McDonald News

New Dramatists, Tony Honor recipient and the nation's premier playwright development laboratory, honored three-time Tony Award winner, Nathan Lane, with its 2019 Distinguished Achievement Award at its 70th Annual Spring Luncheon Tribute on Tuesday, May 14th at the New York Marriott Marquis.

Last night, The Strokes played a special set to a capacity crowd at The Wiltern in Los Angeles. The evening show was a hometown benefit for The Center in Hollywood and Food Cycle LA. The Strokes partnered with The Center, a community dedicated to ending isolation and homelessness in LA and Food Cycle LA, an organization focused on eliminating hunger and reducing food waste. The evening efforts raised over $250,000 with all proceeds to be shared directly.

New Dramatists, Tony Honor recipient and the nation's premier playwright development laboratory, just honored three-time Tony Award winner, Nathan Lane, with its 2019 Distinguished Achievement Award at its 70th Annual Spring Luncheon Tribute at the New York Marriott Marquis.

Pacific Festival Ballet of Thousand Oaks will be premiering its new ballet version of Camelot, the original 'Game of Thrones' in two performances on May 18 at the Fred Kavli Theatre in the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. Directed and choreographed by Kim Maselli and featuring new music by Eric Allaman.

Showtime Documentary Films today announced it will premiere the new documentary 16 SHOTS from Academy Award® nominated director Richard Rowley (Dirty Wars) on Friday, June 14 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The  feature examines the 2014 shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke and the cover-up that ensued. After the police initially declared the shooting as justified, journalists and activists fought for footage of the event  to be released, sending the Chicago Police Department and local Chicago government officials into upheaval as the community demanded justice. Rowley's film dissects the cover-up through first-hand witness accounts which led to the unprecedented conviction that fractured the political landscape of Chicago. 

The Royal Opera House today launches its 2019/20 Season, unveiling an exciting range of new commissions, world premieres and much-loved revivals, supported by a diverse range of ticketed and free daytime events, activities and festivals for people of all ages.

Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG award-winning actress Rachel Brosnahan will be honored by Covenant House at A Night of Broadway Stars on Monday, June 3rd at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th Street, New York City, for her advocacy on behalf of young people facing homelessness. 

VIVIAN REED will debut her new show "Little Bit of Soul, Little Bit of Pop" at The Green Room 42 on Saturday, June 15 at 7:00 PM. Reed is back to display her rare vocal ability to powerfully deliver songs in a variety of genres. The evening is packed with her unique arrangements of well-known music from an eclectic group of songwriters, such as Lionel Richie, Steve Winwood, Brenda Russell, Alan Jay Lerner, and Stevie Wonder. Her energy and passion are accompanied by conductor James Davis on piano, leading an all-star quintet.

After considering hundreds of live stage productions, concerts, and art exhibitions in Austin between the dates of May 1, 2018, and April 30, 2019, members of the Austin Critics Table have announced their nominees for outstanding dance, classical music, visual art, and theatre with the nominees for the 2019 Critics Table Awards.

Terrence McNally has had a remarkably far-ranging career, including at least one new work on Broadway in each of the last six decades.

One of modern drama's most prolific playwrights, Terrence McNally, sits down with Rob and Kevin to look at his upcoming production of Frankie and Johnny In The Clair De Lune, as well as take a look back on his incredible career which includes such shows as Love! Valor! Compassion! Master Class, It's Only a Play, The Ritz, and writing the book to such musicals as The Rink, Ragtime, A Man of No Importance, and many more.

Over the last 5 years, Des Moines Symphony and Des Moines Performing Arts have come together to present a concert with one of Broadway's brightest stars. It has become a yearly tradition for me as well. Some of the past concerts have included Audra McDonald, Sutton Foster, Kristin Chenoweth, and Leslie Odem Jr. This year for their collaboration, they gave the audience an extra treat with two artists, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Megan Hilty. They both gave amazing performances that I won't soon forget.

The 23rd Annual American Black Film Festival (ABFF) is excited to announce their distinctive 2019 lineup of narrative features, documentaries and short films in competition. Films are set to screen in Miami from June 13-15 at the Regal Cinemas South Beach and the New World Center.

Last month, Hot Chip announced their return – a new album A Bath Full of Ecstasy set for June 21st, a storming new single ('Hungry Child') and a series of worldwide sold out shows where they reasserted themselves as everyone's favorite band, bringing audiences to joyful delight with a set list that included a searing 'Sabotage' cover.

The Acting Company (Founded by John Houseman and Margot Harley; Ian Belknap, Artistic Director; Elisa Spencer-Kaplan, Executive Director) announced casting today for the second reading in the 23rd John McDonald Salon Reading Series, Frederick Knott's classic thriller Wait Until Dark. The reading will take place on Monday, May 20 at 7 PM at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Playwrights Horizons (416 W. 42nd Street, New York, NY). Tickets are available now online at www.theactingcompany.org.

The Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF), the not-for-profit foundation of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), will host a conversation entitled "Producing Theatre for an Ageless Audience', moderated by Linda Hartzell, SDC Foundation Trustee and Artistic Director Emerita of Seattle Children's Theatre, with luminary directors Mark Brokaw and  Marcia Milgrom Dodge and playwright Timothy Allen McDonald on Monday May, 20, 2019 from 6:00-8:00 PM at SDC, 321 W. 44th St., Suite 804.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director/CEO) has just announced the world premiere of a new musical Scotland, PA, featuring a Book by Michael Mitnick and Music & Lyrics by Adam Gwon, directed by Lonny Price and choreographed by Josh Rhodes. Scotland, PA is Gwon's Roundabout commission following the debut of his musical Ordinary Days at Roundabout Underground.

IFC Center today announced an impressive and wide-ranging lineup for the third annual Split Screens Festival (www.splitscreensfestival.com) taking place Wednesday, May 29 through Monday, June 3, 2019, at the IFC Center in New York City. The festival consists of special events offering a variety of looks at history, identity and the mystery of existence itself, including panels on series that explore dystopian realities and alternate timelines, and screenings that transport us into any number of time periods and places, be it a late-1800s South Dakota town or the height of 1980s ballroom culture in New York City.

After announcing their upcoming mixtape The Deathbed Sessions and unleashing their brutal track 'Fear' last month, Cursed Earth have backed it up with their new single 'Torch' which premiered on triple j's The Racket on Tuesday. Where 'Fear' featured Matt Honeycutt (Kublai Khan) delivering vocals, 'Torch' pins The Amity Affliction's Joel Birch at the helm of vocal duties. Spitting guttural lyrics dipped in Cursed Earth's scathing brand of metal, 'Torch' is The Deathbed Sessions most blistering track of all. 

It's another busy weekend in Nashville - but when is Music City not packed with events, festivals, affairs? - and we're back with our Critic's Choice recommendations to have you cut through the theatrical flotsam and jetsam and find a cultural opening that's a good fit for your harried lifestyle. Nashville Opera opens its staging of Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock at Noah Liff Opera Center, Way Off Broadway Productions unveils its version of Les Liaisons Dangereuses at Music Valley Event Center, Street Theatre Company invites you to the see their staging of Lynn Nottage's Sweat at their new venue on Elm Hill Pike and Nashville Rep continues its celebration of 10 years of The Ingram New Works Festival at Nashville Children's Theatre.