Life and Fate - 2018 - West End Articles Page 18

The Athena Film Festival (AFF) at Barnard College announced today its film slate, including opening night, closing night, and centerpiece films, as well as additional programming for the 2019 festival. The ninth annual festival, co-founded by the Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard College and Women and Hollywood, will take place February 28 to March 3, 2019, at Barnard College in New York City. AFF showcases films, television and content that tell the extraordinary stories of fierce and fearless female leaders from all walks of life. Stories of ambition, courage, and resilience amplify the voices of strong, bold women, curating a public discourse on gender equality, and changing the cultural conventions surrounding leadership.

Tallahassee is starting the New Year with a production of THE SAVANNAH SIPPING SOCIETY from January 10th to 27th, 2019. 

ZACH Theatre kicks off 2019 with two show openings, one show closing, and a new "Pay-What-You-Will" program for all Mainstage productions. Hedwig returns to Texas in the Austin debut of the 2014 Tony Award-winning incarnation of John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask's Hedwig and the Angry Inch playing The Topfer at ZACH running January 23-March 3, 2019 with a new "Pay-What-You-Will" program to begin with this production. In collaboration with University of Texas at Austin's Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities (DTYC) MFA Program, This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing will now join the season lineup running January 13, 19, 20, and 26, 2019 in The Whisenhunt at ZACH, performed and devised by the ensemble. Allen Robertson's smash-hit musical for all ages, Tortoise and Hare will close in The Kleberg at ZACH on January 27.

ZACH Theatre kicks off 2019 with two show openings, one show closing, and a new "Pay-What-You-Will" program for all Mainstage productions. Hedwig returns to Texas in the Austin debut of the 2014 Tony Award-winning incarnation of John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask's Hedwig and the Angry Inch playing The Topfer at ZACH running January 23-March 3, 2019 with a new "Pay-What-You-Will" program to begin with this production. In collaboration with University of Texas at Austin's Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities (DTYC) MFA Program, This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing will now join the season lineup running January 13, 19, 20, and 26, 2019 in The Whisenhunt at ZACH, performed and devised by the ensemble. Allen Robertson's smash-hit musical for all ages, Tortoise and Hare will close in The Kleberg at ZACH on January 27.

By popular demand, The Russian Arts Theater and Studio (TRATS) has extended its critically acclaimed production of The Master and Margarita, Or, The Devil Comes to Moscow, a play based on Mikhail Bulgakov's cult masterpiece The Master and Margarita, adapted by Jean-Claude van Itallie from a translation by Sergei Kobiakoff. Staged by renowned Russian director Aleksey Burago, this limited engagement will take place January 8th to January 27th at Pushkin Hall, located at the Upper West Side in Manhattan.

The National Philharmonic rings in the new year-and continues its celebration of the great Leonard Bernstein's Centennial-with two of Bernstein's favorite composers in "Infamous Brahms" Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019 at 3 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore's Concert Hall. International pianist Haochen Zhang, who won the gold medal for the 2009 Van Cliburn Competition at the age of 19, will join Philharmonic Music Director and Conductor Piotr Gajewski in performing Johannes Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 in E minor.

Imagine combing through 500 diverse submissions of new works to choose selections to perform during the third annual 21ST CENTURY VOICES: NEW PLAY FESTIVAL at American Stage. Producing Artistic Director Stephanie Gularte and a committee of 40 members read and evaluated each new play and selected five outstanding plays for staged readings on January 3-6, 2019.

American Stage is excited to continue their support of the next generation of American playwrights with their 2019 21ST CENTURY VOICES: NEW PLAY FESTIVAL. This festival is a core component of our 21stCENTURY VOICES: EMERGING PLAYS, dedicated to discovering, developing, and introducing audiences to new works for the stage. A diverse committee of 40 community members works alongside our Producing Artistic Director Stephanie Gularte each year to read and evaluate over 500 new play submissions from up-and-coming playwrights across the globe.

American Stage is excited to continue their support of the next generation of American playwrights with their 2019 21ST CENTURY VOICES: NEW PLAY FESTIVAL. This festival is a core component of our 21stCENTURY VOICES: EMERGING PLAYS, dedicated to discovering, developing, and introducing audiences to new works for the stage. A diverse committee of 40 community members works alongside our Producing Artistic Director Stephanie Gularte each year to read and evaluate over 500 new play submissions from up-and-coming playwrights across the globe.

Well, it's that time of the year again--time for a look-back on what was worth making note of during the calendar year that's about to come to an end. It's from a totally personal, subjective point of view, of course, but frankly that's the way opera-lovers always seem to like it, n'est-ce pas? The productions worth noting come from places big, small and in-between, from composers old as the hills to freshly minted or somewhere in between (likewise the performers), from traditional or boldly modern to simply stand up and sing.

'Bring it On' meets 'Dreamgirls' in the girl-group musical, 'Betty and the Belrays' by William Electric Black aka Ian Ellis James, which will be presented by Theater for the New City January 31 to February 17. The piece tells the story of three white female singers from Detroit who struggle to change a racially divided society by singing for a black record label. Book and lyrics are by William Electric Black. Music is by Black, Valerie Ghent (arranger/keyboards for Ashford & Simpson) and Gary Schreiner. Choreography is by Jeremy Lardieri. Director is Mr. Black.

The Russian Arts Theater and Studio (TRATS) continues its 2018-2019 season with an encore run of The Master and Margarita, Or, The Devil Comes to Moscow, a play based on Mikhail Bulgakov's cult masterpiece The Master and Margarita, adapted by Jean-Claude van Itallie from a translation by Sergei Kobiakoff. Staged by renowned Russian director Aleksey Burago, this limited engagement will take place December 1st to December 21st at Pushkin Hall, located at the Upper West Side in Manhattan.

The Last Color is an adaption of Vikas Khanna's bestselling book of the same name and marks his screenwriting debut

Celebrity Chef Vikas Khanna's directorial debut feature The Last Color starring Neena Gupta will have its World Premiere at the prestigious 30th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival 2019. The film will be screened thrice during the festival being held from 3rd -14th Jan 2019. The Palm Springs International Film Festival is one of the largest film festivals in North America, welcoming over 135,000 attendees each year for its line-up of new and celebrated international features and documentaries. The film is under the competition category - New Voices New Vision.

The cast of Netflix's The Letter for the King is led by Amir Wilson (The Secret Garden), Ruby Serkis and Nathanael Saleh, who plays John Banks in Mary Poppins Returns, according to Deadline.

12 Peers Theater announces their eighth season featuring the return of Mythburgh, a site-specific performance and storytelling series, and two local premieres, Blank and Everybody. Blank is a performance piece by Nassim Soleimanpour, the mastermind behind 2016's White Rabbit Red Rabbit. Everybody is a 2018 Pulitzer Prize finalist by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins that remixes the classic Everyman for a modern audience. The play features a rotating cast of performers, ensuring no two performances are the same.

Tallahassee is bringing in the New Year with a production of THE SAVANNAH SIPPING SOCIETY.

As we're ready to draw the curtain on a busy 2018, it's time to look back on my eclectic year of theatre in a (consciously unmethodical) collection of highlights.

Lyric Theatre promises to take patrons on a journey next season from the plains of Nebraska to the steps of the White House and from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood to the deck of an infamous cruise liner.

BWW Interview: Ted Rosenthal composer of DEAR ERICH at Museum Of Jewish Heritage

A Noise Within (ANW), the acclaimed classical repertory theatre, presents Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, the Tony Award-winning play that first brought Stoppard to the attention of an international audience - a position he has held in the half century since its premiere in 1967. ANW Producing Artistic Director Geoff Elliott directs. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead performs from October 7 to November 18 (Press Opening October 13).

Soufra, an inspirational documentary about social entrepreneur Mariam Shaar, who overcame the limitations imposed from a life in an impoverished refugee camp to successfully launch a thriving catering company, screened at the Pontifical Orientale Institute at The Vatican on December 5th. The film, directed by Thomas Morgan and executive produced by Academy Award-winning actress Susan Sarandon, showed during the final part of the 2018 Laudato si' Challenge and was joined by Morgan, Sarandon and the film's subject Mariam Shaar, who opened the summit. The three-day challenge in Vatican City and ROME welcomed leaders from all sectors (public, private and faith) to come together and seek a way to sustainably improve the lives of 10 million people who have been forced out of their homes.

The Auditorium Theatre announces programming for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's return to Chicago March 6-10, commemorating the company's 60th anniversary and the 50th anniversary of its first performances at the Auditorium, its Chicago home. During these special engagements, Ailey gives Midwest premieres to its first ever two-act ballet, Rennie Harris' Lazarus; Wayne McGregor's Kairos; and Jessica Lang's EN. The company also performs the Timeless Ailey program, a curated selection of classic pieces by company founder and visionary Alvin Ailey.

New Rep Theatre in Massachusetts's gender-bent production of 1776 is now on stage! The production is set to run at the Mosesian Center for the Arts through December 23rd.

Boston Playwrights' Theatre (BPT) continues its 2018-19 season with Winter People by Laura Neill. Running from December 6-16, this new drama is directed by Avital Shira.