John F Kennedy News

The Grammy Award-winning Atlanta Symphony Orchestra is today releasing its sixth recording titled 'Christopher Theofanidis Creation/Creator' on its record label, ASO Media.  

WASHINGTON)—Washington National Opera (WNO) today announced details for the fourth season of the American Opera Initiative, its comprehensive commissioning program that brings contemporary American stories to the stage while fostering the talents of rising American composers and librettists. Three pairings of new opera composers and librettists—Christopher Weiss and John de los Santos, David Clay Mettens and Joshua McGuire, and Sarah Hutchings and Mark Sonnenblick—will premiere new one-act operas, each based on a contemporary American story, in a semi-staged concert performance on December 2, 2015 in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Composer Luna Pearl Woolf and librettist Caitlin Vincent, an alumnus of the program's second season, will present their new hour-long work Better Gods—based on the life of Queen Lili'uokalani, the last monarch of Hawaii—on January 8 and 9, 2016 in the Terrace Theater.

Comedy and talk show legend Jay Leno is headed to Aurora's Paramount Theatre for one-show-only, and he's bringing audiences along for one of the funniest nights of the fall comedy season.

On Friday and Saturday, September 25th and 26th, choreographer, Gaspard Louis will bring his company, Gaspard & Dancers to perform their Trilogy which pays tribute to the people of Haiti who endured the horrific 2010 earthquake that caused devastation to the island nation. “The Trilogy was my own personal response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake,” says choreographer and Artistic Director, Gaspard Louis.

Tony Award-winning playwright Lisa Kron will be a featured guest and participant at the launch party of the Women's Voices Theater Festival on September 8 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The invitation-only event kicks off the beginning of the Festival, an unprecedented collaboration among professional theater companies that includes the presentation of more than 50 world-premiere productions of work by female playwrights, taking place this September and October in the nation's capital region. The launch party features a creative conversation between Kron and National Public Radio's Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg focused on gender parity in the arts in the Museum's Performance Hall, followed by a celebratory party and toast to officially declare the start of the Festival.

To round out its 65th season, Music Circus presents HAIR, the groundbreaking musical that defined a generation and introduced rock 'n' roll to Broadway. Set against a backdrop of the Vietnam era, a group of late 1960s youth join a social revolution and 'Let the Sun Shine In.' Featuring hit songs such as 'Aquarius,' 'Let The Sun Shine In' and 'Easy To Be Hard,' HAIR is an exhilarating and emotionally intense ride. Click below to watch highlights from the show!

 On Monday, September 28, 2015, Broadway stars Stephanie J. Block and Aaron Lazar will perform in "A Cabaret Evening" at 54 Below, located at 254 West 54th Street. The evening is a joint benefit in support of The New York Pops PopsEd Programs and Ronald McDonald House® New York. The two organizations partner to provide music education programs that serve as creative outlets for the children and families in residence. Hosted by Steven Reineke, Music Director of The New York Pops, the benefit will start with a champagne reception at 5:30PM followed by dinner and performance at 6:30PM.

Gloucester Stage presents Annie Baker's The Flick from tonight, August 20 through September 12 at 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA. Winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, The Flick, follows three underpaid employees of a run-down movie theater in central Massachusetts as they mop the floors and attend to one of the last 35-millimeter film projectors in the state while also revealing touching and funny truths about their search for identity. Their tiny battles and not-so-tiny heartbreaks play out in the empty aisles of the movie theater, becoming more compelling than the lackluster, second-run movies on screen. In The Flick playwright Annie Baker uses keen insight and a finely-tuned comic eye to create a funny and heartfelt cry for authenticity in a fast-changing world. In addition to winning a Pulitzer Prize for The Flick, Ms. Baker also received the Susan Smith Blackburn Award and an Obie Award for Playwriting.

To round out its 65th season, Music Circus presents Hair, the groundbreaking musical that defined a generation and introduced rock 'n' roll to Broadway. Set against a backdrop of the Vietnam era, a group of late 1960s youth join a social revolution and 'Let the Sun Shine In.' Featuring hit songs such as 'Aquarius,' 'Let The Sun Shine In' and 'Easy To Be Hard,' Hair is an exhilarating and emotionally intense ride that Variety calls 'a rock musical that communicates viscerally with its audience. The score's vigorousness and variety are remarkable.'

Even after 50 years, Americans still question who shot JFK and why. Investigative reporter and author Hillel Levin reveals the most persuasive proof to date -- and sheds light on the Windy City's pivotal connection -- in the world premiere of ASSASSINATION THEATER: Chicago's Role in the Crime of The Century, directed by Kevin Christopher Fox. Levin's theatrical investigation into the nation's most infamous crime plays now through November 7, 2015 at the Museum of Broadcast Communications, 360 N. State St. in Chicago. The press opening is Tuesday, August 18 at 8 pm. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

To round out its 65th season, Music Circus presents Hair, the groundbreaking musical that defined a generation and introduced rock 'n' roll to Broadway. Set against a backdrop of the Vietnam era, a group of late 1960s youth join a social revolution and 'Let the Sun Shine In.' Featuring hit songs such as 'Aquarius,' 'Let The Sun Shine In' and 'Easy To Be Hard,' Hair is an exhilarating and emotionally intense ride that Variety calls 'a rock musical that communicates viscerally with its audience. The score's vigorousness and variety are remarkable.'

Gloucester Stage presents Annie Baker's The Flick from August 20 through September 12 at 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA. Winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, The Flick, follows three underpaid employees of a run-down movie theater in central Massachusetts as they mop the floors and attend to one of the last 35-millimeter film projectors in the state while also revealing touching and funny truths about their search for identity. Their tiny battles and not-so-tiny heartbreaks play out in the empty aisles of the movie theater, becoming more compelling than the lackluster, second-run movies on screen. In The Flick playwright Annie Baker uses keen insight and a finely-tuned comic eye to create a funny and heartfelt cry for authenticity in a fast-changing world. In addition to winning a Pulitzer Prize for The Flick, Ms. Baker also received the Susan Smith Blackburn Award and an Obie Award for Playwriting.

Inspired by Leonard Bernstein's artistic mandate 'This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before, ' Grace and Peace, the second concert in Tramm's 2015 Peace Trilogy performances underscoring humanity's universal desire for peace and connection through music, will take place Sunday August 23 at 7PM at the Great Auditorium, Ocean Grove.

Tim Teasley's original score accompanying Lotte Reininger's animated film THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED provides an evening of interesting fusion.

Jason C. Tramm will conduct New Jersey's Adelphi Orchestra, organ virtuoso Gordon Turk, featured soloists Soprano Monica Ziglar, Mezzo-Soprano Martha Bartz, Tenor Ronald Naldi and Bass Justin Beck with the 100 member Great Auditorium Choir in works by Leonard Bernstein, Felix Mendelssohn, and Antonio Vivaldi on Sunday August 23 at 7PM at The Great Auditorium, Ocean Grove, New Jersey.

Cygnet's tradition of shows performed in rotating rep continues with Noel Coward's Hay Fever (dir. Rob Lutfy) and The Vortex (dir. Sean Murray). These two plays turned Coward into an overnight sensation, one light and madcap, the other dark and shocking. Written at the same time, they represent opposite sides of Coward's talent. San Diego favorite Rosina Reynolds takes on the strong female roles in both these productions. Opening night for both productions is Saturday, October 3rd at 3 (Hay Fever) and 8 pm (The Vortex).

This weekend, August 13, 14 & 15 Constellation Theatre Company will present Tom Teasley underscoring The Adventures of Prince Achmed at SOURCE 1835 14th St NW, Washington, DC. Tickets range from $20-45 and can be purchased online at www.ConstellationTheatre.org or over the phone by calling 202-204-7741.

Back by popular demand, Sonia Olla Flamenco Dance Company will return to New York City Wednesday, September 9 and Friday, September 11 through Sunday, September 13 to the Theater at the 14th Street Y with two programs highlighting the diversity of Spanish Flamenco.  

ASSASSINATION THEATER will feature Michael Joseph Mitchell as Hillel Levin and Mark Ulrich as Zack Shelton with Ryan Kitley and Martin Yurek. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast below!

Susan G. Komen today announced that the sixth annual Honoring the Promise: Celebrating Progress in the Fight against Breast Cancer Gala at The Kennedy Center will be September 24.