Michael Brown News

As part of the kick-off event for the 2016 Kennedy Center (KC) American College Theater Festival, a special preview of the EVERY 28 HOURS PLAYS will be performed and livestreamed as part of KC's Millennium Stage Series. The preview consists of an excerpt of the collection with more than 30 one-minute plays inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, with participation by theater makers and institutions across the nation and showcases the creative outcome of a community outreach residency in Ferguson and St. Louis County, Missouri in the fall of 2015.

Park Square presents Wonderlust Production's Six Characters In Search Of An Author: an engagement of Pirandello's 94 year old, world-rocking, classic through the lens of social media, celebrity, and unscripted TV in an original reality television show, The Maze. Audiences aren't just coming to a play; they'll be the live, in-studio guests during filming for a reality show, and live-tweeting throughout.

The University of Washington School of Drama continues their 75th Anniversary Season with playwright and novelist Kia Corthron's explosive socio-political drama, Force Continuum. Second-year MFA directing candidate Malika Oyetimein will helm the project, which she chose for very personal reasons.

Two Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition winners have been awarded Avery Fisher career grants, a cash prize given to young artists on the verge of major careers. This year grants of $25,000 are presented to violinists Alexi Kenney, Tessa Lark, and Sean Lee, cellist Jay Campbell, and pianist George Li.

SHOWTUNES Theatre Company leaps over the rainbow and finds a pot of gold with the second concert of their 16th season. The rarely produced FINIAN'S RAINBOW runs just after St. Patrick's Day, for two performances, today and tomorrow, March 19 at 8pm and March 20 at 2pm in Benaroya Hall's Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall. This 70-year-old musical is filled with beautiful songs and powerful themes that resonate today with renewed depth and relevance.

When Jackie Sibblies Drury wrote WE ARE PROUD TO PRESENT A PRESENTATION ABOUT THE HERERO OF NAMIBIA, FORMERLY KNOWN AS SOUTHWEST AFRICA, FROM THE GERMAN SUDWESTAFRIKA, BETWEEN THE YEARS 1884-1915 (yes, that's the complete title), in 2012, she couldn't have known the maelstrom that would be upon us in 2016. Since the shooting of Michael Brown led to protests in Ferguson, Missouri, race relations in the United States have been declining. According to a survey, they're currently at their worst in recent history.

SHOWTUNES Theatre Company leaps over the rainbow and finds a pot of gold with the second concert of their 16th season. The rarely produced FINIAN'S RAINBOW runs just after St. Patrick's Day, for two performances, March 19 at 8pm and March 20 at 2pm in Benaroya Hall's Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall. This 70-year-old musical is filled with beautiful songs and powerful themes that resonate today with renewed depth and relevance.

The Lark, a 22-year-old play development lab dedicated to expanding the range of perspectives represented on stage in the United States, is proud to announce the continuation of its partnership with The New Black Fest, a theater organization celebrating provocative storytelling, film and discussion from the African Diaspora.

The Chicago Humanities Festival (CHF) announces the launch of the 2016 Spring Festival,Style, with more than 20 programs taking place in and around Chicago April 28-May 1. Exploring how style shapes who we are as individuals and what we value across cultures, CHF is making the bold statement, 'style matters.' 

The Metropolitan Museum recently announced new performances and talks as part of the spring 2016 season. Leading with live arts by visionary artists, the 2015-16 season has presented unexpected and adventurous offerings in new spaces, and this spring, that line of singular programming will continue with newly added events.

The Broadway at Birdland concert series was proud to present composer/lyricist Neil Bartram and an extraordinary cast of singers in 'New Songs For A New Year' on Monday, January 4 at 7pm. Scroll down for photos from the concert!

The Broadway at Birdland concert series is proud to announce that multiple Drama Desk Award nominated composer/lyricist Neil Bartram will be bringing 'New Songs For A New Year' to the historic music room on Monday, January 4 at 7pm. 

Norm Lewis finished his Feinstein's/54Below 5 night run last night, on Christmas Eve. Norm's show, NORM LEWIS WISHES YOU A SWINGIN' CHRISTMAS, played to packed houses and the venue had an amazing week, with Michael Feinstein also making his debut at the newly namesaked club, doing the 7:00 P.M. shows and Norm conquering the 9:30 slot. By the way, Mr. Feinstein plays through the 30th, while Norm enjoys his Christmas Holiday and then can find him at the Smith Center in Las Vegas, on New Year's Eve with friends Patina Miller, Capathia Jenkins, Eric Bergen and Clint Holmes.

Actor's Express will kick of 2016 with an electrifying production of the eight-time Tony Award winner and Sondheim masterpiece Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Rehearsals started this week at The 5th Avenue Theatre for the exultant classic musical, Rodgers & Hammerstein's The Sound of Music, the iconic show sweeping Seattle for the holidays. Boasting such beloved songs as 'Do Re Mi,' 'My Favorite Things,' 'Sixteen Going on Seventeen,' and 'Climb Ev'ry Mountain,' this production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's The Sound of Music will be presented as only The 5th can do, complete with a sensational live orchestra, stunning costumes, and incredible sets. Under the direction of David Bennett and with choreography by Trina Mills and music direction by Kat Sherrell, this musical will feature an exuberant all-local cast of fresh faces and favorite performers that includes Anne Allgood as the Mother Abbess, joining the previously announced David Pichette as Max Detweiler and Jessica Skerritt as the Baroness Elsa Schraeder, with Hans Altwies as Captain Georg von Trapp and Kirsten deLohr Helland as Maria.

NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts will present the New York Premire of The Minstrel Show Revisited, a reworking of Donald Byrd's 1991 Bessie Award-winning dance/theater production that takes a satirical look at the derogatory song and dance tradition of minstrelsy and illuminates the lingering scars of racial, religious and sexual bigotry.  There will be a free a post-show discussion and Q&A with artists from Spectrum Dance Theater after each performance.

NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts will present the N.Y. premiere of The Minstrel Show Revisited, a reworking of the Tony-nominated Donald Byrd's 1991 Bessie Award-winning theatrical confrontation of America's cultural racism, running tonight, October 28, through October 30, 2015.

Crossroads Theatre Company is taking part this week in 'Every 28 Hours,' an examination of black lives in America through drama with a focus on last year's events in Ferguson, Mo. The weeklong event in St. Louis is a collaborative project of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) and the One-Minute Play Festival. Its title refers to a widely shared statistic: Every 28 hours in America, a black person is killed by police.

The 50th season of Lincoln Center's Great Performers series and the sixth season of its White Light Festival commence on October 14 with tenor Mark Padmore and pianist Paul Lewis in the first of three highly-anticipated Schubert song recitals.