Nicole Rosky - Page 497

Debra Messing begins filming soon for the second season of NBC's SMASH, and according to a recent interview with the Hollywood Reporter, her love of Broadway existed long before she was cast as Julia. Check out what she had to say about how she came to love theatre by clicking below!

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival this year features something for everyone. For history lovers, there's Henry V, The War of 1812 and Wanderlust, a new musical set during the gold rush of the Great North. Lovers of romance will enjoy The Matchmaker, as well as the classic Shakespeare plays Cymbeline and Much Ado About Nothing. Another classic, the Greek tragedy Elektra, comes from the hand of one of Greece's most avant-garde directors. Lovers of literature will want to see Christopher Plummer's A Word or Two. For families, there's You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, MacHomer and The Pirates of Penzance. A season rich in musicals also features the Broadway favourite 42nd Street. The season runs now thru October 28. Hear about the costumes of HENRY V from Dye specialist Linda Pinhay below!

Taylor Louderman, Adrienne Warren and the cast of BRING IT ON just performed on NBC-TV's TODAY SHOW this morning, live from Rockefeller Center Plaza (48th Street btwn 5th & 6th Aves). Check out 'It's All Happening' and 'It Ain't No Thing' below!

The Bucks County Playhouse (BCP) in New Hope, Pennsylvania, has announced the extension of its first production of the summer, Rodgers & Hammerstein's A Grand Night for Singing. Performances begin Monday, July 2 at 8:00 p.m. and will now run an additional week, through Sunday, July 29.

As the culmination of the bicentenary of Charles Dickens, a new stage adaptation of one of his best loved novels, GREAT EXPECTATIONS will begin a national tour, prior to London's West End, opening at the Richmond Theatre on 13 September.

he Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust today announced that the Fifth Annual Steinberg Playwright "Mimi" Awards will be presented on Monday, October 29, 2012. The Mimi Awards promote theater as a vital part of our culture by nurturing American playwrights and encouraging the development and production of new American plays. The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust will present the 2012 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award at this year's ceremony, which will be held at the Lincoln Center Theater in New York City. The Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award is presented biennially to honor and encourage the artistic excellence and achievement of an American playwright whose body of work has made significant contributions to the American theater. The recipient of the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award will receive a cash award of $200,000. The Steinberg Playwright Awards and the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Awards are presented in alternate years. Past recipients are: · Lisa D'Amour and Melissa James Gibson, Steinberg Playwright Award, 2011 · Lynn Nottage, Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, 2010 · David Adjmi, Tarell Alvin McCraney and Bruce Norris, Steinberg Playwright Awards, 2009 · Tony Kushner, Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, 2008 These playwrights were each presented with a monetary award along with "The Mimi," a statuette designed by Tony Award-nominated scenic designer and architect David Rockwell. The Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award honors the artistic achievement of a playwright whose work has made a significant impact on American theater. The Steinberg Playwright Award is awarded to playwrights who exhibit exceptional talent and tremendous promise in earlier stages of their careers. In 2008, the Board of Directors of The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust established an Advisory Committee of prominent theater professionals responsible for establishing the criteria for the Steinberg Playwright Awards, as well as the nomination and selection processes. The 2012 Advisory Committee is comprised of continuing members; Susan Booth, Artistic Director of the Alliance Theater; Jeremy Cohen, Producing Artistic Director, The Playwrights' Center; Todd London, Artistic Director of New Dramatists; and Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director, Manhattan Theater Club. Additionally, this year there are three new members; Kwame Kwei-Armah, Artistic Director, CENTERSTAGE; Bill Rauch, Artistic Director, Oregon Shakespeare Festival; and Neil Pepe, Artistic Director, Atlantic Theater Company. The members of the Board of Directors of The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust are Carole A. Krumland, James D. Steinberg, Michael A. Steinberg, Seth M. Weingarten and William D. Zabel. About The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust: The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust was created by Harold Steinberg in 1986 in the names of himself and his late wife Miriam. The Trust's primary mission is to support and promote the American theater as a vital part of our culture by nurturing American playwrights, encouraging the development and production of new American plays, and by providing significant support to theater companies across the country. Since its inception, the Trust has given in excess of $65 million to more than one hundred not-for-profit theater organizations. These gifts have funded countless productions, as well as the commissioning of playwrights, playwriting programs and arts-in-education outreach programs for thousands of children in an effort to create and educated new generations of theatergoers. The Trust also collaborated with the American Theater Critics Association to create and fund the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award. The award is presented annually during the Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theater of Louisville. Recent winners of this award include Craig Lucas, Lynn Nottage, Lee Blessing and Nilo Cruz.

Today in 1978, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas opened at the 46th Street Theatre (now the Richard Rodgers Theatre), where it ran for 1584 performances. The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is a musical with a book by Texas author Larry L. King and Peter Masterson and music and lyrics by Carol Hall. It is based on a story by King that was inspired by the real-life Chicken Ranch in La Grange, Texas. The original Broadway production was directed by Peter Masterson and Tommy Tune and choreographed by Tune and Thommie Walsh.

glory|struck has just released their exclusive LOVE IS LOUDER photo porfolio for their upcoming production of the Tony Award winning SPRING AWAKENING at Downtown Los Angeles' Hayworth Theatre. BroadwayWorld brings you a first look at the cast below!

Following the sold out performances and overflow crowds for its first year and a half of Cino Nights presentations (including new plays by Gary Sunshine, Mando Alvarado, Courtney Baron, Florencia Lozano, Kristen Palmer, Emily DeVoti, Lucy Thurber, Jessica Dickey, Adam Szymkowicz, Laura Eason, Daniel Reitz, Megan Mostyn-Brown, Dael Orlandersmith, Keith Reddin, Crystal Skillman, Charlotte Miller and Brooke Berman), Rising Phoenix Rep finished the series on June 10th with Radiance by Cusi Cram and on June 17th with Break My Face on Your Hand by Daniel Talbott.

On Monday, June 25th, The Trevor Project will honor Academy Award® winner, Susan Sarandon with the Trevor Hero Award, presented by Stanley Tucci. President of MTV, Stephen Friedman will also be on hand to accept the Trevor 2020 Award for MTV at "Trevor Live" in New York, (Pier 60, Chelsea Piers). This high-profile annual event benefits the life-saving, life-affirming work of The Trevor Project, providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) teens and young adults. The show will be directed by Tony Award® winner, Michael Mayer. Trevor Live is presented by Audi of America, Pfizer and Wells Fargo and features fun., Stanley Tucci, Debra Messing and Eric McCormack, Anthony Rapp, Thomas Roberts, and many more.

As BroadwayWorld reported last week, a news conference was held today, June 18 in which Mike Tyson and Spike Lee announced that his Vegas act is heading to Broadway. Mike Tyson: UNDISPUTED TRUTH, directed by Lee, will play Broadway's Longacre Theatre for six performances only, July 31-August 5.

Montblanc and Urban Arts Partnership presented the highly anticipated return of THE 24 HOUR PLAYS BENEFIT, now in its second year in Los Angeles. Hollywood actors joined forces to participate in this one-night-only live performance, produced by Kevin Chinoy and Francesca Silvestri of the Freestyle Picture Company and the 24 Hour Company. The entire creative process, from writing to directing and finally performance, took place in under 24 hours! BroadwayWorld takes you behind the scenes of the event below!

The Tony Award-winning writer and a starring cast member of Broadway musical In The Heights, Lin-Manuel Miranda recently spoke at the 2012 ASCAP 'I Create Music' Expo about his songwriting background in musical theater and the songwriting process. Check out what he had to say below!

The best of Broadway will be presented FREE on six consecutive Thursdays this summer with "106.7 Lite FM's Broadway in Bryant Park 2012" - a lunchtime series beginning July 12 at 12:30 p.m. on the Bryant Park Stage. Sponsored by Resorts World Casino New York City and hosted by Lite FM's on-air personalities, the twelfth annual presentation of open-air, On- and Off- Broadway lunch hour performances will run through August 16.

Montblanc and Urban Arts Partnership presented the highly anticipated return of THE 24 HOUR PLAYS BENEFIT, now in its second year in Los Angeles. Hollywood actors joined forces to participate in this one-night-only live performance, produced by Kevin Chinoy and Francesca Silvestri of the Freestyle Picture Company and the 24 Hour Company. The entire creative process, from writing to directing and finally performance, took place in under 24 hours! Check out photos from the event below!

The Public Theater today presents Kevin Kline as Romeo and Meryl Streep as Juliet in a one-night-only benefit reading of ROMEO AND JULIET - the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The cast will also feature F. Murray Abraham (Friar Laurence); Christine Baranski (Nurse); John Cullum (Capulet); Raul Esparza (Sampson, Apothecary, Watchman 1); David Harbour (Abraham, Capulet Servant, Paris' Page); Bill Irwin (Montague); Jesse L. Martin (Gregory, Friar John, Watchman 2); Sandra Oh (Lady Montague); Phylicia Rashad (Lady Capulet); Jerry Stiller (Peter); Michael Stuhlbarg (Paris); Christopher Walken (Mercutio); Sharon Washington (Stage Directions); Sam Waterston (Benvolio); and Jeffrey Wright (Tybalt).

Broadway In Chicago presents the five-time Tony Award® nominated musical ROCK OF AGES, returning to Chicago this summer by popular demand through August 5, 2012, for a highly entertaining, intimate, rock concert experience at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place (175 East Chestnut). The cast just performed 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn' on Good Day Chicago, and you can check it out below!

Primary Stages have announced casting for Harrison,TX: Three Plays by Horton Foote, the first production of their 28th Season. Tony Award nominees Hallie Foote (Dividing the Estate) and Jayne Houdyshell (Follies, Well) will head up an ensemble featuring Devon Abner (Dividing the Estate), Mary Bacon (Rock 'N' Roll on Broadway, Motherhood Out Loud at Primary Stages), Jeremy Bobb (Is He Dead on Broadway, Shipwrecked at Primary Stages), Alexander Cendense (A View From the Bridge), Andrea Lynn Green (Giant at Dallas Theatre Center), Evan Jonigkeit (History Boys at Arden Theatre Company), and Jenny Dare Paulin (Dividing the Estate). Helmed by Tony Award nominated director Pam MacKinnon (Clybourne Park, A Lifetime Burning at Primary Stages), Harrison,TX runs July 24 - September 15 at Primary Stages at 59E59 Theaters.

Happy Birthday, Kerry Butler! Butler received a 2008 Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical for playing Kira/Clio in Xanadu. Other Broadway credits include Blood Brothers, Les Miserables, Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors, (Outer Critics Circle Award nomination), Penny Pingleton in Hairspray (Clarence Derwent Award, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations), Sherrie in Rock of Ages, and most recently Brenda in Catch Me If You Can (Drama Desk nomination).

Williamstown Theatre Festival Artistic Director Jenny Gersten announced today performance schedule changes to the runs of the workshop production of Here Lies Love and the Preview Production of Far From Heaven on the Main Stage.