Laurie Anderson News

Watch out! Richard Schechner returns, armed with another series of shocks and surprises: the world premiere of "Imagining O" at Peak Performances, September 10-13. Transforming the notoriously erotic French novel "Story of O" into a multi-site, immersive production, the 80 year-old director's most recent work promises to reaffirm Peak's commitment to the ultra and outre challenge, and the director's reputation for creating uncomfortable joy in his audiences. The show opens the Kasser Theater's 10th anniversary season.

New York's funniest show Celebrity Autobiography welcomed to its cast stars of stage & screen Gina Gershon & Mario Cantone (Sex and the City), Tony Award-winner Karen Ziemba (Bullets Over Broadway), Tony-nominated actor Santino Fontana (Act One, Cinderella), actress Lucy DeVito (star of HULU's 'Deadbeat' series) & Drama Desk-winners Eugene Pack & Dayle Reyfel for its August show in NYC on Monday, August 18 at 7pm at Stage 72 (158 West 72nd Street).

The Marcus Center for the Performing Arts and WMSE will welcome an evening with My Brightest Diamond on Saturday, November 15 at 8:00 pm. Tickets are $17.50 and go on sale this Sunday, August 10 at 12:00 pm at the Marcus Center Box Office. Ticket can be purchased by phone at 414-273-7206 or online at MarcusCenter.org and Ticketmaster.com. Groups 10+ call 414-273-7121 ext. 210 or 213.

"Best Independent Producer" Kate Nordstrum and "Best New Venue for Classical Music" Amsterdam Bar & Hall (Star Tribune, Best of Minnesota 2014) team to bring Reykjavik-based electronic musician and composer Ben Frost to Saint Paul on the heels of his recently released, acclaimed album A U R O R A, out now on Mute / Bedroom Community. Already a critics' favorite, A U R O R A has been featured heavily in the "Albums of the Year (So Far)" lists and is described by The Wire as "Frost's most fully realized work to date." Resident Advisor called A U R O R A "the darkest and most powerful recording of his career."

New York City Center's 11th annual Fall for Dance Festival will feature free performances in Central Park and 24 acclaimed dance companies and artists from around the world, in six unique programs in September and October 2014.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, recognized as a vital “American Cultural Ambassador” to the world and New York City Center's Principal Dance Company, will return to the New York City Center stage for the 43rd consecutive year from December 3, 2014 – January 4, 2015. The Company will present 39 performances during an exciting annual season that has become a joyous holiday tradition.

Though Women's Project Theater may have lost its Artistic Director, support for the New York-based company continues to grow.

My Brightest Diamond's new EP, None More Than You, is out today on Asthmatic Kitty Records and can now be heard in full exclusively at Consequence of Sound.

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Women's Project Theater is going through some major changes. A national search has begun for a new Artistic Director to lead the company for the coming 2014-15 season and beyond. The new Artistic Director will succeed Julie Crosby, who recently departed the company as Producing Artistic Director, a position she held since 2006. During her tenure, Ms. Crosby led and nurtured the institution immeasurably, producing more than 25 plays by women playwrights and directors, and championing the careers of its alumnae lab artists.

The roots of Austro-German Romanticism will be explored at the 2014 annual Bard SummerScape festival, which once again offers a sensational summer of music, opera, theater, dance, film, and cabaret, keyed to the theme of the 25th anniversary season of the world-renowned Bard Music Festival, Schubert and His World.

Today OZ, Nashville's first contemporary arts center, announces its 2014-15 season, which runs September 12, 2014 - June 27, 2015. The season is bookended by premieres, beginning with two performances (September 12 & 13) of Tim Robbins' interpretation of A Midsummer Night's Dream, produced and acted by the company he founded and leads, The Actors' Gang, in the production's first U.S. engagement outside of the company's home theater in Los Angeles. OZ's 2014-15 program will conclude with the world premiere (June 18-20) of Memory Rings, the latest multi-media stage production from innovative New York City-based puppetry collective Phantom Limb Company.

Bill T. Jones, Artistic Director, today announced New York Live Arts' presenting season for 2014-2015. The season runs from September 23, 2014 through April 2015 and includes more than 71 performances and events by more than 22 featured artists.

Coney Island USA's 32nd Annual Mermaid Parade will begin at 1 pm on Saturday, June 21, 2014. The parade starts at the corner of West 21st Street and Surf Avenue, and proceeds east on Surf Avenue to West 10th Street, where it turns south to the Boardwalk, and then north back to Steeplechase Plaza, where it concludes.

San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus (SFGMC) named winner for "I Am Harvey Milk" in the Soundtrack / Cast Recording Album category at the 13th Independent Music Awards (The IMAs). "I Am Harvey Milk" is an emotional celebration of an American icon. Part choral work, part theater piece, it weaves the story of Harvey Milk's life -- from boyhood to his rise as the first openly gay man to hold public office in California and to his untimely assassination.

The original cast recording of Andrew Lippa's I Am Harvey Milk was just named by Music Resource Group (MRG) as the winner of Best Soundtrack/Cast Recording in The 13th Independent Music Awards (The IMAs), the influential awards program for independent music and fans. Representing the broad spectrum of today's global independent music scene, the nominees in over 80 Album, Song, Music Video and Design categories were culled from thousands of submissions from North America, South America, Asia, Africa, Australia, Greenland and Europe.

The National Ballet of Canada opens its summer season with a mixed programme of twentieth century works.

Joseph V. Melillo, executive producer of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, today announced programming for the 2014 Next Wave Festival. The festival runs from September 9 through December 20 and comprises theater, music, dance, film, humanities, and visual art events in the institution's three venues: the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, the BAM Harvey Theater, and the BAM Fisher.

Exemplifying the Museum's ongoing commitment to craftsmanship across all creative fields, the exhibition provides a platform not only for makers who typically display their work in a museum setting, but also those who work behind the scenes. On view from July 1 through October 12, 2014, and marking the first in a series of exhibitions examining the culture of making in urban communities, NYC Makers highlights the interconnected web of cultural production in New York City today and underscores the importance of craft in contemporary life. A press preview for the exhibition will be held the morning of July 1, 2014.

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra's pioneering Liquid Music series announces today the full schedule of events for its 2014-15 season. Liquid Music, which begins its third season this fall, expands the world of classical music through innovative new projects, boundary-defying artists, and unique presentation formats. Each program features new works, world or regional premieres, and new collaborations including many artists working together for the first time. For the past two seasons, Liquid Music has seen sold-out shows filled with adventurous audiences of all ages. Mpls.St.Paul Magazine extols: “This is as cool as classical music gets.”

The Harris Theater for Music and Dance today announced a broad spectrum of music performances for the 2014-2015 Harris Theater Presents season, one of the most ambitious music offerings to date, featuring many of today's leading musicians, ensembles, and organizations from around the world.