James Black News

Gregory Boyd, Artistic Director of the Tony Award-winning Alley Theatre, announces 6 of the 7 plays that will comprise its 2014-2015 season, entitled "Alley Theatre @ UH, " featuring Alley Resident Actors and favorites in stellar roles.

When it comes to describing Alan Ayckbourn's 1994 play COMMUNICATING DOORS, the Internet proudly boasts that the science fiction comedy exists at the crossroads of Back to the Future and Hitchcock. Does the Alley Theatre's stalwart and clever production live up to that assessment? In my opinion, not really. Nevertheless, it comes incredibly close to meeting that lofty mark.

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd announces the cast and creative team for Alan Ayckbourn's science fiction comedy Communicating Doors. Eleven plays penned by Alan Ayckbourn have been produced by the Alley, including the American premiere of Henceforward, directed by Ayckbourn, in 1987 and House & Garden in 2002. Alan Ayckbourn has been inducted into the American Theatre's Hall of Fame, received the 2010 Critics' Circle Award for Services to the Arts, became the first British playwright to receive both Olivier and Tony Special Lifetime Achievement Awards and was knighted in 1997 for services to the theatre.

After an astounding record-breaking 22 month run, its award-winning production of PEARLS OVER SHANGHAI, San Francisco's Longest-Running Cockettes Musical Hit will once again be back on The Hypnodrome stage for a Fifth Anniversary Revival Production - playing tonight, March 20 - May 31, 2014. PEARLS OVER SHANGHAI unanimously received rave reviews from critics and audience alike. It's a phenomenon that keeps on growing!

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd announces the cast and creative team for Alan Ayckbourn's science fiction comedy Communicating Doors. Eleven plays penned by Alan Ayckbourn have been produced by the Alley, including the American premiere of Henceforward, directed by Ayckbourn, in 1987 and House & Garden in 2002. Alan Ayckbourn has been inducted into the American Theatre's Hall of Fame, received the 2010 Critics' Circle Award for Services to the Arts, became the first British playwright to receive both Olivier and Tony Special Lifetime Achievement Awards and was knighted in 1997 for services to the theatre.

After an astounding record-breaking 22 month run, its award-winning production of PEARLS OVER SHANGHAI, San Francisco's Longest-Running Cockettes Musical Hit will once again be back on The Hypnodrome stage for a Fifth Anniversary Revival Production - playing March 20 - May 31, 2014. PEARLS OVER SHANGHAI unanimously received rave reviews from critics and audience alike. It's a phenomenon that keeps on growing!

Due to popular demand and sold-out performances, the Alley Theatre is extending Freud's Last Session for five additional performances. Freud's Last Session was originally scheduled to end Sunday, February 23 but it will now run through Sunday, March 2.

The Alley Theatre's production of Mark St. Germain's Off-Broadway smash hit FREUD'S LAST SESSION is a skillful exercise in crisp, engaging theatre. The play had its World Premiere in 2009 at Barrington Stage Company in Massachusetts, where it became the longest-running show in that theatre's history. It opened in New York City on July 22, 2010 and moved through several Off-Broadway houses before closing on July 22, 2012, having played 775 performances. The show's sharply produced Houston premiere showcases what gave it such staying power in its hit runs in the Northeast.

For the third consecutive year Emerge ABQ - New Mexico's only chapter of the Americans for the Arts' Emerging Leaders network - will present ShowOff, a night of art, activities, and entertainment inspired by the talent shows and science fairs of our youth. ShowOff 3.0: Hypothesis Unknown will take place on Friday, February 21 at 8:00pm in Downtown Albuquerque at ArtBar, a non-profit bar, entertainment and gathering space that supports local arts organizations through general operating grants. The event is free and open to the public. However, Emerge ABQ will be accepting contributions (we recommend $15+) to benefit the rebuilding efforts of the National Institute of Flamenco, whose Downtown Albuquerque location was devastated by a massive structure fire late last year.

Now, to celebrate today's (November 26) release of Walker's lost studio session from 1970, and his first solo guitar record with vocals, 'Has Anybody Seen Our Freedoms?', on Delmore Recording Society, he is proud to announce that he will be making his first NYC area live performance in seven years (and only show this year) on 12/18 at Union Pool in Brooklyn.

Now, to celebrate today's (November 26) release of Walker's lost studio session from 1970, and his first solo guitar record with vocals, 'Has Anybody Seen Our Freedoms?', on Delmore Recording Society, he is proud to announce that he will be making his first NYC area live performance in seven years (and only show this year) on 12/18 at Union Pool in Brooklyn.

While Thanksgiving is right around the corner, holiday festivities are commencing in full force. For many Houston theater goers, the highlight of the holiday season is the Alley Theatre's infamous production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL - A GHOST STORY OF CHRISTMAS. Michael Wilson's imaginative stage adaptation of the Charles Dicken's classic A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, is celebrating its 24th year and continues to be a spectacle that is hauntingly delightful and heartwarming. With family-friendly thrills, chills, and a hearty dose of laughter, this festive production remains a holiday favorite.

Houston's seasonal favorite A Christmas Carol - A Ghost Story of Christmas returns to light up the Holiday Season downtown on the Hubbard Stage November 15 to December 26.

The Phoenix Rises Stars: James Black (Out of Sight, Anger Management, Necessary Roughness), Adam Cardon (Ark), Catalina Soto Aguilar (SkyHook), Casey Myers (My Stepdad's a Frickin Vampire), Robert Penny (Sweet Home Alabama), and Philip Fornah (Django Unchained).

The Phoenix Rises Stars: James Black (Out of Sight, Anger Management, Necessary Roughness), Adam Cardon (Ark), Catalina Soto Aguilar (SkyHook), Casey Myers (My Stepdad's a Frickin Vampire), Robert Penny (Sweet Home Alabama), and Philip Fornah (Django Unchained).

When it comes to American Theatre from the 1930s, one of the leading writing duos was George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. This pair is integral in the development of Modern American Theatre. They are often studied in survey courses that chart the progression of the art form, as most agree that together they wrote some of America's favorite comedies. Their hilarious and heartwarming 1936 play YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU premiered at the Booth Theater on December 14, 1936 and ran for 837 performances. It also won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. When it was adapted for film by Frank Capra and Robert Riskin in 1938, it won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director. Now, in 2013, The Alley Theatre is reviving the classic and hysterical masterpiece about an eccentric family that is happily surviving the Great Depression. It's 1936, and their key to bliss is embrace the love they have for one another, their hobbies, and to find ways to simply enjoy the life they've got.

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd presents You Can't Take It With You. Sanford Robbins returns to direct this new production after directing last season's November. Robbins also directed the Alley Theatre's 2003 production of You Can't Take It with You. You Can't Take It With You, by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, directed by Sanford Robbins, opens tonight, September 25, and runs through October 20, 2013 on the Hubbard Stage. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd presents You Can't Take It With You. Sanford Robbins returns to direct this new production after directing last season's November. Robbins also directed the Alley Theatre's 2003 production of You Can't Take It with You. You Can't Take It With You, by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, directed by Sanford Robbins, began performances Friday, September 20 opens officially Wednesday, September 25, and runs through October 20, 2013 on the Hubbard Stage. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Gregory Boyd, Artistic Director of the Tony Award-winning Alley Theatre, announces its thrilling new season of plays created by playwrights that include a Pulitzer-Prize winning comedy, a new play that was the Outer Critics Circle's Outstanding, New Play winner, the first play by a Tony Award winner, a 2011 Tony Award nominee for Best Play, plus an ingenious comedy from acclaimed, award-winning playwright Alan Ayckbourn and an intriguing epic by Bertolt Brecht.

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd announces the cast and creative team for You Can't Take It With You. Sanford Robbins returns to direct this new production after directing last season's November. Robbins also directed the Alley Theatre's 2003 production of You Can't Take It with You.