Mary Ellen News

The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre, the Frederick area's only year-round producing theatre, continues its 2015 Mainstage Season this summer with the singing and dancing musical favorite West Side Story. The musical which was conceived and originally directed and choreographed by the legendary Jerome Robbins, will run from tonight, June 12th - August 29th.

As part of the 2015 Hollywood Fringe Festival, Mine is Yours Theatre Company will remount their adventurous 90-minute production of R&J, a gender-reversed Romeo and Juliet, which had a successful preview run last November at Theatre of NOTE. While remaining faithful to Shakespeare's language, R&J transforms Romeo into Romea, Juliet into Julian, Friar Laurence into Sister Laurence, etc., in an extravaganza of gender-swapping that makes this classic love story resonate in an electrifying new way. 

The Collegiate Chorale raised more than $300,000 at its annual Spring Benefit featuring the U.S. premiere of Kurt Weill and Franz Werfel's The Road of Promise at Carnegie Hall on May 7, 2015. Proceeds will go toward The Chorale's artistic and education initiatives.

The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre, the Frederick area's only year-round producing theatre, continues its 2015 Mainstage Season this summer with the singing and dancing musical favorite West Side Story. The musical which was conceived and originally directed and choreographed by the legendary Jerome Robbins, will run from June 12th - August 29th.

But not all of our best-known teen actors are studying in the traditional secondary school manner. Today, we focus on Shane Kopischke, a 17-year-old rising high school senior who is home-schooled and currently celebrating his 11th year of doing stage productions.

Marquis Publishing, an affiliate of the Marquis Gallery announces the release of the edition 'The Topography of Evil: Notorious Northern California Murder Sites.' The paperback and eBook is California author and photographer Marques Vickers' visual return to 43 infamous crime scenes detailing the shocking narratives behind each tragedy. Over 95 visual images amplify the experience by escorting the reader to the precise physical location, offering a critical context and perspective for understanding. 'Obscured by time and collective memory,' notes Vickers' preface, 'revisiting a dormant crime scene is a process of comprehending the convergence of evil absorbed into a physical space. Crime scenes typically revert back into unremarkable landscape or unassuming buildings over the ensuing years and decades. Many are passed daily by pedestrian and vehicular traffic unaware of a location's unique significance. The captured snapshots portray searing testimonies of extinguished lives removed by acts of violence.' Northern California has been the residence for many notorious individual and serial killers including the Zodiac, Ted 'Unabomber' Kaczynski, Dan White, Edmund Kemper III, Jim Jones, Richard Allen Davis, David Carpenter, Juan Corona and Scott Peterson. The media has renamed some such as the Trailside Killer, Co-ed Killer, Children of Thunder, Vampire of Sacramento, Zebra Killers and the Death House Landlady. Over 40+ convicted or deceased murderers are profiled including 24 who remain incarcerated and 5 awaiting execution at San Quentin Prison. The region has also buried notables among the profiled victims including San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, Supervisor Harvey Milk, Black Panther Huey P. Newton, Journalist Chauncey Bailey, Oscar Grant III, Polly Klaas, Lacy Peterson and 412 unclaimed bodies from the People's Temple Massacre in Jonestown, Guyana. "The Topography of Evil" edition is segmented into seven categories including assassinations, abductions, historical legacies, reckless homicides, unsolved murders, rampage and serial killers. Within the context of each profile, crucial issues and questions are raised regarding capital punishment, American racial perceptions, parental influences, media reporting, public bias, self-incrimination protections and the fairness of judicial sentencing. A controversial alternative of voluntary euthanasia for the condemned is raised following the observation of California's hopelessly backlogged number of inmates awaiting execution. Currently 743 inmates are sentenced to Death Row. Florida is second with 403 and Texas third at 276. The last California execution was in 2006. An extensive listing of fatality victims is included along with convicted and deceased killers. Each living convict still registered in the California penal system is identified by their respective current penitentiary, verdict and length of original jury sentencing. Vickers' own introduction to the consequences of murder commenced with the 1968 killings of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jenson by the Zodiac killer in the author's hometown. Faraday was an acquaintance of the author through Boy Scouts and his older sister knew both victims. His reflections on the trauma inflicted on his intimate suburban community correspond with the realization that a single homicide affects far more individuals than simply the victim. Hundreds and ultimately thousands may be touched by the arbitrariness and unfairness of life being terminated abruptly and prematurely. The 294-page paperback edition is available through Amazon.com and in electronic format via the Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook stores. Supplementary promotional videos on numerous chapter including Huey Newton, Brooke Hart, Fishhead Beach Killings and the Marin County Courthouse Massacre are available on YouTube.com and Vimeo.com. A southern California version is current in the production stages. For further information regarding Marquis Publishing, visit TopographyofEvil.com and InsiderSeriesBooks.com. Cases Profiled (By Sequential Order and Category) Assassinations: Oakland School Superintendent Dr. Marcus Foster, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, Oakland Times Journalist Chauncey Bailey, The Marin County Courthouse Shootout Massacre and The Contract Killing of Joseph 'The Animal' Barboza. Abductions: San Francisco's Kevin Collins, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Student Kristin Smart, Brooke Hart and the Resulting 1933 San Jose Public Lynching, Heiress Patty Hearst, Petaluma's Polly Klaas and San Luis Obispo's Rachel Newhouse and Aundria Crawford. Historical Legacies: Dashiell Hammett's Miles Archer, Chinatown Gangster Fung 'Little Pete' Jing Toy and Mysterious Rumors involving Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Mary Ellen Pleasant and American President Warren Harding Reckless Homicides: Oscar Grant III, O'Farrell Theatre's Artie Mitchell, Diane Whipple Dog Mauling, Black Panther Huey P. Newton, Laci Peterson and Multiple Police Officer Killer Lovelle Mixon Unsolved Murders: Ashkenaz Performance Owner David Nadel, The Santa Rosa Hitchhiking Murders, Lindsay Cutshall and Jason Allen on Fish Head Beach. Rampage Mass Murders: Reverend Jim Jones and the People's Temple Massacre, The Helzer Brothers and the Children of Thunder, The 101 California Building Rampage, Dr. Victor Ohta mansion burning and mass slaying, The 1977 Golden Dragon Bloodbath, Carmel Valley's Mel and Elizabeth Grimes, The Oikos University Shootings, Eastside Salinas Gang Killings and Morro Bay's Lynwood 'Jim' Drake rampage. Serial Killers: 'Unabomber' Ted Kaczynski, 'Co-ed Killer' Edmund Kemper III, 'Sacramento Vampire' Richard Trenton Chase, Juan Corona, Herbert Mullin, 'Death House Landlady' Dorothea Puente, 'Trailside Killer' David Carpenter, The San Francisco Zebra Killings and Zodiac Killer.

BroadwayWorld brings you event photos and highlights from Marymount Manhattan College's (MMC) annual scholarship fundraising event, The President's Medal Dinner. The event took place at Guastavino's on Thursday, April 16 and was attended by over 250 supporters, raising an impressive $2 Million for student scholarships.

ODC Theater's fourth annual smorgasbord of dance, the Walking Distance Dance Festival-SF, returns for a fourth year with samplings of dance from around the Bay Area and the nation. Over two days, Friday, June 5 to Saturday, June 6, ODC will present three programs of paired artists and a free, site-adaptive performance. Featured artists include Amy Seiwert/Imagery, Gerald Casel Dance, Jess Curtis/Gravity, Namita Kapoor, ODC/Dance, RAWdance and Gallim Dance in its Bay Area debut.

Young People's Theatre presents the World Premiere of Emily's Piano. Adapted for the stage by Mark Cassidy from the novel by Charlotte Gingras, this honest portrayal of a young girl's emotional journey amid family upheavals will be presented on the Mainstage now through May 2. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

?A staged reading of Patrick Riviere's play, THE HOUSE OF NUNZIO, will be presented on April 27th at 7pm and April 28th at 2pm at The Davenport Mainstage Theatre in New York City directed by award winning director Stephen Nachamie.

'Rockwell Table & Stage,' in Los Angeles will be introducing their new artist in residency - Donny Most (Happy Days), who will be 'Singing & Swinging' with guest artist Judy Norton (The Waltons) on April 9, 2015. For more information on tickets go to http://rockwell-la.inticketing.com/events/482967/donny-most-sings-and-swings-special-guest-judy-norton-/.

It has been thirty years since Eugene O'Neill's landmark 'realist' play, Long Days Journey Into Night, was last performed in Adelaide.

Today the spotlight shines on University School of Nashville's McKenna Harrington, a 16-year-old junior who debuts as Millie Owens next week in Circle Players' production of William Inge's Picnic (I'm her director, for sure, and probably not all that objective about her immense talents and spot-on instincts.

The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre, the Frederick-area's only year-round producing theatre, will welcome the return of a classic musical that holds a special place in the hearts of theatergoers. Fiddler on the Roof first appeared on the Way Off Broadway stage during the 2006 Season. That production broke box office records for the theatre and to this day, audiences still ask when the show will return. Beginning tonight, March 13th, Fiddler on the Roof will make its return to Way Off Broadway with a new staging for the spring.

Young People's Theatre presents the World Premiere of Emily's Piano. Adapted for the stage by Mark Cassidy from the novel by Charlotte Gingras, this honest portrayal of a young girl's emotional journey amid family upheavals will be presented on the Mainstage from April 13 to May 2.

Today the spotlight shines on University School of Nashville's Aidan Watt, who during his four years at USN has been cast in every production - "aside from Noises Off, which I did tech for," he explains. As part of the amazing theater program at USN, Aidan's been learning from the best: Catherine Coke, whose resume includes work on all levels of professional theater, heads the program, with the estimable Jim Manning, perhaps Nashville's hardest working scenic designer (not to detract from any of the other designers in town, of course, who do great work, but Jim Manning - a 2012 First Night Star Award winner - tends to work on multiple productions for multiple companies at the same time. Whew!), heading technical and design teams.

Today, we introduce you to Arden Taylor Guice, a 17-year-old high school, whose unique theatrical life sets her apart from others in her age group: She's been a student at Franklin High School, but in her senior year she was lucky enough to gain an internship with the musical theatre program at Belmont University and is now finishing school online. She's also a veteran of Sondra Morton's Act Too Players troupe in Franklin!

Mine is Yours theatre company, now in their second season, is itching to share their first contemporary production with Los Angeles! Bachelorette by Leslye Headland, directed by Jessica Hanna and assistant directed by Mallin Alter, will run for four weeks this Spring: March 20 - April 12, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 7pm. Tickets are $18 at the door, $15 online, and presale tickets (purchased before 3/13) are $12 each.

Today's spotlight falls upon Hume Fogg Academic Magnet High School's Caitlin Oden, who could have been the inspiration for every fictional princess ever: She's blonde, pretty, poised and self-possessed. Even her name - Caitlin Mirabel Oden - has the ring of royalty to it (say it slowly: Princess Caitlin Mirabel...sounds ideal, right?), although Caitlin's down-to-earth and focused on her longterm goals in the theater.

The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre, the Frederick-area's only year-round producing theatre, will welcome the return of a classic musical that holds a special place in the hearts of theatergoers. Fiddler on the Roof first appeared on the Way Off Broadway stage during the 2006 Season. That production broke box office records for the theatre and to this day, audiences still ask when the show will return. Beginning on Friday, March 13th, Fiddler on the Roof will make its return to Way Off Broadway with a new staging for the spring.