Mary Ellen News

Boston Ballet Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen announces programming for the 2019 2020 season at the Boston Opera House. The season opens with Giselle, a haunting tale of love, betrayal, and forgiveness. Nissinen's The Nutcracker returns to delight audiences with its beloved characters and brilliant dancing. The spring season includes a cutting-edge world premiere by Stephen Galloway and works by world-renowned choreographers George Balanchine, Jorma Elo, William Forsythe, Ji Kyli n, Helen Pickett, and Jerome Robbins. Mikko Nissinen's Swan Lake returns to captivate audiences with a tale of romance and enchantment. The Company's 56th season runs September 19, 2019 through May 31, 2020.

New Hampshire Theatre Project's Elephant-in-the-Room Series continues with the topic of the Opioid Crisis Effect on Families, featuring a reading of A Wider Circle by Mary-Ellen Hedrick.  A playwright and civics teacher from New Hampshire, Mary-Ellen's previous work, Throw Away People (featured at NHTP's 2017 Intelligent Theatre Festival), focused on the devastating consequences of heroin addiction for both individuals and the community.

The Maltz Jupiter Theatre's exclusive annual gala The Disco Ball raised nearly $608,000 for the not-for-profit Theatre and its Conservatory.

The International Center of Photography (ICP), the world's leading institution dedicated to photography and visual culture, today announced the 2019 honorees of its annual Infinity Awards, the leading honor for excellence in the field. The 35th annual ICP Infinity Awards will be held on the evening of Tuesday, April 2 at Ziegfeld Ballroom (141 West 54th Street, New York City). The event is ICP's largest fundraiser and benefits its education and exhibition programs.

Get ready to groove at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre's annual gala The Disco Ball!

FotoFocus, the nonprofit arts organization that champions photography and lens-based art, is pleased to announce that internationally acclaimed visual artist William Wegman will take part in the organization's Lecture and Visiting Artist Series. Wegman will present a lecture at the Cincinnati Art Museum on Wednesday, April 17, 2019, at 7PM. The visit comes nearly 40 years after Wegman's celebrated exhibition at Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Center, Wegman's World, in 1982.

PREFORMANCES WITH ALLISON CHARNEY continues its 10th season on Monday, February 11th at 7:30pm at Merkin Concert Hall. 

New Hampshire Theatre Project's provocative Elephant-in-the-Room Series opens its second season with the topic of Eating Disorders & Body Image, featuring a reading of Linda Daugherty's play Eat: It's Not About Food by seacoast actors and teens. The script dramatizes the dangerous and confusing world of eating disorders in women and men, girls and boys, exploring causes, warning signs, and the influences of both society and the media on this too often tragic issue.

A drama about an acting troupe performing a controversial play and a world premiere musical about life in Cuba past and present garnered the most nominations for the 43rd annual Carbonell Awards, which honor excellence in theater in South Florida.  Indecent, produced by Palm Beach Dramaworks in West Palm Beach, earned nine nominations, and Havana Music Hall, produced by Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre in Coral Gables, earned seven.

Get ready to groove at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre's annual gala The Disco Ball!

La MaMa presents the world premiere of City of No Illusions, the newest work from seminal theater company Talking Band. Written and directed by four-time Obie winner Paul Zimet, City of No Illusions is a dark comedy set inside a funeral home that has become a refuge for two asylum seekers. Featuring original music by Ellen Maddow and an international cast of 12 performers, City of No Illusions is scheduled to run at La MaMa's Downstairs Theater (66 E 4th St) from February 8 through 24, with an opening night of February 13.

Nicki Minaj has joined the voice cast of "The Angry Birds Movie 2," according to Variety. 

In November, The Studio Theatre Tierra del Sol (806 San Marino Drive, The Villages, FL) will open the second production of its third season with the play Stop Kiss, by American Playwright Diana Son. An Outer Critics Circle Award and John Gassner Award nominee, this play set in 1998, examines the moving power of love against brutality.

THERESA REBECK, best known as an award-winning playwright, will make her NYC directorial debut, when WORKING THEATER debuts DROPPING GUMBALLS ON LUKE WILSON, the world premiere play by ROB ACKERMAN (TABLETOP), Off Broadway at the A.R.T./ New York Theater's Mezzanine Theater (502 W. 53rd Street), this spring, June 11 - July 6 2019.

80 years after Orson Welles terrified the nation with the War of the Worlds, Right Between the Ears celebrates (and spoofs) the notorious "panic broadcast" with a new radio play, to be performed at Musical Theatre Heritage Stage 2, Crown Center at 7:30pm today and Saturday, November 16 and 17.

OPERA America, the national service organization for opera and the nation's leading champion for American opera, is proud to announce the 2019 finalists of the Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer Showcase, a biennial program offered as part of OPERA America's continuing commitment to foster emerging opera artists. The showcase, made possible through generous support from the Tobin Theatre Arts Fund, was established to bring promising talent to the attention of field leaders and connect up-and-coming directors and designers with those who are in a position to advance their careers.

The Bronx Museum of the Arts is pleased to present White Outs, an exhibition by artist Eddie Martinez, which will be on view November 14, 2018 through February 17, 2019. Widely recognized for his large-scale paintings, Martinez has built a consistent body of work over the last decade, successfully merging the tradition of American abstract painting with the energy of the street. These paintings began as Sharpie drawings, then were blown-up, silkscreened, and painted over in a careful, yet unfailingly dynamic, process of layering and expansion. In these new works, created especially for this exhibition, Martinez introduces a new element to his process-the "whiting out" of parts of the composition. It is a move that represents a significant turning point in his career.

As part of the string quartet's 20th anniversary season, ETHEL returns to BAM with Circus: Wandering City, a multimedia musical journey into the history of the iconic Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus that explores and honors the complex relationship between circus troupes, their performers, and the audiences they inspired. 

Not often does it happen that a young actor walks away with a show lock, stock and barrel - especially if he's in the company of some of the most experienced veteran actors to be found on local stages. But that is exactly what happens in Arts Center of Cannon County's current 2108 mainstage season finale of Hello, Dolly!, the Jerry Herman classic now onstage in Woodbury through November 18.

Looking ahead, you'll find a number of new productions on tap, including a whole slew of holiday favorites, for your entertainment pleasure, thanks to the efforts of theater companies all over Middle Tennessee. Here's our calendar for November 12, 2018, to help you plot your course through next February...