Robert Ollis News

Pride Films and Plays Executive Director David Zak today announced the remaining productions in the company's 2019-20 season a?" an eclectic mix of LGBTQIA+ themed plays and musicals that will include world, US, and Chicago premieres as well as revivals.

Pride Films and Plays will stage the first Chicago production in more than a decade of A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE, the heartwarming musical created by Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, and Terrence McNally, the team that wrote RAGTIME and ANASTASIA. A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE is based on a 1994 film starring Albert Finney as a Dublin bus conductor and features a gorgeous Irish-influenced score. Donterrio Johnson, the Jeff award-winning actor who directed PFP's BUYER AND CELLAR earlier this year and is currently appearing in THE SPITFIRE GRILL with American Blues Theater, will direct. Music direction is by Robert Ollis, who most recently music directed SOUTHERN COMFORT for Pride Films and Plays and was a 2019 Jeff nominee for his music direction of HAYMARKET: A NEW FOLK MUSICAL. Ollis was Music Director for the 2008 production of A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE, which earned five Jeff Award nominations for Bailiwick Repertory.

A preliminary list of performers for Pride Films and Plays annual NOMINEE NIGHT concert has been announced by PFP Artistic Associate Robert Ollis, presenting music director for the event. NOMINEE NIGHT, which showcases musical theater performers and productions nominated in the Non-Equity Jeff Awards, will be performed on Monday, May 13 at Sidetrack, 3349 N. Halsted. The lineup, which is subject to change up until show time, will include performers who were cast members of the five productions nominated for "Production of a Musical" or who received individual performance nominations.

The Jeff Awards announced today via a special video, a total of 132 nominations in 22 categories for the 46th Annual Non-Equity Jeff Awards.

Pride Films and Plays will again present its annual NOMINEE NIGHT concert showcasing musical theater performers and productions nominated in the 2019 Non-Equity Jeff Awards. PFP Artistic Associate Robert Ollis is the presenting music director for the event, which celebrates the vibrant Chicago musical theatre scene and is hosted by Sidetrack, 3349 N. Halsted on Monday, May 13th at 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 7), just before its popular Musical Monday show tune videos commence.

Full casting has been announced for Pride Films and Plays' production of SOUTHERN COMFORT. The musical will open to the press on March 4, 2019 in the Broadway theater of the Pride Arts Center and play through March 31.

November, 1964, for two nights only, two iconic performers came together to perform in song, mother and daughter live at the London Palladium, Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli. Nearly 54 years later, as their legacy lives on you can experience this concert at the Palace Theater in Wisconsin Dells.

The Wisconsin Dells - Judy & Liza: The London Palladium- A Tribute will make its theatrical debut at The Palace Theater in the Dells from October 12 through November 4, 2018 at 1 pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Sundays and 7 pm on Friday and Saturday nights.

Pride Films and Plays' annual fall benefit, SIMPLY SENSATIONAL, will feature Chicago native Jose Maxi Ramos, who had played the roles of John Laurens and Phillip Hamilton in the Chicago production of HAMILTON from its opening in September 2016 until late this past summer

Due to popular demand, Underscore Theatre Company, in association with Theater Wit, is pleased to announce two additional weeks of performances of its hit musical HAYMARKET, extending through Sunday, September 16, 2018 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago.

Pride Films and Plays will host a party saluting its upcoming 2018-19 five-show season on August 13 at My Buddy's, 4416 N. Clark (at Montrose), beginning at 7 pm. The event will include a meet and greet with Pride Films and Plays artists, including Artistic Director Nelson A. Rodriguez and the other directors of the five plays.

Following a successful five-week run at The Den Theatre's Heath Main Stage, Underscore Theatre Company, in association with Theater Wit is pleased to announce a transfer and extension of its hit musical HAYMARKET, the true story of Chicago's infamous Haymarket riot. HAYMARKET will play an additional four weeks of performances featuring the full original cast from August 3 - September 2, 2018 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago.

Underscore Theatre and The Den Theatre are pleased to present an all-new staging of the Jeff Award-nominated Best New Musical HAYMARKET (formerly Haymarket: The Anarchist's Songbook) the true story of Chicago's infamous Haymarket massacre. With book, music and lyrics by Alex Higgin-Houser and David Kornfeld, the actors accompany themselves to the stirring folk-infused score. Having spent the last two years workshopping the show, the authors alongside director Nick Thornton and musical director Robert Ollis have crafted an all-new theatrical experience - creating new songs, overhauling the book, and like the union workers from the show, building on a strong foundation.

Robert Ollis, music director and producer of Pride Films and Plays's annual NOMINEE NIGHT, has announced the lineup of performers nominated for Non-Equity Jeff Awards who will perform at the Monday, May 21 event, singing songs from the productions and roles for which they were nominated this year. It was also announced that Steve Kmetko (pictured), a longtime featured personality on E! Entertainment will serve as the concert's Master of Ceremonies.

Underscore Theatre and The Den Theatre are pleased to present an all-new staging of the Jeff Award-nominated Best New Musical HAYMARKET (formerly Haymarket: The Anarchist's Songbook) the true story of Chicago's infamous Haymarket massacre. With book, music and lyrics by Alex Higgin-Houser and David Kornfeld, the actors accompany themselves to the stirring folk-infused score. Having spent the last two years workshopping the show, the authors alongside director Nick Thornton and musical director Robert Ollis have crafted an all-new theatrical experience - creating new songs, overhauling the book, and like the union workers from the show, building anew.

Underscore Theatre and The Den Theatre are pleased to announce casting for an all-new staging of the Jeff Award-nominated Best New Musical HAYMARKET (formerly Haymarket: The Anarchist's Songbook), the true story of Chicago's infamous Haymarket massacre. With book, music and lyrics by Alex Higgin-Houser and David Kornfeld, the actors accompany themselves to the stirring folk-infused score. Having spent the last two years workshopping the show, the authors alongside director Nick Thornton and music director Robert Ollis have crafted an all-new theatrical experience - creating new songs, overhauling the book, and like the union workers from the show, building anew.

The Jeff Awards announced today a total of 115 nominations in 19 categories for the 45th Annual Non-Equity Jeff Awards.

Jeremiah Alsop and Bradley Halverson have joined the cast of Pride Films and Plays' Chicago premiere of YANK! A WWII Love Story.  Halverson, whose recent credits include THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG with Brown Paper Box Company and HIGH FIDELITY with Refuge Theatre Project, is now playing Czechowski, the 'nice guy' of the platoon.  Alsop, a recent graduate of the Chicago College of Performing Arts, is playing India and is a member of the ensemble.

Pride Films and Plays' Chicago premiere of YANK! A WWII Love Story will be extended by four weeks due to audience demand. David Zak, Executive Director of Pride Films and Plays, announced the extension today. The hit off-Broadway musical, which opened to the press in Chicago on January 18, is the story of a midwestern boy who joins the Army during World War II, falls in love with another soldier in his squad and is later introduced to the gay underground of the Armed Services through a journalist for the Army magazine YANK. Zak directs the musical, with Robert Ollis providing musical direction and Jenna Schoppe choreography.

Following the company's first year in its own home of the Pride Arts Center at 4139 and 4147 N. Broadway, Pride Films and Plays led the BroadwayWorld Resident Non-Equity Awards with ten wins - the most for any company. The honors were split between PRISCILLA: QUEEN OF THE DESERT and THE NANCE.