Continuing its celebratory 35th Anniversary Season, The Verdi Chorus (Anne Marie Ketchum, Founding Artistic Director), announced today that auditions will be held on Saturday, August 25, 2018 at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica for The Verdi Chorus Fall 2018 Concert.
The Verdi Chorus celebrates its 35th anniversary with its Spring 2018 concert The Force of Destiny for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on April 28 and 29 led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum. As the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus, their program will feature selections from three Verdi operas - La forza del destino, Nabucco, including the famed chorus "Va, pensiero," the opening party scene of La traviata, and conclude with beloved melodies from Strauss' Die Fledermaus.
The Verdi Chorus will present its Fall 2017 concert 'Love's Passions and Potions' for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on November 18th and 19th led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum.
The Verdi Chorus will present its Fall 2017 concert 'Love's Passions and Potions' for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on November 18th and 19th led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum.
The Playwrights' Center's annual PlayLabs new play festival runs Monday, October 23, through Sunday, October 29, 2017. The featured playwrights are Jason Gray Platt ('Take Care'), Jen Silverman ('In the Time of the Volcano') and Alice Tuan ('A Humbling in St. Paul'), all Core Writers at the Center.
The Verdi Chorus will present its Fall 2017 concert 'Love's Passions and Potions' for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on November 18th and 19th led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum.
Park Square continues its 2016-2017 season on the Proscenium Stage with David Hare's acclaimed romantic drama Amy's View, directed by Gary Gisselman. A generational play about the lifelong tension between a strong mother and her loving daughter, Amy's View mixes love, death, and the theatre in ways both rich and original. This modern classic shows how even the smallest events can set in motion a chain reaction that can dramatically change lives forever.
Twin Cities theater veteran Warren C. Bowles took home an Ivey Award for his direction of Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company (MJTC)'s 2016 production of The Tale of the Allergist's Wife by Charles Busch. The play, which portrays the existential angst of a bored housewife when an old friend arrives, featured Sally Wingert, Linda Kelsey and Maggie Bearmon Pistner as part of its stellar cast.
Park Square concludes its 2016-2017 season with the area premiere of Tim Firth's hilarious and heartfelt comedy Calendar Girls. Based on the hit 2003 film, the play explores loss, friendship, and baring it all as a group of women pose in the buff to benefit a local charity. The ensuing media firestorm puts the women's friendship to the test and reveals the love shared by an extraordinary group of women.
Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company (MJTC) is pleased to announce the opening of The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, directed by Warren Bowles and starring Sally Wingert. This production runs from February 13th - March 6th, 2015 at the Highland Park Community Center Theater, 1978 Ford Parkway, St. Paul, MN 55116. Individual tickets go on sale January 8th and range in price from $20 - $32. Student and group discounts are available. To order, call (651) 647-4315 or visit www.mnjewishtheatre.org. Press passes are available for performances on Saturday, February 13th at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, February 14th at 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
I don't know if you've noticed, but there's something exciting going on in downtown St. Paul. In what's usually regarded as the sleepier of the Twin Cities, Park Square Theatre has recently opened a second stage in the Historic Hamm Building on lovely 7th Place. This extra space has allowed them to do some great things in the last few months, including producing regional premieres, partnering with local theater companies (look for shows by Sandbox Theatre, Theatre Pro Rata, and Girl Friday Productions this spring and summer), an increased focus on diversity, and continuing their commitment to students. They currently have three fantastic shows playing on the two stages, including student matinees of an effectively condensed ROMEO AND JULIET. But for us grown-ups, the two stages offer two very different but both excellent choices: the bittersweet comedy SHOOTING STAR on the Proscenium Stage, and the emotional drama THE OTHER PLACE on the new Boss Stage. Read on to make your choice, but hurry, both shows close on April 19.
Midway through its first season producing on two stages, Park Square Theatre shows no sign of slowing down with its 2015-2016 theatre season. In addition to a range of area and regional premieres, the company is commissioning two brand new works - one for each stage - from Joel Sass (Great Expectations) and Christina Ham and Regina Marie Williams (Nina Simone: Four Women). The line-up also includes the first Midwest licensed production of an ingenious miniature musical that will delight mystery lovers, two family-friendly holiday treats, and new productions by two of Park Square's Theatres in Residence, Sandbox Theatre and Theatre Pro Rata. The season will conclude with a flash of mature flesh as nine leading actresses bare all in Calendar Girls by Tom Firth.
Park Square continues its 2014-2015 season next month with the regional debut of 4000 MILES by Amy Herzog. Winner of the 2012 Obie Award for Best New Play, 4000 MILES is a surprising and moving portrait of a family's distance and their hope in overcoming it. Vera (Linda Kelsey*) is a hippie from way back, but she isn't very welcoming when her aimless grandson (Gabriel Murphy) takes up residence in her apartment. When the play premiered Off-Broadway, the New York Times called it "a funny, moving, altogether wonderful drama… a heartening reminder that a keen focus on life's small moments can pay off in a big way onstage."
With Sexy Laundry opening tonight, the entire cast roster for the theatre's biggest season is almost complete. Nearly 300 Minnesota artists - including actors, directors, designers and technical operators - will mount 18 productions on two stages. The season lineup confirms Park Square's commitment to the work of women writers like Amy Herzog, Michele Riml and Alice Walker. The casting emphasizes Park Square as a home for local artists of color, from returning favorites like James A. Williams, T. Mychael Rambo and Regina Williams to dozens of debuts like Dominique Wooten, Kurt Kwan and Sarah Ochs.
Park Square Theatre will shake the rafters and raise the roof off its 348-seat proscenium theatre next year with one of its largest musicals ever, featuring the largest all-African-American cast in its history. The Twin Cities first local production of the blockbuster musical The Color Purple will take to the company's proscenium stage in January 2015 under the leadership of director/choreographer Lewis Whitlock III. Made famous by Oprah Winfrey, the musical tells the intimate story of one woman's soaring triumph over oppression and abuse.
Park Square Theatre announces a 2013-2014 Season composed entirely of area, regional and world premieres - opening with David Lindsay-Abaire's dark comedy Good People and closing with the first ever stage depiction of Nero Wolfe, the famously eccentric detective genius created by best-selling author Rex Stout. The talent bringing these stories to life includes bold-faced names and theatre favorites, including the Minnesota stage debut of James Denton of Desperate Housewives fame, the return of Emmy-nominee Linda Kelsey playing Mary Todd Lincoln and the Park Square directing debuts of Joe Chvala and Amy Rummenie.
Park Square celebrates the recent Minnesota History Center exhibit honoring of the Civil War, and rides the popularity of the Steven Spielberg-Tony Kushner movie Lincoln with the Midwest Premiere of MARY T. & LIZZY K. by Tazewell Thompson from Oct 18 - Nov 10. The play, which had its world premiere in March at Arena Stage in Washington, DC, focuses on the unique business relationship and complex friendship between Mary Todd Lincoln (played by five-time Emmy Award nominee Linda Kelsey) and her free mixed-race seamstress Lizzy Keckly (played by Sha Cage in her Park Square debut, hot off her success in Clyborne Park at The Guthrie).