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In Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun, a black family buys a house in an all-white neighborhood — and even before they move in, the neighbors are up in arms. Clybourne Park, on Broadway now, is set in that very same house. It is “sort of a parallel play,” explains ...

Nina Arianda is the it-girl on Broadway — she’s nominated for a Tony for her performance in David Ives’ comedy Venus In Fur.  The show is a play within a play:  a writer has adapted an erotic novel for the stage, and he’s having a hell of a time casting the lead.  Enter Vanda: a sexy ...

The award-winning playwright, screenwriter and director John Patrick Shanley talks about his latest play, "Storefront Church," which explores religion and politics in the Bronx. It's the final installment in his Church and State trilogy that started with "Doubt."

"Storefront Church" is in previews at the Atlantic Theater Company and opens June 11.

Jeremy Shamos and Crystal Dickinson discuss their roles in “Clybourne Park,” winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize and London’s Olivier award for Best Play. The play deals with race, real estate, and the volatile values of each. Act One takes is set in 1959, as community leaders try to stop the sale of a home to a black family, and Act Two is set in the same house in the present day, as the now predominantly African-American neighborhood struggles with gentrification. “Clybourne Park” is playing at the Walter Kerr Theatre.

A judge has warned lawyers at the end of a two-hour hearing that she may narrow the scope of a lawsuit stemming from the Broadway production of "Spider-Man."

Award-winning stage and screen veteran Jonathan Pryce, talks about taking on one of theater’s most cunning tramps, Davies, in Harold Pinter’s "The Caretaker." He’s joined by Alex Hassle and Alan Cox who also star in the play, produced by Theatre Royal Bath Productions/Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music through June 17.

The 66th annual Tony Awards are Sunday, June 10. Here's a round-up of Kurt Andersen's conversations with some of the nominees: James Corden (One Man, Two Guvnors), Suzan-Lori Parks (The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess), Bruce Norris (Clybourne Park), Jon Robin Baitz (Other Desert Cities), and Nina Arianda (Venus in Fur).

Topher Grace and Olivia Thirlby discuss their roles in the play “Lonely, I’m Not.” The play is a comic journey that follows Porter, who has been married and divorced, earned seven figures as a corporate “ninja,” and had a nervous breakdown. He meets an ambitious young businesswoman who is overcoming her own obstacles to emotional success. “Lonely, I’m Not” is playing at the Second Stage Theater through June 3.

James Corden and Jemima Rooper talk about starring in “One Man, Two Guvnors,” a comedy by Richard Bean, based on the 18^th-century Italian farce by Carlo Goldoni, “The Servant of Two Masters.”

In 2006, the low-budget indie film “Once” – starring The Frames lead singer Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova – was a surprise success, even picking up the Oscar in 2007 for Best Original Song. Now, the film has been adapted for Broadway - and once again, it’s a hit. The show received 11 Tony nominations earlier this month, and today, we’re joined by some of the cast for a live performance.

Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Auburn discusses “The Columnist,” along with its stars John Lithgow and Grace Gummer. It follows Joseph Alsop, a beloved and feared columnist who sits at the center of the Washington political world. As 1960s dawn and shake up America, the intense political drama Joe is embroiled in becomes deeply personal as well. “The Columnist” is playing at the MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman Theater through July 1.

On June 4, Lincoln Center Theater will open a space dedicated to presenting the work of new artists and all the plays will have a ticket price of $20.

Two-time Tony Award winner Bebe Neuwirth discusses her roles as Hippolyta and Titania in the Classic Stage Company’s new production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” She’ll also talk about her new album, “Porcelain.”

Last week, the Obama administration announced a new initiative to improve a handful of the nation’s worst performing schools through arts education. The Turnaround Arts Initiative has chosen eight schools to receive $14.7 million over three years to integrate art, music, dance, and ...

The nominations for the 2012 Tony Awards were announced on Tuesday, May 1, and you can hear Leonard's conversations with many of this year’s nominees. (You can find a full list of the nominees here.) The awards will be presented on June 10.

David Cote, theater editor for Time Out New York, discusses the Tony Award nominations for the best plays and musicals on Broadway this season.

On Tuesday, actors Kristin Chenoweth and Jim Parsons announced the nominees for the 66th annual Tony Awards. The musical "Once" got the most nominations -- 11. Both "The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess" and "Nice Work If You Can Get It" got 10 nominations, followed by "Peter and the Starcatcher," which landed nine. Get the full list of nominees here.

We’ve been inundated with reports of corporate layoffs and manufacturing jobs vanishing. But the creative class has been particularly hard hit. In an ongoing series for Salon, reporter Scott Timberg writes that the last few years have seen a huge drop-off in jobs in the creative industries. ...

On April 29, 1992, nearly 20 years ago, an all-white jury acquitted four white Los Angeles Police Officers in the case of Rodney King, a black motorist who suffered severe injuries after a brutal beating from the LAPD. South Los Angeles promptly exploded into riots that lasted six days, leaving more than 50 people dead, thousands injured, and $1 billion in damage. Anna Deavere Smith is an playwright, actress and author of "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992," a one-woman show that Smith developed from interviews with 300 subjects involved in the Rodney King case and its aftermath. She reflects on the riots that tore the city apart, 20 years ago, and discusses whether and how police-community relations have changed since 1992.

Theater director Andre Gregory talks about putting on a series of spare, private performances of Anton Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” in a crumbling Manhattan playhouse in the 1990s, with actors Wallace Shawn, Julianne Moore, Brooke Smith, and George Gaynes. The project became the film “Vanya on 42nd Street,” directed by Louis Malle, which was recently released on Blu-ray and DVD for Criterion.