Dessa Rose Photos - Off-Broadway

First of all, kudos to director James Esposito for discovering the musical DESSA ROSE, based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Sherley Anne Williams. This awe-inspiring musical received its New York premiere at Lincoln Center in 2005 and it's a wonder no other theater group has decided to produce this timely exploration about the universal need for freedom and equality. With book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty, it tells the story of a young black woman (a runaway slave) and a young white woman (an abandoned mother) beginning in the years just prior to the Civil War and continuing through their journey to acceptance in the antebellum South. The audience has the role of playing their grandchildren, to whom the elderly pair tell their story as it is presented to us.

TheatreWorks, the nationally acclaimed theatre of Silicon Valley, presents FLY BY NIGHT, developed at TheatreWorks and making its world premiere as the centerpiece of this year's New Works Festival.

Agoraphobia, adultery, spray cheese, road kill, hysterical pregnancy, kleptomania, flan and disco - these are just a few of the subjects covered in hit Off-Broadway musical comedy THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL, which will have its Boston-area premiere April 30-May 30, produced by SpeakEasy Stage Company.

World Premiere of INKED BABY, a new play by 2007 Susan Smith Blackburn nominee Christina Anderson in her Off-Broadway playwriting debut. INKED BABY began previews on Thursday, March 5 at 7:30 PM at Playwrights Horizons' Peter Jay Sharp Theater (416 West 42nd Street). Directed by Kate Whoriskey (Fabulation at Playwrights Horizons, the current hit Ruined), INKED BABY will have its official opening on Monday, March 23 at 7:00 PM and continue through Sunday, April 5.

Director Billy Porter and Grammy nominee Ledisi mark their debuts with Reprise Theatre Company in the 1990 musical 'Once on This Island,' opening the 2008-2009 season, September 2 to 14 at UCLA's Freud Playhouse. The press opening is September 3. Bradley Rapier, founder of the Groovaloos, choreographs and Darryl Archibald is the music director. Reprise Theater Company is led by Artistic Director Jason Alexander and Producing Director Susan Dietz.

Broadway, television, film and recording star Rachel York made her Feinstein's at Loews Regency debut on Sunday, October 14, and Monday, October 15, performing her new cabaret, 'For the Love of It.' Feinstein's in the Loews Regency Hotel is located at 540 Park Avenue at 61st Street.

The 50th Annual Village Voice Obie Awards were presented on Monday night at Webster Hall.