Christina Ham News

Arena Stage's 2017/18 Season Preview event took place following the all-day, free Community Day and Costume Sale on August 26, 2916. The evening included performances from and conversations with artists involved in the 2017/18 season. BroadwayWorld has photos from the star-studded event below!

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces select cast members for upcoming productions as part of the company's 2017/18 programming as single tickets for the full season go on sale.

The Playwrights' Center is excited to announce the 2017-18 McKnight National Residency and Commission recipient, 2017-18 McKnight Fellows in Playwriting, 2017-18 McKnight Theater Artist Fellows, 2017-2020 Core Writers and 2017-18 Core Apprentices.

A (mostly) local team has been in the process of adapting the 2005 Minnesota-made movie SWEET LAND into a musical for years, and their hard work is finally coming to fruition when SWEET LAND, THE MUSICAL opens at the History Theatre this weekend. I've seen several readings of the work in progress, and I've been so pleased how the creators have held true to the beautiful heart of the movie while adding music that feels organic to the story and only serves to enhance the storytelling. One of the creators, Twin Cities theater artist Laurie Flanigan-Hegge, answered a few of my questions about SWEET LAND, THE MUSICAL, the development process of a new work, and the importance of supporting women playwrights and composers.

The Playwrights' Center today announced the 2017-18 Jerome Fellows, Many Voices Fellows and Many Voices Mentee.

Hennepin Theatre Trust announced that celebrated actors Melissa Gilbert and Timothy Busfield have joined the cast of the Minnesota premiere of THE 24 HOUR PLAYS® on Monday, March 13 at 8 p.m. at the historic Pantages Theatre (710 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis). This one-night-only event brings together the extraordinary talent of local and nationally-known artists to create six new theatrical plays within 24 hours.

Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith and Executive Director Edgar Dobie announce the 2017/18 season lineup for the company's 68th season. The season reflects Arena Stage's commitment to championing diverse voices and producing work that is politically and socially-relevant.

Hennepin Theatre Trust announced today that celebrated actors MELISSA GILBERT and TIMOTHY BUSFIELD are joining the cast of the Minnesota premiere of THE 24 HOUR PLAYS® on Monday, March 13 at 8 p.m. at the historic Pantages Theatre (710 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis). This one-night-only event brings together the extraordinary talent of local and nationally-known artists to create six new theatrical plays within 24 hours.

In celebration of the historic Pantages Theatre's 100th anniversary, Hennepin Theatre Trust and the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) School of Fine Arts are partnering to support emerging musical theatre talent in Minnesota by presenting the premiere of THE 24 HOUR PLAYS.

After a sold out premiere last year, Christina Ham's play is back --now with added music!  Nina Simone: Four Women transports you to a bombed Birmingham church where Ms. Simone is writing 'Mississippi Goddam' when she meets three strong women bound by tragic circumstance.

The Playwrights' Center's 45th anniversary season kicks off October 17 with PlayLabs, a week-long new play festival featuring Core Writers Christina Ham ('West of Central'), Susan Soon He Stanton ('we, the invisibles') and Ken Urban ('The Remains'). Tickets are free and can be reserved at pwcenter.org/playlabs.

Since its founding in 1971, the Playwrights' Center has been imagining theater forward. For decades it has been one of the nation's most important organizations for developing new plays and launching the careers of playwrights.

Since 2006, the Workhaus Collective provided Minneapolis-based, nationally-emerging playwrights the opportunity to lead the productions of their most innovative, commercially-challenging ideas. In 10 years, the Collective produced 25 new, critically acclaimed plays, many of which continued on to other theaters around the world. After its final production of 2016, the Workhaus Collective is voluntarily ceasing operation without debt.

I know next to nothing about jazz singer and Civil Rights activist Nina Simone. But I do know Regina Marie Williams, Aimee K. Bryant, Thomasina Petrus, and Traci Allen Shannon, the four women starring in the new play based on Nina's song 'Four Women.' So I knew I was in for a treat and an education with Park Square Theatre's world premiere of NINA SIMONE: FOUR WOMEN. I was not wrong on either count. Proving once again that everything I know I learned from theater, I now have a greater understanding of the remarkable and talented woman that was Nina Simone, as well as the importance of her music and her voice in the Civil Rights movement. And watching these particular four women, some of the best voices and actors we have here in the Twin Cities, bring full and complicated life to the Peaches, Auntie, Saffronia, and Sweet Thing of Nina's song, is a treat of the highest order.

?The Playwrights' Center has introduced eight new Core Writers, as well as the 2015-16 Many Voices Fellows, Many Voices Mentees, and Core Apprentices. These writers will join the continuing Core Writers and the previously announced 2015-16 Jerome Fellows, McKnight Fellows in Playwriting, and McKnight National Residency and Commission recipient as the Center's season of playwrights. McKnight Theater Artist Fellows will be announced in June.

Midway through its first season producing on two stages, Park Square Theatre shows no sign of slowing down with its 2015-2016 theatre season. In addition to a range of area and regional premieres, the company is commissioning two brand new works - one for each stage - from Joel Sass (Great Expectations) and Christina Ham and Regina Marie Williams (Nina Simone: Four Women). The line-up also includes the first Midwest licensed production of an ingenious miniature musical that will delight mystery lovers, two family-friendly holiday treats, and new productions by two of Park Square's Theatres in Residence, Sandbox Theatre and Theatre Pro Rata. The season will conclude with a flash of mature flesh as nine leading actresses bare all in Calendar Girls by Tom Firth.

Workhaus Playwrights Collective announces its 8th season featuring world premiere productions of LAKE UNTERSEE, by Joe Waechter (September, 2014), SKIN DEEP SEA, by Stanton Wood (February, 2015), and THE REAGAN YEARS, by Dominic Orlando (April, 2015).

Workhaus Playwrights Collective announces its 8th season featuring world premiere productions of LAKE UNTERSEE, by Joe Waechter (September, 2014), SKIN DEEP SEA, by Stanton Wood (February, 2015), and THE REAGAN YEARS, by Dominic Orlando (April, 2015).

For 27 years, SteppingStone Theatre has given young people a place to experience the joy of creation and a sense that they can make a difference in the world. We keep this front and center every year and this season in particular. At no time has this been more important for today¹s young people.

Actors' Equity Association ('AEA' or Equity) and its Eastern Region Equal Employment Opportunity Committee, together with First Corinthian Baptist Church and Executive Producer and Artistic Producer Project1Voice present 'FOUR LITTLE GIRLS: BIRMINGHAM 1963,' a one night only staged reading event to be held on Monday, February 3rd at 7:30pm at First Corinthian Baptist Church (1912 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., between West 115th & 116th Streets, Harlem NYC). This Black History Month event is free and open to the public (doors open at 6:45pm; ticketing and entry will be handled on-site, day of show, on a first-come, first-served basis) and will be sign-language-interpreted for theatregoers who are deaf or hard of hearing. A panel discussion will take place immediately following the reading.