A View From the Bridge - 2019 - Immersive Articles Page 20

Pasadena Playhouse, State Theatre of California, welcomes the community to its campus with a wide variety of programming and activities this winter and spring. In addition to the season productions of Ragtime: The Musical (February 5-March 3) and Tiny Beautiful Things (dates to be announced), the community and learning programs are designed to enrich the experience of theater for children, new and existing patrons, lifelong learners, theater professionals, community members, and more.

Following are unofficial excerpts from CNBC interviews which aired on CNBC's “Squawk Box” (M-F 6AM – 9AM) today, January 22nd live from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Tennessee Playwrights Studio, a Nashville-based new-play development lab in partnership with Actors Bridge Ensemble, has announced its fellows and associates for 2019. Five TPS fellows, chosen from a competitive application process, will work under the direction of Kenley Smith to develop new full-length scripts that will be presented in public readings at the Darkhorse Theatre Chapel later this year. Two associates will contribute to monthly workshop sessions in the first year and will become TPS Fellows in 2020. TPS will continue to cast actors from the Nashville community for workshops and readings.

Co-Producers Tom Vitorino and Alice L. Walker (Thursday Night Theater Club), have signed acclaimed director/actor, Robyn Cohen for The Elephant Man by Bernard Pomerance at The El Portal Theatre MainStage.  Both Vitorino and Walker are thrilled to have Robyn Cohen at the helm directing their cast of twelve. This will be her second time to direct with Thursday Night Theater Club.

Last week, while talking with Tony Award-winning actress/singer/songwriter Renee Elise Goldsberry - during which we discussed her upcoming series of concerts with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra - she responded to my query about how much of 'Renee' is in each of the myriad characters by which she's come to be known and loved by her legions of fans.

Enjoy 2 specially reserved tickets for Bryan Cranston's play Network and meet him backstage after the play.

The National Theatre has announced its upcoming lineup for the first half of 2019.

Sundance Institute will gather 20 celebrated and revered expert voices across film, art, culture and science to award feature-length and short films shown at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival with 12 prizes, announced at a ceremony February 2 that will be livestreamed at sundance.org and on YouTube. Short Film Awards will be announced at a separate ceremony on January 29 and will also be livestreamed. The Festival takes place January 24 through February 3 in Park City, Salt Lake City and Sundance, Utah.

Milwaukee Repertory Theater presents Junk, the hit Broadway play by Milwaukee native and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Ayad Akhtar in the Quadracci Powerhouse now through February 17, 2019.  Since its Broadway premiere at Lincoln Center last year, Ayad Akhtar along with Artistic Director Mark Clements have continued to hone Junk to bring Milwaukee audiences a new, two hour no intermission riveting story set in the financial world of the 1980s.

Milwaukee Repertory Theater presents Junk, the hit Broadway play by Milwaukee native and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Ayad Akhtar in the Quadracci Powerhouse now through February 17, 2019.  Since its Broadway premiere at Lincoln Center last year, Ayad Akhtar along with Artistic Director Mark Clements have continued to hone Junk to bring Milwaukee audiences a new, two hour no intermission riveting story set in the financial world of the 1980s.

Arlington's newest professional theatre company, Prologue Theatre, is launching its inaugural season in January 2019 with Heidi Schreck's Grand Concourse. This intimate four-character play challenges audiences to consider a variety of perspectives as the lives of Shelley, Emma, Oscar, and Frog intersect at a Bronx soup kitchen. The production will be performed at the Key Bridge Marriott, 1401 Lee Hwy, Arlington, VA 22209, from January 24 to February 17, 2019. Performances will begin at 8 pm on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays and at 2 pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

Producers Anita Greenspan and Tony Hawk with Executive producer Adam Zotovich announced today that a new musical adaptation of the 2007 Nick Hornby novel, SLAM, is in development. This new project will feature a book by Tony Award Nominee Kyle Jarrow (SpongeBob SquarePants the Musical) with music and lyrics by Mark Mothersbaugh (prolific film composer, co-founder of new wave band Devo). Pro-skater Tony Hawk, who is featured as a character in the novel, is a producer on the project and is slated to develop skate choreography.

Santino Fontana, star of the eagerly anticipated new Broadway musical Tootsie and creator and cast member of the upcoming Lyrics & Lyricists event We'll Have Manhattan: Rodgers & Hart in New York at the 92ndStreet Y, will be the focus of an exclusive Drama Desk interview/Q&A program today, January 15 at 6:00 pm. The event will take place at Ripley Grier Studios, 520 8th Ave (between 36th and 37th Streets), on the 17th floor (Rm. 17-N), and will be moderated by Drama Desk member Michael Portantiere (BroadwayStars.com, TalkinBroadway.com). Limited General Admission seating is available for the public (non DD Members) $5 General, please make reservations at michael@broadwaystars.com. Please put 'RSVP Santino Fontana event' in the subject line.

Four months from now, America will mark the 20th anniversary of the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado in a state of contradiction. Though we condemned as a society the April 1999 massacre that left 15 dead and 21 wounded, school shootings across the United States have increased dramatically since then. The latest government figures show the dilemma has significantly worsened over the last two years: both the number of school shootings and the fatalities incurred in them more than doubled between 2017 and 2018. That total includes the 17 students and staff killed last February at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

The National Theatre and the American Associates of the National Theatre will host an exclusive fundraising gala to celebrate the National Theatre's acclaimed Broadway production of NETWORK on Friday, January 11, 2019. Funds raised from the Gala will support the work of the National Theatre in the U.S. and the U.K.

Every family has a secret. They can be embarrassing, dangerous, humiliating, shocking, well intentioned or even wonderful. The first show of Jewish Women's Theatre's 2019 Salon Season will reveal plenty of them in the debut of Family Secrets, opening January 19 at the Braid in Santa Monica and traveling throughout the state until February 13th.

Santino Fontana, star of the eagerly anticipated new Broadway musical Tootsie and creator and cast member of the upcoming Lyrics & Lyricists event We'll Have Manhattan: Rodgers & Hart in New York at the 92ndStreet Y, will be the focus of an exclusive Drama Desk interview/Q&A program on Tuesday, January 15 at 6:00 pm.

Victory Gardens Theater continues its 44th season with the Chicago Premiere of Pipeline, written by 2018 MacArthur Fellow Dominique Morisseau and directed by Cheryl Lynn Bruce. Pipeline runs February 1 March 3, 2019, with press performance on Friday, February 8, 2019 at 7:30pm at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

LA Drama Critics Circle Award Winning Director Elina de Santos helms the contemporary comedy SMART LOVE opening January 12th at Pacific Resident Theatre in Los Angeles. The west coast premiere marks the second professionally produced full length play by writer/actor Brian Letscher. This and Letscher's previous work, WHEN THE LIGHTS COME ON, premiered at Jeff Daniels' The Purple Rose Theatre Company.

Santino Fontana, star of the eagerly anticipated new Broadway musical Tootsie and creator and cast member of the upcoming Lyrics & Lyricists event We'll Have Manhattan: Rodgers & Hart in New York at the 92ndStreet Y, will be the focus of an exclusive Drama Desk interview/Q&A program on Tuesday, January 15 at 6:00 pm. The event will take place at Ripley Grier Studios, 520 8th Ave (between 36th and 37th Streets), on the 17th floor (Rm. 17-N), and will be moderated by Drama Desk member Michael Portantiere (BroadwayStars.com, TalkinBroadway.com). Limited General Admission seating is available for the public (non DD Members) $5 General, please make reservations at michael@broadwaystars.com. Please put 'RSVP Santino Fontana event' in the subject line.

The 5th Avenue Theatre has announced that Mickey Thomas, the lead singer of Starship (formerly Jefferson Starship), will star as Dennis in its sensational new production of Rock of Ages. Rock of Ages is the '80s rock ballad blast that features the music of Styx, Joan Jett, Twisted Sister, and more. With Mickey Thomas as lead vocalist, Starship produced hits including "We Built This City" (which appears in the production), "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now," and "Sara."

Seattle Repertory Theatre today announced complete ensemble casting for its production of renowned Seattle playwright Steven Dietz's Last of the Boys, an emotional story of the Vietnam War's complex legacy. We meet Ben - he lives off-the-grid in his trailer in the California Central Valley, haunted by the memories of his service during the Vietnam War. His self-imposed exile is disrupted by the arrival of Ben's old war buddy, Jeeter, with his new girlfriend and her volatile mother in tow. Intimate, funny, and fierce, Last of the Boys delves into a veteran's struggle to understand his troubled past, which threatens to swallow him whole. Last of the Boys will be directed by Seattle Rep Artistic Director Braden Abraham and runs January 18 - February 10, 2019 (opening night is January 23) on the Bagley Wright stage. Single tickets are on sale now (starting at $17) and are available through the Seattle Rep Box Office at 206.443.2222 or online at SeattleRep.org.

Steve Tompkins, director of Haworth Tompkins, the architecture studio responsible for projects including many of UK theatre's most high-profile building projects, including the National Theatre, Bridge Theatre, Battersea Arts Centre, Liverpool Everyman and Bristol Old Vic, has been named number one in The Stage 100 in association with Spektrix, the definitive list of the 100 most influential figures working in theatre and the performing arts industry in the UK today.

Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical IN THE HEIGHTS will delight Cincinnati audiences this winter at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park beginning Jan. 19, 2019. The Broadway hit, which won four Tony Awards including best musical and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, runs through Feb. 17, 2019. Official opening night is Jan. 24, 2019.

Four months from now, America will mark the 20th anniversary of the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado in a state of contradiction. Though we condemned as a society the April 1999 massacre that left 15 dead and 21 wounded, school shootings across the United States have increased dramatically since then. The latest government figures show the dilemma has significantly worsened over the last two years: both the number of school shootings and the fatalities incurred in them more than doubled between 2017 and 2018. That total includes the 17 students and staff killed last February at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.