Laura Griffith Replaces Benanti In Strathmore/Signature Songs for a New WorldMay 15, 2007 – The cast for the Signature Theatre concert presentation of Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for a New World tomorrow and Thursday evenings at the Music Center at Strathmore has had one change. The role that was supposed to be played by Tony Award nominee Laura Benanti will be played by Helen Hayes Award nominee Laura Griffith, whose nomination was for The Light in the Piazza which played the Kennedy Center last year. The rest of the cast remains the same: Tony Award Nominees Brian D’Arcy James (Sweet Smell of Success, Titanic, The Apple Tree, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Wild Party, Floyd Collins) and Alice Ripley (Side Show, Sunset Boulevard), who is also well known to Potomac Region theatergoers for her work on Shakespeare in Hollywood at Arena Stage and Company at the Kennedy Center. Rounding out the cast will be Tituss Burgess, of Jersey Boys  and Good Vibrations on Broadway. Composer, lyricist Jason Robert Brown will accompany them on piano.  courtesy of PotomacStages.com

Shakespeare Theater Company To The Rescue – Fills First Window at Eastern Market

May 11, 2007 – When Washington’s Eastern Market burned last week, the windows overlooking 7th Street were all destroyed. While the building is restored, those windows will be filled with plain plywood. At the request of the D.C. Office of Property Management and the Commission on the Arts and Humanities, scenic artists from the Shakespeare Theatre Company painted the plywood for one of the most prominent windows with a mural of windows, sky and the activities of visitors to the market.   (More on this at PotomacStages.com)