G.K. Chesterton News

The Washington Stage Guild announces its 28th Season of our distinctive repertory, an array of eloquent plays of idea and argument, passion and wit - smart theatre for a smart town. The Washington Stage Guild's 2013-2014 season will focus on the fundamental basis of all art - the imagination. We will present four plays that examine the need to see beyond the mundane in order to create, to survive, to develop, to live. The Season of Dreams will travel from Vincent van Gogh's studio to Bernard Berenson's villa, and from the apartment of two fragile lives to as far as thought can reach. All four plays are Washington area premieres, and among the four is the first installment in a multi-year cycle leading up to our 30th anniversary, as we inaugurate our production of George Bernard Shaw's rarely seen Back to Methuselah.

Another favorite Lord Peter Wimsey novel comes to the stage this fall as Taproot Theatre presents Dorothy L. Sayers' classic mystery, Gaudy Night. Harriet Vane's Oxford reunion is terrorized by murderous threats from the "Poison Pen," a vicious vandal determined to destroy our heroine and everything she holds dear. Is her sleuthing enough to apprehend the villain? And where is Lord Peter when she really needs him? Producing Artistic Director Scott Nolte directs Frances Limoncelli's adaptation of Gaudy Night, which opened last night, September 21 and runs through October 20. Get a first look at the show in the photos below!

Producers Max McLean and Fellowship for the Performing Arts (C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters) present a staged reading of Magic, a play by G.K. Chesterton tonight, August 27th @ 7:30 pm at the Acorn Theatre at Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street, NYC.

Producers Max McLean and Fellowship for the Performing Arts (C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters) present a staged reading of Magic, a play by G.K. Chesterton on August 27th @ 7:30 pm at the Acorn Theatre at Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street, NYC.

It's becomes very clear very quickly, when talking to Rupert Holmes, that writing the libretto for The Nutty Professor-which paired him with composer Marvin Hamlisch-has been an astonishing and inspiring experience for the man whose resume is filled with noteworthy achievements in theater, music, publishing and, practically, any endeavor of self-expression that one can name. Yet, as Holmes remembers his friend, his collaborator and his fellow musical theater legend, it is apparent that Hamlisch's sudden death this week has left an indelible imprint upon him.

Two critically acclaimed plays that are among the most compelling works in contemporary theater will make up the 2012-13 season of Nashville's Blackbird Theater, which embarks upon its third season of "intelligent entertainment" with productions of John Logan's Red and Peter Shaffer's Amadeus.

Beautifully conceived by an ambitious, driven director and artfully brought to life by a stellar cast of actors, Pacific Overtures-the musical by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman-seems, at first, an unlikely choice for the sophomore season of Nashville's Blackbird Theater. Yet when you consider the company's prior offerings (which include Twilight of the Gods, an original play by Wes Driver and Greg Greene, the company's co-founders; Tom Stoppard's intellectually compelling Arcadia; and G.K. Chesterton's rarely produced Magic), it fits perfectly into the Blackbird canon. And, like those earlier productions, Pacific Overtures is another artistic triumph, the realization of a long-held dream by director Greene to bring his favorite work for musical theater to the stage.

Six of the leading lights of the theater world in Tennessee will be recognized as members of the 2011 Class of First Night Honorees August 27-September 4 as First Night, the Nashville Theatre Honors hosts a series of theatrical events to celebrate their achievements and accomplishments.

Nashville's Blackbird Theater in August will mount a rare production of Magic - a play by the great, if largely forgotten, literary figure G.K. Chesterton - with performances at Shamblin Theatre on the David Lipscomb University campus, running August 12-27. Magic is described as 'a funny, fiercely dramatic, unabashedly romantic play that involves an aristocratic family whose conflicting beliefs and doubts about the supernatural are all challenged by the arrival of a mysterious conjurer.'

Wes Driver directs a thoroughly charming and beautifully acted revival of G.K. Chesterton's first play, Magic, now onstage at the Shamblin Theatre on the David Lipscomb University campus in a sumptuously appointed production from Blackbird Theatre Company. Featuring a stellar cast of Nashville stage professionals, Magic might best be described as a gentle drawing-room comedy from the post-Edwardian period (it debuted in 1913) that somehow remains relevant and intriguing almost 100 years after its premiere.

Nashville's Blackbird Theater in August will mount a rare production of Magic - a play by the great, if largely forgotten, literary figure G.K. Chesterton - with performances at Shamblin Theatre on the David Lipscomb University campus, running August 12-27. Magic is described as 'a funny, fiercely dramatic, unabashedly romantic play that involves an aristocratic family whose conflicting beliefs and doubts about the supernatural are all challenged by the arrival of a mysterious conjurer.'

Five of the six honorees - Brewer, Hoff, Proctor, Sasser and Shute-Pettaway - gathered on the East Bank of the Cumberland River on Wednesday, August 3, to have their official First Night photographs taken by acclaimed Nashville photographer Barry A. Noland. Atha is out of town until month's end, when she returns for all the First Night festivities.

Rehearsals are going frighteningly well. Even with the cast in their street clothes, rehearsing in a community room at an apartment complex, we've already been able to establish a haunting atmosphere and some strong character dynamics. When you produce a new or unknown work like Magic, there's always that fear that you'll be in the middle of rehearsals before discovering the play's really not that good. But that hasn't been the case at all.

Six of the leading lights of the theater world in Tennessee will be recognized as members of the 2011 Class of First Night Honorees August 27-September 4 as First Night, the Nashville Theatre Honors hosts a series of theatrical events to celebrate their achievements and accomplishments.

Teaser for Blackbird Theater's production of Magic by G.K. Chesterton. August 12-13, 19-20, 25-27. Starring Amanda Card McCoy and David Compton. Ticket information at BlackbirdNashville.com.

Nashville's Blackbird Theater in August will mount a rare production of Magic - a play by the great, if largely forgotten, literary figure G.K. Chesterton - with performances at Shamblin Theatre on the David Lipscomb University campus, running August 12-27. Magic is described as 'a funny, fiercely dramatic, unabashedly romantic play that involves an aristocratic family whose conflicting beliefs and doubts about the supernatural are all challenged by the arrival of a mysterious conjurer.'

Nashville's Blackbird Theater, fresh off its successful, critically lauded premiere season, is offering two rarely produced shows for audiences in the company's eagerly anticipated second season - G.K. Chesterton's Magic (running August 12-27) and Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-winning Pacific Overtures (February 9-19, 2012) - creating a buzz that other theater companies can only envy and hope to create for their own season announcments.

Lifeline Theatre presents a world premiere adaptation of Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone, by Lifeline Theatre ensemble member Robert Kauzlaric, directed by Lifeline Theatre ensemble member Paul S. Holmquist. The Moonstone, an Indian diamond steeped in a history of violence and mysticism, is stolen from Rachel Verinder's bedroom, and no one in her household is above suspicion. Join an unforgettable collection of liars, lovers, addicts and outcasts as they struggle to uncover the truth and reclaim the stone before its curse destroys them all. This thrilling mystery, regarded as the first detective novel in the English language, is re-imagined for the Lifeline stage by the award-winning adaptor and director of The Island of Dr. Moreau and Neverwhere. The Moonstone closes March 27, 2011 at Lifeline Theatre, 6912 N. Glenwood Ave. (free parking and shuttle; see below).

Lifeline Theatre presents a world premiere adaptation of Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone, by Lifeline Theatre ensemble member Robert Kauzlaric, directed by Lifeline Theatre ensemble member Paul S. Holmquist.

The Washington Stage Guild presents Magic by G.K. Chesterton and directed by Alan Wade