Jessica Ko News

In between wiping tears from my eyes, what I witnessed was, by far, one of the most emotionally-impactful dramas I have seen this year, filled with heart-wrenching scenes, nuanced acting choices, and plenty of funny, incredibly relatable moments that pierced through the tension. A unique yet familiar immigrant story, COLEMAN '72 is unforgettable.

A cross-country journey that covers much more than miles takes the stage next as South Coast Repertory (Artistic Director David Ivers and Managing Director Paula Tomei) present Coleman ’72 by Charlie Oh.

Through Center Theatre Group’s Education and Community Partnerships’ Community Play Readings, Boyle Heights libraries will be the first to experience new works from three local playwrights in March and May.

Los Angeles audiences will have the opportunity to experience new theatre thanks to Center Theatre Group’s L.A. Writers’ Workshop Festival which will take place over the course of two weekends, September 9-11 and September 16-18, 2022 at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

As is often the case the BTG production is a high-quality production where seemingly everyone involved has played their role and done their work well. There is, however, one aspect I certainly did not expect. Laughter. At several points throughout the three acts in 2-hours, audience members responded with giggles, which I found rather confusing

Professor Van Helsing investigates the mysterious illness of a young woman, Lucy Seward, whose father is the doctor in charge of an English sanitorium.

The 2022-2023 Kirk Douglas Theatre Season has been announced. The season will begin with the L.A. Writers’ Workshop Festival, which is set to take place over the course of two weekends, September 9-11 and September 16-18, 2022.

​​​​​​Berkshire Theatre Group has announced casting for shows in BTG’s Late Summer 2022 Season. The full season will feature B.R.O.K.E.N code B.I.R.D switching, a world premiere play and an award recipient of the GRANTS FOR ARTS PROJECTS from the National Endowment for the Arts; Once, a Tony Award-winning musical; Songs For a New World, the first musical by a Tony Award winner; Dracula, a classic gothic tale of horrors; and Edward Albee's Seascape, a Pulitzer Prize-winning play. 

The imminent start of the 2022 Oregon Shakespeare Festival season—Artistic Director Nataki Garrett’s first full season—marks a celebratory return to repertory producing. The 2022 lineup features eight on-stage plays and musicals, from classic Shakespeare to works by some of today’s most exciting playwrights.

Moving Arts announced it will present readings of five new plays this weekend, October 9-10, 2021, as part of its Eighth Annual First Look Reading Series.

Center Theatre Group has selected participants for the 2021-2022 L.A. Writers' Workshop, where local playwrights are invited to spend a year in residence at the company researching and writing new works with the feedback from artistic staff and their fellow writers.

The casts and creative teams have been assembled for Zoetic Stage’s inaugural Finstrom Festival of New Work which will be presented virtually from June 23rd thru 27th, on the theatre company’s Facebook page.

Justice favors the rich and powerful, but, eventually, the truth will out. These two maxims are at the center of Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s SNOW IN MIDSUMMER, which had its U.S. premiere at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2018 and is now being offered as a streaming production through OSF’s digital platform, O!

Quintessence Theatre Group, Philadelphia's professional classic repertory theatre, is set to livestream Georg Büchner's Danton's Death on November 2, as part of Shout into the Void: A Virtual Play Reading Festival.

Cleveland Play House (CPH) will reimagine the epic Greek tragedy Antigone with a contemporary interpretation, freely adapted by Emily Mann from the ancient play written by Sophocles. Performances begin March 28th, 2020 and continue through April 19th, 2020 in the intimate Outcalt Theatre at Playhouse Square. Led by Director Lauren Keating, the cast features Amara James Aja, Alex Brightwell, Mariah Burks, Conor Canning, Kasey Connolly, Comfort Dolo, Steve Gladstone, Gregory James, Jessica Ko, Vanessa Morosco, Fabio Polanco, Abdul Seidu, Laura Starnik and Elisabeth Yancey. Cleveland Play House is proud to recognize DLR Group/Westlake Reed Leskosky as Presenting Sponsor of Antigone.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival invites audiences to enjoy two plays by William Shakespeare-plus one about a young girl with a crucial superpower, curiosity, and the beloved fantastical dream adventure in which she tries to figure out how to stay true to who she is-under the stars when its flagship outdoor theatre opens the weekend of June 7-9, 2019. The Allen Elizabethan Theatre will feature Macbeth, directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela; Alice in Wonderland, adapted from Lewis Carroll by Eve Le Gallienne and Florida Friebus, directed by Sara Bruner; and All's Well That Ends Well, directed by Tracy Young. Previews begin May 28, and all three shows will run through the weekend of October 11-13.

The Tony Award winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) will launch its 84th year and Bill Rauch's final season as artistic director with preview performances beginning on March 1. The 2019 season officially kicks off Friday night, March 8, in the Angus Bowmer Theatre with Shakespeare's As You Like It (director, Rosa Joshi). On Saturday afternoon, Cambodian Rock Band (director, Chay Yew) opens in the Thomas Theatre, and Hairspray The Broadway Musical (director, Christopher Liam Moore) opens that evening in the Angus Bowmer Theatre. On Sunday afternoon, the drama by Southern Oregon based playwright Octavio Solis, Mother Road (director, Bill Rauch), will see its world premiere in the Angus Bowmer Theatre.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival will open the U.S. premiere of Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig's Snow in Midsummer, directed by Justin Audibert, on August 5 in the Angus Bowmer Theatre. Preview performances are August 2, 3 and 4, and the play runs through Oct. 27, 2018.

The Tony Award-winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival will launch its 83nd year with preview performances beginning on February 16. The 2018 season officially kicks off Friday night, February 23, in the Angus Bowmer Theatre with Shakespeare's Othello (director, Bill Rauch). On Saturday afternoon, Shakespeare's Henry V (director, Rosa Joshi) opens in the Thomas Theatre, and the West Coast premiere of Kate Hamill's adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Sense and Sensibility (director, Hana S. Sharif) opens that evening in the Angus Bowmer Theatre. On Sunday afternoon, Karen Zacarias's Destiny of Desire (director, Jose Luis Valenzuela) will be staged in the Angus Bowmer Theatre.

General ticket sales are underway for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's (OSF) 83rd season, which begins with the first preview on Feb. 16 and continues through Oct. 28. The 2018 season features four plays by William Shakespeare, a re-imagined classic musical, two West Coast premieres, one U.S. premiere and two world premieres as well as a host of events and opportunities to further engage with the onstage works.