The Piven Monologues!

9 to 5 is set to close on Sunday, September 6, after 24 previews and 148 performances at the Marriott Marquis Theater. The show features music and lyrics by Dolly Parton and currently stars Allison Janney, Stephanie J. Block, and Megan Hilty.

On July 30, the New York Times published a great review of Rachel Weisz's performance as Blanche DuBois in the West End revival of A Streetcar Named Desire. The production plays at the Donmar Warehouse through October 3rd.


According to an article on playbill.com, Tony Award-winner Hugh Jackman will star as P.T. Barnum in a new movie musical produced by Twentieth Century Fox. The project is currently titled The Greatest Showman on Earth.

On October 6, 1998, Matthew Shepard was beaten and tied to a fence in Laramie, Wyoming. Targeted due to his sexuality, the 21-year-old died six days later. Out of that tragedy came The Laramie Project, a play produced by the Denver Center Theatre Company in early 2000. After appearing Off-Broadway, the show was staged in hundreds of high schools, colleges, and regional theaters. On October 12, readings of Laramie Project: Ten Years Later will be presented at theaters across the country. The new piece includes follow-up interviews with subjects from the first play, as well as an interview with Aaron McKinney, one of Shepard's convicted killers. As of August 4th, 50 theaters had committed to producing the 80-minute epilogue.

On a lighter note, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, best known for his role as Zack Morris on Saved by the Bell, will appear in the Roundabout Theatre Company's upcoming production of The Understudy, a comedy by Theresa Rebeck. The play premiered in July 2008 at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and begins its Off-Broadway run at the Laura Pels Theatre on October 9.

Finally, my favorite story of the hour. When Jeremy Piven left the Broadway revival of Speed-the-Plow due to alleged mercury poisoning, director David Mamet reacted: "My understanding is that he is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer." After never-ending speculation, you probably thought you had heard the last of it. Well think again. On September 14, Joe's Pub will present The Piven Monologues, "a selection of the shitstorm in a very special staged reading." Special thanks to writers Alena Smith, Jordan Seavey, and Anna O'Donoghue for giving me a new reason to love theater!