Travis Kendrick

It's time to get'cha head in the game and bring out your inner Wildcat for the upcoming production of HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL on the Center's Outdoor Stage, June 23 – 25.

One of the most beloved shows in America, SEUSSICAL the Musical, will shine brightly on the Little Theater stage at Midland Center for the Arts this spring, featuring youth performers from all over Mid-Michigan.

Like many classic stories that we have grown to know and love, She Loves Me, the upcoming Center Stage Theatre production at Midland Center for the Arts, has a long history as a charming tale worth retelling with new and unique interpretations.

Midland Center for the Arts has announced the addition of Travis Kendrick as the new Manager of Produced Theatre and Theatre Education. Kendrick comes to the Center as a professional director, choreographer and educator, having most recently served as the Director of Education for Mill Mountain Theatre and Visiting Faculty Member for both Hollins University and Virginia tech.

Spring Awakening opened to a sold-out crowd last night in West Hollywood's The Lounge Theatre, this being the premiere project for Me + You Productions. The rock musical, known for being groundbreaking on Broadway in 2006, is looked at through a new lens in this production: Gun Saftey. With 100% of proceeds going to Everytown for Gun Saftey, Me + You Productions find the intricate balance of connecting current struggles and honoring the original story.

Me+You Productions is gearing up for their Los Angeles production of the Tony-Award winning musical Spring Awakening. The show will begin its three-week run at The Lounge Theatre in West Hollywood, California, opening on August 24th and closing September 9th. 100% of ticket proceeds from this production will benefit Everytown for Gun Safety, an American nonprofit organization whose aim is to reduce gun deaths in the wake of increased mass shootings.

Mill Mountain Theatre is wrapping up rehearsal for 'Shrek The Musical: Theatre For Young Audiences Version' and gearing up to begin performances this Wednesday, August 1st and continues through the 12th on the Trinkle MainStage. Starring as the Green Ogre himself is Flordia native Ryan Koch. I was lucky enough to sit down with Koch to hear about his experience playing Shrek and found him to be a charismatic and passionate young man.

Mill Mountain Theatre begins rehearsal today for 'Shrek The Musical: Theatre For Young Audiences Version' and performs August 1st through 12th on the Trinkle MainStage. Characters you know and love are brought to life by MMT's cast of 30 performers, featuring youth actors from the Roanoke Valley, as well as Mill Mountain Theatre's Apprentice Company.

Mill Mountain Theatre presents exciting programming for their Young Audience Series as two productions: Mother Goose Tales and Shakespeare's The Tempest run in repertory on the Waldron Stage, May 5-12. Audience members of all ages can see both productions on the same day, as the performances are alternating in the same theater space.

An Equity Theatre's program to encourage young playwrights culminates in staged productions of the winning scripts. Mill Mountain Theatre Conservatory proudly presents Write Stuff! for it's 2nd Annual Festival. Mill Mountain Theatre Conservatory, the onsite, pre-professional training program at Roanoke's Equity Theatre, is hosting their second annual festival of new works penned by local students. The playwriting contest was open to Middle School and High School playwrights, with the winning three being produced as staged-readings. The chosen plays this year are by all female playwrights: Job Switch by Mikayla Parker, Little Sacrifices by Caroline Moledor, and Auditions by Caroline Westphalen. The festival of staged-readings will be this Saturday, February 10, 2018 on the Waldron Stage. Mill Mountain Theatre Conservatory students and local talent will act in the plays directed by Mill Mountain Theatre staff.

The Jungle Book, a short play based on the classic stories by Rudyard Kipling, is Roanoke's very own Mill Mountain Theatre's summer outreach production, taking live theatre to unconventional settings, including parks and libraries. This production feature's MMT's 2017 Summer Apprentice Company. I was lucky enough to sit down with the director and adaptor of the well-known tale to hear about the process creating this new play and learn more about how Mill Mountain Theatre is spreading the gift of theatre across Roanoke, for free.

9-year old Alexander would rather play in his basement with his goldfish, Bubbles, than be anywhere near his neighbor Sheila Stone.

UC Irvine's Claire Trevor School of the Arts Department of Drama presents the Andrew Lloyd Weber/Tim Rice Tony-winning musical Evita, their second offering in the Irvine Barclay Theatre this season.

The fourth annual edition of OC-centric: Orange County's New Play Festival introduces Southland audiences to four local playwrights emerging as powerful voices in Southland theatre, and a quartet of intriguing and satisfying plays from their imaginations - stories brought to life by actors and directors from across Southern California in collaboration with Chapman University theatre students. Join us in the Moulton Hall Studio Theatre for this destination new play event.

The fourth annual edition of OC-centric: Orange County's New Play Festival introduces Southland audiences to four local playwrights emerging as powerful voices in Southland theatre, and a quartet of intriguing and satisfying plays from their imaginations - stories brought to life by actors and directors from across Southern California in collaboration with Chapman University theatre students. Join us in the Moulton Hall Studio Theatre for this destination new play event.

Join us August 21-31, 2014 in Chapman University's Moulton Hall Studio Theatre, located at 300 E. Palm Ave., Orange, CA 92866 for the 4th annual OC-centric new play festival.

The Secret Theatre has announced its new season of children's musicals! The new season opens with PIRATE PETE'S PARROT and will alternate every Saturday with DOTTY DOT! beginning September 8th. All shows are at 2:00 pm. For tickets or more information, visit www.secrettheatre.com.

Welcome to the fifth installment of Music City Confidential, my column to collect the flotsam and jetsam, informationally speaking, of theatre in Tennessee. Sorry for the long delay since the last installment, but I've been theatering my butt off all over the Volunteer State in search of intriguing gossip and riveting news stories just for you, my gentle readers.

What with contemporary musical theater's artistic bent toward the nostalgic in recent years, it should come as no surprise that Happy Days, the ABC sitcom that painted an affectionate portrait of life in Milwaukee in the late 1950s/early 1960s, was adapted by the show's creator Garry Marshall and composer Paul Williams into a musical comedy.