Lou Bellamy News

Tune in tonight as the Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF) gathers award-winning writers, directors and performers for a virtual benefit to support the playwrights, composers, lyricists and librettists who get the story started

Esteemed American playwrights Ed Bullins, Constance Congdon, and Philip Kan Gotanda have been announced as the inaugural recipients of the Legacy Playwrights Initiative Award(s). The winners will be recognized by their friends and peers at the Dramatists Guild Foundation “Write in the Dark” virtual benefit on December 21, 2020.

Playwright August Wilson will be honored with a commemorative Forever stamp next year.

During this uncertain time for the nation and the arts community, 1st Stage remains committed to creating diverse, modern work by leading playwrights and performers. Despite the prolonged theatre closure necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the company delights in bringing you the same quality of beautiful, emotional, relatable stories that you could have otherwise seen on our stage.

Stage Directors and Choreographers Society announces the digital publication of the Fall 2020 issue of its magazine, SDC Journal. The special issue, running 80 pages, is focused on the devastating impact of COVID-19 on theatre and theatre artists, and the long-overdue racial reckoning and call for equity in all facets of society, including the theatre.

Director Talvin Wilks puts it well: a?oeJourneying into the writing of Claudia Rankine is like taking a roller coaster ride through our nation's most complex and subtle quandaries regarding race.a?? THE WHITE CARD is a new play by the renowned 2016 MacArthur Fellow, and author of five collections of poetry. THE WHITE CARD avoids simplistic slogans in favor of a far more nuanced autopsy of the way that white privilege (and the obliviousness and self-righteousness it fosters) infect the actions of well-meaning white people.

In their continued and laudable feat of presenting diverse voices in theater, Orange County's South Coast Repertory is currently staging another stirring new drama, this time from playwright Donja R. Love entitled FIREFLIES, which continues performances through January 26, 2020 in Costa Mesa under the admirable direction of Lou Bellamy. At times heartbreaking and devastating, but ultimately empowering and (slightly) hopeful for future generations, FIREFLIES is a must-watch drama with searing emotions and real-world importance, highlighted by powerful performances from its two talented leads.

Playwright Dominique Morisseau is a gifted rising voice in the theater, recognized with a 2018 Macarthur 'Genius' Grant. Her straight play PIPELINE centers contemporary lives we see on stage too rarely: an anguished black mother trying to keep her teenage son safe, and her financially successful ex-husband, estranged from both of them. Because Morisseau drops us into both public and private school dilemmas for people of color, we gain insight into the deep inequities in our educational systems in this country, though this never feels like an 'issue play' for two reasons: there is no grasping for simple resolutions and the characters are so thoroughly imagined.

Today, South Coast Repertory Artistic Director David Ivers and Managing Director Paula Tomei announced an expanded schedule of thoughtful, lively conversations and talkbacks for the 2019-20 season, the first programmed by Ivers. The main productions on the Segerstrom and Julianne Argyros stages will have at least 4 post-show discussions, a series of artistic director talkbacks and Saturday morning seminars called Inside the Season. There will be a special talkback for A Christmas Carol, which marks its 40th anniversary this year.

Today, South Coast Repertory Artistic Director David Ivers and Managing Director Paula Tomei announced the 13 creative dream teams for the 2019-20 season, the first programmed by Ivers. The roughly 100 individuals are among the theatre industry's finest, most creative and versatile talents.

The 3rd Annual Logan Festival of Solo Performance, presented with generous support from the Reva & David Logan Foundation, will run at 1st Stage from July 11-21, 2019. This innovative festival, acclaimed in The Washington Post with "three plays prove the power of one," will gather celebrated solo performers from across the country for two-weeks of performances, workshops, discussions, and events. The main stage festival schedule features:

Virtuoso performances are the order of the day in Arizona Theatre Company's revival of August Wilson's TWO TRAINS RUNNING, directed by Lou Bellamy and featuring standout performances by James Craven, Alan Bomar Jones, Erika LaVonn, Ahanti Young, Lester Purry, Cedric Mays, and Dennis Spears.

August Wilson's Two Trains Running, the seventh in his 10-part, decade-by-decade saga of ordinary African Americans in the turbulent 20th century that The New York Times described as his "most adventurous and honest attempt to reveal the intimate heart of history," will be on stage at Tucson's Temple of Music & Art Jan. 19-Feb. 9 and at the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix, Feb. 14-March 3.

August Wilson's Two Trains Running, the seventh in his 10-part, decade-by-decade saga of ordinary African Americans in the turbulent 20th century that The New York Times described as his "most adventurous and honest attempt to reveal the intimate heart of history," will be on stage at Tucson's Temple of Music & Art Jan. 19-Feb. 9 and at the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix, Feb. 14-March 3.

Phoenix-area high school marching bands and musicians will bring select performances of Arizona Theatre Company's production of The Music Man to a 'climactic' ending when they march down the aisle to close the shows.

Four Tucson-area high school marching bands will bring select performances of Arizona Theatre Company's production of The Music Man to a "climactic" ending when they march down the aisle to close the shows.

Arizona Theatre Company (David Ivers, Artistic Director; Billy Russo, Managing Director) brings the iconic musical The Music Man to Tucson's Temple of Music & Art from Dec. 1-30 and the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix from Jan. 5-27, 2019.

Three students from Chapel Haven West, a nonprofit organization that empowers adults with developmental and social disabilities to live independent, happy lives, will spend the 2018-2019 season learning hands-on skills, being introduced to theatre's creative process and being mentored by Arizona Theatre Company staff and administration as part of an ongoing partnership.

Erma Bombeck, a national treasure who wrote so many of her hysterical life-inspired columns from her home in Arizona, comes to life in Arizona Theatre Company's (David Ivers, Artistic Director; Billy Russo Managing Director) production of Erma Bombeck: At Wit's End at the Herberger Theater Center, 222 E. Monroe, from Nov. 15 through Dec. 2.

Geva Theatre Center presents Thurgood, by George Stevens, Jr. and directed by Lou Bellamy, in the Elaine P. Wilson Stage from October 16 through November 18.