Sanford Meisner News

Mary Goggin shares a true story of her Irish Catholic upbringing, laced with wicked humor and much pathos, drug addiction, prostitution, and the multitude of characters she encountered along her path to ultimately finding joy. 

Actress/singer Pamela Clay has been performing a show she wrote about Edith Piaf entitled Forever Piaf for quite some time to great acclaim! She will perform it locally at Feinstein's Upstairs at Vitello's on October 16. In our conversation she talks about growing up in a musical family and how Piaf's outlook became the cornerstone of her life. Tell us about your background. As a child, how did you become interested in music? When did you know that it would be your career? PC: One of the first things I remember was hearing classical music. Both my parents were blessed with beautiful voices, played piano, and my father also played trumpet. Daddy was a child prodigy who played classical piano live on the radio at age five,

With an acting career spanning four decades and film credits including Jurassic Park and Independence Day, legendary actor Jeff Goldblum and his band, The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, will be presented in an evening of jazz by Society for the Performing Arts (SPA) on Friday, September 20 at 8:00 p.m. in Jones Hall for the Performing Arts. As a part of the show, the band is providing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to select Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) jazz department students to play on stage with them.

Robert ('Bob') Ullman (left), the legendary theatre press agent, whose career included Ethel Merman and Mary Martin: Together on Broadway, A Chorus Line (from workshop to Public Theater to Broadway), Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in The Visit, Lauren Bacall in Cactus Flower, The Dining Room, Driving Miss Daisy, Sunday in the Park with George, and over 150 additional Broadway and off-Broadway plays and musicals, died on July 31, 2019 in Bayshore, Long Island, New York. He was 97. The cause of death was cardiac arrest. Bob's death was announced by Rev. Joshua Ellis, a long-time Ullman friend, a former Broadway press agent, and now, an Interspiritual minister.

Andrew Gallant, owner of Green Shirt Studio, a Meisner-based acting school in Chicago, announces that he has named Jack Schultz as the new managing director of the school, and that Green Shirt Studio will be moving to a new location as of September 1.

The Vancouver, BC based theater company Reality Curve & New York's Soho Playhouse today announced that they will co-produce a strictly limited engagement of Zayd Dohrn's REBORNING, an unsettling dark comedy that explores love, loss, trauma and the power of creation through the lens of the unusual art of reborning. 

Jeff Goldblum is behind the piano at the helm of the jazz ensemble, The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra. Providing smooth charm with playful vamp. The 'hep-cat' works the crowd with Q and A, playing trivia, and laying down classic jazz standards and improv. Sunday June 2nd, Goldblum's The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra will be performing an intimate and energetic jazz performance at the 2019 Viva Health Starlight Gala for the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center.

Pinch 'N' Ouch to present Atlanta premiere of THE ANTIPODES by Pulitzer Prize Winner Annie Baker.

Lucy Kirkwood's explosive The Children begins as a caustic, bold comedy between a late-middle-aged couple (Hazel and Robin) and a friend (Rose) from many years ago who makes an unannounced visit to their seaside cottage on the east coast of England. The thin veneer of civility flakes away and the caustic nature of their relationships become apparent. What becomes apparent to the audience is that these three old friends have much more to discuss than just old times and these three actors bring years of experience and flare to the Phoenix stage.

Actress Fay McKenzie Waldman passed away peacefully in her sleep on the morning of April 16th at the age of 101. She was born February 19, 1918 into a show business family where she was the youngest of two sisters and an actress cousin, and made her screen debut at only ten weeks old in "Station Content" (1918) in which she was carried in the arms of Gloria Swanson. Her parents, Eva & Bob "Pops" McKenzie were already veteran performers and apparently wanted their daughter to get an early start in films. She nearly stole the show from Oliver Hardy as "the baby" in the Alice Howell short "Distilled Love" (filmed in 1918 but released two years later). By the time she was six, Fay was considered an old hand, having played diverse parts in her father's stock company. Among her early films was the 1924 Photoplay Medal Winner, "The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln." 

Atlanta's Pinch 'N Ouch Theatre is rocking and rolling with their latest production of HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, which will be extending for a third time. The Tony Award-winning rock musical, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, written by John Cameron Mitchell and music by Stephen Trask, tells the story of 'internationally ignored song stylist' Hedwig Schmidt, a fourth-wall smashing East German rock 'n' roll goddess who also happens to be the victim of a botched sex-change operation, which has left her with just 'an angry inch.'

2019 FRIGID New York Festival presents Mary Goggin's multiple award-winning show, 'Runaway Princess, a Hopeful Tale of Heroin, Hooking and Happiness.' In 'Runaway Princess...' Goggin, a writer/actor and former professional call girl, shares a story of Irish Catholicism, sex and addiction. The tale is laced with humor and pathos and a multitude of characters she encountered along the way to ultimately finding joy.

Pinch 'N Ouch Theatre is rocking and rolling with their latest production of HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, which has already garnished them four weekends of sold out performances. The Tony Award-winning rock musical, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, written by John Cameron Mitchell and music by Stephen Trask, tells the story of 'internationally ignored song stylist' Hedwig Schmidt, a fourth-wall smashing East German rock 'n' roll goddess who also happens to be the victim of a botched sex-change operation, which has left her with just 'an angry inch.' 

Life is changing for Frank and Stella. On the day of Frank's retirement party, this once loving and simple couple find themselves pulled in different directions as the winds of change blow through Joy, Illinois.

Andrea Wolff's I Can't Trace Time, a passionate and whimsical musical memoir, will play a show at downtown's alt-cabaret, Pangea, on Feb. 22nd, 2019 at 7pm. With a signature mixture of pop and Broadway played only by Music Director/Pianist Jude Obermuller and with an appearance by Special Guest, Sean Harkness, I Can't Trace Time features a master entertainer who has been widely lauded for her strong comic timing, offbeat and compelling characterizations and superb taste in music.

Pinch 'N Ouch Theatre opens its 10-year anniversary season with the Tony Award-winning rock musical, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, written by John Cameron Mitchell and music by Stephen Trask. Pinch 'N Ouch Theatre's Producing Artistic Director, Grant McGowen will direct Atlanta native Chad Darnell in the role of 'Hedwig,' an East German genderqueer "internationally ignored song stylist." McGowen most recently directed THIS IS OUR YOUTH, FOOL FOR LOVE and WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF at Pinch 'N' Ouch Theatre. "This show is a beast of a show and I'm so excited to bring her to back to Atlanta," said Darnell who previously played the role at the Bay Street Theatre in Savannah, GA in January 2018.

Andrea Wolff's I Can't Trace Time, a passionate and whimsical musical memoir, will play one more show in December, moving to the Laurie Beechman Theatre on 12/10 at 6pm. With a signature mixture of pop and Broadway and an ensemble led by Music Director Jude Obermuller, I Can't Trace Time features a master entertainer who has been widely lauded for her strong comic timing, offbeat and compelling characterizations and superb taste in music. Special Guest Artist, guitarist Sean Harkness will appear. The show is directed by 2018 MAC and Bistro Award winning writer-actor, Dan Ruth. The Laurie Beechman Theatre is at 407 W.42nd Street, in the rear and downstairs at the West Bank Cafe. Tickets may be purchased online at: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/1001723.

The critically acclaimed theatre company, Mason Holdings, will premiere their new site-specific production of Consumption, at the Beverly Social Club in Kensington Brooklyn. The limited engagement runs November 9 - December 8.

The National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of Jennifer Fawcett's award winning Apples in Winter opens this weekend at Centenary Stage Company. The limited performances run November 8 through November 18 in the Lackland Performing Arts Center at 715 Grand Avenue Hackettstown, NJ. Directed by Mikaela Kafka, the production stars Colleen Smith Wallnau.

The National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of Jennifer Fawcett's award winning Apples in Winter opens this weekend at Centenary Stage Company. The limited performances run November 8 through November 18 in the Lackland Performing Arts Center at 715 Grand Avenue Hackettstown, NJ. Directed by Mikaela Kafka, the production stars Colleen Smith Wallnau.