Mary Ellen News

Artemisia, the Chicago theatre company dedicated to developing and performing plays that empower women, will devote its podcast series that began in May 2020 to readings of rarely produced classics and all-new feminist plays; and to discussions of the plays with the creative teams.

Shoals Community Theatre will reopen with Love Letters, taking place on October 1.

a?oeDimension and Translucency in Encaustic and Cold Waxa?? opens in Gallery 110 North of the Plymouth Arts Center on Friday, August 14, 2020. A public reception will be held from 5pm to 7pm inside the Plymouth Arts Center and in the courtyard where several of the artists will be demonstrating their artform.

The Shoals Theatre is optimistic for a return in August.

Enjoy a Free Virtual Play Reading every Friday at 1pm:  This week, The Studio Theatre Tierra del Sol will present its fifth Virtual Play Reading with: Antigone on Friday, May 22nd at 1pm EDT. Visit: www.TheSharonStudio.com for past and upcoming virtual offerings.  

FotoFocus, the non-profit arts organization behind America's largest photography biennial, announces today that in lieu of presenting the fifth FotoFocus Biennial, originally slated for October 2020, it will pledge its Biennial budget to financially support the Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, Dayton and Columbus, Ohio art communities during the coronavirus pandemic.

With the Coronavirus stopping all social gatherings and causing the closing of Don't Tell Mama for the duration, MAC has made a change from the previously announced event which was to be held at the club.

The MAC Awards were scheduled to be celebrated on March 30th at Sony Hall. Instead they will be announced via Facebook Live from Lennie Watts' home. The times are a little different now, but the celebration of art is the same.

The public is invited to attend the opening reception for Plymouth Arts Center's new exhibition, a?oeWear 'Fore' Arta?? on Friday, March 20, 2020 from 4:30pm to 7:30pm. a?oeWear 'Fore' Arta?? is a collection of artistic wearable items designed with inspiration from nature, constructed of natural materials, created by 12 Wisconsin artists. Bring your friends to view, enjoy, and purchase one-of-a-kind wearable art including garments, jackets, scarves, bags and jewelry. The show will be on display in Gallery 110 North through May 1st.  The exhibition is generously sponsored by Conrad and Barbara Barrows and Franz Backus. 

FotoFocus, the nonprofit arts organization championing photography and lens-based art, is pleased to announce that renowned American photographer Elaine Mayes will be the next artist in the organization's Lecture and Visiting Artist Series. 

The Manhattan Association of Cabarets (MAC) has announced the 2020 MAC Award nominees. The nominees were determined by votes cast by the active MAC membership, except for the four song and recording categories, which were determined by special committees.

a?oeETHEL's Documerica,a?? presented by the Lakewood Cultural Center at 7:30 p.m. on March 13, is a multimedia concert that melds multiple-screen video projections with original music by some of today's top composers, performed with electrifying virtuosity by the indie-classical quartet ETHEL. The projections showcase evocative imagery from a?oeProject Documerica,a?? a massive archive of photographs commissioned by the Environmental Protection Agency in the 1970s, soon after the agency was established in the wake of elevated concern about environmental pollution. Through new music, ETHEL explores this compelling snapshot of a tumultuous era that powerfully connects to today's environmental and social issues.

The Georgetown Palace's production of A CHRISTMAS STORY is an action-packed musical extravaganza suitable for the whole family. Based on the 1983 American film classic of the same title, A CHRISTMAS STORY takes us back in time to a post-depression era town in Indiana as narrated by author Jean Shepherd (Art Rodriguez). Shepherd shares with us the story of Ralphie Parker's most memorable boyhood Christmas as told from his perspective and vivid imagination. You see, Ralphie desperately longs for a BB gun, but not just any old BB gun, it must be a 'Red Ryder Carbine action 200-shot Range Model air rifle'. Ralphie is convinced that this one present will not only make his life complete, but with this one present he can be the town hero, if the universe will only grant him this one small wish. In his desperation, Ralphie manages to rattle just about everyone around him, especially his mother, father, little brother, and schoolteacher.

Tacoma Little Theatre presents a special added show for the holiday season, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, written by Ken Ludwig (Lend Me A Tenor, The Fox on the Fairway), and directed by Mary Ellen Gilmour.

Emotions run high and surprises abound in this story set to the music of ABBAs greatest hits! Set on a colorful Greek island, Sophie is getting ready to marry her fiancée Sky, except for one thing - she has never met her father and wants him to be there for the big day. She discovers the names of three men in her mother's diary, and secretly invites them back to the island they last visited 20 years ago, on the hunch one of them is her father.

Singer Mary Ellen Ryan returns with an encore performances of her debut solo show, No Apologies, playing at Don't Tell Mama on Saturday, November 23rd at 4:00 pm. Director is Eadie Scott and musical direction is by MAC Award winner Ricky Ritzel. Musical styles are diverse and include musical theater, country, novelty, pop, folk and more.

The Vermont hills will come alive with the beloved Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music at the Barrette Center for the Arts in White River Junction for the holidays, November 20 a?" January 5. For tickets and information, call (802) 296-7000 or visit northernstage.org. Tickets start at $34 for adults and $19 for students. More than half of all available tickets for this production are already sold and Northern Stage anticipates many sold out performances. Early ticket purchasing is highly recommended.

Carnegie Hall today announced that Chief Conductor Mariss Jansons has fallen ill and regrettably must withdraw from tonight's concert with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, scheduled for Saturday, November 9 at 8:00 p.m. Carnegie Hall and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra are grateful to conductor Vasily Petrenko, who has agreed to lead the orchestra in his place. The program remains unchanged, including Rudolf Buchbinder's performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23.

Interdisciplinary artist Ryan Conarro (ALAXSXA | ALASKA, this hour forward) will premiere his work Saints of Failure as a site-specific production inside Lafayette Ave Presbyterian Church (85 South Oxford St, Fort Greene, Brooklyn) on October 24, 2019, with additional dates through November 9, 2019. Weaving storytelling, rich soundscape, and live makeup transformations, Conarro shares a series of histories and memories to explore deep questions about LGBTQ identity and the American Christian experience and what ensues when these identities collide.