Theatre

 
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    Theater News

  • George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic are not done yet

    20 Nov 2009 | 10:30 am
    George Clinton never goes away. The leader of the legendary Parliament Funkadelic, which returns tonight to the Patriots Theater at the War Memorial in Trenton, is constantly on tour and picks up some airplay, particularly on satellite radio.

  • Hollywood disaster movie '2012' draws in Chinese patriotic fans

    20 Nov 2009 | 6:14 am
    When the apocalypse comes, China will save the world. Or at least that's how Chinese audiences are interpreting "2012," Hollywood's latest blockbuster disaster movie.

  • The Brother/Sister Plays, Public Theater, New York

    20 Nov 2009 | 2:09 am
    When Tarell Alvin McCraney's Wig Out! opened last year off-Broadway to enthusiastic reviews, I asked myself: what are my colleagues smoking and where can I get some? McCraney's glimpse into the world of Manhattan drag balls was weak on dramaturgy, serving mostly as an occasion for director Tina Landau to provide a glittering pageant of ...

  • Movie review: Teen tension wanes in 'New Moon'

    19 Nov 2009 | 9:55 pm
    It doesn't take Alice, the soothsayer of the vampire family the Cullens, to see for whom "New Moon" -- the second installment in the "Twilight" franchise -- was made.

  • Cinema popcorn is nutritional horror show: US study

    19 Nov 2009 | 5:34 pm
    Nutritional analysis of popcorn servings at some of America's biggest cinema chains has found mind-boggling calorie counts that may surprise consumers who think of the snack as a relatively healthy treat.
 
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    Backstage

  • Christine Woods: A Back Stage Exclusive

    20 Nov 2009 | 5:00 am
    After growing up in the O.C., Christine Woods pounded the pavement for five years before landing her big break as FBI Agent Janis Hawk in ABC's hit show "Flashforward."

  • 'Inglourious Basterds' Screening with Christoph Waltz

    19 Nov 2009 | 9:27 am
    On Dec. 2nd at 7 p.m., Back Stage presents An Evening With... "Inglourious Basterds," a special screening to be followed by a Q&A with cast member Christoph Waltz.

  • The Discerning Doctor

    19 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am
    "To stand naked on the stage is an outward manifestation of what we do in the best performances," asserts Michael Cerveris.

  • Going Rogue With Werner Herzog

    19 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am
    Werner Herzog is the kind of daring director who shoots his documentaries like narrative films and his narrative films like documentaries.

  • Conflicts and Interests

    19 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am
    Thanks to globalization and the Internet, a burgeoning number of theater and film artists will want to make political/social/cultural differences in regions around the world.
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    Backstage

  • NY Review: 'In the Next Room or the vibrator play'

    20 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am
    Sarah Ruhl's odd but somehow moving new play combines farce and drama for a challenging examination of women's sexuality in the repressive Victorian era.

  • Post No Bills

    19 Nov 2009 | 4:07 am
    Mando Alvarado's new play has a sitcom-worthy premise that's hurt more than helped by the plot's sudden dark turn.

  • My Wonderful Day

    19 Nov 2009 | 4:03 am
    Though it's centered on the timeworn cliché of the wise innocent child, Alan Ayckbourn's "My Wonderful Day" is largely entertaining.

  • My Wonderful Day

    19 Nov 2009 | 4:03 am
    Though it's centered on the timeworn cliché of the wise innocent child, Alan Ayckbourn's "My Wonderful Day" is largely entertaining.

  • The Orphans' Home Cycle: Part One-The Story of a Childhood

    19 Nov 2009 | 3:56 am
    With two installments still to come, it's premature to characterize Horton Foote's complete work. But if they live up to the first part, what we are being served here is nothing less than an American masterwork.
 
 
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    Backstage

  • Christine Woods: A Back Stage Exclusive

    20 Nov 2009 | 5:00 am
    After growing up in the O.C., Christine Woods pounded the pavement for five years before landing her big break as FBI Agent Janis Hawk in ABC's hit show "Flashforward."

  • 'Inglourious Basterds' Screening with Christoph Waltz

    19 Nov 2009 | 9:27 am
    On Dec. 2nd at 7 p.m., Back Stage presents An Evening With... "Inglourious Basterds," a special screening to be followed by a Q&A with cast member Christoph Waltz.

  • The Discerning Doctor

    19 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am
    "To stand naked on the stage is an outward manifestation of what we do in the best performances," asserts Michael Cerveris.

  • Going Rogue With Werner Herzog

    19 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am
    Werner Herzog is the kind of daring director who shoots his documentaries like narrative films and his narrative films like documentaries.

  • Conflicts and Interests

    19 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am
    Thanks to globalization and the Internet, a burgeoning number of theater and film artists will want to make political/social/cultural differences in regions around the world.
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    Backstage

  • Scarcity

    19 Nov 2009 | 1:29 am
    What should be a depressing play about lower-middle-class life in an economically deprived small town turns out to be one of the liveliest entries in the small-theater scene.

  • Nibbler

    19 Nov 2009 | 1:14 am
    Ah, those all-important transitions in life. They can certainly be as sudden, scary, and all-consuming as, say, an encounter with a monster in a 1950s sci-fi movie.

  • Noises Off

    18 Nov 2009 | 5:46 am
    Michael Frayn's delightfully complicated British farce could hardly have a better rendition than this.

  • Baby It's You

    18 Nov 2009 | 5:37 am
    In the tradition of "Dreamgirls," librettists Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux unveil their world-premiere bio-tuner "Baby It's You," which follows the career of the Shirelles, a doo-wop girl quartet.

  • Tree

    18 Nov 2009 | 5:16 am
    Familial bonds are seen as the roots of our spiritual essence as we strive to come to terms with self-identity and our emotional needs in Julie Hébert's hauntingly lovely new play.
 
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    Jane Fonda

  • Tweets on 2009-11-17

    Jane
    16 Nov 2009 | 11:25 pm
    RT @keyinfluencer: @janefonda son Troy will be on "House "tonight. He's a good actor. http://bit.ly/3QNJfa>>YES TURN IT ON NOW # Watch My Son on "House" tonight at 8pm EST….. http://bit.ly/3oeWLi #

  • NEW FRIENDS, NEW FILM

    Jane
    16 Nov 2009 | 5:47 pm
    I flew to Paris from Dusseldorf the morning after the UNESCO event first to have an interview with Annabelle, the Swiss magazine that is similar to our Marie Claire. This was at the behest of L’Oreal. I wanted very much to take advantage of my first-class round trip ticket provided generously by UNESCO to stop by Paris. I am going to be making a French film in Paris in June and I had hoped the cast and director could arrange their schedules to have an introductory dinner together—give us all fantasies and mental images of our playmates between now and June. This will be my first film…

  • Troy takes it lying down on HOUSE tonight at 8pm!

    Jane
    16 Nov 2009 | 7:30 am
    www.fox.com/house

  • BACK IN DUSSELDORF…WHERE ELSE?

    Jane
    14 Nov 2009 | 4:52 pm
    This time it’s for UNESCO. I received the “Patroness of Education” award at a huge gala tonight. I spoke, again, about the critical importance of educating girls. Sitting next to me, also receiving an award for his considerable humanitarian work was Forest Whitaker. with Forest Whitaker Tommy and Dee Hilfiger Also receiving awards were designer Tommy Hilfiger, singer/songwriter Ronan Keating and songwriter Denise Rich. Both of the latter said how terrific they think my honey, Richard, is, which made me happy. Jermaine Jackson performed in honor of his brother, Michael. I was…

  • BASEBALL

    Jane
    12 Nov 2009 | 10:09 am
    My friend, journalist Roger Friedman, is pictured here with his Brother Mark in the Yankee jersey and his Father Arthur. They are die hard Yankee fans who have been going to the games with their Dad since they were young boys. Their Dad who is a Bronx native has been attending games since the days of Joe DiMaggio. Just think the contract that DiMaggio signed in 1949 was at that time a record setting $100,000 now sixty years later that’s less than some players make in a single game! Roger’s brother told my daughter-in-law, Simone (pictured here next to son Troy), that at one point years…
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    Unscripted - A Blog for Actors - Backstage

  • Thanks, Julliard! Love, NYU

    Dominique Toney
    19 Nov 2009 | 10:11 am
    Our showcase went great. It was short and sweet. Brilliantly staged and we had the audience laughing for most of the hour. We were on performing on 42nd street in front of people who could potentially help us get work – casting directors from NBC and CBS, agents from Abrams Artists, Henderson Hogan, and managers.        Unfortunately, our showcase was also the same night as Julliard’s 4th year show, so our reception afterwards was empty. Everyone had to peace out to catch the 8 pm Juilliard show! We were all a little bummed about that, sitting there…

  • Birth of the Little Mighty

    Ann Hu
    19 Nov 2009 | 6:00 am
    So it's been a lucky fall season of getting to see myself on screen. Apparently, three's the magic number. First there was "How to Seduce Difficult Women", then "The Brooklyn Heist". And last Friday night I attended the private screening of "Carla", the indie short about American female Iraq War veterans coming home with post traumatic stress disorder. This one is not a comedy. This is a huge social-political statement of what is currently taking place in the midst of the Iraq war on our side of the fence and nobody wants to fully acknowledge it. I was…

  • A Sign

    Lemon
    18 Nov 2009 | 9:31 am
    This is a picture of a big bright sign I passed while walking around in Toronto one evening.  It stuck with me.   The next morning I went back to the same place to take a picture of the sign.  I know it's really just an American Express advertisement, but I like it, and I thought it might be inspirational to some of you actors out there, or to anyone working to achieve their dreams and get the most out of life! Of course, everyone's dream is a little different...,but don't settle!! I especially like the guy sitting in the front of the sign eating cheesy…

  • The Playwright

    Sharina Martin
    17 Nov 2009 | 7:59 pm
    It's so ironic that I am serving as a reader for this playwrighting class right now as I have just joined forces with one of my most beloved playwrights wo work on a piece. I've always been into writing and done it on the side/for myself and playwrighting is such a different, huge beast than what I'm used to. I'm not sure exactly how our collaboration will manifest, but happily we have such a great relationship that I'm sure it will naturally evolve for us. It was brilliant to be able to sit in a class full of up and coming playwrights and listen to their work and read…

  • Grad School Diary #2:Recommending myself

    Shawn Dempewolff
    17 Nov 2009 | 7:15 pm
        I've picked out the three theatre professionals I'd like to write my recommendations. They are all game for it - but one of them is a very busy broadway casting director. Busy enough to ask me to write a draft of the rec for him, just to get him started. I told him I could totally do that for him.    I can right? How do I write a draft of a rec for myself? What do I think he'd say? He's taught me in a few classes, cast me in a reading and remarks on my talent pretty much every time we see each other. I guess I should just go…
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    Blog Stage - Acting in Film, TV, Theatre - Backstage

  • Is Dustin Hoffman Done with the 'Fockers'?

    Dan Lehman
    20 Nov 2009 | 2:05 pm
    EW's "Hollywood Insider" blog thinks so. Hoffman and Barbra Streisand were a hilarious pairing as Ben Stiller's parents in Meet the Fockers, but it looks like Hoffman might not return for Little Fockers (the second sequel to the hit comedy Meet the Parents). Even though "Hoffman had tentatively agreed to appear in what was to be a very funny cameo at the end of the film," according to EW, that's now looking unlikely.From Hollywood Insider:Sources tell EW.com that there has been strife between Hoffman and the studio over the size of the part, the scheduling of…

  • New York Auditions at a Glance – Nov. 19-27

    Luke Crowe
    19 Nov 2009 | 6:45 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. Nov. 19 • NYFA, 'Fire' • 'Ching Chong Chinaman' • North Carolina Thr., NC • 'Wicked', B'way & Tour • 'Tony 'n' Tina's Wedding' Fri. Nov. 20 • 'Iph Then' • '42nd Street', FL Sat.

  • California Auditions at a Glance – Nov. 19-27

    Luke Crowe
    19 Nov 2009 | 6:44 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. Nov. 19 • Sande Alessi Open Call • LACC, Untitled Project • 'Over Here!' Fri. Nov. 20 • Sande Alessi Open Call • 'Over Here!', Dancers • 'Over Here!', Singers • Hong Kong Disneyland Vocalists • Center Rep 2010 Season…

  • Regional Auditions at a Glance – Nov. 19-27

    Luke Crowe
    19 Nov 2009 | 6:43 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. Nov. 19 • Click here to search for auditions. Fri. Nov. 20 • FL, 'Ruined' • FL, Walt Disney World Sat. Nov. 21 • FL, 'Carmen', Children's Sun. Nov. 22 • Click here to search for auditions. Mon. Nov. 23 • FL, 'High School…

  • West Coast Casting Highlights - 11/19/09

    Luke Crowe
    19 Nov 2009 | 6:28 pm
    Every week Back Stage publishes hundreds of notices -- casting notices, entertainment-industry job notices, and calls for submissions to talent contests and film festivals. Back Stage is the premier resource for actors, dancers, singers, comedians, and all performing artists -- plus those talented individuals working behind-the-scenes, including writers and crew -- looking for quality opportunities.  BackStage.com's casting database includes all of the notices from  the  popular weekly Back Stage publications, plus hundreds of additional items. WEST COAST: Below are a…
 
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    Blogway Baby

  • STEPHEN SONDHEIM AND FRANK RICH

    Suzy Conn
    28 Oct 2009 | 11:31 am
    Monday October 26 I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet both Stephen Sondheim and Frank Rich. I attended STEPHEN SONDHEIM A LIFE IN THE THEATER, AN ONSTAGE CONVERSATION WITH FRANK RICH at Benaroya Hall. We (of course this night was a Conn family event) started the evening off at a 6:30pm reception in the Founder's Room hosted by David Armstrong, Producing Artistic Director, The 5th Avenue Theatre, and Dennis Coleman, Artistic Director, Seattle Men's Chorus /Seattle Women's Chorus. Delicious food, yummy wine, and what a beautiful room! We were there not just for the wine and food, but…

  • ENCHANTED APRIL AT TAPROOT THEATRE

    Suzy Conn
    26 Oct 2009 | 11:27 am
    I was lucky enough to catch one of the last two performances of Taproot Theatre's ENCHANTED APRIL. Despite a devastating fire last week, Taproot Theatre, with the generous support of Seattle Children's Theatre, was able to mount two final shows on Saturday October 24. However, the mad scrambling and exhaustion certainly didn't show in the performance, which was indeed, enchanted. ENCHANTED APRIL, a play by Matthew Barber, from the novel by Elizabeth Von Arnim was directed by Karen Lund, and featured Charity Parenzini, Nikki Visel, Ryan Childers, Jerff Berryman, Anne Kennedy, Kim Morris, Aaron…

  • CAROL BURNETT AND EYDIE GORME MEDLEY

    Suzy Conn
    26 Oct 2009 | 9:13 am
    This wonderful medley of Hollywood music is from Eydie Gorme's February 4, 1977 guest appearance on the Carol Burnett Show. Love the crazy clown dancers too! I was an impressionable thirteen year old when I saw this (probably while doing my math homework), and it goes a long way to explaining why I am the way I am. Oh, and why I love sequins. Thanks Ryan!

  • JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT

    Suzy Conn
    17 Oct 2009 | 11:08 am
    Go, go, go see JOSEPH! My daughter Trinity is in the children's choir for JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT at The 5th Avenue Theatre. She has been rehearsing since August, so it was quite a thrill to finally see opening night on October 15! JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, with music by Andrew Lloyd Weber and Lyrics by Time Rice, is playing at The 5th Avenue Theatre from October 10 to November 1. Directed by James Rocco, choreographed by Jayme McDaniel and musical directed and conducted by R. J. Tancioco, JOSEPH stars American Idol's Anthony Fedorov as Joseph and…

  • BIBA THE MUSICAL

    Suzy Conn
    8 Oct 2009 | 9:34 am
    Road trip to London! Yeah, baby! BIBA THE MUSICAL sounds ultra cool, I wish I could go to the London Showcase on October 25! BIBA THE MUSICAL was written by Anthony Barry, David Foster-Smith and John Renoir, with set design and styling by Andrea Dunne. Here's the 411 on the show from the website: It’s the story of a fantasy that became a fantastic reality. It’s the story of fashion, of the Swinging Sixties, of beautiful people, of a musical and cultural coming of age. London 1964. Biba started as a tiny boutique in a Kensington sidestreet and grew to become a huge department store –…
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    The Wicked Stage

  • I Have No Words

    Rob Weinert-Kendt
    18 Nov 2009 | 12:10 pm
    via

  • Glengarry, Hedwig, and Maria

    Rob Weinert-Kendt
    18 Nov 2009 | 8:57 am
    A close competition over at the American Theatre Facebook page, where today's question is: What's the best film adaptation of a play or musical?UPDATE: My favorite answer so far, from Tim Doyle:My pick would have to be "Saving Private Ryan" (1998) based on the 1949 Yip Harburg/Burton Lane musical "Normandy, Schmormondy."

  • Freeman at Last

    Rob Weinert-Kendt
    17 Nov 2009 | 10:39 am
    In a Time Out Q&A about his new meta-play Exposition, the indispensable Matthew Freeman seems lukewarm on the blogging:I’m increasingly wary of blogging because I am a playwright first, and feel no particular urge to piss off literary departments or get caught saying unkind things about Charles Isherwood or whatever. As I’ve become aware that people actually do, in fact, read what I write, I’ve become a lot more careful. Which is a good thing and a bad thing. I can’t imagine I’m alone in that. I used to think that new bloggers would show up and enliven the conversation. They may…

  • Ragtime Revisited

    Rob Weinert-Kendt
    17 Nov 2009 | 6:35 am
    Marcia Mitzman Gaven and John DossettCritics are mostly warmish to the new Broadway revival of Ragtime. I saw it in a very early preview (for an essay I've written about race on Broadway for the December American Theatre), and am thus duty-bound not to say too much about the current production.But I can't keep mum about one thing. Many critics, most prominently Ben Brantley at the Times, have less than loving memories of the original production--i.e., the one that opened in January, 1998 at the Ford Center (now the Hilton). But that's not the "original" I remember, and with perhaps…

  • What People Are Seeing

    Rob Weinert-Kendt
    13 Nov 2009 | 1:40 pm
    Our weekly question on American Theatre's fan page, as usual, yields an odd, fascinating cross section of theater of all sizes and shapes nationwide.This weekend, folks are seeing:On the Town at Paper Mill Playhouse, Millburn, NJRosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead in NYCPost No Bills at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater NYCEsperanza Rising @ EmersonTree @ [Inside] the FordThe End of Civilization @ Sidewalk Studio TheatreSweeney Todd @ Chandler TheatreThe Winterling by Paragon Theatre in DenverPlayback @ McDaniel College in Westminster, MDM*A*S*H www.repeastplayhouse.orgDog Act at…
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    Jersey Boys Blog

  • J. Robert Spencer’s L&O: SVU Appearance!

    Administrator
    19 Nov 2009 | 9:38 pm

  • Jersey Boys London to Perform on Children In Need Show on BBC1 Tomorrow

    Administrator
    19 Nov 2009 | 7:40 pm
    London JERSEY BOYS cast members have been collecting donations all this week for Children In Need at the Prince Edward Theatre. The cast will also be performing on the show tomorrow, Friday, November 20 on BBC 1 sometime after Midnight!

  • Jersey Boys Vegas Cast Member Sarah Lowe Stars in ‘The Apple Sisters Show’ on November 27!

    Administrator
    18 Nov 2009 | 7:59 pm
    The Apple Sisters: Sarah Lowe (Seedy), Kim Gatewood (Cora), and Rebekka Johnson (Candy) Sarah Lowe, swing cast member from the JERSEY BOYS Vegas Company will be performing with her WWII-era trio, “THE APPLE SISTERS” on Friday, November 27 in Las Vegas! The trio will be performing “The Apple Sisters: Thanks for Stuffing” show at 10:00PM at [...]

  • Check Out This Interview with Travis Cloer!

    Administrator
    18 Nov 2009 | 7:18 pm
    Lance Carter has a terrific interview (and podcast!) with JERSEY BOYS Vegas Frankie Valli–Travis Cloer! Here’s a sneak peek: Q: So what was it like the first time you played Frankie on stage? A: The first time I did it in New York, that’s where I did it the first time was in New York, I really [...]

  • J. Robert Spencer to Appear on ‘Law & Order SVU’ TONIGHT!

    Administrator
    17 Nov 2009 | 9:30 pm
    THIS JUST IN: J. Robert Spencer will be appearing TONIGHT, 11/18/09 on LAW AND ORDER S.V.U.! He will be in scenes with Ice T and closing the show with Chris Meloni and Mariska Hargitay. The show airs at 9:00 PM EST. Check local listings for times.
 
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    Parabasis

  • Travel Day

    isaac butler
    20 Nov 2009 | 9:25 am
    I'm off to Richmond Virginia today to go to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and attend the reopening of the Lewis galleries. No posting for me today, sorry!

  • The Shuberts Expand Their Power

    isaac butler
    19 Nov 2009 | 9:12 am
    I was a little surprised to read Patrick Healy's solely-positive coverage of the Shuberts continuing to expand their Broadway monopoly that appeared in today's Times. Given that roughly 50% of commerical theatre folk hate the Shubert Org with the passion of a nova, I don't understand why the article contains not one singly negative comment about their new arrangement with Frederick Zollo and Robert Wankel which, as this photo indicates is pretty much the definition of Shady Backroom Deal.  So now the Schuberts get to control the ticketing, the venue and get to give shows…

  • Places to Take My Kids On Vacation In The Future When They Exist

    isaac butler
    19 Nov 2009 | 8:46 am
    Oxford's proposed Museum of Storytelling! Hells to the yeah!: From Lewis Carroll's Wonderland to JRR Tolkien's Middle-earth, CS Lewis's Narnia and the parallel universes of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, Oxford has played host to some of the UK's most enduring literary creations. Now a £2.5m donation from an anonymous private benefactor means the first steps have been taken towards the creation of a museum dedicated to storytelling in the city. The Story Museum has existed online for the past four years, holding events across Oxfordshire and running storytelling…

  • Don't Ask, Don't Give

    isaac butler
    19 Nov 2009 | 8:20 am
    I am joining Josh and a bunch of other hardened progressives in taking the Don't Ask, Don't Give Pledge. You can do it here, if you are so inclined. What's the Don't Ask, Don't Give pledge?  It's simple...:I pledge not to donate to the Democratic National Committee, Organizing for America, or the Obama campaign until Congress passes, and the president signs, legislation enacting the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT), and repealing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).It's important to note that the pledge…

  • An Additional Thought on the Director's Hand

    isaac butler
    19 Nov 2009 | 7:10 am
    A thought exercise I find helpful for spotting the director's impact on a show goes something like this:(1) Assume the script is good and "works". Think through the production you've just seen.(2) Assume the same script is bad and "doesn't work" Re-think through the produciton you've just seen.I've found this really helpful for training my eye and mind to see a director every when they're trying to be invisible. This is particularly true when it comes to the tone of a production. 
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    theatre notes

  • Review: Africa

    Alison Croggon
    19 Nov 2009 | 1:06 pm
    I’ve often pondered the astounding ability of puppets to generate intense emotional responses. How is it possible that we can identify so fiercely with an overtly unrealistic object made of sticks and paper?The power of animation plumbs our imaginative humanity. It's a simple and crude device that every child exploits in play, but it enacts a totemic magic, an ancient ability to invest an object

  • Women in theatre: the Philip Parons Memorial Lecture

    Alison Croggon
    18 Nov 2009 | 9:41 pm
    Keen theatrenauts will have no problem calling to mind the on-going debate over the place of women in Australian theatre. Sparked by a season launch at Company B Belvoir St that overshadowed Neil Armfield's farewell season by fielding one woman among a brace of male directors, the debate has widened to a discussion about gender equity in the key creative roles in all Australia's main stage

  • The Native Returns

    Alison Croggon
    15 Nov 2009 | 11:59 am
    Yes, faithful readers: your truant blogger has returned from the fleshpots of the northern hemisphere, having bounced around England and Ireland and Scotland like a crazed blowfly in a bottle. I had a marvellous time, I met a lot of charming people and I read poetry at many of them. And I saw a lot of rain, with water falling promiscuously off mountains and chuckling in brooks and rivers and

  • Packing

    Alison Croggon
    9 Oct 2009 | 1:07 pm
    Tickets, check. Passport, check. Itinerary, check. iPhone A-Z, check. Ms TN is a traveler who likes to know where her towel is, and most particularly wants maps, even if she has a record of holding them upside down and striding optimistically in exactly the wrong direction. (I'm hoping the GPS thing on the iPhone will make this less likely.) But at last I'm feeling more or less prepared.As some

  • Fringe: A Black Joy, Yuri Wells, In the Absence of Sunlight

    Alison Croggon
    6 Oct 2009 | 11:10 pm
    In the interests of organisation, Ms TN has been tidying her desk. This bland, anodyne phrase cannot begin to comprehend the dimensions of the task. It's like the fifth labour of Hercules (Augean Stables, Cleaning Of), only instead of incontinent cows, I have constant incoming drifts of press releases, programs, drafts, invoices, notebooks, permission requests, bills, receipts, postcards, lists,
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    The Theater Loop

  • 'Christmas Schooner' cruises to Indiana, where the dock is anything but dry

    leisureblogs
    20 Nov 2009 | 2:13 pm
    THEATER REVIEW: "The Christmas Schooner" ★★★ Through Dec. 20 at Theatre at the Center, 1040 Ridge Road, Munster; Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes; Tickets: : $36-$40 at 219-836-3255 and www.theatreatthecenter.com In Northwest Indiana, they claim bragging rights to “A...

  • 'South Pacific' was sublime in New York. But how will it travel to the Rosemont Theatre?

    leisureblogs
    20 Nov 2009 | 9:14 am
    The revival of “South Pacific,” above, seemed perfectly suited to Lincoln Center. Read Chris Jones' review from April 2008. At the top of Bartlett Sher’s jaw-dropping 2008 Lincoln Center revival of “South Pacific,” the orchestra pit is covered by a...

  • Holiday Guide 2009: Laughter, heart, little feuds

    leisureblogs
    19 Nov 2009 | 2:57 pm
    With dueling radio-style productions of “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and the Goodman’s Theatre’s long-lived production of “A Christmas Carol” now fighting with a star-encrusted newcomer slated for the Civic Opera House, you might wonder why they call this the season...

  • 'Billy Elliot' Chicago tickets go on sale

    leisureblogs
    19 Nov 2009 | 12:50 pm
    The three young actors who will play Billy in Chicago are Tommy Batchelor, Giuseppe Bausilio and Cesar Corrales. Tickets to the Chicago production of "Billy Elliot the Musical" go on public sale Friday (you can buy them now if you...

  • Baayork Lee to direct 'Flower Drum Song' in Chicago next summer

    leisureblogs
    18 Nov 2009 | 1:57 pm
    According to a notice posted by the Center for Asian Arts and Media at Columbia College, plans are afoot for the noted Broadway director/choreographer Baayork Lee to helm a major new production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "Flower Drum...
 
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    The SF Bay Area Theatre Blog

  • Review: Tommy at the Ray of Light Theatre

    ElisaC
    24 Oct 2009 | 10:16 am
    The review is posted over at my personal blog.Have you seen it?Did you see the Broadway production? (I did, and I confess I didn't really get the Michael Cerveris brouhaha!)Do you have fond memories of the Ken Russell movie? (I do, and looking back I'm shocked that my parents let me see that movie as an 11-year old!) You know you've seen the movie if your first thought about "Tommy" has something to do with baked beans, right?Check the Ray of Light web site for more info on buying tickets. The show plays through november 7th.

  • Review: Schoolhouse Rocks Live at the Retro Dome

    ElisaC
    4 Oct 2009 | 9:12 am
    They've extended Schoolhouse Rocks Live at the Retro Dome for another week, so my review can still have some meaning!Two sentence review if you're too lazy to click: Nostalgic for grown-ups like me, while apparently still entertaining and effective for the many kids in the audience. Definition of family entertainment right there.

  • See Call Me Madam at the Moon. Order online and get $10 off per ticket!

    ElisaC
    22 Sep 2009 | 7:47 am
    I sit on the board of local theatre company, 42nd Street Moon. They focus on doing musicals that are off the beaten path...lost, need restoration, rarely produced, unusual, vintage, you get the idea.Their season opener is Irving Berlin's Call Me Madam, and it stars well-known Ethel Merman devotee Klea Blackhurst. I've seen Klea in other shows there, and I have to say I think her voice is clearer and cleaner than Merman's! I've never seen Call Me Madam, so I'm really looking forward to it. Anyway, you can save $10/ticket if you order online, PLUS they are not charging service fees for online…

  • Guess what I'm seeing this weekend: Schoolhouse Rocks Live!

    ElisaC
    16 Sep 2009 | 10:07 am
    I know I'm not the only person who can recite the entire preamble of the Constitution of the United States of America because of Schoolhouse Rocks. Or, who knows the function of a conjunction. Ot where to get my adverbs. I've got the entire CD box se, if you must know.So, of course I was intrigued when my friends at Guggenheim Entertainment sent me info on what they're up to.First of all, they've taken over the old Century 25 movie theatre space at Westgate in West San Jose (only a few miles from my house actually.) They've christened it The Retro Dome.They will keep it split into two theatre…

  • Tommy, can you hear me?

    ElisaC
    14 Sep 2009 | 5:58 pm
    Looking back now I'm shocked that my parents let me see the movie Tommy. I was 11 when it came out. And there are drug references. And molestation references. And Ann-Margaret rolling around in baked beans. Seriously, did they not care about warping me at all? Not only did I see the movie, but I bought the soundtrack and listened to it non-stop. That and the Star Wars soundtrack were in constant rotation, and since I saw each movie multiple times, I could picture the movies go by in my head as I listened.What a geek, eh?35 years later, and 40 years after the album was first performed at…
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    Penny Plain, Twopence Colored

  • Corsian Brothers DVD is Released!

    Trish
    16 Nov 2009 | 3:53 pm
    The Corsican Brothers DVD is now out and available on EBay! Rejoice all toy theatre fans (especially those of us who have never seen a live performance and are starved for any kind of recording of one...well, this isn't exactly 'live', but it's the next best thing in my humble opinion.)Nigel Peevers is the genius behind this production. Nigel is one talented fellow, who is an actor among other talents. Where he finds the time to do all this, I'll never know, but we are the beneficiaries of his toil. Bless you, Nigel...

  • Toy Theatre Collection

    Trish
    22 Oct 2009 | 2:00 am
    Arthur Weyhe Toy Theatre Collection -

  • NEW Dramatis Personae Catalogue!

    Trish
    21 Oct 2009 | 7:29 pm
    There is a new Dramatis Personae catalogue out as of today. As per usual, the Dramatis Personae Booksellers have truly outdone themselves. I don't know what their secret is, but they are able to collect the most astounding array of Theatre/Entertainment ephemera I have ever seen, and present them to the world at large to buy and enjoy. I highly recommend you check them out!

  • Out of the Shadows: Janaki Ranpura

    Trish
    14 Oct 2009 | 1:13 pm
    An amazing performer, check out this website about puppeteer Janaki Ranpura...

  • Little Blue Moon Theatre

    Trish
    9 Oct 2009 | 4:22 pm
    I was doing an internet search for my friends, George and Ann Neff, and came across your blog on toy theatre, then followed to your Victorian Sex Machine blog. It seemed like you might be interested in our work, which kind of combines both (in some way.) We do erotic toy theatre. Our company, Little Blue Moon Theatre, began in an aphrodisiac factory 6 or so years ago. I have found that the static nature of toy theatre figures make them perfect candidates for bondage, something I didn't realize until a friend pointed out that most of our shows involve bondage...I realized that they don't move…
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    one playwright. one blog.

  • The Opera, Drama and Comedy of Democracy

    nat
    18 Nov 2009 | 7:57 am
    We’re getting ready for a fantastic event this coming Sunday – we’re offering audiences a fun way to explore our current production Democracy through the spectacular Opera version … This is a free event, and it’ll be a lot of fun – don’t miss it! Scott Wheeler (Composer of Democracy: An American Comedy) will join actors from Eclipse Theatre Company and singers from VOX 3 Collective to explore the stage and opera versions of Romulus Linney’s story. This unique event will include performed scenes from Eclipse’s production of Democracy and…

  • Watch a scene from Democracy

    nat
    16 Nov 2009 | 9:48 am
    From our current production of Democracy, which opened last night, Baron Jacobi (Larry Baldacci) has an old-fashioned plan to stop Madeleine Lee (Rebecca Prescott) from marrying the ambitious Senator Silas Raitcliffe in the scene below from The Stage Channel: more about “Watch a scene from Democracy“, posted with vodpod  

  • Dramaturgical research for Democracy

    nat
    16 Oct 2009 | 9:58 am
    In the opening scene of Democracy, Baron Jacobi introduces us to the characters in the play. As President Grant and his wife Julia walk by, Jacobi notes her crossed eyes and explains:  When they came to the White House, she wanted an operation. The President said no! He could not bear his great burden without the cross-eyed girl he had loved all these years. I was thinking about this line as I was setting up the links on the Democracy Dramaturgy page – included in the research prepared by Sarah Moeller and Katie Vandehey, co-dramaturgs on the production, is a comprehensive biography of…

  • First photo from Democracy

    nat
    16 Oct 2009 | 7:15 am
    I’ll be back for the regular Friday rescue later in the day – first I wanted to share this beautiful photo of Senator Raitcliffe (Jon Steinhagen) courting Madeline Lee (Rebecca Prescott) in Romulus Linney’s Democracy:

  • Friday photo rescue

    nat
    2 Oct 2009 | 1:24 pm
    Another Part of the Forest, from the 2000 Lillian Hellman season.
 
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    McCarter Theatre

  • From Story to Stage

    Adam Immerwahr
    19 Nov 2009 | 8:37 am
    Last year, we sat down with David Thompson (who wrote the adaptation of A Christmas Carol that McCarter has been using) to discuss the play and how he adapted Dickens’ novella into what has become a favorite holiday-season entertainment throughout the entire region. Does it feel like it’s too early for us to be talking about A Christmas Carol?  In most places, the holiday season doesn’t start until after Thanksgiving.  Right?  But here at McCarter, we started rehearsals for A Christmas Carol in early November.  So in one half of our building, it feels like Christmas Eve…

  • How To: Light a Fire in a Crowded Theater

    Adam Immerwahr
    16 Oct 2009 | 12:27 pm
    Okay, not really.  Lighting a fire in a crowded theater would be dangerous.  Theaters are flammable.  So are crowds.  The whole thing would be a disaster. Paxton Whitehead and Jon Patrick Walker in She Stoops to ConquerPhoto by T. Charles Erickson. So what do you do when the designer (the illustrious David Korins) designs a set that features a big old fireplace in a big old country mansion?  Okay, the best thing to do is to build a propane fire.  Propane fires tend to get hot and burn down sets, so you should make sure you build your set out of fireproof materials-things like concrete…

  • Audience Response: She Stoops to Conquer

    Adam Immerwahr
    16 Oct 2009 | 10:03 am
    Kristine Nielsen, Brooks Ashmanskas and Rebecca Brooksher in She Stoops to Conquer Photo by T. Charles Erickson. Have you seen She Stoops to Conquer?  What did you think?  Did you think it was the bee’s knees?  Do you agree with the newspaper reviews, or disagree? Favorite parts of the show? Things that weren’t to your taste?  Did you see the production in 1963? Post an “audience response” or read what other people are saying by clicking on the “comments” link below. We can’t wait to hear what you think! Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

  • Having Our Say: Live at the Library

    Adam Immerwahr
    23 Sep 2009 | 8:20 am
    Actresses Yvette Freeman and Lizan Mitchell recently joined Emily Mann for a Live at the Library event at the Princeton Public Library, talking about Having Our Say, the Delany sisters, and the process of adapting Bessie and Sadie Delany’s book into a work for the stage. You can scroll between the 14 videos by clicking on the arrows at either side of the viewer. Enjoy! Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre. Videos filmed and edited by Erin Breznitsky.

  • Audience Response: Having Our Say

    Adam Immerwahr
    11 Sep 2009 | 3:58 pm
    Yvette Freeman and Lizan Mitchell in Having Our Say. Photo by T. Charles Erickson. Have you seen Having Our Say?  What did you think?  Did you think it was the bee’s knees?  Do you agree with the newspaper reviews, or disagree? Favorite parts of the show? Things that weren’t to your taste?  Did you see the production in 1995? Post an “audience response” or read what other people are saying by clicking on the “comments” link below. We can’t wait to hear what you think! Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.
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    The Next Stage

  • The Wrecking Ball rolls again

    thenextstage
    15 Nov 2009 | 3:07 pm
    If you were unfortunate enough to miss last year’s inaugural Vancouver Wrecking Ball at the Stanley, ask anyone who was there how awesome it was and then stand back and watch them explode with volcanic enthusiasm. It was a clear and resounding proclamation that a group of impassioned artists joined together can generate serious shock waves. I walked out onto Granville Street feeling a part of something important, part of a movement, and I am thrilled that we’re hosting another one again this year. Titled “Wrecking Ball to Tackle Draconian Cuts to the Arts: Canada’s Leading…

  • NOW! youth sustainability announces National playwriting competition

    thenextstage
    11 Nov 2009 | 12:49 am
    The NOW! Organization was founded in 2006, and it “…bridges people from diverse backgrounds to sculpt innovative, holistic solutions toward social, environmental, and economic sustainability”. And further: “We implement interdisciplinary grassroots programs to creatively inspire, engage, and empower youth, pique ideas and discussions, promote interdisciplinary, holistic thinking and problem solving, and spark action.” So essentially it’s a youth organization on sustainability run entirely by youth volunteers, who last year established a playwriting…

  • PuSh 2010 line-up announced

    thenextstage
    5 Nov 2009 | 3:55 pm
    The Edward Curtis Project Vancouver’s very own PuSh International Performing Arts Festival drops next year on January 20, running to February 6. The official site has just released the shows that will be on display for your consideration and discussion. Here’s a grab bag of copy from the listings section: An enormous scale model of Auschwitz fills the stage, with thousands of tiny handmade puppets representing the prisoners and their executioners. Kamp Clark and I Somewhere in Connecticut is one of the most notorious theatre pieces to come out of Vancouver in recent memory. Clark…

  • Switching baskets: growing a sustainable funding model?

    thenextstage
    1 Nov 2009 | 3:39 pm
    copyright Jackie Connelly Photography A comment just popped up from Jon Stancato, Co-Artistic Director of NYC’s The Stolen Chair Theatre Company, on this recent post about the Open Up and Let Them In concept of Indie Stage, that discusses a recent initiative towards a new funding model that bears examination. I think I love it. There’s an essential point to be made about fixing the busted down model of theatre by looking to functioning models outside of the theatre industry; adapting methods and practices that are actually working instead of spinning the same old wheels. Stolen…

  • …and another Stop the Cuts PSA for your linking pleasure

    thenextstage
    31 Oct 2009 | 10:12 am
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    Theatre is Territory

  • New RM:P3 teaser

    Ian Mackenzie
    28 Oct 2009 | 9:17 am
    Toronto-based web wizards Haley Fiege and Chris Averginos have put together an awesome little teaser for our upcoming show. Please turn on your speakers and check it out here.

  • A cool theatre promo image that never saw the light of day

    Ian Mackenzie
    25 Oct 2009 | 8:18 pm
    Or I guess it did . . . right here. This is a stock image combined with a found image. Ultimately, we rejected it because we felt it sets up expectations around “slasher”, when our piece is more a study of the meat of the brain. Cool image though. The genius of Pete Aspros is behind the retouching.

  • 5 shallow and unfocused thoughts about theatre

    Ian Mackenzie
    28 Aug 2009 | 1:20 pm
    Thanks for stopping by. Sorry for the shortage of posts in the space. Been working on some different theatre and non-theatre projects. How the heck are you? Here’s some theatre stuff I’m thinking about: 1. The imagination gap is caused by the resource gap which is caused by the imagination gap . . . and so on. 2. Where is genre theatre? And by this I mean, where are the broad theatre genre classifications and productions that have meaning for people who don’t know anything about genre. “I can’t wait to see that new ____.” Western? Horror play? Corporeal mime? 3. Actors are noble…

  • Red Machine: Part Two

    Ian Mackenzie
    4 Aug 2009 | 6:37 am
    The second part of The Room’s experiment on the brain premieres at SummerWorks in Toronto. Check it out.

  • Address to the Jury @ Toronto Fringe

    Ian Mackenzie
    7 Jul 2009 | 7:05 pm
    The story behind this Fringe postcard: “Designers are like secret weapons. Tricky to secure in low/no budget theatre but invaluable when they put their minds to it. DMeister Creative has clients like Microsoft, HP and SoftChoice (the same company that through our lead actor offered us free rehearsal space in their board room!). But where do you meet these talented people looking for cool projects to do outside their corporate gigs? DMeister is an ex-boyfriend of a roommate of a friend of mine, of course.” – Cole J. Alvis We advertise your Toronto Fringe show for free: Check it…
 
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    The Playgoer

  • Today's Roundup

    20 Nov 2009 | 8:16 am
    -In today's Times, Ben Brantley goes gaga for Part I of the Horton Foote "Orphan's Home" marathon, and the "Escapes" Travel section of all places discovers that Seattle actually has some theatre!-Did a play ever change your life? Well maybe you can win a prize from the American Theatre Wing for telling them about it in 350 words or less. You have until November 29 to enter their contest.-Remember Paul Simon's "Capeman" musical? Can you believe it may be revived...at the Public?-If you liked yesterday's trailer for the Orson Welles Julius Caesar movie, here's an interview with director Richard…

  • Theatre News Roundup

    19 Nov 2009 | 8:43 am
    -The Shuberts are taking on a bigger creative say in what goes into their 17 Broadway houses, by teaming up with the Steady Rain producers. Call it insurance?-The Voice smartly sends their music guy to go to Fela! and tell us all we need to know about the Nigerian Afrobeat superstar and whether a Broadway musical about him has any chance.-Willem Dafoe tries to explain Richard Foreman to the NPR set. (Via Upstaged.)-Also via Upstaged, another interview: Alan Ayckbourn, who gives yet another endorsement to, of all things, the 59E59 theaters! (It’s the sort of theater I recognize and am happy…

  • "The Late Christopher Bean"

    19 Nov 2009 | 6:37 am
    In this week's Time Out I review the seldom revived 1932 Sidney Howard comedy The Late Christopher Bean. Not bad.Happy to discover the play. Should be done more, especially by schools (i.e. a play from the 30s with roles for women!). I'm surprised other reviews haven't pointed out the clear Van Gogh parallel, which must have been the whole point of the original French farce Howard adapted. Any René Fauchois experts out there...?

  • Sayonara Oleanna

    18 Nov 2009 | 10:38 am
    The Broadway Oleanna has posted a January 3 closing notice. Despite a movie-star cast of its own (Julia Styles and Bill Pullman), it has not lived up to Steady Rain standards for star-driven, two-character 90 minute plays. Last week, it did only 65% capacity, barely more than Brighton Beach when that closed. According to Playbill: "As of the January close date, Oleanna will have played 15 previews and 97 performances."Maybe the closing notice is a ploy to boost sales. Personally I blame the ad campaign's tag line for being too prophetic: "Whatever Side You Take, You're Wrong!"Riedel offers…

  • Quote of the Day

    18 Nov 2009 | 6:31 am
    "I've never seen a play."-Lance Armstrong, as quoted in Anna Deavere Smith's Let Me Down Easy
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    nytheatre.com

  • Review: My Wonderful Day

    18 Nov 2009 | 10:01 pm
    Alan Ayckbourn has bent the conventions in a variety of ways in his 72 plays. One takes place in three bedrooms. Another takes place on three consecutive Christmas Eves. A number of them take place concurrently in a variety of locations and are performed either simultaneously or one after the other. Number 73, My Wonderful Day, isn't so much of a convention bender as it is a different look at the world. Specifically, it's a look at a single day from the perspective of a nine-year-old African-Caribbean British girl named Winnie, who has accompanied her pregnant single mother Laverne, a…

  • Review: Peter and the Wolf

    18 Nov 2009 | 10:01 pm
    In the Wings, a company dedicated to producing family-friendly dance productions with live music, brings its version of Peter and the Wolf along with a new untitled prequel to the New Victory. The emphasis in this performance is on the visual, with music one of many design and storytelling elements, rather than the central focus.

  • Review: Agamemnon

    18 Nov 2009 | 10:01 pm
    Extensive program notes from Alexander Harrington, artistic director of The Eleventh Hour Theatre Company, explicate the argument for their current adaptation of Aeschylus's Agamemnon, for which Harrington serves as director and translator. Embracing Aristotle's insistence that tragic dialogue play in iambic trimester, Harrington has crafted a production intended to be severely faithful to Aeschylus's original linguistic intent. Openly acknowledged as "an experiment in what adhering to the meters will yield," this adaptation suffers from a largely unintelligible presentation.

  • Interview: Interview with Chisa Hutchinson about She Like Girls

    18 Nov 2009 | 10:01 pm
    Chisa Hutchinson is a playwright whose plays have been produced by several companies in the NYC area. She has worked extensively with the Lark Play Development Center and has been nominated for several playwriting awards. Chisa is currently completing work on her MFA in the Dramatic Writing Department at NYU/Tisch School of the Arts.

  • Review: Circumcise Me

    17 Nov 2009 | 10:01 pm
    Circumcise Me, the hilarious one-man show written by Yisrael Campbell, charts Campbell's passage from alcohol abuse and a Catholic upbringing to familial salvation and (multiple) religious conversions, Circumcise Me is at once steeped in Jewish culture and laced with Yiddish nuance, yet immediately accessible to even the most goyische of audience members.
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    theatreminima journal

  • Organum

    Of the spirit. The Christian conception of fleshed word as a means of access to spirit (through the bodied god, his sacrifice, rituals such as the eucharist in which flesh is taken into flesh; though Christianity is not alone in this conception, it is among the most recent Western exemplar) finds unique aesthetic equivalence in theatre. Here it is the actor and dramatist who explore these roads to access, as does a musical performer, who allows a musical composition to pass through her body (without the body, even that of the synthesizer operator or the composer in a recording studio,…

  • Organum

    The theatre is my representation. There is no more certain knowledge, once achieved, than this: that the theatre, like the world, is a re-presentation of objects and events that I assemble in my consciousness, and mine alone, for each individual's consciousness is his or her autonomous possession. I witness a theatrical event from my own personal physical perspective, seeing the stage and its arrangements of bodies, objects and events from a unique physical and perceptual vantage point. It is true that I am a body among bodies, placed within a collective audience, but this does not mitigate…

  • Organum

    For Marilyn These works are a series of acts best comprehended in groups or as a continuity. Except as a created revelation, a new experience, they are without value. It is my desire that they be kept in groups as much as possible and remain so. ... So I am in the strange position of seeking an environment for the work and the small means wherein I'll be free to continue the "act." Houston's Rothko Chapel is a small unremarkable building set just off a suburban corner, adjoining a series of plain, low houses and a college campus. Within it, however, is a world entirely itself, as real as the…
 
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    THE BARKSDALE BUZZ

  • ... and things that go bump in the night

    Bruce Miller
    17 Nov 2009 | 5:31 am
    Posted by Bruce MillerTrue story. At least I think it’s true. Sometimes I inadvertently make this stuff up. Someone please help me out if my memories fail to jive with reality.About 30 years ago, right here in River City, an older woman (watch, it will probably turn out that she was in her mid- to late-50s, younger than I am now) died a week or so after falling off the stage into an orchestra

  • The Play That Dare Not Speak Its Name

    Bruce Miller
    14 Nov 2009 | 7:20 pm
    Posted by Bruce MillerThis whole "theatre superstitions" thing is old hat for many of you, I know. But for those who participate in theatre more as a spectator sport, here's a second taboo you may want to consider. For centuries, it has been considered to be in very bad form to say "Macbeth" when you are inside a theatre.According to time-honored tradition, you must not say that name on stage,

  • "Break a Leg!" "Grrrrrrrrrr!!"

    Bruce Miller
    13 Nov 2009 | 5:44 pm
    Posted by Bruce MillerHappy Friday the 13th--a perfect day to think a little about superstitions in the theatre.Over the years, I've heard of 10 to 20 irrational but nonetheless traditional beliefs that seem to have been passed down from one theatre artist to another over the centuries. There are certainly three that are observed with regularity right here in River City. Let's talk about the best

  • Donuts, Delusions and Delights

    Bruce Miller
    10 Nov 2009 | 6:35 am
    Posted by Bruce MillerWilliam Inge is the greatest 20th century playwright of the American Midwest. It’s true that fellow “Great American Playwright” Thornton Wilder was born in the Midwest (Madison, Wisconsin), but Wilder grew up in China and California before settling in New England. His Midwestern influences were few.Inge on the other hand was born in a small town in Kansas and, except for a

  • "Bus Stop" is Barksdale's Next Classic

    Bruce Miller
    8 Nov 2009 | 1:08 pm
    Posted by Bruce MillerLet’s revisit the tantalizing subject of the Greatest American Playwrights as a lead-in to my next post on William Inge, the author of Barksdale’s upcoming Hanover Tavern production of Bus Stop. Anyone’s personal list of great playwrights will be highly subjective, of course. So I’ve compiled a consensus list drawn from about 20 or so other lists I’ve found hither, thither
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    Blurred Clarity

  • Poles Apart: Rehearsals Commencing Soon

    Daniel Hoffmann-Gill
    20 Nov 2009 | 10:15 am
    Well, here we are again, one more weekend at home before popping off to Manchester to rehearse Poles Apart.I've spent most of this week either re-learning my lines (which has come surprisingly easily I am grateful to say), checking over the statistical details of the show (there is always a know-it-all in the audience), or writing new material.Mark and I decided that it would be remiss of us to let the election of two British Nazi Party MEPs pass unmentioned in a show that is about immigration, especially as the BNP are so obsessed with immigration and race and fundamentally, upon close…

  • Internet Laws Part 3: DeMyer's Laws

    Daniel Hoffmann-Gill
    19 Nov 2009 | 6:02 am
    Ken DeMyer is a terrible online hack and his uniquely awful writing style has influenced a whole raft of laws in his name, which are best observed by anyone who doesn't want to come across as a bit of a crank and Internet loon. DeMyer's Laws are as follows...DeMyer's Zeroth Law of Internet Debating states:“If you are Ken DeMyer...or another of Kenneth DeMyer's aliases, the debate will eventually reach a state where you violate one of the internet laws and you are going to lose.”DeMyer's First Law of Internet Debating states:“Anyone who brings Young Earth Creationism into an…

  • Internet Laws Part 2: Cohen's Law

    Daniel Hoffmann-Gill
    18 Nov 2009 | 3:47 am
    WARNING! THIS LAW IS INFINITELY RECURSES AND MAY END UP DESTROYING YOUR MIND!Formulated by Brian Cohen in 2007, Cohen's Law states that:“Whoever resorts to the argument that ‘whoever resorts to the argument that (insert idea here) has automatically lost the debate’ has automatically lost the debate.”Has also been stated in the much longer version:"Whoever resorts to the argument that 'whoever resorts to the argument that... 'whoever resorts to the argument that... 'whoever resorts to the argument that... 'whoever resorts to the argument that ... 'whoever resorts to the argument…

  • Poles Apart Redux

    Daniel Hoffmann-Gill
    16 Nov 2009 | 4:36 am
    As some of you will already know, because I emailed you and you kindly publicised it on your blogs and websites, Poles Apart is being brought out of retirement after it's sell-out tour of the UK at the beginning of this year.For an insight into the show from Blurred Clarity itself, check out this raft of posts that cover the last time we toured, the devising/rehearsal process and when the idea first popped up and our time in Poland.And just in case you don't know, last year, sick and tired of the endless dirge of bigotry, lies and anti-Polish sentiment coming from the right-wing press, me and…

  • Bible Study: Modernity Doesn't get it

    Daniel Hoffmann-Gill
    15 Nov 2009 | 9:32 am
    I know it has been a rather sporadic series of posts but today marks the final Bible Study post, the others can be found, in order of tracking the history of the Bible, at these places: And in the Beginning..., NewTestament, Humans Are Too Stupid and A Very Confusing Book Indeed.The current modern Biblical malaise stems from a desire for certainty, as if to combat scientific certainty (which in itself is not totally certain) and to a degree, this has bred the modern, defensive Christian, who feels under siege from science and indeed modernity and has entrenched themselves in the warm comfort…
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    On Stage Lighting

  • Light Reflection and the Angle Of Incidence

    Rob Sayer
    26 Oct 2009 | 11:19 am
    The title sounds like an action movie but we are looking at some lighting theory of reflection, the angle of incidence and interaction of light with different surfaces. Plus the comforting constancy of physics and being able to predict what happens to a stage lighting beam once you’ve let it fly. Last week, a Project Manager sent me an email asking for my thoughts on forthcoming plans to use white PVC covered flats to back an award show, rather than using their usual finish material of felt. The question was specifically asking about successfully uplighting the shiny PVC from the floor…

  • Stage Lighting Terms – A Guide to Lampie Slang

    Rob Sayer
    21 Oct 2009 | 11:55 am
    On Stage Lighting presents an essential guide to stage lighting jargon and UK lampie slang for anyone who needs to understand what these weirdos are talking about or needs to blag it as a member the LX department. Every so often, lighting technicians have to talk to people in the real world (or lesser mortals like sound engineers). It soon becomes apparent that, as in every corner of life, there is a certain amount jargon. Lighting terms, slang and other gobbledygook that techies use when communicating with each other, to the exclusion of the outside world. While a full glossary of stage…

  • Live Lighting

    Rob Sayer
    14 Oct 2009 | 12:30 pm
    Live lighting is making more appearances in an increasing range of performances and show types. Put the edge back in your lighting design with the fear of uncertainty. Before tiny electronic lighting controls and predictable fade times, the theatre world relied on the physicality of men in coats pulling levers, twiddling dials and a direct connection between them and the light seen on stage. The reason that early modern lighting consoles looked suspiciously like they were based on a pipe organ, was that the real time connection of an lighting technician and his lights was highly regarded.

  • Fixture Personality Files and Lighting Control

    Rob Sayer
    6 Oct 2009 | 12:08 pm
    This rough guide looks at the different functions of fixture personality files, trends in complex lighting control interfaces and asks “When is standardisation going to replace fragmentation in the world of stage lighting control?” Fixture Personality Basics Intelligent lighting equipment that requires multiple parameters of control has a model specific map of how those functions are controlled. If a fixture requires 30 channels of control, perhaps the first channel is mapped to Intensity with Pan Coarse on channel 3. The other 28 channels all have their own functions including colours,…

  • Pan & Tilt Invert – Why Life Is Sometimes Better Back To Front

    Rob Sayer
    29 Sep 2009 | 12:25 pm
    This week we look at attribute inversions in intelligent lighting control, the use of Pan or Tilt Invert in particular. So what is attribute inversion, why would a console programmer use it and when is an invert most useful? On Stage Lighting turns your world upside down. What is attribute inversion? If you have some understanding of intelligent lighting, you might know that the word “attributes” refers to distinct fixture parameters such as Intensity, Pan, Tilt, Gobo Wheel 1 etc. Each attribute channel is controlled by a value between 0 and 255, in the case of Intensity 0 being 0% dimmer…
 
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    'kül

  • Wolves at the Window

    17 Nov 2009 | 3:05 pm
    The problem with Toby Davies's Wolves at the Window (And Other Tales of Immorality) is that there are never any wolves at the window. Perhaps in the early 1900s, when Hector Hugh Munro (more familiarly known as Saki) wrote these trick short stories, they were surprising, the type of novel brave Dahl-ish children might delight in reading under their covers. (For instance, in "The Storyteller," two children who are tired of hearing morality tales, hear a new tale, in which a young girl is savaged by her own goodness.) But in this stage adaptation of ten Saki stories, that nervous delight is…

  • Or,

    12 Nov 2009 | 3:56 pm
    Liz Duffy Adams's newest play is called Or,, which makes it pretty clear that her historical farce has no intentions of wasting time with ifs, ands, or buts. (Well, perhaps a few butts.) The title--of which the comma is a part--is meant to shed some light on our innate dualities, and to that end, Aphra Behn--a bisexual spy-turned-playwright who may or may not have faked her widowhood in order to gain personal freedom--is an apt choice. Likewise, it's a smart choice to cast Maggie Siff in the role, a versatile actor (from Mad Men and Sons of Anarchy) with the ability to play a stern woman in a…

  • The Lesser Seductions of History

    11 Nov 2009 | 3:38 pm
    Photos/Tyler G. Hicks-WrightDespite being flush with the rich history and presence of the times-they-are-a-changin' 60s, August Schulenburg's The Lesser Seductions of History is, wisely, not a political play. After all, as he points out, "Politics is like music for people who have no rhythm," and boy, does that Schulenburg have rhythm. There's a thick heartbeat of communal purpose--he wrote this play for his company, Flux--, a steady patter of lyrical oratory (think Martin Luther King Jr.)--which is well matched by Heather Cohn's simple (yet complicated) direction, and a healthy dose of wit,…

  • What Once We Felt

    9 Nov 2009 | 3:59 pm
    Ann Marie Healy fills her latest play, What Once We Felt, with a lot of vague gestures, as characters allow themselves to regurgitate what others have said—talking, in other words, without saying anything. But there is nothing vague about Healy’s terrific plot, which like the best dramatic science-fiction passes on a specific allegory to the here and now. In this world, all the men are gone—redundancies, perhaps—and government has been replaced by the totalitarian RSS, which shows the danger of putting “more faith into algorithms than Aristotle.” Of the women left, they have been…

  • Red Sea Fish

    8 Nov 2009 | 3:17 pm
    Photo/Ali TollerveyImagination is great, but it can’t be the only thing you’ve got. Matt Wilkinson’s play, Red Sea Fish, should be alive with all the colorful British idioms, language, and dreaming characters, but instead, it feels sluggishly adrift as it overly describing the relationship between Ray (Tim Blissett) and his caretaking son, Terry (Matthew Houghton). Those far-too-cerebral fish, which are the only thing Terry is able to imagine, end up more dead than red, which leaves Wilkinson and co-director Franklyn McCabe overcompensating with lyrically choreographed scene…
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    Theater Talk's New Theater Corps

  • The Traveling Players

    26 Oct 2009 | 3:29 pm
    The opening show of La Mama's 48th season, a play-within-a-play modern adaptation of Euripides' The Trojan Women by puppet savant Theodora Skipitares, makes for a visually impressive, if uneven, production. Reviewed by Ryan MaxOne by one, four enormous, gorgeous puppets rumble onto the stage. As each emerges at intervals throughout they play, she delivers a monologue detailing cruelties she has

  • 23 Coins

    14 Oct 2009 | 7:16 am
    23 Coins is a provocative and intense play about the lies blind faith allows - but the fire and brimstone themes are no easy fit for the cheery song and dance structure. Come with an open-mind, and be prepared to leave unsettled. Just don't expect to be humming any tunes on your way out.Isaac Thigpen (played by Oliver Conant) and Gin Walker (played by Rebecca Lee Lerman) practice what they’ll

  • My Illustrious Wasteland

    9 Oct 2009 | 8:56 pm
    My Illustrious Wasteland, by Tod Kimbo, is a fantastical, thrilling escape into the future. It’s science fiction, political satire, social commentary, and more, set to full-throttle rock music. Reviewed by Amanda HalkiotisTod Kimbo’s My Illustrious Wasteland welcomes us to an America only a few light years off, one where Hollywood is the new capital and the Democratic Party is a dictatorship.

  • Luck

    5 Oct 2009 | 5:05 am
    Megan Riordan’s autobiographical one-woman show Luck is us a dizzying glimpse of the life of a professional blackjack player’s daughter. Using nicknames, code words, and complex mathematics, along with the occasionally sobering monologue, Riordan gives the audience the one thing that Vegas can’t: a sure thing.Reviewed by Amanda HalkiotisAs the daughter of a professional gambler and raised in Las

  • Frederick Douglass Now

    25 Sep 2009 | 2:42 pm
    Roger Guenveur Smith’s new play Frederick Douglass Now modernizes the slave-turned-activist’s letters and journals and adapts them for the stage. Using mixed media and passionate, rhythmic speech patterns, Smith targets many still-relevant social issues surrounding race and democracy. Smith’s ambitious, if not heavy handed, use of other additional traits linked to African America culture and
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    Photoplayer Hater

  • Actors Who Made Their Own Movies

    Ashlley Elias
    27 Oct 2009 | 5:45 am
    Actors often fall into the trap of waiting for someone to make opportunities for them. The prevailing wisdom is that auditioning is the best way to get acting parts. Not only are some actors not built for the constant rejection that is inherent in auditions, many overlook other talents that could serve their acting career well with just a little push. Audition advice is readily available and stories of actors being "discovered" are plentiful, less talked about and encouraged is doing what these actors have done; made their own film. Image by Your Good Buddy Billy Bob Thorton Rather than…

  • Actor Considerations For Acting In Nude Scenes

    Ashlley Elias
    31 Jul 2009 | 11:22 am
    Sometime in most actors career (women particularly) they will be confronted with a role that includes nudity. In a theatre production being naked on-stage might be a little frightening the first time but once you do it three times a week it gets old and once you put your clothes back on it is over. Theatre rehearsals are often extensive and along the way the cast becomes a family, which eases any anguish over baring your body. Image by Room With A View Film productions often come together quickly and disband as fast, making it so you are baring yourself to virtual strangers. On screen nudity…

  • Why Actors Do Not Produce Projects Online

    Ashlley Elias
    29 Apr 2009 | 3:24 pm
    Actors have been trained to wait for opportunities to come to them and be grateful for whatever they can get. Instead of being part of a team that puts together a project, most actors simply audition and wait for a phone call. It might seem that it is the only way to reaching acting success, but history and the actions of certain current actors shows that success does not just come from showing up and hoping someone likes you. The original Greek playwrights were also the ones who acted out their plays. The most successful Hollywood actors also take an active role in producing the films they…

  • Actor Excitement In Acting Performance

    Ashlley Elias
    26 Mar 2009 | 6:58 am
    Actors come to the craft from many different backgrounds and for many different reasons. Although acting is entertainment from the audience perspective, many actors do not become actors just to entertain others- more often than not it is the side benefits that keep them going. Not only do actors get different things from acting, they can reap these benefits in different areas and times of the acting process. These benefits generally consist of some sort of fun. Image by gilowe [bryan lowe] Acting breaks down into at least three parts: preparation, performance, response. Preparation and…

  • How To Act Drunk Credibly Tips

    Ashlley Elias
    23 Feb 2009 | 5:43 am
    Certain actors fall easily into caricature. Instead of analyzing what real people actually do, they just copy what they have seen on TV or a stereotype in their head. Actors that strive for realism need move beyond cliches and tired ideas. Actors that really want to bring a life-like quality to their work need to look deeper than surfaces and vague memories. It is easy for most actors to play awake and alert since that is how we are most of the time. The trouble is with those other states that we are so rarely in that we do not easily get a very good sense of what they are really like. We are…
 
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    The Theatrefolk Weblog

  • It’s Freebie Friday!

    Craig Mason
    20 Nov 2009 | 5:00 am
    Welcome to another Freebie Friday! (see here for other Freebie Friday posts.) This week we have two duet (two person) scenes suitable for teenagers, taken from (our) published plays. You’re free to copy and share these pieces as long as they are distributed in their entirety. You’re also welcome to perform them without royalty for auditions, classwork, and competitions such as Thespian IEs. Click on each image to download a printable/copyable/shareable PDF of each scene. Enjoy! Come back next week for two more free duet (two person) scenes. Special Super-Duper Bonus… I…

  • Chuga Chuga: November 17, 18

    Lindsay Price
    19 Nov 2009 | 6:00 am
    Tuesday November 17 and Wednesday November 18th Both days have been like a train, my friends.  A speeding train, pushing onward on the same track, heading in the same direction, doing the same thing.  Might as well write about two days as one since EXACTLY the same thing happened on both Tuesday and Wednesday. Why repeat myself? I’m not sure I have time to repeat myself. Well, it hasn’t been EXACTLY the same kind of work. Not the EXACT same words. But it was in the same ballpark of work. Re-writes on the ten minute plays for two women. Chuga chuga chuga chuga -  Woot woot! Work…

  • Safety Belongs in Never-Never Land Too!

    Craig Mason
    18 Nov 2009 | 6:00 am
    If you’re involved with high school or middle school theatre, you really should be following the Backstage Jobs Blog. It’s a wonderful resource for all things technical and behind-the-scenes in the world of theatre. They recently linked to a video from an absolutely disastrous production of Peter Pan in which set pieces easily crash to the ground and the crew flies the wrong actor: (click here if you can’t see the video) I’ll direct you to the original post for a very detailed examination of the myriad of things that went wrong with this stunt. But I also want to weigh…

  • Get ‘er done

    Lindsay Price
    17 Nov 2009 | 5:00 am
    Sunday November 15, Monday November 16. The re-writes have begun. Who are the characters? What is the conflict? Hmm, change that name, it doesn’t  fit. How old are those sisters? On and on. I print everything off and then literally crawl and scrawl over the pages. Sometimes, it looks a little…..crazy huh? Ok, maybe a lot crazy. But the work is really going well. Three scenes have bloomed right open. I can see them being performed. I can hear the characters speaking. Write on, friends. Write on.

  • Spread the Love: The Haunting of Chip Lake Lodge by J. Robert Wilkins

    Craig Mason
    16 Nov 2009 | 5:00 am
    This week on Spread the Love we talk about The Haunting of Chip Lake Lodge by J. Robert Wilkins. Filmed live on location near a remote lodge. Click here if you can’t see the video. Transcript Welcome to this week’s Spread the Love. We are at the Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville, Ontario for the CODE conference (The Council of Ontario Drama and Dance Educators). We’re at a lodge, so let’s talk about a play that’s got a lodge. This is The Haunting of Chip Lake Lodge by J. Robert Wilkins. Four teenagers show up at Chip Lake Lodge. They are expecting a prom that they…
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    London Theatre Blog

  • Mischa Twitchin on the history of SHUNT and their new show Money

    Andrew Eglinton
    3 Nov 2009 | 4:53 am
    For the past decade the 10 core members of the Shunt Collective, working closely with associate artists and an expanding network of collaborators from the Lounge Project, have pioneered large-scale, shared theatre experiences in a series of uniquely crafted environments. Their latest creation, Money, partly inspired by Emile Zola’s novel of the same name, involves a Victorian-era machine, a behemoth whose innards house satirical tales of economic risk, rivalry and greed. The company’s ten-year story has not been without difficulty or probing from its critics, but as Shunt prepares…

  • A Practical Guide to Theatre and the Web: Introducing Social Media

    Sinead Mac Manus
    31 Oct 2009 | 7:26 am
    In this next instalment of hands-on articles, creative business consultant, Sinead Mac Manus, jumps into the world of social media and social networking and provides an overview of its benefits and pitfalls. In the coming weeks, she will address specific apps and platforms, starting next week with the world of blogging. What is Social Media? As we discovered in the first article in this series, social media can be defined as the sum of online tools that facilitate communication and multimedia content sharing. When used effectively, social media can help market your work, raise your profile…

  • Alan Lane on Slung Low and They Only Come Out at Night

    Mika Eglinton
    27 Oct 2009 | 8:27 am
    Alan Lane is the artistic director of the Leeds-based company Slung Low, currently performing They Only Come Out at Night: Visions in the Barbican Theatre’s car park. The company is formed of 7 artists from a wide range of disciplines including prose, movement, video, sound and theatre. In this interview, theatre crtic and academic, Mika Eglinton, talks to Alan Lane about aspects of the company’s history, artistic practice and the conceptual background to this current cycle of work. Mika Eglinton: You performed Resurrection in Bradford earlier this year and you’ve just opened…

  • Alison’s House

    Stephe Harrop
    11 Oct 2009 | 2:11 am
    Alison’s House by Susan Glaspell is set on the very last day of the nineteenth century. A rambling house that was once home to a celebrated poetess is on the point of being broken up and sold. Her surviving family pick their way through the debris, clutching ambiguous relics, concealing the evidence of old scandals. Caught between private memory and public mythology, they retell and repress their various versions of Alison’s life. Then the appearance of a young journalist with literary aspirations re-ignites the smouldering feud between old-fashioned decorum and the encroaching claims of…

  • Found in the Ground

    Stephe Harrop
    5 Oct 2009 | 2:55 am
    So. There’s a Nuremberg judge burning his library of unread books, while his daughter copulates obsessively with the dying. A faceless, bare-breasted woman stalks across the stage, groaning ‘I am all the Anne Franks’ to the point of absurdity, then tedium. Three mechanical dogs trundle awkwardly about, howling unpersuasively and cluttering up the space. And a sinister chorus line of uniformed nurses march, smirk, titter, and bare their backsides in mindless unison. Howard Barker’s Found in the Ground is suffused with the furious lassitude which follows the discovery that rote piety is…
 
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    Groundling

  • Poll Results: Do you read reviews of your work? (PS why would you bother?)

    Admin
    16 Nov 2009 | 3:20 pm
    We left this poll open for a couple of weeks, and the results are in. Seems as though most artists and creatives do read reviews and criticism of their current shows.  Only 10% claimed to wait till after the show was finished.  Not one respondent was bold enough to ignore the reviews.  Shame really, as many are not worth reading, especially those that (for starters) get the facts wrong and are penned by those whose halting syntax and lack of theatre nous (rather than the subject of their criticism) are what take centre stage. We created an ‘Other’ category for people to add…

  • This Week in Queensland Theatre: 16-22 November

    Admin
    15 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm
    Image by Dramagirl via Flickr For session dates and times check company websites. Click on the logo on Greenroom’s homepage to access. Continuing Toy Symphony by Michael Gow. Queensland Theatre Company, Cremorne Theatre QPAC The Shining Path. JUTE, Cairns. Red Sanctuary. !Metro Arts, Brisbane. (closes Saturday)

  • This Week in Queensland Theatre: Nov 9-15

    Admin
    8 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm
    Image by Dramagirl via Flickr For session dates and times check company websites. Click on the logo on Greenroom’s homepage to access. Continuing: The Crucible:Queensland Theatre Company – Playhouse QPAC Opening: Toy Symphony: Queensland Theatre Company – Cremorne Theatre QPAC Urinetown: Harvest Rain Theatre Company – Roundhouse Theatre 2High Festival: Backbone Youth Arts – Brisbane Powerhouse The Shining Path: JUTE – Cairns The Crown v Killer Quay: Music Centre North Queensland – Townsville Launch: Empire Theatres – Toowoomba: Season 2010 Other: 2010…
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    The Sill

  • Judy Gold Uncensored & Uncut at Circumcise Me - Tonight!

    19 Nov 2009 | 11:44 am
    Ars Nova veteran Judy Gold joins Yisrael Campbell for the "FINAL CUT" talkback at tomorrow's performance of CIRCUMCISE ME. Friends of Ars Nova can score $36 tix (Reg. $65) using the code CMMARKET at broadwayoffers.com. Full details about CIRCUMCISE ME (now playing at Bleecker Street Theater) can be found below. Written and Performed by: Yisrael Campbell Directed by: Sam Gold LIMITED ENGAGEMENT THROUGH JAN. 3 "Yisrael campell is the FUNNIEST Roman Catholic Orthodox Jewish comedian in the world. HURRY AND SEE HIM before he becomes a Buddhist!" -Stephen Colbert "...an EXTRAORDINARY spiritual,…

  • A Special Offer From Ars Nova Veterans!

    2 Nov 2009 | 10:53 am
    Congratulations to Ars Nova's Play Group member Annie Baker and Jollyship the Whiz-bang director Sam Gold on their hit new play, Circle Mirror Transformation, now playing at Playwrights Horizons. The show has received raves across the board and has now extended to November 15th. Friends of Ars Nova can purchase $35 tickets (regularly $50) with discount code CMGR by CLICKING HERE or by calling 212-279-4200 (Noon-8pm daily). Also, stay tuned for exciting news about the upcoming Play Group production at Ars Nova, featuring short works by Annie Baker, Bekah Brunstetter, Dylan Dawson, Kristoffer…

  • Spend a Night on Outré Island!

    29 Sep 2009 | 1:09 pm

  • Ars Nova Offers Former Tony Voters Off-Off Broadway Consolation Package

    23 Jul 2009 | 10:25 am
    New York, NY--In an effort to provide comfort to the theater critics and journalists no longer eligible to cast their ballots for the Tony's, Ars Nova (Jason Eagan, Artistic Director; Jon Steingart and Jenny Wiener Steingart, Executive Producers) will offer every former voter a Super Nova membership along with a pair of complimentary tickets to a summer program of their choice. As Super Novas, the aggrieved members of the First Night Press List will receive a free drink at the Ars Nova bar at every performance, along with a t-shirt and access to exclusive ticket offers. Unlike the Tony voting…

  • Spin your batons to these free "La Batutera" MP3 downloads!

    7 Jul 2009 | 1:49 pm
    A fiery fiesta is moving into Ars Nova this Friday! The Spanish Rock Opera "La Batutera" is hitting the stage, and we've got some incredible tracks from their upcoming album to whet your apetito. Just click below to download the tracks, and be sure to check out La Batutera this Friday at 8:00 PM. Every ticket comes with a FREE CD, so you'll have even more latin beats to fill your summer! MP3 Files (Right Click to Download) Cheeze Treats.mp3 Tera Batu.mp3 CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS TO LA BATUTERA, PLAYING JULY 10 AT ARS NOVA!
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    Cambiare Productions

  • Words Matter (The Power of Naming)

    Travis Bedard
    27 Oct 2009 | 2:48 pm
    Kate Foy of Groundling (and Toowoomba! I just like saying Toowoomba!) has been asking nicely all over the internet for about a year what exactly people mean when they call themselves an “indie” theatre company. I’ve talked with her in roughly 492 different venues about it, but discovered that I never had answered it here where I might be held accountable for it. I did talk about labeling in a post a year ago but didn’t really get into why I choose that label that I do. I like specificity. I’m not always good at it but I like it. To that end I would prefer that words retain their…

  • 10 Things I Wish I’d Been told in College (and 1 I was)

    Travis Bedard
    25 Oct 2009 | 6:47 pm
    Everyone loves lists. Well. I love lists, and while there’s been a lot of talk over my three years actively blogging about theatre about the failings of the Theatre Education Industrial Complex, we’ve not really attempted to create a curriculum we approve of. Largely because, well, creating a new theatre education paradigm is hard. And I’m not going to do that here, because I’m not sure how to even begin. Instead? Herein lies a list of things I wish someone had told me over a beer the night of graduation. “Well… you made it, and now you’re ‘In the Club’ so here’s all the…

  • Socialism, Party of One?

    Travis Bedard
    13 Oct 2009 | 3:16 pm
    So the Chicago Small Theatre Summit happened. My thoughts of course turned to my own desire to have a small theatre alliance in Austin. A group of indie theatremakers in town  to help avoid burnout due to isolation, to get off the hamster wheel of scene reinvention, to share resources and ideas, and to spark competitive innovation. And I know it won’t happen. There will be friendships and acquaintance-hood and we’ll go to each other’s shows. But no meaningful regular exchange of ideas will happen. Why not? We’re busy – Ask 10 groups when the best time to meet is – get 12…

  • NEXT…

    Travis Bedard
    22 Sep 2009 | 9:00 am
    DATELINE: 9/15/2009 This is the post I was supposed to write Monday night… and didn’t. So Tuesday during work… Tuesday night… Wednesday during work… It’s already mostly in my head so I couldn’t figure out why I was holding up. It’s not like typing is all that taxing. And it took Will texting me out of nowhere to put the universes’ point to it. Today City of Austin funding award letters arrived. Despite the flawed grant application the City granted us 77% of our request which should, with better fiscal husbandry, give us enough of a leg up to get us through our modest season.

  • I read the news today – oh boy…

    Travis Bedard
    17 Sep 2009 | 3:12 pm
    I talked about Will following up all of my “what didn’t work” analysis about Orestes with a discussion about the parts of the show that were successful. His soft boycott of blogging means he never got to what I’ve been calling the Little Mary Sunshine post, so I’m going to let the nominating committee for Austin Circle of Theatres B. Iden Payne Award committee say it for him: We were nominated for: OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION OF A DRAMA ORESTES   OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A DRAMA WILL HOLLIS SNIDER OUSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA GABRIEL LUNA OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A DRAMA…
 
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    HOLLYWOOD ACTOR PREP BLOG

  • Angelina Jolie, Most Globally Well-Known Actor, Isn’t Highest Paid Actor

    Dana Kaminski
    19 Nov 2009 | 7:37 pm
    Angelina Jolie Is The Biggest Movie Actor In The World. Yet, Not The Highest Paid ACTOR In Hollywood...Bigger Actor Pay When You Have A "Male Member". [Does Brad Pitt's "member" have the Midas Touch?] Related Articles, Auto-generated:England’s Actresses Think They Should Be Paid The Same... [[...Just a partial post. If interested in seeing the entire post, & media...CLICK on the TITLE.]]

  • SAG Indie :: Good For Actors And Indie Filmmakers

    Dana Kaminski
    17 Nov 2009 | 4:04 pm
    Remember Melissa Leo's acting nomination, at last year's Oscars? That was a SAG Indie film. She's been in at least 3 indies, this year. Big and smaller acting roles. Here's a video with actor Tom Bower. He started SAG Indie, and shares all about it... Related Articles, Auto-generated:SAG... [[...Just a partial post. If interested in seeing the entire post, & media...CLICK on the TITLE.]]

  • Auditions Of Well-Known Actors :: New Page

    Dana Kaminski
    15 Nov 2009 | 11:00 pm
    I put five videos up, but call it a tease...I've got a list of lots more. Today I posted: Dustin Hoffman, in drag, auditioning for 'Tootsie'. Kristin Bell auditioning for 'Sarah Marshall'. A very young Miley Cyrus ... Related Articles, Auto-generated:The Auditions For ‘Lost’ :: How... [[...Just a partial post. If interested in seeing the entire post, & media...CLICK on the TITLE.]]

  • Desiring Fame, And Actor-Bashing :: Roots From Ancient Rome?

    Dana Kaminski
    14 Nov 2009 | 3:34 pm
    Snarky is a new word, but being snarky isn't new at all. Neither is celebrity gossip, wanting fame, nor the-worship-of. Nor, apparently, is sleeping with celebs, idealizing, idolizing. Related Articles, Auto-generated:Actor To Actor: Tom Hanks Roasted By Julia Roberts :: Video Tom Hanks gets... [[...Just a partial post. If interested in seeing the entire post, & media...CLICK on the TITLE.]]

  • Film Trailers Nov 13 2009 Releases

    Dana Kaminski
    12 Nov 2009 | 2:27 pm
    Women In Trouble, Pirate Radio, Dare Women In Trouble is the grooviest. It's also got a great cast of actors: Carla Gugino, Connie Britton, Adrianne Palicki, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Simon Baker, Josh Brolin, Marley Shelton, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon, Sarah Chalke, Cameron... [[...Just a partial post. If interested in seeing the entire post, & media...CLICK on the TITLE.]]
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    Berkshire Review for the Arts

  • Two Unrelated Plays by David Mamet, Atlantic Theater Company NYC

    Ilya Khodosh
    31 Oct 2009 | 4:47 pm
    Brian Murray, John Pankow, and Michael Cassidy in Keep Your Pantheon (photo by Sara Krulwich) Two Unrelated Plays by David Mamet: Keep Your Pantheon and School Directed by Neil Pepe September 9 - November 1, 2009, Atlantic Theater Company, New York City With Jeffrey Addiss, Michael Cassidy, Steven Hawley, J.J. Johnston, Jordan Lage, Brian Murray, Rod McLachlan, John Pankow, Jonathan Rossetti, Jack Wallace, Todd Weeks I’m all in favor of the New York theater scene being saturated with David Mamet over the past couple of years—I enjoyed last year’s revival of Speed-the-Plow and would…

  • Royall Tyler’s The Contrast at The Metropolitan Playhouse, New York: the very earliest of American plays lives on!

    Heidi Holder
    29 Oct 2009 | 9:28 am
    Brad Fraizer as Jonathan in the Metropolitan Playhouse production of Royall Tyler’s The Contrast. Photo: Carrie Shaltz. The Contrast by Royall Tyler The Metropolitan Playhouse, New York October 17, 2009 Now in its eighteenth season, New York’s Metropolitan Playhouse continues its mission to reexamine America’s theatrical heritage. Past productions have ranged from key nineteenth-century works such as John Augustus Stone’s 1829 “Indian” drama Metamora, Anna Cora Mowatt’s 1845 comedy Fashion, and Dion Boucicault’s depiction of slavery in The Octoroon (1859), to seldom seen…

  • Francis Beaumont, The Knight of the Burning Pestle, Renaissance Center Theater Company, Amherst, MA

    The Editor
    17 Oct 2009 | 9:32 pm
    Francis Beaumont, after Francis Kyte; Unknown artist, mezzotint, circa 1740s Francis Beaumont, The Knight of the Burning Pestle Director: Nathaniel Leonard Renaissance Center Theater Company The Massachusetts Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies University of Massachusetts, Amherst October 11th, 2009 Among plays about the theater, Beaumont’s Knight of the Burning Pestle stands out for its sheer lunatic energy. First staged around 1607, this Knight is a trove of mocking allusions to the theatrical pieces of the time, particularly the “citizen” plays displaying the bold…

  • William Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well, National Theatre (London), NT Live Telecast

    Heidi Holder
    17 Oct 2009 | 9:51 am
    Michelle Terry (Helena), Oliver Ford Davies (The King of France), George Rainsford (Bertram), All's Well That Ends Well, National Theatre 2009. Photo Simon Annand.William Shakespeare William Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well Director - Marianne Elliott Designer - Rae Smith Lighting Designer - Peter Mumford Music - Adam Cork Movement Director - Laila Diallo National Theatre (London), NT Live Telecast (Amherst Cinemas, Amherst, Mass.) October 3rd, 2009 For the second production in their inaugural season of “NT Live” telecasts, the National Theatre has selected one of…

  • Lipsynch by Robert Lepage at BAM

    Ilya Khodosh
    11 Oct 2009 | 8:49 pm
    Frédérike Bédard and Rick Miller in Lipsynch (photo by Chang W. Lee) Lipsynch Ex Machina / Theatre Sans Frontieres Directed by Robert Lepage October 3-11, 2009, BAM, New York City Written and performed by: Frédérike Bédard, Carlos Belda, Rebecca Blankenship, Lise Castonguay, John Cobb, Nuria Garcia, Marie Gignac, Sarah Kemp, Robert Lepage, Rick Miller, Hans Piesbergen The eight-and-a-half hour Lipsynch, a continent- and generation-spanning anthology of interconnected vignettes conceived by Quebecois auteur Robert Lepage, is a production of rare beauty. It showcases one stunning visual…
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