Ntozake Shange News

According to reports from Variety, Tyler Perry will work with Lionsgate for the 11th time on 'Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family.' The strong filmmaker-studio bond is very rare in these times, and Lionsgate has distributed all of Perry's films.

The Fountain Theatre will close the first production of its 20th Anniversary Season, the West Coast premiere of Ifa Bayeza's daring, folk and gospel-infused The Ballad of Emmett Till, on April 25th. Shirley Jo Finney (Yellowman) directed Bernard K. Addison, Rico E. Anderson, Lorenz Arnell, Adenrele Ojo and Karen Malina White in the five-week run.

Classic Stage Company (CSC), under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Jessica R. Jenen, will honor their board member Rosemarie Tichler, the highly-respected producer, casting director, teacher and author, at this year's annual benefit gala Monday evening, May 17 at Twenty Four Fifth. The Honorary Chair for the evening is Mike Nichols and Honorary Co-Chairs are Olympia Dukakis, Dianne Wiest, Walter Bobbie and James Lapine. Honorary Artists include F. Murray Abraham, Christopher Durang, Michael Greif, John Guare, Bill Irwin, S. Epatha Merkerson, Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn and Michael Stuhlbarg.

Those who have been unable to reserve seats to The Fountain Theatre's sold out production of The Ballad of Emmett Till will get another chance. The Fountain Theatre has announced a third extension through May 30.

Now through April 25, 2010, on the mainstage of the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, is the premiere of "The Lost Boys of Sudan," the play by VG ensemble playwright Lonnie Carter that has "changed enormously" since its 2007 world premiere at the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis.....

Last night at the premiere of WHY DID I GET MARRIED TOO, Tyler Perry revealed that Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Whoopi Goldberg, Phylicia Rashad, Jurnee Smollett, Kimberly Elise, Kerry Washington, and Macy Gray would be starring in his upcmong film of FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF.

The Fountain Theatre opens its 20th Anniversary Season with the West Coast premiere of Ifa Bayeza's daring, folk and gospel-infused The Ballad of Emmett Till in celebration of Black History Month. Shirley Jo Finney (Yellowman) directs Bernard K. Addison, Rico E. Anderson, Lorenz Arnell, Adenrele Ojo and Karen Malina White in the five-week run, February 20 through March 20, with low-priced previews beginning February 11.

The Fountain Theatre opens its 20th Anniversary Season with the West Coast premiere of Ifa Bayeza's daring, folk and gospel-infused The Ballad of Emmett Till in celebration of Black History Month. Shirley Jo Finney (Yellowman) directs Bernard K. Addison, Rico E. Anderson, Lorenz Arnell, Adenrele Ojo and Karen Malina White in the five-week run, February 20 through March 20, with low-priced previews beginning February 11.

The Fountain Theatre opens its 20th Anniversary Season with the West Coast premiere of Ifa Bayeza's daring, folk and gospel-infused The Ballad of Emmett Till in celebration of Black History Month. Shirley Jo Finney (Yellowman) directs Bernard K. Addison, Rico E. Anderson, Lorenz Arnell, Adenrele Ojo and Karen Malina White in the five-week run, February 20 through March 20, with low-priced previews beginning February 11.

Mary McCallum is a force of nature. As one of the most visionary people now creating live theatre in Nashville, she's constantly in motion - writing, directing, producing, acting - you name it, Mary's doing it. In true entrepreneurial spirit, when she saw a dearth of stage roles available to her, she made her own possibilities by finding a vehicle in which she could act and produce.

The Fountain Theatre opens its 20th Anniversary Season with the West Coast premiere of Ifa Bayeza's daring, folk and gospel-infused The Ballad of Emmett Till in celebration of Black History Month. Shirley Jo Finney (Yellowman) directs Bernard K. Addison, Rico E. Anderson, Lorenz Arnell, Adenrele Ojo and Karen Malina White in the five-week run, February 20 through March 20, with low-priced previews beginning February 11.

The Fountain Theatre opens its 20th Anniversary Season with the West Coast premiere of Ifa Bayeza's daring, folk and gospel-infused The Ballad of Emmett Till in celebration of Black History Month. Shirley Jo Finney (Yellowman) directs Bernard K. Addison, Rico E. Anderson, Lorenz Arnell, Adenrele Ojo and Karen Malina White in the five-week run, February 20 through March 20, with low-priced previews beginning February 11.

LOMBARDI, a new play by Oscar winner and Steppenwolf Theater Company member Eric Simonson, is based on the best-selling biography When Pride Still Mattered, by Pulitzer Prize winning author David Maraniss. Opening on Broadway in the fall of 2010, this original work will bring the audience into the life and times of one of America's most inspirational and mercurial personalities, Hall of Fame football coach Vince Lombardi.

In the late 1980s LA Times writer Kenneth Turan began to conduct interviews of over 160 people close to Joeseph Papp to produce a book about his life. This process lasted for over 18 months, and when Papp read the nearly finished manuscript he halted the process by refusing to let the book be published.

The Suzi Bass Awards, Inc. announced nominations for the 2008-2009 Atlanta professional theatrical season this week to an enthusiastic crowd of patrons, Suzi Judges and theatre industry artists. The Suzi Nomination Party, which rotates venues, was hosted this year by Actor's Express in their performance space at King Plow Arts Center. Suzi Awards Executive Director Deadra Moore read the list of Nominees while guests enjoyed drinks, hors d'ouevres and the chance to congratulate and mingle with their colleagues in the industry.

terraNOVA Collective returns August 13, 2009 at 10:00pm with SUBTERRANEAN, their monthly performance party in the D-Lounge, a 75-seat cabaret-style venue below the Daryl Roth Theatre at 101 East 15th Street at Union Square. SUBTERRANEAN presents a variety of performers, including spoken word, music, burlesque, magic, storytelling, short play readings, vaudeville acts and DJs.

terraNOVA Collective returns August 13, 2009 at 10:00pm with SUBTERRANEAN, their monthly performance party in the D-Lounge, a 75-seat cabaret-style venue below the Daryl Roth Theatre at 101 East 15th Street at Union Square. SUBTERRANEAN presents a variety of performers, including spoken word, music, burlesque, magic, storytelling, short play readings, vaudeville acts and DJs.

Woodie King Jr's New Federal Theatre will present the final reading in the Gurfein Foundation/Ntozake Shange Play Reading Series: Derek Walcott's new play Marie Laveau, with music by Galt MacDermot. The reading will take place Sunday, June 28th at 3pm, at Castillo Theatre, 543 West 42nd Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues). Clinton Turner Davis directs a cast that features Arthur Bartow, Trazana Beverley, Thomas Jefferson Byrd, Gerard Catus, Lia Chaing, DK Dyson, Stu Richel, Martin Shakar, and Marie Thomas as Marie Laveau.

Expanding on its history of developing new plays and cultivating new voices for the American theater, The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis, Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) is now accepting applications for the third year of The Emerging Writers Group, an initiative that seeks to target playwrights at the earliest stages in their careers and nurture their artistic growth by providing necessary resources and support.

Woodie King Jr's New Federal Theatre will present the final reading in the Gurfein Foundation/Ntozake Shange Play Reading Series: Derek Walcott's new play Marie Laveau, with music by Galt MacDermot. The reading will take place Sunday, June 28th at 3pm, at Castillo Theatre, 543 West 42nd Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues). Clinton Turner Davis directs a cast that features Arthur Bartow, Trazana Beverley, Thomas Jefferson Byrd, Gerard Catus, Lia Chaing, DK Dyson, Stu Richel, Martin Shakar, and Marie Thomas as Marie Laveau.