Ken Barnett News

See photos of Life Jacket Theatre Company's industry reading of its new musical, The Gorgeous Nothings, at New York Live Arts. 

Life Jacket Theatre Company presents an industry reading of its new musical, The Gorgeous Nothings, at New York Live Arts on February 12, 2024 at 3PM and 7PM.

Special Offer: Mister Halston Industry Staging November 2023

Don't miss Ken Barnett's captivating performance in the industry staging of 'Mister Halston' in an industry reading.

Beetlejuice’s Elizabeth Teeter, Bad Cinderella’s Cameron Loyal, and cabaret veteran Steve Ross and have been added to 54 Sings Wonderful Town: 70th Anniversary Concert at 54 Below on Wednesday, June 21st at 9:30pm.

Kane Repertory Theatre Artistic Director Daniil Krimer and Managing Director Avery Bowne announce the selection of Hammaad Chaudry as the playwright for its new Multiplatform Commission. The yet to be titled commissioned play will be directed by Executive Producer Ansley Valentine and will premiere online March 29-April 11, 2021 with plans for an in-person production when it is safe to do so.

Ken Barnett (Off-Broadway's Too Much Sun, Amazon's Mozart in The Jungle), Kyle Beltran (Broadway's The Cherry Orchard and In the Heights), and Emily Bergl (Dirty John, Shameless) will star in a virtual workshop of Ken Urban's new play Danger and Opportunity on October 28, 2020 as part of Kane Repertory Theatre's New Play Lab.

The digital workshop begins at 7:30 PM CT on Youtube and will remain available until November 1st at 7:30 PM CT. A live talkback with playwright Ken Urban, director Mark Brokaw, and Kane Repertory Theatre AD Daniil Krimer will follow the reading. All of our readings are free to watch, but a donation of $25 is suggested.

Due to popular demand, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater has added two matinee performances, October 4 and 11 at 1pm, of Novenas for a Lost Hospital, and released production photography by Julieta Cervantes. Novenas for a Lost Hospital is a communal experience created by playwright Cusi Cram (A Lifetime Burning) and Rattlestick's Artistic Director Daniella Topol (Ironbound) that stars Tony Award-nominated and four-time Obie-winning actress Kathleen Chalfant (Angels in America, Wit).

A concert version of a new original musical about Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Fitzgeralds of St. Paul, will be presented a Joe's Pub on Monday, August 26 at 7:00 pm, it was announced today. With music, lyrics and book by Christie Baugher, this industry presentation, which is also open to the public, is directed by Danny Mefford (choreographer of the Tony Award-winning musicals Dear Evan Hansen and Fun Home), with musical direction by Matt Castle; Ken Barnett (a?oeMozart in the Junglea??) and Tiffany Topol (Once) star in the title roles.

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater has announced details and complete casting for the world premiere of Novenas for a Lost Hospital, a communal experience created by playwright Cusi Cram (A Lifetime Burning) and Rattlestick's Artistic Director Daniella Topol (Ironbound) and starring Tony Award-nominated and four-time Obie-winning actress Kathleen Chalfant (Angels in America, Wit). Novenas for a Lost Hospital sets out to remember and celebrate St. Vincent's Hospital, the 161-year-old Catholic institution that treated victims of calamities from the sinking of the Titanic to September 11th. Guided by Saint Elizabeth Seton (Chalfant) and inspired by the caretakers and patients of St. Vincent's Hospital, this unique event takes a 60-person audience on an uplifting journey from an enclosed West Village garden to Rattlestick's intimate theater to the NYC AIDS Memorial Park. Novenas for a Lost Hospital runs September 5a?"October 13, 2019, at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater (224 Waverly Place) with an opening night of September 19. Tickets are on sale now at rattlestick.org.

Doug Nevin and Michael Urie, in partnership with Rattlestick Playwrights Theater closed out the Pride Plays' festival of play readings commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, with a benefit reading of Terrence McNally's Some Men, helmed by Logan Reed, on June 24 at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater.

Festival producers Doug Nevin and Michael Urie, in partnership with Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and Festival Director Nick Mayo announce casting for the benefit closing night reading of Some Men, written by Terrence McNally

Classic Stage Company announces two events in conjunction with Tony Award-winner John Doyle's production of Marc Blitzstein's 1937 play in music The Cradle Will Rock. On May 14, legendary former New York Times labor reporter Steven Greenhouse, author of the forthcoming Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor (Alfred A. Knopf, August 2019),and Kate Shindle, president of Actors' Equity Association, will discuss the history and current state of labor and union movements in relation to Cradle's timely and timeless themes. 

Classic Stage Company announces two exciting and illuminating events in conjunction with Tony Award-winner John Doyle's production of Marc Blitzstein's 1937 play in music The Cradle Will Rock.

Classic Stage Company presents Marc Blitzstein's allegorical play in music The Cradle Will Rock, directed by John Doyle, March 21 - May 19, 2019.

In June of 1937, the United States government padlocked New York's Maxine Elliot Theatre and sent security guards to prevent the performance of a new musical, but the unknown leading lady Olive Stanton courageously fought her fears and led an act of defiance that made headlines the morning after opening night.

In the spirit of Classic Stage Company's new production of The Cradle Will Rock, Marc Blitzstein's historic pro-labor American play in music (March 21 - May 19), CSC is implementing a policy through which members of any union will receive $25 rush tickets to the show. In order to redeem these tickets, patrons must show their union ID at the box office the day of the performance they would like to attend, pending availability. This will be in addition to CSC's regular and student rush policies.

Classic Stage Company presents Marc Blitzstein's allegorical play in music The Cradle Will Rock, directed by John Doyle, March 21 - May 19, 2019. A Depression-era indictment of rampant capitalism told almost entirely in song, The Cradle Will Rock maintains a twinkle in its eye while bearing sharp fangs. The 1937 premiere of this story of American class tensions-directed by Orson Welles-was famously shut down on the eve of opening night by federal authorities over so-called 'budget cuts,' commonly considered a thin veil for fears of the play's pro-labor stance. The artists involved rebelliously circumvented its cancellation, making for one of the most memorable stories in 20th century theater history. While Blitzstein's libretto is very much a product of its own 1930s political context, The Cradle Will Rock pulses with immediacy in an era of expanding economic inequality and policy for purchase. CSC's 2018-2019 season began with The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Bertolt Brecht's allegory about the rise of fascism via a charismatic tyrant; this spring, it closes with an all-American Brecht-and-Weill-inspired work, which carries a message of defiance built into its very title.

Mike Geffner, founder/producer of the popular performance series InspiredWordNYC.com and former New York City journalist, including 12 years as a columnist for the Village Voice, presents On the Table, a one night only one woman show written and performed by actor/poet/storyteller Diana Arnold, daughter of the late legendary TV writer/producer Nick Arnold (a writer for 261 episodes of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson as well as writer and producer of Welcome Back, Kotter, among many other major credits).