H. Smith News

As BroadwayWorld sadly reported in July, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, actor, and musician, Sam Shepard passed away after a battle with ALS, but we have not yet seen the last of his work. Drawn from his transformative last days, Knopf will release his final book, Spy of the First Person, on December 5, 2017.

This fall, The Frick Collection will present Veronese in Murano: Two Venetian Renaissance Masterpieces Restored, a focused exhibition on two recently conserved and rarely seen paintings by the celebrated artist Paolo Veronese (1528–1588), Saint Jerome in the Wilderness and Saint Peter Visiting Saint Agatha in Prison.

David H. Smith and David Morgan have created a guide for both beginning and seasoned investors on how to effectively invest in precious metals, mining related stocks, and how to earn larger profits in 'Second Chance: How to Make and Keep Big Money from the Coming Gold and Silver Shock-Wave.'

The latest instalment of LET THERE BE LIGHT, our series showcasing some of Britain's best theatrical lighting designers, focuses on Lucy Carter. A regular collaborator with Wayne McGregor, as well as numerous other leading choreographers and dance companies, she's also worked on operas and plays, including Husbands & Sons at the National Theatre and Oil, currently playing at the Almeida.

You have to admire the grand scope of Ella Hickson's long-gestating new play, which grapples with urgent ideas about this vital but declining resource amidst audacious magic realist time travel. Stretching from 19th-century Cornwall to a dystopian future, it's DH Lawrence meets Black Mirror, by way of David Hare - anchored by insightful deconstruction of the mother/daughter relationship. If it becomes unwieldy in places, it's still a rich and absorbing piece of work, and an all-too-rare female odyssey.

Today, the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond announced that Stephanie Smith will join its growing team as Chief Curator. The non-collecting institution, dedicated to presenting the art of today, will unveil its new building designed by Steven Holl Architects in fall 2017. Smith, who is currently Chief Curator at the Art Gallery of Ontario, will work closely with ICA Director Lisa Freiman to help set the new institution's artistic vision and create a dynamic inaugural program. Smith will join the ICA in November 2016.

???????Geva Theatre Center unveils its line-up for the Festival of New Theatre 2016 to be held in the Fielding Stage from October 12 - October 23. FONT 2016 is a vibrant and innovative mix of new works by some of the most exciting playwrights from across the country and around the corner and is part of Geva's ongoing commitment to developing and producing new work for the American theatre. 

Guido Cagnacci was one of the most eccentric painters of seventeenth-century Italy, infamous for his unconventional art and lifestyle. His works, mostly religious in subject, are known for their unabashed, often unsettling eroticism, and his biography is no less intriguing. Though his pictorial style was influenced by some of the most important Italian painters of the time-the Carracci, Guercino, and Guido Reni-Cagnacci developed an individual and immediately recognizable artistic language.

The reviews are in and COUNTRY OF RED AZALEAS, the new novel by internationally renowned author Domnica Radulescu is an artistic triumph.  

Another treat in the midst of cold weather for Houstonians- Portman & Wright's THE LITTLE PRINCE, the second opera in HGO's holiday series. The two act opera, sung entirely in English, is based on French literary giant Antoine de Saint-Exupery's fantastical novella of the same name. A pilot, hopelessly stranded in the desert, makes the acquaintance of a Little Prince and, in their journey to safety, the two meet a cast of colorful characters and spark up an unlikely friendship.

This autumn, October 7, 2015, through January 10, 2016, The Frick Collection celebrates the Italian master with Andrea del Sarto: The Renaissance Workshop in Action, the first major U.S. monographic exhibition devoted to his art, centering on his working process and the complex role that drawing played in it.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced additional major gifts for the Kennedy Center Expansion Project, the institution's first new construction since opening in 1971.

Houston, August 17, 2015—Houston Grand Opera's (HGO) 2015–16 season showcases the vibrant and diverse artistic mix that marks HGO as a leading 21st-century American opera company: Wagner's Siegfried, the third installment of La Fura dels Baus's imaginative Ring cycle featuring a new generation of Wagnerians; the world premiere of Prince of Players by eminent American composer Carlisle Floyd, the Lynn Wyatt Great Artist for 2015–16; Dvoák's fairy tale rarity Rusalka; a holiday revival of family favorite The Little Prince from the award-winning composer Rachel Portman and librettist Nicholas Wright; a new production of The Marriage of Figaro; a new-to-Houston Eugene Onegin; a beloved core production, Tosca; and the Houston debut of Broadway sensation Rob Ashford's take on the classic musical Carousel. Through its community collaboration program HGOco, the company will present two additional world premieres: O Columbia, a chamber opera by composer Gregory Spears and librettist Royce Vavrek that examines the past, present, and future of the American spirit of exploration; and The Root of the Wind is Water, a chamber opera by composer David Hanlon and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann about the impact of hurricanes on the Texas Gulf coast.

St. Petersburg City Theatre presents SUMMER SHORTS, its 2nd annual salute to playwrights and the creative art of one-act play composition. Production Dates are this weekend, August 14 - 16, 2015.

This autumn, October 7, 2015, through January 10, 2016, The Frick Collection celebrates the Italian master with Andrea del Sarto: The Renaissance Workshop in Action, the first major U.S. monographic exhibition devoted to his art, centering on his working process and the complex role that drawing played in it.

Show off your Broadway knowledge!

Come with us on a journey into the Deep Dark Wood when The Gruffalo's Child begins her winter journey in the Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) from 29 September to 3 October 2015.

St. Petersburg City Theatre presents SUMMER SHORTS, its 2nd annual salute to playwrights and the creative art of one-act play composition. Production Dates are August 14 - 16, 2015.

'The Problem of God' (published by Xlibris UK) was born out of author S.H. Smith's desire to encourage believers to think more deeply about their faith. It is a book that explores the philosophy of religion with special reference to Christian doctrine.