Dan Walker News

Theatre Nova, Ann Arbor's professional playwrights' theater, is thrilled to announce its 2016 Season of Michigan and World Premieres in The Yellow Barn performance space at 416 West Huron, in downtown Ann Arbor. The season is made up of four World Premieres and three Michigan Premieres, and features another season of fun, funny, thought-provoking, and innovative new plays sourced both from around the country and right here in Michigan.

When Theatre Nova directors Carla Milarch and Dan Walker founded the playwrights' theatre last fall, they highly suspected that the wealth of talented Michigan playwrights they'd encountered needed more room to grow. In August of this year, as the Theatre Nova play reading committee combed through over 50 script submissions for the Michigan Playwrights Festival, their suspicions were confirmed.

Following its short summer hiatus, Theatre Nova is preparing to open Pulitzer Prize nominee Tanya Barfield's BRIGHT HALF LIFE on October 1. The play whisks the audience through the romance of Erica (Alysia Kolascz) and Vicky (Breon Canady), their courtship, marriage, and life together continuing backward and forward in time at a breathless pace. A conversation that begins at the office might continue at an amusement park later, and conclude while they're skydiving; the dreamlike narrative promises a unique, witty, and heartfelt look at love, pain, and hope over the course of a lifetime.

A stunning combination of art and music inspired by the revolutionary Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi, CANZONE - Music as Storytelling is a visual and musical dream presented by fortyfivedownstairs as part of the Melbourne Festival from 29 September to 24 October 2015. 

The Encore Theatre set to open the fairytale musical 'Into the Woods!' Preview night is tonight, August 6th.

BroadwayWorld brings you a first look at The Encore Theatre's fairytale musical 'Into the Woods!' Preview night is Thursday, August 6th.  Check out a first look below!

The Encore Theatre set to open the fairytale musical 'Into the Woods!' Preview night is Thursday, August 6th.  Check out an exclusive backstage look below!

Theatre Nova will follow its critically acclaimed GROUNDED with the Midwest Premiere of Yussef El Guindi's edgy comedy JIHAD JONES AND THE KALASHNIKOV BABES, replacing the spot initially reserved for IRRATIONAL. The show runs tonight, July 24 - August 16 at the Yellow Barn in Ann Arbor.

Theatre Nova will follow its critically acclaimed GROUNDED with the Midwest Premiere of Yussef El Guindi's edgy comedy JIHAD JONES AND THE KALASHNIKOV BABES, replacing the spot initially reserved for IRRATIONAL. The show runs July 24 - August 16 at the Yellow Barn in Ann Arbor.

The Encore Theatre set to open the fairytale musical "Into the Woods!" Preview night is Thursday, August 6th.

As the excitement builds about the newest addition to Michigan's thriving theater scene, Theatre Nova will hold an open house, free and open to the public, today, December 12, from 5-7 pm, featuring light refreshments, a meet-and-greet with the artists, founders, and staff, and a brief presentation about the theater and the upcoming season. The open house will take place at Theatre Nova's new space, downtown Ann Arbor's The Yellow Barn, located at 416 W. Huron, two blocks west of Main Street.

As the excitement builds about the newest addition to Michigan's thriving theater scene, Theatre Nova will hold an open house, free and open to the public, on Friday, December 12, from 5-7 pm, featuring light refreshments, a meet-and-greet with the artists, founders, and staff, and a brief presentation about the theater and the upcoming season. The open house will take place at Theatre Nova's new space, downtown Ann Arbor's The Yellow Barn, located at 416 W. Huron, two blocks west of Main Street.

Three Ann Arbor community groups, The Greenroom, The Yellow Barn Events and Classes, and Theatre Nova, Ann Arbor's newest professional theatre, will share The Yellow Barn, a 2,500 square foot space located at 416 West Huron, in an innovative space-sharing partnership that will bring 42 weekends of cultural programming to Ann Arbor's bustling downtown, along with workshops for playwrights, yoga, tai chi, chi gong and other classes, and a Monday night church geared toward artists.

Ann Arbor's professional theater, Performance Network, left the community reeling when it announced a sudden suspension of operations on May 22nd. In the two weeks that followed, a group of artists, former staff members, donors, subscribers, and community supporters have put together a plan to keep the theatre alive, and with great excitement announces a plan for a revitalized Performance Network, including significantly modified operations and a fundraising campaign to reduce debt and ensure financial stability in the future.

As Brazil takes centre stage as host of the 2014 FIFA World Cup?, the BBC's global news services on TV, radio and online are launching a special series of reports and documentaries premiering from May 2014.

Pizza, babes, and roller blades. Can it get any better? Experimental art punkers The Death Set present their new music video for “Soar Away” off their recent King Babies EP, out now on Dim Mak Records.

From February 20 to March 8, 2014, Persephone Productions presents The Walnut Tree by Canadian playwright, editor, film producer and music composer, Geoffrey Ursell, adapted from the semi-autobiographical book by Martha Blum. Theatre enthusiasts from all parts of the city will have access to the production when it plays at both the centrally-located Centre Culturel Calixa-Lavallee (in Parc Lafontaine) and on the south shore at the Centre Multifonctionnel de Saint-Lambert (81 Hooper).

Dim Mak Records celebrates a major milestone this year with the label's 500th release with the King Babies EP from experimental art punkers The Death Set, out January 21. The 4-track EP features new music from the NYC-based via Australia thrashers that perfectly exemplifies their brash mix of cross-genre punk, noise, grunge, and beyond. King Babies marks a full circle for Dim Mak Records as it perfectly meshes the label's punk rock roots and current status as a leading brand in contemporary electronic music.

Performance Network is proud to announce its 2013 -2014 season with epic plays and a musical revue extravaganza for its 32nd season in their intimate theatre located in Downtown Ann Arbor. The very first play of the season, 'An Iliad' adapted by Denis O'Hare and Lisa Peterson, begins on September 26th, 2013 as a one-man contemporary retelling of the famous poem, followed by 'Jerry's Girls' with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and concept by Larry Alford, Wayne Cilento, and Jerry Herman, the World Premiere of 'County Line' by Ann Arbor playwright David Wells, the sexy 'Venus in Fur' by David Ives, a reimagined 'Richard III' by William Shakespeare, Pulitzer Prize Finalist 'Other Desert Cities' by Jon Robin Baitz, and the World Premiere of 'The Renaissance Man' by Joseph Zettelmaier closing on September 7, 2014. The epically intimate season features works by famous and premiering playwrights that are cherished by New York and local critics while bringing diverse plays to the stage. Subscription packages and single ticket sales are available by visitingperformancenetwork.org or by calling 734-663-0681.

'Sing out, Louise!!'. This phrase has been part of theatre lexicon for more than 50 years. Almost having become an inside joke, and used by directors, choreographers and actors to coax performers into giving it their all. Throughout GYPSY's storied history, it has been produced numerous times across this country; the 'greatest American musical' is also often referred to as a 'perfect' musical. And Maine State Music Theatre's current production of GYPSY is just that: perfect.