Graham Smith News

This season, TheatreFIRST gets intimate. While our home at the Live Oak Theater is being renovated, this season will be held at our new black box space, The Waterfront Playhouse at 2020 Fourth St. in Berkeley.

Christina Gorman's a?oeRoan @ The Gatesa?? currently in its world premiere production by Central Works at the Berkeley City Club could not be timelier. Lest that sound like a vapid platitude, in this instance it is well deserved. In a taut 70 minutes, it explores themes of online and IRL privacy, pernicious access to personal data, and responsibility to one's partner vs. one's employer vs. the greater good.

People's Light wraps up summer with a music-infused production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town. Long after it won the 1938 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Wilder's masterwork remains one of the most popular plays of all time, reminding audiences across the country that there is beauty in the ordinary.

Central Works summer season continues with Christina Gorman's political thriller, Roan @ The Gates, opening July 20 and running through August 18 (previews July 18 & 19). The production is directed by M. Graham Smith, positing in Gorman's words "If our government can access information from your present or your past, they can use it to get you to do what they want. What's being collected and stored is not information, it's leverage."

Central Works summer season continues with Christina Gorman's political thriller, Roan @ The Gates, opening July 20 and running through August 18 (previews July 18 & 19). The production is directed by M. Graham Smith, positing in Gorman's words "If our government can access information from your present or your past, they can use it to get you to do what they want.  What's being collected and stored is not information, it's leverage."

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) Literary Manager Allie Moss announced today the recipients of ArtShare-A.C.T.'s community space-sharing initiative-for the 2019-20 season. Created in 2012, ArtShare provides free performance space for independent artists and small to mid-sized companies without permanent performance spaces who would benefit from being in residence at A.C.T.'s Costume Shop Theater (1117 Market St.), A.C.T.'s 49-seat black-box venue. A.C.T.'s 2019-20 ArtShare season is made possible by generous support from the Zellerbach Family Foundation.

People's Light presents For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday by two-time Pulitzer Prize Finalist Sarah Ruhl, featuring an all-star cast of Philadelphia favorites and directed by People's Light Executive Artistic Director Abigail Adams.

People's Light presents For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday by two-time Pulitzer Prize Finalist Sarah Ruhl, featuring an all-star cast of Philadelphia favorites and directed by People's Light Executive Artistic Director Abigail Adams. Family is at the heart of Sarah Ruhl's imaginative and lyrical comedy-drama. Five middle-aged siblings crack jokes, argue politics, and mourn the death of their father over a bottle of Jameson. Ann, the eldest, reminisces about her star turn as Peter Pan at the local children's theatre fifty years ago, and leads her siblings on one final journey to Neverland, as they confront growing old and growing up. Tickets range from $30-$50. To purchase, call 610.644.3500 or visit www.peopleslight.org. People's Light is located at 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, PA 19355.  

PlayGround concludes the 25th season of its celebrated Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series with a special evening of environmental-inspired plays as part of the 5th annual PLANET EARTH ARTS NEW PLAY FESTIVAL on Monday, April 1, 8 PM at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. The topic for the April 1 program (rescheduled from the previously announced March 18 date) is "BORDERS, ISLANDS & WALLS". Members of the 2018-19 PlayGround Writers Company have just five days to generate their original ten-minute plays inspired by the topic. The top six scripts will each receive an hour-and-a-half rehearsal and a professional script-in-hand staged reading at Berkeley Rep on April 1.

Next up in Town Hall Theatre 2018/19 "Lost & Found" Season is the California Premiere of Melissa James Gibson's BROOKLYN BRIDGE, a play full of heart and humor for the whole family.  BROOKLYN BRIDGE will have 12 performances, including two previews, February 28 through March 23, 2019, at Town Hall Theatre Company, 3535 School Street, in Lafayette, CA.  Tickets are $18 - $30, and are available through the Box Office at (925) 283-1557 or online at www.TownHallTheatre.com. 

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, National New Play Network, and Stage Directors & Choreographers Foundation have announced open applications for the fifth round of fellows of the National Directors Fellowship (NDF). Applications from early-career professional directors will be accepted online January 14 at 11am EST to January 18 at 11:59EST at the O'Neill website (www.theoneill.org/ndf).

PlayGround continues its 25th season of its celebrated Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series with the first 2019 Monday readings on Monday, January 21, 8 PM at Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Roda Theatre. The topic for January's round, announced last Friday, is "ADAPT A FAIRY TALE". Members of the 2018-19 PlayGround Writers Company have just four-and-a-half days to generate their original ten-minute plays inspired by the topic. The top six scripts will each receive an hour-and-a-half rehearsal and a professional script-in-hand staged reading at Berkeley Rep on January 21. PlayGround writers in Los Angeles are working simultaneously on the same prompt and their finalists will be presented at Hollywood's Broadwater Mainstage (home of Sacred Fools Theatre Company) on January 14. Tickets are $15-$30 and 3-admission flex subscriptions are just $60 ($45 for 25-and-Unders). For tickets or more information, visit http://playground-sf.org/monday.

Magic Theatre (Loretta Greco, Artistic Director and Jaimie Mayer, Managing Director) has announced dates for 2018's Martha Heasley Cox Virgin Play Festival, which will take place December 9 - 14, 2018.  The public play readings kick off on Sunday, December 9 at 4:00 p.m. with THE FOUR CORNERS, a new play by Ashlin Halfnight (Magic Theatre's THE RESTING PLACE), followed by Ricardo Perez Gonzalez's DON'T EAT THE MANGOS at 7:00 pm.

PlayGround continues its 25th season of its celebrated Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series on Monday, November 26, 8 PM at Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Roda Theatre. The topic for November's round, announced this morning, is "FALL DOWN, GET UP". Members of the 2018-19 PlayGround Writers Company have just four-and-a-half days to generate their original ten-minute plays inspired by the topic. The top six scripts will each receive an hour-and-a-half rehearsal and a professional script-in-hand staged reading at Berkeley Rep on November 26. PlayGround writers in Los Angeles are working simultaneously on the same prompt and their finalists will be presented at Hollywood's Broadwater Mainstage (home of Sacred Fools Theatre Company) on November 12.  Tickets are $15-$30 and 5-admission series subscriptions are just $75 ($50 for 25-and-Unders). For tickets or more information, visit http://playground-sf.org/monday.

"A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. Look with thine ears see how yond justice rails upon yon simple thief. Hark, in thine ear change places and, handy-dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief." - William Shakespeare

On September 1, 2018 at 8pm, Pacific Opera Project (POP) returns to the newly renovated Ford Theatres for a thrilling fully-staged outdoor production of Bizet's Carmen. Following the tremendous success of Abduction from the Seraglio at the Ford in 2016, POP will put on a one-night-only production for its largest audience yet: 1200 seats. Directed and designed by Artistic Director Josh Shaw, Carmen will be conducted by Music Director Michael Powers, choreographed by Amy Lawrence, and costumed by Maggie Green.

A house is made of bricks and mortar but what makes a Home?

Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT) is proud to announce CPT's fifth annual Station Hope event on Saturday, May 5, from 6:30 - 10:00pm on the grounds of St. John's Episcopal Church, 2600 Church Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio. Station Hope is a jubilant community event celebrating Cleveland's social justice heritage and exploring contemporary struggles for freedom and equity. Engage with over 250 artists and 50+ community and professional arts & culture organizations from across Northeast Ohio as they envision, interrogate, and seek out hope on the grounds of Cleveland's first authenticated Underground Railroad site, St. John's Episcopal Church. Audiences explore the historic properties while viewing works of theatre, music, storytelling, and dance inspired by the most important issues of our time. Station Hope is free, family-friendly, and open to all.

Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT) is proud to announce CPT's fifth annual Station Hope event on Saturday, May 5, from 6:30 - 10:00pm on the grounds of St. John's Episcopal Church, 2600 Church Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio. Station Hope is a jubilant community event celebrating Cleveland's social justice heritage and exploring contemporary struggles for freedom and equity. Engage with over 250 artists and 50+ community and professional arts & culture organizations from across Northeast Ohio as they envision, interrogate, and seek out hope on the grounds of Cleveland's first authenticated Underground Railroad site, St. John's Episcopal Church. Audiences explore the historic properties while viewing works of theatre, music, storytelling, and dance inspired by the most important issues of our time. Station Hope is free, family-friendly, and open to all.