Drama Department News

Lynn University and producer Jan McArt, director of theatre arts program development, today announced that the Libby Dodson's Live at Lynn Theatre Series will present three major shows during January and February 2015.

The Department of Drama, Claire Trevor School of the Arts (CTSA) at the University of California, Irvine will mount Tennessee Williams' classic, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, opening tonight, December 6 and running through December 14.

One show into their sixth season, and heading towards their final production at West Boca High, Slow Burn Theatre Company will present Edges, a musical, for a special two-night run December 18th and 19th, 2014 as a joint fundraiser with the West Boca Drama Department. Tickets are $20.

BOCA RATON, Fla., December 3, 2014 – Jon Robertson, dean of Lynn University's Conservatory of Music and Philharmonia guest conductor, today invited the public to attend seven musical performances during January and February 2015. 'The Lynn University Conservatory of Music's talented students and extraordinary performing faculty represent the future of the performing arts, and we look forward to sharing the beautiful world of music with our friends and neighbors,” said Robertson. “We urge fans of classical music to join us on the Lynn campus for some magnificent presentations.”

?The Department of Drama, Claire Trevor School of the Arts (CTSA) at the University of California, Irvine will mount Tennessee Williams' classic, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, opening December 6 and running through December 14. The play, which was the winner of the 1955 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, explores the complex family relationships of the wealthy cotton tycoon family of Big Daddy Pollitt. Several recurring motifs such as social mores, greed, superficiality, decay, sexual desire, repression and death are explored.

'The Winter of April,' a Police Thriller partly inspired by the Gilgo Beach murders on Long Island in 2010, compares the fate of murdered sex workers with others who have been shadowed or forgotten by history, including those, like Ada Lovelace, who were at the forefront of science and technology. The play was written and structured by Ricardo Sarmiento Gaffurri from a concept by director Ramiro Antonio Sandoval and his Tabula RaSa NYC Theater & Performance Lab. It is mounted with ensemble acting, sophisticated audiovisuals and multimedia modeling. The piece protests society's tendency to tie sexual crimes to one perpetrator, when the individual is usually the tip of an iceberg--a global machine of human trafficking. Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., NYC will present the play's world premiere tonight, December 4 to 21.

Last Sunday, Play Club celebrated its second anniversary with a reading of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, Christopher Sergel's stage adaptation of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Play Club is a monthly event in Cape Town that was initiated by Drew Rienstra with the vision of building a community among theatre lovers, including actors, theatre-makers, filmmakers, educators, critics and theatre audiences.

Etai Benshlomo talks about San Diego, WICKED, and what it's like performing in this blockbuster musical.

'The Winter of April,' a Police Thriller partly inspired by the Gilgo Beach murders on Long Island in 2010, compares the fate of murdered sex workers with others who have been shadowed or forgotten by history, including those, like Ada Lovelace, who were at the forefront of science and technology. The play was written and structured by Ricardo Sarmiento Gaffurri from a concept by director Ramiro Antonio Sandoval and his Tabula RaSa NYC Theater & Performance Lab. It is mounted with ensemble acting, sophisticated audiovisuals and multimedia modeling. The piece protests society's tendency to tie sexual crimes to one perpetrator, when the individual is usually the tip of an iceberg--a global machine of human trafficking. Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., NYC will present the play's world premiere December 4 to 21.

The University of Cape Town Drama Department will present an adaptation of Paul Herzberg's THE DEAD WAIT, directed by Mdu Kewyama, whose recent production of Mike van Graan's RETURN OF THE ANCESTORS was performed at the Artscaps Theatre Centre as a part of Artscape's tenth anniversary Spring Drama Season.

Following their sold-out national tour to Port Elizabeth, East London and Johannesburg, the inimitable Joe Barber boys are back by popular demand, with JOE BARBER VI - LIFE, celebrating the show's 15th birthday at the Baxter Theatre from 3 December to 10 January at 8pm nightly.

The Papercut Collective, a theatre-making group consisting of the University of Cape Town Drama Department's 2014 graduating class of Theatre Making students, will present their award-winning production, UHM, at the Artscape Arena this December.

CURL UP AND DYE emerges as a still relevant piece of theatre some 25 years after its original premiere. Every issue that the play serves up - from racism and the systematic abuse of women to prostitution and the scourge of drugs and alcohol - still haunts this country. It may not be one of the classic greats, but it certainly is a pop culture staple of the South African theatre landscape.

The Claire Trevor School of the Arts (CTSA) at the University of California, Irvine has announced the world premiere of a new play by award-winning playwright Luke Yankee.

'The Winter of April,' a Police Thriller partly inspired by the Gilgo Beach murders on Long Island in 2010, compares the fate of murdered sex workers with others who have been shadowed or forgotten by history, including those, like Ada Lovelace, who were at the forefront of science and technology.

Since its founding in 1974 by Paul Zimet, Ellen Maddow, and Tina Shepard-all former members of Joseph Chaikin's seminal Open Theater- Talking Band has remained a cornerstone of New York City's avant-garde theater community. Ben Brantley of The New York Times recently called them 'one of the boldest and most venerable politically minded companies in New York experimental theater.' American Theater magazine has deemed them 'one of the most exceptional theater companies in the country.' The Talking Band celebrates their 40th anniversary with The Golden Toad, a four-part epic whose world premiere La MaMa presents January 23 - February 8, 2015.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.

The Claire Trevor School of the Arts (CTSA) at the University of California, Irvine has announced the world premiere of a new play by award-winning playwright Luke Yankee.

A new play by award-winning playwright Luke Yankee will receive its world premiere at UC-Irvine this November. The Last Lifeboat is the untold story of J. Bruce Ismay, the owner of the White Star Line at the time of the sinking of the Titanic, whose decision to save himself rather than go down with the ship made him the scapegoat for one of the greatest disasters of all time. An ensemble cast playing multiple roles tells this epic tale which explores not only the tragedy itself, but the sensationalized trials and aftermath of the night that changed the world forever. The production will be directed and produced by Don Hill, Vice Chair of the UCI Drama Department.

As a play text, WOUNDS TO THE FACE is perhaps not as brutal an onslaught on audience reception as some of Howard Barker's other plays, but this production by the University of Cape Town's Drama Department certainly does reveal how challenging the piece is to realise as theatre, especially for young actors who can take away a great deal from engaging with a piece like this.