Tony Taccone News

International City Theatre has signed on to join regional theaters across the U.S. in support of Berkeley Repertory Theatre's upcoming stream of a new radio play, It Can't Happen Here, adapted by Tony Taccone and Bennett S. Cohen from the novel by Sinclair Lewis.

On Tuesday, October 13 a radio production of Sinclair Lewis' novel It Can't Happen Here will broadcast at 5PM PDT/8PM EDT via YouTube. The audio drama has been made available to organizations across the country. The intent for the project is to encourage dialogue and motivate citizens to exercise their civic power and vote. 

Northlight Theatre, under the direction of Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans, announces that it is one of a select group of nonprofit arts organizations participating in a free livestream theatrical event, an adaptation of Sinclair Lewis' novel It Can't Happen Here. The radio play, produced by Berkeley Rep and featuring David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck), will broadcast live on October 13, 2020 at 7pm via YouTube.

Berkeley Rep's Artistic Director Johanna Pfaelzer today announced three additional virtual projects for the fall. The season, titled Rep On-Air, will include collaborations with Tony Award nominee Raúl Esparza (Company, Speed-the-Plow, and Taboo), celebrated New Yorker cartoon artist Tom Toro, Pulitzer Finalist Eisa Davis, and Bay Area favorite Hershey Felder.

Wesleyan Universitya??'s a??Theater Departmenta?? presents a??'Re-Evaluating the Ground on Which We(s) Stand(s): An Evening of August Wilson with Broadway's Crystal Dickinson and Brandon Dirden,' on a??Friday, September 25, 2020 at 4:30pm on Zoom. Registration is required for access to this free virtual event.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Artistic Director Johanna Pfaelzer today announced a new adaptation of Sinclair Lewis' novel, It Can't Happen Here.

a??a??a??a??a??a??a??Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF) has announced this year's recipients of the Stephen Schwartz and Thom Thomas Awards. Khiyon Hursey is the recipient of the Stephen Schwartz Award. Erika Dickerson-Despenza, Julia Meinwald, and Benjamin Velez are the first multiple honorees of the Thom Thomas Award

In lieu of a ceremony, 2020 Jonathan Larson Grant recipient Benjamin Velez shares what this grant means to him in a virtual acceptance speech.

San Francisco Playhouse announced their new Empathy Gym Fireside Chat series which will be streamed live for free on YouTube. Each week, Artistic Director Bill English invites playwrights to join him for a one-hour conversation about playwriting, business, and the future of theatre. Audience members can participate in the conversation by leaving a comment on YouTube.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival today announced Branden Jacobs-Jenkins as the 37th and final commissioned artist as part of American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle, OSF's multi-decade program for developing new plays about moments of change in United States history.

South Coast Repertory Artistic Director David Ivers and Managing Director Paula Tomei today announced the lineup for the 2020 Pacific Playwrights Festival (PPF). The annual showcase of new works, part of the theatre's new-play development arm, The Lab@SCR, includes two world-premiere productionsa?"The Scarlet Letter by Kate Hamill and I Get Restless by Caroline V. McGrawa?"and five staged readings. PPF runs April 24-26, with morning, afternoon and evening events. Single tickets and value-priced ticket packages are now on sale at www.scr.org.

The Board of the Museum of Performance + Design takes great pleasure in announcing that San Francisco Ballet Artistic Director and Principal Choreographer Helgi Tomasson will be presented with the 2020 San Francisco Arts Medallion for his outstanding leadership in the arts on April 23, 2020, at Saint Joseph's Arts Society in San Francisco. The San Francisco Arts Medallion was created in 2005 by the Museum of Performance + Design (MP+D) to recognize those individuals whose leadership, action, and generosity have benefited the cultural life of the San Francisco Bay Area. Proceeds from the event benefit the preservation and educational programs at MP+D.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre today announced that Bay Area natives and provocateurs, Culture Clash, are returning with their latest production, Culture Clash (Still) in America. The play, written and performed by Culture Clash and directed by Obie Award winner Lisa Peterson, marks the fifth time the satirical group has performed at Berkeley Rep.

Producer Brad Garfield announces the Broadway bound COME ON, LET'S GO: The Ritchie Valens Musical will be developed in Southern California in 2020 -- not far from where Ritchie grew up. COME ON, LET'S GO is written by Richard Montoya with original music by Los Lobos' Louie Perez and David Hidalgo and will be directed by Tony Taccone.

The Fred Ebb Foundation (Mitchell S. Bernard, Trustee) in association with the Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) presented the fifteenth annual Fred Ebb Award for aspiring musical theatre songwriters to Angela Sclafani & Benjamin Velez. The award, named in honor of the late award-winning lyricist Fred Ebb, was presented by Kate Baldwin on Monday, December 2nd from 6-8pm at a by-invitation-only ceremony in the Penthouse Lounge of The American Airlines Theater.

John Leguizamo, as I learned, is modern theatre's most prolific latinx playwright. While 'Latin History for Morons' is not his first play written on the subject of latinx people in America, It certainly seems to take on a presence of its own. The show does not seem as if it is the same ideas showcased in his previous works written into another script. Leguizamo gives his intimate insight into the life of being a latinx person in America who grew up in a rough part of New York and only wants his son to have a better childhood than he had. Throughout the show, Leguizamo uses his relationship with his son to convey how somebody deals with aggressions and microaggressions in their daily life. The show is a history lesson for the audience and serves to inform the audience of a subject matter they may not be privy to.

The Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF), the not-for-profit foundation affiliated with Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, presented the third annual SDCF Awards including the Gordon Davidson Award, Zelda Fichandler Award, Joe A. Callaway Awards, and Breakout Award. The event took place on Tuesday, November 12, 2019 at the Laurie Beechman Theatre.

The Fred Ebb Foundation (Mitchell S. Bernard, Trustee) in association with the Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) will present the fifteenth annual Fred Ebb Award for aspiring musical theatre songwriters to Angela Sclafani & Benjamin Velez. The award, named in honor of the late award-winning lyricist Fred Ebb, will be presented by Kate Baldwin on Monday, December 2nd from 6-8pm at a by-invitation-only ceremony in the Penthouse Lounge of The American Airlines Theater.

The crotchety, old ushers at Emerson's Colonial Theatre prepared for battle as the two night run of John Leguizamo's Tony Award winning Latin History for Morons descended upon their gilded palace. The bawdy irreverence of the piece with its marked disdain for the systemic white-washing of American history draws an audience that is ready to laugh riotously at commentary on shared pain, jeer at mentions of oppressive forces, and cheer at the slightest acknowledgement of their heritage (utterances of 'Puerto Rico' and 'Columbia' drew equivalent reactions from the crowd as mentions of 'Boston'). As non-traditional theatre audience members (read as: people of color, people who like fun things, etc.) flocked en masse to see the acclaimed voice actor behind the lisping sloth from the Ice Age movies, tensions were palpable. Ushers raced about the theatre, continuing the never-ending Stanford Prison Experiment of commercial arts by exerting their authority over the crowd, but not even their hyper-vigilance could dampen spirits as a master entertainer worked the house.

In T. Adamson's scorcher of a road trip, best friends Phoebe and Nina navigate hitchhikers, shoplifting, drugs, and a flood of selfies as they hurtle through the heart and heartlessness of America. A kaleidoscopic new play with unlimited mileage.