Clifford Odets News

Perhaps if Clifford Odets' landmark pro-union drama, WAITING FOR LEFTY, hadn't opened the year before, Lillian Hellman's 1936 labor drama, DAYS TO COME, the sophomore Broadway effort of the playwright who made a huge name for herself two years earlier with THE CHILDREN'S HOUR, might have been better received.

Dixon Place (Ellie Covan, Founding & Artistic Director) presents the co-production of world-famous beatboxer and Drama Desk Award recipient Chesney Snow & critically praised director Rebecca Arends's THE UNWRITTEN LAW opening Friday, September 7th. Snow comes direct from his run in Broadway's In Transit, where Ben Brantley of the NY Times called him 'a one-man sound effects wiz.' Directed and choreographed by Rebecca Arends, with original live music, Snow delivers a brilliant blend of spoken word, dance, and visuals. THE UNWRITTEN LAW, will play a limited engagement at Dixon Place (161A Chrystie Street). Tickets for THE UNWRITTEN LAW range from $18 to $25. For tickets and further information please visit www.dixonplace.org/performances/the-unwritten-law-2018/ or call 866-811-4111.

GHOSTLIGHT RECORDS will release the original cast recording of the critically-acclaimed new musical Hundred Days in digital and streaming formats on Friday, September 21. A physical CD release will follow later this year. Hundred Days features a book by The Bengsons and Sarah Gancher, music and lyrics by The Bengsons. The show was directed by Anne Kauffman with movement direction by Sonya Tayeh. 

Two love stories. Two suicides. Padua Playwrights presents the world premiere of Mayakovsky and Stalin, written and directed by legendary poet/playwright Murray Mednick (The Gary Plays), opening at the Lounge Theatre on July 21.

La Femme Theatre Productions presents the revival of Tennessee William's A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur, directed by Austin Pendleton.After staging a string of successful co-productions with top Off-Broadway theater companies, La Femme is thrilled to debut its first solo production.

Full casting has been announced for Her Story Theater's world premiere of MONGER: THE AWAKENING OF J.B. BENTON - the fourth play in its cycle of dramas exposing sex trafficking practices in Chicago. Written by Her Story Theater Founder and Producing Artistic Director Mary Bonnett, and directed by John Mossman, Co-Founder of The Artistic Home, MONGER follows a Chicago criminal defense attorney with a secret sex life who deals with his sensitive 16-year-old son's legal crisis on the day he takes a deposition from the mother of a murdered teenage victim.

Join Strangemen Theatre Company this summer at Guild Hall in East Hampton for their second presentation of the season!

Theatre Calgary's artistic director Stafford Arima (Allegiance, Broadway; Carrie, Off-Broadway revival; Altar Boyz, Off-Broadway) is thrilled to officially announce the casting for the world premiere of Mary and Max - A New Musical, with music and lyrics by Bobby Cronin, book by Crystal Skillman, directed by Arima, choreography by Jenn Rapp, and orchestrations and music supervision by Anna Ebbesen.

Two love stories. Two suicides. Padua Playwrights presents the world premiere of Mayakovsky and Stalin, written and directed by legendary poet/playwright Murray Mednick (The Gary Plays), opening at the Lounge Theatre on July 21.

Her Story Theater, a company dedicated to raising awareness of the epidemic of sexual exploitation, has announced the world premiere of MONGERS - the fourth play in its cycle of dramas exposing sex trafficking practices in Chicago. Written by Her Story Theater Founder and Producing Artistic Director Mary Bonnett, and directed by John Mossman, Co-Founder of The Artistic Home, MONGERS follows a Chicago criminal defense attorney with a secret sex life who deals with his sensitive 16-year-old son's legal crisis on the day he takes a deposition from the mother of a murdered teenage sex trafficked victim. Bonnett's play uncovers the nationwide, anonymous brotherhood of men who use the Internet to find and compare notes on the women and underage girls they pay for sex. It also explores the toxicity of many of the prevailing notions of masculinity and how they contribute to an environment that allows these abuses to exist. Though the characters are composites of people Bonnett interviewed and the plot details are inspired by real-life events in Chicago. Bonnett's script includes actual posts from online chats among men engaged in this activity along with dialogue she imagined for the characters.

Ozark Actors Theatre is excited to announce the full cast and creative team for their upcoming summer production of Shakespeare's As You Like It. The highly anticipated production has been adapted to a 1960s setting, featuring the music of that era, by Director and Choreographer Jenny Male.

By any measure, iTheatre Collaborative's production of Jason Odell Williams' CHURCH AND STATE, is a triumph of directing and acting. Director Rosemary Close has executed the playwright's vision with the precision of a marksman, guaranteeing that every moment of this one act play is on target and infused with the fullness of its wit and pathos. Her aim is steady and balanced, advantaged by a cast whose chemistry is magical, featuring Scott Hyder, Lindsey Marlin, Marlene Galan-Woods, and Eric Bond.

Charlotte Miller's Raising Jo will receive a workshop production June 5th-10th at the Studio Theater at Theater Row. Directed by Julie Kline, the cast will feature Sarah Jes Austell (Showtime's Sweetbitter ), Chris Bellant ( Loserville ), Charlotte Graham (ART's The Tempest ), Anna Holbrook (Daytime Emmy Winner, Another World ) and Steve Payne (Albee's Me, Myself & I ). Waldorf Entertainment and Yuriy Pavlish are producing.

The Artistic Home Ensemble will present the Chicago premiere of Lauren Gunderson's ADA AND THE ENGINE as the final entry in its three-play 2018-19 season, according to company Artistic Director Kathy Scambiatterra, who announced the season today. The 36-year-old Gunderson was the most-produced playwright in America during 2017, according to American Theatre Magazine.

The Huntington Theatre Company presents the powerful drama Skeleton Crew, by Dominique Morriseau (Detroit '67 and Paradise Blue) and directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian (Nat Turner in Jerusalem at New York Theatre Workshop and The Convert at Underground Railway Theater). Skeleton Crew runs from March 2 through March 31, 2018 at the South End / Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA.

Florida Studio Theatre announces its 36th annual Richard and Betty Burdick New Play Reading Series, which will present three new staged readings by modern American playwrights. Part of FST's Sarasota Festival of New Plays, this three-day series will take place in Bowne's Lab Theatre on April 29, May 6, and May 13 at 3 PM each day. This series is free and open to the public, but reservations are required. Reservations can be made online at www.floridastudiotheatre.org, by phone at (941) 366-9000, or by visiting the FST Box Office.

American Blues Theater, under the continued leadership of Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside, announces the lineup for its 2018 - 2019 Season, "Home Sweet Home." American Blues' 33rd Season will include the Chicago Premieres of On Clover Road by Steven Dietz, directed by Halena Kays and The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey by James Lecesne, directed by Kurt Johns; Flyin' West by Pearl Cleage, directed by Chuck Smith; the 17th annual production of It's a Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago! from Frank Capra's film, directed by Gwendolyn Whiteside; and The Spitfire Grill - a musical book, lyrics, and music by James Valeq & Fred Alley, music directed by Malcolm Ruhl.

The Actor Uncovered is certainly not a set of rigid rules advocating one "method" or one singular "truth." Departing from the common guidebook format, internationally recognized acting coach, Michael Howard, uses a unique approach to teaching acting, reflecting on his own history and sharing his own experiences as an actor, director, and teacher. How he writes about the process and craft of acting is at once intensely personal and relatable by others.

La Jolla Playhouse announces Hundred Days, book by The Bengsons and Sarah Gancher, music and lyrics by The Bengsons, directed by Anne Kauffman, and movement direction by Sonya Tayeh, as the final production of its 2018/2019 season, to run September 22 - October 21 in the Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Forum.

Rehabilitation Through The Arts (RTA) will present a reading of Home is a Verb, a new play by Melissa Cooper based on true stories about the challenges faced when returning home after prison.