Gertrude Stein News

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. 'Once' and 'On Your Feet!' arrive, Kooman and Dimond try one out, 'Loving Repeating' returns, 'The Fantasticks' grows its orchestra, local 'Spider Woman' and 'Idiot' productions, two new works about the deaths of pop musicians, and the real-life death of PJ Paparelli.

Nancy Rhodes, artistic director of Encompass New Opera Theatre, announced today that cabaret and Broadway star Jason Graae will be the featured performer at the Encompass Jazz Cabaret Gala in Manhattan on June 29th, 2015. 

Kokandy Productions is pleased to announce casting for LOVING REPEATING, a musical tribute to the life and loves of celebrated American author Gertrude Stein. Using Stein's own works as lyrics, LOVING REPEATING is adapted by Frank Galati (The Grapes of Wrath, The Accidental Tourist), with music by Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime, Once on This Island, Seussical) direction by Co-Artistic Director Allison Hendrix, music direction by Resident Music Director Kory Danielson and choreography by Andrea Louise Soule. LOVING REPEATING will play July 18 - August 30, 2015 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago. Tickets are currently available at www.kokandyproductions.com, by calling (773) 975-8150 or in person at the Theater Wit Box Office. The press opening is Monday, July 20 at 7:30 pm.

Kaliyuga Arts presents a contemporary re-telling of the first great work of world literature, the ancient Babylonian poem THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH at Bridge Street Theatre, June 11-21, 2015.  The production, directed and designed by John Sowle, features actor Steven Patterson in a virtuoso solo performance.

Following critically acclaimed workshop presentations, Steven Carl McCasland's plays return to NYC in a month-long festival celebrating the young playwright. Together with The Clarion Theatre, they are presenting five plays (which started May 6th, 2015) with a company of actors performing in repertory. Actress Kim Rogers, who tackles roles in 3 of the 5 plays, kept a photo journal of her first three-show day. Scroll down to check it out!

After a year of unprecedented success in bringing the best theatre to the Channel District, Stageworks announced what it deems 'our most ambitious season,' unveiling plans for 2015-16 which include a world premiere and a guest appearance by John Pinckard, a two-time Tony Award winner and co-producer of the critically-acclaimed Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder.

La MaMa will present the world-premiere of THIS IS MARY BROWN - a solo play written and performed by Winsome Brown - with preview performances starting June 11 prior to an official press opening June 14 at La MaMa's First Floor Theatre (74 E. 4 St.) in Manhattan. Brad Rouse directs the production, which runs through June 28. Following its debut at La MaMa, THIS IS MARY BROWN will travel to Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August.

Compared by critics to Kafka and Joyce, H. G. Adler is quickly gaining recognition as a key figure in 20th-century fiction. Adler is author of The Wall, a fictional account of his life as a survivor of the Holocaust; and Theresienstadt 1941-1945: The Face of a Coerced Community, the first scholarly monograph to describe the particulars of a single concentration camp, to be published in a new translation in October 2015. The Jewish Museum will present H.G. Adler: A Survivor's Dual Reverie, an author talk featuring Daniel Mendelsohn, Peter Filkins, Ruth Franklin, and H.G. Adler's son Jeremy Adler, tonight, May 7 at 7pm. Edwin Frank will serve as moderator for the discussion. This program is co-presented with the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature, May 4-10, 2015.

LITTLE WARS, a new play exploring the twenty year relationship between one of history's most famous same-sex couples, is being presented this month at New York City's Clarion Theatre. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

If you love absurd little satires, whimsical period pieces, and female-centric art (or you just have a healthy, if unusual, appreciation for the egg), then 5 LESBIANS EATING A QUICHE is for you.

Stephanie Blythe--who's at the Met these days singing Baba the Turk in Stravinsky's THE RAKE'S PROGRESS--“abhors labels.” That's why, despite a cavernous voice that has become even deeper with age and could easily be termed mezzo or contralto, she tells me to call her “a girl singer.”

Beginning today, May 1, two walls of the Jewish Museum's lobby will be filled with over 30 new portraits by the London-based painter Chantal Joffe. This body of work explores Jewish women of the twentieth century, focusing on those who made major contributions to art, literature, philosophy, and politics - including Diane Arbus, Nancy Spero, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Susan Sontag, and Hannah Arendt. Portraits of these women and others will be hung salon-style across two walls of the lobby. Using Walls, Floors, and Ceilings: Chantal Joffe will be on view from May 1 through October 18, 2015.

What ever happened to Abigail Williams? Combining a provocative parable of sin and redemption with a good, old-fashioned ghost story, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Carrie, Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark, Fox's Glee) explores what might have come next for the real-life Puritan villainess at the center of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. ICT artistic director caryn desai [sic] directs the West Coast premiere of Abigail/1702, opening tonight, May 1 at International City Theatre in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center. Two low-priced previews are set for April 29 and 30.

Beginning May 1, two walls of the Jewish Museum's lobby will be filled with 34 new portraits by the London-based painter Chantal Joffe. This body of work explores Jewish women of the twentieth century, focusing on those who made major contributions to art, literature, philosophy, and politics - including Diane Arbus, Nancy Spero, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Susan Sontag, and Hannah Arendt.

After recently concluding its 2015 Cabaret Trilogy, Boiling Point Players Theatre prepares for its main stage production of 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche by Andrew Hobgood and Evan Linder. This delicious drama, winner of the 2012 NYC International Fringe Festival for Best Overall Production, spotlights five fascinating females of the Susan B. Anthony Society for the Sisters of Gertrude Stein, a group of widows who together celebrate feminism and their united savor of quiche. When the sisters assemble in 1956 for their annual quiche-tasting competition, they encounter issues amongst and around themselves, challenging the foundations of their lives, their society, and the world as they know it. Bringing comedy, tragedy and excitement to the stage, 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche promises a dynamic experience for its captive audiences.