Hidden Stories - 2019 - Immersive Articles Page 12

Bloomingdale School of Music was featured in an all-new episode as part of the 11th season of NBC Universal's George to the Rescue. The episode premiered in various markets beginning Saturday, April 11, 2020. For more information, @George2Rescue on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Youtube.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. It is a day that remains the largest collective call-to-action in human history. And each year since, people have flocked together by the millions to campuses, parks, beaches and town squares around the world to stand up and fight for the planet.

BWW Reviewer Peter Nason chooses the greatest theatrical works (non-musical) from 1920-2020; see if your favorites made the list!

Bloomingdale School of Music will be featured in an all-new episode as part of the 11th season of NBC Universal's George to the Rescue.

The 19th annual Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, today announced its 2020 Shorts Program lineup. Setting a record with over 6,100 submissions, the final program roster includes 64 diverse and captivating short films from 20 countries around the globe, and features 46 world premieres, including DreamWorks Animation's new animated short, To Gerard. The short films will be presented in 10 distinct competition programs which include five narrative, four documentary, and one animation program. For the fourth consecutive year, 40 percent of the selections are directed by female filmmakers. Queen Collective by Procter & Gamble in partnership with Queen Latifah, Flavor Unit Entertainment and Tribeca Studios is back, a program dedicated to supporting gender and racial equality behind the camera. The 2020 shorts lineup is programmed by Sharon Badal and Ben Thompson. The 2020 Tribeca Film Festival takes place April 15 - April 26.

For as long as it's existed, the American music industry has obsessed over Black music, co-opting it into a package to be marketed and resold. Many Black perspectives deemed too threatening were defanged or erased in the process—particularly in genres like country, bluegrass, and folk, which draw on African-American sources but are usually performed by and for white people. Banjo player and fiddler Jake Blount resurrects those perspectives on his new album, Spider Tales, out May 29, 2020 on Free Dirt Records. He's digging deep into the roots of the music, pushing all the way back to Africa; the album's title, Spider Tales, is a nod to the great trickster of Akan mythology, Anansi. “The Anansi stories were tales that celebrated unseating the oppressor,” Blount says, “and finding ways to undermine those in power even if you're not in a position to initiate a direct conflict.” Blount is also drawing out the coded pain and anger in the songs to give voice to those who were shunned from America's musical canon. “There's a long history of expressions of pain in the African-American tradition,” Blount says. “Often those things couldn't be stated outright. If you said the wrong thing to the wrong person back then you could die from it, but the anger and the desire for justice are still there. They're just hidden. The songs deal with intense emotion but couch it in a love song or in religious imagery so that it wasn't something you could be called out about. These ideas survived because people in power weren't perceiving the messages, but they're there if you know where to look.” Blount is determined to show that this music didn't form in a vacuum, but in the face of ruinous hardship.

A new batch of Fringe favourites, including Paul Merton, NewsRevue and Wizard Presents, are now on-sale as they get ready to take to Pleasance's stages this summer.

This spring, Stanford Live presents the world premiere of Scott Joplin's Treemonisha, a 21st-century reimagining of the sole surviving opera by the a?oeKing of Ragtimea?? (April 23a?"26). Produced by Canada's Volcano Theatre, in association with Moveable Beast, and led by a predominantly Black, female creative team, the new work combines original source material from Treemonisha (c. 1911), Joplin's visionary tale of community and female leadership, with a new story and libretto by playwright and broadcaster Leah-Simone Bowen, working with co-librettist Cheryl L. Davis, and expanded musical arrangements and new orchestrations by composers Jessie Montgomery and Jannina Norpoth. In the title role, soprano Neema Bickersteth a?" a?oean incredible performera?? (The Guardian) whose a?oegalvanic voice outshines anything else onstagea?? (Vancouver Observer) a?" heads an all-Black cast, with an all-Black majority-female, nine-piece orchestra performing on Western and African instruments, under the award-winning stage direction of Weyni Mengesha, and conducted by Jeri Lynne Johnson.

Opera Omaha announces its third annual ONE FESTIVAL. The ONE Festival is a place for wild dreams, wilder execution, and exploration of those ideas on a grand scale. Programming is driven by the artists, not the executives. With an emphasis on experimentation and new worka?'yet not tethered to premieresa?'ONE fosters an environment that encourages and celebrates bold risks and transformative storytelling. At a glance, one might assume this is happening in NYC or LA; but this opera hothouse sizzles in the dead center of our country, far from the coasts. 

Joe's Pub has released its schedule for Feb 12-22! Brown Girls Burlesque: Love Got Game - Valentine's Edition (Feb. 12), Isaac Oliver Is Your Valentine (Feb. 13), and Lea DeLaria: f**k Love and more will take to the stage!

San Francisco International Arts Festival has shared the full schedule for the 2020 Festival that will run at the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture from May 19 - 31.

On April 2, St. Ann's Warehouse and Good Chance will bring The Jungle, which they have newly repurposed for touring, back to St. Ann's Warehouse, where it made its triumphant, sold-out American Premiere last season in a co-production with the National Theatre and the Young Vic.

The Playwrights Realm (Founding Artistic Director Katherine Kovner and Producing Director Roberta Pereira) will presents the 2020 INK'D Festival of New Plays, showcasing new works by this year's Realm Writing Fellows Tanya Everett, Maya Macdonald, Tasha Gordon-Solmon, and Christopher Reyes (February 24-27). The festival's plays offer vast tonal and stylistic variation while cohering around complex contemplations of structural issues. INK'D has proven to be an indispensable launching pad for the voices driving the future of playwriting. This year's powerful slate continues to introduce audiences to a diversity of fresh perspectives, thereby underscoring theater's potential to expand the possibilities of dramatic storytelling and engage with the world around it.

Calling young aspiring writers! This spring, Sally Cookson's critically acclaimed stage production of A Monster Calls heads to Coventry as part of a brand new UK tour, and to celebrate, the company has launched a creative writing competition open to young people aged 10-25.

Author Gaston D. Cox has announced the release of his short story collection, Aurea Mediocritas: A Book of Short Stories. Released in October 2019, the book is already receiving rave reviews from readers and reviewers.

Emma van Heyn is a South African actor, musician and songwriter. This 24 year old has released a vast kaleidoscope of musical creations. From a 16 track self-produced album, to recent singles and theatre sound design. She has just completed a successful live tour to London and New York City with her new upcoming releases.

This winter and spring, Joe's Pub a?" a program and venue of The Public Theater a?" is honoring new voices in musical theater through a variety of shows. From Broadway performers in concert to new musicals presented in the concert setting, there's something for every fan of musicals happening this season. Audiences are invited to celebrate the art of musical theater in non-conventional yet intimate ways with returning artists and new faces alike at Joe's Pub.

The Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto (MOCA) today shared details of its exhibitions programme for the first part of 2020, featuring new commissions by Carlos Bunga, Shelagh Keeley, and Megan Rooney. An installation by Sarah Sze launches 'The City Is a Collection,' a new exhibition series presenting major contemporary artworks from private art holdings within the Toronto community.

BRIC has announced its Spring 2020 programming showcasing live concerts and performances, family events, community discussions, contemporary art exhibitions, documentaries, series, podcasts, and more. 

Billy Recce is an up and coming composer and lyricist that I had the pleasure of seeing first perform a series of his comedy songs at the Duplex about a year ago. Quickly, he's gained some recognition for his work over the course of this past year on 'A Musical About Star Wars.' Impressed, when I heard about his CD release, I jumped at the opportunity to interview him for Broadway World.

Inflatable rafts on the Mediterranean. Dark holds of cargo trucks. Family photos hidden carefully in a backpack. Hear the stories of young refugees when CARTOGRAPHY asks what part we play in the lives of young people who set out into the unsure waters of their futures. Conceived and created by acclaimed experimental theater artist Kaneza Schaal [Bryce Dessner's Triptych (Eyes of One on Another)] and Caldecott-winning author and illustrator Christopher Myers (Misty Copeland's Firebird; creative director, Penguin Random House's Make Me a World) and produced by ArKtype, CARTOGRAPHY investigates how stories became a currency for young migrants at border checkpoints.

Works selected across the Indie Episodic, Shorts and Special Events sections of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival were announced today, underlining Sundance Institute's commitment to showcasing bold independent storytelling regardless of form, format or length.

FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, will present a special celebratory concert to mark the 10th anniversary of the musical Yank! opening off-Broadway. When this romantic gay love story set during WWII opened in 2010 at the York Theatre it was a surprise hit, garnering rave reviews and a raft of award nominations (Best New Musical and Score from the Outer Critics Circle, Outstanding Musical by the Lucille Lortel Awards, and 6 Drama Desk nods, including Best Musical, Music and Lyrics).

Broadway and West End star Hayden Tee returns to Sydney for A NIGHT WITH HAYDEN TEE a?" UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL.

Today, The Watermill Theatre announces the appointment of four new Associate Directors as part of its Associate Artist Programme. The four emerging directors have been selected to work with the producing theatre to develop their skills and build experience as they embark on the next phase of their careers. Under the guidance of Artistic Director Paul Hart, each will take on roles ranging from Assistant Directorships to fully directing productions, all with the aim of nurturing their talents and extending their knowledge. These new appointments are a part of The Watermill's continued commitment to supporting emerging theatre-makers and nurturing the talent of the future.