Frances News

On June 29, Snow Pond Center for the Arts will present Broadway Under the Stars: The Classics of Rodgers and Hammerstein with the Snow Pond Symphony Chamber Orchestra. Snow Pond welcomes some of theater's top performers for this one night only event. Directed by Broadway veteran Frances Mercanti-Anthony (Spring Awakening, Jerusalem) and Music Directed by Paul Staroba (A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder), this spectacular evening is sure to be one you don't want to miss.

The Guilty Feminist podcast is a comedy phenomenon with over 60 million downloads since it first launched in December 2015. Hosted by comedian Deborah Frances-White, the world famous podcast is currently travelling the UK with a special touring version of the show and is now set to take London by storm with their biggest and most spectacular live show to date.

Midlands Academy of Dance and Drama, affectionately known as MADD, is delighted to announce details of its first-ever Advisory Board that marks the start of an exciting new chapter for the Nottingham based college.

Chicago Magic Lounge, Chicago's home for close-up magic, continues its Artist-In-Residence series with Sean Masterson's Timeless Magic, Wednesdays at 7:30pm starting June 26, 2019. Tickets for all Chicago Magic Lounge shows are available at the box office, (312) 366-4500 or online at chicagomagiclounge.com.

The League of Professional Theatre Women, an organization which has been leading the gender parity conversation and championing women in the professional theatre for over 35 years, presented an Oral History Project event with six-time Emmy and Tony nominee Tovah Feldshuh on Monday, May 6 at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (111 Amsterdam Avenue at 65th Street). Ms. Feldshuh discussed her life and prolific career with award-winning drama critic Linda Winer.

Ensemble Theatre Company (ETC) announces its 2019-20 Season of plays. ETC's 41st Season is the company's seventh year at The New Vic in downtown Santa Barbara, and features a thrilling selection of extraordinary works, including William Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, a radio play version of the beloved holiday story It's a Wonderful Life, a musical adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma, the West Coast premiere of the Broadway play American Son, and an inspirational pop and jazz musical about the legendary Rosemary Clooney. ETC's 2019-20 Season will build upon the momentum of its successful and celebratory 40thAnniversary 2018-19 Season.

The June 2019 So-fi festival announces that it will be presenting works at The Clemente's Los Kabayitos and Flamboyan Theaters (107 Suffolk St. between Rivington & Delancey) and Westbeth (463 West Street between Bethune and West 12th St) June 6th-23rd 2019.

UCSB's Department of Theater and Dance presents the third annual New Works Lab May 9 19 in the Performing Arts Theater. New Works Lab showcases bare bones developmental productions of half-hour scripted and devised plays. The program provides a basic 'fringe festival' level of technical and design support so that each work may evolve in content and structure through the final performance. The platform has most notably given Malique Guinn, a fourth-year undergraduate at the time, the opportunity to realize his play Gang Sines which would go onto to win him the 2018 Kennedy Center Hip Hop Theater Creator Award.

The OBIE Award-winning NAATCO, National Asian American Theatre Company, kicks off their 29th season with the World Premiere of Gordon Dahlquist's [Veil Widow Conspiracy].

Alan Cumming said it quite accurately ….'I've known Frances (Ruffelle) for almost 30 years but she never ceases to surprise and amaze me with the ways she reinvents herself, finding new levels of expression and excellence, always with total commitment and her signature sensual passion. I cannot wait to see what she does next.'

3-D Theatricals celebrates its 10th Anniversary season with a lavish new production of the Tony Award®-winning musical, The Secret Garden, directed by 3-D Theatricals' producer and artistic director T.J. Dawson. The Secret Garden, featuring music by Tony Award nominee Lucy Simon, and book and lyrics by Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner Marsha Norman, opens tonight, Saturday, May 4 at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts (12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos, CA). The production will play a strictly limited engagement through May 19 only.

''All's well,' Sounds throughout the camp. Alas! all is not well.' One of the most notorious stories to come out of the early history of our country, almost everyone knows the name Benedict Arnold. His offer to surrender West Point to the British posed a serious threat to the burgeoning United States in its earliest years. Far fewer people, however, probably know the name John Andre.

The Actors' Equity Foundation's 2019 Clarence Derwent Awards for most promising female and male performers on the New York metropolitan scene have gone to Sarah Stiles (Tootsie) and Ephraim Sykes (Ain't Too Proud:The Life and Times of The Temptations).  The announcement was made by Judy Rice, president of the Foundation, which administers the awards.

The 29th annual Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival (Inside Out), championing innovative LGBTQ filmmakers from across the globe, revealed its full feature and short film lineup. The announcement was made today by Inside Out's Executive Director Andria Wilson and the festival's Director of Programming Andrew Murphy. Inside Out, which launched the first ever annual LGBTQ Film Finance Forum, has established itself as an international home and incubator for LGBTQ emerging and established filmmakers. This year's festival will take place May 23 to June 2, 2019.

The daughter of Hans Altwies and Amy Thone has been diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a malignant cancer. Friends are raising funds to allow Hans and Amy to focus on taking care of both of their daughters above everything else during this time.

3-D Theatricals celebrates its 10th Anniversary season with a lavish new production of the Tony Award®-winning musical, The Secret Garden, directed by 3-D Theatricals' producer and artistic director T.J. Dawson. The Secret Garden, featuring music by Tony Award nominee Lucy Simon, and book and lyrics by Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner Marsha Norman, will play a strictly limited engagement. Performances begin this Friday, May 3, and run through Sunday, May 19 only. Opening night is Saturday, May 4 at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts (12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos, CA). Check out stunning portraits of the cast below!

Unstoppable Theater will present, in association with Jenna Grossano and Less Than Rent Theatre, the New York premiere of AUNT JACK by S.P. Monahan (DIVA: LIVE FROM HELL), under the direction of John Lampe at Theater for the New City's Community Space, June 7-28, 2019.

After a sold out run in 2018, female impersonator extraordinaire, Randy Roberts is returning to Crazy Coqs with his internationally acclaimed show, Randy Roberts LIVE!

A stellar line-up of feature films was revealed today for Seattle Center Movies at the Mural. This series of outdoor movies offers big screen drama, adventure, comedy and suspense. What better way to spend a warm summer evening then to stretch out on the green grass of Mural Amphitheatre and enjoy fun, free cinematic entertainment.

Ghostlight Productions presents the comedy, Five Women Wearing the Same Dress by Alan Ball, directed by Charles Sullivan, with performances May 3-5 at Richmond Town's County Courthouse.