Michael Levin News

Acorn Productions, a non-profit theater company based in the Dana Warp Mill in downtown Westbrook, produces the company's fourth Jewish-themed holiday production this December in the Acorn Studio Theater. Acorn's founder and Board member Michael Levine wrote the script, which takes a humorous look at a very common dilemma faced by modern couples: how to reconcile a fast-paced twenty-first century life with spiritual needs. Charlene and David lead a fast-paced urban lifestyle that leaves little room for their spiritual life.

Acorn Productions, a non-profit theater company based in the Dana Warp Mill in downtown Westbrook, presents a new work by the company's Fairy Tale Players, a group of experienced students from the company's Acorn Acting Academy.

Acorn Productions is pleased to announce that they have hired two new staff members for the coming season, and expanded the job descriptions of two current staff members as part of a staff reorganization that better allows the company to operate its educational programs and production season. The new staff structure will better provide the support necessary to produce Acorn's season, comprised of three children's theater presentations by the Fairy Tale Players, the company's annual Jewish-themed holiday show, the 13th edition of the Maine Playwrights Festival, and more ongoing free performances by Naked Shakespeare. Additionally, the Acorn Acting Academy will offer four semesters of classes and summer camps as well as the second year of our Acorn Shakespeare Conservatory. Acorn has also just begun a new partnership with the Westbrook Community Center that involves afterschool educational theatre classes and performances through the 21st Century Grant program. For more information, contact Acorn Productions at 854-0065 or visit www.acorn-productions.org.

After a one-year absence, Acorn Productions once again offers area residents a chance to see live Shakespeare in downtown Westbrook's pastoral Riverbank Pank, located along the Presumpscot River on Main Street. This year's Riverbank Shakespeare Festival features two productions: The War of the Roses, directed by Michael Levine, and The Tempest, directed by Karen Ball and featuring the teen actors in Acorn's Young Actors Shakespeare Conservatory. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast below!

The old adage that the show must go on was put to the test at Hudson Theatre during the opening night performance of Jonathan Larson's musical RENT presented by the 2Cents Theatre Group. Not only did the air conditioning go out, the sound equipment was on the blink! Even so, the produciton still packs a punch.

2Cents Theatre Group has announced its production of Rent, Jonathan Larson's legendary Broadway smash hit, which is now celebrating its 20th anniversary. Directed by Kristen Boule, with musical direction by Morgan Fitch, Rent is set to open today, May 24. Private Eyes by Steven Dietz, directed by Shaunessy Quinn, opens on Thursday, May 30, and it will run in repertory with Rent, through June 30 at the Hudson Theatre Mainstage in Hollywood.

2Cents Theatre Group has announced that its production of Rent, Jonathan Larson's legendary Broadway smash hit that is now celebrating its 20th anniversary, will benefit four different HIV/AIDS research and support organizations during its run. Beginning on May 30, a percentage of each weekend's gross sales will be donated to AIDS Project Los Angeles, AIDS Research Alliance, Being Alive, and Alliance for Housing and Healing. Directed by Kristen Boule, with musical direction by Morgan Fitch, Rent opens on Friday, May 24.

2Cents Theatre Group has announced its production of Rent, Jonathan Larson's legendary Broadway smash hit, which is now celebrating its 20th anniversary. Directed by Kristen Boule, with musical direction by Morgan Fitch, Rent is set to open on Friday, May 24. Private Eyes by Steven Dietz, directed by Shaunessy Quinn, opens on Thursday, May 30, and it will run in repertory with Rent, through June 30 at the Hudson Theatre Mainstage in Hollywood.

In an era dominated by large corporations and the decline of American manufacturing, a new film, 'Streit's: Matzo and the American Dream', being funded through Kickstarter, seeks to tell the story of a thriving fifth generation family manufacturing business

The Stratford Festival gratefully acknowledges the support of the provincial government through Celebrate Ontario, which has just announced funding of more than $1 million to support the 2013 season's productions of The Merchant of Venice, Fiddler on the Roof and Tommy.

Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF) is proud to announce its 2013 annual festival themed Magnetic, as well as its partnership with TBWAChiatDay New York and WiMO Reality to produce Expand Your View, a mobile app campaign that drives awareness of the festival and ticket sales through innovative and artistic film code visuals. Check out the 2013 Brooklyn Film Festival trailer below!

The Stratford Festival has announced that comedians Albert Howell, Elvira Kurt and Matt Watts will be part of this season's Forum, joining the impressive lineup of comics already confirmed for June 13's Stand Off, featuring Sean Cullen, Chris Gibbs and Sharon Matthews.

The Canadian Opera Company closes its 2012/2013 season with a production of Francis Poulenc's operatic masterpiece, Dialogues des Carmelites, described by Variety as "subtle, yet gut-wrenching." Internationally renowned Canadian director Robert Carsen returns to the COC for a third consecutive season to direct a cast of 161 performers, led by three Canadian opera stars: Isabel Bayrakdarian, Adrianne Pieczonka andJudith Forst. COC Music Director Johannes Debus makes his fourth conducting appearance of the 12/13 season leading his first Dialogues des Carmelites. He conducts the COC Orchestra and Chorus through what is considered to be Poulenc's most haunting score and a work that contains one of opera's most devastating and unforgettable final scenes. Dialogues des Carmelites is sung in French with English SURTITLES. Last performed by the COC in 1997, the opera returns to the company for eight performances at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on May 8, 11, 14, 17, 19, 21, 23 and 25, 2013.

With over 400 years of history, legend, and pop culture as its sources, Little Lord reconstructs the American myth of Pocahontas in their fifth full-length stage work, Pocahontas, and/or America. Taking up the mantle of the early 19th-century dramatists who invented the American theater, Pocahontas, and/or America recreates our country's origins through the lens of the immortal Indian princess, belle sauvage, Pocahontas. Using contemporary historical accounts, 19th-century melodramas, YMCA Indian guides, archaeological research, and more, Little Lord digs into disputed histories to find out if it's still even possible to make a patriotic piece of theater.

Naked Shakespeare, Acorn Productions' acting company dedicated to presenting the works of the Bard in non-traditional venues without sets, lights, and costumes, has decided to offer another edition of its monthly shows at the Wine Bar on Wharf Street in March. 'The Apprentice Showcase' features short selections of text performed by first-year students in the new Acorn Shakespeare Conservatory, which began training work last fall.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2013-14 season will feature many of the world's greatest singers, conductors, and theater artists in 26 operas, including six new productions, of a varied repertory that ranges from the Baroque era to the 21st century. Met Music Director James Levine will return to the Met podium for the first time in two years, conducting three operas with which he has long been associated: a new production of Verdi's final masterpiece Falstaff, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, and Berg's Wozzeck. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi will be conducting two operas in the 2013-14 season, Rossini's La Cenerentola and Puccini's Madama Butterfly.

Acorn Productions, a non-profit organization dedicated to nurturing and developing the Southern Maine community of performing artists, has selected the scripts for this year's twelfth annual Maine Playwrights Festival (MPF).