Norman Lear News

MUSE/IQUE, Pasadena's pioneering live music organization and counter-conventional orchestra, announces additional programming for its inaugural summer series at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens on June 30, July 28 and August 25, 2018. Performances will take place at the Brown Garden Lawn, adjacent to the Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art. Tickets are on sale now at http://muse-ique.com/. Aptly titled STATES/UNITED: Mapping Musical America, the three-part series of live events at the Huntington will celebrate and explore the unique American sound.

BroadwayHD, the premier streaming service for live theater productions, announces today that it will exclusively stream ANN, the critically acclaimed play written and performed by Emmy Award winning actress Holland Taylor and directed by Benjamin Endsley Klein, starting Thursday, June 14, 2018.

Playwrights Foundation announces the plays and playwrights of the 2018 Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF) running July 20-29, 2018 at Potrero Stage, 1895 18th St in San Francisco. The 2018 Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF) features SUSPENSION by Kristiana Rae Colon, HOUSE OF JOY by Madhuri Shekar, VRTU-L by T.D. Mitchell, WHEN LIGHTING THE VOIDS by Jon Bernson, COLONIALISM IS TERRIBLE, BUT PHO IS DELICIOUS by  Dustin Chinn and THE DAUGHTERS by Patricia Cotter. A nationally recognised launchpad for exceptional plays and playwrights the Festival features twelve staged readings, offers a Theater Professionals weekend 7/27-29, with special events and a kick-off fundraiser on 7/15.  Tickets on sale June 1st at www.playwrightsfoundation.org

The Alliance for Women in Media Foundation (AWMF) handed out the 43rd Annual Gracie Awards at the Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Los Angeles. Host Lisa Joyner led the evening which included the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to Rita Moreno by Norman Lear and a special performance by Grammy-nominated country music singer Kelsea Ballerini.

Nickelodeon today announced the development of a new animated project, Man of the House (working title), from Norman Lear's ACT III Productions. With creative concept by Colombian-American writer and illustrator Michael Molina (Trivia Night), Man of the House follows 11-year-old José as he helps his mother Maria watch over his two younger siblings, Maria Juliana (Maju) and Diego, while trying to form a hip-hop group with his quirky classmate and neighbor, Wilbur, that lives downstairs. Lear (All in the Family, The Jeffersons) and Brent Miller (One Day at a Time) will serve as executive producers.

ATX Television Festival, the beloved annual event celebrating all things television, has premiered its inaugural podcast series, The TV Campfire, as a part of its ATX TV Podcast Network. The series is co-produced by Madica Productions and provides an insider's perspective into the world of television with special guests including Bill Lawrence (Scrubs, Cougar Town), David Simon (The Wire), Jason Katims(Friday Night LIghts, Parenthood), Marta Kauffman (Friends), and many more.

Last night's star-studded event, Backstage at the Geffen, at the Geffen Playhouse grossed more than $1 million for the theater's education, outreach and artistic initiatives. The fundraiser, which recognizes leaders in the artistic community, supports the theater's mission to produce original, quality work and raises funds for its education and community engagement programs, honored legendary stage and screen performer Dick Van Dyke and award-winning composer, lyricist and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda. Comedian Jim Carrey presented the Distinction in Theater Award to Van Dyke and EGOT award-winning actress Rita Moreno presented the Education Impact Award to Miranda.

Backstage at the Geffen, the Geffen Playhouse's annual fundraiser event, has launched its online auction featuring luxury vacations, one-of-a-kind artwork and VIP experiences. Proceeds will benefit the Geffen's mission to produce original, quality work and raises funds for its award-winning education and community engagement programs, which bring live theater to more than 15,000 disadvantaged youth, seniors and veterans annually.

The 11th Annual Las Vegas Film Festival, partnered with CineVegas,announced this morning the initial programming lineup for the 2018 Festival, to be held at Brenden Theatres and Palms Casino Resort June 6 – 10. The lineup includes a mix of feature films and documentaries that have been favorites on the international festival circuit, as well as new additions to this year's Festival - live discussions and live comedy. 2018 also marks the first year with seasoned film festival programming veteran Mike Plante serving as the Festival's Captain of Strategy.

Lyn and Norman Lear were awarded the Hollywood Icon Award at the Women's Guild Cedars-Sinai 60th Anniversary Diamond Jubilee Gala at The Beverly Hilton last night. Actor and film producer Pierce Brosnan presented the award to the lifelong philanthropists and legendary television pioneer and four-time Emmy winner. The Lears join the ranks of past recipients including Billy Crystal, Wendy and Leonard Goldberg, Lauren Shuler and Richard Donner, Fay and Frank Mancuso, Judy and Bernard Briskin, Dr. Bruce Gewertz, Dr. Ed Phillips, and Vera and Paul Guerin.

The City of Beverly Hills will be home to THE BEVERLY HILLS INFINITY FILM FESTIVAL (infinityfilmfestival.com). Running November 1-4, 2018, the inaugural event will be Beverly Hills' first landmark festival of filmed entertainment.

The Playwrights Foundation, a launchpad for exceptional plays and playwrights announces the lineup for the 2018 Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF) running July 20-29, 2018. The six Playwrights were selected from more than 700 submissions nationally, 85% from outside the bay area, from more than 2 dozen states and Canada - coast to coast a very North American cohort.

Sundance Institute announces the six projects selected for the annual New Frontier Story Lab, which supports independent artists working at the cutting-edge convergence of film, art, media, live performance and technology.

RespectAbility, a nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities for people with disabilities, announces a new partnership with Hollywood, Health & Society (HH&S), a project of the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center. The partnership will help educate, inform and support the success of the movie/TV industry in its work to ensure that people with disabilities are included on both sides of the camera in the stories that Hollywood tells. HH&S provides entertainment industry professionals with accurate and timely information for storylines on health, safety and national security. Like RespectAbility, HH&S recognizes the profound impact that entertainment media have on individual knowledge and behavior – ultimately impacting society and lives at large.

The Geffen Playhouse will honor legendary stage and screen performer Dick Van Dyke and award-winning composer, lyricist and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda at its 16th annual Backstage at the Geffen fundraiser. The event recognizes the accomplishments of leaders in the artistic community, supports the theater's mission to produce original, quality work and raises funds for its award-winning education and community engagement programs, which bring live theater to more than 15,000 disadvantaged youth, seniors and veterans annually.

One Day at a Time has been renewed for Season 3. Thirteen half-hour episodes, coming in 2019. Returning cast includes Justina Machado, Rita Moreno, Todd Grinnell, Stephen Toblowsky, Isabella Gomez and Marcel Ruiz. Executive Producers include Norman Lear, co-creators/co-showrunners Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce, Michael Garcia and Brent Miller. Produced by Sony Pictures Television for Netflix. 

The Menier Chocolate Factory, in association with Darren Bagert, present a new production of Manuel Puig's ground-breaking novel Kiss of the Spider Woman in a new adaptation by Jose Rivera and Allan Baker. Laurie Sansom directs this iconic play, making his Menier debut. The production opens on 21 March, with previews from 8 March, and runs until 5 May.

Innovative genius Norman Lear will forever be remembered for expanding the limits of what television comedy could do by bringing Archie Bunker, and his everyday brand of casual and not-so-casual bigotry, into American homes every week and hold him up to public ridicule.

EPIX, an MGM company, today announced that Gretchen Carlson, acclaimed journalist and empowerment advocate, Diane Guerrero (Orange is the New Black), Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation), Jussie Smollett (Empire) and Martin Sensmeier (Westworld) have been named as the new correspondents for the second season of the critically-acclaimed documentary series America Divided. Gretchen Carlson and Jussie Smollett have also signed on as executive producers, alongside Norman Lear who is returning for his second season. The four-part series will premiere on EPIX later this year and is set to explore the most provocative news headlines and cultural topics in recent months.

EPIX, an MGM company, today announced that Gretchen Carlson, acclaimed journalist and empowerment advocate, Diane Guerrero (Orange is the New Black), Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation), Jussie Smollett (Empire) and Martin Sensmeier (Westworld) have been named as the new correspondents for the second season of the critically-acclaimed documentary series America Divided. Gretchen Carlson and Jussie Smollett have also signed on as executive producers, alongside Norman Lear who is returning for his second season. The four-part series will premiere on EPIX later this year and is set to explore the most provocative news headlines and cultural topics in recent months.