Alliance Theatre News

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, September 15, 2013 - Sunday, September 15, 2013.

Tonight, as the curtain rises at the (770 seat) Alliance Theatre, in Atlanta, this will be the center of the Universe for Barry and Bruce. This musical is, and has been, their baby for a long time, while waiting for this moment.

The Obie and Drama Desk Award-winning Ma-Yi Theater Company -- one of the nation's leading theaters dedicated to developing and producing new and innovative plays by Asian American writers -- has announced March 24, 2014 as the date for the company's 25th anniversary gala celebration, set forMonday evening, March 24 at the Hudson Theater (145 W. 44 St.) in Manhattan. The evening's emcee and entertainment will be announced at a later date.

The Colony Theatre is thrilled to present the West Coast Premiere of BREATH AND IMAGINATION: The Story of Roland Hayes, a true story by Daniel Beaty, directed by Saundra McClain, with Musical Direction by Rahn Coleman. BREATH AND IMAGINATION will open tonight, September 14 at 8:00pm and continue through Sunday, October 13.

AEG Live has just announced the touring cast for the southern gothic, supernatural musical Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, libretto by Stephen King, with music and lyrics by John Mellencamp and musical direction by T Bone Burnett. The show will be appearing in 19 cities throughout the Midwest and Southeast beginning October 10 in Bloomington, IN, and ending November 6 in Grand Rapids, MI. Tickets are on sale now at aeglive.com.

The Old Globe today announced the complete cast and creative team for the World Premiere comedy The Few by award-winning playwright Samuel D. Hunter (The Whale). Directed by Davis McCallum, The Few will run Sept. 28 - Oct. 27, 2013 in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run Sept. 28 - Oct. 2. Opening night is Thursday, Oct. 3 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

The Suzi Bass Awards, Inc. announced nominations for the 2012- 2013 Atlanta professional theatrical season this evening to theatre patrons and industry artists. The Suzi Nomination Party, which rotates venues, was hosted this year by 7 Stages in the Little Five Points neighborhood of Atlanta. Guests enjoyed drinks, hors d'oeuvres and mingling with their colleagues and admirers. Guest announcers and former Suzi winners Ingrid Cole and Glenn Rainey revealed Nominees and quipped about the past season.

Internationally adored pop star Barry Manilow joins with bookwriter and lyricist Bruce Sussman as well as director Tony Speciale to discuss the new musical HARMONY and share a look behind the scenes of the show, now playing an out of town tryout at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia.

Teatro Vista, Chicago's largest non-profit Equity Latino theater company, will launch the company's first season as a resident company at Victory Gardens Theater with the world premiere of White Tie Ball, Martin Zimmerman's new play about two brothers, one easily identified as Latino, another who isn't, and the moral and emotional dilemmas they find themselves in. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the actors onstage below!

Alliance Theatre presents HARMONY - A NEW MUSICAL, with music by Barry Manilow and book & lyrics by Bruce Sussman, now playing through October 6, 2013. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the production shots below!

The world comes to a small Southern town in Horizon Theatre Company's World Premiere of Third Country by Suehyla El-Attar. The play, directed by Horizon Co-Artistic Director Lisa Adler, is inspired by the Clarkston, Georgia community where thousands of refugees have been resettled over the last decade. In addition to the production, Horizon is partnering with more than 20 local organizations to bring this story to life through post-show discussions, opportunities to meet the people who inspired the play, special events, and a marketplace for refugee-made goods.

An all-star cast will take the stage at The 5th Avenue Theatre this fall in the celebrated organization's 15th new musical, Secondhand Lions. Based on the beloved film starring Michael Caine and Robert Duvall, Secondhand Lions springs to musical life in Seattle with a superbly talented cast of Broadway stars and Seattle musical theater actors. Lead by Tony Award nominees Gregg Edelman and Mark Jacoby, this adventure story also features Jason Danieley, Jenny Powers, Kevin Earley, Jared Michael Brown, Kendra Kassebaum, Sophia Anne Caruso, and Justin Huertas. Johnny Rabe, star of Broadway's A Christmas Story, takes center stage as Walter.

The Velocity of Autumn, a new two-character play from Cleveland-based playwright Eric Coble, opens at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater under the direction of Artistic Director Molly Smith and by special arrangement with HOP Theatricals, LLC.

Non-profit Provision Theater Company launches its 2013-2014 season with Red Letter Jesus, a deeply moving new show of Jesus' words from the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) performed with an original multimedia presentation, including stunning videography captured throughout Israel and Jordan. The production will run September 6 through October 13 with performances on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.and Sundays at 3:00 p.m. at Provision Theater, 1001 W. Roosevelt Rd., Chicago, IL.

The Obie and Drama Desk Award-winning Ma-Yi Theater Company -- one of the nation's leading theaters dedicated to developing and producing new and innovative plays by Asian American writers -- will celebrate its 25th anniversary season in 2013-14, beginning with the New York premiere of BIKE AMERICA by Mike Lew, with previews September 24 prior to an official opening night on October 1 Off-Broadway at The Theater at St. Clement's (423 W. 46 St.) in Manhattan.

The acclaimed playwright is being celebrated in staged readings through Sept. 28 at The Greene Performance Space in Lower Manhattan.

Make no mistake about it, Shakespeare's plays, despite their intellectual reputation, are filled with content that, if written today, would draw the ire of many parents. However, when Shakespeare used rape, drugs and alcohol, and murder in his plays, it was always as a vehicle to serve the larger story. When his plays featured lies, betrayals, and manipulations, they were always motivated by the unique psychology of the individual characters. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for 'The Cortez Method,' running through September 22nd at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater.

On the heels of their record breaking production of Les Miserables, a new comedy with a very intriguing title opens Aurora Theatre's 2013-2014 Harvel Lab Series. Walter Cronkite is Dead which runs September 19 - October 6, 2013.

The Alliance Theatre just announced its production of BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK, the Off-Broadway hit by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage. Described by The New York Times as "a fitful comedy," BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK tells the story of an aspiring actress trying to break the mold of stereotypical African-American film roles in 1930's Hollywood and the legacy she leaves on the film industry seventy years later.

Now in its 10th year, Goodman Theatre's 2013 New Stages festival features five FREE new plays-two fully staged workshop productions performed in repertory plus three staged readings-in the Owen Theatre, December 7 - 22. All five plays celebrate Latino playwrights: The Upstairs Concierge, a contemporary farce about celebrity and baseball by Pulitzer Prize finalist (for The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity) Kristoffer Diaz; and The Solid Sand Below, an examination of the intoxicating nature of war which Martin Zimmerman developed during his time as a member of the Goodman's Playwrights Unit, and which was selected for the 2013 National Playwrights Conference at The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Connecticut. The three staged readings, which complement the two workshop productions over the December 13 - 15 "Industry Weekend," are TBA. Tickets are free, but reservations are required: 312.443.3800, GoodmanTheatre.org or visit the box office (170 N. Dearborn).