Touchstone News

The Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) presents its annual awards for the encouragement of new writing at the Royal Court Theatre, London, on Friday 8 February 2019.

For the first time the Royal Shakespeare Company will tour three productions in repertoire to six regional theatres, playing for two weeks in each venue. As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew and Measure for Measure will visit Salford in September 2019, and then Canterbury, Plymouth, Nottingham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Blackpool in early 2020. Performance dates at the end of the release.

Rivendell Theatre Ensemble (RTE), Chicago's only Equity theatre dedicated to producing new work with women at the core, presents the Midwest premiere of I Wanna F#!&ing Tear You Apart by Morgan Gould and directed by Jessica Fisch. I Wanna F#!&ing Tear You Apart runs February 15 - March 23, 2019 at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, 5779 N. Ridge Avenue in Chicago.  The press opening is Wednesday, February 27, 2019 at 7:00pm.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld, and TGIF! Catch up on the latest Broadway news before you jump into your weekend!

The Actors' Gang will begin previews for Accidental Death Of An Anarchist, written by Italian playwright and Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo, on Thursday, January 24th with a Pay What You Can first preview. Directed by Will Thomas McFadden, this wickedly funny satire will run Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, through March 9th. The press opening is Saturday, February 2nd.   

Touchstone Theatre presents its third annual Jakopa's Punch Bowl concert fundraiser on Saturday, February 9, 2019 from 7-10pm at the Charles A. Brown Ice House. This Mardi Gras-themed evening of eclectic music by local bands, New Orleans-style lite fare, and all-you-can-drink beer and wine supports upcoming original works at Touchstone.

Chicago Magic Lounge, Chicago's home for close-up magic, announces offerings for Winter and Spring 2019, including special Signature Shows celebrating Valentine's Day and CML's one-year anniversary in February, as well as upcoming Showcase performers. Beginning April 3, Chicago Magic Lounge will also offer a new Artist-in-Residence series on Wednesday evenings at 7:30pm.

Please join us at Touchstone Theatre, 321 E. 4th. Street, Bethlehem, Pa, on February 12, 2019 at 4 pm for light refreshment and the press announcement and full release of information regarding Festival UnBound.    

Originally released in early 2000 by Beggars Banquet, Lushlife album peaked at No. 14 on the CMJ Top 200 chart and No. 11 on the Core Radio chart. Nearly two years in the making, Lushlife, in what would become the band's final album, took even greater strides forward from previous releases. The album teems with atomized sounds, each one opening a portal in the mix, importing a haze of space and history, evoking the distant buzz of the city beyond the studio. Throughout, gilded strings build, sway and exhale, plugging the music into the sumptuous melancholy of Philly soul, the emotive Mancini-inspired arrangements of Gaye and Mayfield and the edgy soundtrack scores of David Shire. Yet with all the experiment and variation, Lushlife is actually quite a deliberate and enticing affair for the ear and mind.

Long Wharf Theatre, under the leadership of Artistic Director Jacob G. Padron and Managing Director Joshua Borenstein, presents Miller, Mississippi, by Boo Killebrew, directed by Lee Sunday Evans, from January 9 through February 2, 2019.

Alamo Drafthouse and Universal Pictures today announced The M. Night Shyamalanathon, the first-ever marathon screening of all three films in the filmmaker's trilogy: 2000's Unbreakable, 2016's Split, and the first American public screening of the third chapter, the explosive comic-book thriller, Glass.

Executive Producers Pam Carter and The Cliplight Theater, in conjunction with Amanda Cooper/ALC Management, are pleased to announce the world premiere of Maverick, co-authored by Frank Beacham and George Demas. A dramatization of co-author Beacham's real-life experience collaborating with Orson Welles in the months leading up to his death, Maverick begins previews at The Connelly Theater (220 E. 4th St., between Ave. A & Ave. B) on February 6, with opening night set for February 13 for a limited run through March 2. Tickets, priced $30-$50, are available at www.mavericktheplay.com.

Long Wharf Theatre, under the leadership of Artistic Director Jacob G. Padron and Managing Director Joshua Borenstein, presents Miller, Mississippi, by Boo Killebrew, directed by Lee Sunday Evans, from January 9 through February 2, 2019.

In celebration of its third year on Broadway, Warner Bros. Records released SCHOOL OF ROCK (Original Broadway Cast Recording) [Deluxe Edition]. This "Deluxe Edition" comes across more as a hackneyed marketing ploy since the only differences are changing the cover art to the current logo design and adding "School of Rock: The Musical (Medley).'

Directed by influential Chinese avant-garde theater director Meng Jinghui and starring Huang Xiangli, the compelling solo performance Nine and a Half Love opens at Asia Society in New York on December 14 and 15, 2018, as part of the Creative China Festival 2018.

The Jewish Museum and the Film Society of Lincoln Center will present the 28th annual New York Jewish Film Festival (NYJFF), January 9-22, 2019. Among the oldest and most influential Jewish film festivals worldwide, the NYJFF each year presents the finest documentary, narrative, and short films from around the world that explore the diverse Jewish experience. Featuring new work by fresh voices in international cinema as well as restored classics, the festival's 2019 lineup includes 32 wide-ranging and exciting features and shorts from the iconic to the iconoclastic, many of which will be screening in their world, U.S., and New York premieres. Screenings are held at the Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street, NYC.

Directed by influential Chinese avant-garde theater director Meng Jinghui and starring Huang Xiangli, the compelling solo performance Nine and a Half Love opens at Asia Society in New York on December 14 and 15, 2018, as part of the Creative China Festival 2018.

The collaborative, cross-cast company is announced for the Royal Shakespeare Company's (RSC) productions of As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew and Measure for Measure, playing in a newly reconfigured Royal Shakespeare Theatre next summer. All three productions will then tour in repertoire for the first time to six regional theatres in 2019 and 2020. The actors will each appear in two of the three plays performed as part of the Summer 2019 repertoire. Design for all three productions is by Stephen Brimson Lewis, Director of Design for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Disney's new streaming service Disney+, is developing 'Sister Act 3,' according to Variety. "Insecure" co-executive producer Regina Hicks and "Star" showrunner Karin Gist will write the script for the film.

Touchstone Theatre presents the latest in their Christmas City Follies series, the theatre's annual holiday-themed vaudeville show, filled with jolly mischief, merry melodies, and holiday cheer. Christmas City Follies XIX runs December 6-23, 2018 at Touchstone's home theatre at 321 East Fourth Street in Southside Bethlehem.