Today’s Highlights:
Lessons in Survival: 1971, co-conceived by Marin Ireland, Peter Mark Kendall, Tyler Thomas, Reggie D. White, and created with The Commissary, directed by Tyler Thomas, featuring Carl Clemons-Hopkins (James Baldwin) and Crystal Dickinson (Nikki Giovanni), opens at Off-Broadway’s Vineyard Theatre.
Love Letters, by A.R. Gurney, directed by Roy Marsden, starring Patrick Duffy and Linda Purl, opens at the UK’s Theatre Royal Glasgow.
INTERSTATE, by Melissa Li & Kit Yan, directed by Jesca Prudencio, featuring Jupiter Lê (Dash Koi), Gillian Han (Adrian Tong), Jaya Joshi (Henry Ahuja), Michelle Noh (Mom), Reuben Uy (Dad), Stefan Miller (Pastor Fred), Natalie Holt MacDonald (Madison), and Krystle Simmons (Carly), opens at LA’s East West Players.
Ensemble Theatre Company‘s Sleuth, directed by Jenny Sullivan, featuring Daniel Gerroll (Andrew Wyke), Matthew Floyd Miller (Milo Tindle), begins previews at Santa Barbara’s New Vic.
What the Constitution Means to Me benefit reading, directed by Oliver Butler, featuring (original Broadway cast) Heidi Schreck, Mike Iveson, Rosdely Ciprian, and Williams, at 8 PM ET at NYC’s Great Hall at Cooper Union.
New Golden Age, by Karen Hartman, directed by Jade King Carroll, featuring Carmen Castillo, Ricardy Fabre, Doug Harris, Maria Kakkar, and Claire Siebers, closes at Off-Broadway’s 59E59 Theaters.
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2022 Drama Desk Award winners have been announced. The awards ceremony will take place Tues. June 14 from 3-6 PM ET at NYC’s Sardi’s.
Click here for the complete list of winners (scroll down)
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Additional casting has been announced for NY City Center Encores! production of Into the Woods, which will run June 28 – Aug. 21 (opening July 10) at the St. James Theatre, directed by Lear deBessonet, with choreography by Lorin Latarro, and music direction by Rob Berman.
Previously announced: Sara Bareilles (Baker’s Wife), Brian D’Aarcy James (Baker), Patina Miller (Witch), Phillipa Soo (Cinderella), Gavin Creel (Wolf/Cinderella’s Prince), Joshuah Henry (Rapunzel’s Prince), Ta’Nika Gibson (Lucinda), Annie Golden (Cinderella’s Mother/Grandmother/Giant’s Wife), Albert Guerzon (Cinderella’s Father), Brooke Ishibashi (Florinda), Kennedy Kanagawa (Milky White), David Patrick Kelly (Narrator/Mysterious Man), Julia Lester (Little Red Riding Hood), Cole Thompson (Jack), and David Turner (Steward), with Jason Forbach, Mary Kate Moore, and Cameron Johnson.
Newly announced: Nancy Opel (Cinderella’s Stepmother), Aymee Garcia (Jack’s Mother), and Alysia Velez (Rapunzel), with Delphi Bortich, Felicia Curry, Alexander Joseph Grayson, Paul Kreppel, Diane Phelan, and Lucia Spina.
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Janelle Lynn Randall’s I Wanna Be Evil: The Eartha Kitt Story, starring Darrell Philip, will take place Mon. June 13 at 7 PM ET at Off-Broadway’s Theater555, directed by Yvans Jourdain.
The show chronicles the iconic Earth Kitt from a destitute childhood to a storied career in the theatre and Hollywood.
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The national tour of Dear Evan Hansen will run June 29 – July 31 (opening July 1) at the Ahmanson Theatre.
Anthony Norman (Evan Hansen), Stephanie La Rochelle (Zoe Murphy), Jessica E. Sherman (Heidi Hansen), Kelsey Venter (Cynthia Murphy), Nikhil Saboo (Conor Murphy), John Hemphill (Larry Murphy), Jared Goldsmith (Jared Kleinman), Ciara Alyse Harris (Alana Beck), and Sam Primack (Evan Hansen alternate), with Haile Ferrier, Matthew Edward Kemp, Coleen Sexton, Daniel Robert Sullivan, and Keely Vasquez.
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Miscast: Right Singer, Wrong Song will take place Sun. June 12 at 7 PM PT at North Hollywood’s Sterling’s Upstairs at the Federal. Proceeds will benefit Project Angel Food.
Mandy Kaplan, Teya Patt, Joshua Skidmore, Jeffrey Polk, Mona Chatterjee, Graham Kurtz, Mandy Fabian, Liviera Lim, Casey Clavens, Rena Strober, Justin Michael Wilcox, Brittany Anderson, and Anthony Lucca.
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Video: Heidi Blickenstaff performs Reba McEntire’s “Why Haven’t I Heard From You,” from the country jukebox musical May We All.
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Complete casting has been announced for Commonwealth Shakespeare Company‘s Much Ado About Nothing, to run July 20 – Aug. 7 (opening July 27) at The Boston Common, directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian.
Remo Airaldi (Leonato), Siobhan Juanita Brown (Friar Francis), Sarah Corey (Borachio), Tia James (Benedick), John Kuntz (Antonio), Michael Underhill (Don Pedro), Gunnar Manchester (Don John), Erik Robles (Claudio), Rachael Warren (Beatrice), Rebecca-Anne Whitaker (Hero), and Debra Wise (Dogberry), with Zoe Abuyuan Siobhán Carroll, Nettie Chickering, Sarah Corey, Duncan Gallagher, Jessica Folden, Jaime Jose Hernandez, Jordyn Palmer, Jon Vellante, Xander Viera, and Dylan C. Wack.
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A streaming option for the recent Off-Broadway production of Talene Monahon’s Jane Anger or The Lamentable Comedie of JANE ANGER, that Cunning Woman, and also of Willy Shakefpeare and his Peasant Companion, Francis, Yes and Also of Anne Hathaway (also a Woman) Who Tried Very Hard will be available June 14-26 here, directed by Jess Chayes.
Michael Urie (Shakespeare), Talene Monahon (Anne Hathaway), Amelia Workman (Jane Anger), and Ryan Spahn (Francis).
The comedy centers on The Bard—stuck in quarantine during the plague with a bad case of writer’s block—and the titular cunning woman who climbs through the window and changes history. The work (billed as a Jacobean feminist revenge comedy) is inspired by Jane Anger, author of the pamphlet “Her Protection for Women,” published in London in 1589.
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Video: Choreographer Lainie Sakakura reconstructs Fosse’s “Mein Herr” for Goodspeed’s Cabaret.
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An industry-only reading of Janine Turner & Raina Murnak’s BELVA – Don’t Give Up Before the Miracle will take place on June 10 at NYC’s Pearl Studios, directed by Karen Carpenter, with music direction by Lance Horne.
Janine Turner (Bely), Raina Murnak (Lura), Stacie Bono, Finn Brown, Ben Davis, Derrick Davis, Nia Drummond, Marshall Factora, Nathaniel Hackman, Avionce Hoyles, Stephanie Lynne Mason, Braden Phillips, Payton Reeves, Emily Rudolph, Erik Stinehart, Lily Tamburo, Anne Tolpegin, and Michael Wordly.
Belva Lockwood. Never heard of her? this is why Janine Turner is bringing her life to the stage. Belva was more than a suffragette and a fighter for justice. After fighting for the right for five years, Belva became the first woman to be admitted to the bar of the Unite States Supreme Court, winning the landmark Trail of Tears reparations case. Belva Lockwood was the first woman to run for President, actually on the ballot, winning thousands of votes – in an era when women couldn’t even vote! The musical, however, is more that a story about accomplishments. Rather, it is a love story – a love story between Belva and her daughter, Lura.
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A Celebration of the Musicals of Harold Prince, Irish Rep‘s 2022 Gala, will take place Mon. June 13 at 7 PM ET at NYC’s Town Hall, directed by Charlotte Moore.
Michel Bell, Len Cariou, Michael Cerveris, Glenn Close, Mark Evans, Joel Grey, Donna Kane, Chita Rivera, Ciarán Sheehan, Max Von Essen, Kaley Ann Voorhees, Delaney Westfall, and more…
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Skylar Astin (Seymour) will depart Little Shop of Horrors on July 3 at the Westside Theatre Upstairs.
He will be replaced by Rob McClure on July 12.
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LA Opera presents Kevin Puts’ The Brightest of Light on Sat. June 18 at 7:30 PM PT at LA’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, conducted by Gemma New. 
start at only $29.
Renée Fleming and Rod Gilfry
Imagine reading the most beautiful love letters full of poetry, humor, and passion. Now picture them sung by two of the most talented performers of our time, with a ravishing orchestra behind them. Yeah, that takes our breath away, too.
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Lisa Loomer’s Roe will run June 22 – July 10 at LA’s Fountain Theatre, directed by Vanessa Stalling.
John Achorn, Kenya Alexander, Sufe Bradshaw, Pamela Dunlap, Aleisha Force, Christina Hall, Susan Lynskey, Ed Martin, Kate Middleton, Rob Nagle, and Xochitl Romero.
More than a play. An urgent call to action. A hyper-staged reading in response to the upcoming Supreme Court decision overturning Roe. v. Wade.
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Signature Theatre‘s SigSpace, which brings artistic programming to the theatre’s public spaces (including its lobby), again joins forces with Theatre One to present six one-on-one, five-six minute theatrical experiences, and will run June 9- 26. Tickets will be available Tuesdays before each week’s performances.
Samuel D. Hunter, José Rivera, DeLanna Studi, David Henry Hwang, Regina Taylor, and Lynn Nottage.
Each day will have a different combination of works running in rep; prior to entering the booths, audiences won’t know which of the works will be presented.
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Hudson Stage Company will present a staged reading of Jeff McCracken’s Memory of Convenience on Fri. June 17 at 7:30 PM ET at Armonk’s Whipporwill Theatre, directed by McCracken & Ray Yeates. Reservations not required.
Jon Colin, Barclay, Denise Bessette, Glenn Spears and Aoife Williamson.
A contemporary Irish/American dram that focuses on four central characters in a rural New England tavern trying to navigate and reconcile their respective pasts while negotiating their perceptions of the truth. Forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember.
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In honor of National Immigrant Heritage Month, the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs will present Carrie Rodriguez, Michael Barnard, Jonathan Rosenbert & Ferndando Santos’ iAmericano! the Musical in the Park on Fri. June 10 at 3:30 PM ET in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park.
The cast of Off-Broadway’s !Americano!
The story of an undocumented student who became an activist, galvanizing the immigrant community to fight for representation in government.