Dianne McIntyre News

The Lincoln Center Theater production of August Wilson's JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE, directed by Bartlett Sher, opens on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre (111 West 44 Street) on Thursday, April 16 at 6:45pm. The cast features Marsha Stephanie Blake, Chad L. Coleman, Michael Cummings, Aunjanue Ellis, Danai Gurira, Andre Holland, Arliss Howard, Ernie Hudson, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Amari Rose Leigh and Roger Robinson.

Previews begin Thursday, March 19 for the Lincoln Center Theater production of August Wilson's JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE, directed by Bartlett Sher at the Belasco Theatre (111 West 44 Street). Opening night is set for Thursday, April 16 at 6:45 pm. The cast features Marsha Stephanie Blake, Chad L. Coleman, Michael Cummings, Aunjanue Ellis, Danai Gurira, Andre Holland, Arliss Howard, Ernie Hudson, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Amari Rose Leigh and Roger Robinson.

For the fourth consecutive year, The Cleveland Play House presents FusionFest, the only multidisciplinary performing arts festival at a regional theatre in the country, from April 29-May 10, 2009. The festival will offer a sampling of international and 'other-worldly' works, including an ancient Japanese art form, Dogugaeshi, by master puppeteer Basil Twist, performances by Charles Ross of his One-Man Star Wars Trilogy, and a world-premiere adaptation of Thorton Wilder's comic novel Heaven's My Destination, by Tony-award nominee Lee Blessing and commissioned by The Play House expressly for FusionFest with support from The Roe Green Foundation.

Returning to Cleveland after acclaimed performances in The Color Purple on Broadway and Gone with the Wind in London?s West End, NaTasha Yvette Williams takes the stage in the lead role of The Cleveland Play House production of Mahalia: A Gospel Musical. Since 1997, when she performed in The Play House production of (I Could) Stop On a Dime and Get Ten Cents Change, Williams has also played in several Broadway national tours and performed her gospel music all over the world. Kent Gash, Associate Artistic Director of The Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, GA, is directing Williams in this musical tribute to the most celebrated gospel singer of all time. Mahalia: A Gospel Musical begins in the Bolton Theatre at The Cleveland Play House on Friday, January 30 and runs through Sunday, February 22, 2009. Tickets are on sale now at The Cleveland Play House box office by calling 216.795.7000 ext 4 or online at www.clevelandplayhouse.com. Mahalia: A Gospel Musical is presented in promotional partnership with Time Warner Cable and The Kulus Foundation. The media sponsor for Mahalia: A Gospel Musical is 107.3 FM The Wave WNMV.

An array of stars will take part in the upcoming New Federal Theatre events, featuring the work of playwrights Ntozake Shange and Amiri Baraka