As Black Theatre United (BTU) marks its first year since the organization’s creation, the Founding Members have just announced they held a three-month Commercial Theatre Summit from March to June 2021 to establish industry- wide standards around Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Accessibility & Belonging (EDIAB) with a focus on Black individuals in theatre as we move into the future.
It’s a summer “homecoming” for Goodman Theatre audiences! On July 30, Chicago’s theater since 1925 will resume live, in-person performances following a 16-month COVID-19 pandemic period of darkened stages.
Oregon Shakespeare Festival today announced that it will welcome back in-person audiences earlier than planned, on July 1, with Cheryl L. West’s Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer, staged in OSF’s outdoor Allen Elizabethan Theatre by director Henry Godinez and music director Felton Offard.
The League of Chicago Theatres has announced plans for upcoming in-person performances this spring and summer. Many companies are also preparing for fall venue and production openings and some are taking advantage of the warmer months to produce outdoors.
No talking about politics: this is the rule by which Marla and Sam abide. For them, it’s no mere nicety to ease their way through a holiday dinner with relatives. After 20 years of traveling through space together collecting trash, they’re genuinely trying not to drive each other mad.
Lauren Ferebee's new play Goods, a sci-fi adventure about two intergalactic trash collectors receiving its virtual world premiere May 5-30, 2021 via Chicago's Artemisia Theatre, has won the 2021 Planet Earth Arts Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.
Northlight Theatre announces plans for outdoor musical events this summer, including Felicia P. Fields and E. Faye Butler in Lettin' the Good Times Roll with Fe and Faye! on July 9 and 10, 2021 at the NorthShore Center for the Performing Arts.
Over the past year, more than 150,000 people consumed Goodman's 12 online streaming productions, beginning with Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play directed by Lili-Anne Brown.
Porchlight Music Theatre has announced a line up including more than 50 Chicago artists performing, greetings and well wishes from Broadway stars including E. Faye Butler, Sean Allan Krill, Telly Leung, LaChanze, Susan Moniz and Kathy Voyto, a new raffle prize for a weekend in the home of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and more as a part of its annual Chicago Sings fundraising concert.
Back on stage for the first time since before the pandemic, Grammy-award winner Che Rhymefest joins other Black artists in a virtual cabaret room to ask, “How can we bring color and movement back to our neighborhoods? We do so through the windows of our soul—our smiling eyes.”
Two intergalactic trash collectors, both women, one Black, one white, are hurtling through space toward the finish of their anniversary route, ready to celebrate their return to Earth. But a surprising job sends them back out to the asteroid belt and forces them to make a devastating choice.
Do you miss live theater? Did you miss Seattle Rep’s 2017 megahit show Here Lies Love, a revolutionary rock musical from music icon David Byrne?
Each year, Porchlight Music Theatre celebrates an individual who has made an exceptional and lasting contribution to the state of the art of Chicago music theatre with the prestigious Guy Adkins Award. This year, Felicia P. Fields is the recipient.
The podcast begins its second season with Tony Award nominee Phillipa Soo (Hamilton, Over the Moon), actress/writer/coach Monica McCarthy (Time Stands Still) and baritone Lucia Lucas, the first transgender singer to sing a principal operatic role on a US stage.
Asolo Rep continues its 2021 outdoor season with the launch of the rolling world premiere of Cheryl L. West's Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer. Directed by Henry Godinez with Music Direction and Arrangements by Felton Offard, Asolo Rep will start the “roll,” followed by productions to be announced at Goodman Theatre and Seattle Rep.
Working In Concert, the two-year-old performing arts collaborative, has been awarded $9,200 by the Illinois Art Council to underwrite a premiere concert by Black Voices in Cabaret to launch this network of African-American performers. The concert “Healing through Song” has distinct 30-40 minute episodes that will stream on three consecutive Sundays in March: the 14th, 21st, and 28th, at 3pm.
The season kicks off with Laura Osnes in Concert on February 5 and 6, with music direction by Fred Lassen.
In order to continue its strong feminist story-telling tradition, Artemisia Theatre has announced an entirely virtual 2021 season. The new season includes two World Premiere theater productions and eight audio performances airing on its podcast We Women.
Last month, Seattle Rep announced its exciting new program Plays in Process, a virtual series that offers audiences guided and rare exposure to the raw, behind-the-scenes collaborative process of creating a play, featuring new works on the horizon at Seattle Rep.
Hosted by Braden Abraham, Plays in Process will feature top playwrights, directors, actors, and musicians including Uma Thurman (Kill Bill), Cheryl L. West (Shout Sister Shout!), David Strathairn (Good Night and Good Luck), Taylor Schilling (“Orange is the New Black”), E. Faye Butler (Pullman Porter Blues), Erica Schmidt (MAC BETH), and more.
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