Alliance Theatre 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.'

Celebrated American author and playwright Quiara Alegr?a Hudes returns to the Alliance Theatre in March, bringing with her a tender and funny new play about family. A finalist in the National Endowment for the Arts New Play Development Program, 26 Miles takes audiences on a road trip with a teenage daughter and her mother in an '83 Buick Regal. Along the way, they discover plenty about themselves, their relationship and what family really means. Alliance Theatre Associate Artistic Director Kent Gash is thrilled to direct this remarkable and very humorous World Premiere presented in association with the National New Play Network on the intimate and decidedly underground Hertz Stage.

The producers of ROCK OF AGES announced the complete, awesome cast for Broadway's new, smash hit musical today. Constantine Maroulis, ('American Idol' Season 4, Broadway's The Wedding Singer, RENT) reprising his critically acclaimed role as 'Drew', is now joined by Broadway's best 1970's & 1980's period actors Amy Spanger (The Wedding Singer, Kiss Me Kate) as 'Sherrie' and James Carpinello (Saturday Night Fever, VH1's 'So NoTORIous') as 'Stacee Jaxx'.

Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre Company is proud to announce its production of Miss Evers' Boys by David Feldshuh, directed by Kenny Leon, featuring Jasmine Guy, TC Carson and Eugene Lee. Performances will take place at Fulton County's Southwest Arts Center, March 4 - 21, 2009; performance times vary and are listed on the True Colors website, truecolorstheatre.org. Cast also includes Bart Hansard, Eric Little, Enoch King and E. Roger Mitchell.

Dick Enberg's play, McGuire, about legendary Marquette basketball coach Al McGuire will be presented on the historic El Portal Theatre's Mainstage in North Hollywood, April 9-12, 2009. McGuire stars award-winning Broadway and television actor Cotter Smith. Heidi Mueller-Smith directs. McGuire at the El Portal Theatre is positioned to immediately follow the NCAA Final Four weekend in Detroit. This year marks the 32nd anniversary of McGuire's triumphant NCAA championship in Atlanta as head coach at Marquette. The show debuted on the Marquette campus in Milwaukee, Wis. in 2005 to sell-out audiences. It also has played at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Hofstra University, and North Coast Rep in Solana Beach, California.

The American Conservatory Theater Master of Fine Arts Program presents Maxim Gorky's Philistines in a fresh new version by Andrew Upton, the co-artistic director of Australia's Sydney Theatre Company and an acclaimed adaptor of Russian plays.

Music Director Robert Spano will lead the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Chorus in an ASO Theater of a Concert presentation of Haydn's The Creation. Set designer Anne Patterson and Projection Designer Adam Larsen, whose work has enhanced the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's performances of St. John Passion and Gorecki's Third Symphony, return to design Joseph Haydn's The Creation in Atlanta Symphony Hall on February 26 and 28, 2008 at 8:00 pm. Soloists include soprano Janice Chandler, tenor Thomas Cooley, and bass Derrick Parker.

Yale Repertory Theatre (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) presents the east coast premiere of Lydia by Octavio Solis, directed by Juliette Carrillo at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street, at York Street) beginning February 6 through February 28. Opening Night is Thursday, February 12. Lydia features music composed by Chris Webb; sets by Andrew Boyce; costumes by Amanda Seymour; lighting by Jesse Belsky; sound design, additional music, and arrangements by David Molina; voice and dialect by Beth McGuire; fight direction by Rick Sordelet; dramaturgy by Matt Cornish; and stage management by Donald E. Claxon.

Bristol Riverside Theatre presents the World Premiere of What You Will, a BRT original interpretation of Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night from February 10 through March 1, 2009. A daring and bold take on the classic comedy that combines the language of Shakespeare with contemporary rhythms and movement, What You Will is conceived and co-directed by BRT Artistic Director Keith Baker and Donald Byrd, acclaimed choreographer of Broadway's The Color Purple and Artistic Director of Seattle's Spectrum Dance Theater. Music direction and original music by hip hop producer Justin Ellington completes the marriage of text, high-energy movement and heart-pounding music. What You Will begins previews February 10, opens February 12, and closes March 1, 2009. Tickets are $29 - $37, with $10 student tickets, and are available by calling the Box Office at (215) 785-0100 or visiting the theatre at 120 Radcliffe Street in Bristol, with information online at www.brtstage.org. [A full performance schedule follows on page 4.] In this new interpretation, Shakespeare's original text is heard with a distinctively contemporary American voice as the worlds of modern urban and classical theatre are fused. In What You Will (Shakespeare's full title for the play was Twelfth Night, Or What You Will), the social center of Illyria is Club 12th Night - a place where pranks and disguises, playful games and folly rule. A shipwrecked woman stumbles into the club, beginning a chain of events leading to an astonishing conclusion. Mistaken identities, intrigue, music, a beautiful heiress, drunken partiers, and a spiteful servant merge with a hip-hop rhythm in Shakespeare's enchanting tale of revelry and love.

Liz Callaway has been cast in the upcoming iSondheim: A Musical Revue, a world premiere in honor of America's greatest living composer of musical theatre that will run at the Alliance Theatre from April 15 to May 10, 2009.

Atlanta's nationally acclaimed Alliance Theatre has been awarded a $1.1 million 2008 Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination (AEMDD) grant from the U.S. Department of Education through its Office of Innovation and Improvement. The grant money will be distributed over a four-year period and will be used in planning, researching and implementing programs to introduce young English Language Learners (ELL) to the theatre art form and build verbal communication abilities. There were 74 applicants for the grant nation wide. The Alliance ranked first out of 15 awardees.

YALE REPERTORY THEATRE (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) presents the east coast premiere of LYDIA by OCTAVIO SOLIS, directed by JULIETTE CARRILLO at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street, at York Street) beginning February 6 through February 28. Opening Night is Thursday, February 12. LYDIA features music composed by Chris Webb; sets by Andrew Boyce; costumes by Amanda Seymour; lighting by Jesse Belsky; sound design, additional music, and arrangements by David Molina; voice and dialect by Beth McGuire; fight direction by Rick Sordelet; dramaturgy by Matt Cornish; and stage management by Donald E. Claxon. The cast of LYDIA includes Carlo Alb?n, Christian Barillas, Stephanie Beatriz, Armando Dur?n, Catalina Maynard, Onahoua Rodriguez, and Tony Sancho.

Experience the hit animated series 'Class of 3000' live on stage for the first time with the World Premiere Class of 3000 LIVE. This one-hour play based on the Emmy Award-winning Cartoon Network series created by Andr? Benjamin of OutKast and Tommy Lynch is directed and adapted by the Alliance's Rosemary Newcott and features original songs by Benjamin. Opening Night is Saturday, Mar. 7, 2000 at 7 p.m. Tickets to shows Mar. 7 - 29 are available at the Woodruff Arts Center Box office by calling 404.733.5000 or online at www.alliancetheatre.org. For the animated series, Andr? Benjamin developed the story of international music star Sunny Bridges, who flees his own celebrity to return to Atlanta. In Class of 3000 LIVE, new musical inspiration is just around the corner for Sunny when he's discovered by a group of young middle school musical prodigies in desperate search of a music teacher. Though his students don't realize it, Sunny is about to teach them new forms of expression and creativity, and the kids are about to re-ignite his passion for music and his community.

Playwright Julia Brownell's Smart Cookie is a wickedly funny comedy about how a shocking surprise helps a wealthy Manhattan socialite become the woman she never realized she wanted to be. The clear favorite of the 2008 Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition judges, this World Premiere play combines laugh-out-loud humor with a provocative story about social image and the powers that can change a person's attitudes.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre greets the new year by proudly presenting its 50th world premiere, a new comedy about marriage, intimacy, and electricity from the creators of Eurydice. Celebrated playwright Sarah Ruhl and Obie Award-winning director Les Waters come together again for the debut of In the Next Room (or the vibrator play). Commissioned by Berkeley Rep and staged in the state-of-the-art Roda Theatre, this hotly anticipated play begins previews on January 30, opens February 4, and closes March 15. BART and Wells Fargo serve as season sponsors for Berkeley Rep's 41st year of fearless theatre, and the executive producer for this show is the Strauch Kulhanjian Family.

To coincide with the World Premiere of the 2008 Kendeda GPC winning play, Julia Brownell's Smart Cookie, Atlanta's finest actors and directors will present a first look at the 2008 Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition finalists. This is an intimate chance to hear works by some of America's most interesting up-and-coming writers.

Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of The Public Theater, has announced the 26-member Broadway cast of HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical. Newcomers to the cast include Gavin Creel, Caissie Levy and Sasha Allen, who join the rest of the tribe, who are reprising their roles from Central Park last summer. Currently in rehearsal at the Union Square Theatre, HAIR begins preview performances on Friday, March 6 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre (302 West 45th Street, NYC) with an Opening Night set for Tuesday, March 31, 2009.

Marin Theatre Company is pleased to present the world premiere of Magic Forest Farm by Zayd Dohrn, winner of the first annual Sky Cooper New American Play Prize in 2008. The production will be staged in MTC's 99-seat Lieberman Theatre. From one of America's hottest young playwrights comes a riveting story of a young woman's desperate search for her past. Seventeen year-old Allegra is beginning to piece together the swirling memories of her early years in the beautiful woods of Northern California on a mystical commune called Magic Forest Farm. Mixing with joyous recollections of waterfalls and wildflowers are darker revelations and startling images of the people she thinks she trusts most. A journey begins that takes Allegra back to the commune, back to the past, to confront the truth.

Smart Cookie, by Julia Brownell and directed by Jeremy B. Cohen will be performed at the Alliance Theatre from January 30 - February 22, 2009. The show contains Teenage Sexuality, Thematic Elements (Abortion), and Adult Language (parents: call the box office for specific details). Meet Cookie. In between crafting her impeccable social image, you might catch her at the spa, avoiding carbs at New York?s best restaurants, or giving her husband?s money to the MET. As you can imagine, she?s very busy ? until one day a visit from her prep school son and his foreign exchange girlfriend changes everything. This year?s Kendeda winner is a sly, wicked comedy about the power of surprise to help us become the people we never realized we wanted to be

Berkeley Repertory Theatre greets the new year by proudly presenting its 50th world premiere, a new comedy about marriage, intimacy, and electricity from the creators of Eurydice. Celebrated playwright Sarah Ruhl and Obie Award-winning director Les Waters come together again for the debut of In the Next Room (or the vibrator play). Commissioned by Berkeley Rep and staged in the state-of-the-art Roda Theatre, this hotly anticipated play begins previews on January 30, opens February 4, and closes March 15. BART and Wells Fargo serve as season sponsors for Berkeley Rep's 41st year of fearless theatre, and the executive producer for this show is the Strauch Kulhanjian Family.