Michael Lopez News

Play On Shakespeare today announces an expansive list of compelling actors and dynamic directors confirmed to participate in the Play on! Festival, presented in association with Classic Stage Company (CSC) and Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF). Play on! features 39 readings of new, work-in-progress translations of Shakespeare's plays into contemporary modern English by some of today's most exciting playwrights-May 29-June 30 at the Lynn F. Angelson Theater at CSC (136 E. 13th Street). In 2015, Oregon Shakespeare Festival launched an ambitious 39-play, three-year commissioning project, Play on!, tasking 36 playwrights-more than half of whom were women and playwrights of color, each paired with a dramaturg-to translate Shakespeare's canon in celebration of the enduring impact of the Bard's work. Supported by a generous grant from the Hitz Foundation and inspired by long-time patron Dave Hitz's passion for Shakespeare, the project was and continues to be led by Lue Morgan Douthit. For more information, visit playonfestival.org.

Boys & Girls Clubs of America held the annual Pacific Youth of the Year Celebration on May 9, 2019 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. Club alumnus Mario Lopez received the prestigious Champion of Youth Award, and Sabrina McFarland from Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco, was named the 2019 Pacific Youth of the Year. Television and radio personality, Rocsi Diaz was emcee. The evening fundraiser featured vocal performances by Club members from Boys & Girls Clubs of Venice, Boys & Girls Clubs of Burbank, and a dance performance by Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Conejo Valley.  John Lynch, General Manager of the San Francisco 49ers, Steve Layton, Principal and Co-Founder of LBA Realty, and Byron Roth, Chairman and CEO of ROTH Capital Partners, co-chaired the event. Celebration attendees included Lance Bass, Jake T. Austin, Anthony Lanier II, and Camila Banus.

Vanity Fair, William Thackery's 19th century exploration of female conventions and ambition as seen through the discerning eyes of Kate Hamill (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park) is a delight for the eyes and a thoughtful female perspective on gender roles that continue to evolve today. With its sparkling cast of seven actors playing dozens of roles and first-rate direction by Jessica Stone, Thackery's carnival-like satire of British society portrayed through the cunning, strong-willed Becky Sharp is as contemporary today as it was shocking in its day.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) Artistic Director Pam MacKinnon announced the full cast and creative team for Vanity Fair, acclaimed playwright Kate Hamill's rollicking new stage adaptation of William Thackeray's classic 19th-century novel that pops with 21st-century spirit. Ambitious Becky Sharp may not have been born with wealth or status, but she's determined to attain both-at any cost. Armed with fierce wit and calculating charm, Becky forges her own path through London's high society, dealing herself into a game she was never invited to play. Displaying the celebrated audacity and verve that she brought to her adaptation of Sense & Sensibility, Hamill conjures an inventive and lively period drama that combines a fierce contemporary edge with the theatricality of Victorian Burlesque.

Mean Girls, Big Little Lies, Heathers, Broad City, Thelma and Louise, Parks and Recreation, Sex and the City…These are some of the better known vehicles for female friendship that inhabit our pop culture universe. Paling in comparison to the numerous portrayals of male friendships and "bromances", too often these relationships center on competition or jealousy, on getting the guy. Very few take a deeper, more comprehensive dive into the complexity of female companionship. Even fewer are the product of female authors, directors, playwrights, etc.

Following the success of her Sense and Sensibility at the Folger Theatre in 2016, Wall Street Journal's Playwright of the Year 2017 Kate Hamill, returns to D.C. with her adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's classic novel Vanity Fair. Hamill's vibrant and colorful tale about society's foibles is a co-production with San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater. Directed by Jessica Stone and featuring Rebekah Brockman as Becky Sharp, the production will run at the Lansburgh Theatre (450 7th Street, NW) from February 26 through March 31, 2019.

Henry V is the first Shakespeare production, and the second play overall, in Hartford Stage's 55-year history to be staged in the round. In addition to Grush, the ensemble cast - comprised of half men and half women - features Karen Aldridge as Exeter, Miles Anderson as Pistol, Kate Forbes as the Constable of France and Burgundy, Peter Francis James as the Chorus and Sir Thomas Erpingham, Felicity Jones Latta as the Archbishop of Canterbury, Nym and Alice, and Baron Vaughn as Fluellen and Mistress Quickly. Hartford Stage Associate Artistic Director Elizabeth Williamson will helm the production, which marks her Shakespeare directorial debut for the Tony Award-winning theatre.

Check out rehearsal photos for Henry V at Hartford Stage below!

Hartford Stage Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak and Managing Director Michael Stotts announced today the cast and creative team for Henry V, which will be performed Thursday, October 11, through Sunday, November 11. Stephen Louis Grushportrays the English king.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) (Artistic Director James C. Nicola and Managing Director Jeremy Blocker) celebrated opening night of LIGHT SHINING IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE

On the heels of her acclaimed production of Hadestown on the NYTW stage and her Broadway debut with Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, three-time Obie Award winner Rachel Chavkin returns to New York Theatre Workshop with Caryl Churchill's incisive drama LIGHT SHINING IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE. In 1647 England, power is shifting and, amid the chaos and confusion, revolutionaries across the country are dreaming of a new future.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) (Artistic Director James C. Nicola and Managing Director Jeremy Blocker) announced today a one-week extension for LIGHT SHINING IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, by NYTW Usual Suspect and five-time Obie Award winner Caryl Churchill (Love and Information; A Number) directed by NYTW Usual Suspect, Tony Award nominee, & three-time Obie Award winner Rachel Chavkin (Hadestown; Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812). LIGHT SHINING IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, NYTW's eighth collaboration with Churchill, began previews on Wednesday, April 18, 2018, and will open Monday, May 7 at New York Theatre Workshop (79 E. 4th Street New York, NY 10003). LIGHT SHINING IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, which was originally scheduled to close on Sunday, May 27, will now run through Sunday, June 3, 2018.

It's the hard-knock life! Garden Theatre has announced today the cast and creative team of the hit Broadway Tony Award-winning musical Annie, based on Little Orphan Annie, with book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse, and lyrics by Martin Charnin. Directed by Steve MacKinnon, with choreography by Spencer Morrow, performances begin Today, November 25, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. with a limited run through Today, December 23, 2017.

It's the hard-knock life! Garden Theatre has announced today the cast and creative team of the hit Broadway Tony Award-winning musical Annie, based on Little Orphan Annie, with book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse, and lyrics by Martin Charnin. Directed by Steve MacKinnon, with choreography by Spencer Morrow, performances begin Saturday, November 25, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. with a limited run through Saturday, December 23, 2017.

DISNEY'S NEWSIES runs at Orlando Repertory Theatre through October 22, and the critics are weighing in!

Disney's NEWSIES at the Orlando Repertory Theatre runs until October 22!

Orlando Repertory Theatre (Orlando REP) will open its 2017 - 2018 season with the Drama Desk and Tony Award-winning Disney's Newsies The Musical (September 5 - October 22, 2017). This production is presented by Orange County Arts & Cultural Affairs, Disney, and supporting sponsor Lean Green DAD. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast in character below!

Orlando Repertory Theatre (Orlando REP) will open its 2017 - 2018 season with the Drama Desk and Tony Award-winning Disney's Newsies The Musical (September 5 - October 22, 2017). This production is presented by Orange County Arts & Cultural Affairs, Disney, and supporting sponsor Lean Green DAD. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast in character below!

Theater Breaking Through Barriers celebrates the 50th anniversary of The Ridiculous Theatrical Company with the first Off-Broadway revival of THE ARTIFICIAL JUNGLE by Charles Ludlam. It is directed by Everett Quinton, who co-starred in the 1986 premiere and was the Artistic Director of The Ridiculous from 1987-1997. Performances run through July 1 at Theatre Row's Clurman Theatre. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Theater Breaking Through Barriers, who scored a hit last summer with Samuel D. Hunter's The Healing, celebrates the 50th anniversary of The Ridiculous Theatrical Company with the first Off-Broadway revival of THE ARTIFICIAL JUNGLE by Charles Ludlam.