Anne E. McMills News

Cygnet Theatre has announced the cast and creative team of The Little Fellow (or - The Queen of Tarts Tells All) by renowned playwright Kate Hamill. This world premiere is directed by Rob Lutfy and runs October 25 - November 19 at Cygnet Theatre in Old Town.

San Diego Opera is excited to announce Opera Hack 2.0, an online interdisciplinary event for music/theater and technology experts to explore how technology can be applied to the production, presentation, and consumption of opera.

San Diego Opera has announced the continuation of its 2020-2021 season with a drive-in filmed encore presentation of the 2018 SDO production of All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 on Monday, December 21, 2020 at 7 PM at the Del Mar Fairgrounds parking lot (2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd.). Prior to the screening of the film will be a live concert of holiday favorites starring members of the San Diego Opera Chorus including a singalong that patrons can enjoy from the comfort and safety of their own car. 

In July of 2019, San Diego Opera partnered with Microsoft, with support from Opera America and the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, to bring together professionals from theater companies, tech companies, and prominent university engineering and theater programs for a two-day hackathon to discover new ways for technology to be used in theater.

The San Diego Theatre Critics Circle is pleased to announce the nominations for its 2019 Craig Noel Awards. Now in its 18th year, the Craig Noel Awards honor the achievements at professional theaters in San Diego County.

Cygnet Theatre presents the ingenious modern musical The Last Five Years, a powerful, funny and dynamic story about navigating the waters of love and matrimony. Directed by Rob Lutfy with musical direction by Patrick Marion, this show runs October 23 through November 17, 2019. Opening Night for media is Saturday, October 26 at 8:00PM.

San Diego Repertory Theatre (San Diego REP) announced today the cast and creative team for Lynn Nottage's Sweat, winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Best Play. Directed by REP artistic director Sam Woodhouse, Sweat will be the final show in The REP's 43rd season. Sweat will run April 18 - May 12, 2019, at San Diego REP's Lyceum Stage Theatre, with previews April 18 - 23, and press opening on Wednesday, April 24 at 7:00 p.m.

When San Diego Opera General Director David Bennett realized earlier this year that the scheduled Vancouver-derived production of Hansel and Gretel wouldn't fit comfortably on the Balboa Theater stage, All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 was an obvious holiday-season alternative. He'd already been thinking about it for the company's Detour Series of less traditional works.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the godmother of rock-n-roll, and her protegee Marie Knight, shake, shimmy and swing into Cygnet this January for the West Coast Premiere of Marie and Rosetta. This play with music runsJanuary 16 to February 16, 2019 at Cygnet Theatre in Old Town. Opening Night for Media is Saturday, January 19 at 8:00pm. 

Can a musical drama set on a grim WW I battlefield make an audience feel good? Those working on the San Diego Opera's staging of All Is Calm: the Christmas Truce of 1914 are certain it can. The work tells the true story of the spontaneous unofficial truce between WWI enemies who left their trenches and entered the no-man's land between them to join in a celebration of the Christmas holidays. Peter Rothstein wrote the drama for his Minneapolis-based company Theatre Latte Da, and based it on material from the period, the most important of which is the verbatim text of letters and war journals written by soldiers who participated in the truce.  The cast sings many songs popular during the war and a few traditional Christmas carols. All were arranged by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach, and are sung a cappella in the English, German and French languages of the soldiers. Vanessa Dinning has taken on the challenge of coaching in nearly 20 different dialects.

Southern California audiences will be able to get lost in Jane Austen's elegant, Regency era romantic classic, Sense and Sensibility, next month. The production opens South Coast Repertory's 55th season. British playwright Jessica Swale adapted Austen's story and the show is directed by Casey Stangl on the Segerstrom Stage, Sept. 1-29.

Southern California audiences will be able to get lost in Jane Austen's elegant, Regency era romantic classic, Sense and Sensibility, next month. The production opens South Coast Repertory's 55th season. British playwright Jessica Swale adapted Austen's story and the show is directed by Casey Stangl on the Segerstrom Stage, Sept. 1-29.

The Drama Book Shop will host author and lighting designer Ann E. McMills on January 11th at 5pm as she celebrates the release of her new book, The Assistant Lighting Designer's Toolkit. McMills will be on hand to discuss and sign copies of the book, priced at $39.95.