David Joseph News

Casting for Shakespeare & Company's upcoming Summer Performance Season was finalized last week which includes a roster of audience favorites, critics' top picks and a bevy of newcomers joining the Company's ranks in this celebratory season in honor of the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth. See play titles, casting, Press Openings and full schedules for each production listed below.

Artistic Director Tony Simotes kicks off a celebratory season in honor of the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth with Shakespeare's Will, directed by Daniela Varon and featuring Kristin Wold. This provocative one-woman play by Canadian Playwright Vern Thiessen imagines the bold and unapologetic journey of Shakespeare's enigmatic wife, Anne Hathaway, and the couple's unconventional courtship and marriage. Performances run in the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre May 23 - August 24.

The 2013 Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust honored playwrights Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph at last night's 2013 Steinberg Playwright Awards held at Lincoln Center Theater's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. The evening also highlighted the work of David Henry Hwang, who received the 2012 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, as last year's event was canceled due to Hurricane Sandy. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you a brief look back at the event!

Shakespeare & Company arrives at Bard College at Simon's Rock in Great Barrington with a special collaborative production and World Premiere of William Coe Bigelow's Leap Year. Directed by Stephen Rothman and featuring a cast from both Bard College and S&Co., performances run tonight, August 23-September 1 in the McConnell Theater, located within the Daniel Arts Center on the campus of Bard College at Simon's Rock- 84 Alford Rd, Great Barrington, MA.

Shakespeare & Company arrives at Bard College at Simon's Rock in Great Barrington with a special collaborative production and World Premiere of William Coe Bigelow's Leap Year. Directed by Stephen Rothman and featuring a cast from both Bard College and S&Co., performances run August 23-September 1 in the McConnell Theater, located within the Daniel Arts Center on the campus of Bard College at Simon's Rock- 84 Alford Rd, Great Barrington, MA.

Considered by many to be one of the greatest plays of the 20th century, MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN is set against the backdrop of the Thirty Years War of the seventeenth century. The play follows the fate of Mother Courage, an artful canteen woman with the Swedish Army, intent on keeping her business and family alive amidst the destruction of war. Written by Bertolt Brecht, directed by Artistic Director Tony Simotes and starring Academy Award-winner Olympia Dukakis, this play still resonates today providing a profound insight into the moral implications of war. MOTHER COURAGE AND HER WOMEN runs tonight, July 26 - August 25, in S&Co.'s Tina Packer Playhouse.

Considered by many to be one of the greatest plays of the 20th century, MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN is set against the backdrop of the Thirty Years War of the seventeenth century. The play follows the fate of Mother Courage, an artful canteen woman with the Swedish Army, intent on keeping her business and family alive amidst the destruction of war. Written by Bertolt Brecht, directed by Artistic Director Tony Simotes and starring Academy Award-winner Olympia Dukakis, this play still resonates today providing a profound insight into the moral implications of war. MOTHER COURAGE AND HER WOMEN runs July 26 - August 25, in S&Co.'s Tina Packer Playhouse.

From the elegant cocktail reception, to the stunning performance, the sumptuous dinner and the extraordinary VIP after-party, Broadway in the Berkshires, Shakespeare & Company's Gala Celebration was a resounding hit! On July 9, Artistic Director Tony Simotes welcomed a full house at the Tina Packer Playhouse (formerly Founders' Theatre) and a multitude of Broadway, opera and dance artists for the spectacular one-night-only benefit performance. Proceeds from Broadway in the Berkshires will support the Company's wide-reaching and nationally-recognized Training and Education programs. Scroll down for photos from the concert!

Shakespeare & Company Artistic Director Tony Simotes announces a special one-night-only Benefit Performance of BROADWAY IN THE BERKSHIRES tonight, July 8th at The Tina Packer Playhouse, 70 Kemble Street, Lenox, MA. Proceeds from the event will benefit Shakespeare & Company's internationally-acclaimed Education and Training Programs.

In the spirit of Shakespeare & Company's 12th annual Fourth of July Celebrations, Artistic Director Tony Simotes welcomes back many special guests to join in on the festivities including Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, State Senator Benjamin Downing, and Massachusetts State Representative Smitty Pignatelli, all of whom will partake in the readings as well as being involved in other exciting ancillary events, including a surprise performance of the outrageous Nickel Shakespeare Girls, surrounding the Fourth of July holiday. Festivities begin at 1:30 PM with a public All-American BBQ (a la carte) followed by the historic reading at 3 PM under the big top tent at Shakespeare & Company's 70 Kemble Street property. This event is FREE and open to the public.

Shakespeare & Company Artistic Director Tony Simotes announces a special one-night-only Benefit Performance of BROADWAY IN THE BERKSHIRES Monday, July 8th at The Tina Packer Playhouse, 70 Kemble Street, Lenox, MA. Proceeds from the event will benefit Shakespeare & Company's internationally-acclaimed Education and Training Programs.

Shakespeare & Company Artistic Director Tony Simotes announces the benefit performance of Broadway in the Berkshires that will take place on Monday, July 8th at The Tina Packer Playhouse, 70 Kemble Street, Lenox, MA.

With classic wordplay to delight the intellect, and on-stage farcical situations to provoke the belly laughs, THE LIAR at Shakespeaere & Company is welcome relief from the Winter storms in the currently dormant Berkshires of Massachusetts. It runs until March 24 in Lenox, MA.

Following a record-breaking 35th Season, Shakespeare & Company Artistic Director Tony Simotes is pleased to announce the 2013 summer lineup of plays that will take place in the Tina Packer Playhouse and the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, including a number of special events that will underscore those productions. The highlights of the 2013 Summer Season include two full productions of Shakespeare: Love's Labour's Lost and Richard II, both of which will be performed for the first time on the Tina Packer Playhouse stage, as well as the previously announced Mother Courage and Her Children, directed by Simotes and starring Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis, Apollo Dukakis, and OBIE Award winner John Douglas Thompson. Tickets will go on sale on February 14, 2013, and can be purchased online at www.shakespeare.org or by calling 413-637-3353.

Following last winter's wildly successful run of Molière's The Learned Ladies, a hilarious French farce will once again heat up the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre in February and March at Shakespeare & Company. This year, a talented ensemble of Company artists will take on award-winning playwright David Ives's (Venus in Fur, All in the Timing) razor sharp and rib-tickling adaptation of Pierre Corneille's classic farce, The Liar, running from February 1 through March 24. The production is directed by founding member Kevin G. Coleman, the critically acclaimed director of The Memory of Water (2011) and The Winter's Tale (2010), among many others.

Christmas is right around the corner, and so is Shakespeare & Company's annual production of David Sedaris' irreverent Christmas memoir, The Santaland Diaries. Once again directed by Artistic Director Tony Simotes, this will be the third and final year Shakespeare & Company calls on an actor to don the regulation pointy-toed socks. This year, Shakespeare & Company welcomes longtime Company member David Joseph Hansen to play Sedaris' less-than-merry autobiographical self, Crumpet the Elf.

Christmas is right around the corner, and so is Shakespeare & Company's annual production of David Sedaris' irreverent Christmas memoir, The Santaland Diaries. Once again directed by Artistic Director Tony Simotes, this will be the third and final year Shakespeare & Company calls on an actor to don the regulation pointy-toed socks. This year, Shakespeare & Company welcomes longtime Company member David Joseph Hansen to play Sedaris' less-than-merry autobiographical self, Crumpet the Elf.

Westchester Broadway Theatre presents Fiddler On The Roof, with Music by Jerry Bock, Lyrics Sheldon Harnick and Book by Joseph Stein. This production is directed and choreographed by Richard Stafford with musical direction by Leo P. Carusone. The show runs now through November 25, 2012, and returns January 3 - February 3, 2013, starring Bill Nolte as Tevye. Get a first look at the cast onstage in the photos below!

Westchester Broadway Theatre presents Fiddler On The Roof, with Music by Jerry Bock, Lyrics Sheldon Harnick and Book by Joseph Stein. This production will be directed and choreographed by Richard Stafford with musical direction by Leo P. Carusone. The show runs tonight, October 11 - November 25, 2012, and returns January 3 - February 3, 2013, starring Bill Nolte as Tevye.

Westchester Broadway Theatre presents Fiddler On The Roof, with Music by Jerry Bock, Lyrics Sheldon Harnick and Book by Joseph Stein. This production will be directed and choreographed by Richard Stafford with musical direction by Leo P. Carusone. The show runs October 11 - November 25, 2012, and returns January 3 - February 3, 2013, starring Bill Nolte as Tevye. Check out costume sketches from designers Michael Bottari and Ronald Case below!