Theatre Communications Group (TCG) announces the 2015 Round 3 Cycle B recipients of the Leadership U[niversity]-Continuing Ed program. Through the support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, grants of up to $5,000 will support six mid-career and veteran theatre professionals at TCG Member Theatres for learning opportunities to advance their leadership skills. The goal of this program is to strengthen the field by developing the individuals who are the core and the future of theatre.
The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University presents Twyla Tharp – 50th Anniversary Tour including two Chicago premieres, “Preludes and Fugues” and “Yowzie” 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 Thursday, 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.
Victory Gardens Theater announces the launch of The Directors Inclusion Initiative to encourage and develop talented and emerging Chicago stage directors identifying as people of color, disable, women, transgender and gender non-conforming. The aim of the initiative is to cultivate a new generation of diverse stage directors who create dynamic theatre work for their unique points of view.
As part of its 2015-2016 Producing Season, HERE proudly presents Chang(e), a HERE Resident Artist production devised by Soomi Kim and director Suzi Takahashi. A limited engagement plays November 4 - 22 at HERE (145 Sixth Avenue, just below Spring Street). This new work, developed through the HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP), marks the culmination of a residency for Soomi Kim with HARP.
Yale Repertory Theatre opens its 2015-16 season with the world premiere of INDECENT, a new play with music, written by Paula Vogel, created by Paula Vogel and Rebecca Taichman, and directed by Rebecca Taichman, at the University Theatre (222 York Street), October 2-24. Opening Night is Thursday, October 8. The world premiere of INDECENT is a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse, where it will play November 13-December 10.
Sundance Institute today announced a significant expansion of its international cultural exchange programs for independent artists with a new, multi-year initiative to support theatre-makers from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). With the goal of creating new opportunities for cross-cultural connectedness and in-depth mutual artistic reflection and exploration, the Institute will expand its existing international Labs to include a pilot Theatre Lab in MENA, to take place in May 2016. Theatre artists in the U.S. and from MENA can submit their work for consideration for this Lab as well as a new Theatre-Makers Residency at the Sundance Resort in Utah in summer 2016 through October 15 at sundance.org/theatre in a new application process. Application guidelines are also available in Arabic and French.
Cutting Ball Theater opens its 17th season with LIFE IS A DREAM by Pedro Calderon de la Barca. Following the sold-out success of last season's Antigone, Acting Artistic Director Paige Rogers (Tontlawald, Mud) helms this Calderon classic, in a new translation from resident playwright Andrew Saito, commissioned by Cutting Ball. Featuring David Sinaiko, Asher Sinaiko, Grace Ng, Sango Tajima, Matthew Hannon, Michael Wayne Turner III, Peter Warden, and Barry Despenza, LIFE IS A DREAM plays October 2 through November 1 (press opening: October 8) at the Cutting Ball Theater in residence at EXIT on Taylor (277 Taylor Street) in San Francisco.
The Joyce Theater Foundation, Inc. is proud to present the highly anticipated Joyce debuts of two of the world's most exciting forces in contemporary dance: Aparna Ramaswamy from October 6-8, with the solo work They Rose at Dawn; and Dance Heginbotham presenting two New York premieres, from October 10-11.
Perseverance Theatre announces its 37th season producing professional theatre by and for Alaskans. With five productions in Juneau and Anchorage, Perseverance continues its commitment to statewide programming and expanding its community of Alaskan audience and artists. The season includes four plays and the musical Sweeney Todd presented in both Juneau and Anchorage, plus a revival of the classic A Christmas Carol in Anchorage. The Tragedy of Othello is Shakespeare's classic tale of love, betrayal, and the emotional price of years at war. Annapurna, by Sharr White, features cowboy poet Ulysses, working to finish his last epic poem, when his estranged wife appears unexpectedly with shocking news. In the New Year, see Alaskan playwright Vera Starbard's stunning new play Our Voices Will Be Heard, a powerful Tlingit mother-daughter journey with a fierce call for healing. In the Next Room, or the vibrator play is a hysterical and intimate comedy about new technology changing relationships. Highlighting the season is Sondheim's darkly brilliant musical about an innocent man, whose wrongful imprisonment sets him on a path to set things right when he meets the murderous Mrs. Lovett and her meat pie shop. Playing in Anchorage only, the holiday favorite Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol returns in a specially adapted version from Dickens' book and monologues. All six of these spectacular plays will be brought to the stage with Perseverance's signature mix of the best actors in Alaska and selected visiting artists. Performances in Anchorage will take place at the Sydney Laurence Auditorium or the Discovery Theatre, both at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, 621 W. Sixth Ave, Anchorage, AK 99501.
Miller Theatre at Columbia University
School of the Arts celebrates distinguished American composer John Luther Adams with the William Schuman Award Concerts in a three-night series of New York premieres, each composed in honor of one of Adams' greatest influences.
Steppenwolf Theatre Company announced today the complete cast for the Chicago premiere of Domesticated, a provocative dark comedy written and directed by ensemble member and Pulitzer Prize-winner Bruce Norris. The cast features ensemble member Tom Irwin and venerable Chicago actress Mary Beth Fisher as a political couple in the midst of a sex scandal. Irwin has been an ensemble member since 1979, having performed in more than 50 Steppenwolf productions including The Grapes of Wrath and The Seafarer. Fisher, a frequent performer at Goodman Theatre, most recently in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, last performed at Steppenwolf in Dead Man's Cell Phone in 2008. Completing the Domesticated cast are Emily Chang, Esteban Andres Cruz, Meighan Gerachis, Rae Gray, Beth Lacke, Millie Langford, Melanie Neilan, Meg Thalken and Karen Woditsch. Domesticated runs December 3, 2015 - February 7, 2016 in the Downstairs Theatre. Tickets to Domesticated ($20 - $89) go on sale Friday, October 2, 2015 through Audience Services (1650 N. Halsted) at 312-335-1650 and steppenwolf.org.
Continuing its commitment to bringing free Shakespeare to the community and strengthening audience engagement with the arts, The Public Theater will mount its MOBILE SHAKESPEARE UNIT again this October with a free three-week tour to the five boroughs of Shakespeare's THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah. The free Mobile Unit tour (October 9-29) will bring free Shakespeare to audiences who have limited or no access to the arts by visiting correctional facilities, homeless shelters, social service organizations, and other community venues, including stops at our Public Works community partner venues: Brownsville Recreation Center in Brooklyn and DreamYard Project in the Bronx. Following the Mobile tour, THE COMEDY OF ERRORS will have a sit-down run at The Public Theater from Sunday, November 1 to Sunday, November 22, with an official press opening on Thursday, November 5.
HERE begins its 2015-2016 Producing Season with Genet Porno, by HERE Resident Artist Yvan Greenberg / Laboratory Theater. This production, developed through the HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP), marks a premiere. Genet Porno plays a limited engagement September 9 - 26 at HERE (145 Sixth Avenue, just below Spring Street).
The New England Foundation for the Arts announces $630,000 in six new grants during the fifth year of the National Theater Project. NTP supports the development and touring of new theater works.
Boston Playwrights' Theatre (BPT) today announces the three new plays that will comprise its 34th season. The line-up includes Exposed by Robert Brustein, Back the Night by Melinda Lopez and Rhinoceros adapted by Wesley Savick.
New Brunswick, NJ – Enjoy a virtual adventure with George Overbury “Pop” Hart, whose diverse travel experiences captured scenes of daily life in locales where few tourists ventured during the early part of the 20th century. While most American artists visited Europe to perfect their drawing and painting skills or to pursue styles inspired by avant-garde artists, Hart preferred extended trips abroad to more exotic – and affordable – destinations. Crisscrossing the globe between his first expedition to Latin America starting in 1900 and his last trips to North Africa and Cuba some 30 years later, these excursions were the primary source for his art throughout his career. Vagabond Artist: “Pop” Hart in Tahiti, Mexico, and the Caribbean, on view today, September 1, 2015, to February 8, 2016, spotlights more than 40 watercolors, drawings, and prints.
The New England Foundation for the Arts has awarded $1,606,350 through the National Dance Project (NDP) to support the creation of 18 new dance works that will tour the United States.
Touchstone Theatre ushers in their 2015-16 season with the American debut of Italian theatre company Teatro Potlach in their original production The First 100 Years of Edith Piaf. The play, directed by Pino Di Buduo and performed by Nathalie Mentha, runs September 17-20, 2015.
Playwrights Horizons begins accepting entries today, Wednesday, August 19, for the LIVEforFIVE online lottery for $5 tickets to their New York premiere of THE CHRISTIANS, a new play by Lucas Hnath (A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney, Isaac's Eye, Death Tax). Directed by Obie Award winner Les Waters (Doris to Darlene at PH; the recent 10 Out of 12; In the Next Room, or the vibrator play; Big Love; eurydice), the play is the opening production of the theater company's 2015/2016 Season, and it's a co-production with L.A.'s Center Theatre Group (Michael Ritchie, Artistic Director; Stephen D. Rountree, Managing Director).
New Brunswick, NJ—July 17, 2015—On October 17, the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers will present the first US retrospective on the groundbreaking work of Soviet conceptual artist Vagrich Bakhchanyan (1938-2009), whose incisive critiques of Soviet propaganda led to unlikely success and an embrace in Soviet popular culture that remains relevant to this day. Accidental Absurdity will feature approximately 80 works from the artist's multidisciplinary oeuvre, including prints, collages, literary compositions, and conceptual performances, all of which highlight the humor that guided Bakhchanyan's artistic experimentations. The exhibition will remain on view through March 6, 2016, and the Zimmerli will serve as the only US venue for this unprecedented presentation.
