Teller News

From July 24 to July 28, 2012 The New York Storytelling Festival brings together the country's best storytellers and storytelling producers for a week of heartache, laughter, and accounts of the human experience. The Tank welcomes Drawn Out Storytelling, Epic Win Burlesque's The Spoken Nerd, 'True Story' with Moscow River Sharks, 'My Bad' with Becky Flaum, Sideshow Goshko, 'Using It' with Jen Saunders as well as special guests Kevin Allison, Ellie Pyle, and more!

Anthony Freud, general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, announced today the creative team and performance dates for Oklahoma! The classic American musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II will receive its Lyric Opera premiere in May 2013, following the company's regular opera season.

FX's SONS OF ANARCHY was the closing act in Hall H at this year's Comic-Con in San Diego. In addition to treating fans to a clip from the upcoming season, the cable network announced a premiere date of September 11 for the series.

The Media Theatre held auditions for the 2012 "Delco Idol" contests on May 21 and 23. More than 150 singers participated, and now the theatre has chosen this year's contestants. The final list of contestants for "Delco Idol" and "Delco Idol Junior" is available online at www.mediatheatre.org.

It's quite a shame when a well-written, absorbing play has three strikes against it from the onset. Such is the case with The Exorcist by John Pielmeier. The best-selling novel by William Peter Blatty and the 1973 boxoffice blockbuster film of the same name were so powerfully gripping and unforgettable that, with the play coming along 40 years later, for those of us that lived through the nightmare to end all nightmares, we've been there, seen that. For those of a newer, unfamiliar generation, it won't have enough special effects. Wisely, for my generation, the spinning head and green vomit in the original film are not recreated onstage. But, as a result, many may tune out or turn off preferring a midnight screening of the film on Netflix. As I already said, a shame, as Pielmeieir's script is psychologically thrilling on its own, so apt for the mature, questioning adult mind, and the production is extremely well directed by John Doyle and superbly acted by a first-rate ensemble headed by Brooke Shields in her best and most remarkable performance to date. But is all of this enough? Probably not.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK: Cumming takes on MACBETH, Broadway plays Bryant Park, ALADDIN opens at the Muny, and so much more!

The Geffen Playhouse's world premiere stage adaptation of The Exorcist features Brooke Shields and Richard Chamberlain in the iconic roles of Chris MacNeil and Father Merrin, respectively, as well as Broadway actor David Wilson Barnes as the troubled young priest Father Damien Karras, Tony Award nominee Harry Groener takes on the role of Chris' charismatic director Burke Dennings and UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television graduate Emily Yetter plays the young Regan MacNeil.

The Exorcist opened last night, July 11, in the Gil Cates Theater at the Geffen Playhouse and runs through August, 12, 2012, starring Brooke Shields, Richard Chamberlain, David Wilson Barnes, Emily Yetter, and more. Check out the opening night party in the photos below!

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announces 80 Our Town grant awards totaling $4.995 million and reaching 44 states and the District of Columbia. Cedar City's Office of Economic Development is one of the grantees and will receive up to $50,000 for landscape design, linking the Utah Shakespeare Festival with the city's historic downtown. The Festival will match the grant amount to help complete this project.

Giuseppe Verdi's opera, UN BALLO IN MASCHERA(with a libretto by Antonio Somma) is a fictionalized account of the actual assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden at a masked ball. In this case, the location and names have been changed, but the outcome remains the same. This production by the Union Avenue Opera (playing through July 7, 2012) is an excellent one, graced with splendid performances and intriguing costumes (Teresa Doggett) that initially, with their abundance of long-coats, have a faint "Matrix-like" quality to them. It's a dramatic presentation that embellishes history with a tragic love story, and a fortune teller, whose predictions are ignored.

FX has released an ominous promo for the upcoming fifth season of SONS OF ANARCHY, which premieres in September. Check out the clip below!

Media Theatre's "Delco Idol" contest begins tonight, July 11 at 7pm, with the "Junior" competition starting up Sunday July 15 at 7pm. Each continues for a total of five weeks. Five or more contestants are eliminated each week until the finals, when 20 singers will try for the 2012 title in each contest. Iron Workers Bank is the sponsor for the third summer.

Scotiabank BuskerFest organizers are proud to announce the exciting local acts for the 13th annual Toronto international street performers festival in support of Epilepsy Toronto. These top-notch performers will dazzle Toronto's St. Lawrence Market Neighbourhood along with the best buskers from all over the world as they take over the streets from Thursday, August 23 to Sunday, August 26.

The Geffen Playhouse's world premiere stage adaptation of The Exorcist features Brooke Shields and Richard Chamberlain in the iconic roles of Chris MacNeil and Father Merrin, respectively, as well as Broadway actor David Wilson Barnes as the troubled young priest Father Damien Karras, Tony Award nominee Harry Groener takes on the role of Chris' charismatic director Burke Dennings and UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television graduate Emily Yetter plays the young Regan MacNeil. The world premiere cast also includes Stephen Bogardus, Manoel Felciano, Tom Nelis and Roslyn Ruff. The play is written by John Pielmeier adapted from the novel by William Peter Blatty, and is directed by John Doyle. The Exorcist just began previews and opens in the Gil Cates Theater at the Geffen Playhouse on July 11, 2012 and runs through August, 12, 2012. Get a first look at the production in the photos below!

Playing now through July 1 at the Riverside Arts Center, 76 N. Huron in Ypsilanti, Michigan, is the play "Yankee Tavern" by Steven Dietz, featuring award-winning local actors Larry Rusinsky, Tom Underwood, and David Widmayer, as well as Maggie Tibus. Directed by increasingly sought-after local director Debra Reichard (Ann Arbor Civic's Death of A Salesman, and To Kill A Mockingbird).

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Patrick Willingham) will take its MOBILE SHAKESPEARE UNIT on tour again this July with a production of RICHARD III, directed by Amanda Dehnert. The three-week tour, July 16 to August 3, will bring free Shakespeare to audiences who have limited or no access to the arts before a sit-down run at The Public Theater, August 6-25. Tickets for Richard III at The Public are $15 and go on sale July 12.

The Emergent Arts production of Yankee Tavern runs at the Riverside Arts Center (76 North Hurton Street, Ypsilanti, Michigan) from June 28 to July 1. The show will feature popular local award winning actors Larry Rusinsky, Tom Underwood, David Widmayer, and Maggie Tibus and is directed by Debra Reichard. Get a first look at the production below!

Playing now through July 1 at the Riverside Arts Center, 76 N. Huron in Ypsilanti, Michigan, is the play "Yankee Tavern" by Steven Dietz, featuring award-winning local actors Larry Rusinsky, Tom Underwood, and David Widmayer, as well as Maggie Tibus. Directed by increasingly sought-after local director Debra Reichard (Ann Arbor Civic's Death of A Salesman, and To Kill A Mockingbird).

Producers Ben Sprecher and Sonia Friedman may bring their production of THE EXCORCIST, adapted from the 1971 novel by William Peter Blatty by John Pielmeier, to the John Golden Theatre on Broadway this fall, according to the New York Post.

The Ocean Professional Theatre Company presents MAN OF LA MANCHA, now thru 7/8 at the Bengal Theatre, 180 Bengal Blvd, Barnegat, NJ, to open its Premiere Summer Season. The production will star John Davidson as Don Quixote with Broadway Producer and actress Heather Provost as Aldonza.