Actress Anna May Wong (1905-1961) was incredibly prolific, appearing in silent movies, 'talkies,' television, plays and vaudeville. She was also stifled by a close-minded industry which largely limited the Chinese American actress to stereotyped roles, and the Hays code which kept her out of romantic leads.
As chilly weather settles into Minnesota, local playwright Kira Obolensky has a wintery new musical to share. 'The Overcoat: A Low-Fi Musical' is the first play in the Playwrights' Center's 2017-18 Ruth Easton New Play Series, a long-running series offering Playwrights' Center Core Writers 20 hours of workshop time to develop a new play and giving theater fans a chance to see free public readings of the plays in progress.
Of the 70+ new plays developed at the Playwrights' Center each year, eight are selected to be part of the public season, giving playwrights expanded workshop time with collaborators and the chance to see their new work on its feet in front of two different audiences. These readings are free to attend and take place at the Playwrights' Center, located at 2301 E Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis.
Of the 70+ new plays developed at the Playwrights' Center each year, eight are selected to be part of the public season, giving playwrights expanded workshop time with collaborators and the chance to see their new work on its feet in front of two different audiences.
The Playwrights' Center is excited to announce the 2017-18 McKnight National Residency and Commission recipient, 2017-18 McKnight Fellows in Playwriting, 2017-18 McKnight Theater Artist Fellows, 2017-2020 Core Writers and 2017-18 Core Apprentices.
The Playwrights' Center's 45th anniversary season kicks off October 17 with PlayLabs, a week-long new play festival featuring Core Writers Christina Ham ('West of Central'), Susan Soon He Stanton ('we, the invisibles') and Ken Urban ('The Remains'). Tickets are free and can be reserved at pwcenter.org/playlabs.
Bay Street Theater has announced the full cast and creative team for THE LAST NIGHT OF BALLYHOO, the Tony Award-winning play by Alfred Uhry, directed by Will Pomerantz. The production will run June 28 - July 24.
To showcase this iconic Twin Cities music venue, History Theatre is offering an alternative theater experience with their newest production, Complicated Fun: The Minneapolis Music Scene, a dramatization of the underground music scene of the 80s in Minneapolis.
To showcase this iconic Twin Cities music venue, History Theatre is offering an alternative theater experience with their newest production, Complicated Fun: The Minneapolis Music Scene, a dramatization of the underground music scene of the 80s in Minneapolis.
The Play Company's (PlayCo) 2015-16 Idea Lab features three curated events, November 18 & 28 and December 4, following performances of award-winning, German playwright Maria Milisavljevic's Abyss. The critically acclaimed U.S. premiere, directed by Maria Mileaf, runs through December 6 at Theaterlab, 357 West 36th Street. Writing about Abyss for The New York Times, Ben Brantley praised the 'poetic drama,' as 'genuinely artful...And it will take you places you didn't expect to go.' Speaking about the play's painfully current themes, he said it considers, 'some very topical questions of European national identities in a time of permeable and shifting borders.'
The Play Company (PlayCo), led by Founding Producer Kate Loewald and Executive Producer Lauren Weigel, kicks off its 15th Anniversary season with the U.S. premiere of Abyss, which marks the U.S. debut of the award-winning German playwright Maria Milisavljevic. Abyss, directed by Maria Mileaf, is a poetic thriller centered on the mysterious disappearance of a young woman. The play exemplifies PlayCo's unique commitment to premiering work from around the world to advance a dynamic, international experience of contemporary theater in New York. Abyss is an exploration of what it means to be an outsider. Speaking about the play Milisavljevic says, "making a new home means finding a new kind of honesty. Otherwise the old lies will follow you."
Funky Little Theater Company, the newest, grooviest, funkiest theatre in town, has seen the regional premiere of five productions in its short time here in Colorado Springs. FLTC is now very proud to present its newest regional premiere, a comedy by Bill Corbett and Kira Obolensky, Hate Mail.
Funky Little Theater Company, the newest, grooviest, funkiest theatre in town, has seen the regional premiere of five productions in its short time here in Colorado Springs. FLTC is now very proud to present its newest regional premiere, a comedy by Bill Corbett and Kira Obolensky, Hate Mail.
The Play Company (PlayCo), led by Founding Producer Kate Loewald and Executive Producer Lauren Weigel celebrates its 15th Anniversary season with programming that exemplifies its unique commitment to premiering plays from around the world, including the U.S., to advance a dynamic, international experience of contemporary theater as part of the American repertoire.
'Lobster Alice' follows Alice Horowitz, a coffee-bearing secretary who just wants life to be interesting. John Finch, an animator at work on Disney's 'Alice in Wonderland,' wants Alice. When the great and outrageous Salvador Dali arrives at the studio to work on a short animated film, life becomes curiouser and curiouser. Dali scandalizes the conservative Finch and Alice, the coffee-bearing secretary, becomes Alice, the girl in a rabbit hole, and Finch and Alice both experience the surreal vagaries of the human heart. 'Lobster Alice' is inspired by a true story about Dali's visit toe an animation studio.
?The village of Farmingtown has been devoid of men for so long that when one returns from the far away and long-lasting war, the first woman he meets rushes up to him and inhales him deeply. This hilarious and oddly touching moment at the beginning of Kira Obolensky's new play FORGET ME NOT WHEN FAR AWAY sets the tone for this playful and poignant fairy tale about a soldier returning to a home he once knew. Ten Thousand Things has been on the road with the show for a few weeks, performing at correctional facilities, community centers, and other unlikely venues. As director Michelle Hensley said in her introduction of the show, the fact that this play has resonated with such diverse audiences in different ways is a credit to the skills of the playwright, who has created a world outside of time and space that somehow feels familiar and relatable to everyone. This world is brought to life in the beautifully sparse way that only Ten Thousand Things can do, with a brilliant cast of six performing in a fully lit room in a space so small that they literally trip over the audience. The fanciful story is grounded in truth and made to feel very real by the universality of the story, the charming accessibility of the language, the up-close-and-personal performances by the actors in whom you can feel every nuance of every emotion through a look in the eyes, the twinge of a facial muscle, or a subtle movement of the body. Ten Thousand Things harnesses the magic of theater in its most basic form like no other company can.
The Des Moines Community Playhouse play reading series continues on Monday, May 4, at 7:00 PM with 'Choices' by local playwright Karen Schaeffer. The evening is free; beverages will be available for purchase.
The Des Moines Community Playhouse play reading series continues on Monday, Apr. 6, at 7:00 PM with Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's 'The Velvet Sky.' The evening is free; beverages will be available for purchase.
FOR THE LAST TIME is a new jazz musical by celebrated writer/composer Nancy Harrow (Maya The Bee, This Side of Paradise), directed by Will Pomerantz (The Blue Flower) with music direction by Cody Owen Stine, will get an invite-only industry reading on March 13, 2015.
The Playwrights' Center kicked off its 2014-15 Ruth Easton New Play series in December with two full-to-fire-code-capacity readings of Kira Obolensky's new play "Forget Me Not When Far Away." In January, Twin Cities theater fans have another opportunity for an exclusive experience with a new play in progress, when the series continues with Core Writer Qui Nguyen's new play "Dust."
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