Studs Terkel News

WORKING is based on Studs Terkel's well-known book of interviews with U.S workers, which retells the accounts of men and women and presents the meaning that these jobs bring to their lives. This classic musical was first adapted by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso and premiered at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. The show later ran on Broadway briefly before entering the national regional theatre circuit. The show was updated in 2012 with two new songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda, and features the classic numbers from artists such as Stephen Schwartz, Craig Carnelia, and James Taylor. WORKING runs at Main Street Theatre from May 21 - June 19, 2016. The show, directed by the talented Andrew Ruthven, reflects not only the struggles that we go through as a nation, but hits home on multiple levels with the diverse and hard working citizens of Houston.

It's something most of us have to do at least 5 days a week, go to work. So you'd think a musical about folks and their working lives would resonate more. But the musical "Working", despite being loved by musical theater nerds, never really caught on. In fact it only ran for 24 performances on Broadway back in 1978. But thankfully the folks at Showtunes have done what they do and dusted this one off for a weekend so more people can discover how wonderful it is.

Showtunes Theatre Company is thrilled to announce the final concert musical of their 16th season, WORKING.

Bristol Riverside Theatre celebrates its 30th Anniversary with a classic, a murder mystery, two musicals, and a heartfelt comedic family tale.

Windy City Playhouse, Chicago's most sophisticated new theater, presents the off-Broadway hit This, a tart 'melanchomedy' centering on four educated, artistically inclined thirtysomething New Yorkers whose longtime friendship is tested by an act of infidelity. Writer, director and playwright Carl Menninger (a former Deerfield native) returns home from Washington, D.C. to direct this piercing, beautifully crafted new play for lovers of language by Melissa James Gibson. Previews for This begin Wednesday, June 15 at Windy City Playhouse, 3014 W. Irving Park.

In conjunction with a production of playwright Lorraine Hansberry's final work, The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, Goodman Theatre presents a Lorraine Hansberry Celebration (today, April 30, through June 5), curated by Goodman Resident Director Chuck Smith.

Lookingglass Theatre Company announces the addition of Eddie Jemison to the Midwest Premiere of Life Sucks by Aaron Posner, directed by Ensemble Member Andrew White and featuring Ensemble Member Philip R. Smith as Dr. Aster. Jemison replaces previously-announced Ensemble Member Joey Slotnick in the role of Vanya, due to a scheduling conflict.

The Second City has announced the opening of The Second City e.t.c.'s 40th Revue, A Red Line Runs Through It. Reviewing press are invited to attend the show on Friday, April 29, 2016 at 8:00 p.m. at The Second City e.t.c. Theatre (2nd Floor of Piper's Alley, 230 W North Ave). A Grand Opening is scheduled for Thursday, May 5, 2016 at 8:00 p.m.

Showtunes Theatre Company is thrilled to announce the final concert musical of their 16th season, WORKING.

In conjunction with a production of playwright Lorraine Hansberry's final work, The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, Goodman Theatre presents a Lorraine Hansberry Celebration (April 30 - June 5), curated by Goodman Resident Director Chuck Smith.

PlayMakers Repertory Company will present "The Real Americans" written and performed by Dan Hoyle, April 27-May 1.  

After the sold-out and award-winning success of The Day Shall Declare It in 2015, Wilderness returns to the Los Angeles Arts District to remount its immersive, site-specific theatre experience, opening Tuesday, May 10, 2016 and running through Sunday, June 19, 2016. The internationally acclaimed physical theatre piece weaves together dynamic movement with a collage of American labor literature from Tennessee Williams and Studs Terkel, exploring the concept of work in America: what it does for us - and what it does to us. Developed and co-directed by Annie Saunders and Sophie Bortolussi (Punchdrunk's Sleep No More), The Day Shall Declare It will run for a limited time, to audiences of only thirty people per show. The intimate performances will run six nights a week, Tuesday through Sunday, with doors opening at 8:00pm and performances beginning at 8:30pm. The 2016 version sees the addition of  "The Paradise," an exclusive pop-up bar with live music curated by Vagrant Bartenders. Wilderness, an experimental performance company that brings temporary theatrical experiences to vacant buildings awaiting redevelopment, presents this work in partnership with Ad Age Standout 2015 production company HeLo, and in association with Los Angeles Performance Practice and Imperial Art Studios. For more information, please visit http://thisisthewilderness.com.

'YO MISS!' by Judith Sloan will make its world premiere at La MaMa from tonight, March 4, through March 13, 2016.

Judith Sloan is a masterful actor/dialectition and a sublime mixologist of sound. She blends both gifts in her newest play, 'YO MISS!,' in which she channels her own family's traumas through the experiences of immigrant and minority teens whom she has taught in arts programs over the last two decades.

The Broadway star just released a DVD of her 54 Below show, performed in a holiday musical and at Joe's Pub, and is prepping for BroadwayCon.

Ben Vereen, Debbie Gravitte, and Scott Coulter celebrate the incredible songbook of a legendary Broadway composer and lyricist in Defying Gravity: The Music of Stephen Schwartz at Pepperdine University's Smothers Theatre in Malibu on February 2 at 8 p.m.

'YO MISS!' by Judith Sloan will make its world premiere at La MaMa from March 4 to 13, 2016.

This past weekend at South Bend's Clay High School, the musical Working by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso, based on the best-selling book of interviews with America's work force by Studs Terkel, took to the stage for three performances and absolutely earned their standing ovations! Comprised of dozens of students (and some teachers!) this high school's performance set an impressive tone for not only their student's abilities, but anybody who was involved with such an incredible show.

The highly acclaimed Chichester Festival Theatre revival of GUYS AND DOLLS, begins tonight, December 10, at the Savoy Theatre in the West End.

Barbara Quinn Benom, a mother, grandmother, retired nurse and real estate agent, cancer patient and survivor, devoted writer and author, has completed her newest work 'Legacy of a Teapot - A Family's Ancestral Tales Revealed': an imaginative work that delves into the ideas of tradition, ancestry, laughter, love, and life.