The Johnsons News

The Bushwick Starr Propeller Project presents Plum de Force, written and directed by Kristine Haruna Lee, with performances tonight, September 5-8, Thursday-Sunday at 8pm.

Symphony Space will open its 2013-14 Music season with 'Kurt Weill on Broadway,' Monday, October 7 (8 pm) at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre. The show takes place on the 70th anniversary of the Broadway opening of Weill's One Touch of Venus. Ted Chapin hosts a stellar cast featuring Melissa Errico, Brent Barrett, Judy Blazer, and Ron Raines, plus winners of the international Lotte Lenya Competition.

The Bushwick Starr Propeller Project presents Plum de Force, written and directed by Kristine Haruna Lee, with performances September 5-8, Thursday-Sunday at 8pm.

From Vanity and Vanessa Johnson comes Closure Sista Roses, an empowering self-help book that explores the depths of a woman's heart and soul. From the dos and don'ts of dating to dealing with parents, this insightful self-help book embraces the challenging issues that women encounter today through testimonies from a solid group of female friends who always have each other's back through good times and the bad.

Manchester International Festival begins today, 4 July at venues around the city.

Manchester International Festival begins this Thursday 4 July at venues around the city.

German superstar, Herbert Gronemeyer makes his US debut on Tuesday, February 26 th with the release of I WALK. This 13 song album, features for the first time in English, some of the most impressive songs from the award winning songwriter's vast catalog alongside two new songs.

For over 100 years, glamour and celebrity have been used to promote film in countless fan magazines around the world. Singular among them was Pour Vous, published weekly in France from the arrival of sound film in 1928 to the start of the Second World War. An offshoot of the conservative daily newspaper L'Intransigeant (1880-1940), its tabloid size, bold use of photography, and broad-ranging editorial content significantly distinguished it from counterparts in the United States. While Pour Vous aggressively embraced the American star system, it also offered alternative images of race and gender, glimpses of a developing world cinema, and considerations of film history and aesthetics that anticipated ways of thinking about the moving image that later blossomed in postwar France of the 1940s and 1950s. This exhibition includes over 100 star-studded Pour Vous covers and spreads, all drawn from the Department of Film collection, that document an overlooked chapter of cinema history.

February 26 and 27 at The Music Room at SPCO Center in Saint Paul, the SPCO's Liquid Music series and Walker Art Center will present an evening of music by composer Sarah Kirkland Snider, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond, The Decemberists), and chamber ensemble yMusic. The elegantly woven program will showcase excerpts of Snider's Penelope surrounded by new chamber works from My Brightest Diamond and yMusic, whose recent albums topped critics' 'best of' lists nationwide.

Each week Joe's Pub at The Public presents some of New York City's most eclectic programming ranging from world to classical, pop, singer-songwriter, jazz and more. At the center of Joe's Pub's genre-blind booking is The Public Theater's mission to bring world-class performance to New York City's diverse cultural community.

Legendary actor, producer and playwright Peggy Shaw triumphantly returns to the stage in the world premiere of Ruff. Presented by Performance Space 122 (PS122) and Dixon Place as part of PS122's eighth annual COIL festival, Ruff pays tribute to the host of crooners, lounge singers, movie stars, rock and roll bands and eccentric family members who have kept Shaw company, living inside her, for the past 68 years. Guided by longtime collaborator Lois Weaver, Shaw throws off the stigma of age and embraces the joy-and necessity-of creating new work, post-stroke, aided by new technology and even deeper courage. Shaw is the recipient of the 2011 Ethyl Eichelberger award.

Coral: Rekindling Venus, a video installation created by Australian artist Lynette Wallworth that immerses viewers in the stunning underwater realm of fluorescent coral reefs and exotic sea creatures, returns by popular demand to the American Museum of Natural History on January 22-24 in collaboration with the Sundance Film Festival. As part of this limited engagement, Walworth will participate in a Q&A via Skype from Park City, Utah after the evening screening on Wednesday, January 23. Coral: Rekindling Venus is a selection of the Sundance Film Festival's New Frontier program, which showcases films, media installations, multimedia performances, and panel discussions that explore the convergence of film, art, new media technology, and storytelling.

Animal Defenders International (ADI) has written to the director of Oregon Zoo, Kim Smith, calling for assurances that the controversial performing elephant supplier with ownership rights over the Zoo's new baby elephant, Have Trunk Will Travel (HTWT), has formally given up all legal claim to the calf.

Legendary actor, producer and playwright Peggy Shaw triumphantly returns to the stage in the world premiere of Ruff. Presented by Performance Space 122 (PS122) and Dixon Place as part of PS122's eighth annual COIL festival, Ruff pays tribute to the host of crooners, lounge singers, movie stars, rock and roll bands and eccentric family members who have kept Shaw company, living inside her, for the past 68 years. Guided by longtime collaborator Lois Weaver, Shaw throws off the stigma of age and embraces the joy-and necessity-of creating new work, post-stroke, aided by new technology and even deeper courage. Shaw is the recipient of the 2011 Ethyl Eichelberger award.

Casting is complete for the world premiere of Amandine, the new musical from writer Winter Miller, 13P founding member who penned In Darfur (The Public Theater), among other acclaimed plays; Emmy Award-winning composer Lance Horne, who is known for his own work and collaborations with Alan Cumming, Amanda Palmer, Meow Meow, Sandra Bernhard and Justin Vivian Bond; and Drama Desk Award-winning director Josh Hecht (Christine Jorgensen Reveals). The production will run January 9-26, 2013 at the Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce Street) main stage. Critics are welcome as of January 13 for an official opening on January 16.

Sundance Institute announced today the films selected to screen in the 2013 Sundance Film Festival out-of-competition sections Spotlight, Park City at Midnight and New Frontier, as well as the installations and performances to be featured in the Festival's New Frontier venue. The Festival takes place January 17-27 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

With the 2012 NASCAR season nearing the finish line, four of the sport's biggest stars will open their lives to fans in a one-hour conversation special with ESPN SportsCenter anchor Hannah Storm on Tuesday, Nov. 6, at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, and composer Gabriel Kahane performs the world premiere of his composition The Fiction Issue, commissioned by Carnegie Hall, tonight, October 25 at 7:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall on a program entitled Don't Even Listen.