Richard Cook News

Boston Ballet II (BBII) will perform at Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center in Stowe, Vermont on Saturday, November 2 at 7:00 pm.  The program will feature three works by Boston Ballet-based choreographers, a 19th century work by Arthur Saint-Leon, composer Amilcare Ponchielli's Dance of the Hours, a romantic duet by Tony Award-winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, and excerpts from Mikko Nissinen's The Nutcracker.

After becoming a sensation on YouTube, Jackie Evancho, went on to audition for America's Got Talent, sweeping the competion at only 10 years old and capturing the hearts of millions.This early success propelled her career to what it is today at just age 18. Among her six albums, she has produced two Christmas albums, "Heavenly Christmas" and "Someday at Christmas," including a performance during the lighitng of the National Christams Tree in Washington, D.C. a few years ago and a special Christmas performance back on the America's Got Talent stage in 2016.  

Park Square Theatre announces UNPACKING A THEATRE ATTIC: Park Square Theatre's First 43 Years, a new exhibition at Landmark Center in downtown Saint Paul that will run September 6 - 30, 2018. Richard Cook, who has worked at Park Square Theatre since its first season in 1975, is literally "going through the trunks" to choose images and mementoes from every one of the theatre's 350 productions. The exhibit will be arranged thematically to explore Park Square's staggering range of programming, from Shakespeare to mysteries to world premieres. The exhibition is free and open to the public during Landmark Center hours.

Park Square Theatre announces the hire of its new Artistic Director - the third in the organization's history - after a five-month national search that attracted 113 applications from across the country (22 from Minnesota) and two from the United Kingdom.

OPERA America, the national service organization for opera and the nation's leading champion for American opera, is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2018 National Opera Trustee Recognition Awards. Now in their 11th year, these awards honor outstanding trustees of U.S. opera companies for their exemplary leadership, generosity and audience-building efforts on behalf of their respective organizations.

Park Square Theatre is gearing up for its next season with world, American and Midwest premieres in a season that will showcase the Twin Cities diversity and talent.

]EMILY LOSCOCCO, former principal dancer of Festival Ballet Providence, PHILLIP BROOMHEAD, former principal dancer of the Houston Ballet and the Royal Ballet, and BETSY McBRIDE of American Ballet Theatre, and SIMON WEXLER former principal dancer of Texas Ballet Theatre will be members of the faculty for the Shreveport Dance Academy's Summer Intensive in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Park Square Theatre is gearing up for its next season with world, American and Midwest premieres in a season that will showcase the Twin Cities diversity and talent.

Park Square continues its 42nd season on the Proscenium Stage with a Mu Performing Arts and Park Square Theatre co-production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Flower Drum Song, directed by Mu Artistic Director Randy Reyes, based on the 2002 book adaptation by Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly, Yellowface, Chinglish).  Previously produced by Mu in 2009, this will be a fully reimagined production featuring new and familiar faces. Flower Drum Song, created by legendary musical theater duo Rodgers and Hammerstein takes audiences to the vibrant world of San Francisco's Chinatown in the 1950s to Club Chop Suey, a nightclub owned by a Chinese-American family. Old World tradition clashes with New World trends as two generations, father and son, struggle to honor and protect their cultural traditions while adapting to the changing times.

Richard Cook, a bio-research scientist, wrote the book, 'Is There a Mountain of Difference between Us or 'Common Ground'?': to address the dysfunctional level of polarization in society.

Park Square continues its 42nd season on the Proscenium Stage with a Mu Performing Arts and Park Square Theatre co-production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Flower Drum Song, directed by Mu Artistic Director Randy Reyes, based on the 2002 book adaptation by Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly, Yellowface, Chinglish).  Previously produced by Mu in 2009, this will be a fully reimagined production featuring new and familiar faces. Flower Drum Song, created by legendary musical theater duo Rodgers and Hammerstein takes audiences to the vibrant world of San Francisco's Chinatown in the 1950s to Club Chop Suey, a nightclub owned by a Chinese-American family. Old World tradition clashes with New World trends as two generations, father and son, struggle to honor and protect their cultural traditions while adapting to the changing times. 

EMILY LOSCOCCO, principal dancer of Alaska Dance Theater, and ALAN ALBERTO, principal dancer of Festival Ballet Providence, will appear as guest artists in the Shreveport Metropolitan Ballet's production of The Nutcracker this weekend, December 12 and 13, 2015 at the Riverview Theatre in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Park Square continues its 41st season next month with Tom Mula's irreverent take on Charles Dickens's immortal tale, Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol. The redemption of the iconic curmudgeon Ebenezer Scrooge is well known, but whatever happened to his equally coldhearted business partner? Stuck in perdition for his vile misdeeds in life, Jacob Marley has one shot to redeem himself for eternity, aided by his own personal demon, who may turn out to be a faithful friend or a fiendish foe. Park Square Artistic Director Richard Cook directs Dane Stauffer* in this humorous and heartwarming tale of salvation and deliverance. Citybeat called the play 'delectably zany...inspired theatre...gives the audience cause to ache, and to laugh, and in the end, to exalt.'

Theatre Communications Group (TCG) announces the 2015 Round 3 recipients of the Leadership U[niversity] - One-on-One program.

EMILY LOSCOCCO, principal dancer of Alaska Dance Theater, and ALAN ALBERTO, principal dancer of Festival Ballet Providence, will appear as guest artists in the Shreveport Metropolitan Ballet's production of The Nutcracker on December 12 and 13, 2015 at the Riverview Theatre in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Midway through its first season producing on two stages, Park Square Theatre shows no sign of slowing down with its 2015-2016 theatre season. In addition to a range of area and regional premieres, the company is commissioning two brand new works - one for each stage - from Joel Sass (Great Expectations) and Christina Ham and Regina Marie Williams (Nina Simone: Four Women). The line-up also includes the first Midwest licensed production of an ingenious miniature musical that will delight mystery lovers, two family-friendly holiday treats, and new productions by two of Park Square's Theatres in Residence, Sandbox Theatre and Theatre Pro Rata. The season will conclude with a flash of mature flesh as nine leading actresses bare all in Calendar Girls by Tom Firth.

Gary Hines, an accomplished talent who's best known for his 45-year career with The Sounds of Blackness, is music director for the acclaimed run of THE COLOR PURPLE at St. Paul's Park Square Theater. We got to know a little more about this production and Gary in this BWW Interview.

EMILY LOSCOCCO and ALAN ALBERTO, principal dancers of Festival Ballet Providence, will appear as guest artists in the Greater Milford Ballet Company's production of The Nutcracker this weekend, December 13 and 14, 2014 at Milford High School in Milford, Massachusetts.

Park Square Theatre's new Andy Boss Thrust Stage is in final days of construction after years of planning and fundraising, and five months of construction. General Contractor RJM Construction will turn over the keys to Park Square management today. The additional performance venue, located in the lower level of the Historic Hamm Building, is a professionally-equipped performance facility with 203 permanent seats, ticket office, lobby spaces, galleries, rehearsal hall, backstage and dressing rooms. Built at a cost of $3.5 million, the Boss Stage was designed by BWBR Architects; Teresa Sterns of Sterns & Associates is the project manager. Park Square holds a 20-year lease for its newly expanded two-stage facility.