Charles Ludlam News

Theater Alliance launches Season 16 with the WORD BECOMES ACTION FESTIVAL. Building on the success of last year's inaugural festival, this second annual festival explores themes from upcoming productions and bringing together performances, readings, and workshops to illuminate divergent perspectives. The festival is made possible thanks to the support of The Revada Foundation and DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

This fall, Hell in a Handbag Productions is thrilled to explore THE ARTIFICIAL JUNGLE, the final play by the legendary master of camp, Charles Ludlam. Who better to direct this criminal tale of lust and murder than Hell in a Handbag's longtime partner in crime, Shade Murray of A Red Orchid Theatre. 

Axis Company today announces the remount of High Noon, their adaptation of the screenplay for the 1952 Western film, devised by an ensemble led by Artistic Director Randy Sharp. The play returns October 3-27, following an acclaimed first run in January of this year.

Find out what happens to the beloved characters in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF after the musical ends. TEVYE SERVED RAW is an evening of Sholem Aleichem material, with adaptations of his 'Tevye' stories ('What, Me Worthy?' and 'Get Thee Gone!'), scenes from his own long-unseen Yiddish stage version, and three of his purely comedic stories, newly adapted ('Strange Jews on a Train,' 'The Yiddish Sisyphus' and 'A Stepmother's Trash-Talk'). The production is set to officially open next Tuesday, July 17th at The Playroom Theater in the Heart of the Theatre District, 151 West 46 Street (just east of Seventh Ave.)

Find out what happens to the beloved characters in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF after the musical ends. TEVYE SERVED RAW is an evening of Sholem Aleichem material, with adaptations of his Tevye stories ("What, Me Worthy?" and "Get Thee Gone!"), scenes from his own long-unseen Yiddish stage version, and three of his purely comedic stories, newly adapted ("Strange Jews on a Train," "The Yiddish Sisyphus" and "A Stepmother's Trash-Talk").

Hell in a Handbag Productions is pleased to announce casting for THE ARTIFICIAL JUNGLE, the final play by the legendary master of camp, Charles Ludlam.

A brand new video offering a sneak peek into the upcoming New York premiere of Tevye Served Raw made its debut today on YouTube. Watch it below!

Find out what happens to the beloved characters in Fiddler on the Roof after the musical ends. TEVYE SERVED RAW is an evening of Sholem Aleichem material, with adaptations of his Tevye stories ("What, Me Worthy?" and "Get Thee Gone!"), scenes from his own long-unseen Yiddish stage version, and three of his purely comedic stories, newly adapted ("Strange Jews on a Train," "The Yiddish Sisyphus" and "A Stepmother's Trash-Talk").

A modern take on an old classic can be risky business, and morphing a murder mystery into a comical farce sounds intriguing on the page. Micro sized casts have done wonders with Hitchcock's 'The 39 Steps' and Charles Ludlam's 'The Mystery of Irma Vep,' so it is no surprise that comic playwright Ken Ludwig, known best for his brilliant 'Lend Me A Tenor' should take a stab at the genre. His adaptation of the classic Sherlock Holmes mystery 'The Hound of The Baskervilles' has been shortened to 'BASKERVILLE' and opened last night at Shea's 710 Theatre. This production by MUSICALFARE unfortunately is high on hijinks and low on true comedy.

Gulfshore Playhouse's production of THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP by Charles Ludlam finishes off their 2017-18 theatre season with a clever, quick, and absolutely hilarious show. It was a mystery, a comedy, a tragedy, and so much more, all in one fantastic Penny Dreadful production.

Since 2004, director Mallory Catlett has worked across disciplines to expand the boundaries of theater. Through original works with her own company, Restless NYC, and collaborations with some of today's leading artists-composer Mika Karlsson (The Echo Drift), Dread Scott (Decision), Aaron Landsman (City Council Meeting & Perfect City)-Catlett creates theater that The New York Times calls "lurid, feverish and powerful." She has been called a "downtown treasure" by Time Out New York.

Gulfshore Playhouse, Naples' premiere professional regional theater, presents "The Mystery of Irma Vep," a Penny Dreadful by Charles Ludlam, Saturday, April 28 through Sunday, May 20.

If you want 'bang' for your entertainment buck, make a beeline to the Theater im Keller's Website and try to secure a ticket to BERLIN? WE! LOVE! YOU! As the show only performs on weekends and seating is very limited, I would advise you to plan ahead and take any ticket you can get, but get into that theater and watch these talented comedic actors strut their collective stuff.

LA MAMA presents COFFEEHOUSE CHRONICLES #146 "MARIO MONTEZ" -- Saturday March 24, at 3:00pm - 5:00pm?-- Located at, La MaMa, Downstairs (66 East 4th Street, NYC). Moderated by CONRAD VENTUR, Panelists include Brian Belovitch, Bibbe Hansen, Joe E. Jeffreys, Tom Kalin, Agosto Machado, and Lola Pashalinski.

Urban Stages (Frances Hill, Founding Artistic Director), will close its 34th season with the New York Premiere of Sean Christopher Lewis's DOGS OF RWANDA, directed by Frances Hill and Peter Napolitano. This limited engagement at Urban Stages (259 West 30th Street), begins performances on Friday, March 9, opens on Monday, March 12 and will run through Saturday, March 31, 2018.

Orlando Shakespeare Theater (Orlando Shakes) in Partnership with UCF announces the upcoming productions for their 30th Anniversary Season. With Broadway's original hip hop musical, two Shakespearean dramas, a hysterical Penny Dreadful parody, the return of a Christmas classic, a Tony Award nominated new drama, the World Premiere of a newly commissioned play, and a fresh twist on three classic fairy tales, the nationally renowned Theater's Season includes a wide range of productions to celebrate classic, contemporary, and children's plays.

Hell in a Handbag Productions is pleased to announce its 2018 season, kicking off this spring with a revival of its 2013 hit L'IMITATION OF LIFE, a dead on parody of the 1959 film Imitation of Life about race, mothers and daughters - and looking fabulous! Adapted by Ricky Graham and Running with Scissors and directed by ensemble member Stevie Love, ensemble member Ed Jones and Robert Williams reprise their roles as Lana Turner and Annie Johnson.

Morphing identity, bending gender, mapping space through gesture and singing the song of suffering so exquisite that its high notes touch the exultant limits of transcendence, for over three decades it is fair to say that Kelly has been a foundational figure of the downtown stage. Now, John allows us to see his concurrent practice as a visual artist-more modest and ancillary to his career in hybrid theatrics-but just as central to his aesthetic core, quieter and suffused with a fragile melancholia, and just as revelatory.

Urban Stages (Frances Hill, Founding Artistic Director), will close its 34th season with the New York Premiere of Sean Christopher Lewis's DOGS OF RWANDA, directed by Frances Hill and Peter Napolitano. This limited engagement at Urban Stages (259 West 30th Street), begins performances on Friday, March 9, opens on Monday, March 12 and will run through Saturday, March 31, 2018. Tickets for are $35 ($25 during previews; $50 on opening and $15 student rush) and may be purchased via OvationTix at www.urbanstages.org or by phone at 1.866.811.4111.

Howl! Happening is pleased to present a rare look into the heart and art of a consummate creator: John Kelly's Sideways into the Shadows. Resonating and in conversation with Kelly's major new performance work Time No Line at La MaMa (February 22 March 11, 2018), Sideways into the Shadows is a journey through Kelly's creative life that exposes both the unfolding of his artistic process and the generational rupture and emotional cost of the AIDS pandemic.