MacKenzie Lewis News

Theatre Nova, an Ann Arbor company that focuses exclusively on new and recent plays, will premiere an original rock musical by Ann Arbor playwright and Ann Arbor composer David Wells and R. MacKenzie Lewis this April.

Theatre Nova, an Ann Arbor company that focuses exclusively on new and recent plays, will premiere an original rock musical by Ann Arbor playwright and Ann Arbor composer David Wells and R. MacKenzie Lewis this April.

Theatre Nova, Ann Arbor's professional playwrights' theater, is thrilled to announce its 2016 Season of Michigan and World Premieres in The Yellow Barn performance space at 416 West Huron, in downtown Ann Arbor. The season is made up of four World Premieres and three Michigan Premieres, and features another season of fun, funny, thought-provoking, and innovative new plays sourced both from around the country and right here in Michigan.

Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee-Producing Artistic Director, Todd Schmidt-Managing Director) released a block of great seats today for the final two weeks of the holiday hit, A Christmas Story: The Musical. The musical will run eight times a week at the Millburn, New Jersey theater and has best availability from December 23, 2015 thru January 3, 2016. Based on the popular 1983 film, A Christmas Story: The Musical has a book by Joseph Robinette with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.  A Christmas Story: The Musical will be directed by Brandon Ivie and choreographed by Mara Newbery Greer. Paper Mill Playhouse's 2015-2016 Season is proudly sponsored by Investors Bank.

? Paper Mill Playhouse presents this year's holiday show, A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL, based on the popular 1983 film. A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL has a book by Joseph Robinette with music and lyrics byBenj Pasek and Justin Paul. A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL will be directed by Brandon Ivie and choreographed by Mara Newbery Greer. A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL will run eight times a week at the Millburn, New Jersey, theater through January 3, 2016. The official press opening night wass yesterday, November 29. Check out photos from the after party below!

Paper Mill Playhouse presents this year's holiday show, A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL, based on the popular 1983 film. A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL has a book by Joseph Robinette with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL will be directed by Brandon Ivie and choreographed by Mara Newbery Greer. A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL will run eight times a week at the Millburn, New Jersey, theater from tonight, November 25, 2015, through January 3, 2016. The official press opening night is Sunday, November 29, at 7:00pm. Click below to watch highlights for the show!

Paper Mill Playhouse presents this year's holiday show, A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL, based on the popular 1983 film. A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL has a book by Joseph Robinette with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL will be directed byBrandon Ivie and choreographed by Mara Newbery Greer. A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL will run eight times a week at the Millburn, New Jersey, theater from November 25, 2015, through January 3, 2016. The official press opening night is Sunday, November 29, at 7:00pm. Check out a first look below!

Paper Mill Playhouse's holiday show, A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL, based on the popular 1983 film, has a book by Joseph Robinette with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL will be directed by Brandon Ivie and choreographed by Mara Newbery Greer. A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL will run eight times a week at the Millburn, New Jersey, theater from tonight, November 25, 2015, through January 3, 2016. The official press opening night is Sunday, November 29, at 7:00pm.

Paper Mill Playhouse just released its first ever short film to accompany its run of A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL this winter. Click below to watch 'Ralphie's Christmas Wish', in which Ralphie grants Christmas wishes all over New Jersey!

Ask a Brit what their fondest memory of the holidays is, and they may tell you watching the annual "Panto" or Pantomime - a unique blend of musical comedy, vaudeville, slapstick, audience participation, and spectacle. But here in America, the word "pantomime" mainly conjures up images of people dressed in black, with white faces "trapped in a box." Theatre Nova, Ann Arbor's professional theatre dedicated to new plays and playwrights, is trying to change all that, as it introduces its twist on the art form with "An Almost British Christmas" opening November 27th and running through the holidays to December 20th.

Halloween's all done in, there are still three weeks ahead before we officially give thanks, and Christmas - and all its accompanying frenzy and frivolity - is about seven weeks away! So what's there to do for all the theatrical types jonesing for a trip to make believe? Plenty! Theater companies all over middle Tennessee are showing off their best and brightest, with a number of eagerly anticipated shows opening this weekend and/or continuing from their earlier opening nights and next Tuesday there's a sparkling new Broadway musical swinging through Music City to entertain you…

If you need something to prod you toward making reservations to see Lipscomb University's staging of the near-legendary Into the Woods - although we find it hard to believe anyone could not want to hear that wondrous score once more - we are happy to give you that prompt: Sarah Zanotti's performance as The Baker's Wife is extraordinarily evocative and deeply moving, to be certain. But it is her lovely, expressive voice that sets her performance apart from others we've seen - and which proves that no matter how well you know a character or how impressive you have found other portrayals to be, there is still much drama and theatricality to be mined from The Baker's Wife.

It's Halloween weekend and every dramatic personage and theatrical type we've ever encountered is caught up in the annual rush to find just the right costume for their holiday revelries (we confess we've never had the knack for coming up with Halloween get-ups - not since we went in drag to a party at the First Baptist Church as the age of 12…tongues were wagging, we are certain, but we lived to tell about it, so it couldn't have been that bad). In the meantime, there are all sorts of onstage happenings this weekend to keep you otherwise engaged should the difficulty of selecting your costume prove to be too much.

BroadwayWorld can officially reveal the full cast for Paper Mill Playhouse's holiday show, A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL.

2015 First Night Honoree Kaul Bluestone claimed her place in the First Night record books in the 20th Century: She was the 1996 Outstanding Leading Actress in a Play for her role in Circle Players' production of Dancing at Lughnasa...and she has starred in two critically acclaimed plays directed by First Night founder and executive producer Jeffrey Ellis in the 21st Century: The Last Night of Ballyhoo and Picnic, both for Circle Players.

Hosted by 2014 MPA Emily Eytchison (a graduate of Nashville's David Lipscomb University) and 2013 MPA Cade Smith (an alumnus of Trevecca Nazarene University), the 90-minute show will feature members of this year's class of promising young actors performing a wide variety of musical numbers and dramatic/comedic monologues for their audience.

2015 First Night Honoree Martha Wilkinson holds the record for the most First Night Awards with nine. A frequent performer on the First Night stage -- including particularly show-stopping numbers such as her rendition of 'You'll Never Walk Alone,' while clad in a white ballgown and backed up by a chorus of Nashville theater's leading men -- she's one of Tennessee's favorites for certain. She was first recognized by the First Night Awards in 1989, when she won the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Musical for her role in Circle Players' production of Pippin.

More than 150 people gathered at Nashville's venerable Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre Monday night for the announcement of honorees and award winners for the 2015 First Night Honors. Preview Party celebrants were treated to a bountiful buffet of entertainment as cast members from several musicals currently on the boards or upcoming on Middle Tennessee stages performed numbers from their shows

More than 150 people gathered at Nashville's venerable Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre Monday night for the announcement of honorees and award winners for the 2015 First Night Honors. Preview Party celebrants were treated to a bountiful buffet of entertainment as cast members from several musicals currently on the boards or upcoming on Middle Tennessee stages performed numbers from their shows.

Nine individuals who have taken leading roles in making live theater in Tennessee better and more magical have been named as members of the Class of 2015 Honorees for The First Night Honors, the annual celebration of all things theatrical held in Nashville every September.