The Actors Studio News

Actor Liam Neeson will visit the season premiere of INSIDE THE ACTORS STUDIO on Tuesday, October 2 on Bravo (7-8 p.m. ET)

Brian Friedman, one of the country's most prominent choreographers, will teach master classes to all Pace University commercial dance students on Sept. 19 and 20 as an artist in residence.

The joint will be jumpin' when International City Theatre closes its 2012 season with Ain't Misbehavin', the Tony Award-winning musical revue based on the life of Thomas "Fats" Waller. Saundra McClain directs Phillip Brandon (national tour: The Color Purple), Niketa Calame (Celebration Theatre's The Color Purple), Amber Mercomes (San Francisco and Los Angeles Opera productions of Porgy and Bess), Lacy Darryl Phillips (Broadway: Fosse and A Raisin in the Sun) and Jennifer Shelton (first national tour of Ragtime; previously seen on the ICT stage in Songs for a New World, Five Course Love, The Story, Honk! and Swinging on a Star), with musical direction by Rahn Coleman and choreography by Stephen Semien. Performances take place October 12 through November 4 at International City Theatre in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center, with low-priced previews beginning October 9.

Calpulli Mexican Dance Company brings its celebrated repertoire to Pace University's Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts on Saturday November 3 and Sunday November 4. The program includes the World Premiere of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the dead). This captivating work evokes the unending relationship between the living and the departed with music and dance as the language that transcends. Meticulous costuming, passionate live music, and larger than life surprises are in store.

Winning the prestigious Woodward/Newman Award for best play, while being developed at Rogue Machine for their 2012 season, brought with it a fully funded production mounted at the Bloomington Play Project in Indiana. It turned out to be one of their most successful projects to date. A Holland New Voices Award came shortly afterwards, and now playwright Henry Murray is ready for its close-up at Rogue Machine, known for staging new works. This will be a West Coast Premiere in one of the country's most vibrant cities for new plays, Los Angeles, opening tonight, September 15, 2012.

Labyrinth Theater Company, the award-winning, downtown ensemble has announced their Fall lineup of free play readings for the 13th Annual Barn Series, to be held at the Bank Street Theater in Manhattan's West Village throughout the Company's 2012/13 Season.

The cell, Nancy Manocherian (Founding Artistic Director) and Kira Simring (Artistic Director) have announced the workshop production of Larry Kirwan's HARD TIMES, with music by Stephen Foster & Larry Kirwan, orchestrations and musical direction by Andrew Smithson, choreography by Joe Barros and directed by Kira Simring.

Recently accepted into the 2012 United Solo Theatre Festival, A Little Potato and Hard to Peel will perform at Theatre Row on Friday, October 26 at 6:00 pm.

Theater For The New City, executive director Crystal Field, will present DIGITAL DILEMMAS, a new musical comedy about our obsession with digital devices, October 4 - 21, at the Theater For The New City, 155 First Avenue (at 10th Street). The production features book & lyrics by Tom Attea, music by Arthur Abrams, direction by Mark Marcante, and chorography by Angela Harriell.

Sugar Valley Theatricals, Bryan Webster, artistic director, in association with Isaac H. Suggs, Jr., presents a special staged reading performance of MUNCHED by Kim Porter, directed by Petronia Paley, as a benefit for Women on the Rise Telling HerStory (WORTH).

The Stella Adler Studio of Acting will host renowned author Beth Kaplan for a presentation on Jacob Gordin, known as the Jewish Shakespeare. Investigating a family mystery, Ms. Kaplan, a writer, teacher and actress, spent years tracking down her great-grandfather Gordin's controversial story for her book.

Labyrinth Theater Company, the award-winning, downtown ensemble has announced their Fall lineup of free play readings for the 13th Annual Barn Series, to be held at the Bank Street Theater in Manhattan's West Village throughout the Company's 2012/13 Season.

Henry Jaglom's original screenplay of his 2009 play, JUST 45 MINUTES FROM BROADWAY, starring Tanna Frederick and Judd Nelson, opens in Los Angeles, October 3 and in New York on October 17.

A project created by the Kumu Kahua Theater and organized by Managing Director Donna Blanchard. Quoting the program: "Co-lab Kaka 'ako is the result of a collaborative venture between inter-island Terminal and Kumu Kahua Theater. The goal of the program is to nurture the very best creative theater talent in our community to create an open platform for learning about and discussing Kaka 'ako - an important place for so many generations of Honolulu-ans, and a place to experience great change. At the center of the web of this creative process was instructor Lisa Formosa-Parmigiano a life member and former faculty member of the Actor Studio Drama School. She is currently the Director of Education at Chicago Street Theatre and an adjunct Professor at Columbia College in Chicago. Her courses have included ensemble development, collaboration techniques, film casting, directing and The Method. "It is the allowing of chaos in, and knowing how to work with it." ~ Lisa Formosa-Parmigiano

Winning the prestigious Woodward/Newman Award for best play, while being developed at Rogue Machine for their 2012 season, brought with it a fully funded production mounted at the Bloomington Play Project in Indiana. It turned out to be one of their most successful projects to date. A Holland New Voices Award came shortly afterwards, and now playwright Henry Murray is ready for its close-up at Rogue Machine, known for staging new works. This will be a West Coast Premiere in one of the country's most vibrant cities for new plays, Los Angeles, opening September 15, 2012.

Started in 2003 as an extension of Way Off Broadway's Children's Theatre Summer Camp program, the Actors' Studio picks up where the summer camp leaves off, offering workshops and classes during the spring and fall.

Today, August 13th, 2012, Kumu Kahua Theatre in association with Interisland Terminal will embark on a cutting edge program that will benefit area playwrights, directors, actors, and historians, appreciators of artistic expression and community members and visitors in Oahu.

Sugar Valley Theatricals, Bryan Webster, artistic director, in association with Isaac H. Suggs, Jr., presents a special staged reading performance of MUNCHED by Kim Porter, directed by Petronia Paley, as a benefit for Women on the Rise Telling HerStory (WORTH).

Comedic actors Christian Mansfield (Broadway Bares, National Tour of 42nd Street), Ken Urso, and Philip Mutz (also co-author) will star in the upcoming production of Gay Camp in this year's New York International Fringe Festival, running from tonight, August 11 - August 22. Gay Camp is directed by Arizona native Phillip Fazio.

New York's Fringe Festival starts August 10th, and BWW interviewed New Jersey's Bradley Campbell, who is producing THE ABDUCTION OF BECKY MORRIS.