OMAHA COMMUNITY PLAYHOUSE Three guest directors have NYC credentials BY BOB FISCHBACH WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER The Omaha Community Playhouse has hired three guest directors with extensive New York City credits to helm four of its 10 shows during the 2014-15 season. Two Omahans will direct or co-direct three more shows. The Playhouse typically hires guest directors for two or three of its nine regular-season shows and to help with its annual productions of “A Christmas Carol.” Next year will be different because a replacement for the Playhouse’s retiring associate artistic director, Susan Baer Collins, has not yet been hired. Hilary Adams, who has New York City credits of her own plus a Drama Desk Award nomination, is the Playhouse’s new artistic director, effective in July. She replaces Carl Beck, who is also retiring. Adams said she had specific criteria in mind as she chose the New York City directors. “I wanted them to have a love of and experience directing volunteer actors,” Adams said. “They needed a sense of humor and a positive personality that would enrich the experience of the people they work with.” She said she also sought directors willing to contribute something more than directing, such as a professional development workshop, while in Omaha. Kimberly Faith Hickman, a director and choreographer who has worked on and off Broadway, will direct the Playhouse’s season-opening drama, “Enron,” which runs Aug. 15 through Sept. 14. Auditions are this weekend. She will also direct and choreograph the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical “Jesus Christ Superstar,” slated March 6 through April 4. Hickman was assistant director of Tony-winning plays “Clybourne Park,” directed by Pam McKinnon, and “The Assembled Parties,” directed by Lynne Meadow. She worked on BY SARA SMITH • MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS A merica has exported Jack Bauer to London for “24: Live Another Day,” but we’re importing, too. A lot of the “new” offerings on TV this summer have already found success outside the U.S. • So the Swedes have already seen “Welcome to Sweden,” “Taxi Brooklyn” hails from France, and British audiences loved Ian McKellen in “Vicious” months before PBS bought it from ITV. NBC and the CW will air Canadian sitcoms “Working the Engels” and “Seed” on a delayed schedule. • So after being softened up with “Downton Abbey,” we’re now regularly forced to wait on other countries to relinquish their shows. This is a big improvement over U.S.-based networks remaking, say, “Coupling” or “Broadchurch,” when the original would have sufficed. (It’s an old problem: Betty White was once cast in an ill-fated adaptation of “Fawlty Towers.”) • But we’ll see the new season of “24” right away, even if the real-time format has been relaxed a bit to let Kiefer Sutherland take a breather. He’ll be competing against more new programming than summer usually offers while he does the CIA’s dirty work overseas. • Viewers can check out more than 30 new scripted shows this spring and summer. All times are Central time zone. LIVING THURSDAY, URSD SD , MAY 1, 2014 SECTION E See Playhouse: Page 2 LIKE MOM ALWAYS SAYS... Moms are known for their sayings. With Mother’s Day coming up, we want to hear the saying you remember from your mom. Some break out classics like, “If you keep making that face, it’ll freeze that way.” Some come up with original adages. We want to hear both. Contact reporter Mike O’Connor, michael.oconnor@owh. com, 402-444-1122 or 1314 Douglas St., Suite 700, Omaha, NE. 68102. COMEDIES OUT THERE A long-held rumor about the video game industry crash of 1983 was that Atari’s “E.T.” video game was such a disaster that the company buried millions of unsold copies of the game in a New Mexico landfill. No one could confirm the rumor until last week when copies of the game (and other Atari games and equipment) were unearthed by a team filming a documentary about the disastrous game. Read all about it: bit.ly/1kjrady Have you heard about Stoffel? He’s a honey badger profiled in a BBC program, and he can’t be contained. The little mammal is mauled by a lion, and zookeepers attempt to pen him up to get him better. Stoffel was smart enough to open the gates, dig out and climb over the walls of his new pen. A video documenting Stoffel’s daring escapes from “Honey Badger Alcatraz” already has about 3.5 million views. Watch It: bit.ly/1u0jzr5 We already like the theme to “Game of Thrones” so much that we sing along every time the show starts even though it has no words. One funny YouTuber has added his own words to it, and those words are “Peter Dinklage,” the actor who portrays favorite character Tyrion. We can’t stop laughing. Watch It: bit.ly/1rKAn3e UNDATEABLE PLAYING HOUSE JENNIFER FALLS NBC, MAY 29 AT 8 P.M. An experiment in letting stand-up comics with real-life friendships ad-lib their way through dating struggles, this comedy comes from Adam Sztykiel, “Due Date” writer, and “Scrubs” creator Bill Lawrence. With Brent Morin, Chris D’Elia, Ron Funches, Rick Glassman and Bianca Kajlich. USA, APRIL 29 AT 9 P.M. Comedians Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham are single gals raising a baby in this tale of parenting high jinks, which is based on their real-life friendship. With Keegan-Michael Key, Zach Woods and Jane Kaczmarek. TV LAND, JUNE 4 AT 9:30 P.M. When a career-focused single mom (Jaime Pressly) loses her job, she and her teenage daughter have to move back in with her mom. With Jessica Walter, Jeffrey Tambor and Ethan Suplee. ALMOST ROYAL YOUNG AND HUNGRY MYSTERY GIRLS BBC AMERICA, JUNE 21 AT 9 P.M. The network’s first shot at scripted comedy follows deluded, stuffy young Brits on their first trip to America. ABC FAMILY, JUNE 25 AT 7 P.M. Emily Osment is a personal chef for a techie millionaire in this series based on the experiences of a San Francisco food blogger. With Jonathan Sadowski and Rex Lee. ABC FAMILY, JUNE 25 AT 7:30 P.M. Former “Beverly Hills, 90210” stars Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling reunite for a show about former TV stars forced into reuniting. Ahem. MORE ON PAGE 2E