Gina Taylor News

Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT) will restart its summer theatre, the Nutmeg Summer Series, by presenting the hit musical show Crowns June 11 - 21 in the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre, Storrs. Tickets go on sale March 30. For tickets and information, call 860-486-4226 or visit www.crt.uconn.edu.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Executive Director) will present EVERYDAY RAPTURE, written by Dick Scanlan (Tony nominee for Thoroughly Modern Millie) and Sherie Rene Scott (Tony nominee for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), with musical supervision by Tom Kitt (Next to Normal, High Fidelity), directed by Michael Mayer (Tony Award winner for Spring Awakening).

Magnolia is written by Regina Taylor and directed by Anna D. Shapiro Show plays March 14 - April 19 Atlanta, 1963. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. inspires Atlanta's black citizens to fight passionately for their civil rights, the new mayor erects 'The Payton Wall' to restrict where they can live. Amid these churning social currents, Magnolia Estate faces foreclosure, pitting the sensual, free-spirited heiress Lily Forrest against Thomas, a strong-willed businessman who lays claim to the estate where his ancestors were slaves.

16th Street Theater announces the second annual WORDS IN MOTION festival curated by Artistic Director Ann Filmer at the Berwyn Cultural Center April 2 - 25, 2009. Tekki Lomnicki's Blurred Vision opens Thursday, April 2 at 7:30 PM, followed by two intergenerational takes on mixing the races: mother and daughter team Marilyn Campbell & Maria Merrin with their humorous take on hair and feminism Mixing It Up opens Thursday, April 16 at 7:30 PM, while Martie Sanders' The Me, Mom & Dad Show! (performed with her 80-year old father!) opens Friday, April 17 at 7:30 PM. Yes, you will see Charlie Sanders recreate that tap dance he presented in 1967 to the all-African American student body of Spain Junior High in Detroit where he was assistant principal.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Executive Director) has announced the two plays which will be presented as part of the company's seventh annual Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series this summer: Zakiyyah Alexander's 10 Things To Do Before I Die, directed by Jackson Gay, and Lila Rose Kaplan's Wildflower, directed by 2008 Callaway Award winner Giovanna Sardelli.

Magnolia, Artistic Associate Regina Taylor's world premiere about possibility in the face of seismic social change, takes root at the Goodman this spring, March 14 - April 19, 2009. Directing for the first time at the Goodman, Tony Award winner Anna D. Shapiro helms a cast of 12 led by Academy Award nominee Annette O'Toole (Smallville, A Mighty Wind, 48 Hours) and Tony Award nominee John Earl Jelks (August Wilson's Radio Golf and Gem of the Ocean) in the leading roles of Lily and Thomas. Tickets to Magnolia are $25 - $70. A complete performance schedule including dates, times and ticket prices appears at the end of this release. Target is the lead Corporate Sponsor Partner of Magnolia and Lead Diversity Night Sponsor.

Goodman Theatre is proud to present the world premiere of Regina Taylor's newest work, Magnolia, directed by Tony Award winner Anna D. Shapiro (August: Osage County). Magnolia runs March 14 - April 19, 2009, in the Albert Ivar Theatre. Tickets are $25 - 75. Target is the lead Corporate Sponsor Partner.

Artistic Director Robert Falls proudly announces a diverse line-up-from musical hilarity and classic yarns, to memory pieces and family dramas, to stories with ethnic roots that reflect today's world-in Goodman Theatre's new 2009/2010 season.

Three countries, six theater companies, fourteen plays and programs, sixty-one days and an audience numbering nearly 50,000 defined 'A Global Exploration: Eugene O'Neill in the 21st Century' and marked an unprecedented success for Goodman Theatre. Artistic Director Robert Falls curated the ambitious eight-play selection of O'Neill's early works that appeared on both of the Goodman's stages January 7 - March 8: the 856-Albert and the 400-seat flexible Owen, which was transformed seven times, custom-designed for the visiting companies. The Exploration offerings performed at a grand total of 90% of capacity-alone, Falls' Broadway-bound production of Desire Under the Elms achieved 95% of capacity.

Due to a scheduling conflict with Director Scott Ellis, Douglas Carter Beane's new comedy, Mr. & Mrs. Fitch, has been postponed from Second Stage Theatre's season, announced Artistic Director Carole Rothman. A new mainstage summer production will be announced shortly. Mr. and Mrs. Fitch had been scheduled to begin previews on June 16.

Crowns is back in town, and with direction and choreography by Kenneth Lee Roberson (Broadway's Avenue Q, Arena's Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill) and musical direction by Grammy nominee e'Marcus Harper, this soulful musical will be bigger than ever in the Lincoln Theatre. Arena favorites Marva Hicks (The Women of Brewster Place) and E. Faye Butler (Dinah Was, Ain't Misbehavin') are joined by NaTasha Yvette Williams (Broadway's The Color Purple), Mary Millben, Kara Tameika Watkins, Phillip Boykin and Zurin Villanueva. Howard University student Villanueva was discovered in Arena's January 'Finding Yolanda' one-day casting search, and this production marks her debut professional performance.

Robert Falls proudly names his longtime artistic collaborator Brian Dennehy-two-time Tony and Golden Globe Award winner and six-time Emmy Award nominee-the newest member of Goodman Theatre's Artistic Collective, a diverse group of outstanding American theater artists who make the Goodman their artistic home.

Magnolia By Regina Taylor and Directed by Anna D. Shapiro Tickets on sale now! Atlanta, 1963. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. inspires Atlanta's black citizens to fight passionately for their civil rights, the new mayor erects 'The Payton Wall' to restrict where they can live. Amid these churning social currents, Magnolia Estate faces foreclosure, pitting the sensual, free-spirited heiress Lily Forrest against Thomas, a strong-willed businessman who lays claim to the estate where his ancestors were slaves.

McCarter Theatre Center announces the complete cast of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, directed by Rebecca Taichman. A co-production with Washington, D.C.'s Shakespeare Theatre Company, Twelfth Night begins performances in the Matthews Theatre on Tuesday, March 10 and runs until March 29. (Press opening Friday, March 13). Shipwrecked in a foreign land without family, friends or possessions-what's a girl to do? Identity is under siege in the labyrinth of misconceptions that is Twelfth Night, Shakespeare's bewitching comedy of unquenchable desire, self-deception and misdirected love. This fantastical, timeless production-helmed by rising-star director Rebecca Taichman-is a real sensualist's delight: full of longing 'all as hungry as the sea' and awash in ethereal charm.

Magnolia, Artistic Associate Regina Taylor's world premiere about possibility in the face of seismic social change, takes root at the Goodman this spring, March 14 - April 19, 2009. Directing for the first time at the Goodman, Tony Award winner Anna D. Shapiro helms a cast of 12 led by Academy Award nominee Annette O'Toole (Smallville, A Mighty Wind, 48 Hours) and Tony Award nominee John Earl Jelks (August Wilson's Radio Golf and Gem of the Ocean) in the leading roles of Lily and Thomas. Tickets to Magnolia are $25 - $70. A complete performance schedule including dates, times and ticket prices appears at the end of this release. Target is the lead Corporate Sponsor Partner of Magnolia and Lead Diversity Night Sponsor.

The 40th NAACP Image Awards nominees were announced today during a press conference at The Beverly Hilton Hotel. Corbin Bleu, Audra McDonald, Keke Palmer, Nate Parker and Regina Taylor joined NAACP Image Awards Committee Chair, Clayola Brown, and Vicangelo Bulluck, Executive Producer of the telecast, to announce the categories and nominees. The 40th NAACP Image Awards will air live on Thursday, February 12 (8:00 - 10:00 PM ET/PT Tape-delayed) on FOX.

Goodman Theatre is proud to present the world premiere of Naomi Iizuka?s newest work, Ghostwritten directed by Lisa Portes as part of the Goodman?s ?Strong Women, Strong Voices? Owen Theatre Series. The 2004 recipient of the Joyce Award, Ghostwritten runs April 4 ? May 3, 2009 in the Owen Bruner Theatre. Tickets are $10 ? $39. In conjunction with the ?Strong Women, Strong Voices? series, Goodman Theatre partners with six of Chicago?s most exciting theater companies focused on presenting and supporting work by women for ?Taking the Stage: A Celebration of Women Making Theater,? a celebration of the distinct voices and visions of women theater artists, and the opportunities and obstacles facing women working in the theater today. Further information regarding these events will be announced at a later date. Ghostwritten is a Goodman commission supported by The Joyce Foundation. The Sara Lee Foundation is the Owen Season Corporate Sponsor.

Today Goodman Theatre becomes the first cultural institution to receive the Joyce Award for a second time, after receiving its first award in 2004. The Joyce Foundation announced this morning that the Goodman will receive a grant of $50,000 to support a new play by Latin American playwright Quiara Alegr?a Hudes. Tentatively titled The Jibaro Play, Hudes' new work draws on the cultural heritage of traditional Jibaro music and is due to premier at the Goodman during the 2011 season. The Joyce Foundation encourages cultural organizations to serve and represent the Great Lakes region's diverse population and fosters the development of new works in dance, music, theater and visual arts by artists of color. Goodman Theatre received the 2004 Joyce Award in theatre in support of Naomi Iizuka's play Ghostwritten which will have its world premiere April 4 - May 3, 2009, as part of the Goodman's 'Strong Women, Strong Voices' Owen Theatre Series. Ghostwritten tells the story of Susan, an acclaimed chef specializing in Asian cuisine and the mother of an adopted Vietnamese-born daughter, whose life changes forever when a mysterious stranger from her past returns to collect on an old debt. 'We are honored and thrilled to receive this award to support a new work by visionary Latin American playwright Quiara Alegr?a Hudes,' said Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls. 'Diversity has long been at the core of our mission, and we are proud to welcome Quiara to the Goodman.' Other 2009 Joyce Award winners include Chicago's Ravinia Festival (Dance), the Detroit International Jazz Festival (Music) and the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (Visual Arts).

Returning to Cleveland after acclaimed performances in The Color Purple on Broadway and Gone with the Wind in London?s West End, NaTasha Yvette Williams takes the stage in the lead role of The Cleveland Play House production of Mahalia: A Gospel Musical. Since 1997, when she performed in The Play House production of (I Could) Stop On a Dime and Get Ten Cents Change, Williams has also played in several Broadway national tours and performed her gospel music all over the world. Kent Gash, Associate Artistic Director of The Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, GA, is directing Williams in this musical tribute to the most celebrated gospel singer of all time. Mahalia: A Gospel Musical begins in the Bolton Theatre at The Cleveland Play House on Friday, January 30 and runs through Sunday, February 22, 2009. Tickets are on sale now at The Cleveland Play House box office by calling 216.795.7000 ext 4 or online at www.clevelandplayhouse.com. Mahalia: A Gospel Musical is presented in promotional partnership with Time Warner Cable and The Kulus Foundation. The media sponsor for Mahalia: A Gospel Musical is 107.3 FM The Wave WNMV.

McCarter Theatre Center announces the complete cast of George Bernard Shaw's still provocative Mrs. Warren's Profession, the third show of the theater's 2008-2009 season. Directed by McCarter Artistic Director Emily Mann, the production will feature Suzanne Bertish, Robin Chadwick, Edward Hibbert, Madeleine Hutchins, Michael Izquierdo, and Rocco Sisto. Mrs. Warren's Profession begins performances in the Berlind Theatre on Friday, January 9 and runs through February 15. (Press opening Friday, January 16).