Sharif News

First it took over Broadway, now Margaritaville is expanding.

The Old Globe's 2017-2018 Season continues with today's announcement of the complete cast and creative team for the Southern California debut of A Thousand Splendid Suns, Ursula Rani Sarma's sweeping and deeply moving theatrical production based on the best-selling book by Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner). Directed by Carey Perloff and presented in association with American Conservatory Theater, A Thousand Splendid Suns will run May 12 - June 17, 2018 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage, Old Globe Theatre, Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Tickets start at $30.00 and are on sale to the general public now. Previews run May 12-16. Opening night is Thursday, May 17 at 8:00 p.m.

The Old Globe's 2017-2018 Season continues with today's announcement of the complete cast and creative team for the Southern California debut of A Thousand Splendid Suns, Ursula Rani Sarma's sweeping and deeply moving theatrical production based on the best-selling book by Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner).

 The MacDowell Colony has awarded fellowships to 84 artists from 18 states and six countries, from Colorado to Virginia and from Portugal to Nigeria. They are working in seven disciplines, and 43 percent identify as culturally diverse while 56 percent are women. The fellowships are for upcoming summer residencies at one of the nation's leading contemporary arts organizations. 

After three staged readings of three fantastic plays were presented to enthusiastic audiences at Guild Hall, the votes for the Episcopal Actors' Guild's 11th Annual Barbour Playwrights Award are in. The judges have selected Alexis Roblan's The Andrew Play (a play about siblings, loss, the confusing poetry of grief, and who owns your memory when you're gone) as this year's winner.

The creative, fighting spirit is alive and well in 2018. The newest slate of documentary films from PBS television series POV arrives this June with a lineup of empowering and moving stories about the strength of art and activism. From scientists setting out to save the planet to hip-hop artists carrying out the quiet duty of fatherhood, humanity's resilience amidst turmoil and tumult has never been more evident.

After 7 years, the producing collaborative Harlem9  has played to packed houses, picking up an OBIE award along the way in 2014.  This April, Harlem9 collaborates with Pregones Theater PRTT, a Latino arts organization in the Bronx for the 2nd time to present "48HOURS IN… EL BRONX".  The two organizations first collaborated in December 2016. This year, the theme takes a tour of some of the most memorable dance clubs in Bronx history.

Theatre Raymond Kabbaz (TRK) is proud to present the Los Angeles premiere of the play Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran (Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran) written and performed by famous Franco-Belgian novelist Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, on May 6, 2018 at 7:30pm.

The Barbour Playwrights Award continues on Wednesday, March 21 at 7pm with a reading of Sandra A. Daley-Sharif's Straddling the Edge. Too many losses and not enough 'hellos' launch Sophia on a kaleidoscopic dreamscape quest for her identity as wife, mother, and Caribbean daughter. Can she maintain her balancing act to find firm ground? Or will the search itself send her over the edge?

In 2007, the Episcopal Actors' Guild established a special award to honor the legacy of actor, playwright and EAG member Thomas Barbour (Arthur, Great White Hope) whose support for emerging artists was an inspiration to many. Eleven years later, the Barbour Playwrights Award has presented staged readings of 30 new plays and given $5,500 to local writers. Wednesdays this month (Women's History Month), The Barbour Playwrights Award continues with readings of three new plays by writers from New Perspectives Theatre Company and their playwrighting program, The Women's Work Project. One of these finalists will be awarded a prize of $500.

Thirty-two Broadway performers have been announced for Vanguard Theater Company's Third Annual Broadway Buddy Mentorship Program and Cabaret.

MERCHANT ON VENICE explores empathy and grace, as well as blame and internalized and externalized religious bigotry, while mixing it up with the clash/mash of South Asian culture in Los Angeles.

The Grand Theatre is thrilled to announce a first-time collaboration with the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), bringing A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS to the Spriet Stage. This acclaimed stage adaptation, based on the award-winning novel by Khaled Hosseini, had its world premiere in San Francisco in July 2016 and became the bestselling production in A.C.T.'s history. The Grand's production will premiere an all new, all Canadian cast with original staging by A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff. The Title Sponsor for A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS is London's Selectpath. 

FRIGID New York @ Horse Trade in association with Manhattan Theatre Source will present the 2018 EstroGenius Festival, the longest running festival celebrating the work of women and gender non-conforming artists in NYC.  Begun in Manhattan Theatre Source in 2000 as a short-play festival, the festival has launched and supported hundreds of artists in its 18 years. 2017 was the festival's first time in its new home The Kraine Theatre on E. 4th St.

MERCHANT ON VENICE explores empathy and grace, as well as blame and internalized and externalized religious bigotry, while mixing it up with the clash/mash of South Asian culture in Los Angeles.

On Her Shoulders is pleased to present a staged reading of PECILIAR SAM by Pauline Hopkins, directed by Arminda Thomas on Thursday, March 15, 2018. Doors open at 6:45pm for a prompt start at 7:00pm with The Play in Context Introduction by Celia Braxton, who situates the script in its historical time and place,. Admission is by Donation. Running time, including a post-performance Q&A is approximately 100 minutes. The performance is at The New School, Wollman Hall, 65 West 11th Street, New York, NY. R.S.V.P. to OnHerShouldersReservations@gmail.com.

Green Apple Entertainment has acquired North American rights to a five-title library of urban films from Bag Talk Entertainment for distribution on television, VOD, DVD/Blu-ray and digital platforms.

The Tony Award-winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival will launch its 83nd year with preview performances beginning on February 16. The 2018 season officially kicks off Friday night, February 23, in the Angus Bowmer Theatre with Shakespeare's Othello (director, Bill Rauch). On Saturday afternoon, Shakespeare's Henry V (director, Rosa Joshi) opens in the Thomas Theatre, and the West Coast premiere of Kate Hamill's adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Sense and Sensibility (director, Hana S. Sharif) opens that evening in the Angus Bowmer Theatre. On Sunday afternoon, Karen Zacarias's Destiny of Desire (director, Jose Luis Valenzuela) will be staged in the Angus Bowmer Theatre.

Casting has been completed for Rasaka and Vitalist's remounting of MERCHANT ON VENICE, Shishir Kurup's raucous South Asian re-imagining of Shakespeare's THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, to be directed by Liz Carlin Metz.

Center Theatre Group recognizes and celebrates the recipient of the 2018 Richard E. Sherwood Award, Hana S. Kim, for her exceptional contribution to the Los Angeles theatre landscape and her work as a ground-breaking and adventurous artist.