Ben Zamora News

Park Avenue Armory has commissioned dance pioneer Reggie (Regg Roc) Gray and visionary director Peter Sellars to create a performance piece that evolves the tradition of flex, the Brooklyn-born street dance. Characterized by sharp, rhythmic contortion, pausing, snapping, gliding, bone-breaking, and animated showmanship, the flex form evolved from the Jamaican bruk-up style popular in the dance halls and reggae clubs of Brooklyn in the 1990s. Opening today, March 25 and marking the first major presentation of the Armory's 2015 artistic season, FLEXN transforms the dance from its individual, combative style to create a collaborative work of social commentary inspired by both personal experience and current events. A series of public discussions and education initiatives complement the presentation.

Park Avenue Armory has commissioned dance pioneer Reggie (Regg Roc) Gray and visionary director Peter Sellars to create a performance piece that evolves the tradition of flex, the Brooklyn-born street dance. Characterized by sharp, rhythmic contortion, pausing, snapping, gliding, bone-breaking, and animated showmanship, the flex form evolved from the Jamaican bruk-up style popular in the dance halls and reggae clubs of Brooklyn in the 1990s. Opening March 25 and marking the first major presentation of the Armory's 2015 artistic season, FLEXN transforms the dance from its individual, combative style to create a collaborative work of social commentary inspired by both personal experience and current events. A series of public discussions and education initiatives complement the presentation.

The Theatre @ Boston Court presents Se Llama Cristina, by Octavio Solis, directed by Robert Castro. This production is the final stop on the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere, which included productions at The Magic Theater in San Francisco and Kitchen Dog in Dallas. Opening night is Saturday, January 25, 2014 on the Main Stage at Boston Court Performing Arts Center, 70 North Mentor Avenue.

The Theatre @ Boston Court presents Se Llama Cristina, by Octavio Solis, directed by Robert Castro. This production is the final stop on the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere, which included productions at The Magic Theater in San Francisco and Kitchen Dog in Dallas. Opening night is Saturday, January 25, 2014 on the Main Stage at Boston Court Performing Arts Center, 70 North Mentor Avenue.

MainStreet Theatre Company has announced the first production of its 2013/2014 season, Aesop in Rancho Cucamonga, a world premiere play by Luis Alfaro and directed by Robert Castro. Now in its eighth season, MainStreet Theatre Company commissioned this adaptation of Aesop's Fables with a generous grant from the James Irvine Foundation. The production, which is also supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, will play two school performances on October 25 and open to the public on Saturday, October 26 at 4pm. The strictly limited engagement will run through Sunday, November 10 only.

ACT Theatre has announced the Seattle premiere of Will Eno's whimsical and poetic comedy drama, Middletown. In his contemporary take on Thornton Wilder's classic Our Town, Will Eno (2012 PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award) digs acutely into American life, bringing the deeply human journeys of neighbor and stranger together in an 'Everytown USA.' Eno's critically acclaimed new play explores how the imponderable mysteries of the universe reveal themselves through the apparently everyday lives and relationships of ordinary people in an ordinary place.

ACT Theatre has announced the Seattle premiere of Will Eno's whimsical and poetic comedy drama, Middletown. In his contemporary take on Thornton Wilder's classic Our Town, Will Eno (2012 PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award) digs acutely into American life, bringing the deeply human journeys of neighbor and stranger together in an 'Everytown USA.' Eno's critically acclaimed new play explores how the imponderable mysteries of the universe reveal themselves through the apparently everyday lives and relationships of ordinary people in an ordinary place.

Following Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic's successful world premiere of LA Phil Creative Chair John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary last season, they present the oratorio in a theatrical setting at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Thursday and Friday, March 7 and 8, at 7:30 pm, and Sunday, March 10, at 2 pm. Once again the Los Angeles Master Chorale and six soloists: mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor, contralto Tamara Mumford, tenor Russell Thomas and countertenors Daniel Bubeck, Brian Cummings and Nathan Medley, return for Adams' large-scale LA Phil-commissioned work. The production also features dancers Michael Schumacher, Anani Sanouvi and Troy Ogilvie. Iconoclastic director Peter Sellars oversees the world premiere staging of the work. The project will then be taken on tour with its European premiere during the orchestra's international residency at the Barbican London, and continuing performances in Lucerne and Paris, followed by the East Coast premiere at Avery Fisher Hall in New York.

There are many words I can use to describe Seattle Shakespeare Company's current production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". But the one word that kept popping up so many times while watching it was "HOT!" This production is just plain hot as director Sheila Daniels has put together a fearless production that puts in all the love, lust and sex you could ask for while also throwing in a bit of a twist and still keeping Shakespeare's ethereal comedy true to itself and fun as hell.

Los Angeles Philharmonic Conductor Laureate Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale and soloists in the world premiere of the PROLOGUE TO ORANGO, Shostakovich's unfinished opera, at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Friday and Saturday, December 2 and 3, at 8 p.m., as well as Sunday, December 4, at 2 p.m. The satirical opera about a half-man, half-ape, was sketched in 1932, and discovered in 2006, at Moscow's Glinka Museum by Russian musicologist Olga Digonskaya. At the request of Shostakovich's widow and Digonskaya, British composer Gerard McBurney developed the orchestration of ORANGO in 2009.

There are many words I can use to describe Seattle Shakespeare Company's current production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". But the one word that kept popping up so many times while watching it was "HOT!" This production is just plain hot as director Sheila Daniels has put together a fearless production that puts in all the love, lust and sex you could ask for while also throwing in a bit of a twist and still keeping Shakespeare's ethereal comedy true to itself and fun as hell.

Right off the bat let's just get out there what Sarah Ruhl's "In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play" is about. It's in the title for Pete's sake. Yes, the show is about vibrators and their use in the 1880's. Yes, THOSE kinds of devices and activities that usually are not discussed in polite society. So I'll try and be as delicate as I can for my more sensitive readers. But beyond the obvious, the show deals with a small group of people as they come to grips with … er … I mean … get in touch with their … um … DAMN, this is harder than I … uh … well, they discover more about their true feelings. Yes the show is slightly naughty but in a delightful way with depth and humor and ACT's production is presented with beauty and skill.

Intiman Theatre continues its 2010 Season with The Thin Place, a commissioned world premiere written by Sonya Schneider and conceived and directed by Intiman Associate Producer Andrew Russell.

Intiman Theatre continues its 2010 Season with The Thin Place, a commissioned world premiere written by Sonya Schneider and conceived and directed by Intiman Associate Producer Andrew Russell.

Intiman Theatre continues its 2010 Season with The Thin Place, a commissioned world premiere written by Sonya Schneider and conceived and directed by Intiman Associate Producer Andrew Russell.

-Book-It fans have requested The River Why for many years and, just in time to include the work in the 20th Anniversary season-long celebration, the company was granted rights and a relationship was forged with author David James Duncan. The River Why plays on Book-It Repertory Theatre's stage at the Center House Theatre February 9 through March 7, 2010.

-Book-It fans have requested The River Why for many years and, just in time to include the work in the 20th Anniversary season-long celebration, the company was granted rights and a relationship was forged with author David James Duncan. The River Why plays on Book-It Repertory Theatre's stage at the Center House Theatre February 9 through March 7, 2010.

-Book-It fans have requested The River Why for many years and, just in time to include the work in the 20th Anniversary season-long celebration, the company was granted rights and a relationship was forged with author David James Duncan. The River Why plays on Book-It Repertory Theatre's stage at the Center House Theatre February 9 through March 7, 2010.

The world premiere of 'Becky's New Car,' written by Steven Dietz and directed by Kurt Beattie opens October 23, 2008 at the ACT Theatre, 700 Union Street, Seattle WA 98101. Tickets are $10/$15 (for students/people 25 and under) to $55, with a Pay-What-You-Will showing on October 30 at 2:00 p.m. Call (206) 292-7676 or (253) 839-4204 (for group sales) or visit www.acttheatre.org for tickets and information.