U of I's Dirden and Dickinson Go ALL THE WAY with LBJ (and Bryan Cranston)

Broadway World is reporting that University of Illinois alum Brandon Dirden will play Martin Luther King, Jr., opposite Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston as LBJ in a new production of Robert Schenkkan's All the Way opening tonight at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts

All the Way won Schenkkan the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award last April, after it was performed as part of the "American Revolutions: The United States History Cycle" project at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in the summer of 2012. Schenkkan has shown before that he likes to delve into American history; his Kentucky Cycle, which takes a dark look at the state of Kentucky from its beginnings to the late 20th century, won the Pulitzer Prize back in 1992. All the Way explores the journey of Lyndon Johnson, "a Shakespearean figure of towering ambition and appetite," as he came to power and then "hurl[ed] himself into Civil Rights legislation, throwing the country into turmoil." When they awarded the play their New Play Award, the American Theatre Critics Association called All the Way "an engrossing, epic" play and described Schenkkan's portrait of LBJ as "complex, obscene, brilliant and ruthless."

Cranston knows a bit about "complex, obscene, brilliant and ruthless" after playing high school teacher/drug dealer Walter White on AMC's Breaking Bad since 2008. He earned three Emmy wins in a row in the Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series category for that role. On film, you'll find him in Argo and Little Miss Sunshine, and his television appearances include six years as the dad on Malcolm in the Middle, a recurring role as dentist Tim Whatley on Seinfeld, and way back when, a stint as good guy Doug Donovan on the soap opera Loving.

Brandon J. Dirden has an MFA in acting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as does his wife, Crystal A. Dickinson, who will play Coretta Scott King in All the Way. Dirden won an Obie for his role as Boy Willie in The Piano Lesson at Signature Theatre and his Broadway credits include Clybourne Park, Enron and Prelude to a Kiss. Chicago audiences may remember him from Magnolia at the Goodman.

Dickinson starred in Clybourne Park both on and off-Broadway, and she did Broke-ology at Playwrights Horizon and The First Breeze of Summer at Lincoln Center.

Others of note in the cast of All the Way include Reed Birney as Humbert Humphrey and Strom Thurmond, Dan Butler as George Wallace and four other roles, Peter J. Fernandez, Dakin Matthews, Ethan Phillips, and Michael McKean as J. Edgar Hoover and Robert Byrd.

THE PIANO LESSON (with Double Dirden Power) Extended Off-Broadway

August Wilson's The Piano Lesson has been playing to great reviews at New York's Signature Theatre, with a cast that includes Brandon J. Dirden and Jason Dirden as Boy Willie and Lymon. Both Dirdens earned MFAs in acting from the University of Illinois, and Brandon Dirden is married to Crystal A. Dickinson, another U of I theatre alum who recently starred on Broadway in Clybourne Park. You can read a quick interview with the three of them here.

And The Piano Lesson with its double Dirden power has been such a success for Signature that they are extending the run to January 13.

This production is directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, an actor and playwright who was in the original cast of Jelly's Last Jam and the Broadway production of Wilson's Seven Guitars, for which he won a Tony Award. He also played Captain Montgomery on TV's Castle for three seasons.

Critic Charles Isherwood wrote in The New York Times that this revival "brings a timely reminder of how consoling, how restorative, how emotionally sustaining great theater can be." Isherwood continued, "As portrayed with heat-generating intensity by Mr. Dirden, Boy Willie seems filled to bursting with ambition, excitement, heedless hope." and he called Jason Dirden "wonderfully funny and touching" as Lymon.

Broadway.com has some very nice production photos of this Piano Lesson, showing off both Dirdens and the rest of the cast, while the Signature Theatre site offers Joan Marcus's official photos and video teasers, as well.

U of I's Crystal A. Dickinson Wins Theatre World Award!

The annual Theatre World Awards, which honor performers making their debuts in "significant" Broadway or Off-Broadway productions, were handed out at an awards ceremony at the Belasco Theatre Tuesday night. Among the honorees: Crystal A. Dickinson, currently appearing on Broadway in "Clybourne Park," who earned her MFA with the University of Illinois Department of Theatre.

Dickinson plays Francine and Lena in the different eras represented in "Clybourne Park," which won playwright Bruce Norris the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama as well as the Olivier for Best Play for its London production. Dickinson's bio notes that she was in the company of "Clybourne Park" Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizon and in LA at the Mark Taper Forum. Her resume includes "Broke-ology" at Lincoln Center, "Ruined" at Manhattan Theatre Club, and 'The First Breeze of Summer" with Soho Rep, as well as a stint at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival and the recurring role of Melissa in Tyler Perry's "House of Payne."

The Theatre World Awards are in their 68th year of celebrating Broadway and Off-Broadway newcomers, with past recipients like Jon Michael Hill (another U of I grad), Lin-Manuel Miranda, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Viola Davis, Jude Law, Audra McDonald, Mary Louise Parker, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Alec Baldwin, Whoopi Goldberg, John Malkovich, Danny Glover, Meryl Streep, Ben Vereen, Jane Alexander, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, Liza Minnelli, James Earl Jones, Alan Alda, Carol Burnett, George C. Scott, Jason Robards, Barbara Cook, James Dean, Rosemary Harris, Carol Channing, Julie Harris, Marlon Brando and, in the very first year back in 1945, Judy Holliday. Father and son Alan and Adam Arkin both won, as did husband and wife Warren Beatty and Annette Bening.

According to the Theatre World Awards site, "The Theatre World Award remains the oldest award given for a debut theatre performance on or Off-Broadway. The contribution this Award has made to the theatre is incalculable. It is not a competition and is it only given once. Because it is given for a debut performance, it encourages and inspires newcomers to the stage to continue to pursue their dream. It is freely given at a time when encouragement is so necessary in an industry known more for rejection than reception."

2012 Theatre World Awards Poster created by Justin 'Squigs' Robertson

This year's class of honorees, caricatured in the wonderful poster, reprinted above with permission of the Theatre World Awards, included Tracie Bennett ("End of the Rainbow"), Phillip Boykin ("Porgy and Bess"), Russell Harvard ("Tribes"), Jeremy Jordan ("Bonnie and Clyde"), Joaquina Kalukango ("Hurt Village"), Jennifer Lim ("Chinglish"), Jessie Mueller ("On a Clear Day You Can See Forever"), Hettienne Park ("Seminar" and "The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism & Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures"), Chris Perfetti ("Sons of the Prophet"), Finn Wittrock ("Death of a Salesman") and Josh Young ("Jesus Christ Superstar").

Susan Pourfar ("Tribes") was named this year's the recipient of the Dorothy Loudon Award for Excellence in the Theater.