Ben Warner News

On Friday, April 28, in true Academy-award style, 200 community and cultural leaders came together to celebrate the 15th annual Art Star Awards. Held on the Festival of Arts grounds, this year's red-carpet reception and ceremony featured pop-up musical and dance performances as well as live art demonstrations, all complimented by champagne and h'oeuvres.

There are no weighty messages here. No high drama. Just fun stuff, listening to a couple of 60ish female actors, virtually joined at the hip, tease and tolerate each other with all manner of jokey repartee, acid-laced with rapier ripostes that cut to the quick.

The Ridgefield Theater Barn's 2nd annual Concert for the Community in Ballard Park was a huge success. The crowd of roughly 250 people waited through some pre-show drizzly weather, but the concert went off without a hitch.

The Hollywood Reporter has reported on some trouble for Ben Affleck's Batman franchise.

The Cote Saint-Luc Dramatic Society is thrilled to present Little Shop of Horrors from June 8 to 25 at the Harold Greenspon Auditorium.

Former English National Opera Artistic Director John Berry has launched a new, not-for-profit company called Opera Ventures.  It will produce opera and mixed media performances, workshops, classes and training.

The Junction Theatre will present the West Coast Premiere of RED VELVET, a critically acclaimed play written by Lolita Chakrabarti, directed by Benjamin Pohlmeier, to be presented at Atwater Playhouse, 3191 Castitas Avenue, #100, Los Angeles, CA 90039, on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 5:00 p.m., March 26 - April 30, 2016. Tickets can be purchased by calling Brown Paper Tickets 24/7 at 1-800-838-3006, or online at http://redvelvet.brownpapertickets.com. General Admission is $25 per person; Students, Seniors and Veterans are $20 per person; and Groups of 10 or more $15 per person. To learn more, please visit www.thejunctiontheatre.org and http://atwaterplayhouse.com/

The big-budget film follows a group of mercenaries who are contracted to assassinate an African warlord. Per the report, 'the film is both an action movie and an examination of the moral ambiguities of how philanthropy and foreign assistance veers into modern day neocolonialism. It also tracks how involvement in the affairs of foreign countries is always a good deal more complicated than anticipated in the planning stages.'