Billie Holiday News

Echoes of Earth is a CD project which saw some of Melbourne's finest classical and jazz musicians coming together for one of the most ambitious recording projects staged at St Andrews Anglican Church, Brighton and is set to be released this Saturday

Last night at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, the acoustically perfect Alexander W. Dreyfoos Jr. Concert Hall was host to one of the most beautiful voices on the planet...that of five time Tony-Award winner Audra McDonald.

Immersive and surreal LETTERS IN THE DIRT places its audience face-to-face with the insightful Aiyana Jones- a seven-year-old girl fatally shot by police in 2010 during a botched raid in Detroit, now a symbol within the Movement for Black Lives. Structured like a game and a ritual, the show lands it audience in a mysterious purgatory the night after Aiyana's killing, where they are greeted by a chorus of black children, invited to play a game, and provided objects that were once a part of Aiyana's life. To 'play,' the audience must use their objects to guide her through her memories to an understanding of her death. Participants learn her favorite playground games, and dream aloud with her about if 'we was all free.' All while celebrating black imagination and vulnerability, LETTERS IN THE DIRT creates a vibrant, intimate audience experience personal to all who participate.

The Howard County Arts Council is pleased to announce the guest performers for the 21st annual Celebration of the Arts in Howard County gala. Featured this year are: Celeste Jones and accompanist Douglas Lawler. You can catch them, along with the ten finalists in the Arts Council's Rising Star Competition, at the Celebration gala on March 24, 2018 at 8 p.m. Emcee for the event is Myron “Mo” Dutterer, a pillar of the Howard County theatre community and recipient of the 2003 Howie Award for Outstanding Arts Educator.

Birdland will kick-off their exciting month of programming with the following acts:

Broadway's MOTOWN: The Musical and Helen Hayes nominee N'Kenge will star in a riveting one-woman show LEGENDS: Diana Ross, Billie Holiday, Beyonce' and More with the Jacksonville Symphony at the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts on March 23rd and 24th at 8:00pm with Maestro Nathan Aspinall.

Creative Cauldron presents Witch, the fourth installment in its "Bold New Works for Intimate Stages" world premiere musical series written and composed by the internationally recognized creative team Matt Conner and Stephen Gregory Smith. "Witch channels the zeitgeist of the current "Me To" and "Time's Up" movements while examining the cultural roots of misogyny and inequality across centuries and cultures," stated Producing Director Laura Connors Hull

THE MAN IN ROOM 306, Luna's critically acclaimed signature piece, honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. on the 50th anniversary of his assassination. April 12 through May 13th.

Immersive and surreal, LETTERS IN THE DIRT places its audience face-to-face with the insightful Aiyana Jones- a seven-year-old girl fatally shot by police in 2010 during a botched raid in Detroit, now a symbol within the Movement for Black Lives. Structured like a game-ritual, the show lands it audience in a mysterious purgatory the night after Aiyana's killing, where they are greeted by a chorus of black children, invited to play a game, and provided objects that were once a part of Aiyana's life. To "play," the audience must use their objects to guide her through her memories to an understanding of her death. Participants learn her favorite playground games, and dream aloud with her about if "we was all free." All while celebrating black imagination and vulnerability, LETTERS IN THE DIRT creates a vibrant, intimate audience experience personal to all who participate.

Melba Moore Owns The Stage in WBTT Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill

An extraordinary new CD, which sees some of Melbourne's finest classical and jazz musicians coming together for one of the most ambitious recording projects staged at St Andrews Anglican Church, Brighton is soon to be released to the public.

The Old Globe will celebrate in style at the 2018 Globe Gala on Saturday, September 22, in support of the theatre's arts engagement and artistic programs. The glamorous annual event will feature an exclusive, one-night-only performance by the incomparable Andra Day. Karen Cohn, Nina Doede, andSheryl White serve as Co-Chairs.

Tony-winning superstar Audra McDonald has announced five dates for an upcoming Florida concert tour. See full details below!

Audra McDonald is one of Broadway's most treasured leading ladies, but she hasn't been seen on the Great White Way since SHUFFLE ALONG in 2016. She recently spoke with The Atlanta Journal Constitution about her busy career and life at home and when the question of her returning to Broadway was raised, she had an exciting answer. 

Norfolk & Norwich Festival has today announced the full programme for its 2018 Festival (11 - 27 May). The programme, which spans performance, theatre, music, visual arts, literature, circus, outdoor and family events, includes world and UK premieres, one-off spectaculars, and a host of free events across the Festival. The Festival will showcase renowned international artists from across the globe and countries as widespread as Syria, Australia and India, alongside the best local Norfolk and UK talent presented across the county, from Norwich city centre and Great Yarmouth to Wells-next-the-Sea.

The AUDELCO and Obie Award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre brings back the groundbreaking 50in50: Women's Voices Initiative with the Obie Award-winning Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop with a reading March 17, 2018 at 7pm in The Billie Holiday Theatre, 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY. 

The Apollo Theater in collaboration with The Atlantic announced that Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o will join her Marvel Studios' BLACK PANTHER co-star Chadwick Boseman for a sold-out conversation about the film, taking place tomorrow, Tuesday, February 27 at 7:30PM EST at the Apollo. In addition to providing hundreds of free tickets to a number of Harlem organizations and their constituencies, the event will be live-streamed by the Apollo, The Atlantic, and AFROPUNK—making the conversation available to fans and audiences worldwide.

Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA; Jeffrey Horowitz, Founding Artistic Director) announces the full cast and creative team for William Shakespeare's tragicomedy The Winter's Tale, directed by OBIE Award-winner Arin Arbus. The production plays March 13-April 15, 2018, at Polonsky Shakespeare Center (262 Ashland Place), TFANA's home in the Brooklyn Cultural District.

ArtsWest has announced an addition to the 2017-18 I Am Season - Hedwig and the Angry Inch (by John Cameron Mitchell) and Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (by Lanie Robertson), presented together in rotating repertory under the title Practical Questions of Wholeness from June 7 through July 8, 2018. This paired production will replace the previously announced Kiss of the Spider Woman as the final work in ArtsWest's 2017-18 I Am Season.

As Black Panther continues to land rapturous praise and smash box office records in its opening days, the Apollo Theater in collaboration with The Atlantic will present a discussion about the film with its star Chadwick Boseman in conversation with The Atlantic's national correspondent and author Ta-Nehisi Coates. The event will take place on Tuesday, February 27 at 7:30PM EST at the Apollo.