Brandeis University News

 Australian playwright and composer Luke Byrneis excited to announce his original new musical Between the Sea and Sky will make its Off-Broadway debut later this summer as part of the 2018 New York Musical Festival's (NYMF) Next Link Project. Featuring an original book, music & lyrics by Mr. Byrne, Between the Sea and Skywill play a 5-performance run at The Acorn Theatre at Theatre Row beginning July 31, 2018.

Rick Lombardo, award-winning stage director, artistic director, and adapter, has been appointed director of the Penn State School of Theatre, effective July 1, 2018. He is currently the chair of the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies at Kennesaw State University in Metro Atlanta, where he recently led the initiative to create a summer professional Shakespeare company called Shakespeare Kennesaw, which launches this summer. 

The comedy duo, Henry & Stein, is bringing their new show, The Shark Tank Feeder Show, to The Broadway Comedy Club in mid-town Manhattan on Saturday, May 12 at 4:00 pm and Today, June 1 at 6:00 pm.

As a major highlight of its summer-long celebration, June 15-September 2, of the centennial of Leonard Bernstein's birth, Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in Lenox, MA, has programmed several fully staged and semi-staged productions of Leonard Bernstein's work written for the stage, featuring several Tony Award-winning Broadway performers, choreographers, and directors.

Idle Muse Theatre Company proudly announces the cast and crew for the world premiere of Girl Found, written by Barbara Lhota and directed by Alison Dornheggen, May 17 - June 10, at The Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway St.

The 52nd JCC Book and Arts Fair will showcase authors and presenters from Western New York and beyond, June 4-June 21, 2018.

The comedy duo, Henry & Stein, is bringing their new show, The Shark Tank Feeder Show, to The Broadway Comedy Club in mid-town Manhattan today, May 12 at 4:00 pm and Friday, June 1 at 6:00 pm.

The comedy duo, Henry & Stein, is bringing their new show, The Shark Tank Feeder Show, to The Broadway Comedy Club in mid-town Manhattan on Saturday, May 12 at 4:00 pm and Friday, June 1 at 6:00 pm.

Boston Playwrights' Theatre hosted the North American premiere of THE ROSENBERGS (AN OPERA) the past two weekends. It moves to Spingold Theater Center at Brandeis University for three performances next weekend. A co-production of Boston University and Brandeis, the opera features music by Joachim Holbek, libretto by Rhea Leman, and is directed by Dmitry Troyanovsky. Moving performances by Brian Church and Christie Lee Gibson breathe life into Julius and Ethel Rosenberg as real people who lived a tragic love story.

On April 21, 2018, Opera Santa Barbara presented Douglas Moore's GALLANTRY and Leonard Bernstein's TROUBLE IN TAHITI at the Center Stage theater in downtown Santa Barbara. The Center Stage is a 130-seat black box auditorium on the third floor of the chic, user-friendly Paseo Nuevo.

A soulful retelling of L. Frank Baum's beloved The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Wiz combines fairy-tale glamour with street smarts to make a classic fantasy sparkle for today.  And our directors and choreographer will bring a blast of New Orleans Creole magic to this production!  Winner of seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Score, The Wiz ingeniously mixes rock, gospel, soul, and jazz, and features hits like 'Ease on Down the Road,' 'A Brand New Day,' and 'Home.'

Performances of the North American premiere of The Rosenbergs (An Opera) begin this week. The special event is produced by Boston University and Brandeis University, and presented by Boston Playwrights' Theatre (BPT).

Roundabout Theatre Company will present the world premiere of the Roundabout - commissioned play, Bernhardt/Hamlet by Pulitzer finalist Theresa Rebeck, directed by Tony nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel, will kick off Roundabout's 2018 - 2019 Broadway season.

Idle Muse Theatre Company proudly announces the cast and crew for the world premiere of Girl Found, written by Barbara Lhota and directed by Alison Dornheggen, May 17 - June 10, at The Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway St.

Special Post-Show Event, April 15, after the 3pm performance. Feminist or Misogynist: Eugene O'Neill and "Anna Christie" A panel discussion with Director Scott Edmiston, O'Neill scholars Steven Bloom & Beth Wynstra, and members of the cast of Anna Christie.

Award-winning and critically-acclaimed Astoria Performing Arts Center (APAC - Jesse Marchese, Executive Director; Dev Bondarin, Artistic Director) concludes its 17th mainstage season with a production of the legendary musical Follies by James Goldman (Book) and Stephen Sondheim (Music & Lyrics), directed by APAC artistic director, Dev Bondarin (New York Innovative Theatre Awards nominee for Best Director for APAC's 2017 production of Raisin) and choreographed by Sara Brians (Resident Choreographer, Matilda, Broadway). Follies runs from May 3 - 26, 2018 at the Good Shepherd United Methodist Church, 30-44 Crescent St. (at 30th Road), Astoria, NY 11102.

Inaugurated during the volatile and transformative late 1960s, the unconventional publication Blueprint for Counter Education introduced the tools for a radical transformation of liberal arts education. A project of Brandeis Sociology Professor and Chair Maurice Stein and his student, Larry Miller, this "classroom in a box" encouraged participants to shape an educational environment from their own lived experiences, bridging disciplinary divides to create a socially engaged mode of learning. Blueprint's open-ended charts mapped a world of ideas, from the avant-garde to the postmodern, in a form that presaged the Internet, allowing participants to chart multiple courses of thinking and discovery that anticipated the prevalence of search engines, social media, and the quick connection of the hyperlink.

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), the nation's premier orchestra dedicated exclusively to commissioning, performing, and recording new orchestral music, ends its 22nd season with A Thousand Mountains, A Million Streams: a one-night only concert of Chinese-influenced orchestral music. BMOP presents four vibrant and inventive musical voices who combine Chinese heritage with Western avant-garde influences. Music by composers Yu-Hui Chang, Huang Ruo, Anthony Paul De Ritis, and Lei Liang fill out this dynamic program.

Company One Theatre (C1), in collaboration with American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) presents, Wig Out! by Tarell Alvin McCraney. Previews begin Thursday, April 26, with press opening on Saturday, April 28 at 7pm. Performances continue through May 13 at OBERON (2 Arrow Street, Cambridge, MA). Tickets $25 - $35 are now on sale at americanrepertorytheater.org, by phone at 617-547-8300, an in person at the Loeb Drama Center Ticket Services Office (64 Brattle Street, Cambridge). Group, student, and senior discounts are available.

Esther and Schmuli are shy young Orthodox Jews embarking on an arranged marriage, despite barely knowing each other. Abe and Julia are high-profile celebrities embarking on a dangerously flirtatious correspondence, despite being married to other people. On the surface, the lives of these two couples couldn't be more different. But Anna Ziegler's funny, insightful, and mysterious new drama explores the hidden connections between seemingly disparate people, drawing audiences into an intriguing puzzle and a deeply sympathetic look at modern love.