It Is Easy To Be Dead - 2016 - West End Articles Page 9

Lying in State, a comedy by David C. Hyer, takes place entirely in a funeral parlor, where Ed takes center stage. In a casket. It seems that Ed died in a gunfight with home invaders. Unfortunately, it may have only been squirrels that were trying to invade his home - giant purple squirrels.

Dig this: Asolo Rep will proudly present the world premiere of BEATSVILLE: The Beatnik Musical, a co-production with Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre. BEATSVILLE has a book by Glenn Slater, a Grammy winner (Disney's Tangled), and Academy Award (Tangled), Emmy (ABC's Galavant), Golden Globe (Tangled) and three-time Tony Award nominee (School of Rock, Sister Act, The Little Mermaid), and the co-creator of Disney's worldwide smash hit Tangled.

Step-sisters in a magical trailer park, a clash between past and present (that's a realtor's nightmare), an exploration of race and family in segregated Cleveland, a murderous family in the American West -- sounds like this year's finalists for The Landing Theatre Company's New American Voices Play Reading Series.

Rivendell Theatre Ensemble (RTE), Chicago's only Equity theatre dedicated to producing new work with women at the core, announces the world premiere of The Firebirds Take the Field by Lynn Rosen and directed by Jessica Fisch. The Firebirds Take the Fieldruns April 15 - May 20, 2017, at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, 5779 N. Ridge Avenue in Chicago.The Firebirds Take the Field is produced with support from the Alfred P. Sloane Foundation and Ensemble Studio Theater and is the second production of RTE's 2017 Season 'Exploring the Mind/Body Connection.'

The internationally acclaimed Pig Iron Theatre Company's A Period of Animate Existence, an ambitious new multimedia stage work meditating on extinctions, climate change, and the Anthropocene, will figure prominently in the timely conference An Ecotopian Toolkit for the Anthropocene, which the Penn Program in the Environmental Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania presents April 13-15.

Finborough Theatre has just announced its Spring-Summer Season. The new season features six premieres and another Finborough rediscovery from Scottish dramatist James Bridie, with the first London production since 1950 of Mr Gillie.

SPACE on Ryder Farm, a non-profit artist residency program located on Ryder Farm, an idyllic 221 year-old working organic farm in Brewster, NY, announces its lineup for the 2017 Working Farm Reading Series to be held at Playwrights Horizons in New York City April 3-7, 2017. All readings are free, and farm-fresh bites inspired by the plays and prepared by SPACE chefs will be served at each reading.

Known for staging 'the ultimate in intimate productions' (The New York Times), On Site Opera (OSO) presents a trio of exciting new site-specific opera productions in 2017, beginning May 11-13 with Mozart's rarely-performed early opera The Secret Gardener (La finta giardiniera) at the West Side Community Garden.

Acclaimed box office star, producer and humanitarian Richard Gere will open the 34th edition of Miami Dade College's Miami Film Festival on March 3, 2017, followed by an Opening Night Gala screening of his new film, Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer, directed by 2-time Oscar-nominated Israeli filmmaker Joseph Cedar, with the KORBEL Opening Night Party to follow at Miami's Historic Alfred I. Dupont Building.

Following an international development process in Penang, Malaysia, Jakarta, Indonesia and Washington, D.C. this winter, Rorschach Theatre will present the world premiere of FORGOTTEN KINGDOMS, a new play by five-time Helen Hayes Award nominated director, playwright, and co-artistic director Randy Baker.

Playwrights Horizons has announced complete casting for THE LIGHT YEARS, the world premiere of a new play written by Drama Desk Award winner Hannah Bos (The Open House, Jacuzzi, Blood Play, Buddy Cop 2) and Obie Award winner Paul Thureen (Jacuzzi, Blood Play, Buddy Cop 2), directed and developed by Obie Award winner Oliver Butler (Jacuzzi, The Open House, Blood Play), made by The Debate Society.

Producers Michael De Luca and Jennifer Todd today announced the third slate of presenters for the 89th Oscars® telecast. Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the Oscars will air live SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, on the ABC Television Network.

2017 is shaping up to be an eventful year at The Iridium as we continue to host MTV Live Setlist (the episode featuring 'dark girl pop' band MUNA airs this Saturday, February 4 at 9pm ET), and the acclaimed live public television series Front and Center (season 6 airing now at various dates/times across the country)! 

Acclaimed box office star, producer and humanitarian Richard Gere will open the 34th edition of Miami Dade College's Miami Film Festival on March 3, 2017, followed by an Opening Night Gala screening of his new film, Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer, directed by 2-time Oscar-nominated Israeli filmmaker Joseph Cedar, with the KORBEL Opening Night Party to follow at Miami's Historic Alfred I. Dupont Building.

Park Square Theatre is gearing up for its next season with world, American and Midwest premieres in a season that will showcase the Twin Cities diversity and talent.

The brilliant theatricality of Kneehigh, the innovative United Kingdom-based theater company, will be on display at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts once again when 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips has its Los Angeles premiere.  Based on the beloved book by War Horse author Michael Morpurgo, 946 explores everything we thought we knew about the D-Day landings in this tender musical tale of love and war. Adapted by Morpurgo and Emma Rice, who also directs, 946 is a Kneehigh production presented in association with Birmingham Repertory and Berkeley Repertory Theatres. Performances begin February 9 with the opening on February 10.

We are culture. We are exploration. We are The New York Science Fiction Film Festival.

Museum of the Moving Image is pleased to announce the lineup for the First Look Festival, its annual showcase for groundbreaking new moving-image art.

Beth Morrison Projects and HERE's fifth annual PROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/Now festival begins this week, running January 5-15!

I was attracted to Peter and the Starcatcher because of the script. It is an extremely well-crafted and an exceptionally inventive grown-up's prequel to Peter Pan where twelve actors play over 100 assorted characters, through the use animated characterization and the boundless limits of imagination. The actors enter a sparse stage and create a world for us where we face high adventure, big dreams, tough choices and flying; and the audience is asked to employ their imaginations immediately. The script is smart, tight, heartwarming and hilarious.

Announcing the 2017 Gloucester Stage Season! 

Playwrights Horizons has announced complete casting for THE LIGHT YEARS, the world premiere of a new play written by Drama Desk Award winner Hannah Bos (The Open House, Jacuzzi, Blood Play, Buddy Cop 2) and Obie Award winner Paul Thureen (Jacuzzi, Blood Play, Buddy Cop 2), directed and developed by Obie Award winner Oliver Butler (Jacuzzi, The Open House, Blood Play), made by The Debate Society.

On paper, it might seem that Kaija Saariaho's L'AMOUR DE LOIN (LOVE FROM AFAR), libretto by Amin Maalouf, couldn't possibly fill a stage the size of the Met's: three characters and a chorus that bobs in and out of the action. Yet, in action, this breathtaking, shimmering piece not only seems at home--particularly in the able hands of soprano Susanna Phillips and the Met orchestra under the  Finnish conductor Susanna Malkki in Robert Lepage's production--but it's hard to imagine hearing it any other way.

We are culture. We are exploration. We are The New York Science Fiction Film Festival.

Traverse Theatre Announces Spring/Summer 2017 Programme