Andrew W. Mellon News

Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641), one of the most celebrated and influential portraitists of all time, enjoyed an international career that took him from his native Flanders to Italy, France, and, ultimately, the court of Charles I in England.

The University of Miami will host the inaugural Academic Art Museum and Library Summit next January, bringing together fourteen pairs of library and museum directors from prestigious North American academic institutions to address opportunities for deep intra-institutional collaboration. The Summit will focus on the ways that new pedagogical models and technologies are transforming the work of the academy, and the potential for art museums and libraries to engage more fully with faculty, students, and each other.

On Monday, November 30, playwright, novelist and songwriter Suzan-Lori Parks was awarded the 22nd annual Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prizeat The Public Theater in New York City.

Due to critical acclaim and popular demand, Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) has announced a third and final extension of their hit New York premiere production of HIR, a new play by Obie Award-winning theater artist Taylor Mac (A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, The Lily's Revenge, The Walk Across America for Mother Earth, The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac, The Young Ladies Of). Directed by theater director and performance artist Niegel Smith (Artistic Director of The Flea), HIR is the second production of the theater company's 2015/2016 Season.

Surpassing its fundraising goal, Long Beach Opera's 37th Annual Gala raised over $210,000 to support its 2016 opera season and Youth Initiative Programs. Honorary Co-Chairs Barbara Bixby Blackwell and Jean Bixby Smith, along with LBO's Board of Directors, presented the fundraiser, 'Glittering Glamorous Giving,' on Saturday November 7, 2015 in the Lagunita Pavilion at the Hotel Maya, Long Beach.

Young Jean Lee's STRAIGHT WHITE MEN will have its West Coast premiere November 20 - December 20, 2015, at the Center Theatre Group/Kirk Douglas Theatre, directed by Lee and presented in collaboration with the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA. The first U.S. performances of the play since The Public Theater presented its New York premiere last fall will feature a cast of Frank Boyd, Richard Riehle, Brian Slaten and Gary Wilmes.

Ghostlight Records will release the PRELUDES Original Cast Recording in digital formats and in stores on January 8, 2016. Produced by LCT3, Lincoln Center Theater's initiative devoted to producing the work of new artists and engaging new audiences, PRELUDES is a new musical by Dave Malloy, inspired by the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff, developed with and directed by Rachel Chavkin.

Liquid Music joins forces with pioneering organizations MASS MoCA, Baryshnikov Arts Center and Indianapolis Museum of Art in commissioning and presenting Holographic, a new album and performance series created by Paris-born, Los Angeles-based composer Daniel Wohl, premiering in New York City January 21 & 22 and arriving in Saint Paul on Thursday, February 11. Critics have celebrated Wohl's work as a 'boldly surreal aural experience,' (The New York Times) and applauded his aptitude for crafting music that can 'transport, unsettle and delight all at once' (National Public Radio).

The Play Company's (PlayCo) 2015-16 Idea Lab features three curated events, November 18 & 28 and December 4, following performances of award-winning, German playwright Maria Milisavljevic's Abyss. The critically acclaimed U.S. premiere, directed by Maria Mileaf, runs through December 6 at Theaterlab, 357 West 36th Street. Writing about Abyss for The New York Times, Ben Brantley praised the 'poetic drama,' as 'genuinely artful...And it will take you places you didn't expect to go.' Speaking about the play's painfully current themes, he said it considers, 'some very topical questions of European national identities in a time of permeable and shifting borders.'

American Theater Company (ATC) continues its Legacy Season with the world premiere of Bruise Easy by Dan LeFranc, a writer on Showtime's 2015 Golden Globe-winning drama The Affair and playwright of ATC's blockbuster world premiere The Big Meal-which went on to an extended off-Broadway run at Playwrights Horizons.

The Joyce Theater Foundation (Linda Shelton, Executive Director) is proud to present Gallim Dance, under the artistic direction of founder Andrea Miller, from December 3-6. The company will perform the world premiere of Miller's latest work W H A L E during this limited 5-performance engagement.

New Brunswick, NJ – The Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers invites the public to a reception and series of programs for Vagrich Bakhchanyan: Accidental Absurdity, the first U.S. retrospective on the groundbreaking work of the Soviet conceptual artist, tonight, November 12. The event includes a curator-led tour of the exhibition, a roundtable discussion with individuals who were close to the artist, and a screening of the film Vagrich and the Black Square. The programs, which take place from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m., are free and open to the public. Registration is not required.

FirstWorks kicks off the 2015-2016 season with a week-long residency by the vibrant Los Angeles-based, multimedia performance art troupe Cloud Eye Control.

New Brunswick, NJ – On November 10, the Zimmerli Art Museum kicks off its interactive initiativeHereNow: Rutgers 250, which invites students, alumni, faculty, staff, and visitors to share photos of their experiences with Rutgers University. The photos will be used to create a digital gallery, museum exhibition, and book, celebrating the global Rutgers community and capturing life across the New Brunswick, Camden, and Newark campuses, as well as at the university's locations across New Jersey and around the world.HereNow is part of the yearlong commemoration leading up to the university's 250th anniversary on November 10, 2016. A signature event of the Rutgers 250 celebration, it also recognizes the Zimmerli's upcoming 50th year of bringing innovating arts exhibitions and programs to its many audiences.

The Old Globe's GLOBE FOR ALL returns to bring free professional Shakespeare directly to diverse, multigenerational audiences in underserved communities around San Diego County. This second year of GLOBE FOR ALL follows a highly successful inaugural production in 2014. One of the Bard's most charming comedies, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, will be directed by renowned Shakespearean Rob Melrose, Artistic Director of San Francisco's Cutting Ball Theater, who makes his Globe debut. He directs a cast of local professional actors, including recent graduates of the Old Globe/University of San Diego Graduate Theatre Program.

American Lyric Theater is proud to launch a new series, ALT Alumni: Composers and Librettists in Concert, celebrating the successes of its Composer Librettist Development Program. The series includes two upcoming concerts at the brand new National Sawdust, November 15, 2015 and February 7, 2016, each featuring excerpts from five different operas with scores and/or librettos written by alumni of the CLDP.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG) announces the 2015 Round 3 recipients of the Leadership U[niversity] - One-on-One program.

The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University presents Twyla Tharp – 50th Anniversary Tour including two Chicago premieres, “Preludes and Fugues” and “Yowzie” this week, November 5 – 8, at the historic Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress Parkway. In a momentous co-commission with Ravinia Festival, as well as four other dance presenters in four other cities, the Auditorium is thrilled to present these two new works by world-renowned choreographer Twyla Tharp. The performance schedule is Today, Nov. 5 – Saturday, Nov. 7 at  7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 8 at 2 p.m. Tickets are priced $33 - $103 and are available online at AuditoriumTheatre.org by calling (312) 341-2300 or in-person at the Auditorium Theatre's Box Office, 50 E. Congress Parkway. Subscriptions for the Auditorium Theatre's 2015 - 2016 season and discounted tickets for groups of 10 or more are also on sale. For more information visit AuditoriumTheatre.org.

As part of its 2015-2016 Producing Season, HERE presents Chang(e), a HERE Resident Artist production devised by Soomi Kim and director Suzi Takahashi.