Latest in Theater

Kathryn Hahn, Keanu Reeves, Debbie Allen, Ellen Burstyn and Bobby Cannavale are among the actors who’ll take part in this year’s virtual Spotlight on Plays series benefitting The Actors Fund. Performers and directors were announced today by producer Jeffrey Richards for the series that kicks off March 25 with Larissa…

The Queen’s Gambit, the Walter Tevis novel recently adapted as the hit Netflix miniseries, could be headed to Broadway as a musical. Entertainment company Level Forward has the acquired theatrical stage rights to the story of orphan-turned-chess prodigy Beth Harmon, and plans to develop the property into a stage…

Like a reluctant swimmer dipping their toes in the water to check the temperature, New Yorkers cautiously returned to the movies today. The capacity was restricted in the venues, and many did not sell popcorn or other concessions. Social distancing was observed, masks required, and everyone had that kind of nervous…

Joan Weldon, stage actress and a Warner Bros. contract player in the 1950s who achieved lasting sci-fi fame in the creature feature giant ant classic Them!, died Feb. 11 at her home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She was 90. Her death was only recently <a…

A select number of now-dark Broadway venues will begin opening in April for a series of live- performance pop-up events that could establish the safety protocols needed for the theater industry’s eventual return. Beginning with the Shubert Organization’s Music Box Theatre on 45th Street, Broadway theaters will be…

Keenan Scott II’s play Thoughts of a Colored Man has officially landed a venue – the Golden Theatre – becoming the first new, non-revival show to take up Broadway residence since the industry’s pandemic shutdown last March. The play, which enjoyed critically acclaimed runs in 2019 at Syracuse Stage and Baltimore…

Ronald Pickup, who appeared in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and its sequel among more than 150 film, TV and stage credits spanning a half-century, died Wednesday after a long illness. He was 80. His agent confirmed the news to the BBC today. Pickup played Norman Cousins in John Madden’s 2011 romantic dramedy The Best…

New York's Lincoln Center Thursday announced Restart Stages, an outdoor performing arts center with 10 outdoor performance and rehearsal spaces to help kickstart New York City's arts revival. It plans to launch April 7 (World Health Day) with a still-to-be-determined performance for…

Douglas Turner Ward, the director, actor and playwright who co-founded the landmark, influential Off Broadway Black theater group the Negro Ensemble Company, died Saturday at his home in New York City. He was 90. His death was announced by his wife, Diana Ward. Ward had already begun a solid New York stage acting…

Gary Gunas, executive producer of such Broadway musicals as The Who’s Tommy, Jekyll & Hyde and Ragtime, died today of pancreatic cancer at his home in London. He was 73. His death was announced by his husband Bill Rosenfield. Born in Manchester, CT, Gunas began his career Off Broadway in 1969 as an apprentice company…

EXCLUSIVE: Actor Dominic Monaghan is joining the cast of Plymouth Point, an immersive online “theatrical adventure” from the UK-based theater company Swamp Motel. Designed as an at-home experience for a team of 2-6 people who are not physically together, Plymouth Point is set in “the dangerous underbelly of a suburban…

The Second City, the famed Chicago improv comedy outfit, has been acquired by private equity firm ZMC, whose founder and managing partner is longtime media figure Strauss Zelnick. Financial terms for the deal were not disclosed. Houlihan-Lokey served as a financial advisor to Second City on the transaction. The M&A…