Rotimi Agbabiaka News

Playwrights Horizons is currently staging Tori Sampson's If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhf**ka. Let's find out what the critics had to say.

Playwrights Horizons (Artistic Director Tim Sanford, Managing Director Leslie Marcus) has announced that Carla R. Stewart (Broadway, National Tour, and Regional: The Color Purple) will play The Voice of the River in the world premiere production of Tori Sampson's If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhf**ka, directed by Obie winner Leah C. Gardiner (Born Bad) and choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly. Performances begin Today, February 15, and continue through March 31 in the Mainstage Theater at Playwrights Horizons (416 W 42nd St, New York, NY 10036). The production opens officially on the evening of Sunday, March 10.

Playwrights Horizons (Artistic Director Tim Sanford, Managing Director Leslie Marcus) has announced that Carla R. Stewart (Broadway, National Tour, and Regional: The Color Purple) will play The Voice of the River in the world premiere production of Tori Sampson's If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhf**ka, directed by Obie winner Leah C. Gardiner (Born Bad) and choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly. Performances begin Friday, February 15, and continue through March 31 in the Mainstage Theater at Playwrights Horizons (416 W 42nd St, New York, NY 10036). The production opens officially on the evening of Sunday, March 10.

Playwrights Horizons Opens Live for Five Lottery, February 4-7, for the World Premiere of Tori Sampson's If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhf**ka, Directed by Leah C. Gardiner and Choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly (February 15-March 31, 2019)

Playwrights Horizons presents the world premiere of If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhf**ka, written by Tori Sampson, directed by Leah C. Gardiner, and choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly, February 15-March 31, 2019 in the Mainstage Theater at Playwrights Horizons

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) will present Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), Pulitzer Prize winner and MacArthur "Genius" Grant recipient Suzan-Lori Parks's (Topdog/Underdog, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess) explosively powerful and lyrical new play inspired by the Odyssey and set amid the American Civil War. Hero's master offers him a terrible choice: earn freedom by fighting for the Confederacy, or stay with the woman he loves and remain enslaved.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) will present Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) (April 25-May 20, 2018), Pulitzer Prize winner and MacArthur "Genius" Grant recipient Suzan-Lori Parks's (Topdog/Underdog, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess) explosively powerful and lyrical new play inspired by the Odyssey and set amid the American Civil War.

Yale Repertory Theatre (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) presents Father Comes Home From the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3 by Suzan-Lori Parks, directed by Liz Diamond, March 16-April 7, at the University Theatre (222 York Street). Opening Night is Thursday, March 22. Father Comes Home From the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3 is a co-production with San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater, where it will play April 25-May 20.

SFIAF 2017 has announced its performance listings. The full Festival lineup with project descriptions is as follows (projects listed chronologically by discipline: dance, music, theatre/ performance art). An online calendar is available here.

In the Dark Times will there also be Singing? The San Francisco International Arts Festival takes Bertolt Brecht's rhetorical question as its theme for 2017 (and beyond) and forms the bedrock of a commitment to develop an artistic platform that addresses the dangerous domestic and foreign policy political abyss currently confronting the United States of America.

The 2017 San Francisco International Arts Festival will feature a brilliant 11 day program co-presented with, and held exclusively at, the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture.

At a time of anxiety and uncertainty in many parts of the United States, the San Francisco International Arts Festival is proud to announce its 2017 lineup;  an exciting 11 day program featuring over 50 ensembles and individual performing artists from the Bay Area and 14 different countries. It is a program that celebrates diversity, multiculturalism, curiosity and the value of otherness-a commitment that advocates for experiencing the cultural expressions of other societies and civilizations as a way to help understand and embrace them.

VS. is an ambitious new play-with-music created by local artists Cleavon Smith, Stephanie Prentice and Reggie D. White that continues TheatreFIRST's retooled mission of producing and presenting in-house new works.

Education. It's like the weather: everyone has an opinion but nobody does anything about it. That's how Lavinia Jones feels about her son Thomas' new school, Eleanor Roosevelt High. Decades of funding cuts have resulted in old textbooks, crumbling classrooms, and underpaid teachers, making Roosevelt exactly the sort of public school that has failed students time and time again. Isn't it time for something... efficient? And efficient is exactly what Fredersen Babbit, from Learning Academy for Virtual Achievement (LAVA Corp.), promises to bring to the district. New Technology, remote learning, computer-generated teachers -LAVA promises to put the 'virtual' in achievement! But with kids learning from home, do we need all these empty schools? And with privatization on the line, a Wall Street heavy hitter on one side and a feisty octogenarian teacher Ethel Orocuru on the other, suddenly the next School Board election is more about a hidden agenda than the open curriculum. Are schools the last chance for democracy, or is education the next frontier for profit? Can we trust a politician's public/private plan to replace an out-of-date system, or is there something even more sinister than privatization going on behind the doors of LAVA? And wait - when did the hall monitors start wearing brown shirts and arm bands? When it comes to the real plan for the future of education - and of our democracy - are we all about to get... Schooled?

Education. It's like the weather: everyone has an opinion but nobody does anything about it. That's how Lavinia Jones feels about her son Thomas' new school, Eleanor Roosevelt High. Decades of funding cuts have resulted in old textbooks, crumbling classrooms, and underpaid teachers, making Roosevelt exactly the sort of public school that has failed students time and time again. Isn't it time for something... efficient? And efficient is exactly what Fredersen Babbit, from Learning Academy for Virtual Achievement (LAVA Corp.), promises to bring to the district. New Technology, remote learning, computer-generated teachers -LAVA promises to put the 'virtual' in achievement! But with kids learning from home, do we need all these empty schools? And with privatization on the line, a Wall Street heavy hitter on one side and a feisty octogenarian teacher Ethel Orocuru on the other, suddenly the next School Board election is more about a hidden agenda than the open curriculum. Are schools the last chance for democracy, or is education the next frontier for profit? Can we trust a politician's public/private plan to replace an out-of-date system, or is there something even more sinister than privatization going on behind the doors of LAVA? And wait - when did the hall monitors start wearing brown shirts and arm bands? When it comes to the real plan for the future of education - and of our democracy - are we all about to get... Schooled?

Bay Area Musicals!, the newest non-profit theatrical organization to join the vibrant San Francisco Bay Area arts community, continues its inaugural season with the acclaimed tribal love-rock musical, Hair. This generation-defining musical tells the story of Vietnam-era youths awkwardly but exuberantly creating their own rite of passage through the confusion around them. Among them are Claude and Berger - a pair of friends battling against Claude's draft notice, and Sheila, who is in love with both of them, but her politically-active lifestyle leaves her little time to act on her feelings. Ultimately, Claude has to decide if the hippie life is for him or go to Vietnam. With themes of alienation and civil disobedience, Hair illustrates the 60s generation's search for meaning through various 'be-ins,' 'love-ins' and protests. The winner of the 2009 Tony Award for 'Best Revival of a Musical,' Hair features classic hits including, 'Aquarius', 'Hair', 'Going Down', 'Easy to be Hard', 'Good Morning Star Shine' and 'Flesh Failures/Let the Sun Shine.'

Word for Word closes the 2015 Season with Word for Word's HOLIDAY HIGH JINX -- Bums, Broads and Broadway: Stories by Damon Runyon, Joseph Mitchell, and E.B. White, opening tonight Saturday Nov. 28, 8pm (Press opening) and run through December 24, 2015 at Z Below in San Francisco's Mission/SOMA district.

Word for Word closes the 2015 Season with Word for Word's HOLIDAY HIGH JINX -- Bums, Broads and Broadway: Stories by Damon Runyon, Joseph Mitchell, and E.B. White, to open on Saturday Nov. 28, 8pm (Press opening) and run through December 24, 2015 at Z Below in San Francisco's Mission/SOMA district.

This week, we go around our Broadway World to feature stories in Boston, Nashville, New Zealand and more. Check out our top 10 stories around our Broadway World below, which include MY FAIR LADY at Lyric Stage, RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN in Nashville, and ERNEST RUTHERFORD in New Zealand, just to name a few.

AIDA at Woodminster. The love triangle between Nubian Princess Aida, Egyptian Captain Radames and his Princess Amneris will tug at your heartstrings. But only thru September 13. Get your tickets now!