Frances News

Plum Stab, LLC presents 420: THE MUSICAL, written by John Kehoe, with music by Laura Lonski, at The Kraine Theater on - you guessed it - April 20th, 2017. 

The NYC Department of Veterans' Services and Department of Cultural Affairs today named Bryan Doerries, Artistic Director of Theater of War Productions, as the City's newest Public Artist in Residence (PAIR).

Trinity Repertory Company announces that Jessica Lange will be honored with the 2017 Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts at the 21st annual Pell Awards Gala to be held on Monday, May 22, 2017 at the new WaterFire Arts Center in Providence.

Karen Kain, Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, today announced the principal casting for the world premiere of Pinocchio by choreographer Will Tuckett.

Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) annual Vine & Dine event held on Thursday, February 16, 2017 at Silver Street Studios treated its 300 guests to food and wine from around the world. Entertainment for this event was provided by students of the Humphreys School of Musical Theatre (HSMT) and featured songs from the various musicals represented in each region. The evening raised $135,000 for HSMT and TUTS other educational and community outreach programs.

Artis-Naples, the multidisciplinary cultural organization in Naples, Florida, has engaged internationally renowned firm WEISS/MANFREDI Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism to create a master plan for its Kimberly K. Querrey and Louis A. Simpson Cultural Campus.

WP Theater (formerly Women's Project Theater), under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty and Managing Director Michael Sag, has announced WP Theater's 32nd Annual Gala, honoring game-changing women with the Women of Achievement Awards. The gala will honor Emmy Award-winning actress and activist Debra Messing ('Will & Grace,' Outside Mullingar) and trailblazing media executive, President of BBC Worldwide North America, Ann M. Sarnoff.

The New Group has announced full casting for Hamish Linklater's The Whirligig, with Noah Bean, Jon DeVries, Alex Hurt, Jonny Orsini and Grace Van Patten, and as previously announced, Norbert Leo Butz, Zosia Mamet and Maura Tierney, set to appear in this world premiere directed by Scott Elliott.

Manhattan Theatre Club's American premiere of Linda, a new play by Penelope Skinner (The Ruins of Civilization at MTC, The Village Bike) directed by MTC's award-winning Artistic Director Lynne Meadow (The Assembled Parties, Wit), opens tonight, February 28, 2017 at MTC at New York City Center - Stage I (131 West 55th Street).

LEAP will present the 9th annual New York City August Wilson Monologue Competition. A total of 18 LEAP students from nine New York City high schools will inhabit Wilson's characters and bring them to life.

 Historians and folk music lovers will rejoice when they come together to enjoy composer and violinist Jenny Scheinman's presentation of Kannapolis: A Moving Portrait, a live musical performance with Robbie Gjersoe and Robbie Fulks, set to the footage of H. Lee Waters at 7:30 p.m., March 7 at the Autorino Center for the Arts, University of Saint Joseph.  

When she was 13 years old, Anne Frank, like many young girls, received a diary for her birthday.  More than 70 years later, the diary she kept is read in classrooms around the world, produced as movies, plays and musicals.   This spring, Half Moon Theatre proudly presents a play based on Anne's diary called Yours, Anne.  The play has a limited run of two weekends at The Culinary Institute of America's Marriott Pavilion.  

Nashville-based independent artist Ron Pope will release his latest studio album, Work, August 18 on his own Brooklyn Basement Records.

TimeLine Theatre Company has announced the playwrights who will be in residence during 2017 and 2018 with its Playwrights Collective, the company's new-play incubator.

In Episode 1 of our video series on the creation of Pinocchio, Set and Costume Designer Colin Richmond walks through his imaginative designs at The National Ballet of Canada's production shop and wardrobe department.  Check it out below!

Urban Stages, Frances Hill, Founding Artistic Director, has announced the cast of the American Premiere of the award-winning drama Angry Young Man by award-winning playwright Ben Woolf, directed by Stephen Hamilton.

Jennifer DiBella, Director of Education, Roundabout Theatre; Sobha Kavanakudiyl, Faculty, The Graduate Program in Educational Theatre at the City College of New York; Linda Ames Key, CTW Drama Teacher, Fordham HS for the Arts; JW Guido, Artistic Director, New York Deaf Theatre; Lindsey Buller Maliekel, Director of Education/Public Engagement, The New 42nd Street; Keeshon Morrow, Director of Arts and Culture, The Repertory Company High School for Theatre Arts; and Rachel Reiner, Director of Audience Engagement, Broadway League, who provide career path resources for women in the theatre, inspired everyone last night with their diverse programs at League of Professional Theatre Women's Networking Event Broadway/Off-Broadway Educational Theatre Practices & Career Paths at the American Airlines Theatre Penthouse.

Los Angeles-based CMH RECORDS has announced the release of Pickin' On Nirvana: The Bluegrass Tribute Featuring Iron Horse, the latest installment of their series featuring bluegrass interpretations of influential artists.

Set against a backdrop of Manhattan decadence and 1920's excess, The Wild Party tells the story of Queenie and Burrs, a Vaudeville showgirl and a Vaudeville clown whose relationship is marked by vicious behaviour and recklessness. In an attempt to salvage their toxic union, they decide to throw a party to end all parties.

The Wild Party is plenty wild enough, but its overly ambitious book and parade of cookie-cutter characters means that it never lands a knockout punch - or song.