Harvey Lichtenstein News

Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) announces 2011 Next Wave Festival-featuring seventeen music, dance, and theater engagements from Sep 21-Dec 18

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) announced today that they have named Andrea Nellis General Manager and Daniel C. Smith Director of Finance. Nellis moves to the General Management position after working for 15 months as The Public's Chief Financial Officer. Smith has been promoted to Director of Finance after serving as The Public's Controller since January 2008.

Following visionary New York productions of The Misanthrope (2007) and Hedda Gabler (2004), Flemish director Ivo van Hove returns with Opening Night, a U.S. premiere engagement that also marks the New York debut of his company, Toneelgroep Amsterdam. A joint production by Toneelgroep Amsterdam and the Belgium-based company NTGent, Opening Night transforms director John Cassavetes' award-winning 1977 film to the stage. Five performances of Opening Night will take place in the BAM Harvey Theater on Dec 2-6 at 7:30pm.

Flemish director Guy Cassiers makes his American debut with Sunken Red-a multimedia theater work created in collaboration with and performed by one of Europe's leading stage actors, Dirk Roofthooft.

In a nouveau cirque work poised at the intersection of physical theater, modern dance, and waking dreams, France's Compagnie 111 makes its BAM debut in Les sept planches de la ruse (The Seven Boards of Skill) in a joint production with Scenes de la Terre. Conceived and directed by French director Aurelien Bory, this U.S. premiere is inspired by tangram-an ancient Chinese geometric puzzle composed of seven tiles that can be manipulated in a nearly infinite number of combinations. Developed in the industrial city of Dalian, China, where it premiered in 2007, Les sept planches de la ruse has toured across France and to Portugal. After the BAM engagement, the production will travel to additional cities in France, as well as to the UK and Hungary.

As part of the 2008 Next Wave Festival, BAM welcomes the return of U Theatre, one of Taiwan's most celebrated theater companies, in Meeting with Bodhisattva-a music-theater work that depicts an individual's journey toward becoming a Bodhisattva or 'enlightened being' in Buddhism. This U.S. premiere features a whirlwind of drumming, martial arts, Buddhist chanting, and Chinese operatic dance.

A composer, performer, violinist, and band leader, Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) seamlessly blends classical music, funk, rock, and hip-hop into a unique musical vision.

As part of the 2008 Next Wave Festival, BAM presents the U.S. debut of Iceland's Vesturport Theatre in a critically-acclaimed production of Georg Büchner's Woyzeck. With haunting original music by cult rocker Nick Cave and Bad Seeds' Warren Ellis, this U.S. premiere is directed by rising-star Gísli Örn Gardarsson and is a joint production of Vesturport and The Reykjavik City Theatre. Woyzeck premiered at The Reykjavik City Theatre in 2005 and was presented at London's Barbican Theatre in 2005 as part of their Young Genius series where its sold-out run received critical acclaim. The production returned to the Barbican in 2006, traveled to Spain in 2007, and will tour to South Korea in May 2009.

Flemish director Guy Cassiers makes his American debut with Sunken Red-a multimedia theater work created in collaboration with and performed by one of Europe's leading stage actors, Dirk Roofthooft.

Today, May 16th, the winners of this years Drama League awards were announced with big wins for Patti LuPone, A Catered Affair, August: Osage County, Macbeth and South Pacific

The Drama League (Jano Herbosch, President; Roger T. Danforth and Gabriel Shanks, Executive Directors) proudly announces the roster of presenters scheduled to appear for the The 74th Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony and Luncheon on Friday, May 16, 2008 (noon) at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square (1535 Broadway at 46th Street).