Northwestern University News

Northwestern University Hosts Incubator for Emerging Songwriters Participants Will Work With Masters Teachers - Craig Carnelia, Andrew Lippa & Lari White.

The Theatre School at DePaul University announces that solo artist and actor Shannon Matesky is the 2012 recipient of The Claire Rosen and Samuel Edes Foundation Prize for Emerging Artists.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. The Sidetrack all-time Top Ten list, Make Music Chicago, Chicago concerts by Chenoweth, Callaway, Mason, Menzel and Eder, two puppet musicals, 'Next Stop,' 'The Hunchback Variations' and more!

The Marriott Theatre (10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire) presents HERO, a new musical written by Aaron Thielen with music and lyrics by Michael Mahler, previewing tonight, June 20, opening June 27 at 8 p.m. and running through August 19, 2012. Eleven-time Jeff award-winner David H. Bell directs and choreographs. Erich Bergen (JERSEY BOYS, Nat'l Tour) stars as Hero Batowski.

Route 66 Theatre Company presents its newest world premiere collaboration, a one-of-a-kind original musical by local sensation Diana Lawrence (of Diana and the Dishes, and currently musical director of TICK, TICK, BOOM at Porchlight Music Theatre). NEXT STOP runs Monday and Tuesday nights at 7:30pm, tonight, June 18 through June 26, at Theater Wit, 1229 West Belmont Ave, Chicago IL.

Lookingglass Theatre Company presents the world premiere of EASTLAND: A NEW MUSICAL, written by Artistic Director Andrew White with music by Ben Sussman and Artistic Associate Andre Pluess and directed by Amanda Dehnert. The production runs June 6 - July 29, 2012 at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago's historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson. The Press Opening is tonight, June 16, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company closes the 2011/12 season with Three Sisters, Anton Chekhov's humorous and affecting tale of longing for a better life, adapted by Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning ensemble member Tracy Letts, directed by Tony Award-winning ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro. Letts and Shapiro continue their celebrated collaboration following their acclaimed world-premiere production of August: Osage County (2007), bringing fresh insight to this classic story of a privileged family's changing fortunes. Check out photos from the cast and creative team in rehearsal below!

TheatreWorks, the nationally acclaimed theatre of Silicon Valley, launches its 43rd season with the world premiere of UPRIGHT GRAND, a play with live music by acclaimed playwright Laura Schellhardt (Auctioning the Ainsleys). A hit at last year's New Works Festival, this tender and intelligent portrait of the complex relationship between a father and daughter will be helmed by TheatreWorks New Works Director Meredith McDonough. Dan Hiatt will star as aging songwriter "Pops," with Renata Friedman as "Kiddo" and Brett Ryback as "The Accompanist." UPRIGHT GRAND plays July 11 - August 10, 2011 (press opening July 14) at TheatreWorks at the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto. For tickets ($24-$73) and information the public may call (650) 463-1960 or visit www.theatreworks.org.

Heather Headley will soon star as Rachel Marron in the upcoming West End production of THE BODYGUARD, but until then she is Singing alongside Andrea Bocelli, whose tour is currently in Denmark. Check out the hilarious Headley in sound check for the performance below!

Hennepin Theatre Trust announced today that two students in the SpotLight Musical Theatre Program, Emily Nies from White Bear Lake High School and Daniel Piering from Wayzata High School, were selected to represent Minnesota at the National High School Musical Theatre "Jimmy" Awards to be held at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, June 25, 2012 at the Minskoff Theatre in New York City.

Featuring Tony-nominated Broadway star Ann Hampton Callaway (SWING!), this one-night-only concert will also include performances from Tony-nominated composer and lyricist Craig Carnelia, Grammy-nominated composer and lyricist Andrew Lippa, Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Lari White, emerging songwriters from the 2012 Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project and an appearance by the great Johnny Mercer himself through audio and video recollections where he reveals the writers who most inspired his prolific career. The concert wraps the 2012 Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project at Northwestern University.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Our Tony Award wrap-up, all that 'Rock Of Ages,' three musical tribute shows, two operettas, a stellar TYA 'Beauty' and Kristin Chenoweth, plus more!

Chicago-based Fine Arts Music Society (FAMS) just announced its 2012 Fine Arts Music Society Summer Music Festival in Brown County, IN (home of the Brown County Art Colony) from July 7-21, 2012. Renowned Festival faculty includes FAMS Founder, Artistic Director, and violinist David Yonan (bio below), critically acclaimed "passionate pianist and scholar" Svetlana Belsky (Coordinator of Piano Studies at the University of Chicago), and clarinetist Cory Tiffin (Principal, Las Vegas Philharmonic and Chicago High School of the Arts faculty member) plus the following pedagogues: Myra Patterson (violin/viola), Nazar Dzhuryn (cello), Saori Chiba (piano) and Susan Merdinger (piano).

American Blues Theater (ABT), Chicago's second oldest Equity ensemble, kicks off the Ensemble's 27th season with the world premiere of Illegal Use of Hands by Emmy Award-winner, two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and ABT Artistic Affiliate James Still, directed by Sandy Shinner, August 31 - September 30 at Victory Gardens' Richard Christiansen Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue. Press opening for Illegal Use of Hands is Thursday, Sept. 6 at 7 p.m. Tickets range from $10 - $39. Complete ticket information including ticket on-sale date and performance schedule will be announced at a later date.

TimeLine Theatre Company offers two more special events connected to its world premiere production of My Kind of Town by John Conroy, directed by Nick Bowling. My Kind of Town is now playing through July 29, 2012 at TimeLine Theatre, 615 W. Wellington Ave., Chicago.

This month, Steppenwolf Theatre Company continues its commitment to Chicago's next generation of theater artists with the second annual Next Up: three productions presented in rotating repertory, June 5 - 24, 2012 in The Steppenwolf Garage (1624 N Halsted St)-LIFE AND LIMB, SOUTH OF SETTLING and THE GLASS MENAGERIE. Check out photos from all three productions below!

The American Music Theatre Project (AMTP) at Northwestern University has selected award-winning writer and director Amanda Dehnert's THE VERONA PROJECT as its newest musical. Presented as the first show in the Theatre and Interpretation Center (TIC) at Northwestern University's 2012-13 Mainstage season, performances will take place from Oct. 19 through Nov. 4, at the Josephine Louis Theater, 20 Arts Circle Drive, on the University's Evanston campus.

This June Steppenwolf Theatre Company presents the second annual Next Up: three productions presented in rotating repertory, tonight, June 5 through June 24, 2012 in The Steppenwolf Garage (1624 N Halsted St).

According to the weather forecasters, it's going to be a long, hot summer in Tennessee and if you're looking to cool off at the theatre, you could probably use some help in making the right selections, right? Here are our top five picks for the theater offerings that are sure to satisfy your hankering for good entertainment...ranging from the revival of a comedy hit from Street Theatre Company's 2009 season, new takes on two classic Broadway musicals, the 25th annual Shakespeare in the Park presentation of the internationally known Nashville Shakespeare Festival and the Broadway-bound debut of a new musical comedy based on a classic film comedy, directed by the legendary Jerry Lewis and featuring the music of Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics of Rupert Holmes...