Kenny Howard News

Florida Theatrical Association has announced the winners of their sixth annual New Musical Discovery Series, a showcase for new musicals to be presented September 12 and 13 at 7pm at The MEZZ in downtown Orlando. The staged readings will be open to the public and free of charge. 

Florida Theatrical Association presents CHESS in Concert at The Abbey in downtown Orlando for two performances on August 22 and 23.

Tickets are now on sale for The Ensemble Company's production of Clybourne Park, Bruce Norris's acclaimed play which won the Tony Award for Best Play as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Ensemble Company's production will be directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Howard (The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess), who previously directed Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike for the company.

First performed Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, Clybourne Park had prominent productions in London as well as prominent regional theatres across the United States before its 2012 bow at the Walter Kerr Theater on Broadway.  It was nominated for several Tony Awards, winning for Best Play.

Beck Center for the Arts has announced its 2021-2022 Professional Theater Season filled with entertaining and engaging titles that include hilarious comedies, musicals, and the eleventh annual collaboration with Baldwin Wallace University Music Theatre program.  

Florida Theatrical Association presents [title of show] in Concert at The Abbey in downtown Orlando for three performances, July 25 - 27 at 7 pm.

Producers Rich Charon and Wanzie Presents are currently presenting an encore on - demand streaming of playwright Michael Wanzie's most-recently-penned Episode 6 in his long-running LADIES OF EOLA HEIGHTS franchise which originally debuted on August 15, 2020.

Florida Theatrical Association presents [title of show] in Concert at The Abbey in downtown Orlando for three performances, February 7-9, at 7 pm.

Florida Theatrical Association presents Wanzie's 1970's CHRISTMAS EVE RADIO HOUR at The Abbey in downtown Orlando December 20th for two performances, at 2pm and 7pm. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at Eventbrite.com.

Orlando Fringe released additional details about their upcoming, A Fringemas Carol: A Live Socially-Distanced Dickens-Inspired Journey, taking place December 11-13 in Loch Haven Park. 

Wanzie Presents & Rich Charron are set to present a Pay-To-View presentation of playwright Michael Wanzie's original (Episode 1) production of LADIES OF EOLA HEIGHTS for Nne Nite Only: Saturday, August 29, 2020 at 9 pm via YouTube.

Wanzie Presents & Rich Charron are set to present a Pay-To-View presentation of playwright Michael Wanzie's newly-penned LADIES OF EOLA HEIGHTS Episode 6 - ZOOM REUNION debuting at 9 pm  ET on Saturday, August 15, 2020 via YouTube. This world premiere streaming production will be immediately preceded by a 7:30 pm Zoom Cast & Crew Cocktail Party. The play will remain available for on-demand viewing from its debut through the evening of August 29, 2020.

An online streaming of an on-stage performance of Michael Wanzie's autobiographical play, WANZIE WITH A a?oeZa?? - professionally taped in front of a live audience during an encore performance at Orlando Fringe Winter Mini Fest - will be made available as a pay-to-view presentation.

New Generation Theatrical has announced that they will stage an immersive production of NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 in Orlando in the spring of 2021. Dates will be announced this fall, along with information regarding local auditions, after clear and safe event guidelines have been established and approved by the Actor's Equity Association. 

Florida Theatrical Association (FTA) has announced the cancellation of the 2020 New Musical Discovery Series. Any previously submitted musicals will be automatically considered for the 2021 series.

Three long-time friends and theatrical collaborators, Director/Tony Award ®-winning Producer - Kenny Howard, Composer/Musician - Rich Charron, and Playwright/Lyricist/Producer - Michael Wanzie in conjunction with Watermark Publishing Group will present an online YouTube Cabaret to benefit the newly created CENTRAL FLORIDA PERFORMING ARTIST RELIEF FUND.

Central Florida Community Arts (CFCArts), Florida Theatrical Association (FTA), and Orlando Fringe have teamed up to announce the Playwright Development Project. This new venture will be a collaborative effort between the three organizations, offering playwrights of the 2020 Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival the opportunity to have their work developed and fully produced in the 2021 CFCArts Season.

The Ensemble Company, the repertory company in residence at Penguin Point Productions located in the Oviedo Mall, will open its 2020 season with Christopher Durang's Tony Award-winning Best Play, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, featuring legendary Orlando icon Michael Wanzie as Vanya.

Late Spring.  Early Summer.  An Autumn Afternoon.  Am I describing the time periods of 2014's Orlando Fringe darling SEASONS or the seminal works of film director Yasujirō Ozu?  Ironically, I had watched Ozu's Late Spring a few days before heading out to Dr. Phillips Center to attend the opening performance of SEASONS. As a result, Ozu's post-war film about parenthood and reluctant marriage was on my mind for much of the show, drawing parallels I had not expected, but certainly welcomed.

As we commemorate the three-year anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, the largest episode of civilian gun violence in the history of the US, The Association for Theatre in Higher Education appropriately turns to theatre to help us commemorate the occasion through After Orlando.