Austene Van News

Milwaukee Repertory Theater presents the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Disgraced, written by one of the most in-demand playwrights of today Rep Associate Artist Ayad Akhtar in the Quadracci Powerhouse beginning January 17 through February 12.

Milwaukee Repertory Theater  presents the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Disgraced, written by one of the most in-demand playwrights of today Rep Associate Artist Ayad Akhtar in the Quadracci Powerhouse beginning January 17 through February 12.  According to American Theater Magazine, Disgraced was the most produced play around the country in the 2015/16 Season, and now for the first time it makes a homecoming to Milwaukee, the hometown of playwright Ayad Akhtar.  

Milwaukee Repertory Theater presents the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Disgraced, written by one of the most in-demand playwrights of today Rep Associate Artist Ayad Akhtar in the Quadracci Powerhouse beginning January 17 through February 12.

Milwaukee Repertory Theater presents the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Disgraced, written by one of the most in-demand playwrights of today Rep Associate Artist Ayad Akhtar in the Quadracci Powerhouse beginning January 17 through February 12.

Dinner party conversation goes deep, touching off unresolved notions of cultural, religious, and racial identities, between guests and within. 

Ayad Akhtar's Pulitzer Prize winning Disgraced has become a flashpoint of conversation. Critically-acclaimed and Tony-nominated on Broadway, produced around the world, Disgraced is about to spark debate on McCarter's Matthews Stage this October.

Ayad Akhtar's Pulitzer Prize winning Disgraced has become a flashpoint of conversation. Critically-acclaimed and Tony-nominated on Broadway, produced around the world, Disgraced is about to spark debate on McCarter's Matthews Stage this month. Of particular note will be an appearance by playwright Ayad Akhtar at McCarter's Dialogue on Drama on Sunday, October 16th. Get ready for his appearance with the interview below!

Ayad Akhtar's Pulitzer Prize winning Disgraced has become a flashpoint of conversation. Critically-acclaimed and Tony-nominated on Broadway, produced around the world, Disgraced is about to spark debate on McCarter's Matthews Stage this month. Of particular note will be an appearance by playwright Ayad Akhtar at McCarter's Dialogue on Drama on Sunday, October 16th (see below for more information on Dialogue on Drama). BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Ayad Akhtar's Pulitzer Prize winning Disgraced has become a flashpoint of conversation. Critically-acclaimed and Tony-nominated on Broadway, produced around the world, Disgraced is about to spark debate on McCarter's Matthews Stage this October.

Ayad Akhtar's Pulitzer Prize winning Disgraced has become a flashpoint of conversation. Critically-acclaimed and Tony-nominated on Broadway, produced around the world, Disgraced is about to spark debate on McCarter's Matthews Stage this October.

Now in its 10th year, Penumbra Theatre's Summer Institute is a leadership development program that trains teenagers to use their passion for the arts to promote social justice and equity. Across the Twin Cities, students are positively impacting their communities by standing up, speaking out, and moving those who listen with the power of performance.

Friends, something exciting is going on at the Guthrie Theater. In the wake of (not unjustified) criticism about their lack of diversity onstage and backstage, they are currently presenting a 60-year-old play written by Alice Childress, one of the most important female African-American playwrights of the 20th Century, and directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton, the first African-American woman to ever direct on a Guthrie mainstage. And I'm happy to report that TROUBLE IN MIND succeeds on so many levels. First of all, it's hilarious, engaging, and entertaining, and offers a behind the scenes look at the theater world we love so well. But more importantly, it talks about racism, sexism, classism, ageism in a smart and nuanced way that has as much resonance in today's world as it did in the 1950s NYC theater world depicted in the play. I was fortunate enough to attend on a night when there was a post-show discussion with the cast, which just made the experience that much richer. The best and most important work of theater is to start conversations about the world we live in, give voice to everyone's stories, and in doing so help us to better understand our fellow human beings. Trouble in Mind, and the conversations it will hopefully spark amongst its audience, is a fantastic example of that.

In one of those strange theater-going coincidences, the night after I saw two one-act plays at the Guthrie, I attended opening night of Penumbra's presentation of two one-act plays. Both paired plays by different playwrights linked by a common theme. But unlike the theater comedies THE CRITIC and THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND, THE DUTCHMAN and THE OWL ANSWERS are dense and meaty dramas dealing with heavy issues. They might not make you laugh (except, occasionally, uncomfortably), but they will definitely make you think. Written in the '60s as part of the Black Arts Movement, these plays take an unforgiving look at the racism, sexism, and classism of the day, that still have implications in today's world. A stellar ensemble cast and top-notch production design tie the two very different plays together and highlight the playwrights' messages. Though they are not easy to watch and I can't say I understood everything that was going on, I certainly came away with much to chew on, and a greater understanding of our shared history. Which is pretty much a given at Penumbra Theatre.

Friends, I know that there are a lot of theater companies in the Twin Cities, so many that it's hard to keep track of them all and impossible to see them all. But you would be wise to take note of New Epic Theater. With just their second production outside of the Fringe Festival and their first full season of programming, they've already established themselves as one to watch with smart, intense, risk-taking, aesthetically beautiful productions. Their new production of John Patrick Stanley's 2005 Tony-winner DOUBT re-imagines the new classic with inventive staging that brings the themes of doubt vs. certainty, racial and gender inequality, and the power hierarchy of the Catholic Church into almost painfully sharp focus.

2014-15 McKnight Theater Artist Fellows Austene Van and Sally Wingert, along with their collaborators, will present selections from works in progress on June 29 at 7 p.m. at the Illusion Theater.

No one does musicals like Ten Thousand Things does musicals. And even though it defies everything we know about musical theater, after seeing a TTT musical I think that maybe that's the way musicals should always be done. The music, like everything else about the show, is stripped down to the very basics, extraneous layers removed to reveal the very heart of the matter. A one-man orchestra provides the minimal accompaniment, and the small cast imperceptibly transitions from speaking to singing, so that you can't even tell where songs end and begin, it's just all one seamless story. And above all else, Artistic Director Michelle Hensley and all of the artists at Ten Thousand Things are storytellers. Whether it's Shakespeare or a classic American musical, they share the story in a pure and unadorned way so that all of their audiences, whether prisoners or seasoned theater-goers, can hear it and see themselves in it. One such masterpiece is their latest musical venture, THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN, a reprise of their very first musical venture 15 years ago. It's lovely, spirited, sweet, funny, moving, heart-warming, and real.

The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts is excited to present its 2014 holiday show, A Christmas Story, the Musical. The Ordway-produced musical comedy will run Nov. 29-Dec. 28, 2014, for a total of 36 performances. Tickets are available now and can be purchased online at www.ordway.org, by phone at 651-224-4222 or in person at the Ordway ticket office.

The 31st annual PlayLabs new play festival runs Monday, October 20 through Sunday, October 26 at the Playwrights' Center. Audiences are invited to readings of new plays by Playwrights' Center Core Writers, brought to life by top actors and incorporating design elements-elevating the staged reading to an intimate art form all its own.

The Playwrights' Center has announced the 2014-15 recipients of its McKnight Theater Artist Fellowships: costume designer Mathew LeFebvre; actor, director and choreographer Austene Van and actor Sally Wingert.

The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts announced today that The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, winner of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, will perform today, March 25-30, 2014 at the Ordway.