Motley News

J. R. Gregg's book, 'Surviving Custer: A Novel' (published by iUniverse), stems from his lifelong fascination with the American frontier.

Annabella Sciorra heads the cast of Downtown Race Riot, a portrait of a city and a boy in crisis written by Seth Zvi Rosenfeld, tonight, June 26-July 7, 2013.

Summit Entertainment has released the first clip for RED 2, the July 19 sequel starring Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Byung Hun Lee, Brian Cox and Neal McDonough. Check it out, via Yahoo! Movies, below!

Spooky-wicked Southern California-based horror rockerCharacula (www.characula.com) continues her trailblazing, dimension busting ways, scoring her first ever Hollywood Music in Media Awards (HMMA)nomination.

The 52nd Street Project is a not-for-profit, community-based theater company that for the past thirty years has been bringing the kids of New York City's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood together with adult theater professionals to create original theater and to establish long-term mentoring relationships.

The judges and participants of FOX's hit reality series MASTERCHEF got a whole new education this week thanks to Sue Sylvester herself, Jane Lynch, as well as the rest of the Glee gang joining in for a gleek-tastic episode worth remembering.

Having only ever seen an amateur production of a Gilbert and Sullivan piece, I was very much looking forward to seeing The Scottish Opera and D'Oyly Carte production at the Bristol Hippodrome.

Gorilla Tango Burlesque's (GTB) extremely popular Star Wars parody, A NUDE HOPE: A STAR WARS BURLESQUE celebrates its second anniversary this July 9.

The 52nd Street Project is a not-for-profit, community-based theater company that for the past thirty years has been bringing the kids of New York City's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood together with adult theater professionals to create original theater and to establish long-term mentoring relationships.

The Ruckus Theater is excited to announce its upcoming world premiere of Facing Angela. First written ten years ago and re-imagined through a recent workshop with The Ruckus, Facing Angela is written by Season 4 featured playwright Scott T. Barsotti and is directed by Kyra Lewandowski. The cast of six is a motley crew of Ruckus regulars and Chicago theater favorites. Facing Angela will be performed at the Athenaeum Theatre (2936 N. Southport) June 29-July 28, 2013. Thursday- Saturday performances are at 8:00pm; Sunday performances are at 2pm. In observance of Independence Day, there will not be a show on July 4. There will be an industry performance on Mon. July 8 at 8pm. Preview tickets on June 27 and June 28 are $12. General tickets are $17. A complete performance schedule including dates, times, and ticket prices appears at the end of this release.

GreenStage, Seattle's longest-operating Shakespeare company, celebrates its 25th season in 2013 with two of the Bard's favorites for the summer Shakespeare in the Park season, and a new Backyard Bard series of scaled-down productions for smaller parks and other venues. Our silver-anniversary season will be our most exciting and biggest yet, with nearly 60 performances in 22 different parks from July 12-Aug. 18. As always, GreenStage performances will be absolutely free of charge. Go see a play!

The Ruckus Theater is excited to announce its upcoming world premiere of Facing Angela. First written ten years ago and re-imagined through a recent workshop with The Ruckus, Facing Angela is written by Season 4 featured playwright Scott T. Barsotti and is directed by Kyra Lewandowski. The cast of six is a motley crew of Ruckus regulars and Chicago theater favorites. Facing Angela will be performed at the Athenaeum Theatre (2936 N. Southport) June 29-July 28, 2013. All performances are at 8:00pm. In observance of Independence Day, there will not be a show on July 4. There will be an industry performance on Mon. July 8 at 8pm. Preview tickets on June 27 and June 28 are $12. General tickets are $17.

The regional premiere of the Broadway hit comedy 'CHINGLISH,' by Tony Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly) opens May 9th at the Asia Society Texas Center's Brown Foundation Performing Arts Theater. The famous comedy about the challenges of Americans doing business in China will be presented by Black Lab Theatre in collaboration with Asia Society Texas Center and feature a member of the original Broadway and international cast. CHINGLISH will open May 9, 2013 and run through May 26, 2013.

4TH WALL THEATRE closes its 16th season with the comedy Lucky Stiff, the first musical by one of Broadway's hottest writing teams, Lynn Ahrens (book and lyrics) and Stephen Flaherty (music). This musical farce is based on the book The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo by Michael Butterworth. First produced at Playwrights Horizons off-Broadway (Richard Rodgers Award) the show later went on to win Washington's Helen Hayes Award for Best Musical.

SUNSET STRIP MUSIC FESTIVAL (SSMF) organizers today announced that the sixth annual festival will be headlined by LINKIN PARK at the Saturday, August 3 street festival on the famed Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood.

Joe's Pub at The Public welcomes world premieres, highly-anticipated debuts and the return of many esteemed performers this May and June. Funny girl JULIE KLAUSNER makes her debut with two evenings of cabaret. Legendary downtown performance artist JOHN KELLY returns to premiere Rebel Songs. The 60s-inspired flight attendant PAM ANN returns for five nights in the Cockpit. Elsewhere: Tony Award-winners TONYA PINKINS and LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA, Once star CRISTIN MILIOTI, TAYLOR MAC'S epic exploration of popular music, a special appearance from Justin Vivian Bond, JOEY ARIAS, the greatest rapper in the world, CHAMPAGNE JERRY and more. Read on for more May and June cabaret, comedy, Broadway and musical theater highlights at Joe's Pub at The Public.

Vision Films, a worldwide distributor of independent films, has announced today that the company has secured worldwide distribution rights to former Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan's auto-biographical documentary, IT'S SO EASY AND OTHER LIES. Based on the New York Times best seller about Duff's life, the film, which is written and directed by Christopher Duddy (“Cougar Club”), and is produced by McKagan, Duddy and Rainstorm Entertainment's Steven G. Kaplan (“The Big Empty”). The film is executive produced by Daniel Zirilli (“Locked Down”), Joe Mundo (“Sunset Strip”) and Kati Thomson (“Sunset Strip”).

The regional premiere of the Broadway hit comedy 'CHINGLISH,' by Tony Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly) opens tonight, May 9th at the Asia Society Texas Center's Brown Foundation Performing Arts Theater. The famous comedy about the challenges of Americans doing business in China will be presented by Black Lab Theatre in collaboration with Asia Society Texas Center and feature a member of the original Broadway and international cast. CHINGLISH will open tonight, May 9, 2013 and run through May 26, 2013.

Gravitas Ventures will release '1st NIGHT' in select theaters and on VOD day/date today, May 3rd. This quintessential English comedy stars Richard E. Grant, Sarah Brightman, Mia Maestro, and Julian Ovenden and is directed by Christopher Menaul. The film is written by Christopher Menaul and Jeremy Sams.

Summit Entertainment has debuted the first trailer for RED 2, the July 19 sequel starring Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Byung Hun Lee, Brian Cox and Neal McDonough. Get a first look below!