K. Smith News

Songwriter and country music artist Brenda Cay has been spreading her songwriting skills behind the scenes from Chattanooga to Nashville, TN. In 2019 she decided to put her vocals behind some of her songs as a vehicle to share her gift of lyrical genius with her fans. Brenda shared,  'The idea for this song was something I read on a t-shirt while in Gatlinburg, TN. The shirt was a warning against drinking too much moonshine. It made me smile and resonated with me..so of course I wrote a song.' The single will release on February 21st, 2020 and is available for pre-save and pre-order. Click Here for links.   Following the release of the single, Brenda Cay will release the music video. 

Mischief Theatre, the Olivier award-winning company behind The Play That Goes Wrong, has announced a new booking period for Magic Goes Wrong, with tickets now on sale until 30th August 2020. Created with magic legends Penn & Teller, this is the second production as part of Mischief Theatre's residency at the Vaudeville Theatre.

More than 200 artists and arts leaders from South Africa and around the world will come together for the Rolex Arts Weekend. The Arts Weekend is a series of public events that will feature the world premiere of a dance choreographed by Khoudia Touré, as well as talks, performances, and readings that will highlight the work of the 2018a?'2019 protégés of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.

Creative Narratives Theater Company, a group of ambitious emerging artists have joined the Festival Circuit with CreateFest, a one-night-only presentation of new and interesting short plays across all genres. Max Berry, an acclaimed playwright, will serve as one of the producers.

Cincinnati Opera is pleased to announce the casting of principal roles for composer Gregory Spears and librettist Tracy K. Smith's new opera Castor and Patience, which will have its world premiere in Cincinnati, July 16 - 26, 2020, highlighting the company's 100th anniversary season.

Liz Kathman Grubow, president of Cincinnati Opera's board of trustees, today announced that Christopher Milligan has been named the next Harry Fath General Director & CEO of the company. Milligan's tenure begins March 2, 2020. 

As the 250th anniversary year of Beethoven's birth approaches, Carnegie Hall announces a wider schedule of partner events by leading cultural institutions, complementing the Hall's programming as part of its Beethoven Celebration which includes an unprecedented range of performances by renowned artists exploring the composer's works and his transformative impact on music. The Beethoven Celebration presents one of the largest explorations of the great master's music in our time and marks the largest-ever exploration of one composer by Carnegie Hall, with 86 works of music performed by more than 58 artists and ensembles in New York City and beyond from January through June 2020.

In Spring/Summer 2020, the Downtown Urban Arts Festival (DUAF) will return for its 18th annual season with Reg E. Gaines, Tony-nominated for Bring in da Noise Bring in da Funk, back as its Artistic Director. After his evaluation of scripts from a new crop of emerging playwrights from around the world, DUAF is has announced its 2020 finalists.

Smithsonian magazine, the flagship publication of the Smithsonian Institution, today announced the honorees of the eighth annual American Ingenuity Awards. This year's awards honor individuals across seven wide-ranging categories: Youth, Visual Arts, Social Progress, Technology, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Performing Arts.

Today, the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) announced that more than 45 live concerts and performances will join the lineup at the combined Baltimore Book Festival and Light City. This festival, which will illuminate the city from November 1st through 10th under the theme of Brilliant Baltimore, is the nation's first and only combined celebration of art, literature, music, ideas and innovation. These dynamic concerts and performances will complement the nearly 20 illuminated art installations, 115 culinary exhibitors and booksellers, and more than 200 luminaries and authors featured throughout the 10-day festival.

Cincinnati Opera announces the casting of principal roles for composer Gregory Spears and librettist Tracy K. Smith's new opera Castor and Patience, which will have its world premiere in Cincinnati, July 16 - 26, 2020, highlighting the company's 100th anniversary season.

Rising Country superstar MASON RAMSEY shared his latest music video today for “How Could I Not,” directed by Justin Clough and filmed at the Wilson County Fair in Lebanon, TN. The Country anthem is handpicked from Ramsey's recently released TWANG - EP – his first batch of music since his debut FAMOUS - EP in 2018. Ramsey's TWANG - EP has racked up a stunning 10M+ streams to date and spawned the fan-favorite title track, “Twang,” which also received a visual treatment directed by Justin Clough and has garnered 12M+ views since its release.

San Francisco North Bay theater artists gathered Monday night at 3 Disciples Brewing in downtown Santa Rosa for the Fourth Annual Marquee Theater Journalists Association Awards. Eighteen awards were given to local theatre artists and productions whose nominations were culled from the sixty-eight Sonoma County productions attended by members from September 1, 2018 through August 31, 2019.

Ensemble Connect continues its two-year fellowship program this season with concerts at Carnegie Hall and The Juilliard School, as well as residencies and performances at The Pocantico Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Skidmore College, and in schools and community venues throughout New York City.

It's #savage season at MacTheatre, the Fine Arts Academy of McCallum High School. #Savage feels firmly planted in 2019 as that word, as every day vernacular, feels like new-fangled millennial vocabulary. But savage essentially means impossibly confident, self-actualized, and fearless disregard for societal norms. There's plenty of savagery in JEKYLL & HYDE.

Created with magic legends Penn & Teller, Mischief Theatre conjure up an evening of grand illusion in Magic Goes Wrong. In the next 'Goes Wrong' comedy to hit the West End, the original Mischief company play a hapless gang of magicians presenting a charity event.

The San Francisco North Bay's Marquee Theater Journalists Association has released the list of nominees for its 4th Annual MTJA Awards. The Association recognized the exemplary work of Sonoma County theater artists with nominations in eighteen categories that were culled from the sixty-eight productions attended by MTJA members. Recipients will be announced at the 2019 MTJA Awards - A Celebration of Sonoma County Theater which will be held October 14th at 3 Disciples Brewing in downtown Santa Rosa.

The complete lineup has been announced for this year's New Yorker Festival, which will take place October 11-13. Some familiar faces in the Broadway world will be in attendance, including Rachel Chavkin, Billy Porter, John Cameron Mitchell, and Jackie Sibblies Drury.

The Academy of American Poets is pleased to announce the winners of the 2019 American Poets Prizes, which are among the most valuable and venerable poetry prizes in the United States. This year the organization has awarded more funds to poets than any other organization, giving a total of $1,250,000 to poets at various stages of their careers.

Cincinnati Opera and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) announce that their groundbreaking joint program, Opera Fusion: New Works, will host a residency for the new opera Castor and Patience from August 26 through September 4, 2019, in Cincinnati.