Geva Theatre Center's 2015 Fielding Studio Series begins with the world premiere of Katherine's Colored Lieutenant by Nora Cole and is directed by David Schweizer. The production begins performances on February 5 and runs in the Fielding Nextstage through February 22.
The Langston Hughes Project is a multimedia concert performance of Langston Hughes' kaleidoscopic jazz poem suite titled, Ask Your Mama: Twelve Moods for Jazz. The poem is Hughes' homage in verse and music to the struggle for artistic and social freedom at home and abroad at the beginning of the 1960s.
Woodie King Jr's New Federal Theatre kicks off its 46th season with 'The Amira Baraka Project' - featuring a revival of his early acclaimed play Dutchman from 1964 and the world premiere of his final play, Most Dangerous Man In America (W. E. B. Du Bois), written fifty years later. Dutchman, directed by Woodie King Jr., will begin performances February 5th, with opening night set for February 20th at the Castillo Theater (543 West 42nd Street). This limited Off-Broadway engagement will continue through March 8th only.
VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert enters the new year with Kurt Weill's STREET SCENE, an unblinking look at tenement life in New York City circa 1946, based on Elmer Rice's play of the same name, with lyrics by Langston Hughes. This production marks the Canadian Premiere of Weill's landmark American Opera and continues the company's exploration of operatic social comment in the 20th Century, begun so memorably in November with de Falla's LA VIDA BREVE starring Isabel Bayrakdarian.
But even this self-professed Grinch has a soft spot so when my favorite children's Christmas tale The Little Drummer Boy comes on, I'm fixed in front of the TV like I was as a young boy and often find myself crying because the message in the story transcends a religious and biblical one; it is a story about the best in humanity.
That childlike fascination and sentiment was evoked recently during Teco Theatrical Productions updated and modern version of Langstan Hughes The Black Nativity, produced annually by the company. I have seen many versions of this show, and nearly every one staged by Teco, and I can say with utter confidence this is by far the BEST Nativity I have ever witnessed. It's that good!
Fifty years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, the New York Festival of Songbrings back one of its most beloved shows, HARLEM RENAISSANCE, tonight, December 9, 2014 at 8:00 pm as it continues the 2014-15 Mainstage series at Merkin Concert Hall.
Dominion Entertainment Group has announced the holiday musical, Black Nativity, A Holiday Gospel Celebration, directed by Robert John Connor, with music directed by Keith Wilson, and choreography by Dawn Axam. The Christmas story gets a soulful re-telling in this gospel musical that's fun for the whole family. Black Nativity is presented at Fulton County's Southwest Arts Center, tonight, December 4 - 21, 2014.
Sometimes I'm amazed at the synchronicity that can occur when you see as many plays as I do. For instance, I've had weekends of shows in the past that appeared to be theme related, even though theatre companies are often mapping out their production schedules up to at least a year in advance, and tend to go in their own directions regardless of what other groups are doing. Which brings us to the Black Rep's powerful production of playwright/activist Lorraine Hansberry's work, A RAISIN IN THE SUN. At a time when our community finds itself fractured and unable to come up with solutions that can bring us together and make us whole again, we have the opportunity to see a play that shines a light on just how far we've come, and how far we still have to go.
Tonight, November 20, 2014 at 7pm, Producer Jason Samel of Movement Music Records in association with Love Revolution and Gold Coast Arts Center presents 'David Amram's 84th Birthday Concert: Remembering Pete Seeger' at The Hillwood Recital Hall At Tilles Center on campus at LIU Post, 720 Northern Blvd, Brookville, NY 11548.
Fifty years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, the New York Festival of Songbrings back one of its most beloved shows, HARLEM RENAISSANCE, on Tuesday, December 9, 2014 at 8:00 pm as it continues the 2014-15 Mainstage series atMerkin Concert Hall.
American Dance Machine for the 21st Century (ADM21) will present 15 show-stopping musical theater dance numbers performed by stars from the musical theater and dance worlds during its Joyce Theater debut today, November 11-16, announced Nikki Feirt Atkins, Founder and Executive Artistic Director and Margo Sappington, Artistic Director. All performances will feature live music and will be directed by Margo Sappington with musical direction by Eugene Gwozdz.
It is in this setting that the regional production of "Detroit 67", written by Detroit native Dominique Morisseau and produced by the African American Repertory Theater (AART) takes place. In what can be a story easily dismissed as regional, of interest only to people familiar with the rise and fall of the city, Morisseau's colorful and fluid writing style complete with vernacular of that period, along with great direction and blocking creates a theatrical setting in which one is completely absorbed into the story and its place in U.S. history.
Obie Award winner Melia Bensussen (Luck of the Irish, Circle Mirror Transformation) returns to the Huntington Theatre Company to direct Awake and Sing!, Clifford Odets' stirring American classic about a working-class Jewish family striving for a better future. Performances at the Avenue of the Arts / BU Theatre begin tonight, November 7 and continue through Sunday, December 7, 2014.
The Louis Armstrong House Museum announces 2014 Louie Award recipients! The Louie Award is the museum's annual award presented in honor of dedicated work to preserve and promote the cultural legacy of Louis Armstrong. This year the Louie Award will be bestowed upon Dick Cavett, legendary talk-show host and author; Andrew P. Jackson (Sekou Molefi Baako) Executive Director, Langston Hughes Community Library & Cultural Center in Queens; and Stephen Maitland-Lewis award-winning author and jazz aficionado.
Terrence Spivey, the dynamic artistic director of Cleveland's historic Karamu House theatre, will deliver the keynote address at USITT's 2015 Annual Conference & Stage Expo in Cincinnati next March.
Manhattan Theatre Club's New York premiere co-production of The Country House, the new play by Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies, directed by Tony Award winner Daniel Sullivan, opened on October 2 at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street). Scroll down to learn more about the full cast and watch interviews with the company below!