Jenna Sokolowski News

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater kicks off the 2014/15 season with the world premiere of Morris Panych's The Shoplifters, a biting comedy about society's haves and have-nots and how much they might actually have in common. Noted Canadian playwright and director Panych, a two-time recipient of the Governor General's Literary Award, makes his Arena Stage debut with an expertly drawn cast of oddball characters and a high-stakes battle of wills involving a career shoplifter whose life of petty crime is halted by an overzealous rookie security guard and his ambivalent mentor. The Shoplifters runs September 5-October 19, 2014 in the Kreeger Theater.

On Labor Day, September 2 at 7:30pm, the 12th Annual Kennedy Center Page-To-Stage Festival will host force/collision for a reading of Joe Calarco's new play Separate Rooms. The cast includes Tracy Olivera (Broadway's Ragtime, Ford's Theatre's Hello, Dolly!),Jenna Sokolowski (Woolly Mammoth's Mr. Burns, a post-electric play and Signature's Title of show), Thomas Keegan (Signature's Dying City),Vanessa Lock (Signature's God of Carnage), Tonya Beckman Ross (Shakespeare Theatre Company's Lady Windermere's Fan), Chris Stezin(Theatre J's The Religion Thing), Matthew Wilson (Faction of Fools), Joseph Carlson (Synetic's Home of the Solider) and Harlan Work(Theatre J's Our Class). The reading will be directed by force/collision Founding Director John Moletress and be followed by a talkback with playwright Joe Calarco, cast and director.

The Kennedy Center hosts its 12th annual Page-to-Stage new play festival from Saturday, August, 31 to Monday, September 2, 2013, featuring more than 40 theaters from the D.C. metropolitan area, all with a mission to produce and support new work. The three-day, Center-wide event offers a series of free readings and open rehearsals of plays and musicals being developed by local, regional, and national playwrights, librettists, and composers. A performance schedule appears on the following pages. Participating theaters include:

Casting has been announced for The Hub Theatre's summer production of JORDAN HARRISON's gender-bending comedy, ACT A LADY. The men of a small 1920's Mid Western town have decided to put on a 'real fancy dress up' play in full drag. The cast is led by a trio of amazing actresses - Helen Hayes nominated actress TONI RAE SALMI as Dorothy, the no nonsense, accordion playing head of her household; Helen Hayes Award Winner and Hub veteran JENNA SOKOLOWSKI as Lorna, the object of men's affections and expert makeup artist; andNORA ACHRATI as Zina, the passionate and powerful theatre director accompanies her 'from the continent.'

Casting has been announced for The Hub Theatre's summer production of JORDAN HARRISON's gender-bending comedy, ACT A LADY. The men of a small 1920's Mid Western town have decided to put on a 'real fancy dress up' play in full drag. The cast is led by a trio of amazing actresses - Helen Hayes nominated actress TONI RAE SALMI as Dorothy, the no nonsense, accordion playing head of her household; Helen Hayes Award Winner and Hub veteran JENNA SOKOLOWSKI as Lorna, the object of men's affections and expert makeup artist; andNORA ACHRATI as Zina, the passionate and powerful theatre director accompanies her 'from the continent.'

Artisitic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah successfully adds his play to the 'Raisin Cycle'.

Inspired by Lorraine Hansberry's 'A RAISIN IN THE SUN,' Kwame Kwei-Armah's 'Beneatha's Place' muses on what might have happened when Beneatha Younger and Nigerian political activist Joseph Asagai, left Chicago to live in a Nigeria still fighting for independence from British rule.

Audiences don't want to miss this rare experience to spend an evening with one of America's favorite stars, Sally Struthers. Struthers will appear at the playhouse in SIMPLY: SALLY STRUTHERS, an intimate evening with the Emmy-winning actress...in words, song stories and laughter. Struthers will perform May 8th through May 12, 2013 and is limited to just under 2,000 tickets.

On Wednesday, May 8, CENTERSTAGE begins previews of the World Premiere production of Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah's new play, Beneatha's Place. The production, playing in rotating repertory with Clybourne Park, forms the second half of The Raisin Cycle. Opening Night for Beneatha's Place will be on Wednesday, May 15.

Superb cast makes CLYBOURNE PARK a hit at Center Stage.

Center Stage announces the Baltimore premiere of Bruce Norris' 'Cylbourne Park,' the first of two plays slated to run in rotating repertory this spring as 'The Raisin Cycle,' picking up where playwright Lorraine Hansberry left off in her famed work, 'A Raisin in the Sun.'

CENTERSTAGE announces the Baltimore Premiere of Bruce Norris' highly acclaimed Clybourne Park, the first of two landmark plays slated to run in rotating repertory this spring as The Raisin Cycle. The Baltimore Premiere of Clybourne Park begins previews April 10, and the World Premiere of CENTERSTAGE Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah's Beneatha's Place begins May 8.

This spring CENTERSTAGE presents two landmark plays, each a response to the legacy of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun: the Baltimore Premiere of the award-winning Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris, and the World Premiere of CENTERSTAGE Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah's Beneatha's Place. The two plays will be produced in rotating repertory as The Raisin Cycle, using a single company of actors and a shared design team, under the direction of Derrick Sanders.

Audiences don't want to miss this rare experience to spend an evening with one of America's favorite stars, Sally Struthers. Struthers will appear at the playhouse in SIMPLY: SALLY STRUTHERS, an intimate evening with the Emmy-winning actress...in words, song stories and laughter. Struthers will perform May 8th through May 12, 2013 and is limited to just under 2,000 tickets.

The Kennedy Center hosts its 11th annual Page-to-Stage new play festival from today, September 1, 2012 to Monday, September 3, 2012, featuring more than 40 theaters from the D.C. metropolitan area, all with a mission to produce and support new work. The three-day, Center-wide event offers a series of free readings and open rehearsals of plays and musicals being developed by local, regional, and national playwrights, librettists, and composers.

The Kennedy Center hosts its 11th annual Page-to-Stage new play festival from Saturday, September 1, 2012 to Monday, September 3, 2012, featuring more than 40 theaters from the D.C. metropolitan area, all with a mission to produce and support new work. The three-day, Center-wide event offers a series of free readings and open rehearsals of plays and musicals being developed by local, regional, and national playwrights, librettists, and composers.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company presents the World Premiere of Mr. Burns, a post-electric play by Anne Washburn and directed by Steven Cosson. Armageddon has struck and the grid is down: no TV, no radio, no internet-how will life go on?