Barnes News

Kat Liz Kramer: This is Me is a show about finding your identity through music. Kat was brought up in the ballet and musical theatre world in Orange County, California. Between touring the world and eventually landing in New York, she found a love for storytelling through music.

Artist Georgia O'Keeffe, celebrated for her modernist paintings of flowers, and Patricia Highsmith, the prolific writer best known for such works as Strangers on a Train (1950) and The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955), have been added to New York City's LGBT historical narrative. This month, the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project published two new entries to its website, a compendium of extant sites in all five boroughs where LGBT history has occurred and influenced our city and our nation's culture.

Valerie Taylor-Barnes, celebrated ballerina of the Royal Ballet and champion of young artists, passed away peacefully of natural causes on November 18, 2019 at the age of 88. She was preceded in death nearly ten years to the day by her beloved husband, Clive Barnes.

Just in time for the holiday season, the Emmy® nominated animated special ANGELA'S CHRISTMAS is now available on DVD and digital download in the U.S. The half-hour holiday film is based on the popular and only children's story from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Frank McCourt.

Mean Girls a?" the record-breaking new musical comedy produced by Lorne Michaels, Stuart Thompson, Sonia Friedman, and Paramount Pictures based on the hit film a?" opens on the Kimmel Center Cultural Campus at the Academy of Music on Tuesday, November 19, running through December 1. The Mean Girls First National Tour features Philadelphia native, Mary Kate Morrissey.

Founder of Tara Arts, Jatinder Verma MBE, is to step down as Artistic Director, forty years after founding the ground-breaking company.

Julie Barbera's recently released book, Cracked Mirror, Clear Reflection, is an award-winning finalist in the Religion: Christian Inspirational Category of the 2019 Best Book Awards sponsored by American Book Fest.

The UC San Diego Department of Theatre and Dance presents Man In Love by Christina Anderson and directed by Stephen Buescher. Midwestern Metropolis during the Great Depression is severely segregated. If you're from 'The Spread' you are trying to survive another eviction notice, soup line, or night on the street. If you're from the segregated Black area called 'The Zoo' you are literally fighting for your life. The bodies of Black women are turning up dead all over the city. It's not even safe to stay inside. Christina Anderson's play Man in Love is about race, love, and terror, all living side by side.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents Swing Dancing with Caleb Teicher, Chris Celiz, Ben Folds, Conrad Tao and Eyal Vilner Big Band on Monday, December 9 at 6:30pm and 7:30pm.

It is not a secret that young kids are very impressionable, and what they see on children's media will most likely make a big impact on how they will see and act out in the world, says author Natalie Gonchar. On October 24, Natalie's book, 'Mr. Gringle's Magical Wheelchair' (ISBN: 978-1612543154), was released, and it is now on the shelves at Barnes & Noble stores across the U.S. Natalie, a high school student, wrote the book after noticing a lack of children's books featuring lead characters who have disabilities.

Casting has been announced for the East Lansing engagement of Disney's Aladdin. The hit Broadway musical will begin performances in East Lansing at Wharton Center on Wednesday, December 4, for a limited engagement through Sunday, December 15. The press opening night is Friday, December 6, at 8:00 p.m.

From the producers of The Lion King and Aladdin, Frozen launches a North American tour, commencing in Schenectady, NY prior to an official opening at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles. Heralded by The New Yorker as 'thrilling' and 'genuinely moving,' Frozen has emerged as the biggest hit musical of the last two Broadway seasons, breaking four house records at its New York home, the legendary St. James Theatre. For more information, including a list of currently announced cities, visit FrozenTheMusical.com/Tour.

A musical comedy noir, with book by Maureen Chadwick, co-creator of the original TV series, and music & lyrics by Kath Gotts (also co-creators of 'Bad Girls - The Musical'), 'Footballers' Wives - The Musical' is based around the first TV series, and follows the fall and rise of super-bitch Tanya Turner - captain's wife and old school femme fatale - as she struggles to keep her marriage afloat to footballer and lothario, Jason Turner, amidst groupies, meddling club chairmen, deception, betrayal and murder.

An Indigenous farmer begins planting wild rice along ancestral lakeshore, causing ripples throughout the local cottager's association in Drew Hayden Taylor's Cottagers and Indians, on at GCTC November 26 - December 15.

Today, of Montreal have announced their new album UR FUN via Polyvinyl Record Co.  Listen to the first track and single “Peace To All Freaks,” described by Kevin Barnes as a “protest song against totalitarianism, familial terrorism and wastefulness in all its forms,” that expresses love to the outcasts and the gentle people in this world, leaving us with this reminder: “Hush, hush/ Don't let's be cynical/ don't let's be bitter/ If you feel like you can't do it for yourself then do it for us.”

Freeform has announced the cast for “Last Summer,” its pilot from eOne and executive produced by Bert V. Royal (“Easy A,” “Recovery Road”), with Iron Ocean Productions' Jessica Biel and Michelle Purple (“The Sinner,” “Limetown”), and Max Winkler (“Jungleland,” “Flower”). Royal also penned the script, with Winkler directing. Production recently kicked off in Texas.

The future of American theatre is in Louisville! Actors Theatre of Louisville and Artistic Director Robert Barry Fleming proudly announce the lineup for the 44th Humana Festival of New American Plays. The upcoming Festival marks Fleming's first at the helm of Actors Theatre, the nation's leading incubator for new play development. A cultural highlight for theatre lovers, artists and producers across the country, the Humana Festival runs March 1 through April 12, 2020 in Louisville.

Irish Repertory Theatre (Charlotte Moore, Artistic Director and Ciarán O'Reilly, Producing Director), in association with the Wexford Arts Centre, is proud to present the U.S. premiere of The Scourge, written & performed by Michelle Dooley Mahon (The Eff Word), and directed by Ben Barnes (Madama Butterfly). The Scourge begins performances in the W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre (132 W 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011) on January 22, 2020, with opening night set for January 23, for a limited run through February 2, 2020. The Scourge is an official selection of the 2020 Origin 1st Irish Theatre Festival.

A Sensible Theatre Co. presents The Sensible Cabaret - once a month, every month - aiming to elevate Queer & Allied artists here in New York City. November 18th at 9:30P will feature the razor wit of Darius Harper, fresh from his star-turn as Lola in the Kinky Boots tour with Darnell White on the keys.

Irish Repertory Theatre (Charlotte Moore, Artistic Director and Ciarán O'Reilly, Producing Director), in association with the Wexford Arts Centre, will present the U.S. premiere of The Scourge, written & performed by Michelle Dooley Mahon (The Eff Word), and directed by Ben Barnes (Madama Butterfly). The Scourge begins performances in the W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre (132 W 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011) on January 22, 2020, with opening night set for January 23, for a limited run through February 2, 2020. The Scourge is an official selection of the 2020 Origin 1st Irish Theatre Festival.