Monique News

PUPPETS is the cabaret show devised and performed by Oliva Ruggerio about the perils of modern dating in the online domain.

The Drama League (Artistic Director Gabriel Stelian-Shanks, Executive Director Bevin Ross) has opened the 2023-2024 applications for its acclaimed umbrella of service programs, collectively called The Directors Project. These programs, which for the last four decades have provided unparalleled industry-leading production opportunities, career development, and professional growth, give early and mid-career directors paid fellowships, residencies to develop new works, and assistantships at major theatrical institutions.  

Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) has announced complete casting for the 38th Marathon of One-Act Plays, which will be fully comprised of work from artists who identify as Black, Indigenous & People of Color (BIPOC). This year's selection of eleven plays was curated by Co-Artistic Directors Mike Lew (Teenage Dick) and Colette Robert (Behind the Sheet). Ten plays will be presented across two different series from Sunday October 16 through Sunday November 13 at EST.

Theatre Under The Stars has announced the cast of the brand-new musical, The Secret of My Success. Leading off the cast is Ben Fankhauser as “Brantley Foster” and Ashley Blanchet, as “Christy Lockhart.”

Parent Artist Advocacy League (PAAL) and Blackboard Plays have announced the casting for the 2nd Annual Black Motherhood and Parenting New Play Festival, taking place virtually from October 20 - November 14, 2022.  

A new quintet of cast members will soon become the newest wives of Henry VIII in hit West End musical, SIX, as the show extends its run at the Vaudeville Theatre with tickets now on sale up to October 2023.

On the heels of a successful opening weekend and rave reviews for live productions of Rossini's Otello and Toshio Hosokawa's The Raven, Opera Philadelphia's Festival O continues this week with the first Opera on Film series, featuring more than 30 cinematic operas presented in 12 screenings at the Philadelphia Film Center.

Fats Waller is one of the many black artists over the centuries whose music still permeates popular culture. His stylistic rhythms are part the foundation of the quintessential American sound and it is due to this that his musical revue AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’ is a tremendous work of art. TUTS season opening production not only does his music incredibly justice but also provides a night of theater that one simply will never forget. 

Los Angeles-based dance company Heidi Duckler Dance (HDD) has announced its 37th Annual Celebration, The Body of the People, on Saturday, October 22, 2022 at 5pm at Founder's Church of Religious Science designed by the distinguished Los Angeles architect Paul R. Williams. 

In its 12th year, The Outstanding Filipino American Awards (TOFA), founded by journalist Elton Lugay, were still brimming with historic firsts. From the Carnegie Hall on 56th Street, TOFA’s venue has moved down 13 streets to the Town Hall. TOFA has also launched its newest sets of excellence in leadership awards: the Lifetime Achievement Awards, endorsed by President Joe Biden, and the Global Awards. Remarkably, it was also the first time an incumbent mayor of the city has physically graced a Fil-Am event.

Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, Lucas Grabeel, Bart Johnson, Alyson Reed and Kaycee Stroh will play themselves, resurrecting their “High School Musical” roles as “Chad Danforth,” “Taylor McKessie,” “Ryan Evans,” “Coach Jack Bolton,” “Ms. Darbus” and “Martha Cox,” respectively, and the Wildcats will play featured extras in the movie.

Parent Artist Advocacy League (PAAL) and Blackboard Plays have announced the festival programming for the nationally recognized 2nd Annual Black Motherhood and Parenting New Play Festival, taking place virtually from October 20 - November 14, 2022.

For the first time, Miller Auditorium and The Kalamazoo Kittens bring drag brunch to Miller Auditorium's stage.  Join Monique Madison, Alexa Vogel, Amira Spade, Velma Violet, Betty J Madison and Reba Rose Rau as The Kittens take to the stage to celebrate HAIRSPRAY, coming to Miller, November 4-5.  They will be performing some of your favorites from the show, as well as many other numbers.

After a virtual ceremony in 2020 and a pandemic-induced silence in 2021, The Stage Debut Awards have finally returned in all their glitz and glamour the day before the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Stage veterans and shooting starlets gathered to celebrate their debuts and, after a nationwide minute of silence at eight sharp, Susan Wokoma kicked off the festivities.

After its critically acclaimed run in both New York and Los Angeles, Robert Galinsky will kick off a 2022-23 College tour of his hit show The Bench beginning September 30 at 4 PM at the Dana Center (Rundlett Hill Rd, Manchester, NH 03102) Saint Anselm College as part of their annual “Fresh Check Day” - mental health promotion & suicide prevention event.

What did our critic think of LEAR at Cal Shakes?

Antaeus Theatre Company presents the Los Angeles premiere of Everybody, a funny, provocative and very modern riff on a 15th-century morality play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Jennifer Chang. Performances take place at Glendale’s Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center from September 16 through October 17. Check out photos here!

WRITE OUT LOUD, an organization founded in 2007 with a commitment to inspire, challenge and entertain by reading literature aloud for audiences of all ages, announces the 5th Annual San Diego PoeFest, in performance from October 14th - 30th at the Villa Montezuma Museum in Sherman Heights.

CENTRAL WORKS 2022 SEASON will conclude with a new comedy from the Central Works Writers Workshop The Museum Annex written by Mildred Inez Lewis, playing Oct 15 - Nov 13 at the historic Berkeley City Club.

Next up at the Antaeus Theatre Company the Los Angeles premiere of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Everybody September 16, 2022 (with previews beginning September 11th). Jennifer Chang directs the cast of Anne Gee Byrd, Dawn Didawick, Lisa Sanaye Dring, Cherish Monique Duke, Nicole Erb, Harry Groener, Alberto Isaac, Antonio Jaramillo and Gerard Joseph. I got the chance to finally interview Anne after all these years of seeing her wow her audiences on the Los Angeles stages.