Leah Anderson

Lauren Yee is a talented playwright, with an ear for fast dialogue and a knack for creating pithy lines that work on several levels. This skill is clear in the title of her cross-cultural play now on the big proscenium stage at the Guthrie, and also pops up periodically through the two-act show. While the piece traverses some promising thematic terrain, it is too choppy and a little too predictable to work fully.

The Guthrie Theater presents West Side Story. Directed by Haj, this major revival of a timeless classic will play June 16 - August 26, 2018, on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. Single tickets for West Side Story start at $15 for preview performances (June 16-21) and are on sale now through the Box Office at 612.377.2224, 877.44.STAGE (toll-free), 612.225.6244 (group sales) and online at guthrietheater.org.

The Guthrie Theater presents West Side Story. Directed by Haj, this major revival of a timeless classic will play June 16 - August 26, 2018, on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. Single tickets for West Side Story start at $15 for preview performances (June 16-21) and are on sale now through the Box Office at 612.377.2224, 877.44.STAGE (toll-free), 612.225.6244 (group sales) and online at guthrietheater.org.

The Guthrie Theater presents West Side Story. Directed by Haj, this major revival of a timeless classic will play June 16 - August 26, 2018, on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. Single tickets for West Side Story start at $15 for preview performances (June 16-21) and are on sale now through the Box Office at 612.377.2224, 877.44.STAGE (toll-free), 612.225.6244 (group sales) and online at guthrietheater.org.

The Guthrie Theater (Joseph Haj, artistic director) proudly announced the cast and creative team for the theater's summer musical, West Side Story. Directed by Haj, this major revival of a timeless classic will play June 16 - August 26, 2018, on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. Single tickets for West Side Story start at $15 for preview performances (June 16-21) and are on sale now through the Box Office at 612.377.2224, 877.44.STAGE (toll-free), 612.225.6244 (group sales) and online at guthrietheater.org.

The Guthrie Theater (Joseph Haj, artistic director) proudly announced the cast and creative team for the theater's summer musical, West Side Story. Directed by Haj, this major revival of a timeless classic will play June 16 - August 26, 2018, on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. Single tickets for West Side Story start at $15 for preview performances (June 16-21) and are on sale now through the Box Office at 612.377.2224, 877.44.STAGE (toll-free), 612.225.6244 (group sales) and online at guthrietheater.org.

The Guthrie Theater (Joseph Haj, artistic director) proudly announced the cast and creative team for the theater's summer musical, West Side Story. Directed by Haj, this major revival of a timeless classic will play June 16 - August 26, 2018, on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. Single tickets for West Side Story start at $15 for preview performances (June 16-21) and are on sale now through the Box Office at 612.377.2224, 877.44.STAGE (toll-free), 612.225.6244 (group sales) and online at guthrietheater.org.

On a snowy Sunday afternoon, several of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers gathered in an old firehouse in Minneapolis to witness the rolling world premiere of a new play called MERMAID HOUR, which means that the premiere is happening in several theaters around the country. In this story of a 12-year-old transgender girl, her parents, and her friends, playwright David Valdes Greenwood set out to 'write a real portrait of a family life, not just an 'issue' play with a message of 'do this' or 'do that.' From where I was sitting, he succeeded. But what makes Mixed Blood Theatre's production of Mermaid Hour special is that it's the only one of the world premieres to feature music; the Mixed Blood team worked with the playwright to turn his play into a musical. As a musical theater nerd who thinks every play is better with music, I couldn't be happier with this turn of events. MERMAID HOUR: REMIXED is not only a real and relatable family story that features transgender characters, too often under- or mis-represented onstage, but it's also done in song!

Mixed Blood Theatre Company presents ON OUR OWN TERMS: Voices at the Intersection of Transgender Experience and Mixed Blood Theatre, living at the crossroads of theater and the trans experience at Mixed Blood on April 28-29. The weekend propels Mixed Blood's ambition to become an artistic home for trans theatre artists.

A National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of Mermaid Hour: ReMixed opens at Mixed Blood on April 6th, 2018. This new chamber musical explores the gender continuum through the prism of a prepubescent transgender biracial girl. Written by David Valdes Greenwood, the show tells the story of how working class parents Pilar and Bird face the cracks in their marriage, their opposing parenting styles, and their fears as they negotiate their daughter's gender transition. Meanwhile, she navigates puberty, her first crush, and the possibility that YouTube holds all the answers. Original score written by Eric Mayson.

Mixed Blood Theatre Company presents ON OUR OWN TERMS: Voices at the Intersection of Transgender Experience and Mixed Blood Theatre, living at the crossroads of theater and the trans experience at Mixed Blood on April 27-28. The weekend propels Mixed Blood's ambition to become an artistic home for trans theatre artists.

National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, announces its 2017-18 grant recipients, including the 2017 Smith Prize for Political Theatre, seven Producer Residencies, and five Collaboration Fund awards that will support partnerships between multiple Member Theaters, playwrights, and other theater makers in various projects.

Mixed Blood Theatre today announced its 2017-18 Season in which comedy, drama, satire, and musicals invoke a spirit of generosity and self-determination, celebrating the power of theater. Its reconfigurable space will take on three unique orientations, putting on display Mixed Blood's core value to be predictably unpredictable.

A new original folk-rock musical? It's like FLY BY NIGHT was created and brought to the Jungle just for me. The rare bird that is the new original musical is my favorite thing in the world, and folk-rock/folk/Americana is my favorite genre of music. I was primed and ready to love this show, and love it I did. Charming and funny yet poignant, with a fantastic score played by greats from the local music scene, and a cast that couldn't be better - what's not to love?

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival will open William Shakespeare's Richard II, directed by Bill Rauch, on July 9 in the Thomas Theatre. Preview performances are offered July 5, 7 and 8. Due to popular demand, additional performances have been added on July 12, 27, Sept. 14, 27, October 18 and 25.

The Tony Award-winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival will launch its 81st year with preview performances beginning on February 19, and the season officially kicking off Friday night, February 26 in the Angus Bowmer Theatre with Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (director, Christopher Liam Moore).

The McCarter Theatre Center's production of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol has become a welcome holiday treat for families across the region. This heartwarming and powerfully honest musical adaptation of Dickens' classic novel is a wonderful way to honor tradition while experiencing the joys and warmth of a holiday favorite. A Christmas Carol runs from Dec. 4 through Dec. 27 on the Matthews Stage.

Cutting Ball Theater presents the first installment of this season's Hidden Classics Reading Series, THE NATURAL RELATIONS and other plays, by Brazilian playwright Qorpo Santo, in new translations by Cutting Ball resident playwright Andrew Saito. Regarded in his day as insane, Santo's plays were rediscovered by intellectuals in the 1960s. Although still largely overlooked by the western theatrical community, this 19th century Brazilian playwright is thought by many to have written the first Absurdist plays, anticipating works by Beckett, Jarry, Genet and Ionesco. Satio's translations represent the first time these plays will be presented in English. Andrew Saito and Rem Myers co-direct THE NATURAL RELATIONS, featuring Donald Currie, Gwyneth Richards, Marilet Matinez, Maura Halloran and Leah Anderson.

Cutting Ball Theater presents the first installment of this season's Hidden Classics Reading Series, THE NATURAL RELATIONS and other plays, by Brazilian playwright Qorpo Santo, in new translations by Cutting Ball resident playwright Andrew Saito. Regarded in his day as insane, Santo's plays were rediscovered by intellectuals in the 1960s. Although still largely overlooked by the western theatrical community, this 19th century Brazilian playwright is thought by many to have written the first Absurdist plays, anticipating works by Beckett, Jarry, Genet and Ionesco. Satio's translations represent the first time these plays will be presented in English. Andrew Saito and Rem Myers co-direct THE NATURAL RELATIONS, featuring Donald Currie, Gwyneth Richards, Marilet Matinez, Maura Halloran and Leah Anderson.

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, directed by Ryan Purcell ('13) presented by Brown University/Trinity Rep MFA Programs. Playing now through May 19 in the Pell Chafee Performance Center, 87 Empire Street, Providence. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!