Arnel Sancianco News

Fasten your seatbelts, and prepare for turbulence. Baltimore Center Stage (BCS), in a co-production with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, presents the regional premiere of AIN’T NO MO’ written by Jordan E. Cooper and directed by Lili-Anne Brown now through November 20, 2022. See photos from the production.

JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE was the first Wilson play produced at the Huntington in 1986, the beginning of a 19-year relationship that saw all ten of his American Century Cycle plays chronicling the African American experience in the 20th century performed on the local stage.

Fasten your seatbelts, and prepare for turbulence. Baltimore Center Stage, in a co-production with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, will present the regional premiere of AIN'T NO MO' written by Jordan E. Cooper and directed by Lili-Anne Brown from October 27 through November 20, 2022.

The Huntington has announced the casting and creative team for the highly anticipated revival of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, directed by Lili-Anne Brown. Wilson’s masterpiece serves as the inaugural production of the newly renovated Huntington Theatre and runs from October 14 – November 13, 2022.

Recognizing a strong return to the spotlight over the 2021-2022 Equity theater season, the Joseph Jefferson Awards in Chicago announced its nominations for theater excellence. This year’s nominees include 201 theater artists across 38 categories of excellence in theater production among shows from 43 companies.

The Joseph Jefferson Awards have announced this year's Equity nominations, including 201 theater artists across 38 categories.  The 54th anniversary Equity Jeff Awards will take place October 17, 2022, at Drury Lane in Oakbrook, IL. 

Fasten your seatbelts, and prepare for turbulence. In a co-production with Baltimore Center Stage, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company will present the regional premiere of AIN’T NO MO’, written by Jordan E. Cooper.   

The Muny is presenting Legally Blonde! Tune into our Instagram Story as Hayley Podschun takes you behind the scenes of her day at Legally Blonde at The Muny.

Get a first look at The Muny's production of The Color Purple, which began performances August 3rd and runs through August 9th, 2022.

Get a first look at The Muny's production of The Color Purple, which began performances August 3rd and runs through August 9th, 2022.

Go inside rehearsals for The Muny's production of The Color Purple, which begins performances tonight and runs through August 9th, 2022.

The Muny announced its full cast, design and production teams for the Muny Premiere of The Color Purple, August 3 – 9, 2022.   Joining the previously announced principal cast of Tracee Beazer (Shug Avery), Nasia Thomas (Nettie), Evan Tyrone Martin (Mister), Gilbert Domally (Harpo) and Nicole Michelle Haskins (Sofia) is Anastacia McCleskey (Celie).

Steppenwolf Theatre Company will welcome Chicago actor Jos N. Banks (He/They) to the cast of its hit play CHOIR BOY, written by Oscar-winning ensemble member Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight).

What did our critic think?With direction by Kent Gash, Steppenwolf’s staging of CHOIR BOY hits all the right notes. Steppenwolf ensemble member Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play is is a heartwrenching and tuneful story about Pharus— a young gay Black man who relishes nothing more than his role as the choir lead at the prestigious Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys. Over the course of the play, Pharus navigates that classic adolescent tension between his desire to be fully himself and his wish to be accepted among his peers. McCraney’s script beautifully demonstrates this push-and-pull in a way that will universally resonate with audiences, but the story is also incredibly specific to Pharus and his classmates.

TimeLine Theatre Company announced a new way to see its critically acclaimed Chicago premiere of Lloyd Suh’s The Chinese Lady, with a central performance by Mi Kang.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company has announced casting for its new staging of the Tony Award-nominated play Choir Boy by Oscar-winning Steppenwolf ensemble member Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight), June 16 – July 24, 2022 (press opening on Sunday, June 26 at 6 p.m.).

Directed by Helen Young, TimeLine Theatre Company’s Chicago premiere of Lloyd Suh’s THE CHINESE LADY is a poignant and well-crafted play centered on Afong Moy, who was supposedly the first Chinese woman to come to America. Although historical record does not have much definitive information about Afong Moy (we even know that was not her real name), Suh uses the play’s well-structured 90 minutes to imagine what she might have said to audiences had she been given the chance. For at least 15 years from 1834 to 1850, Afong Moy was treated like an exhibit in a museum; Nathaniel and Francis Carnes brought her to the United States to showcase her in front of American audiences. Thus, Afong Moy was taken away from her family and stripped of agency. While Suh’s script cleverly allows Afong Moy to take back some of that agency, the play also demonstrates that in reality this young woman didn’t have much of a voice or control over her situation at all.

For its 25th anniversary season finale, TimeLine Theatre will present the Chicago premiere of The Chinese Lady, Lloyd Suh's acclaimed play inspired by the story of the first Chinese woman to step foot in America. 

In FOUR WOMEN, history reminds us there's no rest for the weary, and the call for racial justice is a collective effort requiring sustained vigilance. The irony here is not so subtle. Ms. Ham's play thumbs its nose at the growing political hysteria over which segments of American history should be taught in schools. It's a volatile nation that tiptoes between insight and shame as it reexamines its sordid past. Nonetheless, FOUR WOMEN is dauntless in its appeal to uphold historical reality amidst current grievances about a manufactured problem.

The imminent start of the 2022 Oregon Shakespeare Festival season—Artistic Director Nataki Garrett’s first full season—marks a celebratory return to repertory producing. The 2022 lineup features eight on-stage plays and musicals, from classic Shakespeare to works by some of today’s most exciting playwrights.