Walter Lee News

The New Colony, dedicated to creating world premieres for the Chicago stage, is pleased to announce its first-ever four production season for 2016.

The Old Globe presents William Shakespeare's delightful and romantic Twelfth Night, directed by Rebecca Taichman, whose production of the time-traveling Time and the Conways fascinated audiences last April, as part of the 2015 Summer Shakespeare Festival. The Old Globe engagement runs through July 26, 2015, with opening night tonight, June 27 at 8:00 p.m., in the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre.

The complete cast and creative team have been announced for The Old Globe production of William Shakespeare's delightful and romantic Twelfth Night. Rebecca Taichman, whose production of the time-traveling Time and the Conways fascinated audiences last April, is back to direct the first show of the 2015 Summer Shakespeare Festival. The Old Globe engagement will begin performances on June 21 and run through July 26, 2015, with opening night on Saturday, June 27 at 8:00 p.m., in the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre.

Inspired by BroadwayWorld.com's Friday Six, welcome to BroadwayWorld Nashville's latest installment of The Friday Five: five questions designed to help you learn more about the talented people you'll find onstage throughout the Volunteer state. This week the spotlight shines on Connor Hall, Kurt Jarvis and Shawn Whitsell, members of director Joy Tilley Perryman's ensemble for ACT 1's production of Take Me Out, the Tony Award-winning Richard Greenberg play which opens at Darkhorse Theatre tonight.

The Tony winning musical Memphis the Musical comes to Mayo Performing Arts Center on Friday and Saturday, May 8-9. Tickets are $39-69. This event is sponsored by Crum & Forster.

KING HEDLEY II Provides Powerful Theatre at Hattiloo

It feels like it could have been written yesterday, but THE COLORED MUSEUM, now in a rollicking revival at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, Mass., was actually first produced in 1986. Written by the estimable Broadway playwright and director George C. Wolfe (Jelly's Last Jam, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches) and directed here with great panache by Tony Award winner Billy Porter (Kinky Boots), this scathing "black black comedy" marches through 300 years of African American history by way of 11 funny but also penetrating living vignettes.

ired by actual events, Memphis, the Musical is set in the places where rock and roll was born in the 1950s: the seedy nightclubs, radio stations and recording studios of the musically- rich Tennessee city of Memphis. With an original score, it tells the fictional story of DJ Huey Calhoun, a good ole' local boy with a passion for R&B music and Felicia Farrell, an up-and-coming black singer that he meets one fateful night on Beale Street. Despite the objections of their loved ones (Huey's close-minded mama and Felicia's cautious brother, the club owner), they embark on a dangerous affair. As their careers rise, the relationship is challenged by personal ambition and the pressures of an outside world that is just unable to accept their love. Will their love be able to withstand the trials of separation, greed and fame? This hot and bothered Broadway musical is filled with heart, soul and energy to burn! Don't miss this Tony-award winning show when it comes to Concord's Capitol Center for the Arts for one night only tonight, March 12 at 7:30pm.

Portland Ovations heats up this winter with its' presentation of the Tony Award-winning musical Memphis at Merrill Auditorium on Saturday, March 14 for two performances 4pm and 8pm.

Director Donald Alsedek and a uniformly fine cast bring Lorraine Hansberry's classic to vibrant life at Open Stage.

ired by actual events, Memphis, the Musical is set in the places where rock and roll was born in the 1950s: the seedy nightclubs, radio stations and recording studios of the musically- rich Tennessee city of Memphis. With an original score, it tells the fictional story of DJ Huey Calhoun, a good ole' local boy with a passion for R&B music and Felicia Farrell, an up-and-coming black singer that he meets one fateful night on Beale Street. Despite the objections of their loved ones (Huey's close-minded mama and Felicia's cautious brother, the club owner), they embark on a dangerous affair. As their careers rise, the relationship is challenged by personal ambition and the pressures of an outside world that is just unable to accept their love. Will their love be able to withstand the trials of separation, greed and fame? This hot and bothered Broadway musical is filled with heart, soul and energy to burn! Don't miss this Tony-award winning show when it comes to Concord's Capitol Center for the Arts for one night only Thursday, March 121 at 7:30pm.

On March 11, 1959, a play opened on Broadway that changed American theatre forever. 'A Raisin in the Sun' examined issues that had never been presented on Broadway. It was the first play written by a black woman to be presented on Broadway with Broadway's first black director. This heartwarming, hilarious, groundbreaking story of a family's heroic efforts to make a better life for their children will run at Open Stage of Harrisburg today, February 6-22, 2015.

On March 11, 1959, a play opened on Broadway that changed American theatre forever. "A Raisin in the Sun" examined issues that had never been presented on Broadway. It was the first play written by a black woman to be presented on Broadway with Broadway's first black director. This heartwarming, hilarious, groundbreaking story of a family's heroic efforts to make a better life for their children will run at Open Stage of Harrisburg February 6-22, 2015.

Bowman Wright, last seen as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Arena Stage's The Mountaintop, will tackle the role of King in August Wilson's classic drama King Hedley II at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Wright joins the previously announced E. Faye Butler as Ruby. Under the direction of Timothy Douglas, King Hedley II runs February 6-March 8, 2015 in the Fichandler Stage.

Sometimes I'm amazed at the synchronicity that can occur when you see as many plays as I do. For instance, I've had weekends of shows in the past that appeared to be theme related, even though theatre companies are often mapping out their production schedules up to at least a year in advance, and tend to go in their own directions regardless of what other groups are doing. Which brings us to the Black Rep's powerful production of playwright/activist Lorraine Hansberry's work, A RAISIN IN THE SUN. At a time when our community finds itself fractured and unable to come up with solutions that can bring us together and make us whole again, we have the opportunity to see a play that shines a light on just how far we've come, and how far we still have to go.

It is in this setting that the regional production of "Detroit 67", written by Detroit native Dominique Morisseau and produced by the African American Repertory Theater (AART) takes place. In what can be a story easily dismissed as regional, of interest only to people familiar with the rise and fall of the city, Morisseau's colorful and fluid writing style complete with vernacular of that period, along with great direction and blocking creates a theatrical setting in which one is completely absorbed into the story and its place in U.S. history.

Erie Theater Company (ETC) is Erie, PA's newest theatrical entity. It was created this summer, to provide artists the opportunity to develop and perform in a venue that offers diverse, interesting favorites, and new works, to the wide variety of theater goers of Erie and the surrounding areas. They open tonight, November 6th.

Leslie Ezra Smith is, arguably, becoming one of the most-respected actors on the Pittsburgh stage. One of Pittsburgh's favorite sons seems to earn genuine acclaim from his 'passionate' portrayals on stage. Even more than a gifted actor, this national spoken word, and slam poet, is also a father, playwright, and a science aficionado. Smith is preparing to portray the role of Walter Lee Younger in the, upcoming, 'A Raisin in the Sun', in the premiere offering of the, new, Erie Theater Company.

Erie Theater Company (ETC) is Erie, PA's newest theatrical entity. It was created this summer, to provide artists the opportunity to develop and perform in a venue that offers diverse, interesting favorites, and new works, to the wide variety of theater goers of Erie and the surrounding areas. They open on November 6th.

Due to early ticket demand, Court Theatre and American Blues Theater announce an extension to the world premiere of American Blues Ensemble Member Nambi E. Kelley's new adaptation of Richard Wright's classic novel, Native Son, directed by Seret Scott. Native Son will now run September 11 - October 19, 2014 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Avenue.