Francis Kelly News

After over two decades of non-linearity, experimental theatre artists Juliana Francis-Kelly and Tony Torn have created a naturalistic play inspired by real events.

After over two decades of non-linearity, experimental theatre artists Juliana Francis-Kelly and Tony Torn have created a naturalistic play inspired by real events.

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at The Graduate Center, CUNY presents its twelfth annual PRELUDE Festival this week, October 7, 8, 9.

It's not easy being Queen. And if you need any evidence look no further than the Folger Theatre's fascinating new documentary-style play texts&beheadings/ElizabethR.

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at The Graduate Center, CUNY is pleased to announce the full lineup of its twelfth annual PRELUDE Festival on October 7, 8, 9.  Dedicated to artists at the forefront of contemporary New York City theatre and performance, PRELUDE 2015 features an array of artists working in theatrical and interdisciplinary performance. The festival gives audiences and artists a survey of the current New York moment via in-process presentations, installations, and discussions -- all completely free to the public.

Folger Theatre starts the 2015/16 season with a limited engagement of texts&beheadings/ElizabethR, a world premiere play which explores England's Queen Elizabeth I.  Produced in conjunction with the international theater collective Compagnia de' Colombari, the play is created and directed by Karin Coonrod (Henry VI at the Public Theater and Julius Caesar at Theatre for A New Audience) and will be presented as a part of Washington, D.C.'s city-wide Women's Voices Theater Festival. texts&beheadings/ElizabethR is on stage at Folger Theatre for 16 performances, September 19 - October 4, 2015.

On February 12, 1915, the Abrons Arts Center's Henry Street Settlement Playhouse opened its doors on the Lower East Side. Since that day, it has remained a vital cultural resource, providing audiences with artistically bold work while offering artists opportunities to dynamically grow. Since becoming Abrons Director in 2006, Jay Wegman has done much more than maintain 'one of the last standing locations for avant-garde performance downtown' (The New York Times, 2009). He has created an arts venue that is unique on the city's cultural landscape, presenting an international mix of cutting-edge performing and visual artists, both established and emerging, from across the country and around the world, as well as from New York City.

Artistic Director Robert Lyons presents the 21st annual Obie Award-winning Ice Factory Festival. Ice Factory 2014 takes place at the New Ohio Theatre, located at 154 Christopher Street between Greenwich and Washington Streets in New York City. Ice Factory 2014 will present six new works over six weeks, running from June 25 - August 2, 2014. Scroll down for a first look at FEATHER GATHERERS!

The Civilians, the award-winning New York-based theatre company, announces the members of its 2013-14 R & D Group. The group's emerging and established artists were selected from over one hundred applicants. The R & D Group is comprised of artists from multiple theatrical disciplines. Each artist or creative team will develop an original work over the season. The artists and projects were selected to represent a range of different strategies for making new work from creative inquiry and research. This diversity of approach helps feed a culture of innovation in the group, making the R & D Group an effective lab of experimentation for the field of investigative theater.

A playful, exuberant and musical adaptation of Gertrude Stein's existential, modernist children's book The World Is Round will be performed this summer at The Mill: Arts, Letters, and Numbers in Averill Park, New York (east of Albany). THE WORLD IS ROUND IS ROUND IS ROUND is a music-theater piece chronicling the adventures of a girl named Rose in her quest to get 'there'-to the top of a mountain. It is adapted and directed by Karin Coonrod with music by Gina Leishman, who Time Out New York called 'one of New York's most versatile composers.' The work will premiere in August 2013 at The Mill before traveling to New York and other cities.

A playful, exuberant and musical adaptation of Gertrude Stein's existential, modernist children's book The World Is Round will be performed this summer at The Mill: Arts, Letters, and Numbers in Averill Park, New York (east of Albany). THE WORLD IS ROUND IS ROUND IS ROUND is a music-theater piece chronicling the adventures of a girl named Rose in her quest to get "there"-to the top of a mountain. It is adapted and directed by Karin Coonrod with music by Gina Leishman, who Time Out New York called "one of New York's most versatile composers." The work will premiere in August 2013 at The Mill before traveling to New York and other cities.

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at the Graduate Center, CUNY is pleased to announce the first wave of confirmed participants for PRELUDE.12, the ninth annual PRELUDE festival dedicated to artists at the forefront of contemporary New York City theatre, dance, interdisciplinary and mediatized performance.

Japan Society will present a staged reading of Our Planet by Japan's celebrated young writer Yukio Shiba, directed by OBIE award winner Alec Duffy. As part of Japan Society's Performing Arts Season spanning Fall 2011 through Spring 2012, Our Planet is a presentation of the Society's annual Play Reading Series of contemporary Japanese plays in English translation.

The medieval mystery play will get a 21st century update on December 4th when the Christmas story is brought to life on the streets of New York City through a raucous mix of music, dance, song, and drink.

The medieval mystery play will get a 21st century update on December 4th when the Christmas story is brought to life on the streets of New York City through a raucous mix of music, dance, song, and drink.

FST's Goldstein Cabaret returns to the age of innocence with The Wanderers, developed byRichard Hopkins, Rebecca Langford and Jim Prosser, beginning October 13.

FST's Goldstein Cabaret returns to the age of innocence with The Wanderers, developed byRichard Hopkins, Rebecca Langford and Jim Prosser, beginning October 13.

In 1978, Thomas Babe's A Prayer for My Daughter impacted audiences who were living through the post-Vietnam syndrome. Casual use of drugs, crime and police brutality were rampant. We were in a state of moral decay. In retrospect, it has all gotten progressively worse. So, the intense drama is like holding a mirror up to nature as it'were in 2010, and Crown City Theatre has a surefire audience grabber.

1959 was a heck of a good year for Broadway overtures.  The majestic trumpet fanfare and lowdown bump and grind of Gypsy's is generally regarded as the best in musical theatre, but there was also the rousingly rhythmic curtain-raiser to Fiorello! and, my personal favorite, Philip J. Lang's beautiful interpretation of Bob Merrill's music for Take Me Along, which touches on so many moods of the show while continually building the toe-tapping climax of The catchy title tune.

Variety reports that 'Smoking Bloomberg,' the musical farce that had an Off-Broadway 2006 NYMF run, is being adapted into an animated project.