Robert Wierzel News

A compelling blend of obscure history and a story seemingly ripped from the headlines, SOVEREIGNTY is a fitting entry in this year's Women's Voices in the Theatre Festival. Playwright Mary Kathryn Nagle has crafted a powerful rumination on Native American affairs and one woman's connection to her past and her own plight in the time of the 'Me too' movement.

The World-Premiere of SOVEREIGNTY opened January 12th and runs through February 18th at Arena Stage as part of the Women's Voices Theater Festival. Mary Kathryn Nagle's play, which features flashbacks spanning to the 1830s, follows a modern-day Native American woman, trying to use her powers as a lawyer to restore rights to the Cherokee Nation. SOVEREIGNTY explores anger over injustice, and how long it takes things to reach a boiling point.

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, based on the Academy-Award winning film of the same name, opened at Asolo Rep on January 11th and runs through March 28th. Directed by Rachel Rockwell, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE imagines the life of a young William Shakespeare, a writer struggling to come up with an idea for his next play. Enter Viola, a young woman who begins as his admirer and ends up as his muse.

The World-Premiere of Mary Kathryn Nagle's SOVEREIGNTY is currently playing at Arena Stage as part of the Women's Voices Theater Festival. The play, which features flashbacks spanning to the 1830s, follows a modern-day Native American woman, trying to use her powers as a lawyer to restore rights to the Cherokee Nation. SOVEREIGNTY opened January 12th and runs through February 18th.

Mary Kathryn Nagle's daring new work Sovereignty makes its world premiere at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater.

The American Theatre Wing (Heather Hitchens, President) is pleased to announce that five theater artists will be honored by the Henry Hewes Design Awards Committee during the presentation of its 2017 Awards in a luncheon ceremony on Tuesday, January 23, 2018.

It's a story most of us have heard or witnessed before. Crotchety and greedy old Ebenezer Scrooge, complaining about the poor, turning down the invitation of his nephew to Christmas dinner, and begrudgingly giving Bob Cratchit the day off for Christmas. We fondly remember past portrayals of Scrooge face to face with the ghost of his ex-partner Jacob Marley, flying through the past and present with amiable spirits and having a change of heart after coming face to face with his own death. At Hartford Stage this season, the story comes to life once again in the form of A CHRISTMAS CAROL A GHOST STORY OF CHRISTMAS. The classic story by Charles Dickens and as adapted and originally directed by Michael Wilson is an annual tradition for Hartford Stage, and one that takes on new life in this, its 20th anniversary.

The Joyce Theater Foundation will present the New York premiere of Liz Gerring Dance Company's evening-length work, Horizon, from November 30 to December 3 at The Joyce Theater.

Mary Kathryn Nagle's daring new work Sovereignty makes its world premiere at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater presents The Pajama Game, directed by Alan Paul in his Arena Stage debut, with music and lyrics by Richard Adlerand Jerry Ross, and book by George Abbott and Richard Bissell. Featuring Musical Direction by James Cunningham and Choreography by Parker Esse, The Pajama Game runs now through December 24 in the iconic in-the-round Fichandler Stage. Check out a brand-new trailer for the show below!

Critics J. Peter Bergman and Macey Levin once again hosted the ceremony, which saw top honors for Best Play go to the Berkshire Theatre Group's production of David Auburn's Lost Lake, and a tie between Barrington Stage Company's production of Stephen Sondheim's Company and the Mac-Haydn Theatre's production of Hello, Dolly! for Best Musical.

'Stories by Hand,' Preeti Vasudevan's autobiographical solo that combines language, music and dance to tell its witty, poignant, and tragic stories, will receive its world premiere at New York Live Arts, November 2-4. Vasudevan's collaborators include Paul Kaiser (literary dramaturg), Robert Wiezel (lighting designer), and Paul Jacob (composer).

The Joyce Theater Foundation will present the New York premiere of Liz Gerring Dance Company's evening-length work, Horizon, from November 30 to December 3 at The Joyce Theater.

The Berkshire Theatre Critics Association has announced the nominees for the Second Annual Berkshire Theatre Awards, known colloquially as The Berkies.

'Stories by Hand,' Preeti Vasudevan's autobiographical solo that combines language, music and dance to tell its witty, poignant, and tragic stories, will receive its world premiere at New York Live Arts, November 2-4. Vasudevan's collaborators include Paul Kaiser (literary dramaturg), Robert Wiezel (lighting designer), and Paul Jacob (composer).

WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED, which made its NY debut in a pair of performances at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem last weekend, after its world premiere at Opera Philadelphia's O17 festival last month, is more than an opera or performance piece. And it sure as hell isn't an evening's entertainment. Composed by Daniel Bernard Roumarin with libretto by Marc Bamuthi Joseph, and directed, choreographed and shaped by Bill T. Jones, it is by turns incredibly moving and infuriatingly contemporary in a bold performance that I won't soon forget.

A LETTER TO MY NEPHEW continues performances through October 7 at Brooklyn Academy of Music as part of the 2017 Next Wave Festival.

O17, the inaugural edition of Opera Philadelphia's game-changing new annual season-opening festival, launched like a rocket earlier this month, trailing a blaze of critical and popular acclaim. Next Today, one of the three new operas that received its world premiere at the festival - We Shall Not Be Moved, a 'deeply moving' work (Washington Post) that 'succeeds on the level of art and not just polemic' (Opera News) - is set to make its New York premiere at Harlem's Apollo Theater (Oct 6 & 7).

Soprano Raquel Gonzalez  will make her Lyric Opera of Kansas City debut in the new production of Eugene Onegin in the role of Tatyana, replacing Joyce El-Khoury who has withdrawn for personal reasons.

O17, the inaugural edition of Opera Philadelphia's game-changing new annual season-opening festival, launched like a rocket earlier this month, trailing a blaze of critical and popular acclaim. Next Friday, one of the three new operas that received its world premiere at the festival - We Shall Not Be Moved, a 'deeply moving' work (Washington Post) that 'succeeds on the level of art and not just polemic' (Opera News) - is set to make its New York premiere at Harlem's Apollo Theater (Oct 6 & 7).