Dorothy Thompson

On May 10-13, PEN America will present the 18th annual World Voices Festival, its largest gathering to date of literary stars, visionaries, and great thinkers from around the globe.

The cast has been announced for the new LGBQT+ musical 'The Strange Affair of Herschel Grynszpan'. Based on true events but with imagined relationships. What might have been.

It is 1938. A young Jewish refugee, Herschel Grynszpan, walks into the German embassy in Paris and shoots a German diplomat. He is arrested and spends the next four years in prison. When the Nazis march into Paris, they capture Herschel and send him to a camp in Berlin. Herschel has a choice: to be paraded in front of the world's press as a celebrity scapegoat; or to confess the truth - and to lift the lid on, not just his own sexuality, but the scandal that has infiltrated the Third Reich!

PEN America marks a century of work at the forefront of the ever-urgent fight for free expression with PEN America at 100: A Century of Defending the Written Word, which presents letters, photographs, posters, awards, and other artifacts dating from 1922 to the present.

PEN America convenes an Emergency World Voices Congress to address the invasion of Ukraine and the role of the writer in times of turmoil and brutality, and Ukrainian author and PEN Ukraine President Andrey Kurkov delivers the 2022 Arthur Miller Freedom to Write Lecture, on May 13.

Pontine Theatre, a resident company at Portsmouth's Strawbery Banke Museum, recently completed its annual New England Christmas tour which was funded by a  $3,000 grant from the Jack & Dorothy Byrne Foundation along with support from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.  

9 - 11 December, Pontine Theatre presents A New England Christmas at the Seacoast Science Center in Rye NH.  The program includesChristmas Everyday by William Dean Howells, Once on Christmas by Dorothy Thomas and Cap'n Eli's Best Ear, by Frank Stockton.  Performances areFriday at 7pm, Saturday at 4pm and Sunday at 2pm.  Tickets are $24 and may be purchased in advance at -- www.pontine.org.  Tickets may also be purchased at the door  a half-hour prior to each performance, based on availability.  This production is underwritten by Gillian Aguilar.  Pontine's 2016-17 Season is supported by grants from the NH State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.  Seacoast Science Center is located at 570 Ocean Blvd in Rye NH.  For information, contact Pontine --info@pontine.org -- (603) 436-6660.    

Geena Davis's Bentonville Film Festival (BFF), which debuts May 5-9, today unveiled a robust panel series that covers over a dozen topics addressing women, diversity and their intersections within the entertainment industry, featuring many well-known and highly regarded participants from various sectors of the industry.

This is the story of Dorothy Thompson, an American journalist and radio broadcaster during WWII who was known to some as the "First Lady of American Journalism". In Cassandra Speaks at the Nora Theatre Company at the Central Square Theater, we see her the morning of her third wedding, as she struggles to finish an article, looks back on her previous loves, and recounts her accomplishments and failures as a journalist in Europe and America.

Shakespeare & Company has announced The Conservatory at Shakespeare & Company's winter production of King John, directed by longtime Company artist, and star of this summer's critically acclaimed production of Cassandra Speaks, Tod Randolph. Now in its sixth year, the Conservatory, a 13-week professional actor training program includes 10 - 16 promising actors from across the country and around the globe. This year's program features a group of 16 who will join forces in Shakespeare's rarely produced King John for three special performances in the Tina Packer Playhouse.

Shakespeare & Company has announced The Conservatory at Shakespeare & Company's winter production of King John, directed by longtime Company artist, and star of this summer's critically acclaimed production of Cassandra Speaks, Tod Randolph. Now in its sixth year, the Conservatory, a 13-week professional actor training program includes 10 - 16 promising actors from across the country and around the globe. This year's program features a group of 16 who will join forces in Shakespeare's rarely produced King John for three special performances in the Tina Packer Playhouse.

Tickets for Shakespeare & Company's 35th Season go on sale today. The 2012-2013 season is set to include an appearance by Olympia Dukakis in an all-female version of 'The Tempest.' "From the perspective of someone who witnessed first hand the beginnings of our Company," says Artistic Director Tony Simotes. "It is astonishing to look back at what we've achieved. I am proud to say that we are at the forefront of actor training and education programs in terms of objective and scope. It is a tremendous privilege to be Shakespeare & Company's Artistic Director during this exciting time, and I feel that we've compiled a riveting and daring list of productions this season that not only reflect the best of what Shakespeare & Company has to offer, but will take us to the next level.

Shakespeare & Company has just announced their 35th Season with is set to include an appearance by Olypia Dukakis in an all-female version of 'The Tempest.' "From the perspective of someone who witnessed first hand the beginnings of our Company," says Artistic Director Tony Simotes. "It is astonishing to look back at what we've achieved. I am proud to say that we are at the forefront of actor training and education programs in terms of objective and scope. It is a tremendous privilege to be Shakespeare & Company's Artistic Director during this exciting time, and I feel that we've compiled a riveting and daring list of productions this season that not only reflect the best of what Shakespeare & Company has to offer, but will take us to the next level.

The New-York Historical Society will re-open its landmark building to the public at 11 am on Veterans' Day, Friday, November 11, 2011.

The New-York Historical Society will re-open its landmark building to the public at 11 am on Veterans' Day, Friday, November 11, 2011.

The Open Fist Theatre Company presents their second FIRST LOOK FESTIVAL OF NEW PLAYS, with new works written by Ty Taylor, Douglas Crawford, Ron West, Joseph Fisher, William Mesnik, Phillip William Brock, and Laura Richardson and directed by Martha Demson, Benjamin Burdick and Amanda Weier.

The Open Fist Theatre Company presents their second FIRST LOOK FESTIVAL OF NEW PLAYS, with new works written by Ty Taylor, Douglas Crawford, Ron West, Joseph Fisher, William Mesnik, Phillip William Brock, and Laura Richardson and directed by Martha Demson, Benjamin Burdick and Amanda Weier.

Audiences left the Miracle Theatre humming classic 50's and 60's tunes and still smiling from the on-stage antics of the four-girl wonder act at the Opening Night of Actors' Playhouse's production of The Marvelous Wonderettes on October 2nd.

Laughter was certainly in the air on Friday night, as was generosity at the opening of the new summer musical comedy, Married ALIVE! at Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre in downtown Coral Gables. Audiences were treated to a riotous musical about the mayhems of matrimony in the upstairs balcony theatre while Actors' Playhouse received a special gift from long-time sponsor American Express, a $20,000 check in support of the Theatre.