Thomas Jefferson News

E.Faye Butler shines in pivotal role in this tale of racism and stereotypes in the theater

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater kicks off the second year of programming in the company's new home with the 2011/12 Season Opening Celebration September 15, 2011. The evening, which benefits Arena Stage's Community Engagement and educational programs, will include cocktails and dinner featuring the presentation of the American Artist Award to Tony and Emmy award-winning actress Leslie Uggams, followed by the highly anticipated season opening performance of Trouble in Mind by Alice Childress in the Kreeger Theater.

The sins of the father are visited upon the son once again in Sam Shepard's primal family drama Curse of the Starving Class, which will be presented starting October 27th at The Bridge Theatre in Manhattan by a new company, Actors and Directors Living in Brooklyn (AdLib).

Old Hollywood glamour will come alive in the Barn Theatre premiere production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's SUNSET BOULEVARD. Popular daytime television star Kim Zimmer will star as iconic silent film star Norma Desmond!

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater kicks off the second year of programming in the company's new home with the 2011/12 Season Opening Celebration September 15, 2011. The evening, which benefits Arena Stage's Community Engagement and educational programs, will include cocktails and dinner featuring the presentation of the American Artist Award to Tony and Emmy award-winning actress Leslie Uggams, followed by the highly anticipated season opening performance of Trouble in Mind by Alice Childress in the Kreeger Theater.

After a memorable and record-breaking inaugural year, Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater celebrates its 61st anniversary season with Trouble in Mind, written by playwright Alice Childress. Childress was the first African-American woman to have her plays professionally produced in New York, and she became the first woman of color to win an Obie Award, in 1956 for Trouble in Mind (Best Original Production).

Old Hollywood glamour will come alive in the Barn Theatre premiere production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's SUNSET BOULEVARD. Popular daytime television star Kim Zimmer will star as iconic silent film star Norma Desmond!

Under the helm of sought after Los Angeles theatre Director Todd Nielsen, the Tony Award-winning Musical 1776 will close at the Glendale Centre Theatre August 13, 2011.

E. Faye Butler, who portrays Aunt Eller in the summer revival of Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater's acclaimed and record-setting production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, will transition out of her Helen Hayes-nominated role to begin rehearsals for Arena Stage's 2011/12 season opening play Trouble in Mind. Butler will be replaced by Terry Burrell, who was last at Arena Stage in the 2007/08 world-premiere musical The Women of Brewster Place. Burrell joins the Oklahoma! company August 2, and her first performance will be August 9. Burrell was 'lovely and heartbreaking...spellbinding' in Signature Theatre's Show Boat (TalkinBroadway.com), and will be a strong addition to the cast.

From July 20 through August 2, 'In Rehearsal', a display of photographs drawn from the Lia Chang Theater Portfolio in the Library of Congress' Asian American Pacific Islander Collection, is on view in the Library of Congress' Asian Division Reading Room, located in Room 150 of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street S.E., Washington, D.C. The hours of the Library of Congress' Asian Division Reading Room are 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

From July 20 through August 2, 'In Rehearsal', photographs drawn from the Lia Chang Theater Portfolio in the Library of Congress' Asian American Pacific Islander Collection titled, will be on view in the Library of Congress' Asian Division Reading Room, located in Room 150 of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street S.E., Washington, D.C. The hours of the Library of Congress' Asian Division Reading Room are 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Editor Rick Shiomi, on behalf of co-editors Josephine Lee and Don Eitel, will discuss their new anthology 'Asian American Plays for a New Generation' (Temple University Press, June 2011) at noon on Wednesday, July 27 in the Mary Pickford Theater, located on the third floor of the Library of Congress James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C.

Caramoor International Music Festival kicks off the holiday weekend by transporting audiences to the American revolutionary era with an original program entitled Thomas Jefferson's Music at Monticello.

Since its premiere on Broadway in 1969, the musical 1776 has become as popular as Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music; it seems that people cannot get enough of the show especially around the Fourth of July. After all, why read a history book when you can be entertained by a humorous retelling of our nation's conception? Giving in to the family fix for 1776, Glendale Centre Theatre is currently mounting a dutiful production with excellent direction and cast through August 13.

Under the helm of sought after Los Angeles theatre Director Todd Nielsen, the Tony Award-winning Musical 1776 will be presented at the Glendale Centre Theatre June 23 - August 13, 2011. With Music and Lyrics by Sherman Edwards, Book by Peter Stone, and Musical Direction by the award-winning Steven Applegate, 1776 premiered on Broadway in 1969 and is based on the events leading up to the drafting and signing of the Declaration of Independence.

American history meets Jersey Shore by way of The Great Gatsby at DrinkTheDeal's presentation of 'Thomas Jefferson & His Ragtime Orchestra' at mixology hotspot Theater Bar on June 24. The production, a comedic account of the life of the third President told through 1920s-style arrangements of current pop hits, is being staged as part of a three hour open bar event that runs from 9pm-12am.

Sparky, Jinx, Smudge and Frankie are returning from the great beyond in the heavenly and hilarious musical Forever Plaid opening the 31st Summer Season at the Moonlight Amphitheatre from June 15 through July 2 at 8:00 pm.

Tonight, 2,400 high school students, teachers and parents from across Washington state packed Benaroya Hall for the Ninth Annual 5th Avenue Awards: Honoring High School Musical Theater, sponsored by Wells Fargo and supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Franklin School for the Performing Arts (FSPA) graduated sixteen members of its Class of 2011 during recent ceremonies on May 24th at the Dean College Campus Center.

Caramoor International Music Festival kicks off the holiday weekend by transporting audiences to the American revolutionary era with an original program entitled Thomas Jefferson's Music at Monticello.