First Lady Michelle News

Villanova Theatre presents Karen Zacarias's raucous romp, The Book Club Play, hailed as 'smart, light and pants-peeingly funny' (chicagocritic.com). Directed by Whiting and Barrymore Award winner James Ijames, this smart hit comedy about books and the people who love them runs September 18-30, 2018.

Emmy Award-winning newsmagazine 'Extra,' the second longest running entertainment news show in syndication, will celebrate its milestone 25th season beginning Monday, September 10th, 2018.

Students from the Harlem Educational Activities Fund (HEAF) created unique pointillism mosaic portraits of President Barack Obama at an arts workshop taught by artist Lennox Commissiong.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley continues its 2018/19 season with Native Gardens, a cutting-edge suburban comedy from America's hottest new playwright and National Latino Playwriting Award winner, Karen Zacarias. When an up-and-coming Latino couple purchases a home in a sought-after neighborhood beside the prize-winning garden of a prominent Washington D.C. family, conflicts over fences and flora spiral into an uproarious clash of cultures, exposing both couples' notions of race, taste, class, and privilege. Directed by Amy Gonzalez (Sunset and Margaritas, Anna in the Tropics), Native Gardens will be presented August 22 - September 16, 2018 (press opening: August 25) at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro Street, Mountain View. For tickets ($40-$100) and more information the public may visit TheatreWorks.org or call (650) 463-1960.

To acknowledge her outstanding contribution to classical theatre in America, Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) will present Tony-Award winning actress, singer and stage director Phylicia Rashad with the prestigious William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre (Will Award).

Now in its sixth year, Culture Lab Detroit returns in 2018 to engage internationally reputed artists, inventors, and filmmakers on the theme of The Crisis of Beauty. The new edition of the acclaimed cultural program will explore how beauty intersects with multiculturalism, the intricacies of gentrification, gender politics, and unbounded assimilation of technology to offer novel or previously suppressed perspectives.

Now in its sixth year, Culture Lab Detroit returns in 2018 to engage internationally reputed artists, inventors and filmmakers on the theme of The Crisis of Beauty. The new edition of the acclaimed cultural program will explore how beauty intersects with multiculturalism, the intricacies of gentrification, gender politics, and unbounded assimilation of technology to offer novel or previously suppressed perspectives.

A dramatic portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama by artist Lennon Commissiong, a mosaic comprised of thousands of colorful paper dots, is on view in the WIZARDHANDS exhibition at Harlem's Dwyer Cultural Center, 258 St. Nicholas through August 26. “Michelle Obama comported herself with grace and dignity through one of the most racially troubled periods in recent times,” said Commissiong.

CBS News will present SUNDAY'S BEST: CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF CBS SUNDAY MORNING, a new, one-hour primetime special spotlighting the best original reporting on the arts, humanities, entertainment, music and much more to be broadcast Friday, Sept. 14 (8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

CBS News to Present 'Sunday's Best: Celebrating 40 Years of CBS Sunday Morning,' A One-Hour Primetime Special 9/14

Cora Cahan, the founding President and CEO of The New 42nd Street, has announced that she will step down at the end of June 2019.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley continues its 2018/19 season with Native Gardens, a cutting-edge suburban comedy from America's hottest new playwright and National Latino Playwriting Award winner, Karen Zacarias. When an up-and-coming Latino couple purchases a home in a sought-after neighborhood beside the prize-winning garden of a prominent Washington D.C. family, conflicts over fences and flora spiral into an uproarious clash of cultures, exposing both couples' notions of race, taste, class, and privilege. Directed by Amy Gonzalez (Sunset and Margaritas, Anna in the Tropics), Native Gardens will be presented August 22 - September 16, 2018 (press opening: August 25) at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro Street, Mountain View. For tickets ($40-$100) and more information the public may visit TheatreWorks.org or call (650) 463-1960.

Cynthia Erivo rose to fame with her star-making performance as Celie in the hit Broadway revival of The Color Purple, earning Tony, Grammy and Emmy Awards all in the same year! Backed by a five-piece band, Erivo will sing Broadway and pop songs from shows and artists including The Color Purple, The Wiz, Annie Lennox, Etta James, The Beatles, Aerosmith, Aretha Franklin, Ariana Grande and more!

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley continues its 2018/19 season with Native Gardens, a cutting-edge suburban comedy from America's hottest new playwright and National Latino Playwriting Award winner, Karen Zacarias. When an up-and-coming Latino couple purchases a home in a sought-after neighborhood beside the prize-winning garden of a prominent Washington D.C. family, conflicts over fences and flora spiral into an uproarious clash of cultures, exposing both couples' notions of race, taste, class, and privilege. Directed by Amy Gonzalez (Sunset and Margaritas, Anna in the Tropics), Native Gardens will be presented August 22 - September 16, 2018 (press opening: August 25) at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro Street, Mountain View. For tickets ($40-$100) and more information the public may visit TheatreWorks.org or call (650) 463-1960.

R.R.R.E.D., a new musical with music and lyrics by Katie Thompson and a book by Adam Jackman, Katie Thompson and Patrick Livingston, has announced complete casting for its Off-Broadway premiere.

Emmy-winning composer Kris Bowers scores compositions that step beyond the traditional boundaries of genre to form new and thrilling music. Bowers currently scores Netflix's “Dear White People,” and Shonda Rhimes' “For The People,” starring Hope Davis.

Fathom Events & Sing Out Louise! Productions are pleased to announce that military families advocate and Second Lady of the United States (2009-2017) Dr. Jill Biden, who introduced the Broadway musical Bandstand's show-stopping musical performance at the 2017 Tony Awards, will give a special video introduction for 'BANDSTAND: The Broadway Musical on Screen,' as part of the production's nationwide cinema event this summer on June 25 and June 28, 2018.

New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), the country's most diverse urban arts center, has designated Goya Foods, Inc., the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the U.S., as its Official Sponsor of Latin Programming and Education in an agreement to advance Latin culture in the state through performance, literacy, arts training, nutrition in schools, and community engagement.

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) facilitates a crucial conversation about marketing for theater on Thursday, May 22, 2018: Attracting Wanted Attention: Helping Your Audience Find You at 7:30pm (doors open for networking at 7pm) at The Playroom Theatre, 151 W. 46th Street, 8th fl., NYC.

GRAMMY® Award-nominated multiplatinum Washington, D.C. MMG superstar and culture iconoclast Wale announces his signing to Warner Bros. Records. The critically acclaimed, history-making rapper will unleash his sixth full-length album in 2018.