Touchstone News

Paper Mill Playhouse announces the lineup for its 2019-2020 season with three premieres and a total of five musicals.

Touchstone Theatre and Moravian College partner together to host acclaimed Japanese performance artist Keiin Yoshimura in her US premiere. Her two-week residency begins on Moravian College's campus as part of their yearlong focus on War and Peacebuilding. Followed by four performances of her solo work Sakura on April 11-14, 2019 at Touchstone's home theatre at 321 East Fourth Street in Southside Bethlehem.

BWW Review: STEVE at New Conservatory Theatre Center: mid-life crisis is examined with wit and drama.

Today, Nick Murphy announces details for a massive international tour supporting his recently announced sophomore full length album Run Fast Sleep Naked (Downtown Records / Future Classic / Opulent). He is set to headline over 40 shows on three continents throughout 2019--see full tour routing below. Tickets for most of the North America, Europe and the UK will go on sale this Friday, March 15 and tickets for the Australian shows are available now via https://nickmurphy.com.

The feelgood musical Sisters Act come to Sweden! The premiere will take place on September 11 at the China Theater. It is a divine rap, funny and musical comedy, based on the 1992 Blockbuster movie, Sister Act, featuring Whoopi Goldberg. The musical was nominated in the US for five Tony Awards for 'Best Musical' and of course 'Best Music'. The captivating music is made by composer Alan Menken, a numerous Oscar winner, is known as the man behind many of Disney's greatest hits, eg 'Can you feel the love tonight' and 'Beauty and the beast'. In this swinging monastery, Menken has created a rosary of hits ranging from 70's disco in Barry White's spirit to perfectly tuned ballads. Of course, the musical also contains a huge dose of pat-friendly power gospel. The performance Sister Act proves once again that singing nuns definitely belong to the big musical scenes.

Nick Murphy just announced details for his long-awaited sophomore full length album Run Fast Sleep Naked, out April 26 via Downtown Records / Future Classic / Opulent. The Dave Harrington co-produced album follows is his first full length release since his widely praised 2014 debut Built on Glass(released as Chet Faker). The album is available via pre-order / pre-save here:http://smarturl.it/RFSN.

Third Man Records is excited to share its full slate of Record Store Day 2019 offerings. Topping the list is the Third Man Triple Inchophone 3' record player, available alongside a new 3' box set of The White Stripes singles. Third Man will also be releasing a 2xLP 180 gram black vinyl version of Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band's Trout Mask Replica, as well as Griot Galaxy's Kins LP in limited 'liquid darkness' vinyl. The latter two LPs will be available in participating record stores on Record Store Day 2019 (Saturday, April 13), while the Triple Inchophone turntable and White Stripes box set will be available only at Third Man's Nashville and Detroit storefronts.

Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts and Film Independent present a special, one-night only live read of the 1981 comedy My Dinner with Andre, starring Emmy Award-winning writer and comedian John Mulaney ('Saturday Night Live,' Kid Gorgeous) and noted film and Broadway actor Nick Kroll (Loving, Big Mouth, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), on Tuesday, March 19, 2019, at 7:30 pm. Elvis Mitchell, Film Independent Curator will host.

Exiled to the forest of Arden, the residents of the forest learn about love, folly, and themselves.

The Tony Award winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) will launch its 84th year and Bill Rauch's final season as artistic director with preview performances beginning on March 1. The 2019 season officially kicks off Friday night, March 8, in the Angus Bowmer Theatre with Shakespeare's As You Like It (director, Rosa Joshi). On Saturday afternoon, Cambodian Rock Band (director, Chay Yew) opens in the Thomas Theatre, and Hairspray The Broadway Musical (director, Christopher Liam Moore) opens that evening in the Angus Bowmer Theatre. On Sunday afternoon, the drama by Southern Oregon based playwright Octavio Solis, Mother Road (director, Bill Rauch), will see its world premiere in the Angus Bowmer Theatre.

Director Lavina Jadhwani had a clear intention underlying casting and concept in the Guthrie's current production of AS YOU LIKE IT: to enable audience members from many different heritages and sexualities to see themselves represented on stage. Her intent was fueled, in part, by her own memories of going to theater as a child, and loving it, but never seeing someone who looked like her on stage; she is of South Asian descent. This production is, in Jadhwani's words, meant to be "hereish and nowish" and is informed by a deliberately intersectional feminist lens.

The Actors' Gang is presenting ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST by Dario Fo, directed at an incredibly fast and mind-boggling pace by Will Thomas McFadden, on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, through March 9th. Fo's works are characterized by criticisms of organized crime, political corruption, political murders, Catholic Church doctrine and have employed topics from current news. In this piece of classic international theatre from 1970, Fo writes of a madman who invades a police station interrogation room where an anarchist accused of bombing a railway station has recently 'accidentally' fallen out of a window. Donning various disguises and voices, the madman manipulates policemen into a truth-inducing hysteria in his attempt to discover what really happened.

UK singer/songwriter Allman Brown announced today the release of his anticipated sophomore album Darling, It'll Be Alright. Set to release on May 10th, Darling, It'll Be Alright features an exciting evolution for the London-based artist who expands upon his sonic palette while continuing to maintain his raw sensibility and aching melodic mastery. Allman unveiled the first taste of the upcoming album with the lead single 'Shapes In The Sun' which Glide Magazine called 'a poignant song that showcases Brown's ability to craft sweeping, powerful pop music.'

WNYC Studios, home to influential and beloved podcasts including Radiolab, 2 Dope Queens, Nancy, and On the Media, today announced a new slate of projects, including a suite of podcasts featuring stand-up and storytelling from emerging and established comedians.

WNYC Studios, home to influential and beloved podcasts including Radiolab, 2 Dope Queens, Nancy, and On the Media, today announced a new slate of projects, including a suite of podcasts featuring stand-up and storytelling from emerging and established comedians.

Following its critically acclaimed world premiere at Vancouver's Touchstone Theatre, the first Toronto production of the gripping new drama, C'mon Angie! by Amy Lee Lavoie will be presented by Leroy Street Theatre and The Spadina Avenue Gang.

The nominees for the 50th NAACP Image Awards were exclusively announced today at the Television Critics Association's (TCA) TV One's joint press conference with Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP and Alfred Liggins, Chairman and CEO of TV One. The winners will be revealed during the Two-Hour LIVE TV special airing on TV One on Saturday, March 30, 2019.

Incoming Artistic Director Simon Godwin today announces Shakespeare Theatre Company's 2019-2020 Season. Godwin's debut season highlights his artistic aspirations for the company to create high quality, exciting, inclusive theatre. Godwin states, This is not my season, but ours, everybody's season.

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF), presented by UGG®, will return for the 35th edition January 15 – 25, 2020. 200+ Films featuring over 120 World and US premieres, Industry Panels, Celebrity Tributes, and Educational and Free Community Programs will be held throughout Santa Barbara, including the Arlington and Lobero Theatres.

Kentucky Shakespeare kicks off its 59th annual free Kentucky Shakespeare Festival in Central Park with a comedy, a history, and a tragedy. The season begins with their professional productions of As You Like It May 29th, then Henry IV, Part II June 13th, followed by King Lear on June 27th. July 9th-21st all three performances will be presented in repertory. The season will be dedicated to the late Bekki Jo Schneider, former Producer of Kentucky Shakespeare and founder Doug Ramey's immediate successor. Last year we lost our dear friend Bekki Jo. She was instrumental in helping make the company what it is today, not only during her tenure here as an actor and leader but for years after as a mentor to me and to so many others in our community. We dedicate this season to her as we celebrate her life and legacy, said Matt Wallace, Producing Artistic Director.