Rob Handel News

For its next act, Opera Theater of Pittsburgh reinvents itself in its 35th year with SummerFest, a three-week celebration of the performing and visual arts for all ages. This new regional summer music festival fills three weeks with opera sung in English, concerts, recitals, cabaret, visual arts, and the SummerFest Fringe, June 29 - July 15, 2012. The festival takes place in the intimate theaters of The Hillman Center for Performing Arts on the idyllic grounds of Shady Side Academy, just 10 miles from downtown Pittsburgh. SummerFest invites everyone who loves music and theater to step into some of opera's most beloved works, to experience a suite of witty world premiere music dramas, to discover seldom-performed Mozart masterpieces, and to enjoy an array of free outdoor performances and events.

Dance/NYC presents the launch of Connect the Blocks: Resource Sharing in NYC Dance with a town hall hosted by Performance Space 122, 150 First Avenue (Entrance on E. Ninth Street), NYC, tonight, June 11, 2012 from 6-8:30pm. Connect the Blocks is a new initiative by Fourth Arts Block (FABnyc) and OurGoods to strengthen the culture of resource sharing for dance makers across the city. Admission is free, but advanced registration is required. Reservations can be made here.

Dance/NYC presents the launch of Connect the Blocks: Resource Sharing in NYC Dance with a town hall hosted by Performance Space 122, 150 First Avenue (Entrance on E. Ninth Street), NYC, on Monday, June 11, 2012 from 6-8:30pm. Connect the Blocks is a new initiative by Fourth Arts Block (FABnyc) and OurGoods to strengthen the culture of resource sharing for dance makers across the city. Admission is free, but advanced registration is required. Reservations can be made here.

13P, the innovative collective of 13 playwrights, is about to culminate the mission it set forth upon its founding in 2003: to produce one play by each of its members. Pulitzer Finalist, TONY Award nominee and MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship recipient Sarah Ruhl (P#13) is creating a new, chamber version of her Melancholy Play (2001) with the composer Todd Almond and Davis McCallum, who directed a version of the work in 2002.

Dance/NYC presents the launch of Connect the Blocks: Resource Sharing in NYC Dancewith a town hall hosted by Performance Space 122, 150 First Avenue (Entrance on E. Ninth Street), NYC, on Monday, June 11, 2012 from 6-8:30pm.

At the conclusion of this final season, which begins with the world premiere of A Map of Virtue by Erin Courtney in February, the collective of American playwrights will have realized full productions by each of its 13 members.

At the conclusion of this final season, which begins with the world premiere of A Map of Virtue by Erin Courtney in February, the collective of American playwrights will have realized full productions by each of its 13 members.

Performances of A Map of Virtue will take place February 6-25 at the 4th Street Theatre. The 4th Street Theatre is located at 83 East 4th Street in New York City.

In 2003, concerned that the trend of endless readings and development programs was limiting the texture and ambition of new American plays, 13 midcareer playwrights banded together to try different model.

New York Stage and Film (Johanna Pfaelzer, Artistic Director; Mark Linn-Baker, Max Mayer, Leslie Urdang, Producing Directors) and Vassar College (Ed Cheetham, Producing Director) have announced the full line-up of their 2011 Powerhouse Theater season, now entering its 27th year. The result of a unique collaboration between New York Stage and Film and Vassar College, the program consists of an eight-week residency on the Vassar campus (124 Raymond Avenue, Poughkeepsie, NY) during which more than 200 professional artists and some 40 apprentices live and work together to create new theater works. The 2011 Main Stage season kicks off with Patricia Wettig's F2M (June 29 - July 10).

Vassar & New York Stage and Film announce casting highlights for the 27th annual Powerhouse Theater season (June 24-July 31, 2011) and the schedule for Readings Festival 1 (June 24-26).

New York Stage and Film (Johanna Pfaelzer, Artistic Director; Mark Linn-Baker, Max Mayer, Leslie Urdang, Producing Directors) and Vassar College (Ed Cheetham, Producing Director) have announced the full line-up of their 2011 Powerhouse Theater season, now entering its 27th year. The result of a unique collaboration between New York Stage and Film and Vassar College, the program consists of an eight-week residency on the Vassar campus (124 Raymond Avenue, Poughkeepsie, NY) during which more than 200 professional artists and some 40 apprentices live and work together to create new theater works. The 2011 Main Stage season kicks off with Patricia Wettig's F2M (June 29 - July 10).

Joe's Pub presents OUR HIT PARADE on Wednesday, March 30 at 9:30 PM, featuring Randy Harrison, John Roberts, Molly Pope, Erin Markey, Eye Of The Tiger, Jenn Harris, Billy Eichner & Natalie Joy Johnson. Our Hit Parade is a live top-ten countdown show created by Tony nominee and Obie winner Kenny Mellman (Kiki & Herb), carnal chanteuse Bridget Everett (At Least It's Pink at Ars Nova), pop song opera impresario Neal Medlyn (Neal Medlyn's Unpronounceable Symbol at P.S. 122), producer and MTV cameraman Brendan Kennedy, and writers Ada Calhoun and Peter Schjeldahl.

Joe's Pub at The Public Theater debuted in October 1998 and has quickly became one of New York City's most celebrated and in-demand showcase venues for live music and performance.

Joe's Pub presents OUR HIT PARADE on Wednesday, March 30 at 9:30 PM, featuring Randy Harrison, John Roberts, Molly Pope, Erin Markey, Eye Of The Tiger, Jenn Harris, Billy Eichner & Natalie Joy Johnson. Our Hit Parade is a live top-ten countdown show created by Tony nominee and Obie winner Kenny Mellman (Kiki & Herb), carnal chanteuse Bridget Everett (At Least It's Pink at Ars Nova), pop song opera impresario Neal Medlyn (Neal Medlyn's Unpronounceable Symbol at P.S. 122), producer and MTV cameraman Brendan Kennedy, and writers Ada Calhoun and Peter Schjeldahl.

Joe's Pub at The Public Theater debuted in October 1998 and has quickly became one of New York City's most celebrated and in-demand showcase venues for live music and performance.

Due to popular demand and rave reviews, JACKIE FIVE-OH! has extended its run yet again at Joe's Pub (425 Lafayette Street) through April 4th. In the all-new JACKIE FIVE-OH!, the blisteringly funny, filter-free Hoffman muses on her own decay at 50, her career of playing 'bit' parts, her thoughts about being in The Addams Family and an array of other topics running the gamut from Queen Latifah to Kristen Chenoweth. Hoffman also sings five new original songs (written with musical director Bobby Peaco). Hoffman will also continue in her hilarious, scene-stealing performance as Grandma inTHE ADDAMS FAMILY into the summer.

A new musical by Michael Friedman and Daniel Goldstein will be read this Sunday, June 13 at 5:30pm as part of the Huntington Theatre Company's Breaking Ground reading series, held at the Huntington's Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts. The reading is free and open to the public, though reservations are recommended as seating is limited.

A new musical by Michael Friedman and Daniel Goldstein will be read this Sunday, June 13 at 5:30pm as part of the Huntington Theatre Company's Breaking Ground reading series, held at the Huntington's Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts. The reading is free and open to the public, though reservations are recommended as seating is limited.

Conspiracy theorists, reclusive graphic novelists, one-hit wonders, glossed-over expressionists and a guy named Gnit are just a few of the wild-eyed obsessives we'll be obsessing about at the 2010 JAW: A Playwright's Festival.