Eric Sharp News

The Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition continues to spotlight the best emerging playwrights with a full production for the competition winner and staged readings for four competition finalists.  Start Down, the 12th competition winner, will premiere on the Hertz Stage February 13 - March 6, 2016.  Opening night is February 18, 2016. 

 Pandora Productions continues the 2015-2016 season with an oldie but a goodie. Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band is the quintessential 'gay' play, breaking down boundaries and exploring new topics in its Off-Broadway run of over 1000 performances in the Spring of 1968. Before Boys, gay men were 'fops' and 'dandies' but this play changed it all. Since it was on stage a full year prior to Stonewall, Boys proved to be quite prescient in retrospect. Some historians have said that the play's production in advance of Stonewall set the stage for the events that unfolded there, gays would no longer be kept in the closet. The dark comic play explores issues of self-loathing, internalized homophobia, racial biases and more.

Confession: I've never read THE JUNGLE BOOK (the collection of stories written by Rudyard Kipling in 1894) or seen the 1967 Disney movie (that I can remember). So I was on the fence about seeing Children's Theatre Company's new adaptation, until I saw the cast list. They're about a month into their two and a half month run, and I'm so glad I decided to see the show. This coming of age story that just happens to take place in a jungle is a wonderful tale of friendship, family, community, interdependence with nature, and finally having the courage to strike out on your own. With a sparse adaptation featuring just five actors playing all of the characters (most of them animals), whimsical musical accompaniment and sound effects, and a set that's like the best playground imaginable, THE JUNGLE BOOK is sheer delight from start to finish.

Children's Theatre Company (CTC) is extending the premiere stage adaptation of The Jungle Book for a second week, closing December 20. This classic tale is brought to stunning new life through director Greg Banks' unique style that emphasizes the sheer virtuosity of the actors.

Pandora Productions continues the 2015-2016 season with a new play by Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein (Kinky Boots, Torch Song Trilogy, La Cage aux Folles). Casa Valentina is based on a real life oasis in the Catskills of the 1960's.

No one does musicals like Ten Thousand Things does musicals. And even though it defies everything we know about musical theater, after seeing a TTT musical I think that maybe that's the way musicals should always be done. The music, like everything else about the show, is stripped down to the very basics, extraneous layers removed to reveal the very heart of the matter. A one-man orchestra provides the minimal accompaniment, and the small cast imperceptibly transitions from speaking to singing, so that you can't even tell where songs end and begin, it's just all one seamless story. And above all else, Artistic Director Michelle Hensley and all of the artists at Ten Thousand Things are storytellers. Whether it's Shakespeare or a classic American musical, they share the story in a pure and unadorned way so that all of their audiences, whether prisoners or seasoned theater-goers, can hear it and see themselves in it. One such masterpiece is their latest musical venture, THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN, a reprise of their very first musical venture 15 years ago. It's lovely, spirited, sweet, funny, moving, heart-warming, and real.

With Sexy Laundry opening tonight, the entire cast roster for the theatre's biggest season is almost complete. Nearly 300 Minnesota artists - including actors, directors, designers and technical operators - will mount 18 productions on two stages. The season lineup confirms Park Square's commitment to the work of women writers like Amy Herzog, Michele Riml and Alice Walker. The casting emphasizes Park Square as a home for local artists of color, from returning favorites like James A. Williams, T. Mychael Rambo and Regina Williams to dozens of debuts like Dominique Wooten, Kurt Kwan and Sarah Ochs.

The Des Moines Community Playhouse presents the romantic musical, 'South Pacific,' today, Sept. 5-28. Tickets may be purchased online at dmplayhouse.com, by phone at 515-277-6261, or at the Playhouse ticket office, 831 42nd St. 'South Pacific' is sponsored by The Principal Financial Group.

The Des Moines Community Playhouse presents the romantic musical, 'South Pacific,' September 5-28. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast below!

The Des Moines Community Playhouse presents the romantic musical, 'South Pacific,' Sept. 5-28.

Pandora Productions has announced the arrival of its annual yuletide holiday presentation with a uniquely different take for this year's production, May Your Heart Find Christmas, an all-new original cabaret that begins an exclusive 3-night run at the Henry Clay Grand Ballroom next week.

Pandora Productions opens its 2013-14 season on Thursday, September 12, with Boy Meets Boy, a high spirited musical homage to the romantic screwball comedies of the '30s. This story of love triangles, mistaken identities and fast-moving intrigue is set in London during the abdication of King Edward VIII for the notorious Mrs. Simpson. Reporter Casey O' Brien learns of preening groom Clarence who's been jilted at the altar by the mysterious 'English Rose' and becomes obsessed with finding this charming and good looking stranger but instead ends up with a very big surprise.

The Guthrie Theater today announced casting for the Mu Performing Arts production of Yellow Fever. Written by R.A. Shiomi, the play is a groundbreaking noir comedy in the Asian American theatrical canon told through the eyes of Sam Shikaze, a nisei (second generation Japanese) Canadian detective that explores themes of political deception and cultural assimilation. Yellow Fever will be performed in Guthrie's Dowling Studio from March 8-24, 2013 and directed by Rick Shiomi.

Park Square Theatre presents William Shakespeare's whimsical tale of magic and mistaken identity, A Midsummer Night's Dream, over Thanksgiving weekend. The public has three opportunities to see Midsummer, with performances Today, November 23 at 7:30 p.m., and two shows Saturday, November 24 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Park Square Theatre presents William Shakespeare's whimsical tale of magic and mistaken identity, A Midsummer Night's Dream, over Thanksgiving weekend. The public has three opportunities to see Midsummer, with performances Friday, November 23 at 7:30 p.m., and two shows Saturday, November 24 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Matinee performances for students run November 19-December 19, 2012.

Welcome to the Year of the Dragon! In collaboration with the Minnesota Boychoir, Puppet Farm Arts, and Circus Juventas, TigerLion Arts presents the world premiere of The Dragons Are Singing Tonight ~ the musical tale of a nasty dragon at the Southern Theater.

Welcome to the Year of the Dragon! In collaboration with the Minnesota Boychoir, Puppet Farm Arts, and Circus Juventas, TigerLion Arts presents the world premiere of The Dragons Are Singing Tonight ~ the musical tale of a nasty dragon at the Southern Theater.