A Place at the Table 2000 - Articles Page 3.4

BWW Reviewer Peter Nason chooses the greatest theatrical works (non-musical) from 1920-2020; see if your favorites made the list!

12 Questions with Actor Angelica SantiagoJust because stages and galleries are closed doesn't mean there aren't stories to tell about local artists, many of who are out-of-work and uncertain of how they will pay the bills during this current public health crisis. Arts-Louisville will be talking with them.

Mabou Mines, the esteemed experimental theater company, and Weathervane Productions, in association with Philip Glass' Days and Nights Festival, add free documentary film screening and Promenade concert performance, and announce complete casting for a unique upcoming celebration of legendary playwright and director María Irene Fornés. The February 21-March 7 engagement centers on the New York premiere of Philip Glass' transformation of her five-page play Drowning into an opera and a version of Fornés' acclaimed Mud. JoAnne Akalaitis directs these two intimate productions-both with new music composed by Glass-at Mabou Mines (150 First Avenue).

The Music Institute of Chicago hosts its 2020 Anniversary Gala on Monday, April 20 at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago, 120 E. Delaware Street, celebrating its history as one of the largest and most respected community music schools in the nation. Highlights of this festive evening include presentations of the Dushkin Award to acclaimed pianist Evgeny Kissin and the 11th annual Cultural Visionary Award for Chicago to Helen Zell.

Talent Management agency Cyd LeVin & Associates (CLA) announced today, that it has rebranded as CLA Partners ahead of the companies 10th Anniversary since reopening in 2010. Originally founded in 1990 by Cyd LeVin with a single client, the company became an overnight success and its roster grew to over 150 actors working in Film, Television and Theater. In 2000, the company's roster and staff were acquired by another major management company, while Cyd retired from the business to focus on her family and raising her newly adopted son.

Playwright Larissa FastHorse is having one hell of a year. Her THE THANKSGIVING PLAY has already been produced in various cities across the United States this year, with her next production already in previews at the Geffen Playhouse, and opening November 5, 2019. Michael John Garcés directs Larissa's humorous and woke take on Thanksgiving traditions featuring Noah Bean, Alexandra Henrikson, Jeff Marlow and Samantha Sloyan. After a full day of PLAY's rehearsals, I had the opportunity to chat with Larissa on her South Dakota, Sicangu-Lakota heritage.

Glimmerglass Film Days will offer five days of independent films, events, art, and filmmaker talks, November 7-11 in Cooperstown. 'Adaptations' is the theme of the seventh annual film festival, which will be held in multiple locations, including the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Fenimore Art Museum, and the Otesaga Hotel. A record number of 37 films will be shown.

Jamie Lloyd's smash-hit production of Harold Pinter's Betrayal will open officially tonight, September 5, at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre.

Alabama Shakespeare Festival presents the world premiere of Buzz by Susan Ferrara, on stage September 4 a?' 15, 2019. Directed by Emmy Award-winning actor Carrie Preston, the provocative new play will be performed in an alternative space, ensuring that every performance is a unique experience for the audience.

In IF I FORGET, Steven Levenson provides a close study of the kitchen sink family drama. At its center, the play addresses fundamental questions about what it means to be Jewish in America at the turn of the 21st century (the first act of the play takes place in July of 2000, while the second jumps to the post 9-11 moment of February 2001). IF I FORGET centers on the Fischer family as a means to pose those questions in a specific context through the family's three generations. In each individual scene, Levenson displays a knack for realistic and specific dialogue. Devon de Mayo's direction and the tight-knit ensemble also portray family tensions that feel altogether too real.

Summer has arrived in South Florida, and that means three things: schools are closed, temperatures are in the 90's and City Theatre has opened its annual Summer Shorts Festival at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts' Carnival Studio Theater. This year's Summer Shorts (City Theatre's 24th) features eight short one act plays--including two musicals.

Summer has arrived in South Florida, and that means three things: schools are closed, temperatures are in the 90's and City Theatre has opened its annual Summer Shorts Festival at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts' Carnival Studio Theater. This year's Summer Shorts (City Theatre's 24th) features eight short one act plays--including two musicals.

Summer has arrived in South Florida, and that means three things: schools are closed, temperatures are in the 90's and City Theatre has opened its annual Summer Shorts Festival at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts' Carnival Studio Theater. This year's Summer Shorts (City Theatre's 24th) features eight short one act plays--including two musicals.

Only 90s kids will remember...That's the line, the bait, the hook that reels the audience into Death Throes by Gillies, Croft and Lui at The Blue Room Theatre. Harriet Gillies, Julia Croft and Joe Lui fell in 'artistic love' with one another at The Blue Room some time ago and decided to collaborate on a project together. Their polyamorous collab has borne something strange and unusual, something challenging, unflinching, raw, sweaty and fun.

Ford Theatres presents an immersive experience: Last Whispers - Oratorio for Vanishing Voices, Collapsing Universes and a Falling Tree, on Friday, June 14 at 8:00pm. Last Whispers is simultaneously a spatially-designed sound composition and a film -- an invocation of languages that have gone extinct and an incantation of those that are endangered.

The energetic Theatre Prometheus has skillfully mounted a timely production of 14, a play by Jose Casas in the 30-seat Caos on F Street space. Inspired by the deaths of 14 Mexican migrants in the desert bordering the USA and Mexico back in May 2001, Casas' play takes an unsparing look at the situation that has, of course, become worse 18 years later. He does it not by writing the stories of those who died (though he honors them by name); rather his characters live near the border, some in Mexico, others in Arizona, Texas, and California. Their stories combine to illuminate many facets of America's current argument/conversation about who gets to come into this country. The stalwart cast of four play 16 very recognizable people, each with opinions about and connections to that border. By concentrating on ordinary lives, Casas avoids politics and spotlights human behavior. Spending time with these 16 people is more informative than a long article in The Washington Post, as entertaining as reality TV, and frequently moving.

There are plays that win a multitude of awards back in the day and become the 'must see' event for the mainstream. It becomes the talk of the town and if you are lucky enough to get to see it, you are one of the fortunate and can proclaim bragging rights. 'Proof' by David Auburn is one those plays that lives up to the hype and eighteen years later, still is riveting and thought-provoking.

Today, Croatian mainstay Outlook Festival complete their line-up, announcing Mala & The Outlook Orchestra (rhythm section) as an addition to the already hefty opening concert. While Kingston revolutionary lyricist Kabaka Pyramid, bassline heroine Flava D and DJ Zinc (who has straddled the world of jungle and house for over two decades) all join for the main festival. Bristol based Black Butter originators My Nu Leng & Dread MC also add to an already heavyweight line up as the festival says goodbye to 10 whole years at Fort Punta Christo - this year's edition is set to be the best yet.

Actress/singer/vocal coach Susan Edwards Martin, Lady Blues in Torch Song Trilogy on Broadway and star of many other musical shows, recently premiered her solo cabaret show at Upstairs at Vitello's. I reviewed the show and she was sensational.* She is taking the show to Feinstein's 54/Below in New York on March 23. Edwards Martin also has created an original show about the optimistic way she lives her life called, 'Unlimited! You'll Have the Time of Her Life!", that had a spectacular one night presentation and is currently waiting in the wings for a full production. Busy, busy, busy, Edwards also recently performed with Musical Theatre Guild as the lead in Minnie's Boys to rave reviews. Ms. Edwards Martin sat down and discussed her career thus far, and about the story behind Unlimited! You'll Have the Time of Her Life! and her latest cabaret show. Before we start to look back I always ask a few less relevant questions about musical theatre.

John Vanderslice is returning with his first album in six years, The Cedars, due out April 5, and today he shared a new single, 'Will Call,' a song that he calls his biggest departure yet. Consequence of Sound premiered the track today, writing, 'this new track uses slightly off kilter electronic elements to create a feeling that teeters between grace and anxiety. With The Cedars inspired by the natural beauty of Vanderslice's land in Northern California, the slow pulsing sine waves rolling under scattered bells and keys translate the terrain into a hypnotic soundscape.' Vanderslice also shared his inspirations for the song, which include Sonoma and Los Angeles, and a couple of his current favorite artists, Spirit of the Beehive and JPEGMAFIA.

The Music Institute of Chicago hosts its 2019 Anniversary Gala on Monday, May 20 at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago, 120 E. Delaware Street, celebrating its history as one of the largest and most respected community music schools in the nation with a festive evening highlighted by the presentation of the Dushkin Award to acclaimed jazz trumpet player, bandleader, composer, and educator Wynton Marsalis.

Asolo Repertory Theatre proudly presents the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner and Tony nominee for Best Play: SWEAT, penned by one of today's foremost playwrights, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage. Directed by Nicole A. Watson, this poignant new drama humanizes the U.S. labor crisis and its impact on Reading, Pennsylvania. SWEAT previews February 6 and 7, opens February 8 and runs through April 13 in rotating repertory in the Mertz Theatre, located in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts.