The Play Company News

On Monday Evening, February 23 at 7:00 PM, six New York theater institutions will participate in a special panel discussion featuring five current and upcoming Off-Broadway shows. Harlem Stage (150 Convent Avenue at West 135th Street) will host producing companies Classical Theatre of Harlem, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theater and Signature Theatre Company in an evening titled I'VE KNOWN RIVERS: A Conversation with Christina Anderson, Charles Fuller, Lynn Nottage & Liesl Tommy. The event marks a unique collaborative effort between six New York theater institutions: a panel discussion in which five gifted African-American theater artists - all of whom have projects happening almost simultaneously at five of New York's most respected non-profit theaters - will discuss their lives, work, and current projects. Moderated by actress Sabrina LeBeauf (Three Sisters, Classical Theatre of Harlem in partnership with Harlem Stage, February/March), the evening's four panelists will be Christina Anderson (author, Inked Baby, Playwrights Horizons, March/April), Charles Fuller (author, Zooman and the Sign, Signature Theatre Company, March/April), Lynn Nottage (author, Ruined, Manhattan Theater Club, January-March) and Liesl Tommy (director, The Good Negro, The Public Theater, March/April). The event title comes from a poem by Langston Hughes, 'The Negro Speaks of Rivers.'

On Monday Evening, February 23 at 7:00 PM, six New York theater institutions will participate in a special panel discussion featuring five current and upcoming Off-Broadway shows. Harlem Stage (150 Convent Avenue at West 135th Street) will host producing companies Classical Theatre of Harlem, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theater and Signature Theatre Company in an evening titled I'VE KNOWN RIVERS: A Conversation with Christina Anderson, Charles Fuller, Lynn Nottage & Liesl Tommy.

Atlantic Theater Company (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director) is proud to announce the final production of its 2008-2009 season - the world premiere of Leslie Ayvazian's play MAKE ME, directed by Atlantic associate artistic director Christian Parker. Casting will be announced shortly.

Manhattan Theatre Club announced today that they will be presenting the world premiere of Humor Abuse, the new one-man-show created by performer Lorenzo Pisoni (Equus, Last Dance) and director Erica Schmidt (Debbie Does Dallas). Humor Abuse will begin previews on Thursday, February 19 and open Tuesday, March 10 in a limited engagement at New York City Center - Stage II (131 West 55th Street).

Following a critically acclaimed World Premiere at The 2008 New York International Fringe Festival, Razors Edge Productions proudly presents a revival of ZOMBIE, an award-winning solo play by Bill Connington, adapted from the novella by Joyce Carol Oates. ZOMBIE is directed by Thomas Caruso and performed by Bill Connington. ZOMBIE runs from February 18 to March 29, 2009 in a limited 6-week engagement at the Theatre Row Complex (Studio Theatre), located at 410 West 42 Street between 9 & 10 Avenues in NYC. Previews begin February 18 for a February 21 opening. Post-show discussions will follow select shows.

Following a critically acclaimed World Premiere at The 2008 New York International Fringe Festival, Razors Edge Productions proudly presents a revival of ZOMBIE, an award-winning solo play by Bill Connington, adapted from the novella by Joyce Carol Oates. ZOMBIE is directed by Thomas Caruso and performed by Bill Connington. ZOMBIE runs from February 18 to March 29, 2009 in a limited 6-week engagement at the Theatre Row Complex (Studio Theatre), located at 410 West 42 Street between 9 & 10 Avenues in NYC. Previews begin February 18 for a February 21 opening. Post-show discussions will follow select shows.

The Manhattan Theatre Club (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer) production of HUMOR ABUSE, the new one-man-show created by Lorenzo Pisoni (Equus, Last Dance) and Erica Schmidt (Debbie Does Dallas), begins rehearsals today. HUMOR ABUSE stars Pisoni with direction by Schmidt. This world premiere production will begin previews on Thursday, February 19 and open on Tuesday, March 10 in a limited engagement at MTC at New York City Center - Stage II (131 West 55th Street).

On Monday Evening, February 23 at 7:00 PM, six New York theater institutions will participate in a special panel discussion featuring five current and upcoming Off-Broadway shows. Harlem Stage (150 Convent Avenue at West 135th Street) will host producing companies Classical Theatre of Harlem, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theater and Signature Theatre Company in an evening titled I'VE KNOWN RIVERS: A Conversation with Christina Anderson, Charles Fuller, Lynn Nottage & Liesl Tommy. The event marks a unique collaborative effort between six New York theater institutions: a panel discussion in which five gifted African-American theater artists - all of whom have projects happening almost simultaneously at five of New York's most respected non-profit theaters - will discuss their lives, work, and current projects. Moderated by actress Sabrina LeBeauf (Three Sisters, Classical Theatre of Harlem in partnership with Harlem Stage, February/March), the evening's four panelists will be Christina Anderson (author, Inked Baby, Playwrights Horizons, March/April), Charles Fuller (author, Zooman and the Sign, Signature Theatre Company, March/April), Lynn Nottage (author, Ruined, Manhattan Theater Club, January-March) and Liesl Tommy (director, The Good Negro, The Public Theater, March/April). The event title comes from a poem by Langston Hughes, 'The Negro Speaks of Rivers.'

On Monday Evening, February 23 at 7:00 PM, six New York theater institutions will participate in a special panel discussion featuring five current and upcoming Off-Broadway shows. Harlem Stage (150 Convent Avenue at West 135th Street) will host producing companies Classical Theatre of Harlem, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theater and Signature Theatre Company in an evening titled I'VE KNOWN RIVERS: A Conversation with Christina Anderson, Charles Fuller, Lynn Nottage & Liesl Tommy.

The Roundtable Ensemble (Kelly Ann Moore, Artistic Director and Joshua P. Weiss, Managing Director), now in its 10th season, will present the New York premiere of Linda Escalera Baggs' award-winning play 'SILENT HEROES,' inspired by a true story, and directed by Rosemary Andress. 'SILENT HEROES' will be presented at Theatre 54 at Shetler Studios, 244 West 54th Street, 12th floor (bet. 8th and 9th Aves). Performances will begin on January 8, and the official opening performance was Sunday, January 11 at 3:00 p.m. Performances will run through Saturday, January 24. Set shortly after the end of the Vietnam War, the wives of six Marine Corps aviators have gathered in the night after hearing that one of the base's jet fighters has crashed. The Corps has offered no comfort or information, but the women know that one of their husbands isn't coming home. 'SILENT HEROES' deals with women's rights, race relations, family, war and peace, and the tenuous social structure that enables military wives to cope with the constant fear that their husbands' lives, and their futures, could end suddenly. It won Best Play at FutureFest (Dayton, OH), at the Firehouse Theatre Festival of New American Plays (Richmond, VA), and at the Pittsburgh New Play Festival. TheaterMania's Peter Filichia was one of the judges at FutureFest and wrote this in his column: 'While I was watching Linda Escalera Bagg's Silent Heroes, I thought 'Hmm...this playwright has not only written six fat parts for women but also at least two parts that could very well win Tony Awards for the actresses playing them.' 'SILENT HEROES' was also honored with the Source Literary Prize in Washington, D.C. Linda Escalera Baggs is a Virginia-based playwright whose plays have been produced across the U.S.A. In addition to her award-winning Silent Heroes her full length plays include Harps & Harmonicas and Word War, and her one-acts and short plays include: Parting Words, The August Jinx, Welcome to Florida, Who's Margaret, and Dress Blues. Baggs is the daughter of a Marine colonel.

Following a critically acclaimed World Premiere at The 2008 New York International Fringe Festival, Razors Edge Productions proudly presents a revival of ZOMBIE, an award-winning solo play by Bill Connington, adapted from the novella by Joyce Carol Oates. ZOMBIE is directed by Thomas Caruso and performed by Bill Connington. ZOMBIE runs from February 18 to March 29, 2009 in a limited 6-week engagement at the Theatre Row Complex (Studio Theatre), located at 410 West 42 Street between 9 & 10 Avenues in NYC. Previews begin February 18 for a February 21 opening. Post-show discussions will follow select shows. Performances are Thursdays-Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 3pm with an added performance on Wed Feb 18 at 8pm and no performance on Sun Mar 15. Tickets are $21.25 and can be purchased online at http://www.TicketCentral.com or by calling 212-279-4200. Running time is 75 minutes with no intermission. What happens when outwardly 'normal' people snap? Joyce Carol Oates' ZOMBIE sheds insight into this question by taking you inside the mind of a sexual psychopath. In ZOMBIE, a Jeffrey Dahmer-esque serial killer by the name of 'Quentin P__' describes the murder, torture and rape of his young male victims. A sexual psychopath, he aspires to create zombie slaves to meet his every need. ZOMBIE received the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel and was awarded the Lilla Risk Rand fiction prize by the Boston Book Review. Warning: ZOMBIE is not appropriate for those under the age of 17 due to adult situations.

It was announced today that Marin Ireland, Steven Pasquale, Piper Perabo and Thomas Sadoski will comprise the four-person cast of this season's production of Neil LaBute's new play, reasons to be pretty, under the direction of Terry Kinney. Perabo and Sadoski appeared in this summer's smash Off Broadway world premiere for MCC Theater, with Ireland and Pasquale slated to join the cast for the Broadway production. Preview performances begin Friday, March 13, 2009 at the Lyceum Theatre (149 West 45th Street) with an official opening night scheduled for Thursday, April 2, 2009. Tickets are on sale now through www.telecharge.com. reasons to be pretty confronts America's obsession with physical beauty headlong. In Neil LaBute's new play, Greg's (Sadoski) tight-knit social circle is thrown into turmoil when his off-handed remarks about a female co-worker's pretty face (and his girlfriend's lack thereof) get back to said girlfriend (Ireland). But that's just the beginning.

The Tony Award-winning Old Globe presents the Pulitzer Prize-winning Six Degrees of Separation, by John Guare (The House of Blue Leaves, Landscape of the Body), directed by Trip Cullman, to run in the Old Globe Theatre January 10 - February 15 (press opening: Thursday, January 15 at 8pm). Broadway veteran Karen Ziemba, who will play 'Ouisa,' won the Tony for the musical Contact and was nominated for her work in Steel Pier, Never Gonna Dance and Curtains!.

The Roundtable Ensemble (Kelly Ann Moore, Artistic Director and Joshua P. Weiss, Managing Director), now in its 10th season, will present the New York premiere of Linda Escalera Baggs' award-winning play 'SILENT HEROES,' inspired by a true story, and directed by Rosemary Andress. 'SILENT HEROES' will be presented at Theatre 54 at Shetler Studios, 244 West 54th Street, 12th floor (bet. 8th and 9th Aves). Performances will begin on January 8, and the official opening performance will be Sunday, January 11 at 3:00 p.m. Performances will run through Saturday, January 24.

The Tony Award-winning Old Globe presents the Pulitzer Prize-winning Six Degrees of Separation, by John Guare (The House of Blue Leaves, Landscape of the Body), directed by Trip Cullman, to run in the Old Globe Theatre January 10 - February 15 (press opening: Thursday, January 15 at 8pm). Broadway veteran Karen Ziemba, who will play 'Ouisa,' won the Tony for the musical Contact and was nominated for her work in Steel Pier, Never Gonna Dance and Curtains!.

The Roundtable Ensemble (Kelly Ann Moore, Artistic Director and Joshua P. Weiss, Managing Director), now in its 10th season, will present the New York premiere of Linda Escalera Baggs' award-winning play 'SILENT HEROES,' inspired by a true story, and directed by Rosemary Andress. 'SILENT HEROES' will be presented at Theatre 54 at Shetler Studios, 244 West 54th Street, 12th floor (bet. 8th and 9th Aves). Performances will begin on January 8, and the official opening performance will be Sunday, January 11 at 3:00 p.m. Performances will run through Saturday, January 24.

The Tony Award-winning Old Globe presents the Pulitzer Prize-winning Six Degrees of Separation, by John Guare (The House of Blue Leaves, Landscape of the Body), directed by Trip Cullman, to run in the Old Globe Theatre January 10 - February 15 (press opening: Thursday, January 15 at 8pm). Broadway veteran Karen Ziemba, who will play 'Ouisa,' won the Tony for the musical Contact and was nominated for her work in Steel Pier, Never Gonna Dance and Curtains!.

Manhattan Theatre Club announced today that they will be presenting the world premiere of Humor Abuse, the new one-man-show created by performer Lorenzo Pisoni (Equus, Last Dance) and director Erica Schmidt (Debbie Does Dallas). Humor Abuse will begin previews on Thursday, February 19 and open Tuesday, March 10 in a limited engagement at New York City Center - Stage II (131 West 55th Street).

Renowned Russian director Kama Ginkas will discuss his theatrical adaptations of prose works by Anton Chekhov with John Freedman and Daniel Gerould, Director of Publications at the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, November 17th at 6:30. Nex

Renowned Russian director Kama Ginkas will discuss his theatrical adaptations of prose works by Anton Chekhov with John Freedman and Daniel Gerould, Director of Publications at the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, November 17th at 6:30. Nex