Michael Barakiva News

The Drama League have announced the exceptional stage directors who have been selected as the 2015 Directing Fellows of The Drama League Directors Project: Paul Bedard, Estefania Fadul, Aneesha Kudtarkar, Emily Lyon, Brad Raimondo, Austin Regan, Daniel Rogers, Annie Tippe, Sarah Wansley and Brandon Woolf. In addition, an eleventh fellow has been selected for a brand-new fellowship program, which will be revealed during the 81st Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony, which will be held on Friday, May 15, 2015 at the Marriott Marquis Times Square (1535 Broadway). More information can be found at www.dramaleague.org

Watch out! Richard Schechner returns, armed with another series of shocks and surprises: the world premiere of 'Imagining O' at Peak Performances, today, September 10, through September 13.

Watch out! Richard Schechner returns, armed with another series of shocks and surprises: the world premiere of "Imagining O" at Peak Performances, September 10-13. Transforming the notoriously erotic French novel "Story of O" into a multi-site, immersive production, the 80 year-old director's most recent work promises to reaffirm Peak's commitment to the ultra and outre challenge, and the director's reputation for creating uncomfortable joy in his audiences. The show opens the Kasser Theater's 10th anniversary season.

As one of the largest theatrical events in the world, The New York International Fringe Festival boasts an impressive roster of world premieres yearly. Of them, Los Angeles native Joshua Metzger's new play Sitting Shiva will see its first three dimensional presentation this August. Christopher Scott will direct the 90 minute play. The Broadway and Regional vet cast includes Eddie Boroevich*, Neal Mayer*, and Jeffery Plunkett*. The Production Stage Manager is Katy Moore*, and the production will be designed by Joan Racho-Jansen. *Appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association. Sitting Shiva is an AEA-approved showcase.

SU Drama's SPRING AWAKENING opens tonight, April 25, and runs through May 10, 2014 in the Arthur Storch Theater, Syracuse Stage/SU Drama Theater Complex, 820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Now according to the New York Post's Michael Riedel, the show is Broadway-bound and will likely arrive in the Spring 2015 theatre season. Major producers present at the workshop included Bob Boyett, Jill Furman, and representatives from the Shuberts, the Nederlanders and Jujamcyn Theaters. One of them told Riedel: "I haven't laughed so hard since I saw 'Book of Mormon.'?"

According to an Equity casting notice, a musical based on HEE HAW, the television series that ran 1969-71, is set to get a staged reading on December 2-13 at Pearl Studios.

Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward will begin tomorrow, September 18, at Syracuse Stage, directed by Michael Barakiva and running through October 6, 2013. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Premiere Stages presents the New Jersey Premiere of Farragut North from tonight, September 6th through the 23rd in the Zella Fry Theatre at Kean University. Produced in collaboration with the Kean University Center for History, Politics and Policy and supported by the League of Women Voters, the production of playwright Beau Willimon's classic tale of hubris is set against a contemporary political landscape where no price is too high to attain power.

Premiere Stages presents the New Jersey Premiere of Farragut North from September 6th through the 23rd in the Zella Fry Theatre at Kean University. Produced in collaboration with the Kean University Center for History, Politics and Policy and supported by the League of Women Voters, the production of playwright Beau Willimon's classic tale of hubris is set against a contemporary political landscape where no price is too high to attain power.

Premiere Stages at Kean University kicks off the 2011 season with an interactive staged reading of Egyptian Song an exciting new play by James Christy.

You start writing a play in your late 20s when you are a struggling New York playwright, working as the literary manager of the Ensemble Studio Theater (EST) . This is your family play, a dark comedy of love, hate, prejudice, and alcohol, but you are in way over your dramatic head - the play doesn't work, so you abandon it. Then you spend a couple of decades in the Hollywood wars, writing and rewriting screenplays (and being rewritten).

Previews begin Wednesday (2/16) at 7:00pm for the world premiere of White People, a comedy by Neil Cuthbert and Neil Cuthbert, directed by Michael Barakiva, at the Ensemble Studio Theatre for an opening Thursday, February 24, at 7:00pm and a run through Sunday, March 13.

You start writing a play in your late 20s when you are a struggling New York playwright, working as the literary manager of the Ensemble Studio Theater (EST) . This is your family play, a dark comedy of love, hate, prejudice, and alcohol, but you are in way over your dramatic head - the play doesn't work, so you abandon it. Then you spend a couple of decades in the Hollywood wars, writing and rewriting screenplays (and being rewritten).

Previews begin Wednesday (2/16) at 7:00pm for the world premiere of White People, a comedy by Neil Cuthbert and Neil Cuthbert, directed by Michael Barakiva, at the Ensemble Studio Theatre for an opening Thursday, February 24, at 7:00pm and a run through Sunday, March 13.

You start writing a play in your late 20s when you are a struggling New York playwright, working as the literary manager of the Ensemble Studio Theater (EST) . This is your family play, a dark comedy of love, hate, prejudice, and alcohol, but you are in way over your dramatic head - the play doesn't work, so you abandon it. Then you spend a couple of decades in the Hollywood wars, writing and rewriting screenplays (and being rewritten).

On May 6th, CAP21 (Collaborative Arts Project 21) will transform its block box theater 'The Shop' into Europe during WWI, the backdrop for Fengar Gael's 'The Usher's Ball'. The play will have a month long run in May, as part of CAP21's Spring/Summer season.

The Nevada Conservatory Theatre at UNLV is pleased to present the classic musical, 'The Music Man,' May 1-10 in the Judy Bayley Theatre. Directed by Michael Barakiva and choreographed by Brodway's Mimi Quillin, the production features Brodway veterans Patrick Ryan Sullivan as Harold Hill and Teri Bibb as Marian Paroo.

The Nevada Conservatory Theatre at UNLV is pleased to present the classic musical, 'The Music Man,' May 1-10 in the Judy Bayley Theatre. Directed by Michael Barakiva and choreographed by Brodway's Mimi Quillin, the production features Brodway veterans Patrick Ryan Sullivan as Harold Hill and Teri Bibb as Marian Paroo.