Bryan-Keyth Wilson News

With over 100 U.S. cities and 30 international regions featured on our site, we have so many exciting theatre happenings around our Broadway World! Below, we've highlighted our top 10 stories from this week. Check out the roundup below!

FOR COLORED BOYZ ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN is a choreopoem that was birthed out of frustration, self-examination, and reflection through the eyes of a black man. Influenced by Ntozake Shange's choreopoem for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow's enuf. This isn't a conventional poetry book, play or novel, but a literary theatrical collection of poems and short narratives from the perspective of six black men.

Houston native, Cesar Fernando Barajas has been working hard as a professional performer for years. He recently relocated to New York City, where he is currently making a living doing what he loves. Next week, he'll be returning home for a highly anticipated Q&A on March 6th and to teach a workshop on March 7th at The Wilson School of Acting & Musical Theatre. Recently, I got to speak with Cesar Fernando Barajas about his career and his passion for motivating and inspiring others.

Continuing with the popular Straight From New York Concert Series and workshops, Tyce Green, in partnership with Bryan-Keyth Wilson's The Wilson School of Acting & Musical Theatre, is bringing YouTube sensation, American Idol alum, and stage veteran Natalie Weiss to Houston, TX. In anticipation of her workshops and cabaret performances, I recently spoke with her about her burgeoning career and her Houston concerts and workshops.

Bryan-Keyth Wilson first made a bleep on my radar this past theatre season when I attended my first show produced by Eklektix Theatre Company. He is continually proving to be a force in the Houston area that is turning heads and doing a lot of big things. To list a few of his credentials, he is a writer, artistic director and founder of Eklektix Theatre Company, and the founder of The Wilson School of Acting & Musical Theatre. Bryan-Keyth Wilson took time out of his busy schedule to fill me in on his writing career, and to let me know what we can expect to see from The Wilson School and Eklektix Theatre Company in the near future.

With intense and tricky harmonies and complex syncopations, Jason Robert Brown's SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD is an ambitious title for any company to program, let alone an up and coming group like The Eklektix Theatre Company (ETC). With that said, from what I saw at last night's final dress rehearsal, ETC proves that some risks are worth taking. The young company, filled with fresh faces and young talent, deftly tackles Jason Robert Brown's intricate score and is producing a staged concert that is both beautiful and moving.

Eklektix Theatre Company burst onto the Houston scene with a summer 2012 production of SPRING AWAKENING. They followed that up with an ambitious season of old favorites, bringing Houston audiences edgy and innovative productions of MACBETH, SPRING AWAKENING in concert, THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW, and RENT. Kicking off their current season, the youthful but talented group of artists is rehearsing Jason Robert Brown's complex and stirring SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD. This past weekend, I dropped in on a rehearsal to chat with the cast about preparing the show for Houston audiences.

When Jonathan Larson's RENT moved from the New York Theatre Workshop, its Off-Broadway home, to the long dark Nederlander Theatre on April 29, 1996, a swarm of hype surrounded it. The rock musical had already won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and would become the biggest surprise of the 1995-96 Broadway theatre season. Its Broadway run gained glowing reviews from the press and prestigious awards, such as the Tony Award for Best Musical. RENT quickly became the musical to see. It appealed to the MTV generation as well, bringing in scores of youths who had never fallen for the art form before. The show was the OKLAHOMA, SOUTH PACIFIC, and CAROUSEL for a whole new generation of theatergoers. RENT found more success in multiple National Tours and international productions. The material was adapted into a mildly successful musical film in 2005, which starred many members of the original Broadway cast. Eventually, it became harder and harder for the show to fill the 1,173 seats at the Nederlander Theater. RENT closed on September 7, 2008 after a 12-year run of 5,123 performances.

The best part about summer is the fun, frivolous pot-boiling productions that many companies offer to enchant and beguile audiences. The Eklektix Theatre Company, fresh off of celebrating their one year anniversary in Houston, is kicking off their Summer Stock season with a tremendously amusing and entertaining production of Richard O'Brien's cult favorite, THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW.

The Eklektix Theatre Company is celebrating a year of producing theatre in Houston with a concert production of Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater's SPRING AWAKENING. A fully staged version of the musical was their inaugural venture in Houston, so this production which only runs for two performances is a big celebration of themselves and all forms of independent theatre in the greater Houston area. In fact, following the performance Executive Artistic Director, Bryan-Keyth Wilson made a curtain speech imploring the audience to support his colleagues and peers at Bayou City Theatrics, Stark Naked Theatre Company, and others.

The Eklektix Theatre Company will present a 2-night-only concert staging of the Tony Award-winning Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater rock musical Spring Awakening tonight May 31 and June 1, 2013 at Houston's Barnevelder Movement Arts Center, 2201 Preston St.

The Eklektix Theatre Company will present a 2-night-only concert staging of the Tony Award-winning Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater rock musical Spring Awakening on May 31 and June 1, 2013 at Houston's Barnevelder Movement Arts Center, 2201 Preston St. Check out a behind-the-scenes look at the cast's first rehearsal below!

Theatre, music, fitness and dance lovers of all ages are invited to enjoy a variety of classes at The Wilson School of Acting & Musical Theatre, 100 E. Nasa Rd.1 Suite #55 Webster, Texas 77598. This is an excellent opportunity for both adults and children to get an introduction into dance, theatre, Musical theatre and fitness.

The Eklektix Theatre Company will present a 2-night-only concert staging of the Tony Award-winning Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater rock musical Spring Awakening on May 31 and June 1, 2013 at Houston's Barnevelder Movement Arts Center, 2201 Preston St.

The Eklektix Theater Company prepares to bring a classic whodunit murder mystery to The Hobby Center's Artista Restaurant. At the helm of the production are director/ choreographer Bryan-Keyth Wilson, and associate choreographer Adrienne Shearer. "This is definitely the complete opposite of the last production I directed. I love comedy and when you have the chance to camp it up makes the production process even more exciting. This is a talented group of thespians and I can't wait for Houston to see this show," said Bryan-Keyth.

More often than not, theatres produce Shakespeare with a unique, modernizing spin. Keeping in this vein, Eklektix Theatre's Artistic Director Bryan-Keyth Wilson has adapted William Shakespeare's tragedy MACBETH, setting it in a post apocalyptic urban wasteland in the year 3013. Likewise, Bryan-Keyth Wilson, in adapting the play, has made some cuts to the script, which ensure that William Shakespeare's script about betrayal, murder, vanity, paranoia, and madness moves at a break-neck pace.

The Eklektix Theater Company opens its theatre season with a new production of Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, directed by Bryan-Keyth Wilson. Check out the promo video below.