Chris Shea

Broadwayword had the pleasure of interviewing Executive Chef Toni Charmello about her career and Drifthouse by David Burke for our 'Chef Spotlight.'

With The 19th Annual Festival of New Musicals taking place this upcoming weekend, Village Theatre is excited to announce the casting for XY, an uplifting musical about identity and coming to terms with your past; Cold Turkey, a wild and funny satire; Modern, an inspiring tale about a group of Amish teenagers; Eastbound, an poignant story about Chinese brothers in search of a home they've never known; and Cowboy Bob, an adventurous rock musical about a bank-robbing woman. The Festival will take place in Issaquah August 9-11, 2019 and provides an essential platform for writers to develop new works. Past Festival shows include Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning shows such as Next to Normal and Million Dollar Quartet, as well as Broadway and Off-Broadway hits: It Shoulda Been You, Desperate Measures, Lizzie, and many more.

Cafe Nordo is known for their sumptuous meals combined with fun, lighthearted shows and rollicking music. A Nordo show basically promises a good time, or so I thought. While I didn't have a terrible time at their most recent offering, "Jitterbug Perfume", since I don't think it's possible to have a terrible time at a Nordo show, I will say I feel they bit off a little more than they could chew (pun intended). With a convoluted story and an overpowering band, the show failed to offer their usual evening that you could melt away into, but instead I found myself having to work way too hard.

Caf Nordo is proud to present its first ever solo adaptation, Jitterbug Perfume at Caf Nordo's Culinarium in Seattle's historic Pioneer Square. The show runs from March 14 - May 12, 2019. Set during New Orleans' Mardi Gras, Jitterbug Perfume titillates the senses as it immerses you in the experience of living each day to its fullest; great food, passionate love, great sex, and passionate living.

Caf Nordo is proud to present its first ever solo adaptation, Jitterbug Perfume at Caf Nordo's Culinarium in Seattle's historic Pioneer Square. The show runs from March 14 - May 12, 2019. Set during New Orleans' Mardi Gras, Jitterbug Perfume titillates the senses as it immerses you in the experience of living each day to its fullest; great food, passionate love, great sex, and passionate living.

Claire Kiechel, author of "Pilgrims" currently being offered from Forward Flux Productions at West of Lenin, lists in her bio that she is a writer on Netflix's "The OA". So, a Sci Fi play complete with mystery and secrets should be a surprise to no one. However, unlike "The OA", Kiechel's play meanders about space with many superfluous scenes that come out of left field ultimately leading, in a disturbing way, to an ending that amounts to little more than a "huh, so that happened".

Forward Flux's production of PILGRIMS by Claire Kiechel is now playing, bringing sci-fi thrills and chills at West of Lenin, showing until May 19th. This play was workshopped in our Studio for four weeks last year, and we are excited to remount it as a full production for its West Coast premiere. Playwright Claire Kiechel has also written SOME DARK PLACES OF THE EARTH and NORWAY, and she is a writer on the upcoming second season of Netflix's "The OA." PILGRIMS is directed by Forward Flux Creative Director Emily Penick, who directed the Studio workshop last year. Penick also designed the set.

Forward Flux Productions is thrilled to present PILGRIMS by Claire Kiechel, playing at West of Lenin from May 1st - 19th. This play was workshopped in our Studio for four weeks last year, and we are excited to remount it as a full production for its West Coast premiere. During our Studio workshop, there were 5 public performances where audiences were invited to provide insight and thoughts after each performance. These insights were shared with the playwright, who also visited Seattle to watch the production in person. It has since world premiered at The Gift Theatre in Chicago where it was a pick by the Chicago Sun Times, and Perform Ink said it is 'relevant, funny, confusing, heartbreaking, uncomfortable, and beautiful.' Playwright Claire Kiechel has also written SOME DARK PLACES OF THE EARTH and NORWAY, and she is a writer on the upcoming second season of Netflix's 'The OA.'

Forward Flux Productions announces their 2018 programming which will feature three plays never before seen in Seattle, as well as their 2019 project: THREE NEW AMERICAN PLAYS. This ambitious lineup will be the company's fourth and fifth year of programming in Seattle. Forward Flux is your home for daring new plays. The company commissions, develops, workshops and premieres new plays by underrepresented voices on the American stage.

Even before Sound Theatre Company's current production of "You Can't Take It With You" began, it showed promise with a stunning, well-appointed set by Robin Macartney. Then the effervescent Shermona Mitchell walked on stage to begin the show with tons of energy, conviction and intent to her character of Penny, the matriarch of the Sycamore clan and I thought, "Excellent! Let's do this! I'm in for a good night." Unfortunately, that excitement continued to ebb and flow all night long as others would enter the stage. Some with the same level of exuberance as Mitchell, while others weren't quite there yet, and while others still had much work to do as they never were quite able to convey their intent or character or in some cases even remember their lines. What resulted was a roller coaster of energy, pace, intent and commitment that didn't leave me joyful over the quirky family winning out, but just left me tired.

Sound Theatre Company is proud to present the YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, the first play of Sound Theatre's 2018 Season, THE HUMAN FAMILY: Toward A Radical Inclusion. In 2018, we challenge our audiences to consider how we define family, what members of the human family we include, and whose stories we choose to tell.

Definition Theatre Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tyrone Phillips and Managing Director Neel McNeill, presents the first play of its 2017-2018 season, the Chicago premiere of An Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Gloria, Appropriate), produced in association with Goodman Theatre. An Octoroon is directed by Goodman Theatre Resident Director Chuck Smith and runs now through August 20, 2017 in the Richard Christiansen Theater at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue, as part of Definition's tenure in the Victory Gardens Resident Theater Program. The press opening was last night, July 24, and BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Definition Theatre Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tyrone Phillips and Managing Director Neel McNeill, announces casting for the first play of its 2017-2018 season, the Chicago premiere of An Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Gloria, Appropriate), produced in association with Goodman Theatre.

Definition Theatre Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tyrone Phillips and Managing Director Neel McNeill, announces casting for the first play of its 2017-2018 season, the Chicago premiere of An Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Gloria, Appropriate), produced in association with Goodman Theatre.

Four years ago, the Centerstage Board commissioned its Artistic Director, Alan Bryce, to write three new shows. The first of these, For All That, was nominated for a Gregory Award as "Most Outstanding New Play of 2015". The second, Death on the Supermarket Shelf, about the Chicago Tylenol Murders of 1982, received critical acclaim. The third in the series, Cardinal Sins, opens on Saturday, May 13th.

It's fine to be in the audience's face and have a scene's energy turned up to 11 but when you do it for the entire play, it gets tiring. That's the issue with Ghost Light Theatricals' current production of "Macbett". Sure it's an absurdist comedy piece but they can have levels too and without them, by the end of the play you wish they'd stop yelling at you.

The Quin hotel's global street art series takes an inspired turn starting on August 18th, as the Amsterdam-based street art duo The London Police launch a solo exhibition curated by DK Johnston. New York's quintessential luxury lifestyle hotel, the Quin, located at the corner of 57th Street and Sixth Avenue, has delighted guests and local art aficionados with compelling Quin Arts programming focused on international street artists throughout 2016.

The Quin hotel's global street art series takes an inspired turn starting on August 18th, as the Amsterdam-based street art duo The London Police launch a solo exhibition curated by DK Johnston. New York's quintessential luxury lifestyle hotel, the Quin, located at the corner of 57th Street and Sixth Avenue, has delighted guests and local art aficionados with compelling Quin Arts programming focused on international street artists throughout 2016.

Sound Theatre Company completes an exciting year with the return of their smash holiday comedy Holiday of Errors to delight Seattle audiences this December. First presented as a world premiere in 2013 to critical and audience acclaim, Sound Theatre Company's remount features most of the original cast to fill the stunning new 12th Avenue Arts Mainstage on Capitol Hill with word-play and Shakespeare.

Windy City Playhouse, Chicago's newest Equity theater, announces the cast for its third production, the riotous Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight: A Comedy in Three Beds from Peter Ackerman, co-author of 20th Century Fox's hit animated film Ice Age. This contemporary sex farce is directed by William Brown, fresh off his successful run of Doubt at Writers Theatre. Brown directs a stellar cast of Broadway veterans and rising stars including Emily Tate, Peter Meadows, Patrese McClain, Shane Kenyon, Chris Sheard and Robert Spencer. Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight runs August 12-October 4 at Windy City Playhouse, 3014 W. Irving Park. Opening night is Saturday, August 15. windycityplayhouse.com/things/