Touchstone Theatre News

The South Side's Touchstone Theatre celebrates the coming of their 35th anniversary season with the fulfillment of a $15,000 matching challenge grant from the R.K. Laros Foundation. The match was pledged in June 2014 and was successfully completed last month. The grant and matching funds will be used to replace the theatre's 25-year-old seating in the fall of 2015.

n a tribute to Athol Fugard and his 1973 Tony and Drama Desk Critic Award winning play, American Players Theatre in their Touchstone Theater stages The Island. When first produced by Fugard in South Africa, the play attempted collaboration between the black and white actors and/or prisoners in a theatrical protest agianst the country's injust apartheid policies. The original actors and co-writers, John Kani and Winston Nishona, were actually imprisoned on South Africa's Robben Island where the country's eventual preseident Nelson Mandela spent more than 25 years. During this period in time, even the name Robben Island was prohibited from being spoken outloud.

When the lights went out, there was no sound.  No applause, no cheering, and no uncomfortable laughing. Jim DeVita had silenced the audience in the Touchstone Theatre. That is the power of Lisa Peterson and Denis O'Hare's An Iliad.

A college classroom, perhaps set in Ireland because a bottle of Jameson Whiskey appears for the poet to quench his thirst, greets the Touchstone Theatre Audiences at American Players Theatre (APT) in their opening play An Iliad. Outside the classroom rumblings and unrest from unidentified crowds can be heard--Unite James DeVita enters playing the narrator, the poet, the teacher in corduroy pants, tweed suit coat, a woolen vest, pliad tie and white shirt. Similar dress to what the part-time teacher, poet and writer James Joyce, who set contemporary literature on edge with his epic 'Ulysses', the latinized name of hero warrior Odysseus in Homer's 8th century 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey.' Lisa Peterson and Denis O'Hare wrote the stunning 2012 adaptation of 'Iliad' directed at APT by John Langs.

The Fresh Voices showcase returns to Touchstone Theatre today and tomorrow, June 19 and 20, 2015. This annual showcase is a celebration of new theatre, featuring original works-in-progress by the 2014-15 Touchstone Apprentices, Remy Kayal and Anna Russell. The evening, centered around the theme Transformation, is composed of three original works in progress.

SHIFT Theatre presents 1-Act Festival 8 - with four captivating works from a variety of local theatre innovators - today, June 17, through June 20, 2015 at 8pm, in The Cultch's intimate Vancity Culture Lab. Each evening of the festival will see Anthea Morritt's Run, CR Packer's Another Shot, Pippa Mackie's Deer Harper, and Pedro Chamale's Mis Papas engage audiences through unique and fascinating stories themed around two fundamental human experiences: love and loss.

American Players Theatre (APT) will launch its 36th Season tonight, June 6, 2015 with a preview performance of William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. The performance begins at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are still available.

American Players Theatre (APT) will launch its 36th Season June 6, 2015 with a preview performance of William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor.

The greater Madison area has a host of summer theatrical offerings that provide entertainment for every member of the family. From all out Wisconsin Dells excursions, to evenings under the stars in Spring Green, or simply an evening out on the town in our state's capital, the summer heat does not stop these area artists. If you need a recommendation for some festivities, here are five shows that are sure to delight in the coming months.

The Fresh Voices showcase returns to Touchstone Theatre on June 19 and 20, 2015. This annual showcase is a celebration of new theatre, featuring original works-in-progress by the 2014-15 Touchstone Apprentices, Remy Kayal and Anna Russell. The evening, centered around the theme Transformation, is composed of three original works in progress.

A new cross-culturally inspired mural entitled 'The Tree in the Mirror' now adorns the northern wall of Touchstone Theatre, designed by international artists Deng Dafei and He Hai, directors of the Beijing-Hangzhou visual arts collective called the Utopia Group, and created in collaboration with local mural artist Jim Gloria, Co-Founder of the Totts Gap Arts Institute in Bangor, PA through the institute's Heritage Mural Education program.

SHIFT Theatre presents 1-Act Festival 8 - with four captivating works from a variety of local theatre innovators - June 17-20, 2015 at 8pm, in The Cultch's intimate Vancity Culture Lab. Each evening of the festival will see Anthea Morritt's Run, CR Packer's Another Shot, Pippa Mackie's Deer Harper, and Pedro Chamale's Mis Papas engage audiences through unique and fascinating stories themed around two fundamental human experiences: love and loss.

Touchstone Theatre presents the landmark tenth year of its acclaimed Young Playwrights' Festival. This showcase of new plays written by local elementary and middle school students performs on May 16th at Zoellner Arts Center's Baker Hall. The full evening includes a preshow celebration in Butz Lobby and a post-show gala reception in the Lehigh University Art Galleries.

The Panel Discussion to be held as part of Touchstone Theatre's Journey from the East community-based project has moved to today, April 25, 2015.

This spring the lovely historic town of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, will once again welcome Bach lovers from around the country to celebrate the incomparable Bach Choir of Bethlehem, one of America's oldest and most cherished musical institutions. Two weekends in May-May 1 - 2 and 8 - 9, 2015-will offer a wide range of events, including concerts, lectures and, for the first time, an imaginative re-creation in downtown Bethlehem of Leipzig's historic Zimmermann's Coffee House, the scene of many first performances of Bach's instrumental works and secular cantatas, including the celebrated Coffee Cantata.

The Panel Discussion to be held as part of Touchstone Theatre's Journey from the East community-based project has moved to Saturday, April 25, 2015.

Touchstone Theatre presents Journey from the East, a community-based theatrical production for their two-year project exploring the history, heritage, and future of the Chinese community in the Lehigh Valley and America. The free, large-scale, outdoor performance plays April 18, 19, 25, and 26 at 3:00pm at the Chinese Harmony Pavilion on the South Bethlehem Greenway.

Tarragon Theatre presents the world premiere of Cake and Dirt, written by one of Canada's most prolific and acclaimed playwrights, Daniel MacIvor, a Tarragon Playwright-in-Residence and a Governor General's Literary Award-winner. This darkly comic look at life in Toronto through a fractured family of privilege opens tonight, March 11 and runs to April 12, 2015 (previewing from March 3) in Tarragon's Mainspace.

Tarragon Theatre presents the world premiere of Cake and Dirt, written by one of Canada's most prolific and acclaimed playwrights, Daniel MacIvor, a Tarragon Playwright-in-Residence and a Governor General's Literary Award-winner. This darkly comic look at life in Toronto through a fractured family of privilege opens March 11 and runs to April 12, 2015 (previewing from tonight, March 3) in Tarragon's Mainspace.

?American Players Theatre (APT) announces its 36th Summer Season, June 6 to October 18, 2015, a diverse lineup of eight classical and contemporary plays in repertory that includes the work of two visiting Chicago directors: Derrick Sanders, founding artistic director of Congo Square Theatre Company, makes his APT debut directing The Island by Athol Fugard, John Kani and Winston Ntshona in APT's intimate 200-seat Touchstone Theatre; and Jeff Award winner William Brown returns to direct Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire in APT's flagship 1148-seat outdoor amphitheater Up the Hill.