John F Kennedy News

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater announces Moonlight x Ailey, a new dance film short choreographed by Artistic Director Robert Battle in a unique collaboration with Academy Award-winning composer Nicholas Britell. Inspired by the critically-acclaimed drama Moonlight, Best Picture winner at the 74th Annual Golden Globe® Awards and nominated for eight Oscars® at next week's Academy Awards®, the blue-lit movements are danced by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Jamar Roberts, and The Ailey School students Christopher Taylor and Jeremy T. Villas. Robert Battle, the film's director Barry Jenkins, and playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney are from Miami's Liberty City neighborhood - the setting for Moonlight.

???????On Monday, May 1, 2017, The New York Pops will celebrate its 34th birthday with a grand gala evening honoring Tony Award winners Kelli O'Hara and Bartlett Sher, whose collaborations over the last decade have won universal acclaim and whose individual careers represent pinnacles of achievement in the world of theatre.

This spring, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing arts highlights the work of five of the theater's preeminent directors from across the globe: Robert Lepage, Carlos Diaz, Sulayman Al Bassam, Peter Brook, and Lev Dodin. Kennedy Center audiences will experience a theatrical feast of visionary productions of both classic and contemporary plays offering a truly global perspective on theater today.

John Kennedy feared that the United States would descend into chaos if the people lost their faith in government and turned to autocrats for leadership.

The six-part series takes a closer look at the people, the science and the history surrounding each theory's impending countdown to destruction... and their feasibility of actually coming to fruition. HOW THE WORLD ENDS premieres worldwide on Sunday, February 12 at 10/9c, only on AHC.

The six-part series takes a closer look at the people, the science and the history surrounding each theory's impending countdown to destruction... and their feasibility of actually coming to fruition. HOW THE WORLD ENDS premieres worldwide on Sunday, February 12 at 10/9c, only on AHC.

I am reminded that one of the beauties of dance is not always to tell a story but to evoke an idea that lives on its own wild life within each member of the audience and echoes out into our individual, very real lives long after we leave the theatre--and Alvin Ailey does just that. 

Following an extensive nationwide search, Luther Burbank Center for the Arts (LBC) announced that Ray Gargano will join the organization as its new director of education and community engagement, effective February 21, 2017. Gargano will bring dynamic new leadership to the arts center's acclaimed education, community engagement and family programs that serve more than 40,000 children, teachers, and adults each year in the five-county area.  His appointment to this new senior-level position is the latest step in the LBC's strategic effort to broaden, deepen and expand its offerings in this area.

San Diego Repertory Theatre (San Diego REP) has announced the sixth and final show of their 2017/18 season "Into the Beautiful North." This world premiere, one of the National New Play Network's rolling world premieres, was written by Karen Zacarias ("The Book Club Play," "Just Like Us") and will be directed by San Diego REP Artistic Director Sam Woodhouse. "Into the Beautiful North" begins on Thursday, March 30, 2017 and plays through Sunday, April 23, 2017 with an opening night on Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 7 p.m. on the Lyceum Stage Theatre at San Diego REP in Horton Plaza.

Washington National Opera (WNO) continues its 2016-2017 season with the company premieres of two modern American masterworks of opera: Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally's Dead Man Walking, February 25-March 11, 2017 in the Opera House, and Terence Blanchard and Michael Cristofer's Champion, March 4- 18, 2017 in the Opera House. Both operas explore the theme of social justice which is often associated with John F. Kennedy and are presented as part of JFKC, the Kennedy Center's season-long celebration of President Kennedy's centennial. Using many of the same designers and scenic elements, the directors of each opera have worked collaboratively to create two distinct worlds in each new production to showcase the issues of Justice, Courage, and Freedom at the heart of these two compelling stories. An additional special event will continue the exploration of these themes: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will headline Justice at the Opera on Thursday, March 9, 2017 in the Opera House.

Julia's Butterfly Foundation is pleased to announce a spectacular evening with Anthony Kearns of the Irish Tenors, accompanist David George and special guest the New Jersey Choral Society.

Making its annual Kennedy Center appearance, the famed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to the Opera House stage with seven performances, February 7-12. Led by Artistic Director Robert Battle, the Company's performances include a company premiere, four D.C. debuts, two new productions, and a total of 11 works by a range of distinct choreographers.

Maverick artist, composer, vocalist and instrumentalist Laurie Anderson and bass virtuosoChristian McBride collaborate for the first time in the opening concert of Town Hall's new series, Improvisations. The show will also feature special guest Rubin Khodeli on cello.

Grammy®, Oscar®, and Golden Globe®-winning Chicago rapper, actor, film producer, activist, and poet Common joins the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) and Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke for a one-night-only concert of music from his latest album, Black America Again, as well as some of his biggest hits. Black America Again is his most political album to date, a call to action inspired by the works of filmmaker Ava DuVernay, social critic Ta-Nehisi Coates, and the Black Lives Matter movement, among other 21st century cultural touchstones. 

If the current state of U.S. relations with Russia seems dark and murky, it's opposite that in the Mariinsky Ballet's current offering at the Kennedy Center. The Little Humpbacked Horse is sunny and simple, light-hearted and soaring.

Comedy Central and National Lampoon star Tommy Koenig's one man "'musicomedy' - a flashback through our times and the music that defined them - Baby Boomer Baby comes to the Herberger Theater Center from Feb. 2-26.

On March 10, 2017 at 8:00PM, The New York Pops, led by Music Director Steven Reineke, will continue its 34th season at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, by bringing to life the iconic partnership of Fred Ebb and John Kander, who celebrates his 90th birthday this year.

Stage Kiss by Sarah Ruhl, winner of the 2016 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award and a MacArthur 'genius' grant, will be directed by Courtney O'Connor at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston, opening February 26 and running through March 26, 2017. Previews begin February 24. 

The National YoungArts Foundation (YoungArts) today announced the nominees for the 2017 U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts, one of the nation's highest honors for high school students who exemplify academic and artistic excellence.

The smash-hit John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts production of Shear Madness, the uproarious whodunit that holds the Guinness world record as the longest-running play in America, resumes performances tonight, January 31, in the Kennedy Center Theater Lab, following a brief hiatus.