Sam Johnson News

The Actors Studio Drama School 2018 Repertory Season opens with Ivy Walls, The Author's Voice, and North of Providence.

The 17th annual Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, today announced its lineup of 55 diverse and engaging short films in competition, including 29 world premieres. The selected shorts include a cross-section of international and U.S. filmmakers and were curated from a record 4,754 submissions. For the second year running, 40% of the selections are directed by female filmmakers. The short films will be presented in 10 distinct competition programs, which consist of five narrative, three documentary, one animation, and one hybrid program. The program will also include special screenings and the 12th annual Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival, sponsored by Mohegan Sun. The Shorts Film program, sponsored by Nutella®, runs throughout the Festival, April 18-29.

Albuquerque-based A Hawk and A Hacksaw are releasing their eighth album Forest Bathing. Basic tracks were recorded in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the band's Sonido Del Norte Studio. While the bulk of the music heard on this record is played by the core duo of Jeremy Barnes and Heather Trost, they do have some incredible guest performances, namely the clarinet virtouso C neyt Sepet i, from Istanbul, Hungarian cimbalom master Unger Bal sz, and closer to home, Chicago trumpeter Sam Johnson, Deerhoof's John Dieterich and Noah Martinez, of the band Lone Pi on. Forest Bathing is being release by Living Music Duplication April 13.

There is no place like New York!  With a city this rich in culture, scandal, and diversity, the possibilities for theatrical reenactment are endless.  The Players Theatre Short Play and Musical Festival and Be Bold! Productions encourage playwrights to mine this precious resource by offering an annual NYC - themed festival each June.  Celebrating its 7th year, "Only in New York" opened Thursday, June 8 and ran for three weeks.  Each week four/five original short plays or musicals, by a variety of playwrights (including one high school student), was presented with a "Best of the Week" production, selected by audience vote.

Since 1976 the Gilbert and Sullivan Austin has dedicated itself to providing the city with the works of Gilbert and Sullivan not so much by reinvention but by recreating how a production might have been staged originally. There is a respect due this sort of commitment, and the audience in attendance this last Saturday when I viewed the production, showed theirs in a true sense of a special occasion. I can recall the respect I was expected to display, and the authentic excitement I felt anytime I attended a play or musical back in the day. Back in the Ice Age, when I simultaneously became a teenager and discovered theatre, it was considered an event just shy of your cousin's wedding to attend the theatre. People got dressed up, showed up on time and applauded civilly after each musical number back then. Why, no one stood for an ovation even unless the production was spot on literally flawless.

Not so long ago, the Trump administration revoked federal guidance established by the Obama administration that directed schools to allow Trans students to use restrooms aligning with their gender identity. As artists is our responsibility to advocate and support on behalf of the transgender community, also to bring their stories to light and protect them.

Everyone's favorite ogre is back in SHREK THE MUSICAL JR., the hilarious stage spectacle based on the Oscar-winning smash hit film. The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati brings this production to life on the Taft Theatre stage April 8-10, 16-17, 2016.

The Cincinnati Arts Association is pleased to announce the winners of its Overture Awards Competition, held on Saturday, February 27, 2016 at the Aronoff Center's Jarson-Kaplan Theater, and the winner of its new Arts Educator Award for Excellence in Arts Instruction. The competition awarded $4,000 to six area students for education and training, with 18 runners-up each winning $1,000, while the Arts Educator Award winner received $2,500 and two finalists were awarded $500 each.

Voting has opened for the 2015 BroadwayWorld Detroit Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of November 27th. Nominations were reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors. Voting runs through December 31.

Hale Centre Theatre's memorable production of BIG FISH, directed by the extraordinary John Sweeney, features fantastic performances, a unique set design, and heartwarming family relationships.

The Boatwright tells the story of Ben Calloway, a retired state trooper, struggling to come to terms with the changes brought to his life by his wife's death and his resulting emptiness, and of Jaime Watson, the next-door-neighbor's son, who is coping with mental illness and a loneliness of his own.

Circle Theatre finishes the Main Stage season in September of 2014 with the musical thriller CARRIE THE MUSICAL, running today, September 4 through 20.

Circle Theatre finishes the Main Stage season in September of 2014 with the musical thriller CARRIE THE MUSICAL , running September 4 through 20 .

Circle Theatre finishes the Main Stage season in September of 2014 with the musical thriller CARRIE THE MUSICAL, running September 4 through 20. Set today, in the small town of Chamberlain, Maine; this suspenseful musical with book by Lawrence D. Cohen (screenwriter of the classic film), Lyrics by Dean Pritchard (Fame, Footloose) and music by Michael Gore (Fame, Terms of Endearment) is based on the novel by Stephen King. CARRIE THE MUSICAL tells the story of a misfit named Carrie White. At school, she's an outcast who's bullied by the popular crowd, and virtually invisible to everyone else. At home, she's at the mercy of her loving but cruelly over-protective mother. But Carrie's just discovered she's got a special power, and if pushed too far, she's not afraid to use it...

Written by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe HONK! is the story of Ugly, whose odd, gawky looks instantly incite prejudice from his family and neighbors. Separated from the farm and pursued by a hungry Cat, Ugly must find his way home. Along his rollicking and harrowing journey he not only discovers his true beauty and glorious destiny, but also finds love and acceptance in all its forms. Witty and hilarious, but also deeply moving, HONK! will treat you to equal amounts of laughter and tears.

Written by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe HONK! is the story of Ugly, whose odd, gawky looks instantly incite prejudice from his family and neighbors. Separated from the farm and pursued by a hungry Cat, Ugly must find his way home. Along his rollicking and harrowing journey he not only discovers his true beauty and glorious destiny, but also finds love and acceptance in all its forms. Witty and hilarious, but also deeply moving, HONK! will treat you to equal amounts of laughter and tears.

The Washington Times honored America's veterans, with an emphasis on the dozens of veterans serving in Congress, in a gala celebration just before Memorial Day on May 21, 2014. The ticketed event took place at the Capitol Hill Club from 6 to 8 p.m. The evening's entertainment was provided by renowned tenor Anthony Kearns, who also performed with the National Symphony Orchestra during the 2014 Memorial Day Concert on PBS. Scroll down for photos from the event!