Melissa Maxwell News

FRIGID New York @ Horse Trade in association with Manhattan Theatre Source will present the 2017 EstroGenius Festival, a multimedia and multi-genre performance festival showcasing dynamic, diverse female voices from a variety of disciplines, May 6-28 at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery).

LITTLE WOMEN is a musical with a book by Allan Knee, lyrics by Mindi Dickstein, and music by Jason Howland. Workshop productions were presented at Duke University in 2001 and 2004 and the Broadway production opened at the Virginia Theatre on January 23, 2005. Based on the classic 1869 Louisa May Alcott semi-autobiographical novel, LITTLE WOMEN focuses on the four March sisters: aspiring writer Jo (Lilly Lane Stafford), romantic Meg (Caroline Kinnamore), the easily hurt Amy (Maddie Dennison), and kind Beth (Emily McIntyre) as well as their beloved Marmee (Maddrey Blackwood.) The women are at the family home in Concord, Massachusetts while their father is away during the Civil War. The musical begins with Jo trying to sell her stories in New York but soon brings Jo back home. While the events and timing of things aren't exactly the same as in the novel; Allan Knee's script, for the most part, is expertly condensed Alcott retaining the spirit of the characters. Jason Howland's music is pleasant, if rather unmemorable, riffing musical theatre numbers out of period waltzes, polkas, and quadrilles; supported by Mindi Dickstein's rather unmemorable lyrics. The end result feels like a lesser known Rogers & Hammerstein musical. It's just good old fashioned squeaky clean family fun.

International Women Artists' Salon today announced an evening of revolution showcasing artists from the worlds of music, poetry, theater, painting, dance, film, and animation, premiering Saturday, August 20 at 7:30PM at Dixon Place, located at 161 Chrystie Street. Admission to the hour-long event is free.

Manhattan Theatre Source will present the 16th EstroGenius Festival, a multimedia performance festival showcasing female voices from a variety of disciplines, today, March 9, through March 27 at 4th Street Theatre (83 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery).

Manhattan Theatre Source will present the 16th EstroGenius Festival, a multimedia performance festival showcasing female voices from a variety of disciplines, March 9 - March 27 at 4th Street Theatre (83 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery).

Now in it's seventh season, the Obie Award winning The Fire This Time Festival is pleased to announce the panelists for their So You Want to Direct? Panel Discussion on Monday, January 18 at 7pm at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery). Admission to the event is FREE. 

My lists for the best plays/musicals in St. Louis is in chronological order. I'm not limiting myself to any specific number of entries either. These are simply the best productions and performances in various categories that I witnessed during a packed year filled with companies closing and new ones opening. It continues to be a great time to be a theater-goer in our town, with many, many choices of quality shows available for your viewing pleasure on any given day or evening. My favorite show among all thesel selections just might be Upstream Theater's THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER. My son and I attended, and were simply delighted by the mix of music and drama occurring on stage. It was a magical experience that I was able to share with my then nine year old little boy, and we both highly recommend that you check out the band Sleepy Kitty.

off the WALL Productions opens its 2015-16 season and celebrates the return of playwright Andrea Lepcio (Looking for the Pony) with the World Premiere of her play Tunnel Vision. A multi-layered celebration of the Feminine, Lepcio examines many of the daily challenges women face as well as those issues that are, typically, solely female: the struggle to balance motherhood with the desire to have a career, the stigma that comes with not choosing the traditional path assigned our gender, the hypercritical judgment we place on ourselves in comparison to our female peers, the difficulty we find in truly loving ourselves, and the fear that sometimes comes in loving each other.

Geva Theatre Center unveils its line-up for the Festival of New Theatre 2015 to be held in the Fielding Nextstage from October 21 - November 1. FONT 2015 is a vibrant and innovative mix of new works by some of the most exciting playwrights from across the country and around the corner and is part of Geva's ongoing commitment to developing and producing new work for the American theatre. 

Jeffrey Harmon Smith, an escapee from the legal profession, brings his inimitable style to songs from the theatre and pop music scenes. JEFFREY HARMON SMITH! 'AUDITION SONGS' is set for The Duplex Cabaret Theater, located at 61 Christopher Street (at the corner of 7th Avenue) tonight, August 6th, 7:00PM.

Jeffrey Harmon Smith, an escapee from the legal profession, brings his inimitable style to songs from the theatre and pop music scenes. JEFFREY HARMON SMITH! 'AUDITION SONGS' is set for The Duplex Cabaret Theater, located at 61 Christopher Street (at the corner of 7th Avenue) on Thursday August 6th, 7:00PM.

There's a lot happening at off the WALL!  As of July of 2015, Hans and Virginia Wall Gruenert, co-founders of off the WALL Performing Arts Center, have donated the building at 25 W. Main St., Carnegie to the off the WALL Charitable Trust. The not-for-profit venue will be renamed Carnegie Stage, as their nod to a supportive community.  The anchor tenants will continue to be off the WALL Productions, whose main theater season is October to May, fireWALL dance theater with two new works annually and the Pittsburgh New Works Festival.

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU), and Cate Cammarata present the final reading in the 2015 TRU Voices Series: searchers.net, a computer dating extravaganzaby T. Cat Ford, on Monday, June 29, 2015 at 7pm at the SoHo Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street, NYC. searchers.net features Brad Bellamy, Laurence Cantor, Mark Finley, Melissa Hurst, Les J. N. Mau, and Patricia Randell.

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU), Molly Morris and Patrick Blake present The Hummingbirds by Garret Jon Groenveld on Monday, June 22, 2015 at 7pm at the SoHo Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street, NYC. This two-hander will now feature acclaimed actors Ellen McLaughlin and Eric Berryman and will be directed as a staged reading by Eric Tucker (Wall Street Journal Director of The Year, 2014).

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU), Patrick Blake, and Rhymes Over Beats present Echoes of Octaviaby Michelle T. Johnson on Monday, June 15, 2015 at 7pm at the SoHo Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street, NYC. Echoes of Octavia is directed by Brent Buell and features Onyi Okoli, Tyson Hall, Nina Yvette Coleman, Erick Carter, Torre Reigns, Jada Castillo, Alisha Espinosa. The play takes place in Octavia's Diner, a cozy, family-owned soul food restaurant in the middle of a black neighborhood in the Midwest. Zora, the business mind of the diner, receives the offer of a lifetime - a chance to write a book about the legendary sci-fi author Octavia Butler. She'd have to move half way across the country to work on it, but her father wants her to stay and run the diner. She's torn between family duty and her dream.

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) presents The 2015 TRU Voices Play Reading Series, the 17th annual series of new plays by TRU writers produced by TRU producers on consecutive Mondays: June 15, 22, and 29, 2015 at 7pm at the SoHo Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street, NYC. The series is followed by the 'Dollars and Sense' panels on producing featuring prominent commercial producers, artistic directors and general managers.

America has a rich history, some of which, of course, we'd all prefer to forget. But, to ignore them can just lead to repeating them, and we all should know better than that by now. However, it's important that we continue to mine the events of the past in order to enlighten and provoke discussion. This is the very thing that Keith Josef Adkins' brilliant work SAFE HOUSE does with a considerable amount of power and conviction. It's a story set in Kentucky in 1843, when slavery was still very much a resident evil that ruled the land, even though there were African Americans who were freeborn. The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis is currently presenting this new play, and as they always seem to have a knack for doing, it's done in a completely compelling and infinitely memorable fashion that makes for a truly moving and enriching experience.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis continues the 2014-2015 Studio Theatre series with Safe House by Keith Josef Adkins and directed by Melissa Maxwell. This compelling production will be performed in the Emerson Studio Theatre of the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts, 130 Edgar Road (on the campus of Webster University), Webster Groves, today, January 21-February 8, 2015.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis continues the 2014-2015 Studio Theatre series with Safe House by Keith Josef Adkins and directed by Melissa Maxwell. This compelling production will be performed in the Emerson Studio Theatre of the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts, 130 Edgar Road (on the campus of Webster University), Webster Groves, January 21-February 8, 2015.