Sage News

The 15th Annual Women Who Care Luncheon benefiting United Cerebral Palsy of New York City UCP of NYC) was held Monday, May 9th at Cipriani 42nd Street.

Acclaimed producer John Breglio will be discussing his new book, I Wanna Be A Producer: How To Make a Killing on Broadway... or Get Killed at Drama Book Shop, 250 W. 40th St. on Monday, May 23rd at 5:00pm. Joining John in conversation will be fellow producer Barry Weissler.

Sturgill Simpson will embark on an extensive North American tour this summer and fall, including dates at Brooklyn's Kings Theatre, D.C.'s DAR Constitution Hall, Denver's Paramount Theatre (two nights), Seattle's Paramount Theatre and L.A.'s The Wiltern (two nights).

Broadway/San Diego has announced the 2016 San Diego nominees in the categories of Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Musical Production, for the Ben Vereen Awards, sponsored by San Diego County Credit Union taking place on Sunday, May 29th at the historic Balboa Theatre, and is hosted by CBS News 8 anchor Marcella Lee.

As the culminating event of its Stage Coach audience engagement and community outreach initiative, American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) announced the world-premiere production Crack. Rumble. Fly.: The Bayview Stories Project, taking place during a two-day Bayview Festival (June 18-19, 2016) in San Francisco's Bayview-Hunters Point district. Commissioned by A.C.T. from Los Angeles-based playwright Aleshea Harris, Crack. Rumble. Fly.: The Bayview Stories Project is inspired by Sophocles' Oedipus the King and interweaves the lives and experiences of African Americans living in Bayview-Hunters Point, bringing to theatrical life the stories, questions, and connections shared during story circle workshops held in various neighborhood sites.

Exciting things are happening with Backbeard here at the Theatre Institute at Sage! This past week, as we've finished staging the piece and other creative elements have started surfacing in rehearsal, has been an exciting reminder of how many different mediums of art are synthesized in the creation and construction of theatrical work. Musical theatre itself is an amalgamation of several different art forms, and all of these forms must be cohesively unified in the construction of a musical theatre piece. Backbeard, which was birthed from a brilliantly illustrated book series by Matthew McElligott, has been a constant reminder of how many different types of artists with their respective mediums of art must be engaged with the piece in order to ensure its faithfulness to McElligott's illustrations while still catering to the tried-and-true guidelines of theatrical work.

Attempting to produce all of Shakespeare's plays would be daunting task for any theatre company but one young group of actors has continued to stay the course. Over a ten-year period, the Porters of Hellsgate have produced twenty of the playwright's thirty-eight plays, steadily working toward their goal of being the first in Los Angeles to mount the entire canon. This season, they tackle three at once with HENRY VI, Parts 1, 2 & 3.

Contra Costa Civic Theatre (CCCT) concludes its 56th season with the two-time Tony award-winning musical, American Idiot, directed and choreographed by Alex Perez, who returns to CCCT following his acclaimed Bay Area premiere production of The Addams Family, with music direction by Kevin Roland, who helmed CCCT's recent productions of The Secret Garden and The Sound of Music. American Idiot plays from June 10 through July 17; performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm at the theatre.

ESPN will exclusively televise the 2016 NBA Eastern Conference Finals presented by Verizon: the defending Eastern Conference Champion Cleveland Cavaliers, led by LeBron James, vs. either the Miami Heat and Dwyane Wade or the Toronto Raptors and Kyle Lowry

Now on stage at Downriver Actors Guild in Wyandotte is the exuberant musical Camelot. Filled with spectacular color, easy to love tunes, graceful and festive costumes, Camelot has a forbidden love story iconic of the Middle Ages.

View, a multi-arts center located in Old Forge, NY, announces Elegant Constructions with Martha Grover, a two-day ceramic demonstrative workshop held on June 25th and 26th from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The Purple Rose Theatre Company will conclude its 25th anniversary season with "Morning's At Seven", an American classic by Paul Osborn.

Outskirts Press, the fastest-growing full-service self-publishing and book marketing company and a proud sponsor of the 25th annual Colorado Book Awards, announced that the 2016 finalists have been selected. This annual event is run by The Colorado Center for the Book, the program department of the Colorado Humanities, which is dedicated to celebrating the accomplishments of Colorado's outstanding authors, editors, illustrators and photographers.

If you want to see a group of voice teachers and voice scientists turn from a generally gregarious and collegial group into an angry mob, ask them to strictly define vocal registers, or the "gears" of the voice that are responsible for different types of sounds.  

Kerry Butler (Disaster!), Lilli Cooper (Spongebob), Meghann Fahy (Next to Normal), Eric Michael Gillett (Kiss Me, Kate), Jillian Gottlieb (Unlock'd), F. Michael Haynie (Wicked, Dogfight), Ryann Redmond (If/Then, Bring It On), Conor Ryan (John & Jen), Allie Trimm (13, Bye, Bye Birdie), and Hannah Zazzaro complete the lineup for the 7th edition of Cutting-Edge Composers at Feinstein's/54 Below tonight, May 10, 2016.

Broadway's 40 theatres aren't the only places to catch performances from your favorite stars! Well after Broadway orchestras begin their overtures, ensemble members take their dance breaks, and performers belt out their eleven o'clock numbers, the party continues at various cabaret venues throughout New York City. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you some cabaret highlights for this week as picked by our theatre editors, including: Benjamin Eakeley: Broadway Swinger; Joe Iconis and Family with Betty Buckley; Cutting Edge Composers: 7th Edition; Lance Horne and Drew Brody with Beth Malone; and Amy Jo Jackson: I Want to Be Your Man.

Fugitive Kind Theater is the presenting company, which for eleven years has engaged in creating boundary-breaking shows. This production takes the group to new heights, setting the story in what appears to be a fantasy circus world on the island of Illyria where anything goes and people are allowed to be whoever and whatever they want to be. It's a small society, but one most of us could certainly enjoy living in given the lack of stress and having any real work to do. But of course, such an idyllic world cannot last, and it is the dark side of Illyria we visit in SHINE DARKLY, ILLYRIA.

Next week, FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.54Below.com/Feinsteins or call (646) 476-3551.

The American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University will present a reading of 'Well Worn Words' by the Discount Ghost Stories Collective, June 2nd at the Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts in Evanston, Illinois.

New Light Theater Project and Access Theater will present the New York premiere production of Mother Knows Best, a new comedy based on the true story of a Jewish mother who is forced to come to terms with her gambling addiction. Performances begin May 9, 2016 at Access Theater.