David Atkinson News

The 19th annual Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, today announced its 2020 Shorts Program lineup. Setting a record with over 6,100 submissions, the final program roster includes 64 diverse and captivating short films from 20 countries around the globe, and features 46 world premieres, including DreamWorks Animation's new animated short, To Gerard. The short films will be presented in 10 distinct competition programs which include five narrative, four documentary, and one animation program. For the fourth consecutive year, 40 percent of the selections are directed by female filmmakers. Queen Collective by Procter & Gamble in partnership with Queen Latifah, Flavor Unit Entertainment and Tribeca Studios is back, a program dedicated to supporting gender and racial equality behind the camera. The 2020 shorts lineup is programmed by Sharon Badal and Ben Thompson. The 2020 Tribeca Film Festival takes place April 15 - April 26.

Country music is known (and often ridiculed) for its soap opera-like lyrics. Its storytelling often takes listeners on journeys of sadness and despair, and redemption. Tim Alderson's SALVAGE, playing at the Lounge Theatre in Hollywood through January 19, follows those tropes with mostly effective results and hits viewers with a cathartic and emotional impact.

Toronto's hottest professional musical theatre talents kick it up in a festive evening of holiday song! From sacred to scintillating, jazz to gospel - and all musical stylings in between, Cocktails & Candy Canes is an entertaining evening not to be missed!

Former music creative and fifth-generation farmer Tim Alderson's first initial foray into playwriting SALVAGE opens Saturday, November 16, 2019 at The Lounge Theatre. With music from his long-time cohorts Mark Heard, Pat Terry, and Randy VanWarmer, SALVAGE revolves around struggling singer-songwriter Harley's decision to pawn his guitar and look for some means of stable income for his wife and soon-to-come newborn. Damian D. Lewis directs the ensemble of David Atkinson, Christopher Fordinal, Nina Herzog and Leonard Earl Howze. Tim was gracious enough to make some time to answer my queries.

WORDS Actors Co-op Theatre Company presents a staged reading of Tony Muscio's Words directed by David Atkinson, performed by Joe Barone, Townsend Coleman and Selah Victor. After rejecting young Tom Mitchell's request to be his assistant, curmudgeonly writer Donald Steinman finds that his film producer daughter has hired him anyway. The motley pair struggles to find common ground as they work on Steinman's latest screenplay, a feature about John D. Rockefeller. As they battle the stalled-out project, they find that the power of words extends far beyond the page. Saturday, August 31st at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, September 1st at 2:30 p.m. Talk back with the playwright, cast and director to follow the show. *

RIGHTEOUS AMONG US Actors Co-op Theatre Company presents a staged reading of Amy Tofte's Righteous Among Us, directed by: Heather Chesley, performed by Kay Bess, Deborah Marlowe & Kimi Walker. A researcher at a civil rights museum collects oral histories from the ancestors of those who saved Jews during the Holocaust and of those who were saved.  When she uncovers one hero family's legend is a lie, she must not only break the news to all involved and shatter the myth.  but also come to terms with her own need to find heroes and good intentions among regular people. Saturday, August 24th, 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, August 25th 2:30 p.m. Talk back with playwright, cast and director to follow the show. Suggested Donation $10. Free to 2019-2020 Season Subscribers.Information/Tickets https://www.actorsco-op.org/original-works-seriesActors Co-op David Schall

Canvas Sky Theatre's NIGHT FEED has been selected for a remount at the Toronto Centre For The Arts, Sunday July 21st 12:00pm and Saturday July 27th 12:00pm as part of TO Live's annual Best Of Fringe presentation. These newly-announced performances will cap off a wildly successful inaugural production for Canvas Sky's puppet comedy about motherhood, with Night Feed selling out it's entire Toronto Fringe run at the Tarragon ExtraSpace, winning Patron's Pick in the process, after already receiving Outstanding Overall Production at the 2019 Ottawa Fringe Festival in June.

Canvas Sky Theatre's NIGHT FEED capped off a successful run by being awarded Outstanding Overall Production at the 2019 Ottawa Fringe Festival closing ceremonies on Sunday night. The recipient is chosen by a jury of critics and creators. Night Feed was also nominated in a number of other categories, including Best New Work.

Fringe veterans-turned-mothers Sarah Joy Bennett and Ginette Mohr return to the 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival with a team of renowned puppet artists, for their new piece NIGHT FEED, running at the Tarragon Theatre Extraspace, July 5 14. Featuring object puppetry, physical theatre, and the stunning design of CLUNK Puppet Lab, Night Feed is a hilarious look at the darker sides of becoming a parent.

Steve Martin's and Edie Brickell's Bright Star played Broadway in 2016. The show fared somewhat well, but did not seem to be an overall critics' choice. On the minus side, it is an all too familiar story about a backwoods pregnant girl and parental abuse in the 1920s, with far-fetched resolutions and a sweet, but for many, saccharine ending. In spite of this, I was delighted with the bluegrass music by Martin and Brickell.

Storyhouse announces Chester Literature Festival with its biggest line-up yet. Featuring major authors, storytellers, broadcasters and poets.

It takes decades for tragic losses and separations to turn around to bliss in Steve Martin's BRIGHT STAR, but there's plenty of sparkling bluegrass music along that rocky mountain road.

Scrolling through the nearly 900 musical theatre albums in my iTunes library, it's easy to confirm that Broadway seldom features banjo-led scores, although rare exceptions on and off-Broadway might include MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET, ALWAYS PATSY CLINE, THE SPITFIRE GRILL and THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM. And although Steve Martin and Edie Brickell's 2016 sleeper-hit musical BRIGHT STAR hardly lasted more than 100 performances, the charming musical lives on, sweeping audiences off their feet through its first national tour, currently onstage at Winspear Opera House.

In a brief engagement at the Hanover Theatre in Worcester, Mass. (which ended this Sunday), the national tour of Steve Martin and Edie Brickell's southern musical BRIGHT STAR flickers between down-home country charm and maudlin storytelling. Strong performances and a kickin' on-stage bluegrass band, though, manage to knock off the tarnish of this tepid tale of hope and redemption to deliver an uplifting message in the end.

BRIGHT STAR follows two pairs of star-crossed lovers, two decades apart, all against the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. And now through March 25, the Tony Award-nominated musical makes its home at the Hobby Center.

Bright Star, the new musical from Grammy, Emmy and Academy Award-winning Steve Martin and Grammy Award-winning Edie Brickell, is coming to Houston from Theatre Under The Stars beginning March 13 through March 25 at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. To purchase tickets, visit TUTS.com, call the Theatre Under The Stars Box Office at 713-558-8887, or come by the box office in person at 800 Bagby Street, Monday through Friday from 10am to 6pm or Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 4pm.

Producer Joey Parnes announced today new casting for the US Tour of Bright Star, the new musical from Grammy®, Emmy® and Academy Award®-winning Steve Martin and Grammy Award®-winning Edie Brickell.

BRIGHT STAR at Pioneer Theatre Company is utterly ravishing. The masterful performances and staging will take your breath away as they unforgettably illuminate the moving story and songs. Essentially the original Broadway production transferred to the PTC stage, this is not a locally produced regional production, nor is it a typical national tour per se in its current state. This is the last city where it will be presented in this form, starring Carmen Cusack, who was Tony-nominated for her role. Suffice it to say, the experience of seeing BRIGHT STAR at Pioneer Theatre Company is something very special. In addition to reviewing, BroadwayWorld was provided the opportunity to speak with cast and band members about the production.

Presented by Center Theatre Group, 'Bright Star' will open at the Ahmanson Theatre on Friday, October 20. The Tony Award-nominated Best Musical, with music, lyrics and story by Grammy, Emmy and Oscar winner Steve Martin and Grammy winner Edie Brickell, is currently in previews and is directed by Tony Award winner Walter Bobbie and choreographed by Josh Rhodes. Performances will continue through November 19, 2017. BroadwayWorld has an exclusive first look at the cast onstage in Los Angeles below!

'Bright Star' begins previews tonight, October 11, opens October 20, and runs through November 19, 2017 at the Ahmanson Theatre. Presented by Center Theatre Group, the Tony Award-nominated Best Musical, with music, lyrics and story by Grammy, Emmy and Oscar winner Steve Martin and Grammy winner Edie Brickell, will be directed by Tony Award winner Walter Bobbie and choreographed by Josh Rhodes. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the company in rehearsal below!