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Photos: First look at A World Premiere, Cory Skurdal's THE NEW SEATTLE
by Jerri Shafer - Apr 25, 2024


This original play, a world premiere, by Columbus playwright, Cory Skurdal, tells the story of an elderly woman who is looking back on her life as she prepares to leave the home she has lived in, not always happily, for most of her life. She recalls her often challenging relationships with her parents, her sister, her former husband, her son, and her daughter.

Photos: First look at Little Theatre Off Broadway's LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
by Jerri Shafer - Apr 24, 2024


A deviously delicious Broadway and Hollywood sci-fi smash musical, Little Shop Of Horrors has devoured the hearts of theatre-goers for over 30 years. The meek floral assistant Seymour Krelborn stumbles across a new breed of plant he names 'Audrey II' - after his coworker crush. This foul-mouthed, R&B-singing carnivore promises unending fame and fortune to the down and out Krelborn as long as he keeps feeding it, BLOOD. Over time, though, Seymour discovers Audrey II's out of this world origins and intent towards global domination!

Photos: First look at New Albany High School Theatre's PUFFS - High School Edition!
by Jerri Shafer - Apr 18, 2024


For seven years, a certain boy wizard went to a particular Wizard School and conquered evil. This play, however, is not his story. It is the story of the Puffs, another group of well-meaning, loyal wizards at that famed wizarding school, who just happened to be around for all of that evil conquering, too.

Photos: First look at MTVarts' AUGUST WILSON'S FENCES
by Jerri Shafer - Apr 17, 2024


This sensational drama tells the tale of Troy Maxson, a former star of the Negro baseball leagues who now works as a garbage man in 1957 Pittsburgh. Excluded as a black man from the major leagues during his prime, Troy’s bitterness takes its toll on his relationships with his wife and his son, who now wants his own chance to play ball. Revived in 2010 starring Denzel Washington in the lead role. Innovative playwright August Wilson gives an unflinching look at the African American experience in the 1950s. Touching, funny, and occasionally brutal.

Photos: First look at Hilliard Arts Council's CRIMES OF THE HEART
by Jerri Shafer - Apr 12, 2024


Crimes of the Heart is a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play by American playwright Beth Henley.  The scene is Hazlehurst, Mississippi, where the three Magrath sisters have gathered to await news of the family patriarch, their grandfather, who is living out his last hours in the local hospital.

Photos: First look at Bruce Jacklin & Company's THE WILD WOMEN OF WINEDALE
by Jerri Shafer - Apr 11, 2024


This joyful and exuberant, yet ultimately touching, comedy focuses on three women at crossroads in their lives—the Wild sisters of Winedale, Virginia. Fanny and Willa and their frustratingly quirky sister-in-law Johnnie Faye.

Photos: First look at Olentangy Orange High School Orangelight Productions presents SISTER ACT
by Jerri Shafer - Apr 10, 2024


Sister Act, a feel-good musical comedy smash based on the hit 1992 film. Set in 1977, disco diva, Deloris Van Cartier, witnesses a murder, and is put in protective custody in the one place the cops are sure she won't be found: a convent!

Review: Lending an ear to VAN GOGH'S IN THE ATTIC at Abbey Theater In Dublin
by Paul Batterson - Apr 9, 2024


Cooney’s script is much like a van Gogh painting. Some characters, like Erin, are created with intricate paintbrush strokes; others are fingerpainted in concentric circles.

Photos: First look at Worthington Community Theatre After Dark Presents SPRING AWAKENING
by Jerri Shafer - Apr 5, 2024


Join WCT in Germany, 1891 in a world where the grown-ups hold all the cards, and a group of students navigate teenage self-discovery and coming of age anxiety in a powerful celebration of youth and rebellion. Spring Awakening explores the journey from adolescence to adulthood with a poignancy and passion that is illuminating and unforgettable. This musical is an electrifying fusion of morality, sexuality and rock and roll that is sure to exhilarate audiences!

Photos: First look at Gallery Players' THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK
by Jerri Shafer - Apr 5, 2024


Anne Frank emerges from history a living, lyrical, intensely gifted young girl, who confronts her rapidly changing life and the increasing horror of her time with astonishing honesty, wit, and determination. An impassioned drama about the lives of eight people hiding from the Nazis in a concealed storage attic, THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK captures the claustrophobic realities of their daily existence—their fear, their hope, their laughter, their grief.

Photos: First look at Original Productions Theatre's VAN GOGH'S IN THE ATTIC
by Jerri Shafer - Apr 4, 2024


A world premiere, break-neck comedy by Irish playwright and Abbey Theater favorite Sean Cooney set on the south coast of Ireland in the 1980s. Feral MacAdoo, suffering from a dissociative fugue after a bombing attack in Dublin, now believes he is the painter Vincent Van Gogh.

Photos: First look at The Room Upstairs Theatre's THE TRAIL TO OREGON!
by Jerri Shafer - Apr 2, 2024


The Trail to Oregon is Based off the 90’s video game “The Oregon Trail” following a family as they make their way from Missouri to Oregon in 1848. From starvation to bandits to dysentery, the family endures all of these challenges in hopes of a better life in Oregon.

Photos: First look at Performing Arts Creative Ensemble's CHAPTER TWO By Neil Simon
by Jerri Shafer - Mar 28, 2024


Recent widower George Schneider, is encouraged by his younger brother Leo to start dating again. This sends George into even more depression after a series of bad matches. Then Leo comes up with Jennie Malone, and she's a keeper.

Photos: First look at Naomi & Gretta present DAYLIGHT SAVE THE WORLD
by Jerri Shafer - Mar 8, 2024


This Bond-esque story pits Naomi and Gretta in a battle for time itself.  Featuring a live band, vocals, and always more laughs than you can handle. 

Photos: First look at Little Theatre Off Broadway's THE PSYCHIC, A MURDER MYSTERY OF SORTS
by Jerri Shafer - Mar 7, 2024


The Psychic follows the chaotic life of Adam Webster, a down-on-his-luck writer, who has put a sign in his apartment window, in desperation, to make the rent: 'Psychic Readings $25.' The sign soon draws the interest of the lovely and conflicted Laura, her shady husband, Roy, Roy's mistress, Rita, a gangster named Johnny Bubbles, and ace Detective Norris Coslow.

Photos: Inside New Vision Dance Company's UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL vol. 7
by Jerri Shafer - Mar 3, 2024


'UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL vol. 7”, is a contemporary program of intimate choreography both created and performed by the company. This is the 7th annual presentation of an evening of solo works and small dance pieces.

Photos: First look at Hilliard Arts Council's DISNEY'S FINDING NEMO, JUNIOR
by Jerri Shafer - Mar 1, 2024


Disney’s Finding Nemo JR. is a musical adaptation of the beloved 2003 Pixar movie Finding Nemo, with new music by award-winning songwriting team Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez.

Photos: First look at Gallery Players' THE PRODUCERS
by Jerri Shafer - Feb 29, 2024


The plot is simple: a down-on-his-luck Broadway producer and his mild-mannered accountant come up with a scheme to produce the most notorious flop in history, thereby bilking their backers (all “little old ladies”) out of millions of dollars.

Photos: First look at Gallery Players' THE PRODUCERS
by Jerri Shafer - Feb 23, 2024


Check out the exclusive first look photos of Gallery Players' production of THE PRODUCERS in Columbus, Ohio. Featuring a talented cast and crew, this Mel Brooks musical promises to be a hit.

Photos: First look at Rise Up Art Alliance's FORBIDDEN BROADWAY'S GREATEST HITS
by Jerri Shafer - Feb 22, 2024


Get ready to laugh until your face hurts—Forbidden Broadway is coming to Lancaster!  In this legendary, iconic, and comic Off-Broadway hit musical revue, Broadway’s greatest musical legends meet Broadway’s greatest satirist in this hilarious, loving, and endlessly entertaining tribute to some of the theatre’s greatest stars and songwriters.

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