Olivia Thirlby News

The talented Heidi Blickenstaff took the stage at the renowned Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts.

Amazon Studios took to the stage at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour in Beverly Hills today to showcase their fall lineup.

Multi-platinum recording artist Dwight Yoakam has been cast in Amazon Original Series GOLIATH (formerly known as Trial).

Nina Arianda has signed on to be a series regular in Amazon's upcoming original drama series TRIAL from executive producer David E. Kelley.

Usdan (www.usdan.org), the nationally acclaimed summer arts day camp that for almost 50 years has introduced the arts to more than 40,000 children, announces the first Visit/Info Event in 2016, on Sunday January 10 from 11 AM to 2 PM. The new season begins Monday June 27, 2016.

Usdan (www.usdan.com), the nationally acclaimed summer arts day camp that for almost 50 years has introduced the arts to more than 40,000 children, announces the beginning of enrollment for the 2016 season, beginning Monday November 16, 2015. The new season begins Monday June 27, 2016.

Sixteen visual arts students from Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts have been selected as prizewinners in the 2015 Embracing Our Differences competition, sponsored by the Suffolk Center on the Holocaust, Diversity and Human Understanding, Inc.   The winning works will be exhibited from October 28 to November 8 at the South Ocean Middle School, 225 South Ocean Avenue in Patchogue, Long Island. 

Usdan (www.usdan.org), the nationally acclaimed summer arts day camp that for almost 50 years has introduced the arts to more than 60,000 children, announces its schedule of Information Events and Campus Visits for the summer 2016 season.

Sixteen visual arts students from Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts have been selected as prizewinners in the 2015 Embracing Our Differences competition, sponsored by the Suffolk Center on the Holocaust, Diversity and Human Understanding, Inc.   The winning works will be exhibited from October 28 to November 8 at the South Ocean Middle School, 225 South Ocean Avenue in Patchogue, Long Island. 

Geffen Playhouse presents the West Coast premiere of THESE PAPER BULLETS! A Modish Ripoff of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, opening the not-for-profit organization's 20th anniversary season in the Gil Cates Theater. Written by Pulitzer Prize finalist and Emmy Award nominated writer Rolin Jones (Friday Night Lights, Boardwalk Empire) with songs by Grammy Award winner Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong and staged by Jackson Gay, THESE PAPER BULLETS! was commissioned by Yale Repertory Theatre where it premiered in 2014.

Geffen Playhouse presents the West Coast premiere of THESE PAPER BULLETS! A Modish Ripoff of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, opening the not-for-profit organization's 20th anniversary season in the Gil Cates Theater. Written by Pulitzer Prize finalist and Emmy Award nominated writer Rolin Jones (Friday Night Lights, Boardwalk Empire) with songs by Grammy Award winner Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong and staged by Jackson Gay, THESE PAPER BULLETS! was commissioned by Yale Repertory Theatre where it premiered in 2014.

Variety.com reports that Olivia Thirlby has been cast in Amazon's legal drama “Trial'. She joins Billy Bob Thornton who is set to star in the David E. Kelley series.

Geffen Playhouse has announced the cast for its West Coast premiere of THESE PAPER BULLETS! A Modish Ripoff of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, opening the not-for-profit organization's 20th anniversary season in the Gil Cates Theater. Written by Pulitzer Prize finalist and Emmy Award nominated writer Rolin Jones (Friday Night Lights, Boardwalk Empire) with songs by Grammy Award winner Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong and staged by Jackson Gay, THESE PAPER BULLETS! was commissioned by Yale Repertory Theatre where it premiered in 2014.

Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, the renowned summer arts day camp now in its 48th season, will present its annual Gala tomorrow, August 5, at 6 PM at the McKinley Amphitheater on the Center's 200-acre woodland campus. There will be a 6 PM concert, followed by a 7:30 PM Gala Patron Dinner honoring Executive Director Dale Lewis; after 36 years at the Center, he is stepping down in the fall to direct the new Arts Reach Fund at Long Island Community Foundation.

Creative writing students ages 12 to 16 from Long Island¹s Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, the acclaimed summer arts day camp whose alumni include Natalie Portman, Mariah Carey, Jane Monheit, Taylor Dayne, Jackie Hoffman and Broadway playwright Michele Lowe, have joined for the third season with students of the same age from the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Summer Youth Program in a unique two-week joint workshop through July 31.

Creative writing students ages 12 to 16 from Long Island¹s Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, the acclaimed summer arts day camp whose alumni include Natalie Portman, Mariah Carey, Jane Monheit, Taylor Dayne, Jackie Hoffman and Broadway playwright Michele Lowe, have joined for the third season with students of the same age from the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Summer Youth Program in a unique two-week joint workshop through July 31.

Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, the renowned summer arts day camp, announces that Lauren Brandt Schloss will become Usdan¹s third Executive Director this fall. She will be Usdan¹s first female Executive and the first whose background is in the visual arts. Ms. Schloss will join the staff in June following her tenure as Executive Vice President at New York¹s Studio in a School and her previous position as Director of Education at the Queens Museum. She will succeed Dale Lewis, who following 36 years at Usdan will be leaving in September to direct the new Arts Reach Fund at Long Island Community Foundation.

The work of 23 visual arts students from Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, the nationally renowned summer arts day camp, will be exhibited today, May 7, through May 25 at the 7th floor gallery of the UJA-Federation at 130 East 59th Street (between Park-Lexington Avenues). The show, titled On Hope and Humankind, will feature painting, drawing, sculpture and multi-media work. It is the third and final exhibit in the largest series of off-site exhibits ever shown by the Long Island center, which for several years has displayed the work of its visual arts students on Long Island and New York City. The artists to be displayed were ages 10-18 when the works were created during the 2014 (the information included below are their current ages) season.

Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts (www.usdan.com), the nationally acclaimed summer arts day camp whose alumni include Natalie Portman, Mariah Carey, Jane Monheit, Jackie Hoffman, Olivia Thirlby, Taylor Dane and many others, will hold its final Open House for the 2015, 48th season on Sunday May 17 from 11 AM to 2 PM. The Center will feature new program options that will add breadth to Usdan's renowned offerings, while new calendar options will accommodate more family summer plans.