Monday, July 19, 2010

Roundabout Theatre Company Announces Mrs. Warren's Profession

ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY
Announces the full company and opening night date!

Cherry Jones Sally Hawkins
Star
In a new Broadway production of
George Bernard Shaw's
MRS. WARREN'S PROFESSION

With
Adam Driver, Mark Harelik, Edward Hibbert, Michael Siberry

Directed by Doug Hughes

Previews begin Friday, September 3rd, 2010
Opening night will be Sunday, October 3rd, 2010
at the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) is pleased to announce the full company of the new Broadway production of George Bernard Shaw's play Mrs. Warren's Profession, starring Tony® Award winner Cherry Jones as "Kitty Warren" & Golden Globe winner Sally Hawkins making her Broadway debut as "Vivie Warren", directed by Tony® Award winner Doug Hughes at the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway (227 West 42nd St). The cast will also feature Adam Driver as "Frank Gardner", Mark Harelik as "Sir George Crofts", Edward Hibbert as "Mr. Praed" & Michael Siberry as "Reverend Samuel Gardner".

Mrs. Warren's Profession will begin previews on Friday, September 3rd, 2010 and open officially on Sunday, October 3rd, 2010. This is a limited engagement through Sunday, November 21st, 2010.

The design team includes Scott Pask (Sets), Catherine Zuber (Costumes), Kenneth Posner (Lights) & David Van Tieghem (Sound).


George Bernard Shaw's scorching tour de force Mrs. Warren's Profession tells the story of Kitty Warren (Jones), a mother who makes a terrible sacrifice for her daughter Vivie's (Hawkins) independence. The clash of these two strong-willed but culturally constrained women is the spark that ignites the ironic wit of one of Shaw's greatest plays.



Cherry Jones returns to Roundabout, and the American Airlines Theatre, following her role in George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara (2001). Doug Hughes is a Resident Director at Roundabout, where he recently staged A Man for All Seasons (2008), Howard Katz (2007) & A Touch of the Poet (2006).


Mrs. Warren's Profession premiered on Broadway in 1905 at the Garrick Theatre and subsequently was revived on Broadway in 1907, 1918, 1922 and 1976.

Roundabout Theatre Company has a long association with George Bernard Shaw's work, having staged over twenty productions since 1971. The most recent Shaw plays seen on Roundabout stages include Pygmalion (2007-2008, dir. David Grindley), Heartbreak House (2006-2007, dir. Robin LeFevre), Major Barbara (2000-2001, dir. Daniel Sullivan), Arms and the Man (1999-2000, dir. Roger Rees), You Never Can Tell (1997-1998), Misalliance (1996-1997) and Pygmalion (1991, dir. Paul Weidner).


Lead support for Mrs. Warren's Profession provided by Roundabout's Play Production Fund Partners: Beth and Ravenel Curry.

TICKET INFORMATION:

Beginning Monday, July 19th, tickets will be available exclusively to American Express® Cardmembers at www.roundabouttheatre.org, by phone at (212) 719-1300, or at the American Airlines Box Office (227West 42nd Street).

Public on-sale begins Friday, July 30th by calling Roundabout Ticket Services at (212)719-1300, online at www.roundabouttheatre.org or at the American Airlines Box Office (227 West 42nd Street). To become a Roundabout subscriber visit www.roundabouttheatre.org or call Roundabout Ticket Services (212)719-1300. Ticket prices range from $67.00-117.00.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
Mrs. Warren's Profession will play Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8:00PM with a Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinee at 2:00PM.

BIOGRAPHIES:

CHERRY JONES (Kitty Warren). Broadway credits include Doubt, Faith Healer, The Lincoln Center Theater production of The Heiress, Imaginary Friends, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Our Country's Good, Angels in America, and for Roundabout The Night of the Iguana and Major Barbara. Off-Broadway and regional credits include Flesh & Blood, Pride's Crossing, The Baltimore Waltz, The Good Person of Setzuan and 25 productions as a company member of the American Repertory Theatre, including Twelfth Night, The Three Sisters, The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Lysistrata. Film and TV credits: Two seasons as President Allison Taylor on 24, Oceans' Twelve, The Village, Signs, Swimmers, Cradle Will Rock, Erin Brockovich, The Horse Whisperer, The Perfect Storm, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and the Lifetime Television movie "What Makes a Family." Awards include one Emmy, two Tonys, two Obies, two Joseph Jeffersons, two Lucille Lortels, three Drama Desks, three Outer Critics Circles, the Sidney Kingsley, the Elliott Norton, the Helen Hayes, and the Drama League. Miss Jones is a native of Paris, Tennessee, a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and a proud member of Equity since 1978.


SALLY HAWKINS (Vivie Warren) received critical acclaim as well as a Golden Globe Award, Silver Bear (Berlin) Award, Evening Standard Award, Hollywood Film Festival (Breakthrough Award), NY, LA, Mill Valley, San Francisco and Santa Barbara Film Critic's Awards; as well as a host of nominations for her performance as 'Poppy' in Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky. The RADA trained Hawkins made her film debut as Samantha in All or Nothing, and was then seen as Susan in 'Vera Drake', both Mike Leigh films. Other film roles include Lone Scherfig's An Education, Matthew Vaughan's Layer Cake, Tom Shankland's Waz, Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream, Sherry Hormann's Desert Flower, Stephen Burke's Happy Ever Afters and most recently Gurinder Chadha's It's A Wonderful Afterlife. Upcoming films Love Birds directed by Paul Murphy, Richard Ayoade's Submarine, Mark Romanek's Never Let Me Go, Cary Fukunaga's Jane Eyre and a starring turn in Nigel Cole's new film Made In Dagenham to be released Autumn 2010. Her performance as Anne Elliott in the ITV production of Jane Austen's 'Persuasion' won her the Golden Nymph Award for Best Actress at the Monte Carlo Television Festival 2007 and the Royal Television Society Best Actress Award. Other television credits include leading roles in Simon Curtis's adaptation of Patrick Hamilton's '20, 000 Streets Under the Sky,' 'Tipping the Velvet,' 'Byron,' in which she played Mary Shelley, 'The Young Visiters,' directed by David Yates, in which she starred opposite Jim Broadbent, 'Fingersmith,' two series of 'Little Britain,' as the recurring character Cathy, and she played the leading role in 'Shiny, Shiny Bright New Hole In My Heart' for the BBC, directed by Marc Munden. Sally's extensive theatre credits include playing the role of Adelea in the recent Howard Davis production of House of Bernarda Alba at The National Theatre opposite Penelope Wilton, to which she won rave reviews. She has appeared at The Royal Court Theatre in The Winterling directed by Ian Rickson and Country Music directed by Gordon Anderson. Her credits also include The Way Of The World (Wilton Music Hall), Misconceptions (Octagon), A Midsummer Night's Dream and Much Ado About Nothing (both at Regents Park Theatre), Perpalas (National Theatre Studio), The Cherry Orchard and Romeo & Juliet (both for Theatre Royal York), The Dybbuk and Accidental Death Of An Anarchist (both for BAC), Svejk (The Gate Theatre), The Whore Of Babylon (Globe Ed. Centre) and As You Like It for The Buckingham Palace Gala. Sally was born in Lewisham, South East London.
C
ADAM DRIVER (Frank Gardner). Theater: Little Doc (Rattlestick), The Forest (CSC), The Retributionists (Playwrights Horizons), Slipping (Rattlestick), Cipher (SPF). Television: "Law and Order: Brilliant Disguise", "The Unusuals: The E.I.D" , "The Wonderful Maladays" (HBO), "You Don't Know Jack" (HBO) Film: Not Waving But Drowning, Archangel, The Visit, Goldstar Ohio.

MARK HARELIK (Sir George Crofts). Broadway: The Light in the PIazza. Off-Broadway: Old Money, The House in Town, The Beard of Avon. Nat'l tour: The Heidi Chronicles. Regionally: Williamstown Theater Festival, Mark Taper Forum, American Conservatory Theater, Seattle Repertory Theatre, The Intiman Theatre, Denver Center Theater Company, The La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe Theater, South Coast Repertory Theater. Film credits include For Your Consideration, Election, The Job, Meeting Spencer, Timer, Eulogy, Watching the Detectives, Jurassic Park III, Barbarians at the Gate. Television credits include Breaking Bad, Lie to Me, Monk, The Big Bang Theory, Eli Stone, Pushing Daisies, Grey's Anatomy, ER, Dirt, Sleeper Cell, Prison Break, Heroes, Medium, The Closer, Bones, Las Vegas, Desperate Housewives, Will and Grace, Raines, Seinfeld, Star Trek Voyager; and the television movies Deadly Honeymoon, War Stories, The Partridge Family, Hefner Unauthorized, and My Brother's Keeper. He is the author of (and appeared in) The Immigrant, The Legacy, and Hank Williams - Lost Highway.

EDWARD HIBBERT (Mr. Praed). Broadway: Curtains, The Drowsy Chaperone, Noises Off, The Green Bird, Me and My Girl, Alice in Wonderland. Off-Broadway includes Oscar Wilde in Gross Indecency, Jeffrey (Obie, Dramalogue), My Night with Reg and Privates on Parade. London West End: THE The Mystery of Irma Vep, Lend Me a Tenor and Hamlet. Regional includes The School for Scandal (directed by Brian Bedford) at the Mark Taper, The Importance of Being Earnest (directed by Doug Hughes) at Long Wharf; Yale Rep, McCarter,Bay Street, and Ahmanson. Films include The Prestige, Finding Woodstock, First Wives Club, Everyone Says I Love You, The Paper. Numerous TV includes 11 seasons on "Frasier" as Gil Chesterton, "Law and Order SVU" and "Once Upon a Mattress" with Carol Burnett.
www.edwardhibbert.com

MICHAEL SIBERRY (Reverend Samuel Gardner). Gratiano in The Merchant of Venice with Dustin Hoffman and Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music opposite Rebecca Luker. As a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Michael performed such roles as Parrolles in All's Well That Ends Well, Petrucchio in The Taming of the Shrew and Nicholas in Nicholas Nickleby, which toured to Los Angeles and Broadway. London credits include Billy Flynn in Chicago and Giles in Alan Ayckbourne's House & Garden at the National Theatre of Great Britain. He has recently starred in the American National tour of Spamalot. Also Peter Hall's As You Like It (Theatre Royal, Bath and BAM), Candida (McCarter Theatre) and Uncle Vanya (McCarter Theatre and LaJolla Playhouse). Film and TVcredits include: Silent Witness, The Grand, Jeeves and Wooster, Under the Hammer and Victoria & Albert. Graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney.

DOUG HUGHES (Director). Recent Broadway productions include The Royal Family, Oleanna, A Man for All Seasons, Mauritius, Inherit the Wind, A Touch of the Poet, Frozen and Doubt. This is Mr. Hughes' seventh production with Roundabout Theatre, where he serves as the resident director. He has directed on and Off-Broadway and for most of the nation's leading theatre companies. For his work on the Pulitzer Prize-winning Doubt he received the 2005 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play. He has also received Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics, Obie and Callaway awards for his productions.


GEORGE BERNARD SHAW (Playwright). Born in Dublin, Ireland in 1856, George Bernard Shaw moved to London at the age of twenty. He became the drama critic of the Saturday Review which was the first step in his progress towards a lifetime's work as a dramatist. His first successful play, Candida, was produced in 1898, the same year he married Irish heiress, Charlotte Payne-Townshend. He followed this with a series of classic comedy-dramas, including The Devil's Disciple (1897), Arms and the Man (1898), Mrs Warren's Profession (1898), Captain Brassbound's Conversion (1900), Caesar and Cleopatra (1901), Man and Superman (1903), Major Barbara (1905), Androcles and the Lion (1912), and Pygmalion (1913). After World War I, he produced more serious dramas, including Heartbreak House (1919) and Saint Joan (1923). One of his more notable works, Pygmalion gained much recognition when My Fair Lady, a musical adapted from the play, became a hit. Shaw is the only person ever to have won both a Nobel Prize (for Literature in 1925) and an Academy Award (Best Screenplay for Pygmalion in 1938). He died on November 2, 1950 at the age of 94.


Roundabout Theatre Company is a not-for-profit theatre dedicated to providing a nurturing artistic home for theatre artists at all stages of their careers where the widest possible audience can experience their work at affordable prices. Roundabout fulfills its mission each season through the revival of classic plays and musicals; development and production of new works by established playwrights and emerging writers; educational initiatives that enrich the lives of children and adults; and a subscription model and audience outreach programs that cultivate loyal audiences.


Roundabout Theatre Company currently produces at three permanent homes each of which is designed specifically to enhance the needs of the Roundabout's mission. Off-Broadway, the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre, with its simple sophisticated design is perfectly suited to showcasing new plays. The grandeur of its Broadway home on 42nd Street, American Airlines Theatre, sets the ideal stage for the classics. Roundabout's Studio 54 provides an exciting and intimate Broadway venue for its musical and special event productions. Together these three distinctive venues serve to enhance the work on each of its stages.


American Airlines is the official airline of Roundabout Theatre Company. Flatotel is the official hotel of Roundabout Theatre Company. Roundabout productions are made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York Department of State, the New York State Department of Education, and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

Roundabout Theatre Company's 2010-2011 season features George Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession starring Cherry Jones & Sally Hawkins, directed by Doug Hughes; Noël Coward's Brief Encounter, adapted and directed by Emma Rice; Kim Rosenstock's Tigers Be Still, directed by Sam Gold; Julia Cho's The Language Archive, directed by Mark Brokaw; Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, starring and directed by Brian Bedford; Tennessee Williams' The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore starring Olympia Dukakis, directed by Michael Wilson; Anything Goes starring Sutton Foster, directed & choreographed by Kathleen Marshall. Roundabout's sold out production of The 39 Steps made its third transfer to the New World Stages after a successful Broadway run at three Broadway theatres.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Milwaukee pays NAKED BOYS SINGING


So the city of Milwaukee, which I find to be just fabulous, has just payed the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center $20,000 due to the fact that they stopped a production of Naked Boys Singing from happening.

Now I never have an issue with naked men or singing so why then did they stop this production.
Grant it the show is terrible but come on, let the local gays and ladies have their fun.

Thank goodness for the ACLU cause they "stuck it to em" and now the gay center as $20,000 and can mount an event larger production!

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson to Hit BROADWAY

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) announced today that it would team again with Hair producers Jeffrey Richards and Jerry Frankel to bring the critically acclaimed rock musical BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON to Broadway in the fall. Following a successful run at The Public Theater, BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON will begin performances at the Bernard Jacobs Theatre (242 W. 45th Street) on Tuesday, September 21.

A co-production with Center Theatre Group and in association with Les Freres Corbusier, BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON is written and directed by Alex Timbers and features music and lyrics by Michael Friedman. Complete casting to be announced at a later date.

Following a sold-out run at Public LAB in 2009, BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON returned to The Public for a full main stage production and opened to acclaimed reviews on April 6. It received an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical, a Drama Desk Award for Best Book of a Musical and a Broadway.com Audience Award for Favorite Off-Broadway Musical. When the show closed on June 27 after three extensions, BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON was the second highest grossing show in The Public Theater's downtown history.

A complete original cast album from Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight Records, produced by Kurt Deutsch and Dean Sharenow, will be released in early fall; the album will include hits like "Populism, Yea, Yea," "Rock Star," "I'm Not That Guy," and "The Hunters of Kentucky."

The Public will transfer BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON to Broadway with co-producers Jeffrey Richards and Jerry Frankel who partnered with The Public on the Tony Award-winning revival of Hair on Broadway, London's West End and the upcoming national tour of Hair beginning in October in Washington, DC.

"BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON just can't be stopped. The voracious audience demand for this extraordinary show is forcing us to kick it up a notch and take it to Broadway," said Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. "Alex Timbers and Michael Friedman have created an extraordinary event- a rocking, hilarious, sparkling entertainment that is also one of the smartest critiques of America ever seen on a stage. This is what The Public Theater is all about-and I couldn't be prouder of all the artists involved."

BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON, an audacious mix of historical fact and invention, uses the story of America's controversial seventh president-the man who invented the Democratic Party, doubled the size of our nation and signed the Indian Removal Acts that started the Trail of Tears - to investigate the attraction and terrors of American populism, using a raucous blend of outrageous comedy, anarchic theatricality and infectious emo rock.

The design team for BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON will again feature scenic design by Donyale Werle, costume design by Emily Rebholz, lighting design by Justin Townsend, sound design by Bart Fasbender, and choreography by Danny Mefford.

ALEX TIMBERS (Writer/Director) is Artistic Director of Les Freres Corbusier. Recent Directing: The Pee-wee Herman Show (Club Nokia), Hell House (also adaptation; Drama Desk nomination for Unique Theatrical Experience), Gutenberg! The Musical! (Drama Desk nomination for Best Director of a Musical), A Very Merry Unauthorized... (also conceiver; OBIE Award; Garland Award-Best Director), Peter and the Starcatchers (Disney Theatricals/La Jolla), The Language of Trees (Roundabout), Heddatron, Boozy, Dance Dance Revolution (writer of latter two, all Les Freres), and Beyond Therapy (Williamstown/Bay Street).

MICHAEL FRIEDMAN (Music and Lyrics) is an Associate Artist with the Civilians and has composed music and lyrics for the company's This Beautiful City, [I Am] Nobody's Lunch, Gone Missing and Canard, Canard, Goose?; as well as Saved, In the Bubble,The Brand New Kid,God's Ear and The Blue Demon. With Steve Cosson, he co-authored the 2008 Public LAB production Paris Commune. He has been a MacDowell fellow, a Hodder Fellow, and is an Artistic Associate at New York Theatre Workshop. He received an Obie award for sustained achievement.

BENJAMIN WALKER (Andrew Jackson) received rave reviews for his portrayal of Andrew Jackson in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at The Public Theater. He has appeared on Broadway in Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Inherit the Wind. His off-Broadway credits include workshops of Bye Bye Birdie and Threepenny Opera for Roundabout, Spring Awakening for Lincoln Center, and Arrangements at the Atlantic. He appeared in Romeo and Juliet and Lady Windermere's Fan at the Williamstown Theater Festival, and in the films The War Boys, Flags of Our Fathers, The Notorious Bettie Page, and Kinsey.

THE PUBLIC THEATER (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Andrew D. Hamingson, Executive Director) was founded by Joseph Papp in 1954 and is now one of the nation's preeminent cultural institutions, producing new plays, musicals, and productions of classics at its downtown headquarters and at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The Public's mandate to create a theater for all New Yorkers continues to this day onstage and through extensive outreach and education programs. Each year, over 250,000 people attend Public Theater-related productions and events at six downtown stages, including Joe's Pub, and Shakespeare in the Park. The Public has won 42 Tony Awards, 151 Obies, 41 Drama Desk Awards and four Pulitzer Prizes. The Public has brought 52 shows to Broadway, including Sticks and Bones; That Championship Season; A Chorus Line; The Pirates of Penzance; The Tempest; Bring In ‘Da Noise, Bring In ‘Da Funk; On the Town; The Ride Down Mt. Morgan; Topdog/Underdog; Elaine Stritch at Liberty; Take Me Out; Caroline, or Change; Well; Passing Strange; and, most recently, the current Tony Award-winning revival of Hair. www.publictheater.org.

Are We Truly Free in the USA?


Argentina is the first South American nation to legalize same sex marriage!
This is an incredible leap forward for the LGBT Equal Rights Movement.
This South American country is known for its beauty, its soccer, and its fabulous legend EVITA.
Now they will go into the history books as a true leader among the world, taking a step in a continent that is known for its deep religious conservatism.

As more and more governing bodies around the world make this transition into what is right and good for humanity our nation, "the land of the free" falls behind.
In a country where people strive to be equal and free, we in fact are not.
LGBT people can be fired from their jobs, barred from adopting children, and turned away at the marriage office.

We now have states like Arizona putting legalized racism into the law books.

What does this say for our country. Is the United States of America really United for all of just for some?

In the meantime thank you Argentina for setting an example.

Joe's Pub Presents 'My Therapist Said This Was A Good Idea'



We are beyond thrilled that Broadway Speaks OUT co-host, Dorian Davis will be bringing his new show to Joe's Pub on August 29th.
Check out the details below and congrats Dorian!



---It's been over a decade since their therapists told them to work their neuroses out on stage, resulting in a show that captured the imaginations of the more than 20 people there. Now Jessica Almasy and Dorian Davis reunite to finish the healing in My Therapist Said This Was A Good Idea, a cabaret session at Joe's Pub on Sunday, August 29 at 9:30 p.m.

Since the last production, Almasy, a consummate theatre actress touring internationally, has gone on to receive four Fringe Firsts with the TEAM and two Audie Awards, in '08 and '10. A Second Year Acting teacher at NYU (Drama, BFA '02), she is currently writing with Jake Margolin and Nick Vaughn her first full length text for HERE's upcoming Marriage: I.

Davis (NYU Drama, BFA '02) starred on MTV's series MTV Hits before heading to CUNY's Graduate School of Journalism (MFA '07). He teaches Journalism I and II at Marymount Manhattan College. Cohost of BlogTV's Broadway Speaks OUT podcast with Marti Gould Cummings and David Singletary, he last appeared in Gorgeous Entertainment's News to Me at The Actors' Playhouse.

My Therapist Said This Was A Good Idea takes radical treatment to a whole new level in a 50-minute musical sprint to wellness. "I have low expectations," said one of the random people the pair interviewed for their press materials in the absence of a legitimate critic, "but I think it can barely surpass them."

$15 tickets are available by phone at 212-967-7555, online at JoesPub.com or in person at The Public Theater Box Office from 1-6 p.m. or at the Joe's Pub Box Office 6-10 p.m., both located at 425 Lafayette St. Seating, as well as standing-room, is available on a first-come, first-served basis for all shows without a table reservation. To reserve one, call: 212-539-8778. A two-drink minimum is standard.