Marianna McClellan

The title refers to the 53% of white women who voted for Donald Trump in 2016, but that's just the starting point.

Today's top stories include Gaten Matarazzo, star of Stranger Things, who will return to Broadway this summer in Dear Evan Hansen! Plus, get a first look at the PBS Keeping Company With Sondheim documentary, check out rehearsal photos from the pre-Broadway run of The Karate Kid, and more!

Second Stage Theater has announced casting for the upcoming world premiere production of 53% OF. The production will feature ANNA CRIVELLI, EDEN MALYN, MARIANNA McCLELLAN, GRACE REX, CATHRYN WAKE, and AYANA WORKMAN.

Dream Hou$e is awash in ideas, about Latinx identity, about generational wealth transfers, about gentrification, about memory versus history, about personal authenticity, about priorities, about the inherent value of things, about the TV biz, etc., etc., etc. You wouldn’t expect a package of all these things to be tied up neatly in a 90-minute performance, and it’s not. But still, this mishmash is undeniably exciting to experience, and I, along with much of the audience, walked out with a definite buzz on. The kind of buzz you get when you’ve just experienced something exciting and new.

Playing on The Alliance's Hertz Stage, DREAM HOU$E follows the story of two Latinx sisters - Julia and Patricia Castillo - as they sell their family home on a popular home renovation TV show. Foundations crack as the walls begin to talk and not a single tile in the house is without a story to tell. [Written by Ella Outlaw]

DREAM HOU$E follows two Latina sisters who go on an HGTV-style reality show to sell their family home, hoping to capitalize on the gentrification happening in their 'changing neighborhood.'

DREAM HOU$E will have its world premiere on the Hertz Stage at Alliance Theatre Jan 28 – Feb 13, 2022.  Opening night is Wednesday, February 2, 7:30 p.m.  A filmed version of DREAM HOU$E will also be available to stream online February 11 – 27, 2022, on the Alliance's website. 

The Straddler will premiere "Long Island Richard," an examination of American suburbia that draws upon Shakespearean characters and text, at Anthology Film Archives on December 1, 2016.

The Straddler will premiere "Long Island Richard," an examination of American suburbia that draws upon Shakespearean characters and text, at Anthology Film Archives on December 1, 2016.

The John Drew Theater in the Dina Merrill Pavilion at Guild Hall, 158 Main Street, East Hampton, New York 11937, 631.324.0806; Tickets available at GuildHall.org; Box Office; 631.324.4050; Theatermania.com; or 1.866.811.4111.

The John Drew Theater in the Dina Merrill Pavilion at Guild Hall, 158 Main Street, East Hampton, New York 11937, 631.324.0806; Tickets available at GuildHall.org; Box Office; 631.324.4050; Theatermania.com; or 1.866.811.4111.

The Pearl Theatre Company is pleased to present the New York premiere of Stupid Fu**ing Bird, Aaron Posner's award-winning wry riff on Anton Chekhov's masterpiece The Seagull. Directed by Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival's Artistic Director Davis McCallum, the production, running through May 8, scoops up Chekhov's tale of unrequited love, missed opportunities, and misplaced dreams and sets it down squarely in the bustle of 21st century life. With its rebellious title evoking Constantine's subversive play-within-a-play from the original, it captures the heartbreaking humor of the tale while playing as brilliantly with dramatic form as Chekhov himself once did.

The Pearl Theatre Company is pleased to present the New York premiere of Stupid Fu**ing Bird, Aaron Posner's award-winning wry riff on Anton Chekhov's masterpiece The Seagull. Directed by Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival's Artistic Director Davis McCallum, the production, running March 15-May 8, scoops up Chekhov's tale of unrequited love, missed opportunities, and misplaced dreams and sets it down squarely in the bustle of 21st century life. With its rebellious title evoking Constantine's subversive play-within-a-play from the original, it captures the heartbreaking humor of the tale while playing as brilliantly with dramatic form as Chekhov himself once did.

Syracuse Stage's 15/16 Season starts October 21 with The Underpants, a guffaw inducing comedy from the wild and crazy mind of the incomparable Steve Martin. In Dusseldorf, 1910, a very public wardrobe malfunction (a young woman's underpants fall down at a parade-for the King!) becomes the talk of the town in this ribald update of an uproarious German farce. (Yes, there is such a thing.) Chock-full of sexual innuendo, verbal jousting, and non-stop laughter, The Underpants skewers the absurdity of instant fame. Bill Fennelly (Hairspray, A Midsummer Night's Dream) returns to direct.

The overall effect is a bit like a fireworks display, with loud fun things happening more or less continually. It is not profound, a quality seldom looked for in shaggy dog stories, but the tale at its heart, a whimsical family drama, is sturdy enough, and perhaps the place where a more genuine feminism is lurking than may be found in the odd evocation of fashion.

Everything You Touch, a black comedy focusing on the fashion industry and two intertwining stories about how it affects two separate women's self worth, is very similar to the industry it portrays. The overall look, visual appeal and staging is phenomenal, but beneath the gorgeous costumes and flair, the heart of the production, the script and characters, leave much to be desired.

 Ars Nova has announced the lineup for its 8th Annual ANT Fest, running June 1 - 26.  This year's festival of all new talent features four nonstop weeks of comedy, music & theater mash-ups, and invites audiences on a nightly adventure with the next wave of breakthrough artists at Ars Nova.  A complete lineup is listed below.

In the Next Room, or the vibrator play is a fresh and funny new play about love, intimacy, and marriage. It's the 1880s and electricity is all the rage. In a quiet home office, a doctor experiments with a new instrument for treating 'hysteria.' The device? A vibrator. In this genuinely touching, original, and wickedly funny play, playwright Sarah Ruhl (The Clean House) explores relationships and sexual fulfillment while managing to stay discreetly beneath the crisp white sheets of Victorian propriety.