John Dunn News

Nominees for the 16th Costume Designers Guild Awards, which celebrate excellence in film, television and commercial costume design, were announced today.

The Costume Designers Guild announced the nominees for its 16th annual awards today, January 8 2014. Nominations were unveiled for film, TV and commercial categories.

50 Shades! The Musical, the original parody (50ShadesTheMusical.com) has postponed the start of performances because of technical issues with The Elektra Theatre. The financing of the show is in place and a new start date will be announced for early 2014 shortly.

Mildred's Umbrella Theater Company is currently producing Diana Amsterdam's new, darkly comic drama CARNIVAL ROUND THE CENTRAL FIGURE. As part of their mission, Mildred's Umbrella puts on 'bold, innovative and fresh theatrical works,' and CARNIVAL ROUND THE CENTRAL FIGURE perfectly upholds this banner. The work is a cacophony of noise and events told in a seemingly stream-of-consciousness chronology as it leaps through time and place with the bat of an eye. Some parts occur 10 years prior to the central plot, while others occur simultaneously. In effect, Diana Amsterdam's writing and Jennifer Decker's directing creates a living, breathing fever dream or bizarre, almost surreal events that deal with how we cope with mortality and death.

When attending a production at The Catastrophic Theatre, I always know I am in for a journey. My favorite aspect of this group is that each and every one of their productions is a risk-taking endeavor, guaranteeing Houston audiences access to fresh, cutting-edge presentations of theatrical craftsmanship. Their current production, the World Premiere of Mickle Maher's THE PINE was commissioned by The Catastrophic Theatre and funded in part by a grant awarded by The MAP Fund, a program of Creative Capital supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Unfortunately, THE PINE wasn't to my liking, but the opportunity to see something crafted with this company in mind is reason enough for anyone to attend a performance.

50 Shades! The Musical, the original parody (50ShadesTheMusical.com) will play The Elektra Theatre (669 Eighth Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Street) beginning November 18th with opening night set for Thursday, January 9th. Directed by Al Samuels, 50 Shades! The Musical is produced by Royal Mile Entertainment, Marshall Cordell, and Andrew Asnes.

The Catastrophic Theatre is pleased to announce the world premiere of The Pine, a new play by the author of past Catastrophic favorites There is a Happiness That Morning Is, Spirits to Enforce, and The Strangerer, Mickle Maher. The Pine opens Friday, September 27 and runs Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8 pm through October 19 at The Catastrophic Theatre, 1119 East Fwy, 77002.

Tamarie Cooper's OLD AS HELL is meh. NOT! In fact, this year's offering in the cherished tradition of Houston theatre's summer line-up sparkles with clever wit and ebullient hilarity. This may only be my second summer to see a Tamarie Cooper musical, but in so many ways I found this one better than last year's raucously irreverent DOOMSDAY REVUE. Maybe with one Tamarie Cooper show under my belt, I had a better idea of what to expect. Maybe like a good wine Tamarie Cooper is only getting better with age. Or maybe it's both. Regardless, I sincerely wish I had been there to see them all.

The regional premiere of the Broadway hit comedy 'CHINGLISH,' by Tony Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly) opens May 9th at the Asia Society Texas Center's Brown Foundation Performing Arts Theater. The famous comedy about the challenges of Americans doing business in China will be presented by Black Lab Theatre in collaboration with Asia Society Texas Center and feature a member of the original Broadway and international cast. CHINGLISH will open May 9, 2013 and run through May 26, 2013.

Black Lab Theatre is closing their exciting 2012-2013 season with a provocative and hilarious Regional Premiere production of David Henry Hwang's 2011 play CHINGLISH. The fresh and poignant comedy is a timely exploration of the business and economic relationship between China and the United States. As this plot is so richly layered and absorbing, I'm reluctant to say much about it for fear of ruining the miraculous experience of watching the story unfold. At the opening of the show, Daniel Cavanaugh, owner of Ohio Signage, is making a presentation for the Commerce League of Ohio about doing business in China. The plot quickly flashes back three years and recounts his first trip to China as he hopes to score a contract to make the translated signs for a new Cultural Arts Center in Guiyang, China. Within a few scenes, the audience is mesmerized by the level of duplicitous intrigue and captured in the surreptitious game of trying to determine what team all the characters are playing for.

The regional premiere of the Broadway hit comedy 'CHINGLISH,' by Tony Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly) opens tonight, May 9th at the Asia Society Texas Center's Brown Foundation Performing Arts Theater. The famous comedy about the challenges of Americans doing business in China will be presented by Black Lab Theatre in collaboration with Asia Society Texas Center and feature a member of the original Broadway and international cast. CHINGLISH will open tonight, May 9, 2013 and run through May 26, 2013.

Black Lab Theatre is hard at work preparing the Regional Premiere of David Henry Hwang's CHINGLISH for Houston audiences. Recently, I visited a rehearsal at Asia Society Texas to talk to director Troy Scheid and her cast, featuring Mike Yager, Vivian Chiu, John Dunn, Xin Jian, Janice Pai Martindale, William Wu, and Andrea Huang about the show.

The regional premiere of the Broadway hit comedy 'CHINGLISH,' by Tony Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly) opens May 9th at the Asia Society Texas Center's Brown Foundation Performing Arts Theater. The famous comedy about the challenges of Americans doing business in China will be presented by Black Lab Theatre in collaboration with Asia Society Texas Center and feature a member of the original Broadway and international cast. CHINGLISH will open May 9, 2013 and run through May 26, 2013.

Many in the industry consider George Furth and Stephen Sondheim's COMPANY to be one of the best American musicals ever created. The piece is complicated and challenging for the cast, crew, and orchestra, but when done well is one of the most rewarding nights at the theatre for the audience. For audiences in the Houston area, The Texas Repertory Theatre Company's production of COMPANY is a sparkling gem of theatrical brilliance from top to bottom.

Nominees for the 15th Annual Costume Designers Guild Awards, which celebrate excellence in film, television and commercial costume design, were announced this morning.

As many gear up for Halloween, Music Box Musicals' inaugural production is striking a different nerve-a political nerve. With a wonderful production of John Weidman and Stephen Sondheim's thought-provoking musical ASSASSINS, Music Box Musicals invites audiences to listen. Not only to the tales they present on stage, but in our lives outside of the theatre as well.

When Masquerade Theatre closed earlier this year, many Houstonians felt pangs of anguish and hoped for an angel of theatre to bestow upon the organization a grant that would allow them to remain open. Masquerade, as far as we know, is not reopening; however, many of their former cast members have been assembled for Music Box Musicals' inaugural performance of their inaugural season-Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Tony Award Winning ASSASSINS.

Tamarie Cooper's magnificent production of her fifteenth annual original piece, DOOMSDAY REVUE (the greatest musical ever!), proves that Houston has a wealth of artistic talent. Moreover, The Catastrophic Theatre in coordination with Tamarie Cooper is stacked with innumerable bankrolls of local talent.

The cast of TROUBLE THE MUSICAL, a new rock musical being presented in the 2012 New York Musical Theatre Festival, will feature DANIEL QUADRINO (Broadway's Bye Bye Birdie), SARA KAPNER (Broadway's Hollywood Arms), JUSTIN STEIN (Camelot at Lincoln Center), MATTHEW J. RIORDAN (Smile: A New Rock Musical), DAVI SANTOS (ABC's Don't Trust The B- In Apartment 23), WESLEY TUNISON (Freckleface Strawberry), KATIE MACK (Theatre 202's Comedy of Errors) and ABBE TANENBAUM (Theatreworks/USA's If You Give A Mouse A Cookie...). See the full cast in the photos below!

The cast of TROUBLE THE MUSICAL, a new rock musical being presented in the 2012 New York Musical Theatre Festival, will feature DANIEL QUADRINO (Broadway's Bye Bye Birdie), SARA KAPNER (Broadway's Hollywood Arms), JUSTIN STEIN (Camelot at Lincoln Center), MATTHEW J. RIORDAN (Smile: A New Rock Musical), DAVI SANTOS (ABC's Don't Trust The B- In Apartment 23), WESLEY TUNISON (Freckleface Strawberry), KATIE MACK (Theatre 202's Comedy of Errors) and ABBE TANENBAUM (Theatreworks/USA's If You Give A Mouse A Cookie...). See the full cast in the photos below!