Kathleen Akerley News

The Hub Theatre will present a World Premiere musical, THE MAGI from critically-acclaimed and award winning playwright Helen Murray Pafumi with music by award-winning singer/songwriter Eli Pafumi.

Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, the third and final installment of Neil Simon's acclaimed autobiographical trilogy finds Eugene Jerome and his older brother Stanley trying to break into the world of show business.

Comedy. Shakespeare. Theatre. Fear is it all and then some.

Jazzercize is out. Zumba is in. But instructor Kelsea Wiggan is not going down without a fight. Armed with pep, a petition, and her conflict-averse co-instructor, Kelsea is determined to keep Jazzercise alive at the Chikatawnee Valley Community Center.

As the wheel spins and two sisters clomp around the board with their plastic cars playing the game of LIFE, we recognize Renee's own life has much higher stakes ... and she is not necessarily winning at her attempt. She has recently lost custody of her young son and has had to face her ex- at a school disciplinary meeting. The tumblers of whiskey clue us in to deeper problems. Yet Renee herself is oblivious to how pain has marked her, how relationships shaped her, and how opportunities eluded her.

D.C.'s ambitious Women's Voices Theater Festival this fall involves more than 50 regional theaters premiering what's billed as the largest number of original works by female writers in history. It has begun, humbly, in the modest Callan Theatre at Catholic University, where patrons have to led through a couple of doors and up some stairs to their seats.

Tony Award-winning playwright Lisa Kron will be a featured guest and participant at the launch party of the Women's Voices Theater Festival on September 8 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The invitation-only event kicks off the beginning of the Festival, an unprecedented collaboration among professional theater companies that includes the presentation of more than 50 world-premiere productions of work by female playwrights, taking place this September and October in the nation's capital region. The launch party features a creative conversation between Kron and National Public Radio's Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg focused on gender parity in the arts in the Museum's Performance Hall, followed by a celebratory party and toast to officially declare the start of the Festival.

Sideshow Theatre Company concludes its 2014-15 season with the sci-fi fable CHALK by ensemble member Walt McGough, directed by ensemble member Megan A. Smith, to be presented in a rolling world premiere with Boston's Fresh Ink Theatre. CHALK will play May 24 - June 28, 2015 at Victory Gardens Richard Christiansen Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago.  Tickets are available at www.victorygardens.org, by calling (773) 871-3000 or in person at the Victory Gardens Box Office. The press opening is Thursday, May 28 at 7:30 pm.

Sideshow Theatre Company concludes its 2014-15 season with the sci-fi fable CHALK by ensemble member Walt McGough, directed by ensemble member Megan A. Smith, to be presented in a rolling world premiere with Boston's Fresh Ink Theatre. CHALK will play May 24 - June 28, 2015 at Victory Gardens Richard Christiansen Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago. Tickets are available at www.victorygardens.org, by calling (773) 871-3000 or in person at the Victory Gardens Box Office. The press opening is Thursday, May 28 at 7:30 pm.

Sideshow Theatre Company concludes its 2014-15 season with the sci-fi fable CHALK by ensemble member Walt McGough, directed by ensemble member Megan A. Smith, to be presented in a rolling world premiere with Boston's Fresh Ink Theatre. CHALK will play May 24 - June 28, 2015 at Victory Gardens Richard Christiansen Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago. Tickets go on sale Thursday, April 16, 2015 at www.victorygardens.org, by calling (773) 871-3000 or in person at the Victory Gardens Box Office. The press opening is Thursday, May 28 at 7:30 pm.

Hope Operas, DC's only serialized theatre festival, returns this October with five BRAND NEW SHOWS. Join us Monday nights in October at the Comedy Spot as we present five original plays in ten- to fifteen-minute episodes with the theme District of the Damned! Our 2014 season is filled with thrills and chills to satisfy your inner ghoul. Each week, we'll take you from one hilarious horror to the next. And each show competes for the crowd's support to win top dollar for our worthy causes! Even though there's a new episode of each show every week don't worry if you miss a week, at the top of each episode there's a recap of the show so far.

As the strange and sharp-turning story unfolds, it becomes clear that there are eerie similarities between the regime of the genocidal dictator and the living arrangements of these six men. They are a group of urban creatures who have moved out into the country to live a self-sufficient life. They live in a supposedly egalitarian commune that actually has strong class-based divides. And all isn't as it seems to be.

Theater Alliance announces its 12th Season with a lineup of three world premieres by award-winning playwrights, the return of the holiday classic Black Nativity, and the third annual Hothouse reading series that will develop four new pieces from DC based playwrights.

Round House Theatre and the New York based company, The One-Minute Play Festival (#1MPF) have created a dynamic partnership to present The 1st Washington, D.C. One-Minute Play Festival, to be performed July 12 - 14, 2014 at Round House Theatre. Following sold-out performances in more than 20 cities, this festival aims to celebrate local voices and investigate the local zeitgeist through this exciting process. Performances are at 8pm on Saturday, July 12, Sunday, July 13, and Monday, July 14.

Sideshow Theatre Company concludes its 2013-14 season with the world premiere of TYRANT by artistic associate Kathleen Akerley, co-directed by Kathleen Akerley and ensemble member Megan A. Smith, now playing through June 29, 2014 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago. Tickets for TYRANT are available at www.theaterwit.org, in person at the Theater Wit Box Office or by calling 773-975-8150. The press opening is Saturday, May 31 at 7:30 pm. Check out a first look below!

Sideshow Theatre Company concludes its 2013-14 season with the world premiere of TYRANT by Artistic Associate Kathleen Akerley, co-directed by Kathleen Akerley and Ensemble Member Megan A. Smith, playing today, May 24 - June 29, 2014 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago.

Sideshow Theatre Company concludes its 2013-14 season with the world premiere of TYRANT by Artistic Associate Kathleen Akerley, co-directed by Kathleen Akerley and Ensemble Member Megan A. Smith, playing May 24 - June 29, 2014 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago. Tickets for TYRANT are available at www.theaterwit.org, in person at the Theater Wit Box Office or by calling 773-975-8150. The press opening is Saturday, May 31 at 7:30 pm.

Sideshow Theatre Company concludes its 2013-14 season with the world premiere of TYRANT by Artistic Associate Kathleen Akerley, co-directed by Kathleen Akerley and Ensemble Member Megan A. Smith, playing May 24 - June 29, 2014 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago. Tickets for TYRANT go on sale Monday, March 24 at www.theaterwit.org, in person at the Theater Wit Box Office or by calling 773-975-8150.

Actors Repertory Theatre presents Ghosts, A Family Drama in Three Acts by Henrik Ibsen in a new translation by Lanford Wilson. Directed by Kathleen Akerley and stage managed by Toni Goldberg, the show runs: tonight, January 31, February 1, 6, 7, 8 at 8 PM and February 1, 2, 8, 9 at 3 PM.