Donna Michelle News

Native Earth Performing Arts is thrilled to announce the 32nd annual Weesageechak Begins to Dance. This year's festival invites emerging, mid-career, and established Indigenous artists from across Turtle Island and Australia to develop and showcase contemporary theatre, dance, and multi-disciplinary creations on November 13 to 23, 2019 at Aki Studio (585 Dundas St East).

Nightwood Theatre opens their landmark 40th Season with the Groundswell Festival of New Works, from September 23-28, 2019, at the Ernest Balmer Studio in The Distillery District.

Giraffes strut, birds swoop, gazelles leap - the entire Serengeti comes to life on stage each night in The Lion King. The Tony Award-winning musical adaptation of Disney's much-loved film transports audiences to a dazzling world of glorious colors, stunning effects and enchanting music to tell the story of Simba and his epic journey from wide-eyed cub to his destined role as King of the Pridelands.

At a press conference held May 28 in the Davies Takacs Lobby of the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre, the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) announced 282 nominations for the 40th Anniversary Dora Mavor Moore Awards, which recognize excellence in professional theatre, dance and opera in Toronto. On Tuesday, June 25 at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, 49 Dora Mavor Moore Awards, the Silver Ticket Award and the Jon Kaplan Audience Choice Award will be presented.

Artistic Director Andrea Donaldson and Managing Director Beth Brown are delighted to announce the newest member of Nightwood Theatre's creative team, Donna-Michelle St. Bernard, who's been selected as the new Write from the Hip Program Director for the 2019/20 season.

In celebration of Black History Month, the Broadway casts of The Lion King, Aladdin and Frozen partnered with photographer Darnell Bennett for a very special photo shoot, involving more than 50 cast members. Check out the photos and a behind the scenes video below! 

Native Earth Performing Arts presents the 31st annual Weesageechak Begins to Dance Festival. This development festival celebrates theatre, dance, opera and multidisciplinary creations from across Turtle Island from November 14 to 24, 2018 at Aki Studio.

Canada's oldest professional black theatre company, Black Theatre Workshop are all set to launch their 48th season this October. The first production of the season is SOUND OF THE BEAST (SOTB), a one-woman show that uses spoken word, story-telling and hip-hop to spit rhymes from the underground and relentlessly challenge poverty, oppression, and bad dancing. SOTB is the latest instalment of writer / star Donna-Michelle St. Bernard's marathon project of writing 54 plays - one for every African nation. This one is inspired by Tunisian emcee Weld-El 15 who was jailed for 2 years in 2013 for his song Boulicia Kleb (The Police Are Dogs). Currently the Artistic Director of New Harlem Productions, Donna-Michelle is a multi-award winning, two-time nominee for the Governor General's Award for English-language drama, and, alongside Black Theatre Workshop is bringing Sound of the Beast to Montreal for the very first time.

Each season at the Stratford Festival, there is a production that is geared to children or youth and is put on by Schulich Children's/Youth Plays. This season, that production is TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. Based on the novel by Harper Lee and dramatized by Christopher Sergel, this play is likely advertised as being geared towards youth and adults because the book is so commonly read at the high school level, and also because it explores the perspective of children. The material and the issues dealt with are hard ones--for both young people and adults. this is what made the novel so important when it was published, and what makes this play important today. The powerful story is matched by powerful performances by all involved. This is a play that will linger in your mind long past the final bows.

Factory Theatre is excited to announce an extension to the run of Kat Sandler's newest hit play, BANG BANG, currently enjoying rave reviews from audiences and media alike! Five additional performances have been added from February 20-24, 2018 due to overwhelming demand.

Last night at the Minskoff Theatre, The Lion King celebrated a huge milestone- 20 years on Broadway. Creative team members Julie Taymor, Tim Rice, Garth Fagan, Lebo M., Mark Mancina, Roger Allers, and Irene Mecchi joined hundreds of alumni and others for a special performance of the show, culminating in a surprise performance by The Lion King's Tony-nominated composer Elton John.

First produced in the mid-1980s, John Patrick Shanley's THE DREAMER EXAMINES HIS PILLOW holds interest as an early work by the multi-award-winning playwright who went on to win the Pulitzer for DOUBT and an Oscar for MOONSTRUCK. His early play offers musings about life, sex, death and relationships, directed by Mark Blanchard at the Hudson Mainstage Theatre.

lemonTree creations presents the touring production of MSM [men seeking men], a dance theatre piece inspired by transcripts of online conversations between men seeking other men. This all-queer cast explores hook-up culture, fetishism, racism, homophobia and straight-up sex.

The Cole Foundation is pleased to announce the latest grant winners for the Intercultural Conversations-Conversations Interculturelles (IC-CI) programme, initiated to encourage greater understanding of Montreal's cultural mosaic by having audiences enjoy professional plays that present stories and issues of cultural minorities on stage. Focusing on intercultural and multicultural conversation for their community initiatives, over the past eight years the Cole Foundation has cultivated and strengthened a canon of theatrical work incorporating these themes. A number of companies, both established and independent, have nurtured shows through the various funding opportunities: commissioning/creation grants, productions grants, and translation grants; sharing works among companies, showing others' histories on stage, enabling plays to be presented to new audiences and encouraging dialogue along the way.

A brilliant cast of dancers from Broadway's biggest hits and some of the most sought-after dance companies will bring to life Pure Motion, an evening of dances by emerging choreographer Ray Mercer. Produced by and benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the evening will feature cast members from Broadway's An American in Paris, The Lion King and Wicked as well as past and current dancers from Ailey II, Company XIV, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater and more.

Broadway actress Daisy Hobbs (Aladdin) will be hosting an Industry Showcase at 10:30PM tonight, Oct 14, 2015 at URBO Bar and Restaurant, 11 Times Square (on the corner of 42nd St and 8th Ave) on the 2nd Floor.

Broadway actress Daisy Hobbs (Aladdin) will be hosting an Industry Showcase at 10:30PM on Wednesday, Oct 14, 2015 at URBO Bar and Restaurant, 11 Times Square (on the corner of 42nd St and 8th Ave) on the 2nd Floor.

Broadway Bares, the unrivaled evening of sexy striptease that benefits Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, will celebrate its 25th spectacular edition on Sunday, June 21, 2015, with Broadway Bares: Top Bottoms of Burlesque, a show inspired by the golden age of Broadway. Scroll down for a peek at some brand-spanking-new promo shots for the show!

The Shubert Organization and Career Transition For Dancers along with the host committee: Andy Blankenbuehler, Graciela Daniele, Mercedes Ellington, Donna McKechnie, Jerry Mitchell, & Chita Rivera welcomed The Broadway Dance Community for a Buffet Dinner & Between-Shows-Get-Together at Sardi's, Eugenia Room (234 West 44th Street) on Wednesday, May 20, 2015 (5:00pm-7:00pm).  This event is generously underwritten by The Shubert Organization.  Past client Andy Blankenbuehler (award-winning choreographer of the hit musical 'Hamilton') addressed the group on his relation with the organziation and how beneficial they have been for him and thousands of others.

TAPESTRY presents TAPESTRY BRIEFS: BOOSTER SHOTS, ten original, provocative opera shorts brought to life in site-specific installations in-and-around the Distillery Historic District, for four performances only, this weekend, November 13-16, 2014.