James Craven News

Following a well-received tour around Minnesota, the powerful one-man play, Thurgood, revisits the Twin Cities from March 9-19 at the Illusion Theater, located on the eighth floor of the Cowles Center, 528 Hennepin Ave. in downtown Minneapolis.

Due to a high demand for tickets, Penumbra Theatre will be extending its run of Jitney through Sunday, November 13, 2016. Directed by Lou Bellamy and featuring an all-star cast of company members and Wilson veterans, Penumbra Theatre's production of Jitney has been met with critical acclaim from both press and audiences alike.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre hosts the regional premiere of Mat Smart's TINKER TO EVERS TO CHANCE, a play for die-hard baseball fans. Focused on a mother and daughter who bond over their shared love of the Chicago Cubs, it resonates with members of Red Sox Nation who understand the roller coaster emotions of hope and disappointment associated with loving a star-crossed team, but may be less engaging for non-aficionados of the sport.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre continues its 2015-16 Season with the regional premiere of "Tinker to Evers to Chance," the touching new work from playwright Mat Smart about mothers, daughters, and baseball. The story spans a century of Chicago Cubs fandom, and resonates with honest questions about love, heartbreak, and hope. MRT Artistic Director Sean Daniels will direct.

Threshold Stage Company's innovative staging of "Into the Woods" this holiday season at the Star Theatre in Kittery, Maine envelops the audience in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's modern fairytale, immersing the viewer in the middle of the outrageously entangled lives of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack and the Giant and many other fairytale characters as they strive to make their wishes come true at any price.

'The show is chocked full of camp and kitschy humor, making for a perfect date night or family outing.'

Check out the new review for this great theater, and get yourself to the barn!

What do you get when you combine a talented young playwright, an excellent cast that includes five up-and-coming actors and two beloved veterans of local stages, stirring a capella gospel music arranged by a local musical legend, and the Twin Cities' best director of 'theater musically?' You get CHOIR BOY, a lovely and affecting play about a young gay man coming of age in an African American boarding school. The playwright is Tarell Alvin McCraney of the excellent Brother/Sister trilogy that Pillsbury House Theatre has produced in its entirety in the last several years. While those plays have an epic, mythical quality, CHOIR BOY is more grounded in reality, but just as beautifully written. Add in musical direction and arrangement by Sanford Moore and direction by Peter Rothstein, an expert at using music in the best possibly way to enhance the theatrical storytelling, and you have something quite special going on in the Guthrie's Dowling Studio.

Centering on the lives of four strippers, and propelled by the poetry and athleticism of live pole dancing, PUSSY VALLEY is a profound exploration of the African American, white, gay, straight, young, and old denizens of a strip club in contemporary rural Mississippi. Embedded in a world of poverty, abuse, power imbalances, racism, jealousy, homophobia, abandonment, and sexploitation, this searing drama reveals resilient women in pursuit of happiness, stability, motherhood, independence, a decent living, and romance, always battling for personal integrity.

The Illusion Theater's 40th Anniversary Season continues with a powerful play based on the life of Justice Thurgood Marshall, starring one of the Twin Cities' most venerable actors, James Craven. A journey of epic proportions, Thurgood is an eye-opening, humorous and uplifting portrait of a true American hero on stage tonight, March 6-15 at the downtown Minneapolis theater, located on the eighth floor of the Cowles Center, 528 Hennepin Ave. Post-show panels and audience discussions follow each performance.

The Illusion Theater's 40th Anniversary Season continues with a powerful play based on the life of Justice Thurgood Marshall, starring one of the Twin Cities' most venerable actors, James Craven. A journey of epic proportions, Thurgood is an eye-opening, humorous and uplifting portrait of a true American hero on stage March 6-15 at the downtown Minneapolis theater, located on the eighth floor of the Cowles Center, 528 Hennepin Ave. Post-show panels and audience discussions follow each performance.

Geva Theatre Center's 2014 Fielding Studio Series concludes with the world premiere of Tinker to Evers to Chance by Mat Smart and directed by Sean Daniels. The production begins performances tonight, May 15 and runs in the Fielding Nextstage through June 1.

Geva Theatre Center's 2014 Fielding Studio Series concludes with the world premiere of Tinker to Evers to Chance by Mat Smart and directed by Sean Daniels. The production begins performances on May 15 and runs in the Fielding Nextstage through June 1.

The 2013-14 Playwrights' Center McKnight Theater Artist Fellows Sun Mee Chomet, Denise Prosek and Stephen Yoakam, along with their collaborators, will present selections from works in progress on June 16 at 7 p.m. at the Southern Theater. The event is free and open to the public; advance reservations are strongly recommended and can be made at www.pwcenter.org. The Southern Theater is located at 1420 S Washington Avenue in Minneapolis.

Geva Theatre Center's 2014 Fielding Studio Series concludes with the world premiere of Tinker to Evers to Chance by Mat Smart and directed by Sean Daniels. The production begins performances on May 15 and runs in the Fielding Nextstage through June 1.

What can be defined as slavery? In multiple ways, slavery continually exists and humans can all be slaves to someone or something. At the Stiemke Studio this past February weekend, The Milwaukee Rep opened The Whipping Man. The 2006 award-winning Off Broadway play written by Matthew Lopez returns three men, the owner's son and two of his slaves, to their family homestead in a complex and riveting American Civil War drama set a few days before the assassination of President Lincoln.

The Rep continues its 60th Anniversary Season with The Whipping Man, the play The New York Times describes as 'filled with fine characterization and unexpected moments of humor.' Check out a first look below!

The Rep continues its 60th Anniversary Season with The Whipping Man, the play The New York Times describes as 'filled with fine characterization and unexpected moments of humor.' The Civil War has ended, but for some, the struggle has just begun. A Jewish Confederate soldier, wounded in war, has returned from the battlefield to find that his family has fled. The only remaining household members are two former slaves, who have been raised by his family as Jews. Over a celebratory feast, family history is uncovered and dark secrets are revealed, forcing the men to come to terms with the sordid legacies of slavery and war that threaten each of their future freedoms. Written by Matthew Lopez, The Whipping Man will be directed by Associate Artistic Director Brent Hazelton. The cast features Ro Boddie, James Craven, both making their Rep debuts, and Josh Landay, who returns to The Rep after appearing as Tateh in Ragtime earlier this season. The Whipping Man runs in the Stiemke Studio from February 5 - March 16, and opens Saturday, February 8. (Please note special Saturday evening opening.) The Stiemke Season is generously presented by John and Connie Kordsmeier.

The Rep continues its 60th Anniversary Season with The Whipping Man, the play The New York Times describes as "filled with fine characterization and unexpected moments of humor." The Civil War has ended, but for some, the struggle has just begun. A Jewish Confederate soldier, wounded in war, has returned from the battlefield to find that his family has fled. The only remaining household members are two former slaves, who have been raised by his family as Jews. Over a celebratory feast, family history is uncovered and dark secrets are revealed, forcing the men to come to terms with the sordid legacies of slavery and war that threaten each of their future freedoms. Written by Matthew Lopez, The Whipping Man will be directed by Associate Artistic Director Brent Hazelton. The cast features Ro Boddie, James Craven, both making their Rep debuts, and Josh Landay, who returns to The Rep after appearing as Tateh in Ragtime earlier this season. The Whipping Man runs in the Stiemke Studio from February 5 - March 16, and opens Saturday, February 8. (Please note special Saturday evening opening.) The Stiemke Season is generously presented by John and Connie Kordsmeier.

The Jungle Theater announces that it has added six performances of DRIVING MISS DAISY, extending the run of the popular production through December 29, 2013. Directed by Artistic Director Bain Boehlke, and starring Ivey Award-winning Wendy Lehr as Atlanta matriarch Daisy Werthan, and James Craven as her compassionate chauffeur, the production has received extensive praise from both audiences and critics alike.