Kelvin Roston News

Court Theatre - under the continuing leadership of Charles Newell, Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director, and Angel Ysaguirre, Executive Director - will present the fourth and final production of its 2022/23 season: The Gospel at Colonus. 

The League of Chicago Theatres has awarded the 2023 Samuel G. Roberson Jr. Resident Fellowship to artist/activist Tonika Lewis Johnson and Rivendell Theatre Ensemble to collaborate on The Folded Map Project.

Court Theatre - under the continuing leadership of Charles Newell, Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director, and Angel Ysaguirre, Executive Director - is overjoyed to present the fourth and final production of its 2022/23 season: The Gospel at Colonus.

Fulton is to be commended for investing in more diverse choices in entertainment.  The Wiz is a great example of why this commitment is so important for our community and beyond.

Fulton Theatre announces casting for their upcoming production of The Wiz. Leading the company is Jaden Dominique as Dorothy, Paris Bennett (American Idol Season 5) as Addaperle/Evillene, and DeQuina Moore (original Broadway: Little Shop of Horrors, Chiffon; Legally Blonde, Pilar) as Aunt Em/Glinda. Nationally renowned actor and director E Faye Butler will direct the production alongside award-winning choreographer, Kenny Ingram (EmojiLand).

The latest standings as of Monday, December 19th, have been released for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Maine Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

The latest standings as of Monday, December 12th, have been released for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Maine Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

The latest standings as of Monday, December 5th, have been released for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Maine Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

The League of Chicago Theatres has announced the 2023 Samuel G. Roberson Jr. Resident Fellowship, an annual grant awarded to a Black Theatre Artist to fund a residency or collaboration with a Chicago area non-profit organization. This year the award will go to an Artivist – an individual who combines art with activism.

Season of Concern, the emergency fund for Chicago theater artists, will present a one-night-only benefit - CLUEBARET!, a holiday cabaret featuring the cast of Mercury Theater Chicago’s CLUE.

The first live standings have been announced for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Maine Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

What did our critic think of CLUE at Mercury Theater Chicago? Mercury Theater’s CLUE is a comedic delight of a production. The laughs flow freely and easily in this stage adaptation of the farce-meets-murder-mystery based on the iconic 1985 film. Director L. Walter Stearns’s ensemble lands each and every moment, maximizing the laughs but maintaining the integrity. These actors understand the assignment of both farce and murder mystery: The characters in CLUE take themselves and the outrageous situations of the play deeply seriously, and the ensemble finds the comedy in playing those truths. It’s a near masterclass in how farce should be performed. The fact that the play is only 90 minutes also means the stage adaptation doesn’t overstay its welcome: There’s just enough time to set up the mystery, play the antics, and send audiences home after a delightful, hilarious time.

All new clips have been released for Clue, opening tonight at Mercury Theater Chicago. Check out the video here!

Mercury Theater will present fun experiences for audiences at their upcoming production of the murder mystery comedy Clue, based on the iconic comic movie and the classic board game. Clue, directed by L. Walter Stearns runs October 13, 2022 – January 1, 2023 at Mercury Theater.

Mercury Theater has announced the cast and creative team for the murder mystery comedy Clue. This Chicago Premiere is adapted from the beloved motion picture by Jonathan Lynn and Sandy Rustin, with additional material by Hunter Foster and Eric Price, with original music by Michael Holland directed by executive producer Walter Stearns.

The African American Arts Alliance will present Black United Theater Auditions and pre-audition “Focus on You” preparatory events for African American performers and students of Chicago. The workshops will include three panel discussions and workshops designed to prepare actors for the upcoming auditions and provides career-building resources.

For its third 2022 main stage production, Maine State Music Theatre has mounted a brilliant, beautiful, authentic, and heartwarming staging of the musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s epistolary novel, THE COLOR PURPLE. This epic story chronicles the journeys of its complex characters through hardship and pain to hope and healing. Inspirational and uplifting, it is a tale of resilience, redemption, and love, that speaks with powerful universality, and in this stunning production, directed by E. Faye Butler, it becomes one of those unforgettable, transformative moments in the theatre.

Skates A New Musical will continue to play at the beautifully renovated Studebaker Theater through Sunday, June 26, 2022.

American Idol alumni and real-life married couple Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young take the stage in SKATES: A New Musical. While Christine Rea and Rick Briskin’s musical bills itself on the whole as an exercise in nostalgia, the most nostalgic part of SKATES for me was seeing DeGarmo and Young perform; I rooted hard core for DeGarmo back in her AMERICAN IDOL days. Here, she shows why— she has a tremendous powerhouse voice and an appealing stage presence that make her a consummate performer. Director Brenda Didier and choreographer Christopher Chase Carter work with a cast of Chicago musical theater veterans who perform alongside DeGarmo and Young.

American Idol favorites Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young lead the incredible cast of the new musical, Skates, featuring Adia Bell, Adam Fane, Kelly Felthous, Cory Goodrich, Emma Lord, Jason Richards, Kelvin Roston, Jr., Zach Sorrow, and Trey Deluna. Check out all new photos and video