Syracuse University News

The 2014 Syracuse Stage Gala, an annual fundraiser presented by the Syracuse Stage Board of Trustees and the Syracuse Stage Guild, will take place on Saturday, June 7 at the Schine Student Center on the Syracuse University campus. The event will include a performance by Jesse Cook and his band, incorporating elements of flamenco rumba, jazz, and many forms of world music. Cook is known internationally as one of the most influential figures in Nuevo Flamenco music. Click here to watch a performance.

Can we practice goodness and create a world to sustain it? In Brecht's comic and complex play, this question is raised by one of his most entertaining characters, Shen Tei, the good-hearted, penniless, cross-dressing prostitute, who is forced to disguise herself as a savvy businessman named Sui Ta so she can master the ruthlessness needed to be a 'good person' in a brutal world. The Good Woman of Setzuan will run tonight, March 28-April 13, 2014 in the Loft Theater at theSyracuse Stage/Drama Complex. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Can we practice goodness and create a world to sustain it? In Brecht's comic and complex play, this question is raised by one of his most entertaining characters, Shen Tei, the good-hearted, penniless, cross-dressing prostitute, who is forced to disguise herself as a savvy businessman named Sui Ta so she can master the ruthlessness needed to be a 'good person' in a brutal world. The Good Woman of Setzuan will run March 28-April 13, 2014 in the Loft Theater at the Syracuse Stage/Drama Complex. Tickets can be purchased online at http://vpa.syr.edu/drama, by phone at 315-443-3275, and in person at the SU Drama Box Office, 820 East Genesee Street.

n keeping with its tradition of fostering up-and-coming creative talent in horror movie-making, Chiller has begun the search for the next horror film maven with its newly-launched "Killer Shorts" contest. Aimed at collegiate-level filmmaking talent at schools across the United States, the contest invites submissions of 2-3 minute short horror films from aspiring directors. The winning short will make its on-air debut on Chiller following the premiere of the original anthology film, Chilling Visions: 5 States of Fear, on July 11.

Syracuse Stage is pleased to announce that the 2014/15 season will include Sizwe Banzi is Dead, the acclaimed 1975 Tony Award-winning play by Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona. Intensely funny and poignant, Sizwe tells the tale of a black man in apartheid-era South Africa who is trying to overcome restrictive work regulations in order to support his family. An opportunity comes his way-unexpectedly-but taking it comes at an unusual cost.

Ocean Isle Beach, N.C.

Ripe Time, the Brooklyn-based company led by Rachel Dickstein, has garnered acclaim for creating physically charged, visually powerful adaptations of classic and contemporary stories by authors raging from Edith Wharton to Jhumpa Lahiri. Conceived, written and directed by Dickstein, the play The World is Round epitomizes the company's work, creating from Gertrude Stein's book a fable (for grownups and mature children) full of original, live music by Heather Christian and aerial movement choreographed by Nicki Miller. Ripe Time's first new show since its celebrated Mrs. Dalloway adaptation Septimus and Clarissa (2011), The World is Round makes its world premiere April 17 - 30 at BAM Fisher (Fishman Space, 321 Ashland Place, Brooklyn).

THE DEAL: ABOUT FACE, book two of THE DEAL Trilogy by Adam Gittlin is now available in hardcover (ISBN: 978-1-60809-107-2, Thriller, 378 Pages, List Retail: $26.95) and all digital/eBook formats (ISBN: 978-1-60809-108-9, List Retail: $14.95) through all better booksellers, nationwide.

Syracuse University's Department of Drama presents David Mamet's SPEED-THE-PLOW, beginning tonight, February 21, and running through March 2, 2014 at Arthur Storch Theater.

The next TEDxBroadway event will be held Monday, February 24th, 2014 at New World Stages.

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust announces the opening of Dream Body, a video installation by local artist Blaine Siegel. The exhibition is on view at the Trust's 709 Penn Gallery in the Cultural District March 7-April 13, 2014. An opening reception will be held Friday, March 7, 2014, from 5:30 to 8 p.m., at 709 Penn Gallery.

Broadway's Sharone Sayegh celebrates the '90s in her NYC solo concert debut at the Metropolitan Room, Monday February 24th at 7pm.

The evening will be co-hosted by two of the company's alumni actors: two-time Tony Award winner David Hyde Pierce (at PH in Richard Greenberg's The Maderati in 1987) and two-time Tony Award nominee, two-time Obie Award winner and 2012 Special Drama Desk Award winner Mary Testa (at PH in William Finn's In Trousers in 1979, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's Lucky Stiff in 1988, Tom Donaghy's From Above in 1998/Obie Award and Kathleen Tolan's The Wax in 2000).

On Sunday, March 23rd COMIX at Foxwoods Comedy Club in Mashantucket, CT welcomes WWE's Hardcore Legend, Mick Foley. His multi-faceted career has seen Foley turn from 3-time WWE champion to 2-time New York Times #1 best-selling author to his present incarnation as stand-up comic/spoken-word performer. Foley's nationwide tour "Tales from Wresting Past" showcases his unique style of surreal story-telling and his trademark blend of wildness and warmth that promises to take both wrestling and comedy fans on a memorable and entertaining ride. His shows have already garnered a collection of stellar reviews from around the globe.Chortle, the UK's most respected comedy source said, "onstage, Foley is charm personified: eloquent, self-effacing and funny." Best-selling author Paul O'Brien, writing for The Layfield Report raved, "He always leaves them laughing. Laughing, standing at the end and always wanting more." Even the decidedly non-wrestling publication Broadway Babies mused "If you're interested at all in wrestling, you'll love it; if you're not, you'll like it."

Austin Bain liked working for the CIA, especially exercising his intellect to be one step ahead of a challenging situation. Deviating from his deciphering routine seemed to open another door to reality. Escaping death by minutes in Panama might have been a fluke, but it was enough to remind him of the dangers of his vocation. Resigning from the CIA, he returned to civilian life, until a former cohort tracked him down vacationing on a remote Bahamas island.

On Sunday, March 23rd COMIX at Foxwoods Comedy Club in Mashantucket, CT welcomes WWE's Hardcore Legend, Mick Foley.

The Los Angeles Premiere of the critically acclaimed DERBY DAY written and directed by Samuel Brett Williams opens Saturday, February 22nd at 8 PM. There will be two previews on February 20th and February 21st. at 8 PM. The show runs Thursday's, Friday's and Saturday's through March 22nd at the Elephant Theatre (6322 Santa Monica Blvd. Hollywood, 90038). Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at www.plays411.com/derbyday or by calling 323.960.7779.

In 'There Is Not More of Wonder: Than a Firefly's Playful Flickering in a Child's Cupped Hands' (published by Trafford Publishing), Thomas Paul Fondy's new collection of poems and the personal stories that inspired the verses, readers are reminded of, as Fondy puts it, 'the majesty of our shared humanity.' In intricately crafted verse, he celebrates humanity's touching bond with souls from long ago and looks forward to humanity's shared future.