Theatre League News

The South Florida Theatre League has announced that the Remy Awards are moving online as the closing event of Quarantine Theatre Fest.

A relief fund has been established for area theatre artists and personnel who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. All who are associated with the theatre arts including, but not limited to, directors, technicians, designers, choreographers, musicians, actors and support staff are encouraged to apply.

For the past seven years, the South Florida Theatre League has run Summer Theatre Fest, an audience development program, where member theatres host readings of new plays by local playwrights on Monday nights from June to August. Due to the need for social distancing because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the League has had to adjust how we can aid our community and continue to engage audiences.

On March 25, the South Florida Theatre League announced the South Florida Theatre League Relief Fund to help theatre companies provide compensation to artists and other contractors that had to be laid off due to the cancellation of shows and events due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the current theatre world on hiatus, I have created a Spotlight Series on Broadway World Los Angeles which features interviews with some of the many talented artists who make our Los Angeles theatre community so exciting and vibrant thanks to their ongoing contribution to keeping the arts alive in the City of the Angels. And like all of us, how are they dealing with the abrupt end of productions in which they were involved? This Spotlight focuses on Michael Mullen, an award-winning and always busy costume designer, writer and actor who often steps onstage in a variety of roles, both male and female.

There is no facet of life that hasn't been impacted in some way by the COVID-19 outbreak. Streets are empty, people can't go to work, students can't go to school, gatherings large-and-small are forbidden, and that's to say nothing of the devastating public health realities of widespread illness, the plummeting economy and skyrocketing unemployment rate, and the emotional tolls of social isolation. Here in Rochester schools have been closed since mid-March, as have most non-essential employers (many of which have their employees working from home), and the number of positive coronavirus cases within Monroe County currently stands at 512. Given the scary and unprecedented moment that we're all living in, speculating about the future of theatre and the performing arts seems trivial. But in Rochester, home to one of Upstate New York's most vibrant artistic communities, it's anything but trivial. Our region's theatres are employers and economic drivers of the Finger Lakes area, but more importantly, they bring tremendous joy to the community, which is palpably missing during a crisis that has forced the temporary shuttering of our city's theatres.

The adage a?oethe show must go ona?? has been a theatre credo since at least the mid-nineteenth century. But at this moment in time when shows, quite rightly, cannot go on, Palm Beach Dramaworks is ramping up its efforts to connect with its audience.

The South Florida Theatre League has started a brand new program, The South Florida Theatre League Relief Fund, in light of how the COVID-19 pandemic has effected live theatre workers in South Florida. The purpose of the fund is to help theatre companies provide compensation to artists and other employees that had to be laid off because shows and events were cancelled.

Broadway Theatre League postpones shows due to COVID-19

Jason Robert Brown's international hit The Last Five Years, a poignant and impassioned song cycle that explores the five-year relationship between a pair of twentysomething New Yorkers from heady beginning to heartbreaking end, will be staged by Palm Beach Dramaworks this summer at the Don & Ann Brown Theatre. Tickets go on sale Monday, March 16.

Musical Theatre West (MTW) brings Jerry Herman's musical masterpiece Mame to Southern California for a three-week run at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center March 27 a?" April 12.  Based on the novel, Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis and the play Auntie Mame by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, Mame lavishly delivers one of theater's all-time great heroines in a brassy, tuneful, hilarious and touching fashion.  Tickets are available at www.musical.org, by calling (562) 856-1999, or at the Musical Theatre West Ticket Office.  Tickets start at $20.

Last night, supporters of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley gathered to hear the 2019 Regional Theatre Tony Award-winning company and its Board of Trustees announce the launch of its 50th Anniversary Campaign, a $5 million fundraising campaign to ensure the future success of the nationally-acclaimed theatre, including commissions for new plays and musicals. 

The Upstate Theater Coalition for a Fairgame is pleased to announce the second year of Fairgame Arts Grants, an invaluable funding opportunity for non-profit arts and cultural organizations in three New York state regions-Capital, Catskills and Southern Tier.

The ten winning plays of Palm Beach Dramaworks' third annual Young Playwrights 10-Minute Play Contest will take center stage at the Don & Ann Brown Theatre on March 4 at 7pm. This popular contest was open to students in grades 9-12 throughout Palm Beach County, and the winners were chosen by a group of theatre professionals. Macy's and Kids' Dreams are the sponsors of the contest.

The Living Room and Fishtank Theatre are opening a new KC Theatre hub in The West Bottoms

The Lyric Stage Company of Boston announced today that Courtney O'Connor has been named as the third Artistic Director of the Lyric Stage Company of Boston. Matt Chapuran continues on as Executive Director, a position he attained in August, 2019.

Palm Beach Dramaworks is a non-profit, professional theatre and is a member of the Theatre Communications Group, the South Florida Theatre League, Florida Professional Theatres Association, and the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County.

The Community Theatre League, Williamsport's leading community theatre, is thrilled to announce their fourth annual 'Evening with a Star' fundraising concert and master class, featuring Tony Award-winner Santino Fontana on February 22, 2020.

The Upstate Theater Coalition for a Fairgame is pleased to announce the second year of Fairgame Arts Grants, an invaluable funding opportunity for non-profit arts and cultural organizations in three New York state regions-Capital, Catskills and Southern Tier.

The Rochester Broadway Theatre League and Albert Nocciolino will welcome the Broadway production of Anastasia as it makes its Rochester Premier at RBTL's Auditorium Theatre January 21-26, 2020. Tickets are on sale now and available at RBTL's Auditorium Theatre Box office or by visiting ticketmaster.com.