Teller News

Artistic Director Mandy Greenfield has announced the Williamstown Theatre Festival 2018 Summer Season, the 64th Season for the Tony® Award-winning theatre company, which will include three world premiere plays, a world premiere musical, and much more.

IN & OF ITSELF, which has grossed $5 million to date in its eight months of playing to sold-out houses in the intimate 150-seat theater, will now play through Sunday, August 19, 2018 -extending what began as a ten-week engagement to seventy-two weeks and 560 performances upon its conclusion.

The League of Professional Theatre Women (Kelli Lynn Harrison & Lisa Rothe, Co-Presidents) will present the 2018 Theatre Women Awards at The TimesCenter (242 West 41st Streetbetween 7th and 8th Avenues) on Friday, March 16 beginning at 6:30PM. Tickets ($65-$250) are available for advance purchase at www.theatrewomen.org.

Lipscomb University Theatre kicks off its spring semester this February with Eric Overmyer's On the Verge, running February 16-25 in Shamblin Theatre.

The movie 'The Greatest Showman,' starring Hugh Jackman as legendary entertainer P.T. Barnum, opened nationwide on Dec. 20, 2017. But the Connecticut premier of that film opened with great celebration on Dec. 19, 2017 for a select group of individuals that were invited by the Barnum Museum. The Barnum Museum director, Kathleen Maher, wanted to increase the visibility of the museum via the film in an effort to help the cash-strapped and structurally compromised historic landmark raise $55 million to repair damage and upgrade the facility. TFI Envision, Inc. was selected by the Barnum Museum to help bring this special event to life. 'Our task was to ensure that all the guests felt engaged with the event, learned about P.T. Barnum, what the museum has to offer and perhaps become impact investors for the Barnum Museum,' said Mary Ellen Butkus, VP of TFI Envision, Inc. The TFI Envision team worked together with the Barnum Museum staff, board members, committee members, 20th Century Fox, Joe Barney of CenterRing Productions, Robins Tessar Inc., Kitchen Capers catering and the staff at Fairfield Cinemas @Bullard Square, as well as over a dozen volunteers, to pull together all the elements for a successful evening. There were jugglers, stilt walkers, unicyclist, fortune teller, clown, and more to keep the guests entertained at the event before walking down the red carpet entry to the movie premiere. From designing and managing the e-vites, to creating the circus size posters, name tags, photo station props (including a life size Hugh Jackman); to filling custom labeled goodie bags with popcorn and treats; to managing the volunteers for check-in desks, clown nose giveaways, photo station; and so much more, the TFI Envision team enjoyed every minute of it - their chance to be part of the circus. For more information about the Barnum Museum, go to https://barnum-museum.org Since 1975, TFI Envision, Inc. of Norwalk, CT, has specialized in developing strategic design and marketing solutions for branding, packaging, promotion, digital and corporate communications; helping organizations achieve their marketing and communication goals with compelling, consistent messaging that is on brand and on target.

The world premiere of ALRIGHT THEN presents a sweet stroll down memory lane of married actors Orson Bean and Alley Mills. The two separate childhood stories of Bean and Mills, through their life together to the present, make up the eighty-minute one-act. Quite a lot to cover in just eighty minutes, which inexplicably include moments of TMI. These moments, though adding to the dramatics, aren't totally essential to the drama.

The nationally syndicated game show WHO WANTS TO BE MILLIONAIRE will present an entire week of special celebrity contestants during Las Vegas Celebrity Week, airing Jan. 29 Feb. 2. Each contestant will take on the classic 14-question game opposite host Chris Harrison for the chance to win $1 million for their favorite charity.

On February 4 at 8 p.m., the Bay Area's Classical KDFC will broadcast a 1980 San Francisco Opera performance of Richard Strauss' romantic opera Arabella starring soprano Kiri Te Kanawa in the title role, soprano Barbara Daniels as Zdenka, tenorWilliam Lewis as Matteo and baritone Ingvar Wixell as Mandryka, with German conductor Wolfgang Rennert. This performance from the Company's archives will be hosted by KDFC radio announcer Dianne Nicolini.

Marshall University's School of Theatre will be presenting Alabama Rain, Heather McCutchen's tale of a town where the rules of time seem to not exist and five women must learn to put their past behind them and push forward, at the Francis-Booth Experimental Theatre at the JCE Performing Arts Center.

Four Valley residents who have overcome personal and financial barriers to create new, improved and successful lives through programs and services at Arizona Women's Education & Employment (AWEE) will be recognized for their achievements at the Faces of Success Gala on Friday, Feb. 9 at the PERA Club, 1. East Continental Drive in Tempe.

The stunt performers and coordinators from Wonder Woman and Game of Thrones are this year's Screen Actors Guild Awards honorees for Outstanding Action Performances by Film and Television Stunt Ensembles, it was announced today from the 24th Annual SAG Awards red carpet by SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris and SAG Awards Committee Chair JoBeth Williams.

The five, world-class illusionists that make up the Champions Of Magic come to the USA for the first time following four years touring the UK with sold-out shows, rave reviews, and a run in London's West End.

It's Hard to be the Bard. In fact, it is extremely hard to write anything original today. Hollywood keeps revamping the classics, Television keeps remaking the greats, and Broadway keeps reviving the hits. So when Something Rotten! arrived on Broadway in 2015, bypassing its initial proposed preview in Seattle, the unprecedented play had a bit of buzz backing its debut. Finally, an original musical comedy was taking an angle that no other had attempted--the origin of the musical!

The Blackpool Magicians Convention is the largest convention of its kind in the world. Taking place every February, it is attended by over 3,500 magicians including regular visits by world famous names such as Dynamo and David Blaine.

San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock today announced plans for the 2018 19 Season. The Company's 96th Season will open Friday, September 7 with a gala double-bill performance of Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci in Jos Cura's production with an international cast featuring Lianna Haroutounian, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Roberto Aronica, Marco Berti and Dimitri Platanias, conducted by Daniele Callegari. To usher in the new opera season, San Francisco Opera Guild will produce its signature benefit event, Opera Ball 2018.

ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT speaks directly with a warning for today. Set during and after the Third Reich, a stylistic, surrealistic play inspired by interviews with German Gentile women. The play sweeps from their teen years through adulthood during the Holocaust and beyond. The Nazi Regime impacts the women's lives as they struggle over work, religion, marriage and motherhood. Making overwhelmingly hard choices, they survive or succumb to Hitler's Reign and are changed forever. A sylistic, surrealistic play. Minimal set. Minimal props. An unconventional timeframe that jumps a chronological order.

BrightSide Theatre, Naperville's only professional theatre performing in the historic downtown district, continues its 7th season Cinema to Stage. The 39 Steps will perform at the Theatre at Meiley-Swallow Hall at North Central College, 31 S. Ellsworth Street in Naperville March 9-25, 2018. Tickets are on sale now at www.brightsidetheatre.com, or by phone at 630-447-TIXS (8497). The press performance is Friday, March 9 at 8pm.

San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock today announced plans for the 2018 19 Season. The Company's 96th Season will open Friday, September 7 with a gala double-bill performance of Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci in Jos Cura's production with an international cast featuring Lianna Haroutounian, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Roberto Aronica, Marco Berti and Dimitri Platanias, conducted by Daniele Callegari. To usher in the new opera season, San Francisco Opera Guild will produce its signature benefit event, Opera Ball 2018.

Ruth Carlin reprises her new show 'Kaleidoscope Eyes' at Don't Tell Mama with the skilled hand of a true artist. Through her own poetry, original material and songs composed by Joni Mitchel, Craig Carnelia, Sting, Prince, Lionel Bart, Rupert Holmes and more, Carlin takes us on an entertaining and heartfelt journey filled with integrity, musicality, spirit, truth, courage, and hope. Carlin's show is like a kaleidoscope the eclectic song choices act as bits of colored glass, shifted and shaped by Musical Director, Paul Greenwood and Director,Lina Koutrakos, offering a magical view into Carlin's world. 'Kaleidoscope Eyes' promises to show us something unique and exclusive to this honest singer and fresh storyteller.