Theatre

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  • Sundance Fest Embraces Hip-Hop on Stage and Screen

    Backstage
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:50 am
    Along with a slew of performances by rappers and DJs around town, this year's festival includes documentary and narrative films about hip-hop culture.

  • Today In Theatre History: JANUARY 28

    Playbill.com : News
    David Gewirtzman and Anne Bradley and Christopher Reichheld
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:00 pm
    1908 J. Lucifer Mephisto tempts a sculptor to be unfaithful in The Soul Kiss. Produced by Florenz Ziegfeld, this musical comedy stars Ralph Herz, Adeline Genee, and Cecil Lean. Harry B. Smith provides the book and Maurice Levi the music. Audiences will be seduced for more than 15 weeks.

  • Los Angeles: Sarrah Jessica Parker, Chloë Sevigny to Join Lovelace Film

    TheaterMania.com
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:00 pm
    Friday, January 27, 2012 4 PMSarah Jessica Parker will play Gloria Steinem and Chloë Sevigny will play the role of a feminist journalist in the upcoming film, Lovelace, about the life of porn star Linda Lovelace. Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Freidman are directing the project, which has a screenplay by

  • Eiko Ishioka, Costumer of the Surreal, Dies at 73

    NYT > Theater
    By MARGALIT FOX
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:27 pm
    Ms. Ishioka, who won a 1992 Academy Award in costume design for “Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula,’” came to be known as one of Japan’s, then the world’s, foremost art directors.

  • Jiri Zizka, 58, a force in Philadelphia theater

    Theater News
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:27 pm
    By Howard Shapiro INQUIRER STAFF WRITER Jiri Zizka defected from Czechoslovakia, joined a small Philadelphia theater company, and, with his then-wife Blanka Zizka, transformed it into the Wilma Theater - one of the city's largest stage companies.
 
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    TheaterMania.com

  • New York: George Clooney, Meryl Streep Win AACTA Award

    28 Jan 2012 | 12:00 am
    Saturday, January 28, 2012 12 AMWinners of the first Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards were announced in Los Angeles on January 27. The Artist was named Best Film, with its director, Michael Hazanivicus, and actor Jean Dujardin also winning in their categories, Meryl Streep was named Best

  • Washington DC: Arena Stage Announces Partners and Additional Details for Eugene O'Neill Festival

    27 Jan 2012 | 5:00 pm
    Friday, January 27, 2012 5 PM Arena Stage has announced its partnerships and schedule for a two-month long Eugene O'Neill Festival, to run March 9-May 6. The celebration will feature unique collaborations with other arts and education institutions in a diverse program of events. The full-length productions headlining the festival include

  • New York: Lynn Nottage, Kristoffer Diaz to Speak at Launch of Cyber Narrative Project

    27 Jan 2012 | 5:00 pm
    Friday, January 27, 2012 5 PMWoolly Mammoth Theatre Company is set to host the launch of black women playwrights' group Cyber Narrative Project, February 22. This project will partner playwrights of color with technology students to create cyber-narrative tools to enhance live productions of their plays. The launch of this

  • Chicago: Richard Cotovsky, Preston Tate, Jr. to Star in Mary-Arrchie Theatre's Superior Donuts

    27 Jan 2012 | 5:00 pm
    Friday, January 27, 2012 5 PMMary-Arrchie Theatre has announced casting for Tracy Letts' Superior Donuts, to run February 16 - March 25 at Angel Island Theatre. Matt Miller will direct the production. The play centers on an aging anti-war activist and the proprietor of a rundown donut shop in the

  • Los Angeles: Sarrah Jessica Parker, Chloë Sevigny to Join Lovelace Film

    27 Jan 2012 | 4:00 pm
    Friday, January 27, 2012 4 PMSarah Jessica Parker will play Gloria Steinem and Chloë Sevigny will play the role of a feminist journalist in the upcoming film, Lovelace, about the life of porn star Linda Lovelace. Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Freidman are directing the project, which has a screenplay by
 
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    Theater News

  • Compelling show at Ridgefield Theater Barn

    28 Jan 2012 | 2:32 am
    The Ridgefield Theater Barn is offering a slate of short one-act plays by authors who have begun to make their mark with lively and sometimes plaintive stage works.

  • Jiri Zizka, 58, a force in Philadelphia theater

    27 Jan 2012 | 10:27 pm
    By Howard Shapiro INQUIRER STAFF WRITER Jiri Zizka defected from Czechoslovakia, joined a small Philadelphia theater company, and, with his then-wife Blanka Zizka, transformed it into the Wilma Theater - one of the city's largest stage companies.

  • Obama 'putting colleges on notice' on high tuition

    27 Jan 2012 | 6:28 pm
    President Barack Obama fired a warning at the nation's colleges and universities on Friday, threatening to strip their federal aid if they "jack up tuition" every year and to give the money instead to schools showing restraint and value.

  • Kids try to bury big family secret, in 'Yosemite'

    27 Jan 2012 | 2:18 pm
    In this theater image released by The O & M Co., from left, Seth Numrich, Kathryn Erbe, Noah Galvin and Libby Woodbridge are shown in a scene from "Yosemite," a new play by Daniel Talbott performing off-Broadway at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in New York.

  • Welcome Back, Kotter's Robert Hegyes, who played Epstein, dies

    27 Jan 2012 | 10:19 am
    Robert Hegyes , best known for playing Juan Epstein on Welcome Back, Kotter , died Thursday from an apparent heart attack, The Star-Ledger reports.
 
 
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    Backstage

  • Yosemite

    26 Jan 2012 | 7:00 am
    Under Pedro Pascal's studied, overly deliberate direction, Daniel Talbott's opaque play keeps its audience at such arm's length that we finally throw ours up in exasperation.

  • NY Review: 'Wit'

    26 Jan 2012 | 7:00 am
    Cynthia Nixon successfully challenges the memory of Kathleen Chalfant's original cast performance in a sterling revival of Margaret Edson's unflinching drama about a frosty academic facing terminal cancer.

  • Petula Clark

    25 Jan 2012 | 9:32 am
    The celebrated English pop singer and actor is making her first NYC nightclub appearance since 1970. Still in superb physical and vocal shape, she delivers an unmissable evening of great singing.

  • David Dorfman Dance: Prophets of Funk

    25 Jan 2012 | 4:42 am
    Set to Sly & the Family Stone recordings, this work pays tribute to the music and contains only hints of the political choreography for which David Dorfman is best known.

  • Menders

    24 Jan 2012 | 9:26 am
    Erin Browne’s drama takes its cue from other futuristic stories such as “Brave New World” and “1984,” but her commentary, though relevant, is too familiar.
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    Backstage

  • Clybourne Park

    27 Jan 2012 | 1:37 am
    Bruce Norris' hilarious Pulitzer Prize–winning satire arrives in L.A. with cast, director, and design team intact from its 2010 Playwrights Horizons Off-Broadway staging, prior to a planned Broadway bow.

  • Moon Over Buffalo

    25 Jan 2012 | 4:33 am
    After scoring with revivals of "Light Up the Sky" and "Room Service," director Bjørn Johnson manages a theatrical hat trick by staging Ken Ludwig's faintly synthetic crowd pleaser with revivifying brio.

  • The Water's Edge

    25 Jan 2012 | 4:23 am
    Theresa Rebeck's 2001 family drama, a contemporary take on part of Aeschylus' "The Oresteia," never reaches the full dramatic heights of Greek tragedy, but it's a satisfying modern-day rendering.

  • No Good Deed

    24 Jan 2012 | 11:30 am
    Though Matt Pelfrey's subversive dark comedy needs to bring its complex narrative and heady themes into focus more quickly and lucidly, director Dámaso Rodriguez's visceral staging makes for an intellectually stimulating ride.

  • The 39 Steps

    24 Jan 2012 | 9:31 am
    Patrick Barlow’s stage adaptation is a cheeky retelling, much along the lines of Monty Python, of Alfred Hitchcock’s signature 1935 film and the John Buchan novel on which it’s based.
 
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    BroadwayWorld.com Featured Content

  • FLASH FRIDAY: Andrew Lloyd Webber Writes The Music Of The Night

    27 Jan 2012 | 6:32 pm
    This weekend, BroadwayWorld will be presenting an illuminating InDepth InterView with legendary composer Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber all about the enchanting new performance capture film version of his PHANTOM OF THE OPERA sequel, LOVE NEVER DIES. Until that chat, lets take a look back at some of the finest Andrew Lloyd Webber-related performances related to the entertainment dynasty built upon his operatic pop musical version of the classic Gaston Leroux novel that is about to celebrate its 10,000th performance on Broadway later this month, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, as well as its continuation,…

  • Andrew Rannells-Led Comedy Gets the Green Light from NBC

    27 Jan 2012 | 5:19 pm
    Today, Deadline.com revealed that the show has been greenlit by NBC, adding that the series now has a title The New Normal.

  • Sarah Jessica Parker Joins Cast of LOVELACE Film

    27 Jan 2012 | 4:44 pm
    Sarah Jessica Parker has been cast as Gloria Steinem in LOVELACE, opposite Amanda Seyfried and Peter Sarsgaard. Parker is replacing Demi Moore in the role of the iconic author and activist.

  • Bobby Cannavale, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, et al. Set for CELEBRITY AUTOBIOGRAPHY in February

    27 Jan 2012 | 4:40 pm
    The Drama Desk Award-winning Celebrity Autobiography returns with its new edition, Celebrity Autobiography The Next Chapter, to the Triad Theater for two February showsMonday, February 13 and a special benefit performance on Wednesday, February 15. Celebrity Autobiography The Next Chapter performs at the Triad Theater, 158 West 72 Street.

  • THIS WEEK IN PICTURES: January 21-27

    27 Jan 2012 | 4:23 pm
    Whether you've been living under a rock for the past week, or you're just in the mood for a recap of everything theatre, BroadwayWorld's feature, 'This Week in Pictures' is here to satisfy your end of the week fix. Take a look below to catch up on the latest happenings from the Great White Way to the West End and everywhere in between with coverage of press events, rehearsals, opening nights and moreFor last week's biggest events visit THIS WEEK IN PICTURES January 14-20.
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    Jane Fonda

  • NEW MEXICO NEW GARDEN

    Jane
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:02 pm
    At my beautiful ranch. As I sat at my desk today writing, I watched the perfect snow storm…big, dry snow flakes coming down like in one of those glass shake ‘em up snow ball things. It didn’t last but so what. The sun came out and I saw a huge bird dive into the river and pull up a trout. At first I though it was a blue heron but then I saw that it was brown with a white breast…huge. Tried to see closer with binoculars but it flew away. Gotta call Ted and ask him what he thinks it was. He’ll know. He knows everything about birds. Wanted to get mad cause it ate my fish but…

  • A TRIP BACK TO ATLANTA

    Jane
    23 Jan 2012 | 11:05 am
    View From Hotel I’m here for various events on behalf of my non-profit, The Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, and to see my daughter and grandkids. It’s been rainy and cold but still, as always, Atlanta is a warm and friendly place and I love being back and seeing so many friends and colleagues That's Margaret Mitchell's house down there, seen from my Atlanta hotel window. Mitchell wrote "Gone With the Wind" and her home is an historic monument Kris Spain, a business woman who is on our board of directors, opened her home to forty women who came to…

  • AWARDS SEASON AGAIN!

    Jane
    15 Jan 2012 | 12:53 pm
    The parties are back-to-back and the nominees pretty much go to them all. Richard and I go to the ones that feature the films, actors and directors we especially admire. Yesterday, just about every major film star and major director, well, 125 of us, who has worked for Paramount Pictures, gathered on a sound stage to have our group photo taken for the studios 100th anniversary. Let me tell you, it was very thrilling. I was in the 90th anniversary photo and many of the same people were assembled. Some, obviously, have passed. I think especially of Jane Russell who was there with us 10 years…

  • “FIRM & BURN” – hand jive

    admin
    14 Jan 2012 | 11:09 am
    A quick clip from one of my latest DVD’s FIRM & BURN.

  • PRIME TIME 2012!

    Jane
    5 Jan 2012 | 8:34 pm
    HAPPY 2012! I hope your year is off to a good start, and that we will all find this to be the year we are Surthriving! (Combo of survive and thrive). I must say I am absolutely thrilled with how 2012 has begun. Fist, my episode of “Oprah’s Master Class” is airing this Sunday at 10PM ET/PT on OWN. I’m really excited about it and flattered that she choose me as her first guest for Season 2. Oprah lined up a great class this season that includes lessons from Jon Bon Jovi, Goldie Hawn, Morgan Freeman and even my favorite Ex Husband among others. I know I’ll be…
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    Unscripted - A Blog for Actors - Backstage

  • Showcase Do's and Do Not's

    Dominique Toney
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:01 pm
    I participated in my first Los Angeles Showcase yesterday. What a learning experience! I observed a few key things and would love to share: - If you're going to be late to something, please don't tell everyone why you're late. WE DON'T CARE.  - Don't interrupt the moderater. He has probably already answered your question or is on his way to answering it. You look anxious when you do so. - Always bring extra headshots. Last night we had an extra agent come by, and those of us who happened to have an extra headshot ready were the ones who didn't miss out on the…

  • A Story From A Reader

    Sarah Wharton
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:19 am
    Last week I posted a series of photos of shoes I came upon in New York City that appeared to be missing their feet, and asked people to imagine how the shoes came to be without their owners. It's been a joy to read everyone's responses.  As promised, I am going to share the stories here.  This first one comes from Lakshmi Iyer who writes from Portland, Oregon.  Here is the photo she chose and her interpretation: Waltz on a sidewalk He was a recent immigrant to New York. His name was Zoltan. Having moved there from Croatia a few months before, he wanted to sample the…

  • Butterflies

    Laura Hunter
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:23 pm
    I'm in the middle of some of the busiest weeks I've had in the past several years. Day job work, plus acting work, plus working to get acting work equals one very exhausted Laura! Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy to have plenty of things going on... its just been one big flood all at once, and that can be overwhelming. Last week, I had a meeting that I've been working towards for the past couple of months. There was quite a bit of pressure surrounding the whole thing, and a few hours before it was time for me to get there, I started feeling really nervous. In a way that…

  • Audition Feedback

    Cassidy Gard
    26 Jan 2012 | 6:26 pm
    With every audition, I do a quick read of the people in the room to decipher the energy. It varies depending on the time of day, how many people are on the sign in sheet after me, and whether the director or producers are participating. I can tell right away if they are in a rush to whisk actors in and out or if they have the time to really explore the material. Sometimes I'm asked to go straight into slating my name. Alternatively, there have been times where we've chatted for a solid ten minutes before getting into the sides.  When you're lucky enough to have people with…

  • The Saga Begins: Full-Time Auditioning

    Brittany Baratz
    26 Jan 2012 | 1:07 pm
    I've been back in the city for two weeks now and have been to eight auditions. Of those eight auditions, I've had one appointment, one EPA, one alternate number and been seen, one alternate number and not be seen, one ECC, one type-out, one walk-out, and one I signed up for by accident. Add to that one mental breakdown on the phone with Mom, and one pick-myself-up-and-brush-myself-off revelation.  Out of eight auditions attended, I only was in the room for four. Crazy, no? This is my first time committing whole-hog, to audition season in New York. I knew it would be trying, but…
 
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    Blog Stage - Acting in Film, TV, Theatre - Backstage

  • Camping It Up With ‘Joyful Noise’ Director Todd Graff

    Jesse
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:41 pm
    “It’s all going to the same playbook over and over,” admits Joyful Noise director Todd Graff. “Not only is it people performing, but performing in competitions and benefits and big final numbers.” With a filmography that also includes the musical features Bandslam (2009) and CAMP (2003), it is hard to deny the existence of a pattern on the director's resume. Projects that celebrate diversity among young performers have become Graff’s de facto calling card. It's a seemingly natural extension of the career he launched as a pre-teen actor on The Electric Company, the landmark…

  • New Jan. 26-Feb. 1, 2012 Issue of Back Stage, with Brad Pitt and Spotlight on L.A. Pilot Season!

    Backstageblogs
    26 Jan 2012 | 1:41 pm

  • California Auditions at a Glance – Jan. 26-Feb. 3

    Jesse
    24 Jan 2012 | 5:31 pm
    The following "Auditions at a Glance" calendar conveniently organizes projects by the date and day-of-the-week that the projects' auditions are taking place, to help you schedule your plans. Click on any of the following links to see the casting and job notices related to the dates and project titles highlighted below. Thu. Jan. 26 • 'Zoot Suit', Singers & Dancers Fri. Jan. 27 • 'The Apple Tree', Dancers • 'Zoot Suit', Singers & Dancers • Lady Gaga Tribute Act, Tour Sat. Jan. 28 • 'Once on this Island' • 'Don Quixote'…

  • New York Auditions at a Glance – Jan. 26-Feb. 3

    Jesse
    24 Jan 2012 | 5:26 pm
    The following "Auditions at a Glance" calendar conveniently organizes projects by the date and day-of-the-week that the projects' auditions are taking place, to help you schedule your plans. Click on any of the following links to see the casting and job notices related to the dates and project titles highlighted below. Thu. Jan. 26 • 'I Will, I Can', Adults • 'Kid Power', Northeastern • 'Naked Boys Singing! • Tuacahn Center Season, UT • 'Leap of Faith', B'way • Sacramento Music Circus • NJ, 'The Music Man' Fri. Jan. 27 •…

  • Regional Auditions at a Glance – Jan. 26-Feb. 3

    Jesse
    24 Jan 2012 | 5:21 pm
    The following "Auditions at a Glance" calendar conveniently organizes projects by the date and day-of-the-week that the projects' auditions are taking place, to help you schedule your plans. Click on any of the following links to see the casting and job notices related to the dates and project titles highlighted below. Thu. Jan. 26 • IL, Band-Aid TV Commercial • PA, People's Light & Theatre • FL, Walt Disney World • MO, Stages St. Louis Season Fri. Jan. 27 • MO, Stages St. Louis Season • NV, IL & FL, 'Kung Fu Panda Sat. Jan. 28 • WA, 'As You…
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    The Wicked Stage

  • Clean "Talk," Dirty Reviews

    Rob Weinert-Kendt
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:49 am
    The post-Tina Brown New Yorker has not been known for its squeamishness (am I the only one who vividly remembers the awkward shock of that hilariously severe Tilda Swinton nude photo spread of nearly 20 years ago?), so I was shocked in reverse to see the way a recent Talk of the Town handled Rick Santorum's infamous "Google problem":“If Rick Santorum wants to invite himself into the bedrooms of gays and lesbians (and their dogs), I say we ‘include’ him in our sex lives—by naming a gay sex act after him.” [Dan] Savage, who has a long history as a bigot-baiter and civil libertarian…

  • Link Sees

    Rob Weinert-Kendt
    23 Jan 2012 | 1:03 pm
    A start to a busy week, post-Queens move, means more quick hits out the gate:Mike Daisey breaks through the Ira Glass ceiling and apparently gets through to Apple brass.Terry Teachout's lovely tribute to composer Morten Lauridsen, with whom, true to form, I only became familiar by singing with the NYC Master Chorale.StageGrade not dead.Some of the best crowd-source blogging the medium has ever seen, with the intensely compelling follow-up here.Hunka's farewell to theater blogging?

  • On the Rebound

    Rob Weinert-Kendt
    21 Jan 2012 | 8:56 pm
    My friend and colleague Molly Smith Metzler had a really shitty Christmas: She got a bad case of mono just as her long-anticipated and star-studded New York debut, Close Up Space, got a bad case of bad reviews.Just a few weeks later, her health on the mend, she was in Costa Mesa, California, to rehearse her other big play, Elemeno Pea, a caustic comedy of class envy which I saw and loved last June at Humana. That production proved she's better, and deserves better, than the Close Up Space reviews would indicate; with any luck, and the right cast under South Coast a.d. Marc Masterson, Elemeno…

  • Heading for the Hills

    Rob Weinert-Kendt
    19 Jan 2012 | 6:10 am
    After from a six-month sublet in Cobble Hill, Greenpoint, Brooklyn has been my New York home since early 2006. I moved here with my then-girlfriend when our relationship was shaky, and we were the only non-Polish residents in our six-unit building.How much has changed: She and I are the married parents of an irrepressibly bright, sweet son, and the 'hood has become overrun with young non-Poles like ourselves (and much younger); the ratio in our building is now just 1/3 Polish. The area has become so gentrified, alas, that we can't afford the extra space for our growing family. So tomorrow we…

  • Quote for the Week

    Rob Weinert-Kendt
    13 Jan 2012 | 2:52 pm
    "The experience of watching Jerusalem confirmed something in me I’ve suspected for some time. In life, I may be a progressive Christian, but when it comes to the theater, I’m a complete pagan. In life, I want to align myself with the peacemakers. I want to educate myself about the injustices in the world and address them in whatever ways I can. But when I go to the theater, I want something more than an ennobling education. I want to be knocked on the side of my head with the mysteries of the universe; I want to explore the wild and the wooly terrains of myself that I keep a lid on in…
 
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    Parabasis

  • A Brief History of Karaoke

    99seats
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:23 am
    by 99 Seats Last night, I read in The Soundtrack Series, a monthly reading series of people talking about songs that mean something to them. I had a great old time. This is the piece I read. Here's the song that inspired it.             First, let me apologize. “Drops of Jupiter” is a terrible, terrible song by a terrible band and I’m sorry that I’ve inflicted it on you, even for a few seconds. God, I hate this song. When I hear it, I go back to the late ‘90s, a time when music like this made the world safe for…

  • God and The Tree Of Life

    Parabasis
    23 Jan 2012 | 10:33 pm
    By Isaac Butler I finally got around to watching The Tree Of Life today and I loved it, but I mainly loved it for its contradictions and incoherences, for the ways it cheats around some of its core questions. Oh and this is spoiler city below, so be warned. Those core questions are the same core questions of the source text for the quote that begins the film, The Book of Job from The Bible.  The Tree of Life is not the only recent film to draw on Job, recently there was A Serious Man from the Coens. But while the Coen brothers were content to use a couple of plot…

  • He Really Is Just So Dreamy...

    Parabasis
    20 Jan 2012 | 8:47 am
    By Isaac Butler Sigh...:    

  • Were I A Republican...

    Parabasis
    19 Jan 2012 | 11:41 am
    By Isaac Butler I'd be pretty furious about the fact that Mitt Romney actually lost Iowa and may very well be about to lose South Carolina, but the elites in my party and the media refuse to treat him as anything other than the presumptive nominee. I'd also be pretty furious at how transparent the newsmedia is in their loathing of Mitt Romney, given the purported values of impartiality they are supposed to adhere to. I know that as a Democrat, I'll end up benefitting from both of these things, but neither of them are good for Democracy.  Romney is going to get the treatment…

  • Today is Martin Luther King Junior Day

    Parabasis
    16 Jan 2012 | 1:39 pm
    By Isaac Butler Longtime Parabasis readers probably know that my two favorite holidays are Thanksgiving and Martin Luther King Junior Day, the first because it enshrines gratitude as an important civic value and the second because we take a day to honor a man who stood for remaking our country in the image of our better angels rather than our lesser demons.  As you (hopefully) have the day off from work, why not take a few minutes and read King's "Letter From Birmingham Jail," one of greatest pieces of rhetoric in the English language, right up there with Mark…
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    theatre notes

  • Review: Summer of the Seventeenth Doll

    Alison Croggon
    23 Jan 2012 | 6:21 pm
    One of the paradoxes of art is the uneasy legacy of success. As soon as a work is labelled a "classic", it becomes curiously invisible: it transforms into a monument, cobwebbed by all the extraneous things its success now symbolises, and the energies that made it a success in the first place are polished away by the pieties that must now attend it. Summer of the Seventeenth Doll is a good example

  • Exit 2011

    Alison Croggon
    29 Dec 2011 | 5:08 pm
    Was that 2011? I'm thinking of the Venerable Bede's story, in which one of King Edwin's thanes compares the life of a man (with the Anglo-Saxons it was always a man) to the swift flight of a sparrow through a banqueting hall on a dark winter's day. The past year has seemed the mere flip of a wing. Yet somehow I reviewed around 86 shows this year - quite a lot more than last year, when I reviewed

  • Review: The Story of Mary MacLane by Herself

    Alison Croggon
    7 Dec 2011 | 6:03 pm
    It's tempting to consider what Mary MacLane's life might have been, had she been born male. For one thing, I might have had a better chance of having heard of her: the work of interesting women is all too apt to disappear after their deaths. Perhaps MacLane might have been known as an early 20th century Thomas Chatterton or Arthur Rimbaud, a wayward brilliance that ignited rebellion into a

  • Review: The Economist, Cherry Cherry

    Alison Croggon
    5 Dec 2011 | 4:10 pm
    The great holiday guillotine has now slammed down across Ms TN's diary, and so last week I saw my last shows for the year. And then, in the way of the these things, I promptly came down with a cold. I blame Melbourne's increasingly absurd weather for this, as much as the exigencies of the end of the year: this city has always, admittedly, been proverbial for its changeability ("if you don't like

  • Review preview

    Alison Croggon
    1 Dec 2011 | 5:21 pm
    Ms TN seems unable to get her sentences together today, so let me briefly flag a couple of theatrical events that opened this week, both from Melbourne's thriving independent scene. Get thee hence to A is for Atlas's wholly charming Cherry Cherry (details here), which takes place in a private home in Thornbury and includes a delicious dinner, and MKA's wicked take on political delusion, The
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    The Theater Loop - chicagotribune.com

  • Take a bow, Mama Rose, this is a classic 'Gypsy'

    27 Jan 2012 | 11:19 am
    THEATER REVIEW: "Gypsy" at Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace ★★★½ THEATER REVIEW: "Gypsy" at Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace ★★★½ ... If you like your Mamas Rose to be of the old school, then Klea Blackhurst's classic interpretation of the greatest character in that musical masterpiece "Gypsy" will be your kind of Mama.

  • Cromer returns to Grover's Corners in flinty New England

    26 Jan 2012 | 3:30 pm
    David Cromer's increasingly famous production of "Our Town," which began at The Hypocrites in Chicago, then moved Off-Broadway for a record-breaking run, and was a recent hit in Los Angeles in a version starring Helen Hunt, is now headed to the Huntington Theatre in Boston.

  • Drama, music, romance sure to draw viewers to 'Smash' on NBC

    26 Jan 2012 | 2:49 pm
    Without the freaks and geeks of "Glee,"who made long-skeptical network executives suddenly receptive to prime-time characters singing and dancing, there would be no "Smash."But NBC's eminently watchable and shrewdly crafted new drama series, which premieres Feb. 6 after a heavy marketing campaign, is not about high school drama but the actual grown-up business of Broadway itself, otherwise known as freaks and geeks with bigger budgets and training, but the same insecurities.

  • 'Tempest' easy on the eyes, if not the heart, ears

    26 Jan 2012 | 12:33 am
    THEATER REVIEW: "The Feast: An Intimate Tempest" ★★½ THEATER REVIEW: "The Feast: An Intimate Tempest" ★★½ ... Imagine that William Shakespeare's masterpiece,"The Tempest," contained no tropical island, no shipwreck, no storm, no living, breathing Miranda.

  • Suburban theater for the week of Jan. 27 to Feb. 2

    25 Jan 2012 | 4:14 pm
    KERRY REID on what's on stage in Chicago's suburbs.
 
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    The SF Bay Area Theatre Blog

  • The Jerry Herman Salon at 42nd Street Moon, starring Faith Prince!

    ElisaC
    22 Jan 2012 | 10:16 am
    This coming week may I suggest a little entertainment for your calendar?42nd Street Moon is the theatre on whose board I serve, and they are doing one of their composer salons this Thursday night. Jerry Herman is the man behind Mame, Hello Dolly, and Mack and Mabel among others.Faith Prince is a Tony-winning actress who burst on the Broadway scene with her Adelaide in Guys & Dolls, opposite Nathan Lane.These salons are both full of lovely singing from talented performers, but also come with a bit of history and story-telling around the featured composer. Herman is still alive and both…

  • Woodminster Theatre announces their season

    ElisaC
    20 Jan 2012 | 8:29 pm
    And here it is, their 46th season at the outdoor amphitheater in Oakland's Joaquin Miller Park:Fiddler on the Roof, July 13-22, 2012What else is there to say? This is a perennial favorite for most musical theatre companies.A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, August 10-10, 2012Sondheim's first Broadway show as lyricist *and* composerCats, September 7-16, 2012The first time they've gotten the rights to perform this one.Season ticket sales are open now, with individual ticket sales starting on March 1st.And by the way: They haven't held auditions yet, so if you're interest they're…

  • Lengthy Sondheim article upon "Look, I Made a Hat" release

    ElisaC
    11 Nov 2011 | 10:14 pm
    In The Tablet, tagline: A New Read on Jewish LifeArticle headline: The Art of Making ArtSome interesting stuff.Some stuff with which i don't agree. (Sorry, love Sunday in the Park, don't see it as the start of his decline NOT AT ALL!)but anything that delves into Sondheim, his lyrics and his life is always worth a read from me. And you, if you're like me :)Enjoy. And you're welcome.

  • 50th anniversary of West Side Story, wow!

    ElisaC
    2 Nov 2011 | 12:42 pm
    One of the best musicals of all time, wouldn't you agree?Someone sent me the full opening dance sequence, and I thought it was well worth sharing. To me this is 9 minutes of joy. :)

  • More on Cirque du Soleil's tour to the Bay Area

    ElisaC
    6 Oct 2011 | 4:39 pm
    As I wrote back in June, a new Cirque du Soleil is coming to town.Back then I only had ticket/discount info for the San Francisco leg of the tour, but now I have a discount code for San Jose too. So here are the deets:WHAT: Cirque du Soleil’s latest touring production is called TOTEMWHEN: TOTEM starts in San Francisco Friday, October 28th, 2011 and then opens on March 2, 2012 in San Jose. WHERE: TOTEM will perform at AT&T Park in SF and at the Taylor Street Bridge in San Jose.WHAT IS IT ABOUT?: Well, straight from the horse's mouth: "TOTEM traces the fascinating journey of the human species…
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    Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured

  • Poe-Dunk Matchbox Theatre

    Trish Short Lewis
    25 Jan 2012 | 5:54 pm
    The mind boggles at the small scale!Playlab NYC will present Poe-Dunk – A Matchbox Entertainment as a part of the 2012 FRIGID New York Festival.Kevin performs a matchbox productionKevin P. Hale, one of the founding members of Playlab NYC, is the creative mind behind these exceedingly small toy theatres.  Kevin has a blog where he explored openly shares his concepts and explorations - it makes pretty interesting reading!Some characters are performed via matchsticks!Kevin will be presenting a series of tiny-scaled plays based on the tales of Poe, including one called "The Oval…

  • Doctor Parnassus Toy Theatre

    Trish Short Lewis
    11 Jan 2012 | 10:45 am
    I recently began watching the incredible film, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS. I did some research on the film, and lo and behold, someone has made a wee toy theatre kit based on the traveling theatred featured in the film!

  • Puppet Film Project

    Trish Short Lewis
    5 Jan 2012 | 6:35 pm
    I encourage you to view the trailer, then support Andrew's film project, PuppetVision: The Movie.

  • Christmas Creativity

    Trish Short Lewis
    13 Dec 2011 | 12:18 pm
    A scene from a recent toy theatre adaption of Dicken's "A Christmas Carol"...This year, Macy's famous storefront displays are using a Steampunk theme for Christmas, with puppets!

  • Alice: 3D becomes 2D

    Trish Short Lewis
    1 Dec 2011 | 1:45 pm
    I wrote about the Alice Theatre previously, when it was being offered in a 3-D format. Now, the creator has made it available in good old fashioned 2-D.  You can print and use as a traditional theatre (which is amazing enough), but they also demonstrate how it can be inventively used with other images for photography prints!
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    McCarter Theatre

  • The Convert Video Content

    Amanda Coe
    6 Jan 2012 | 8:08 am
    We have some more video content from THE CONVERT - including interviews with Director Emily Mann, Playwright Danai Gurira, and some members of the cast. What do you want to know about the show next? Posted by Amanda Coe, Digital Media Specialist at McCarter Theatre

  • The Convert Meet & Greet

    Amanda Coe
    30 Dec 2011 | 10:50 am
    We want to share part of the Meet & Greet from The Convert. The Meet & Greet for a show happens on the first day of rehearsal. A show’s artistic staff, cast, and other members of staff get together to talk about the sets, costumes, music, and other show elements. For The Convert we were lucky to be able to have Danai Gurira, the show’s playwright, with us as well.

  • Interview with Resident Director Sam Buntrock

    Amanda Coe
    7 Nov 2011 | 1:17 pm
    Sam Buntrock is the Resident Director at McCarter Theatre for the 2011-2012 season, and will be directing both Travesties and Are You There, McPhee? this spring. Artistic Programs Associate Erica Nagel sat down to ask him about his history with McCarter and what he’s looking forward to during his time here. Erica Nagel: How did you initially become involved with McCarter? Sam Buntrock: I directed an earlier incarnation of the Maltby-Shire-Weidman musical Take Flight in London at the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2008, and Laura Stanzyck, who does the casting for McCarter, saw that…

  • McInterns Series: The Final Piece

    Daniel Tobin
    23 Sep 2011 | 10:46 am
    Imagine that you are working on a five thousand piece jigsaw puzzle. You haven’t been able to eat at your kitchen table for weeks because it has been covered with these fiddly little bits of cardboard. There have been untold hours of work since you found that first corner piece and slowly built the edge of the puzzle. You enlisted friends and family members to help with the vast swaths of undifferentiated blue sky. Finally, it is about to be completed. You go to grab the final piece to slot into the middle of the puzzle and… It’s not there. Few things aggravate like a missing puzzle…

  • A Donor Event with John Doyle

    Melissa Egan
    21 Sep 2011 | 2:26 pm
    Last Thursday evening, Ten Cents A Dance director John Doyle met with McCarter friends for wine, cheese, and good conversation. It was a great group of McCarter fans that included Trustees, just after their first Board Meeting of the season, and McCarter supporters on their way to the final preview performance. Associate Producer Adam Immewahr interviewed John about his directing process and the development of Ten Cents A Dance, which debuted at the U.K.’s Watermill Theatre in 2002 and just opened at McCarter after a run at Williamstown Theater Festival. He spoke to his signature style…
 
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    The Playgoer

  • Venues for the Short Play

    26 Jan 2012 | 10:22 am
    Steve Waters in the Guardian sings the praises of the short play: So what is a short play, exactly? Is it simply defined by its length? I ask because as a form it's under-discussed and under-valued. . . a fugitive form, lacking a permanent home, rarely available on the page. Yet for all that it seems to me a very good way into any writer's work – released from the armature of plot, the playwright is compelled to invest the moment with intense theatrical energy. In those precious minutes the dramatist's toolkit of rhythm, voice and image is ruthlessly exposed. It's a place for encounters not…

  • That Tony Lure

    19 Jan 2012 | 11:39 am
    Something interesting happening on the Rialto right now: a number of recent Off Broadway successes will be descending upon available theatres this spring just in time for Tony Time. (That time being recently confirmed to as June 10.) Today we have definite announcements from Clybourne Park and Peter and the Starcatcher. They will join there other previously announced Off Broadway transfers, Venus in Fur and Once. Now you'd think all these available playhouses might be a bad omen for these plucky upstarts, since they are vacant due to fizzling out of so many other unasked-for Broadway runs of…

  • The Arts vs "Austerity"

    13 Jan 2012 | 11:20 am
    English playwright David Edgar has a good, long essay in the Guardian on the UK's arts funding crisis and especially the crisis in how to argue for the arts in a time of official, imposed "austerity."  While his persepctive is exclusively Brit-based, analogies are not hard to find here. He begins with some helpful history of shifting justifications for arts funding over time, reminding us how conservative elitists used to be the arts' best friends: When it was founded in 1946, the Arts Council could justify its activities in its own terms: it was there to widen access to the arts…

  • Another Critic Bites the Dust

    5 Jan 2012 | 12:51 pm
    Not theatre thankfully.  But longtime (as in: long time, 28 years) Village Voice film critic J. Hoberman gets the boot. To me, he has been indispensable and, aside from Feingold, one of the few reasons to keep reading the now-gutted Voice. How does Feingold hold on?  Let's hope they just really, really like him. IFC's Matt Singer pays tribute to Hoberman by recalling some good advice he gave students in his perennial NYU film class. Just substitute stage for screen and this is still pertinent: On the fundamentals: “Ask yourself the question, ‘What do people want to know about a…

  • "Close Up Space"... or just Myopia?

    3 Jan 2012 | 12:16 pm
    Something about MTC's new debut Close Up Space has prompted some incisive commentary from critics on the state of new plays. While I haven't seen this particular show, I certainly find myself nodding with recognition at these notices. Cote, Time Out: Close Up Space is the sort of self-consciously zany dramedy in which characters are whipped into a frenzy of quirk that frees them and their actions from any burden of plausibility.Feingold, Village Voice: I'm sad, but not from Seasonal Affective Disorder. The fall season ended with Manhattan Theatre Club's opening Molly Smith Metzler's Close Up…
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    nytheatre.com

  • Coming Attractions

    27 Jan 2012 | 9:18 am
    Updated list of coming attractions heading to New York City theatres

  • New Shows This Week

    27 Jan 2012 | 9:18 am
    Listings of New Shows This Week in New York City

  • Review: YOSEMITE by Martin Denton

    26 Jan 2012 | 11:00 pm
    Daniel Talbott's Yosemite, which is premiering at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, is a sad, lyrical play about three lost children: how they got that way, and, perhaps, how we got that way as well.

  • Review: MENDERS by Martin Denton

    25 Jan 2012 | 11:00 pm
    In Menders, playwright Erin Browne imagines a repressive society where a medicated populace no longer dreams and poetry and storytelling have become lost, banished arts. A prologue sets the stage: we see news bulletins projected on white panels at the rear of the stage that let us know that the United States has been torn apart after some cataclysmic events; the country where Menders takes place is walled off from its neighbors, as much to keep its people locked in as to prevent attack or invasion.

  • Review: BOB by Julie Congress

    24 Jan 2012 | 11:00 pm
    They say you should practice what you preach, and Bob is one of the most vivid examples I have seen of that. After having the privilege of studying with performer and SITI Company founding member Will Bond at Skidmore College, it was a true joy to see him in Bob. The SITI Company is dedicated to education--most every actor in New York has at least come in contact with the Viewpoints--and it was truly inspiring to see how allied the training and the performance is. Don't get me wrong, Bob is in no way an extended Viewpointing session, but it hits their signature precision, creativity and…
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    'kül

  • THEATER: Leo

    16 Jan 2012 | 4:53 pm
    Photo/Heiko KalmbachPresented by The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation as "The Best of Edinburgh Festival"The wonderful thing about YouTube videos is that they tend to be short. They can present some innovative and creative concepts and then wander off while you're still marveling at the technique. Leo, on the other hand, is a sixty-minute play that doesn't overstay its welcome but ends up losing much of its charm. This solo, wordless bit of clowning revolves around one concept, and once it's exploited that, the play becomes a work of diminishing returns. Cool, but incomplete, particularly…

  • THEATER: Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner, and The Farewell Speech

    16 Jan 2012 | 4:07 pm
    Photo/Julie LembergerPresented by the Chelfitsch Theater Company as a co-production of the Japan Society and Under the Radar Festival.I first encountered the work of Toshiki Okada in the Play Company's 2010 production of Enjoy; the result, deftly translated down to the last tic by Aya Ogawa and finely directed by Dan Rothenberg, was a powerful and universal study of the lost twentysomething generation. This revival of his less mature and more stylized Air Conditioner, now part of a loosely connected triptych along with Hot Pepper and The Farewell Speech, which Okada directs (with English…

  • THEATER: The Bee

    12 Jan 2012 | 4:20 pm
    Photo/Julie LembergerThe Bee is a co-production of the Japan Society and the Under the Radar Festival.Mr. Ido (Kathryn Hunter) arrives home one day to find that his family has been taken hostage by an escaped murderer, Ogoro (Glyn Pritchard), whose only demand is that he be allowed to talk to his family. When the doddering detective Dodoyama (Clive Mendus) proves to be of no assistance, he tracks down Ogoro's wife (Hideki Noda) and son, and takes them hostage, refusing to let them go until his own family is released. What follows in The Bee is both a mad and MAD (Mutually…

  • THEATER: Outside People

    11 Jan 2012 | 5:45 pm
    Photo/Carol RoseggThe well-meaning American is alive and kicking in Zayd Dohrn's Outside People, in which Malcolm (Matt Dellapina), the would-be vegan/Communist from Williamsburg, Brooklyn (who nonetheless boats a Stanford education), travels to Beijing, China, to visit (and potentially work for) his old college roommate, David (Nelson Lee), only to hook up with a local, Xiao Mei (Li Jun Li), whom he both wants to save and be saved by. His awkwardness isn't limited only by his feeble attempts to speak Mandarin, but also by his heightened self-awareness, which leads to a cringingly funny…

  • metaDRAMA: Not the YMCA, but the DMCA?

    11 Jan 2012 | 4:33 pm
    Does anybody out there understand the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act)? I recently had a review of a show that I covered back in 2010 taken down off this site because it had in some way violated it (the DMCA), and I feel as if I've received no notice on how to actually go about rectifying my error -- if there was in fact one -- so that I might go ahead and re-post the (highly positive) review.I've written before about my dislike of copyright acts in general, but now that I've had direct exposure to them as an independent writer who is outside of the mass media and therefore has no…
 
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    The Theatrefolk Weblog

  • Some Tips to Make Your Show Posters Pop!

    Craig Mason
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:00 pm
    I saw a some really neat ways of making play posters shine this past weekend at the Indiana Thespian Conference. The conference took place at Huntington University’s arts centre and the hallways were lined with posters from past shows. I noticed something a little different about these posters, however. Some of them had a three-dimensional quality to them, such as this poster for Godspell: My photo really doesn’t does it justice, but the poster really popped and caught my eye. Here’s a shot showing how this effect is achieved: Basically it involves cannibalizing another…

  • Closure?

    Lindsay Price
    26 Jan 2012 | 4:00 pm
    Came across this post over at Shakespeare Geek about a different approach to the end of Romeo and Juliet. ….has anybody ever done an ending to this play where the Prince still gets to give his speech, but rather than the statue building stuff, the two families turn their backs on each other and the grudge continues? I rather like this idea. I am a huge Shakespeare fan but I’ve never been fond of the “hey we’re going to stop feuding right now” closure to R & J. Both sides are so stuck in the cement of their hatred of the other – why wouldn’t they…

  • Behind the Scenes – Puppetry Video

    Craig Mason
    25 Jan 2012 | 4:00 pm
    The Legend of the Lion King was a show at Disneyworld’s Magic Kingdom that closed in 2002. The show told the story of The Lion King through puppetry and someone has posted an incredible behind the scenes video on Youtube The video shows the puppeteers in action and the intricate backstage ballet they went through to make the show work. Most of the puppets needed two puppeteers working in tandem. I love the focus evident in the performers’ faces. I’m guessing that this video was shot late into the run and I’m very impressed by the dedication that these performers…

  • Q & A

    Lindsay Price
    24 Jan 2012 | 4:00 pm
    I’m working on a play right now that keeps tipping over from imbalance. If I write too far this way, the main character becomes unlikeable. If I write too far this way, she’s not striving to pursue what she wants. If I write this way, I don’t know why this character acts the way they do. if I write this way, everything becomes very depressing which since I’m writing a comedy is not helpful. So it feels a little bit like fishing; the line goes out sometimes it comes back empty, sometimes with a fish and sometimes an old rubber tire. Over and over again. But I’m…

  • Typecast

    Lindsay Price
    23 Jan 2012 | 4:00 pm
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    Greenroom

  • Review: James and the Giant Peach – Harvest Rain Theatre Company at Cremorne Theatre QPAC

    Kate Foy
    7 Jan 2012 | 9:10 pm
    Southbank was teeming with littlies yesterday. Of course, it’s summer time and school holidays so, apart from swimming and eating icecream on a hot Brisbane Saturday afternoon, there were lots of things to do – singing, mask-making, theatre-going and story-telling among them. I had lunch while a bunch of what looked like under-5s were jumping and rolling around on the QPAC Green. They were learning all about Iggy the Iguanadon via a song – we have the Queensland Museum to thank for this, I suspect. I wished I had a small person with me; it looked so much fun and I wanted to…

  • 2011 Groundling Awards Nominations are open …

    Editor
    31 Dec 2011 | 8:01 am
    Thanks to anyone485 on Flickr for the image The Groundlings are a people’s choice award. You nominate the individuals or productions for each category. You can submit up to 3 (three) nominations beside each of the 14 (fourteen) categories listed below, but only once please. Please note that Groundlings will only be awarded to Queensland theatre-makers. Yes, we’re proudly parochial. Greenroom’s focus, as per its byline, is on Professional and Independent theatre in Queensland. Amateur, community and student theatre productions are not eligible for a Groundling award. Nominations will…

  • David Walters (Interview 27)

    Editor
    31 Dec 2011 | 1:00 am
    I’m conscious that this interview has been quite a while in the write-up. Of course, I have no one to blame but myself and the busy-ness of life since I sat down to talk with David Walters beside a cosy fire after a delicious dinner on the last day of July. However, I’m also going to blame him (at least in part) for the vast amount of fascinating material I’ve had to sift through; I recorded our chat and took copious notes that night. David Walters is a softly-spoken, articulate, and passionate raconteur. He is also particularly modest about his own achievements and I had to…
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    Cambiare Productions

  • Messenger No. 4 – Dramatis Personae – Megan Minto

    Travis Bedard
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:17 pm
    Name: Megan Minto Where are you from originally? That’s a difficult question… My dad was in the Air Force, so we moved around a few times. I was born in California, in the middle of the Mojave Desert. But, to me, home is most likely Fort Walton Beach, FL. We moved there when I was 10, and my mom and sister are still there. When I think the essence of “home town” that’s where my mind goes. How long have you been in Austin? I have lived in Austin for six-and-a-half years. Through a crazy series of events, leading from Florida to Georgia to New York to California, I…

  • Messenger No. 4 – Dramatis Personae – Elena Weinberg

    Travis Bedard
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:53 am
    Name: Elena Amelia Nagel Weinberg (Or as I was once called in 5th grade which sent me home from school crying, Elena "a million bagels" Weinberg) Where are you from originally? I was born in Austin, but found my first home in Pleasanton, Texas.  On August 3, 1989, my parents were knee deep in remodeling their kitchen.  My mother was standing in her kitchen sink, sanding a cabinet at the moment I was born.  (That was when they got the call, their adoption was official, and they could pick up their new baby girl in Austin within three days time).  I only lived in…

  • Speechless complainer, I will learn thy thought

    Travis Bedard
    22 Sep 2011 | 1:13 pm
    If you have been in near-Travis orbit of late you have been flooded with Titus-talk. The hot news of the moment (aside from my eldest sister’s lovely wedding) has been that I have been cast as Titus Andronicus in the Last Act Theatre Company’s Titus Andronicus. I am delighted and terrified. I am a 20-year character actor tackling a difficult Shakespearean lead. Titus is for my money Quentin Tarantino’s Lear. Titus is Lear if Lear were bent toward action instead of away, if Lear’s madness were reflected in the world he inhabited instead of rejected by it. Titus is Lear without…

  • There’s Always a Choice

    Travis Bedard
    21 Jul 2011 | 4:47 pm
    Those who operate in near-Travis orbit will hear me repeat phrases and motifs repeatedly as I hammer out a life’s philosophy before I die. “All we have is time and people” for instance. Or lately there’s been a lot of “design for your budget dammit, don’t design as if you had money and build halfway”. On-line it’s a gentle thrumming of “the repetition of asynchronous communication drives me crazy” and #neverbedark and being an advocate and talking about what’s good. I understand that I’m repeating myself and I promise it’s not some sort of crazy-uncle disease where I…

  • A Few Good Folks

    Travis Bedard
    15 Jul 2011 | 12:41 pm
    Last fall the New Works community in Austin was awarded a planning grant from the Mellon foundation to explore (and model) infrastructure to support the creation of… well… New Work (http://goo.gl/y0TcS). That process continues apace and one of the identified areas of need was a better outreach to other makers and supporters, in other communities around the continent and the world. The more we build relationship, the more contact makers have with those outside their own sphere the better the work will be and maybe we can ease the martyr/persecution complex just a bit…. you are NOT alone.
 
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    HOLLYWOOD ACTOR PREP by Dana Kaminski- By Authentic Professional Actor: Acting Advice, News, Interviews

  • College Students Sought By Oscars To Be Red Carpet Announcer

    Dana Kaminski
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:32 pm
    From Academy Arts Of Motion Pictures Arts And Sciences® Press Release, and KABC: Am blogging this, prone, from my phone, because still ill. Ugh. Know though, it’s a very valid call and was sent to me via email from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts And Sciences. Also involved is our Los... [[...Just a partial post. If interested in seeing the entire post, & media...CLICK on the TITLE.]]

  • 2012 Oscar Nominees :: Actors, Actresses, Directors, Best Picture

    Dana Kaminski
    24 Jan 2012 | 8:31 am
    Printable Cheat Sheet :: 2012 Academy Awards® Nominations   Actor In a Leading Role Demián Bichir A Better Life George Clooney The Descendants Jean Dujardin The Artist Gary Oldman Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Brad Pitt Moneyball Actress In a Leading Role Glenn Close Albert Nobbs Viola Davis The... [[...Just a partial post. If interested in seeing the entire post, & media...CLICK on the TITLE.]]

  • The President Imitates Al Green, With Commitment

    Dana Kaminski
    20 Jan 2012 | 2:25 am
    Being President Means Being Confident When Public Singing… Click here to Request Personal Acting Lessons, or How To Advance Your Own Career. Individually, with Dana. Related Reading:Son Of John Ritter Confronts His Acting Issues2 Acting Tips From Melissa Leo During Last 24 HoursActor Kirsten... [[...Just a partial post. If interested in seeing the entire post, & media...CLICK on the TITLE.]]

  • Stop SOPA

    Dana Kaminski
    18 Jan 2012 | 12:32 pm
    PLEASE COME BACK TOMORROW…If you have arrived here on January 18th, 2012. I deplore piracy. (People stealing artists’ work without paying them.) SOPA doesn’t fix that. Consider H’ActorPrep on strike, shut down, dark like Monday night at the theater: On 1-18-12. Thanks. And I... [[...Just a partial post. If interested in seeing the entire post, & media...CLICK on the TITLE.]]

  • Dana: ‘I’ll Be Back Here At Hollywood Actor Prep Again Soon…’

    Dana Kaminski
    14 Jan 2012 | 4:46 pm
    Where Have I Been?? Tending to some big personal stuff...Dana Kaminski will be back writing at Hollywood Actor Prep very soon. [[...Just a partial post. If interested in seeing the entire post, & media...CLICK on the TITLE.]]
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    The Bad Boy of Musical Theatre

  • See, I've Got a Vision

    Scott Miller
    24 Jan 2012 | 1:30 pm
    There's a fine, fine line, as Kate Monster would tell us. We walk a potentially treacherous tightrope with a lot of our shows, quite a few of which have wacky, outrageous surfaces and serious, intense, sometimes even depressing subtext. But the Cry-Baby tightrope may be the hardest to balance on. After all, it's concept musical in which the style of old-school musical comedy wars with the style of the modern rock musical, and this stylistic battle serves as a big, blazing metaphor for the central conflict of the story. But that's not all there is to it... The story is also originally a…

  • You People Think You Know Me

    Scott Miller
    18 Jan 2012 | 3:00 pm
    I've been working on funding applications lately, something I really hate a lot. I usually procrastinate till the last minute but I decided I'd try to do them early this year, several weeks before the deadlines, before I get too busy with Cry-Baby rehearsals. Each year we get written feedback on our applications from the "peer panel" that reviews them. Some of these comments are helpful and some are just weird, but the ones that really bother me are from people who want to cram New Line into some mold they have in their mind and slap some preexisting label on us. I've learned over the years…

  • Life Is a Long Road to Death

    Scott Miller
    14 Jan 2012 | 3:07 pm
    We used to start our first day of rehearsal with a read-through. A lot of directors do that. But doing that with a musical means I have to play and sing all the songs that first night, since the actors won't necessarily know them yet. And if I do that, the actors don't get as good a sense of the show as they might otherwise. So a few years ago, we changed our process. Now we do all our music rehearsals first and learn the score. When that's done, then we have a read-through-sing-through, and the cast gets a much clearer sense of the show. We did that Thursday night. But I've found…

  • Your Fear of Other People

    Scott Miller
    11 Jan 2012 | 1:30 pm
    The first words Wade "Cry-Baby" Walker sings in Cry-Baby are: Well, It’s a perfect day to scare a square For no apparent reason: By singing, dancing, standing there, Maybe just by sneezin'. Your fear of other people never ceases to amaze. You call that class? The show's central joke -- which doubles as potent social commentary on our world in 2012 -- is that the bad kids are really the Good Guys, and the good kids are really the Bad Guys. As far as these Squares in 1954 Baltimore are concerned, rock and roll is "race music" and it's Bad, so anyone who sings or listens to rock and…

  • Nobody Gets Me

    Scott Miller
    8 Jan 2012 | 9:30 pm
    It's an interesting position I'm in with Cry-Baby. With most shows we produce, we can assume that the original production is at least close to what the writers intended, or even their ideal, so I know I can learn things from those original choices even if I don't use them. But I've found over the years that I can't always make that assumption. I've discovered that Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber were not happy with the original Broadway productions of Jesus Christ Superstar or Evita; in both cases, the shows became much bigger than they intended and the rock and roll got lost along the…
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    24 Usable Hours

  • Sundance 2012 & Social Media: What’s a Filmmaker To Do?

    Devon Smith
    10 Jan 2012 | 5:24 pm
    Last year, I took an in-depth look at how Sundance feature films used social media during the Festival, and if social media was a good predictor of a film’s critical or financial success. With 9 days and counting until the 2012 Festival kicks off, I thought I’d take a look to see how films might be using social media differently this year. After all, since last year’s Festival, Facebook gained 200 million new users, Twitter toppled a few dictators, folks are uploading a third more video content to YouTube every minute, and Kickstarter quadrupled the number of dollars pledged…

  • High Impact Social Media

    Devon Smith
    29 Sep 2011 | 11:58 am
    TheInkSociety.Etsy.com What’s working for arts organizations now? “Once someone likes us on Facebook, what do we do with them? How can we use Twitter to raise money? Can Foursquare really enhance the audience experience? How can Tumblr help us make sense of it all?” Yesterday’s half-day seminar, High Impact Social Media, supported by the Bloomberg Philanthropies arts advancement initiative and the DeVos Institute of Arts Management, attempted to answer just that by bringing together Gary Vaynerchuk (who, if you haven’t seen him, watched him, or read his books,…

  • Crowdsourced Voting: Modeling User Behavior with Math

    Devon Smith
    23 Sep 2011 | 3:15 pm
    The Nonprofit Technology Conference uses crowdsourced voting (plus a panel of experts and NTEN staff) to determine which panels to host at their annual conference. As I was perusing and voting on panels myself this afternoon, I started thinking about the value of a single up vote or down vote, and how we might use math to model this user behavior. Like that other technology conference I just blogged about, they saw a record number of panel submissions this year–about 450 for 100 or so total spots, and have changed up the voting process a bit from last year. Key points: anyone can vote…

  • The Case for A New Arts Incubator Model

    Devon Smith
    18 Sep 2011 | 6:50 pm
    Next week I’ll  be speaking at Arizona State University’s p.a.v.e. program–the performing arts venture experience, one of the few arts incubators in the country. The program offers “arts entrepreneurship classes,” financial ($1-$5k), in-kind (space & materials), and other support (faculty mentors) for “student initiated arts based ventures,” and lots of speakers, workshops, and symposia open to the public. Any ASU student can apply to the program, typically in cross disciplinary groups of 3-5, and are incubated for 7 months. Funded projects can…

  • SXSWi 2012: Trends & Panels

    Devon Smith
    30 Aug 2011 | 1:26 pm
    Voting for SXSW 2012 ends this Friday, and I’ve been racing to scan through all 3, 278 submissions to try to find the gems, to find friends who are also proposing, to find some clue into the future of tech. I collected a bit of data during last year’s panelpicker process, but never got around to using it, so…tada! Last year was the first time that Interactive eclipsed Music, and there is much consternation every year that South-by has jumped the shark, has become too much about marketing, too many startups trying to launch. But this year the total number of panel submissions…
 
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    ACTORSandCREW

  • The Ridiculous Things Said at #Sundance

    25 Jan 2012 | 1:58 pm

  • #Acting #Technique :: Uta Hagen’s Acting Class: The DVDs

    25 Jan 2012 | 12:54 pm
    Uta Hagen’s Acting Class: The DVDs (DVD) By Uta Hagen Buy new: $34.99 18 used and new from $24.42 Customer Rating: Customer tags: acting technique(4), acting(3), uta hagen(3), stanislavski, herbert berghoff, hb studios, uta, a challenge for the actor, whoopi goldberg, respect for acting

  • #Acting #Technique :: The Well-Tempered Body: Expressive Movement for #Actors, Improvisers, and #Performance #Artists

    24 Jan 2012 | 7:38 pm
    The Well-Tempered Body: Expressive Movement for Actors, Improvisers, and Performance Artists (Paperback) By David Petersen Buy new: $29.95 19 used and new from $22.46 Customer tags: acting(4), acting technique(4), improvisation(4), physical expression(3), actor training(3), improv(3), theater(3), dance(3), expressive movement(3), performance(3), theatre(2)

  • 13 Films Make Their Digital Premieres Through the #Sundance Institute

    24 Jan 2012 | 3:19 pm
    Sundance Institute announced thirteen films supported by the Institute that are for the first time available to rent, download and stream. Look for the films on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, SundanceNOW and YouTube. Films will be available on Netflix on March 1. Films available today include Semper Fi: Always Faithful (currently on the Academy Award shortlist for Best Documentary), Obselidia (Independent Spirit Award Winner), Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade (2007 Sundance Film Festival documentary on the arcade gamer competitions in the ‘80s), New York Times Critic’s Pick Lord…

  • 2012 #Oscars Nominations by Picture

    24 Jan 2012 | 3:13 pm
    The Adventures of Tintin Paramount Pictures and Columbia Pictures Production (Paramount) Original Score Albert Nobbs Trillium Productions, Mockingbird Pictures and Parallel Films Production (Roadside Attractions) Glenn Close – Actress in a Leading Role Janet McTeer – Actress in a Supporting Role Makeup Anonymous Columbia Pictures Production (Sony Pictures Releasing) Costume Design The Artist La Petite Reine/Studio 37/La Classe Américaine/JD Prod/France3 Cinéma/Jouror Productions/uFilm Production (The Weinstein Company) Jean Dujardin – Actor in a Leading Role Bérénice Bejo –…
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    Cambiare Productions

  • Messenger No. 4 – Dramatis Personae – Megan Minto

    Travis Bedard
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:17 pm
    Name: Megan Minto Where are you from originally? That’s a difficult question… My dad was in the Air Force, so we moved around a few times. I was born in California, in the middle of the Mojave Desert. But, to me, home is most likely Fort Walton Beach, FL. We moved there when I was 10, and my mom and sister are still there. When I think the essence of “home town” that’s where my mind goes. How long have you been in Austin? I have lived in Austin for six-and-a-half years. Through a crazy series of events, leading from Florida to Georgia to New York to California, I…

  • Messenger No. 4 – Dramatis Personae – Elena Weinberg

    Travis Bedard
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:53 am
    Name: Elena Amelia Nagel Weinberg (Or as I was once called in 5th grade which sent me home from school crying, Elena "a million bagels" Weinberg) Where are you from originally? I was born in Austin, but found my first home in Pleasanton, Texas.  On August 3, 1989, my parents were knee deep in remodeling their kitchen.  My mother was standing in her kitchen sink, sanding a cabinet at the moment I was born.  (That was when they got the call, their adoption was official, and they could pick up their new baby girl in Austin within three days time).  I only lived in…

  • Speechless complainer, I will learn thy thought

    Travis Bedard
    22 Sep 2011 | 1:13 pm
    If you have been in near-Travis orbit of late you have been flooded with Titus-talk. The hot news of the moment (aside from my eldest sister’s lovely wedding) has been that I have been cast as Titus Andronicus in the Last Act Theatre Company’s Titus Andronicus. I am delighted and terrified. I am a 20-year character actor tackling a difficult Shakespearean lead. Titus is for my money Quentin Tarantino’s Lear. Titus is Lear if Lear were bent toward action instead of away, if Lear’s madness were reflected in the world he inhabited instead of rejected by it. Titus is Lear without…

  • There’s Always a Choice

    Travis Bedard
    21 Jul 2011 | 4:47 pm
    Those who operate in near-Travis orbit will hear me repeat phrases and motifs repeatedly as I hammer out a life’s philosophy before I die. “All we have is time and people” for instance. Or lately there’s been a lot of “design for your budget dammit, don’t design as if you had money and build halfway”. On-line it’s a gentle thrumming of “the repetition of asynchronous communication drives me crazy” and #neverbedark and being an advocate and talking about what’s good. I understand that I’m repeating myself and I promise it’s not some sort of crazy-uncle disease where I…

  • A Few Good Folks

    Travis Bedard
    15 Jul 2011 | 12:41 pm
    Last fall the New Works community in Austin was awarded a planning grant from the Mellon foundation to explore (and model) infrastructure to support the creation of… well… New Work (http://goo.gl/y0TcS). That process continues apace and one of the identified areas of need was a better outreach to other makers and supporters, in other communities around the continent and the world. The more we build relationship, the more contact makers have with those outside their own sphere the better the work will be and maybe we can ease the martyr/persecution complex just a bit…. you are NOT alone.
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    TDF STAGES: A THEATRE MAGAZINE

  • Reinventing “Look Back in Anger”

    Mark Blankenship
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:19 am
    Sam Gold challenges expectations of the classic play It’s tempting to dismiss Look Back In Anger, to say, “I get it. Realism. Kitchen sink. Angry young man.” But with his current revival at the Roundabout’s Laura Pels Theatre, director Sam Gold wants to blow those assumptions apart. That’s only fitting, since John Osborne’s play has [...]

  • Building Character: Janeane Garofalo

    Mark Blankenship
    25 Jan 2012 | 12:28 pm
    The actress fights her impulses in The New Group’s latest play — Welcome to Building Character, TDF Stages’ ongoing series about actors and how they create their roles — She’s a character you want to shake some sense into. As she moves through Russian Transport, Erika Sheffer’s world premiere play at the New Group, Diana [...]

  • A Pillar of the (Irish Rep) Community

    Eric Grode
    23 Jan 2012 | 12:03 pm
    A theatre makes an asset of its unusual space Actors have clambered up it. Paintings have hung on it, as have flags and bunting. It has been a fence post, a ship mast, a tiny house and (on numerous occasions) a tree. No matter what it is, though, the pillar looming in the downstage right [...]

  • How “Leo” Walks on Walls

    Mark Blankenship
    19 Jan 2012 | 12:49 pm
      Inside the acrobatic magic of the award-winning show Even if it delivered nothing but acrobatics, Leo would be a striking piece of theatre. The show, which won the Best of Edinburgh Award at the Edinburgh Fringe and is now being presented at Theatre Row, exists to make our jaws drop, to make us question [...]

  • The Dancer Becomes the Choreographer

    Lauren Kay
    17 Jan 2012 | 1:07 pm
    How Kate Skarpetowska created striking dances of her own Buoyant, vivid movement; sensual partnering; and relatable themes have made Parsons Dance a New York staple since 1985. With his stable of sexy, muscular dancers, founder David Parsons has crafted 50 trademark works, often including of-the-moment elements like contemporary rock music. Through January 22nd at the [...]
 
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    JulieNemitz.com

  • 2011: Tiger Moms, Twitter and Monsters, Oh My!

    Julie
    5 Jan 2012 | 9:00 pm
    I fondly recall in high school when Mr. Steiner would come back from his coffee/smoke/lesson-planning break (ahem) to deliver a pop quiz to us “Fame/Footloose/Breakfast Club obsessed” teens sitting in his class.  Mr. Steiner would have us self-grade these quizzes. … Continue reading →

  • White Screen Of Death

    Julie
    9 Dec 2011 | 11:14 am
    No, Emma Thompson did not descend from on high to tell me I am quite possibly a blogging prophet — that’s left to much finer writers than I.  My WordPress blog platform and database disappeared (much like casual sex did … Continue reading →

  • Summer Theatre Camp. Are Your Manners In Check?

    admin
    30 Jun 2011 | 8:54 pm
    This a a post I wrote about a year ago, but as my favorite parents and I launch into serious drama camp activites, I thought it was worth re-posting. Enjoy! ******** Â Many of our kids are gearing up for … Continue reading →

  • How Do You Sign Up?

    Julie
    27 Jun 2011 | 3:36 pm
     I’ve been contemplating the concept of “signing up.”    This photo of actress Jessica Stone (currently pulling  standing ovations as Joel Grey’s moll Erma in Broadway’s Tony-winning revival of “Anything Goes“) signing in for her nightly performance really struck me.   It’s a long-held tradition … Continue reading →

  • You’re A Lapsed Stage Mama If …

    Julie
    23 Jun 2011 | 3:59 pm
    I missed y’all!  I’m relieved no one called blogger social services on me for blog abandonment. Let’s dig in.  Lots to cover. You’re a Lapsed Stage Mama If…   5.  Your six month sabbatical from blogging included a total meltdown of your … Continue reading →
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    Theatrical Intelligence

  • When You’re Feeling Stuck…

    Ann Sachs
    14 Jan 2012 | 1:20 pm
    An earlier version of this post was published as “What Role Were You Born to Play?” in June 2009. When you’re feeling creatively stuck, it’s time to rediscover your Theatrical Intelligence. Identify those inborn talents of your youth – the ones that went into hiding as you morphed into an adult – and presto change-o - you’ll get unstuck! Behind the stage door, great wisdom lives… Try this: Think back to your childhood. Remember the neighborhood where you grew up?  Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and inhale the smell of that long ago…

  • Occupational Hazard: REJECTION!

    Ann Sachs
    24 Sep 2011 | 12:34 am
    Rejection = A Fact of Life. Rejection in the Theatre = The Daily Reality. Assuming a high level of talent and skill, the way a theatre professional handles rejection can determine the rate of success or failure in his or her career. It took me too long to learn that I had a choice as to whether or not I responded personally to rejection. As a young actress in New York in the early 70’s, my fear of being rejected could be paralyzing; on occasion I would actually not show up for an audition. Knowing I didn’t want to sabotage my lifelong dream, and not wanting to piss of my agent any…

  • The Ensemble Studio Theatre: A Love Story

    Ann Sachs
    8 Sep 2011 | 10:30 am
    I’d like to introduce you to the Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST): we’ve been in love for 33 years, and hundreds of other theatre professionals participate in our love circle. Including my husband. FULL DISCLOSURE: I’ve been a member of EST since 1978 and was elected to its Board in 2010. Roger Morgan, my husband and business partner, is a founding member. He signed the articles of incorporation in 1968, alongside the late-great Curt Dempster, EST’s Founder. So what’s to love, you may ask? EST is a safe haven to several hundred theatre professionals: actors, writers,…

  • Twitter Lists!

    Ann Sachs
    1 Jul 2011 | 1:05 am
    When Twitter offered its Lists Function a couple of years ago (see my lists on the left) I instantly loved the idea. My free time tends to be in 5-to-10-minute-chunks, and I figured that within each chunk I could catch up with at least one category of people I follow: my fellow theatre passionistas (two-am-theatre) for instance, or my WPO colleagues (women-presidents-organization: my very first list). I’ve gotten to know my expanded network thanks to my handy lists. And recently my lists began to – um – sort of talk to me; that is, they became reminiscent of audience…

  • On Writing and Handwriting

    Ann Sachs
    29 Apr 2011 | 12:52 am
    I’ve always had beautiful handwriting. With minimal effort on my part, penmanship was the only subject for which I consistently received an A+. Learning the Rhinehart Handwriting Method in third grade felt to me like initiation into adulthood: I was writing cursive – clearly, I was grown up. Since that time, I’ve hand-written countless invitations at the request of friends, “penned the place cards” for many events, and if there is ever a call for a designated scribe, I’m it. Clear, legible handwriting was just something I did; I never even thought about it. During a recent…
 
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    Encore Atlanta

  • Graceland

    Kathy Janich
    17 Jan 2012 | 3:35 pm
    Love him or hate him, it’s hard to think of Memphis without Elvis Presley, its most famous son. To his credit, Elvis never felt he outgrew his hometown, even after becoming one of the biggest stars in the world. His family home, Graceland, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, gives visitors an [...]

  • Life is but a dream

    Kathy Janich
    17 Jan 2012 | 9:52 am
    This world premiere runs Feb. 3-26 at the Alliance Theatre. Breaking into the theatre business can be a long, tough slog, particularly for young playwrights. But Meg Miroshnik, who got her MFA from the Yale School of Drama, took one heck of a shortcut by winning the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition. The annual national competition [...]

  • Become Art E.’s friend — and win!

    Kathy Janich
    16 Jan 2012 | 2:45 pm
    Check out Encore Atlanta’s Free Ticket Friday every week and win. A simple challenge is announced on our Facebook page, Art E. Encore’s Facebook page and our Twitter pages. Satisfy the challenge, and you can win seats to the symphony, sporting events and metro theaters. We’re always giving something away. Follow us to be in [...]

  • Four things to consider when selecting a retirement community

    Kristi Casey Sanders
    1 Jan 2012 | 5:48 am
    Time marches on, no matter how badly we want it to slow down. The 76 million baby boomers who attempted to set the world on fire in the 1960s began turning 65 last year. The good news is we’re living longer. More than 1.9 million Americans are aged 90 or older. And that number is only [...]

  • Paint the town ‘red’

    Kristi Casey Sanders
    30 Dec 2011 | 2:53 pm
    This January, a wide-eyed, red-headed “little” orphan rolls into town — with a rich benefactor and a scruffy terrier in tow. Leaping lizards, Annie has arrived! Much of the action takes place in New York City, with Gotham’s gloss symbolizing hope and promise. Here, we present a tour of the Big Apple, as told through [...]
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    loisbackstage.com

  • Weekend Recipe: Pizza Dough

    Lois
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:32 pm
    Quadruple cheese pizza! I was hosting a birthday lunch this past week and decided that pizza was the perfect thing to serve, but instead of ordering in I figured I’d do the affordable thing and make my own.  I am pretty sure that this crust was the best I have ever tried.  I was super happy with how the whole thing turned out. Doesn't it look delicious?! INGREDIENTS: 1 cup warm water 1 tablespoon of active dry yeast 1 tsp salt 1 tbs sugar 2 tbs olive oil 1 clove crushed  garlic 1 tsp dried basil 1/4 cup parmesan cheese 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour Ingredients for topping…

  • Weekend Recipe: Toffee Bars

    Lois
    21 Jan 2012 | 7:03 pm
    My parents gave me my first cookbook when I was right around 10 years old – it was a Betty Crocker favourites book – and one of the first recipes that I made from it were these Toffee Bars.  In fact, next to the recipe in a bright red pen are the words “VERY YUMMY” that young me wrote in.  They’re very simple to make and not actually very sweet. I’ve adapted the recipe a bit from the original and I think it’s only better! INGREDIENTS: 1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1 tsp vanilla 1 large egg yolk 1 cup flour pinch of…

  • Mind the Gap (on thriving and surviving between gigs)

    Lois
    19 Jan 2012 | 2:00 pm
    As a freelancer, there are often gaps in my schedule as one gig ends a few weeks before another starts. There are also times of overlap where I am rehearsing a show during the day and running performances at night. The overlaps are fun – full of adrenaline and though a little exhausting there is something remarkable about them. The gaps are different, especially if they last longer than two weeks. A two-week gap is a like a vacation. Providing you are decent with money you can get out of town or you can use the time to relax – sleep in, see friends, and catch up with other aspects of…

  • Play Reading Group Needs a Venue and Scripts

    Lois
    18 Jan 2012 | 3:29 am
    After my confession about how bad I am at reading plays a number of you expressed interest in joining me to read some out loud.  Which is fantastic!  The questions that I am currently faced with are the following: 1. Where can we meet? There are enough people interested that my living room will be too small. Does anyone have a suggestion of an affordable space for such a gathering?  Would you be willing to throw a loonie or twoonie in a bucket to help pay for a room rental? 2. What should we read? Please make suggestions in the comments of what we should read. Or feel free to email me a…

  • Lois’ Guide to Office Supply Shopping for the Addicted

    Lois
    16 Jan 2012 | 4:48 pm
    A good portion of my personal office supply collection spread out on my bed. Notice that my weakness is things in fun colours. Even the staples are colourful! You know the scenario – you’re printing a script and run out of paper or you go to use your favourite extra fine felt-tipped pen and find its out of ink or, heaven forbid!, your industrial strength hole punch breaks mid project. You need to finish the project which means a trip to the office supply store is in your immediate future. If you’re anything like me this is both exciting and awful. I LOVE office supply stores. I…
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    Atlanta Theater Fans - Guide To Atlanta Theater And Online Theater Community

  • Alliance Theatre Presents the Beloved Classic The Wizard of Oz Feb. 25 – Mar. 11, 2012

    admin
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:47 am
    Atlanta’s nationally acclaimed Alliance Theatre will present The Wizard of Oz February 25 through March 11, 2012 as part of its Theatre for Young Audiences series.    Introduce your children to the kind of magic only found in the Land of Oz. This 70-minute production features iconic songs like “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “Follow the [...] Related articles: A Christmas Carol Returns for Its 22nd Year at the Alliance Theatre The Alliance Theatre Previews 2011-2012 Season Alliance Theatre Presents Free Performances for MLK Day

  • Cameron Mackintosh’s New 25th Anniversary Production of the World’s Longest-Running Musical Boublil and Schönberg’s Les Misérables Tickets Go On Sale February 5

    admin
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:36 am
    Atlanta Premiere Engagement at the Fox Theatre April 24-29 Tickets for Cameron Mackintosh’s new 25th anniversary production of Les Misérables will go on sale Sunday, February 5 for the premiere Atlanta engagement at The Fox Theatre, as part of the Fifth Third Bank Broadway in Atlanta 2011-12 season. The all new production of Les Misérables [...] Related articles: The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall Live in Cinemas for 25th Anniversary Grinch to Steal Christmas in Atlanta! Tickets Go On Sale September 16 One Day Deal: $10 Off Mamma Mia! Tickets for 10th Anniversary (Tuesday…

  • From Cover to Lead, Felicia Boswell Destined to be in Memphis

    admin
    24 Jan 2012 | 8:06 pm
    After performing in the Broadway production of Memphis, Felicia Boswell comes to Atlanta with the national tour of the musical, which opens at the Fox Theatre on January 31, in a role she feels destined to play. Most recently in Atlanta, Boswell performed the role of Mimi in Rent at the Atlanta Lyric Theatre, where [...] Related articles: Photos of the Touring Cast of Memphis Coming to Atlanta’s Fox Theatre Four-Time Tony® Award Winner Memphis Is Coming To Atlanta Broadway in Atlanta Rasies Curtain on Young Professionals Networking Event with Smash Hit Memphis on February 2

  • Pinch ‘n’ Ouch Theatre Presents A Powerful David Mamet Play at Atlanta’s Newest Theater Venue

    admin
    23 Jan 2012 | 7:54 pm
    Pinch ‘n’ Ouch Theatre Company brings David Mamet’s critically acclaimed masterpiece and Broadway hit Speed-the-Plow to Atlanta’s newest performance space this April. Filled with Mamet’s trademark intense rapid-fire dialogue and provocative themes, Speed-the-Plow focuses on the ruthless nature of Hollywood and the movie industry.  Speed-the-Plow is one of several successful plays Mamet has written about [...] Related articles: Take a Look at Pinch ‘N’ Ouch’s Bachelorette See Photos From Body Awareness At Pinch ‘N’ Ouch The Academy Theatre presents…

  • God of Carnage – An Atlanta Theater Fans Review

    admin
    22 Jan 2012 | 8:24 pm
    One might not necessarily think of intense and hilarious as words to describe the same play, but God of Carnage at the Alliance Theatre could aptly be described as both. A recent Broadway hit, God of Carnage provides a lively evening of theater to say the least. Before the play begins, two boys get in a [...] Related articles: Alliance Theatre Produces Tony Award® Winner God of Carnage Starring Jasmine Guy Photos from the Alliance Theatre’s God of Carnage Jasmine Guy Returns to the Alliance Theatre in God of Carnage
 
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    Theatre Geeks » Podcast

  • 50 Theatre Geeks Extra for January 25, 2012

    dave@theatregeeks.com (Dave Dufour, John Shoup, Marcia Fulmer)
    24 Jan 2012 | 11:50 pm
    Theatre Geeks’ first news podcast The first biweekly news report on theatre happenings around country and the world, hosted by Dave Dufour.  This is an experiment, and does NOT replace our... More info at the Theatre Geeks website

  • 49 Deirdre Lovejoy and our theatre game show!

    dave@theatregeeks.com (Dave Dufour, John Shoup, Marcia Fulmer)
    16 Jan 2012 | 2:54 pm
    Actress (and Marcia's daughter) Deirdre Lovejoy joins us at the Bristol Opera House, Bristol, Indiana for a special series of three podcasts in front of a live audience of fellow Theatre Geeks. . .... More info at the Theatre Geeks website

  • Theatre Geeks Live Podcast UPDATE!

    dave@theatregeeks.com (Dave Dufour, John Shoup, Marcia Fulmer)
    4 Jan 2012 | 4:49 pm
    Click here to view the embedded video. This is going to be a great event so be there or be square!  Be sure to call for reservations!   Incoming search terms:blogs for theatre geeka More info at the Theatre Geeks website

  • 48: Music and sound on stage

    dave@theatregeeks.com (Dave Dufour, John Shoup, Marcia Fulmer)
    14 Dec 2011 | 10:14 am
    Making your shows sound better Using the correct music and sound effects can make a big difference in theatrical productions, but there are some problems and pitfalls, both esthetic and legal. The... More info at the Theatre Geeks website

  • 47: Rehearsals: closed while under construction

    dave@theatregeeks.com (Dave Dufour, John Shoup, Marcia Fulmer)
    17 Nov 2011 | 10:43 pm
    Are your rehearsals open?  Maybe they shouldn’t be. Rehearsals are the time for casts to bond with their directors and each other, and hone their performances without interference.  But in... More info at the Theatre Geeks website
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    Tim Bauer: Playwright/Author | Tim Bauer: Playwright/Author

  • Sell the Story First

    Tim
    26 Jan 2012 | 2:28 pm
    Sell the Story First (by Rebecca Bromels on My Extra Hour)

  • Fragmentary: Writing in a Digital Age

    Tim
    24 Jan 2012 | 2:21 pm
    Fragmentary: Writing in a Digital Age (by Guy Patrick Cunningham on The Millions)

  • Let’s Get Vertical (Vertical)

    Tim
    23 Jan 2012 | 2:13 pm
    Let’s Get Vertical (Vertical) On 2AMt, Travis Bedard spins a story of a theater system where fringe festivals do the raw research, indie theaters do the development, large local theaters handle the trial level, and large regionals are the product level: There is no system in the theatre ecosystem. Every branch of this ungainly beast is trying to perform every function. Without enough resources to go around we need to improve communication and eliminate redundancies….My platonic ideal of this system rests on a foundation of dynamic local creation.The larger theatres in a given…

  • Can Women Write Good Plays?

    Tim
    21 Jan 2012 | 7:59 pm
    Can Women Write Good Plays? (by Laura Axelrod on 2AMt)

  • Rajiv Joseph’s ‘The North Pool’ Wins Glickman Award

    Tim
    21 Jan 2012 | 7:57 pm
    Rajiv Joseph’s ‘The North Pool’ Wins Glickman Award for Best New Play to Premiere in the Bay Area in 2011 Playwright Rajiv Joseph has won the prestigious Will Glickman Award for “The North Pool,” which received its world premiere with TheatreWorks in March 2011. Joseph and TheatreWorks will receive awards as part of Theatre Bay Area’s 35th Anniversary “35 Years, 35 Faces” event on April 30, 2012 at Z Space in San Francisco. In addition, Joseph will receive the award’s $4,000 purse.
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    Shakespeare Geek

  • The Mute and Pause Method

    26 Jan 2012 | 8:33 am
    Long-time readers of the blog know my special love for The Tempest, my excitement over the recent movie version by Julie Taymor, and my eventual crushing disappointment that followed.  I can't begin to link to all the stories on those subjects over the years. But that was then and this is now, and I've got a copy of the DVD here at home and I'm walking the kids through it in these little 10 minute before-you-go-to-bed bursts.  They don't understand a word of it, and they tell me.  And I'm ok with that, because I'm standing right there explaining to them, in these 10 minute…

  • Shakespearean Light Bulb Jokes (Guest Post)

    25 Jan 2012 | 10:33 am
    Bardfilm and Shakespeare Geek have put their heads together and taken the rare step of combining Shakespeare and the genre of Light Bulb Jokes, with the following results:How many Henry VIs does it take to change a light bulb?Only one, but he has to do it in three parts.How many Prosperos does it take to change a light bulb?Are you kidding? He has Caliban take care of all that kind of thing.How many Brutuses does it take to change a light bulb?Only one, but he needs the help of 23 conspirators to do it.How many Ophelias does it take to change a light bulb?STOP! You wouldn't let someone that…

  • Geeklet Story Time, Part 2

    23 Jan 2012 | 9:31 pm
    ...so, where was I? The 5yr old, after getting a shortened form of Macbeth, wants the one about the king who divides his kingdom up among his daughters. Here we go! Once upon a time there was a king, who had gotten so old and tired that he didn't want to be king anymore.  He decided to split his kingdom into three parts and give each part to one of his daughters.  So he called them all together and said, "Tell me how much you love me.  Whoever loves me the most gets the best part of my kingdom." Well, the first daughter got up and said "I love you *thhiisssss* much, and I love…

  • Geeklet Story Time

    23 Jan 2012 | 7:57 pm
    So tonight my wife's at work and I'm putting the kids to bed. My older girls are in their rooms reading, and I'm laying (lying?) down in my 5yr old son's bed with him. "Daddy!" yells the 9yr old from her room, "There's a Shakespeare quote in my book!" "Which one?" I yell back. "Life's but a walking shadow..." she begins. "...that struts and frets his hour upon the stage. A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." I reply.  And, yes, I missed a few words in the middle. "Yes, that one," comes the reply. "Macbeth.  That's a good one." "Why is that a good…

  • Fate v. Free Will in Romeo + Juliet (Plus, Changing The Ending?)

    20 Jan 2012 | 8:17 am
    While cruising through Yahoo! Answers today I saw that somebody had asked about the theme of destiny in Romeo and Juliet.  Then something hit me.  It's easy to point to the "star-crossed lovers" right in the prologue, and later Romeo, who is Fortune's fool, defies to stars, etc etc etc. But here's the thing, I've also always thought of the play as a lesson to the parents about not being so stubborn in your ancient grudges and your own problems that you don't realize what you're about to lose.  At the end of the play, the prince gives his great "All are punished" speech and the…
 
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