. (more...)

Broadway veteran Brian d'Arcy James stopped by NBC's New York Live to discuss SMASH. Find out what he has to say about what's to come this season and about his upcoming films in the interview below! (more...)

Theatre Exile will present the final show of their 15th season with the Philadelphia premiere of A Behanding in Spokane by Martin McDonagh. Directed by Exile's Artistic Director Joe Canuso and starring Pearce Bunting, Amanda Schoonover, Matt Pfeiffer and Reuben Mitchell, A Behanding in Spokane will be running from April 19th to May 13th , with the official press opening on the 25th of April. Honorary producers for the show are June and Steve Wolfson. (more...)