Children's Theatre Company (CTC) will unveil the world premiere of The Last Firefly, written by Naomi Iizuka and directed by CTC's Artistic Director Peter C. Brosius beginning September 27.
YOU FOR ME FOR YOU. Judging by the title I wondered if this was a play about former American Idol judge Randy Jackson. But of course it's not, rather this regional premiere by Mu Performing Arts is about North Korea, a subject I (and most Americans) know less about than American Idol. I was fortunate enough to attend the play when there was a post-show discussion with the playwright Mia Chung and director Randy Reyes, facilitated by the Star Tribune's Rohan Preston (read his review here). Hearing from the playwright, the director, and the cast about their experiences creating this piece gave me greater insight into the story. Mia shared that because there is so little known about what North Korea is actually like, she felt freedom in creating this world through 'magic realism' and really tried to focus on the human aspect of the story. She succeeds beautifully, as I was completely engrossed in the lives of these characters as brought to life by Mu's strong cast. This specific story of North Korean refugees is also universal in its themes of family, love, and sacrifice, themes that will feel familiar to any audience.
The Twin Cities area is well known as a great theater town, so it is a fitting home to one of the nation's most celebrated new play festivals. The 32nd annual PlayLabs festival runs October 12-18 at the Playwrights' Center, a 44-year-old organization that is one of just a handful of play development centers in the country.
2014-15 McKnight Theater Artist Fellows Austene Van and Sally Wingert, along with their collaborators, will present selections from works in progress on June 29 at 7 p.m. at the Illusion Theater.
?The village of Farmingtown has been devoid of men for so long that when one returns from the far away and long-lasting war, the first woman he meets rushes up to him and inhales him deeply. This hilarious and oddly touching moment at the beginning of Kira Obolensky's new play FORGET ME NOT WHEN FAR AWAY sets the tone for this playful and poignant fairy tale about a soldier returning to a home he once knew. Ten Thousand Things has been on the road with the show for a few weeks, performing at correctional facilities, community centers, and other unlikely venues. As director Michelle Hensley said in her introduction of the show, the fact that this play has resonated with such diverse audiences in different ways is a credit to the skills of the playwright, who has created a world outside of time and space that somehow feels familiar and relatable to everyone. This world is brought to life in the beautifully sparse way that only Ten Thousand Things can do, with a brilliant cast of six performing in a fully lit room in a space so small that they literally trip over the audience. The fanciful story is grounded in truth and made to feel very real by the universality of the story, the charming accessibility of the language, the up-close-and-personal performances by the actors in whom you can feel every nuance of every emotion through a look in the eyes, the twinge of a facial muscle, or a subtle movement of the body. Ten Thousand Things harnesses the magic of theater in its most basic form like no other company can.
The Off-Broadway League recently announced nominations in 18 categories for the 30th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway. The Lortel Awards are being handed out tonight, Sunday, May 10, 2015 at NYU Skirball Center beginning at 7:00 PM EST, and BroadwayWorld will be updating the winners as they are announced!
The Off-Broadway League today announced nominations in 18 categories for the 30th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway. The Lortel Awards will be handed out tonight, Sunday, May 10, 2015 at NYU Skirball Center beginning at 7:00 PM EST. Check out the full list of nominees below!
The Off-Broadway League today announced nominations in 18 categories for the 30th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway. The Lortel Awards will be handed out on Sunday, May 10, 2015 at NYU Skirball Center beginning at 7:00 PM EST, and hosted by Emmy-nominated actors Anna Chlumsky (“Veep,” Broadway's Living on Love) and Jesse Tyler Ferguson (“Modern Family,” this summer's The Tempest). This year's event will once again benefit The Actors Fund.
LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater's production of brownsville song (b-side for tray), a new play by Kimber Lee, directed byPatricia McGregor, opened on October 20 at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65 Street). This New York premiere, which features Sheldon Best, Sun Mee Chomet, Lizan Mitchell, Chris Myers and Taliyah Whitaker, is playing a limited engagement through Sunday, November 16. Scroll down for photos from the opening night festivities!
LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater's production of brownsville song (b-side for tray), a new play by Kimber Lee, directed by Patricia McGregor, opened last night, October 20, at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65 Street). This New York premiere, which features Sheldon Best, Sun Mee Chomet, Lizan Mitchell, Chris Myers and Taliyah Whitaker, is playing a limited engagement through Sunday, November 16. Click below for a first look at highlights from the show!
The LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater production of brownsville song (b-side for tray), a new play by Kimber Lee, directed by Patricia McGregor, makes its New York premiere at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65 Street), featuring Sheldon Best, Sun Mee Chomet, Lizan Mitchell, Chris Myers and Taliyah Whitaker. The show opens tonight, October 20, and will play a 6-week limited engagement through Sunday, November 16.
Opening night is Monday, October 20 at 7pm for the LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater production of brownsville song (b-side for tray), a new play by Kimber Lee, directed by Patricia McGregor, at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65 Street). This New York premiere, which features Sheldon Best, Sun Mee Chomet, Lizan Mitchell, Chris Myers and Taliyah Whitaker, is playing a limited engagement through Sunday, November 16. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast onstage below!
Previews begin this Saturday, October 4 at 7pm for the LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater production of brownsville song (b-side for tray), a new play by Kimber Lee, directed by Patricia McGregor, at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65 Street). This New York premiere, which features Sheldon Best, Sun Mee Chomet, Lizan Mitchell, Chris Myers and Taliyah Whitaker, opens on Monday, October 20, and will play a 6-week limited engagement through Sunday, November 16.
Sheldon Best, Sun Mee Chomet, Lizan Mitchell, Chris Myers and Taliyah Whitaker will comprise the cast of the upcoming LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater New York premiere production of brownsville song (b-side for tray), a new play by Kimber Lee. The production, to be directed by Patricia McGregor, will begin performances Saturday, October 4, running for six weeks only through Sunday, November 16 at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65 Street). Opening night is Monday, October 20.
The Playwrights' Center has announced the 2014-15 recipients of its McKnight Theater Artist Fellowships: costume designer Mathew LeFebvre; actor, director and choreographer Austene Van and actor Sally Wingert.
The 2013-14 Playwrights' Center McKnight Theater Artist Fellows Sun Mee Chomet, Denise Prosek and Stephen Yoakam, along with their collaborators, will present selections from works in progress on June 16 at 7 p.m. at the Southern Theater. The event is free and open to the public; advance reservations are strongly recommended and can be made at www.pwcenter.org. The Southern Theater is located at 1420 S Washington Avenue in Minneapolis.
Guthrie Theater presents 12 mainstage shows in its 2013-2014 season. The theater's 51st season includes first-time Guthrie Productions of playwrights Beth Henley and Nina Raine, classics on the Wurtele Thrust Stage directed by Dowling and Marion McClinton, WorldStage Series presentations of returning companies Kneehigh Theatre and Out of Joint, as well as a summertime slate of a beloved musical and a Christopher Durang comedy that is currently a Broadway hit.
The William & Eva Fox Foundation and Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, have announced the eighth round of Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellowship recipients. The program is designed to support actors' professional and artistic development, to enrich relationships between actors and nonprofit theatres and to ensure continued professional commitment to live theatre. Funded by the Fox Foundation and administered by TCG, the fellowship is one of only a few programs of its kind for actors in the country.
On the heels of two sold-out Twin Cities engagements and recent performances in Seoul, South Korea, the Guthrie welcomes Sun Mee Chomet and her groundbreaking production, How to Be a Korean Woman, to the Dowling Studio. How to Be a Korean Woman is Chomet's hilarious, heartfelt and personal telling of her life as a Korean-American adoptee and her search for her birth family in Seoul. Zaraawar Mistry directs and serves as dramaturg for this one-woman show that begins on September 19 for four performances only.
Guthrie Theater Director of Studio Programming Lauren Ignaut today announced additional details and dates for programming in the Dowling Studio during the 2013-2014 season.