Langston Hughes News

Ravinia has annoucned the following season events.

The Company Members of Labyrinth Theater Company, the award-winning, downtown ensemble, has announced its NEWYORKNEWYORK Festival, a week-long festival of free readings and discussions curated around different New York themes - iconic playwrights, vibrant cultures, urban ideals, and more - which will culminate in a marathon weekend of forty-eight straight hours of round-the-clock theater at the Bank Street Theatre (155 Bank Street).

The Harlem Resonance Festival (April 2 - May 11) is Symphony Space's second annual multi-disciplinary thematic spring festival, following last year's celebration of Gertrude Stein's Paris.

The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music's (CCM) year-long Kurt Weill Festival resumes this month with a dynamic new production of the iconic musical The Threepenny Opera. Composed by Kurt Weill with book and lyrics by dramatist Bertolt Brecht (adapted into English by Marc Blitzstein), The Threepenny Opera weaves the riveting tale of notorious bandit and womanizer Macheath ('Mack the Knife') and his seedy companions in London's underworld. Weill's innovative score invented a new form of musical theatre, leading the way for such shows as Chicago and Cabaret.

The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music's (CCM) year-long Kurt Weill Festival resumes this month with a dynamic new production of the iconic musical The Threepenny Opera. Composed by Kurt Weill with book and lyrics by dramatist Bertolt Brecht (adapted into English by Marc Blitzstein), The Threepenny Opera weaves the riveting tale of notorious bandit and womanizer Macheath ('Mack the Knife') and his seedy companions in London's underworld. Weill's innovative score invented a new form of musical theatre, leading the way for such shows as Chicago and Cabaret.

Amas Musical Theatre will celebrate its 44th Year with a Gala evening on Monday, April 1st, 2013 featuring a special concert by two-time Tony Nominee Christine Andreas with Martin Silvestri at the piano, titled LOVE IS GOOD. The event will honor legendary producer Eric Krebs with The Rosie Award and will take place at the Baruch Performing Arts Center, East 25th Street between Lexington and 3rd Avenues beginning at 6:30pm. The evening's host will be Broadway and television star Dan Lauria (Lombardi, A Christmas Story, The Wonder Years), and the emcee will be Tony and Olivier Award Nominee Tony Sheldon (Priscilla Queen of the Desert).

A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry's drama, will extend its performance schedule through March 9th at Palm Beach Dramaworks' Don & Ann Brown Theatre (201 Clematis Street). The production will play the following additional performances: Thursday 3/7 at 8pm, Friday 3/8 at 8pm and Saturday 3/9 at 2 & 8pm.

At last year's Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs (MAC) Awards, two of the big winners were T. Oliver Reid (photo left) for Male Debut and Eric Michael Gillett for Major Artist, Male (and both could very likely be MAC nominees again this year). Almost a year later, two of New York cabaret's leading men performed new shows one night apart at 54 Below; Reid on February 6 with Drop Me Off in Harlem, and Gillett the next night with Careless Rhapsody: An Evening Dedicated to the Lyrics of Lorenz Hart. Ironically, what the shows had in common--besides being a fairly good fit of material to singer--was that the majority of their sets featured songs written in the 1930s but in very different styles. With Reid it was the jazz, swing and blues of Harlem; with Gillette it was the romantic Broadway musical sensibility of Hart's lyrics (paired with the timeless melodies of Richard Rodgers). While neither Reid's 'Harlem,' nor Gillett's 'Hart' were stirring or spectacular shows, they were both solid and entertaining enough that both could be nominated for BroadwayWorld.com Awards in 2013.

Lynn Manning, the new Artistic Director for Watts Village Theater Company (WVTC) has announced that the company is on-track to meet the high quality bar set by the company's strategic plan and will offer a full season of theater and performance for the first time in years.

This one-night, two-show concert is a celebration of jazz and blues innovators from Nina Simone to Charlie Parker who have inspired Denise La Grassa to write about social issues. The one-hour collage of songs and poetry, including a tribute to Langston Hughes, explores how African-American music of the 1920's and 1960's was a direct reflection of the immense social changes happening in those decades, and conversely, how jazz and blues music written and performed today has lost that connection.

Jeux de Mots trans.WORDPLAY presents FOODACTS, a culinary stage adventure. Barbara Bosch directs a cast of seven including Robert Allan, Judith Barcroft* (Bway: Dinner at Eight, Betrayal, Elephant Man, Plaza Suite), Gwen Eyster, Peter Husovsky*, Jaclyn Mitgang, Mark Ringer, and Antonio Edwards Suarez* (Bway: American Buffalo - Leguizamo understudy; Off -Bway: Chaucer in Rome - Lincoln Center). FOODACTS will run at the Lion Theatre on Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Streeet (bet. 9th and 10th Avenues), New York City for sixteen performances, tonight, February 6-24, 2013. *Member, Actors' Equity Association.

On February 1, Watts Village Theater Company (WVTC) welcomed back its co-founder Lynn Manning - an award-winning playwright, actor, and poet - who now serves as the nonprofit's Interim Artistic Director.

Perhaps one of the greatest achievements of theatre is its ability to shed light on an issue or people that the audience may not be wholly familiar with. The Harlem Renaissance is the well-known and highly lauded period of time when African-American artists became exposed to and appreciated by mainstream audiences. The Harlem Renaissance introduced Americans and even the world to the soul and heart of African-Americans, showcasing humanity and beginning to dismantle the stigma of animalism, livestock, and even chattel. Most of us are familiar with the celebrated heroes of the movement, like Langston Hughes and W.E.B. Du Bois; yet, we are wholly unfamiliar with W.E.B. Du Bois' daughter, Yolande Du Bois. We are even less cognizant of her marriage to poet Countee Cullen.

Hands down Tyrese Gibson is one of the hardest working men in entertainment. After a stellar year which kicked off with his literary debut How To Get Out Of Your Own Way which went on to become a New York Times Bestseller, Gibson reprised his roles in two of tinsel town's biggest franchises 'Fast Five' and 'Transformers: Dark Side of The Moon'

This one-night, two-show concert is a celebration of jazz and blues innovators from Nina Simone to Charlie Parker who have inspired Denise La Grassa to write about social issues. The one-hour collage of songs and poetry, including a tribute to Langston Hughes, explores how African-American music of the 1920's and 1960's was a direct reflection of the immense social changes happening in those decades, and conversely, how jazz and blues music written and performed today has lost that connection.