Elizabeth Atkinson News

Walnut Street Theatre continues its landmark 210th season with Roald Dahl's MATILDA THE MUSICAL. Directed by Linda Goodrich, with choreography by Michelle Gaudette, MATILDA THE MUSICAL begins previews on November 6th, opens on November 14th, and runs through January 6th on the Walnut's Mainstage.

Theatre Philadelphia, the region's marketing and leadership organization for theatre, proudly announces the 2018 nominees for the Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theatre. Celebrating the rich, diverse professional theatre scene in the Greater Philadelphia region, the Barrymore Ceremony will be held on Monday, November 5th at 7pm at the Bok Building at 1901 S. 9th Street in South Philadelphia. Guests will continue the festivities with an after-party Celebration at the same location. Tickets for artists, supporters, and the general public are now on sale at www.theatrephiladelphia.org.

Grief can be a very strange thing and people react to traumatic events in very different ways. Some may become reserved and avoid contact with people. Some may turn to their faith for support during trying times. Others, like the young man in TheaterWorks' HAND TO GOD, channel anger, fear and confusion into a demonic and controlling puppet. Yes, you read that right. In Robert Askins' Tony Award nominated play, young Jason and his evil puppet alter ego, Tyrone, wreak havoc on a small Texas church and raunchy, rude, unhinged hilarity ensues.

What would summer be without live music, a wild love triangle, and mistaken identities? Add into that mix free entertainment, a picnic under the stars and the Bard and you have this year's edition of Shakespeare in Clark Park (SCP). SCP will showcase Philadelphia's finest actors alongside local student musicians for a glam rock inspired Twelfth Night, directed by Jack Tamburri, which is set to run July 25-29, 2018 in Clark Park in West Philadelphia. The show will wrap up with a special 'Fifth Night Feast' Fundraiser before the show on July 29.

What would summer be without live music, a wild love triangle, and mistaken identities? Add into that mix free entertainment, a picnic under the stars and the Bard and you have this year's edition of Shakespeare in Clark Park (SCP). SCP will showcase Philadelphia's finest actors alongside local student musicians for a glam rock inspired Twelfth Night, directed by Jack Tamburri, which is set to run July 25-29, 2018 in Clark Park in West Philadelphia. The show will wrap up with a special 'Fifth Night Feast' Fundraiser before the show on July 29.

Walnut Street Theatre continues its landmark 209th season with Michael Frayn's classic backstage comedy, NOISES OFF. Directed by Frank Anzalone, this production begins previews on March 13th, opens on March 21st, and runs through April 29th on the Walnut's Mainstage.

Theatre Exile closes its 2018/2019 season with the World Premiere of Michael Hollinger's Sing the Body Electric. Jess is tanking in Physics, so her mom hires Lloyd to help her pass. But she'd rather study his son, the survivor of a lightning strike that killed his girlfriend a year ago, and tattooed his body with elegant scars. When Lloyd and Mom hit it off, these two broken families are bound ever closer, inexorably -- with explosive results. An intricate, atmospheric tale of love, sex, and the unseen forces that draw us together and drive us apart.

Due to audience demand, City Theatre is announcing a one-week extension of the uplifting one-man drama,The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey by Academy Award-Winner James Lecesne.

City Theatre's 2017-18 season continues with the uplifting one-man drama The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey by Academy Award-Winner James Lecesne. Keith Randolph Smith (Sunset Baby, November 2015) stars as Chuck DeSantis, a small-town detective recounting the disappearance of a gay teenager named Leonard Pelkey, and the community who helped him uncover the truth. Directed by Laura Savia, Associate Artistic Director of internationally renowned Williamstown Theatre Festival, the play runs January 20 February 18, 2018, in the Lester Hamburg Studio Theatre. Tickets are on sale now.

Learning to age gracefully is the theme of Bristol Riverside Theatre's next Mainstage production, Quartet by Ron Harwood running October 31-November 19. Directed by Susan D. Atkinson, the ensemble cast features Keith Baker, Joy Franz, Laural Merlington, and Nick Ullett.

Myths and dreams will swirl through the Louis Bluver Theatre at The Drake (302 South Hicks Street) in October as Inis Nua presents Lizzie Nunnery's The Swallowing Dark. From England, this drama deals with the bureaucratic fragility of asylum for one family, but the nature of truth itself commands center stage. As The Independent said, Can the truth ever be turned into a clear, consistent story? That's one of the troubling questions that underlie The Swallowing Dark, Lizzie Nunnery's powerfully suggestive new play.

Learning to age gracefully is the theme of Bristol Riverside Theatre's next Mainstage production, Quartet by Ron Harwood running October 31-November 19. Directed by Susan D. Atkinson, the ensemble cast features Keith Baker, Joy Franz, Laural Merlington, and Nick Ullett.

 Bristol Riverside Theatre spells F-U-N when it opens its Mainstage season with the multiple Tony Award-winner The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee with music and lyrics by William Finn, book by Rachel Sheinkin, and conceived by Rebecca Feldman, running September 19-October 15.  Directed by Amy Kaissar, the ensemble cast features Will Carlyon, Andrew Coleman, Leigha Kato, Kathryn McCreary, Joshua Morgan, Robert Smythe, Phebe Taylor, T.J. Wagner, and Brooke Wetterhahn.

Bristol Riverside Theatre concludes its 30th Anniversary season with Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution, running May 9-May 28.  Directed by Susan D. Atkinson, the high-voltage thriller by the Queen of Crime drama features an ensemble of professional actors.

Community, collaboration and crime capture the mood at Bristol Riverside Theatre's production of Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution, running May 9-May 28.  Directed by Susan D. Atkinson, the high-voltage thriller by the Queen of Crime drama, which concludes BRT's 30th Anniversary Season, features an ensemble of professional actors Sharon Alexander, Keith Baker, Kenneth Boys, Hanna Gaffney,  Leonard C. Haas, Eleanor Handley, Thomas-Robert Irvin, Kyra Leeds, Matt Leisy, James Luse, William R. McHattie, Christopher J. Perugini, Carl Wallnau, Paul B. Weagraff, and Kylie Westerbeck performing alongside Bucks County community members Missy Andrews, Mari Bernhagen, Drew Burke, Melissa Bushey, David Owen Cashell, Sybil Cooper, Matthew DiMarino, Ginny Fairweather, Maryann Fanning, Michael Gearty, Regina Gluhski, Terri Hall, Sarah Konyves, Donna Rae Lee, Matt Lydon, Sr., Matt Lydon, Jr., Donna McCole, Ronald Pae, Eileen Peters, Dottie Polsenberg, Lesia Pryor, Patricia Rooney, Kurt Scholer, Marion M. Walter, Harriet Zeff, and Margie Zielinski.

Simpatico Theatre, under the leadership of Allen Radway (Producing Artistic Director) and Christine Bater (Managing Director) is excited to announce casting for our upcoming season, which includes IRONBOUND by Martyna Majok and HIR by Taylor Mac. 

Walnut Street Theatre continues its landmark 208th season with Oscar Wilde's classic comedy, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. Directed by Bob Carlton, this production begins previews on March 14th, opens on March 22nd and runs through April 30th on the Walnut's Mainstage.

Audiences of all ages will love Walnut Street Theatre for Kids' production of GARFIELD: The Musical With Cattitude.

Audiences of all ages will love Walnut Street Theatre for Kids' production of GARFIELD: The Musical With Cattitude.

The story of boy meets girl is turned on its head as playwright Nick Payne launches it into the quantum multiverse in Constellations. The possibility that multiple versions of our world exist is drawn out through the relationship of theoretical physicist Marianne and beekeeper Roland.