David Rakoff News

Franklin Stage Company will present a return engagement of singer, bandleader and showman Julian Fleisher. The weekend, dubbed “Julian Fleisher and Band, Detours” offers three evenings of intimate song and storytelling.

Symphony Space will gather six celebrated authors on the stage of its Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, where each will perform a favorite text from esteemed American publisher Doubleday’s vast collection of books. This special event, celebrating the 125th anniversary of Doubleday, takes place Wednesday, November 2, at 7pm.

An OG Joe's Pub VIP, Julian Fleisher continues his current crusade to save the world with song, asking not what he can do for his audience but what his audience can do for itself. "Come Together" combines Fleisher's signature, barn-burning covers of contemporary classics, with original tunes meant to illuminate the spaces where change, love, loss and humor overlap with his evangelical belief that the room that sings together, clings together.

In the great tradition of David Sedaris, David Rakoff, and Augusten Burroughs, memoirist Eric Poole recounts his quirky childhood years in utterly hilarious and painful detail in his new memoir, Excuse Me While I Slip Into Someone More Comfortable.

Julian Fleisher,whose New York City playground ranges from Lincoln Center to LES dive bars, sets up shop at Joe's Pub this fall with a series of concerts kicking off Thursday, September 28, in a show titled Pop Music. Joining Fleisher for a rollicking and genre-busting journey through the music he loves is the inimitable Martha Plimpton.

Thurber House has announced that, along with host of The Daily Show Trevor Noah and novelist Aaron Thier, Ken Pisani is one of three finalists for the coveted Thurber Prize for American Humor for his debut novel AMP'D, published by St. Martin's Press.

Julian Fleisher and The Naked American Songbook explore our love for the music of Disney with some of Julian's most colorful friends. Doesn't everyone have a favorite Disney song? This half-hour bonus episode features : Glee heartthrob Darren Criss. a fan of Stephen Schwartz's underrated Hunchback of Notre Dame Alan Cumming, The Good Wife's Eli Gold, a skeptic with a soft spot for The Little Mermaid (sung by a surprising pop songstress) Crazy Ex- Girlfriend Rachel Bloom, a Belle, of course, and goes all in on Beauty and the Beast.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University begins performances of FINGERSMITH by Alexa Junge, based on the novel by Sarah Waters, directed by Bill Rauch. Performances begin on Sunday, December 4, 2016 and run through Sunday, January 8, 2017 at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) and FABnyc will co-present a live show with the popular public radio show and podcast Person Place Thing with writer and humorist Randy Cohen, featuring HADESTOWN's celebrated singer-songwriter Anais Mitchell and inventive two-time Obie award-winning director Rachel Chavkin at New York Theatre Workshop (79 E. 4th Street New York, NY 10003) on Monday, June 6 at 7:00 pm. The evening will also include musical interludes from HADESTOWN and a brief audience Q&A. Tickets are $10 and be purchased at www.fabnyc.org.

AUGUST PAPERBACK ORIGINALS. . . THUG NOTES: A Street-Smart Guide to Classic Literature by Sparky Sweets, PhD (Vintage • 304 pages • On Sale: 8/18/15 • Price: $14.95 • ISBN: 9781101873045).Sparky Sweets, PhD. and Wisecrack proudly present this outrageously funny, ultra-sharp guide to literature based on the hit online series, Thug Notes. Inside, you'll find hilarious plot breakdowns and masterful analyses of sixteen of literature's most beloved classics, including: The Catcher in the Rye, To Kill A Mockingbird, Pride & Prejudice, The Color Purple, Hamlet, Things Fall Apart, and more! Thug Notes has been featured on BET, PBS, and NPR and has been used in hundreds of classrooms around the world. Whether you're a student, teacher, or straight-up literary gangster like Dr. Sweets, THUG NOTES has got you covered. You'll certainly never look at literature the same way again. PUBLICIST: David Archer • 212-572-2331 • darcher@penguinrandomhouse.com

For 35 days this summer, Toronto will be home to the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games. As part of the Games, the arts and culture festival, PANAMANIA will present more than 250 unique commissioned performances and exhibitions, creating a cultural legacy that will make an everlasting impression on the international arts and culture stage. Scroll down for this year's theatre lineup!

This month, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival presents Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host, a special pre-Festival performance starring Ira Glass, the host and executive producer of the famed public radio program This American Life. 'The Tina Fey of dance' (Sarah Kaufman, The Washington Post) Monica Bill Barnes and fellow dancer and collaborator Anna Bass perform with Glass, bringing the unlikely art forms of talk radio and dance together for a production that is 'unapologetically human and refreshingly relatable' (Brian Schaefer, The New York Times). This limited engagement will be presented in the Ted Shawn Theatre for two performances only, tonight, June 13 at 8pm and tomorrow, June 14 at 2pm.

A French noble who can lie himself out of any predicament, his hopelessly honest servant, identical twin maids and a meddling father are among the hilarious citizenry that populate The Liar, the final offering of the Deep Dish Theater Company's 14th season. David Ives' mirthful adaptation of the classic comedy by Pierre Corneille, staged by Artistic Director Paul Frellick, opened May 1 and plays through May 23 in the company's theater in University Mall. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

This June, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival presents Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host, a special pre-Festival performance starring Ira Glass, the host and executive producer of the famed public radio program This American Life. 'The Tina Fey of dance' (Sarah Kaufman, The Washington Post) Monica Bill Barnes and fellow dancer and collaborator Anna Bass perform with Glass, bringing the unlikely art forms of talk radio and dance together for a production that is 'unapologetically human and refreshingly relatable' (Brian Schaefer, The New York Times). This limited engagement will be presented in the Ted Shawn Theatre for two performances only, June 13 at 8pm and June 14 at 2pm.

For one night only -- the hilarious and affecting Monica Bill Barnes and Anna Bass (NYC) trade their signature sequins and feather headdresses for a pair of everyday men's suits in Happy Hour, the world's first-ever cocktail party dance show tonight, April 16 at 7:30PM at Velocity Founders Theater 1621 12th Ave on Capitol Hill.

A French noble who can lie himself out of any predicament, his hopelessly honest servant, identical twin maids and a meddling father are among the hilarious citizenry that populate The Liar, the final offering of the Deep Dish Theater Company's 14th season. David Ives' mirthful adaptation of the classic comedy by Pierre Corneille, staged by Artistic Director Paul Frellick, opens May 1 and plays through May 23 in the company's theater in University Mall. BroadwayWorld brings you a first look below!

For one night only -- the hilarious and affecting Monica Bill Barnes and Anna Bass (NYC) trade their signature sequins and feather headdresses for a pair of everyday men's suits in Happy Hour, the world's first-ever cocktail party dance show.

Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host featuring Ira Glass, Monica Bill Barnes and Anna Bass will make its Houston debut tonight, Sept. 20, 2014, at 8 p.m., in the Wortham Center's Cullen Theater presented by Society for the Performing Arts.

Monica Bill Barnes & Company and Ira Glass, host of This American Life, will present their show Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host at The Town Hall (123 West 43rd Street) for a three-night-only run, tonight, September 10, through September 12 at 8pm. Since April 2013, they've been on a 30-city national tour, appearing in one or two cities per month.

Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host featuring Ira Glass, Monica Bill Barnes and Anna Bass will make its Houston debut Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014, at 8 p.m., in the Wortham Center's Cullen Theater presented by Society for the Performing Arts.