Gretchen Smith News

Theatre East, a New York City-based off-Broadway theatre company, in partnership with the Division of Theatre and the Meadows School at Southern Methodist University will premiere their second installment of the WET INK SERIES on March 22nd & 23rd.

Golden Globe-winning actress, director and playwright Regina Taylor is partnering with SMU Meadows School of the Arts and its Division of Theatre in a unique, three-part theatrical project titled the black album. 2020. Conceived by SMU Distinguished Alumna Taylor, who earned a theatre degree from Meadows in 1981, the project explores and addresses the question of what it is to be Black in 2020.

New York City Ballet opened its spring season with a week of 21st-century ballets-no Balanchine, or Robbins, just anything that was created after 2000. Some prove eminently worthwhile and destined to remain in the company's repertoire for a long time; others, I'm not quite sure.

Last night, Live Source Theatre Group (Tyler Mercer, Co-Founder & Executive Artistic Director; Chris Dieman, Co-Founder & Artist in Residence) held its annualSpring Gala, honoring designers Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung for their outstanding contribution to costume design.  Bartelme and Jung, co-founders of the costume and fashion design company Reid & Harriet, have designed costumes for Justin Peck, Pontus Lidberg, Marcelo Gomes, Pam Tanowitz, Emery Lecrone, Kyle Abraham, Mauro Bigonzetti, and Doug Varone. They have costumed productions at American Ballet Theater, New York City Ballet, Miami City Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. Along with Justin Peck, they are featured in the documentary Ballet 422 which premiered at the 2014 TriBeCa Film Festival.

LUMBERYARD Contemporary Performing Arts opens its inaugural summer 2018 season, which will fill venues surrounding the organization's highly anticipated new facility in Catskill, New York, with Scat!,a dance-driven musical from Urban Bush Women set in Hudson, NY's Club Helsinki (June 29-July 1). The season,which runs from June 29 - September 2, represents the fullest realization to date of LUMBERYARD's unique dual promise: to make transformative contributions both to the cultural landscape and economic health of Upstate New York and to the field of contemporary performance in New York City and the U.S. by bringing renowned and emerging artists across the performing arts landscape to Catskill for out-of-town premieres, often incubated through LUMBERYARD's signature technical residencies.

LUMBERYARD Contemporary Performing Arts is pleased to announce programming for its inaugural summer 2018 season, which will fill venues surrounding the organization's highly anticipated new facility in Catskill, New York-set to open its own doors in Fall 2018. The season,which runs from June 28 - September 1, represents the fullest realization to date of LUMBERYARD's unique dual promise: to make transformative contributions both to the cultural landscape and economic health of Upstate New York and to the field of contemporary performance in New York City and the U.S. by bringing renowned and emerging artists across the performing arts landscape to Catskill for out-of-town premieres, usually incubated through LUMBERYARD's signature technical residencies.

Tickets for the 42nd season of Spoleto Festival USA go on sale to the public today at 10:00am. Tickets can be purchased anytime at spoletousa.org or by phone at 843.579.3100, Monday through Saturday, 10:00am to 6:00pm. On-site box office operations will be located at the Charleston Gaillard Center beginning May 1; tickets may then be purchased in person Monday through Sunday, 9:00am to 5:00pm.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents an encore of choreographer Jodi Melnick's sold-out 2016 commission, NEW BODIES. This Works & Process commissioned work weaves together dance, spoken text, and moderated discussion with live music, featuring New York City Ballet dancers Jared Angle, Sara Mearns, and Taylor Stanley in a role originated by Gretchen Smith, with harpsichord by composer Gy rgy Ligeti, violin by composer Heinrich Biber, and commissioned music by Robert Boston. Also, Melnick, who enjoyed a performance career with Twyla Tharp (among many others), will perform One of Sixty-Five Thousand Gestures, a solo work created in collaboration with the late Trisha Brown.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents an encore of choreographer Jodi Melnick's sold-out 2016 commission, NEW BODIES. This Works & Process commissioned work weaves together dance, spoken text, and moderated discussion with live music, featuring New York City Ballet dancers Jared Angle, Sara Mearns, and Taylor Stanley in a role originated by Gretchen Smith, with harpsichord by composer Gy rgy Ligeti, violin by composer Heinrich Biber, and commissioned music by Robert Boston.Also, Melnick, who enjoyed a performance career with Twyla Tharp (among many others), will perform One of Sixty-Five Thousand Gestures, a solo work created in collaboration with the late Trisha Brown.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents an encore of choreographer Jodi Melnick's sold-out 2016 commission, NEW BODIES. This Works & Process commissioned work weaves together dance, spoken text, and moderated discussion with live music, featuring New York City Ballet dancers Jared Angle, Sara Mearns, and Taylor Stanley in a role originated by Gretchen Smith, with harpsichord by composer Gy rgy Ligeti, violin by composer Heinrich Biber, and commissioned music by Robert Boston.

Works & Process at the Guggenheim is pleased to announce its Spring 2018 Season. Since 1984 the performing-arts series has championed new works and offered audiences unprecedented access to leading creators and performers. Programs explore the creative process through stimulating artist discussions and riveting performance highlights. Each 70-minute program takes place in the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Peter B. Lewis Theater. Additional information is available at worksandprocess.org.

Works & Process at the Guggenheim has announced its spring 2018 season. Since 1984 the performing-arts series has championed new works and offered audiences unprecedented access to leading creators and performers.

 On July 29, the Vail Dance Festival kicks off its 29th year (July 29- August 12) with a season of new collaborations, artist debuts, and world premieres.

 On July 29, the Vail Dance Festival kicks off its 29th year (July 29- August 12) with a season of new collaborations, artist debuts, and world premieres.

The New York City Ballet kicked off day two of the company's 2017 Spring Season on Wednesday, April 19 at the opulent David H. Koch Theater. A performance dedicated to the iconic playfulness of Jerome Robbin's choreography, the evening started on a high note with the orchestra's charming “See the Music” section, treating the audience to teaser selections of the coming score. The bluesy, sultry notes of Bernstein's music set the scene beautifully; as the orchestra descended back into the pit, the curtain rose on “Fancy Free,” the legendary collaboration between Robbins and Bernstein, which later inspired Broadway's sensation “On The Town.”

 On July 29, the Vail Dance Festival kicks off its 29th year (July 29- August 12) with a season of new collaborations, artist debuts, and world premieres.

On Sunday, November 13, 2016 at 3pm and 7:30pm and Monday, November 14, 2016 at 7:30pm, Works & Process at the Guggenheim presents Working in Process/ New Bodies, the culmination and World Premiere of choreographer Jodi Melnick's Works & Process residency with dancers Sara Mearns, Jared Angle, and Gretchen Smith at the Guggenheim's Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Peter B. Lewis Theater. Melnick's work weaves dance, spoken text, and moderated discussion with Claudia La Rocco, with live music for harpsichord by composer Gyorgy Ligeti, violin by composer Heinrich Biber, and newly commissioned music by Robert Boston.

Works & Process at the Guggenheim is pleased to announce its fall 2016 season.

Works & Process at the Guggenheim is pleased to announce its fall 2016 season. Since 1984 the performing-arts series has championed new works and offered audiences unprecedented access to leading creators and performers. Each intimate program blends performance with stimulating conversation with the creators, and takes place in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum's Frank Lloyd Wright-designed, 285-seat Peter B. Lewis Theater. Described by the New York Times as 'an exceptional opportunity to understand something of the creative process,' Works & Process is produced by founder Mary Sharp Cronson. A season preview video is available and further details can be found at worksandprocess.org.

New York City Ballet, home to George Balanchine's vision of dance in America, is well known for commissioning new work. This devotion to innovation can result in work that runs the gamut from zestful to appalling. Case in point, the '21st Century Choreographers II' program on May 7th, 2016, which presented a hodgepodge of brilliant, ill conceived, entertaining, and 'not suited to house style'.