Eugene Lee News

Ensemble Theatre Company (ETC) presents the fourth show of its 2021-2022 season, the contemporary thriller, American Son, by Christopher Demos-Brown and directed by Jonathan Fox.

Featuring a star-studded cast including Jane Kaczmarek, E. Faye Butler, and Eugene Lee and directed by Stevie Walker-Webb, the play tells the story of Roger and Brandon, an interracial couple living in South Baltimore, who are doing the best they can.

Baltimore Center Stage announced the cast and creative team for the World Premiere of R. Eric Thomas’ The Folks at Home. This is the theater’s third Mainstage production of the 2021/22 Season and includes an all-star cast and a bold-name creative team.  

West Side Story and The Tragedy of Macbeth were nominated for Best Period Feature Film. In the Heights was nominated for Best Contemporary Feature Film. Encanto was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film. Only Murders in the Building and Schmigadoon! were nominated for Best Half Hour Single-Camera Series. Check out the full list of nominations.

Bishop Arts Theatre Center will continue its 28th anniversary season with The HOW TO BE Project: Ten Plays for Racial Justice, a one-act festival scheduled for February 17 – March 5, 2022, at Bishop Arts Theatre Center with ten written commissions for Black-identified writers speaking to the current moment of the Black Lives Matter movement, disproportionate policing in communities of color, and the exploration of the America that Langston Hughes called “the dream it used to be.” Inspired by select chapters from Dr. Ibram X. Kendi's book, How To Be An Anti-Racist, the festival seeks to present works that continue the dialogue in the enduring struggle for racial justice.  

Wicked is back on the road across the country, and the reviews are in! The cast includes Talia Suskauer (Elphaba), Allison Bailey (Glinda), Sharon Sachs (Madame Morrible) and Tony Award and Drama Desk Award winner Cleavant Derricks (The Wizard).

Grand Rapids Ballet, Michigan's only professional ballet company, today announced its 2021-22 Season, Moving Forward, featuring a return to live, in-person performances at DeVos Performance Hall and Peter Martin Wege Theater, among others.

The Public's Inaugural New Play Contest has officially begun and is now welcoming submissions from writers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. Complete details are below. The winning play will be presented as the finale of the Classics N'at benefit series on June 17, 2021.

The Purple Rose Theatre is partnering with the Chelsea District Library to present the reading of a new play via Zoom on Saturday October 17 at 10:30 am. Register here.

Imagine being the parent of a perfect son, who is active in his private school, earns top scores on his SATs, and is heading to West Point in a month. Then one night, he goes missing, and it is unheard of for him not to let you know about his whereabouts. Then you find yourself in a police station trying to find out information about an incident with your son. Now imagine your son is black.

A powerful production of AMERICAN SON officially kicks off Theatre Baton Rougea??s 75th season by uniting arts and activism. Performances will run September 24-October 4, 2020.

Eugene Lee, Artist in Residence in the Department of Theatre and Dance and director of the Black and Latino Playwrights Celebration at Texas State University, discusses why the annual workshop remains an important outlet for marginalized voices in its 18th year in episode 8 of the Big Ideas TXST podcast.

These books, many of which were written by current or former set designers, take a deep dive into what the art is all about, how to get started, what research goes into the craft, and even how to design on a budget!

Today (June 30) in live streaming: Learn about an old musical with It's the Day of the Show Y'all, Tuesday, Thursday, April, August chats about hardest female roles, and so much more!

The cast of the Broadway play, American Son, will be live-tweeting the play today at 8pm EST. The play, which is currently available to stream on Netflix, stars Kerry Washington, Steven Pasquale, and Jeremy Jordan, who will all be live-tweeting, along with director Kenny Leon and playwright Christopher Demos-Brown.

When you get seated inside the Chace Theater at Trinity Rep, you might think you're in the wrong place. Eugene Lee's set for A TALE OF TWO CITIES, written by Brian McEleny and based on Dickens' novel, looks like a library. Stacks and stacks of books on two levels set behind rows of tables. When Christopher Sadlers and Joel Thibodeau enter alone to perform a musical introduction, you might still be confused. Check your program; you're in the right place. Not until the actors appear and begin intoning 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . .,' are you totally certain. It's a roundabout trip, but A TALE OF TWO CITIES ends up where it needs to be.

Purchase College, State University of New York's Broadway Technical Theatre History Project, will present the Ninth Annual Broadway technical 'Backstage Legends and Masters Award' to theater legend, William M. (Bill) Mensching on Monday, April 20, 2020 at 7 p.m. at The Performing Arts Center on campus, located at 735 Anderson Hill Road in Purchase, NY. This free event will be recorded and archived for future viewing.

Trinity Rep will continue its 2019-20 Season with a timeless classic retold, A Tale of Two Cities. Directed by Tyler Dobrowsky, who last brought audiences Little Shop of Horrors, this is a beautifully vibrant production that is at once sweepingly epic and profoundly personal. Based on the novel by Charles Dickens and adapted by resident acting company member Brian McEleney, the story famously depicts the best of times and worst of times. A Tale of Two Cities runs February 20 - March 22, with press opening on Monday, February 24 at 7:30 pm. Tickets start at $27. More information can be found at www.TrinityRep.com/tale.

Trinity Repertory Company is inviting the public to nominate outstanding local artists for the 2020 Rhode Island Pell Awards for Excellence in the Arts. The Pell Awards' criteria include distinction in the artist's chosen field, work that significantly advances the art form and contribution to the betterment of the community, and the world at large through artistic presence and community service. Awards will be presented at the theater's gala event on Monday, June 1, 2020.

We're heading into the final week of voting for the 2019 BroadwayWorld Washington, DC Awards, brought to you by TodayTix! Vote today to make sure your favorite local theatre's achievements and performers are recognized!