Amma Osei News

Victory Gardens Theater announces Jess McLeod and Aaron Todd Douglas as the 2018 Next Generation Fellows. Beginning in February 2018, the Next Generation Fellowship will provide comprehensive mentorship, requisite training, and experience for these future leaders of color, preparing them to helm arts institutions or departments on the national and local level. The program is made possible by a generous grant from The Field Foundation of Illinois.

The Gift Theatre is pleased to present TEN 2018, the company's annual season kick-off festival of ten world premiere ten-minute pieces by The Gift and guest artists, curated by Artistic Director Michael Patrick Thornton and Associate Artistic Director Paul D'Addario, playing January 5 14, 2018 at 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago's Jefferson Park neighborhood. Tickets for TEN are free for Gift subscribers and $10 for the general public. Tickets are currently available by calling the Gift's box office at 773-283-7071 or visiting thegifttheatre.org.

The Gift Theatre is pleased to launch its 17th season with the world premiere of Stacy Amma Osei-Kuffour's haunting and often-humorous drama HANG MAN, directed by Jess McLeod, playing March 2 April 29, 2018 at 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago. Casting will be announced shortly.

The Gift Theatre is pleased to present TEN 2018, the company's annual season kick-off festival of ten world premiere ten-minute pieces by The Gift and guest artists, curated by Artistic Director Michael Patrick Thornton and Associate Artistic Director Paul D'Addario. Tickets for TEN are free for Gift subscribers and $10 for the general public. Tickets are currently available by calling the Gift's box office at 773-283-7071 or visiting thegifttheatre.org.

BroadwayWorld presents a comprehensive weekly roundup of regional stories around our Broadway World, which include videos, editor spotlights, regional reviews and more. This week, we feature BIG FISH, SISTER ACT, HAND TO GOD and more!

Loosely based on the 1957 memoir by renowned stripetease artist Gypsy Rose Lee, Gypsy follows the dreams and efforts of her mother, Rose, who raises two daughters to perform onstage and casts an affectionate eye on the hardships of show business life. The idea to musicalize this story came about when producer David Merrick read a chapter of Lee's memoirs in Harper's Magazine. From there, he quickly got in touch with her in order to obtain the rights.

Like a comet that burns far too brightly to last, Janis Joplin exploded onto the music scene in 1967 and, almost overnight, became the queen of rock 'n' roll. The unmistakable voice, filled with raw emotion and tinged with Southern Comfort, made her a must-see headliner from Monterey to Woodstock.

Like a comet that burns far too brightly to last, Janis Joplin exploded onto the music scene in 1967 and, almost overnight, became the queen of rock 'n' roll. The unmistakable voice, filled with raw emotion and tinged with Southern Comfort, made her a must-see headliner from Monterey to Woodstock. 50 years after the Summer of Love, McCarter audiences will rediscover the sights, sounds, and soul of an unforgettable era with A Night with Janis Joplin, October 10 29 in McCarter's Matthews Theatre.

North Carolina Theatre, the region's premiere nonprofit professional theatre, is proud to announce casting for the first production in its 2017-18 season, Gypsy, playing November 14 through 19 at Raleigh Memorial Auditorium in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts.

Like a comet that burns far too brightly to last, Janis Joplin exploded onto the music scene in 1967 and, almost overnight, became the queen of rock 'n' roll. The unmistakable voice, filled with raw emotion and tinged with Southern Comfort, made her a must-see headliner from Monterey to Woodstock. 50 years after the Summer of Love, McCarter audiences will rediscover the sights, sounds, and soul of an unforgettable era with A Night with Janis Joplin, October 10 29 in McCarter's Matthews Theatre.

If you're looking to get a definitive Janis Joplin biography/musical (in the vein of the Carole King musical BEAUTIFUL), then you may be disappointed with A NIGHT WITH JANIS JOPLIN, the short-lived 2013 Broadway musical. More akin to a tribute concert rather than actual musical theater, a new regional production of the show continues at the Laguna Playhouse through September 10. But wait… don't dismiss the show quite so fast. Despite a lack of a real narrative, the production boasts some incredible, standing ovation-worthy musical performances, particularly from Kelly McIntyre who plays the title role and her four 'muses' played by the ultra-talented foursome of Sharon Catherine Brown, Tawny Dolley, Carol Hatchett, and Amma Osei. These ladies alone are reason enough to go see this production!

Laguna Playhouse is thrilled to announce the second show in the Laguna Playhouse 2017-2018 and 97th season with the Tony nominated rock and roll musical, A NIGHT WITH JANIS JOPLIN, in Association with the Estate of Janis Joplin and Jeffrey Jampol of JAM, Inc., with musical direction by Todd Olson and written and directed by Randy Johnson.

Laguna Playhouse is thrilled to announce the second show in the Laguna Playhouse 2017-2018 and 97th season with the Tony nominated rock and roll musical, A NIGHT WITH JANIS JOPLIN, in Association with the Estate of Janis Joplin and Jeffrey Jampol of JAM, Inc., with musical direction by Todd Olson and written and directed by Randy Johnson.

During last night's Season Release Bash at Old Irving Brewery Co., artistic director and co-founder Michael Patrick Thornton proudly announced The Gift Theatre's 2018 season will include: Stacy Amma Osei-Kuffour's world premiere of Hang Man, directed by ensemble member Erica Weiss (February 9-April 8); Shakespeare's Hamlet, directed by Monty Cole (June 1-July 29); and the Midwest premiere of Tony Award-winning playwright and ensemble member David Rabe's Cosmologies, directed by Thornton (October 12-December 9).

American singer-songwriter and the winner of NBC TV's first season of The Voice, Javier Colon, will star in Unquowa Repertory Theatre's inaugural production of Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Big River in concert, led by theatre veterans Kirby and Beverly Ward, will hit Fairfield Theatre Company's StageOne for a limited run of four performances, June 15-17, 2017. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the company in rehearsal in the videos below!

I'm always cautiously optimistic in seeing a regional production of Jonathan Larson's Rent as I am a Renthead of MANY years. The thing to remember, obviously, is art has different interpretations. It is interesting to see the different elucidations of the choreography, the varied choices the actors make, the Director's vision, et cetera. I can proudly say that The Gateway Playhouse's incarnation of the Tony and Pulitzer winner, which is kicking off a very busy Summer season for the darling Bellport venue, does not disappoint.

Continuing the fight to achieve gender parity in the American Theater, LA-based playwright/producer collective The Kilroys has facilitated its fourth annual List of industry-recommended new plays.

American singer-songwriter and the winner of NBC TV's first season of The Voice, Javier Colon, will star in Unquowa Repertory Theatre's inaugural production of Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Big River in concert, led by theatre veterans Kirby and Beverly Ward, will hit Fairfield Theatre Company's StageOne for a limited run of four performances, June 15-17, 2017.

RENT, Jonathan Larson's famed rock opera that changed the course of a generation, opens at The Gateway in Bellport Village on Wednesday, May 17 and runs through June 3.

Janis Joplin was a force of nature. She was a candle in the wind. She was brash, vulgar, hard-drinking, hard-drugging, hard-living and fatally flawed.