New: Cast your vote in the Washingtonian's Choice for Helen Hayes Award poll.

TRYING at Ford's Theatre

TRYING by Joanna McClelland Glass is a wonderful play set in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. It is based on the real life experiences of the playwright between winter 1967 and spring 1968 while working for the honorable (and retired) Judge Francis Biddle, an "eighty-one-year-old, once brilliant man who was Attorney General of the United States under Franklin Roosevelt. After a long and illustrious career he now functions, as he says, somewhere between lucidity and senility."

James Whitmore plays Judge Biddle, and Karron Graves is Sarah Schoor, a twenty-five-year-old girl who has been hired by Mrs. Biddle, to be the Judge's secretary. Will post production photos as they become available.

The sound engineer is Brian Keating, (official title: assistant technical director). Mixing live takes skill, but the difference between mixing live and mixing for live theatre is akin to the difference between playing the guitar and playing classical guitar. It's much more disciplined and takes much more skill and knowledge. In my opinion, Brian is one of the best theatre engineers in the region.

Directed by Gus Kaikkonen
Lighting Design: Rui Rita
Scenic Design: Jeff Bauer
Costume Design: Pamela Scofield
Producing Director: Paul Tetreault

Nevermore at Signature Theatre

Signature Theatre's first commissioned piece is a wonderful and frightening look into the mind of Edgar Allen Poe and the women who haunted his sole and inspired his work. Will post production photos when they become available.

The sound department at signature theatre is growing up! With the addition of Chris Akins, the new production manager, and Matt Rowe, the house sound man, I was welcomed with all the support I needed to really sink my teeth into this wonderful world premier musical.

January 10 through February 26, 2006
World Premiere Musical
NEVERMORE
Music by Matt Conner
Lyrics adapted from the writings of Edgar Allan Poe
Book by Grace Barnes
Directed by Eric Schaeffer

THEATRE NEWS


NYT > Theater
Updated : Sat, 13 Mar 2010 07:33:28 GMT

Athol Fugard?s Next Act: Driving Out Apartheid?s Ghost
Athol Fugard, the South African playwright, is back telling stories shaped by his country?s tormented racial history. His new play will have its premiere at a theater named in his honor.
Publ.Date : Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:17:57 GMT

?The Demons?: 12-Hour Play, and Endless Bragging Rights
?The Demons,? a 12-hour production of a grim Dostoyevsky novel that will be performed only twice, may be the must-see show of the New York theater season.
Publ.Date : Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:07:30 GMT

Theater Review | 'The Scottsboro Boys': Kander and Ebb Revisit an Infamous Case
The new musical from the fabled songwriting team of John Kander and Fred Ebb wears its halo like a barbed-wire hat.
Publ.Date : Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:17:02 GMT

'Neighbors': Not So Shocking After All?
In interviews after last night's show, many people, black and white, said that while disturbing at times, the play's trafficking in racial stereotypes proved an unexpectedly emotional theatrical experience.
Publ.Date : Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:37:52 GMT

Theater Review | 'Top Secret': A Vietnam War-Era Fight at New York Theater Workshop
While ?Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers? offers a cogent, informative peek into a historic chapter in 20th-century journalism, as an evening of theater it is static.
Publ.Date : Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:58:32 GMT

Theater Review | 'When the Rain Stops Falling': David Cromer Directs Andrew Bovell?s Multigenerational Drama
Andrew Bovell?s ?When the Rain Stops Falling? is a fitfully moving but diagrammatic play about the long legacy of unnatural acts.
Publ.Date : Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:12:15 GMT

Answers From a Theater Historian, Part 2
More answers to readers' questions from Marc Robinson, a professor at Yale University.
Publ.Date : Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:15:37 GMT

Vain Glorious | A Scar Is Born
Laura Linney and the makeup artist Mindy Hall gave a reporter a mini-tutorial on the art of the scar.
Publ.Date : Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:28:40 GMT

Theater Review | 'A Life in Three Acts': At St. Ann?s Warehouse, Youth, Frocks and Politics
Bette Bourne, a drag performer and activist from Britain, recounts his experience at the footlights and on the front lines in ?A Life in Three Acts.?
Publ.Date : Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:47:37 GMT

Music Review | Jeanine Tesori: Thoroughly Modern Music in Lincoln Center Songbook Series
Jeanine Tesori, as part of Lincoln Center?s American Songbook series, was the host of an autobiographical extravaganza at the Allen Room.
Publ.Date : Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:19:51 GMT

Theater Review | Connecticut: A. R. Gurney?s ?Sylvia? at Long Wharf Theater
?Sylvia,? at the Long Wharf Theater, is about a poodle-Labrador retriever mix, known these days as a Labradoodle.
Publ.Date : Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:21:51 GMT

Theater Review | 'A Behanding in Spokane': Christopher Walken Stars in Martin McDonagh?s New Play
Martin McDonagh?s erratically enjoyable ?Behanding in Spokane? never matches the strange genius of its star, Christopher Walken.
Publ.Date : Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:39:22 GMT

Theater Review | 'Brack?s Last Bachelor Party': Staging Ibsen?s Night of Misdeeds at 59E59 Theaters
?Brack?s Last Bachelor Party? imagines the party Judge Brack gives for George Tesman in ?Hedda Gabler.?
Publ.Date : Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:19:58 GMT

On the London Stage: Love May Die but Its Phantoms Play Enduring Roles in London
Temperatures rise in ?Ghosts? and irony betrays ?Sweet Nothings,? as Andrew Lloyd Webber?s ?Love Never Dies? opens.
Publ.Date : Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:21:30 GMT

Variety Lays Off the Critics Todd McCarthy and David Rooney
The show business trade paper said ?economic reality? dictated jobs cuts, eight in total.
Publ.Date : Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:30:19 GMT

?Boys in the Band? Influenced Kushner and Other Playwrights
?The Boys in the Band? influenced untold numbers of gay artists who, for the first time, were seeing characters out of the closet and in front of a paying audience.
Publ.Date : Sun, 07 Mar 2010 05:50:32 GMT

Advertising: Good Housekeeping Puts on a Show to Celebrate Women
The show, to be staged at the New York City Center, reflects efforts by media companies to go beyond traditional realms of the printed page or TV set.
Publ.Date : Mon, 08 Mar 2010 06:00:22 GMT

Projections Onstage in Shows Like ?Sondheim on Sondheim?
Projections are so much a part of going to the theater these days that the Yale School of Drama is going to offer a full-fledged projection design program starting this fall.
Publ.Date : Sun, 07 Mar 2010 05:53:24 GMT

Arts: San Francisco State and Other Institutions Struggle for Arts Funds
Even though belt-tightening measures have put tremendous strain on teachers and students, schools are continuing to produce remarkable creative works.
Publ.Date : Sun, 07 Mar 2010 08:00:42 GMT

Theater Review | 'Lenin?s Embalmers': Doing a Job for Stalin, at Ensemble Studio Theater
?Lenin?s Embalmers,? at Ensemble Studio Theater, will teach you to beware those in seats of power who issue orders that carry the whiff of crazy.
Publ.Date : Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:46:18 GMT

Theater Review | 'Next Fall': At Helen Hayes, Taking on Religion From a Hospital Bed
?Next Fall? is that genuine rara avis, a smart, sensitive and utterly contemporary New York comedy.
Publ.Date : Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:18:07 GMT

Theater Review | 'Girls in Trouble': Jonathan Reynolds Views Abortion From Kennedy Era to Now
While Jonathan Reynolds?s assault on assumptions about the right to choose abortion is likely too crude to make theatergoers re-evaluate their positions, it did make me reconsider my view of political theater.
Publ.Date : Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:34:24 GMT

At Adelphi Theater in London: Same Phantom, Different Spirit
Andrew Lloyd Webber?s belated sequel to ?The Phantom of the Opera? feels as eager to be walloped as a clown in a carnival dunking booth.
Publ.Date : Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:37:43 GMT

Yahoo! News: Arts
Updated : Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:26:22 GMT