Dude, Dane Cook! Broadway! A play called Fat Pig! If we're dreaming, don't wake us up (just smother us with a pillow, thanks). Arts Beat reports that in the spring the popular comedian, who is probably richer than you'll ever be, will star opposite Gothamist favorite Josh Hamilton in Neil LaBute's dark comedy "about a man who dates an overweight woman and his obnoxious pal who questions the relationship." Guess who's the obnoxious pal? more ›

Marin Ireland first appeared on our radar back in 2007 when she charmed audiences in The Beebo Brinker Chronicles, but theatergoers with longer memories may also recall her searing performance in Sarah Kane's 4.48 Psychosis at St. Ann's Warehouse in 2004, or any of her other varied and numerous Off Broadway appearances over the past several years, including Blasted (at Soho Rep). Now, in her Broadway debut, Neil LaBute's surprisingly moving play reasons to be pretty, she is part of an excellent four-actor ensemble telling LaBute's tale of a relationship's shocking disintegration. We spoke with her last week: more ›

When Eater reported on the Elizabeth Street Tasting Room location closing last week and mentioned “a dinner theater event” as a negative prognostic sign, chef-owner Colin Alevras stepped up to the comments section to defend the event and its organizer: “Marlo produced a fantastic event,” wrote Alevras, while confirming the Tasting Room’s closing, “and I hope to be able to work with her again in the future.” more ›

THEATER: Gertrude Stein is regarded as an avant-garde intellectual whose adventurous prose has long overshadowed her plays – despite her Broadway hit Four Saints in Three Acts. (Who could forget?) A crack team of downtown experimental theater types are now hoisting six of Stein’s one-acts out of obscurity with a production in the East Village. The evening, irresistibly dubbed Steinese Takeout, boldly embraces Stein’s radicalism and runs with it. How radical are these plays? “How about no plot, no setting, and no pre-defined characters. Cryptic? Definitely. Absurd? Perhaps. Balderdash? Not at all.” – John Del Signore more ›

THEATER: Joe's Pub hosts SpeakEasy, a theatrical "event" written by Neil LaBute, Edwin Sanchez, Theresa Rebeck and many others. The performance will happen throughout the Joe's Pub space, "surrounding the spectator with the bizarre, the comic, the seductive, and the sublime. Neo-Vaudeville meets social satire in this giant play with environmental staging, original music, and compelling new writing." It's the launch of The Fire Dept. a new theater company; this show features Janeane Garafalo and Kathleen Chalfant, among others. - John Del Signore more ›

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Pop culture is really paying attention to those of larger dimensions and girth lately. We have had reality TV's take on this with The Biggest Loser, and a Gothamist fave Rescue Me has had a featured storyline between a fireman dating a largish gal, to the disdain and ribbing by his crew. Now off- Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, we have that same actress (Ashlie Atkinson) in a similar role as one of the stars of the riveting new play Fat Pig by Neil LaBute (The Shape of Things, bash, The Mercy Seat). more ›

Gothamist is excited about the Tribeca Theater Festival, which is running now through the 31st. Yes, this is being put on by the same folks who bring us the Tribeca Film Festival. Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff are presenting, in association with the acclaimed Tribeca-based Off-Broadway theater company, Drama Dept. more ›

Okay, here's the ultimate double feature for you this weekend: Frothy romantic comedy, Down with Love, and dark window into the human condition, The Shape of Things. more ›