Michael Locher News

There is a lot to wig out about with The Rep's production of The Mystery of Irma Vep. A rapid-fire mélange of B-movie insanity and camp hijinks, it is a throwback to a time when bawdy and raucous theater was a rebellious sign of the times.

This one has everything you could want - broadly drawn characters, exotic settings, and a spectacular murder with no shortage of suspects. It's a great thriller to chill you off this summer. 

Due to critical and box office success, California Shakespeare Theater extends The Good Person of Szechwan by Bertolt Brecht, adapted by Tony Kushner from a translation by Wendy Arons, through July 28, 2019 at the Bruns Amphitheater. Tickets will continue to be available through TodayTix, online at calshakes.org, or through the Cal Shakes Box Office at 510.548.9666.

The Alley Theatre and Rob Melrose, Artistic Director of the Tony Award-winning Alley Theatre, announce the appointment of Michael Locher as the Director of Design. In the newly created position, Locher will oversee the design process for the theatre's productions, beginning with the ExxonMobil Summer Chills production, Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express.

California Shakespeare Theater continues its 2019 summer season with The Good Person of Szechwan by Bertolt Brecht, translated by Wendy Arons and adapted by Tony Kushner, playing July 3 through July 21, 2019 at the Bruns Amphitheater. A Pay What You Can performance will be held on Wednesday, July 3. Tickets will be available starting at 10am on the day of the show through TodayTix and the Cal Shakes Box Office at 510.548.9666.

The Alley Theatre and Rob Melrose, new Artistic Director of the Tony Award -winning Alley Theatre, announce the cast and crew of the ExxonMobil Summer Chills production, Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, Adapted by Ken Ludwig, offering a cool escape from the sizzling summer heat. Murder on the Orient Express will be Rob Melrose's directorial debut on the Alley stage. The crime thriller runs July 19-August 25, 2019, on the Hubbard Theatre stage. Tickets are available now at alleytheatre.org or by calling the Box Office at 713.220.5700.

It's the last week to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Minneapolis Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

There's just two weeks left to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Minneapolis Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

There's just two weeks left to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Minneapolis Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

There's just one month left to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Minneapolis Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

There's just one month left to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Minneapolis Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

30 years ago, Minneapolis based playwright Barbara Field penned an adaptation of Mary Shelley's famous novel for the Guthrie. Now, on the 200th anniversary of the novel's composition, the Guthrie is opening their season with a new production of Field's script, titled FRANKENSTEIN-PLAYING WITH FIRE. Beautifully designed, as ever on Guthrie main stages, the script is quite postmodern in that different moments in the chronological sequence interpenetrate. Despite strong work by skilled actors in the six roles, the whole somehow falls short.

California Shakespeare Theater announced today the cast of the return engagement of its record-breaking hit play black odyssey, playing September 25 through October 7, 2018 at the Bruns Amphitheater.

Aurora Theatre Company will add seven performances to its production of the modern classic A NUMBER by influential British playwright Caryl Churchill.

Aurora Theatre Company presents the modern classic A NUMBER by influential British playwright Caryl Churchill with Barbara Damashek directing. Set in the near future, the play explores human cloning, personal identity and the age-old debate of nature versus nurture. It features Paul Vincent O'Connor (American Buffalo, Death Defying Acts) and Joseph O'Malley (Kennedy Center, La Jolla Playhouse).

This spring Cutting Ball Theater welcomes the return of Founding Artistic Director Rob Melrose to direct Shakespeare's neglected classic, TIMON OF ATHENS, the final play of the Theater's 2017-18 Season. In the title role of Timon, Brennan Pickman-Thoon leads a cast that includes Ed Berkeley, Maria Ascension Leigh, Adam Niemann, Doug Nolan, Radhika Rao, David Sinaiko, John Steele Jr. and Courtney Walsh. Timon of Athens opens in previews on March 30 and runs through April 29. The press opening will take place Thursday, April 5 at 7 p.m. Opening night follows April 6 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 - $45, and may be purchased online at cuttingball.com/productions/timon-of-athens or by phone at 415-525-1205.

Cutting Ball Theater kicks off its 2017-18 Season with THE MINEOLA TWINS, Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel's razor sharp and prescient satire about the women's movement and the rise of conservatism.

Cutting Ball Theater kicks off its 2017-18 Season with THE MINEOLA TWINS, Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel's razor sharp and prescient satire about the women's movement and the rise of conservatism.

California Shakespeare Theater continues its 43rd Season with the West Coast premiere of black odyssey, a thrilling and music-infused new play that mashes up Greek mythology and African-American folklore. black odyssey marks the Cal Shakes debut of Oakland native Marcus Gardley (The House That Will Not Stand at Berkeley Rep), and is only the second production ever of the play, which is being re-set in Oakland for Cal Shakes. Directed by Cal Shakes Artistic Director Eric Ting, fresh from directing Berkeley Rep's smash hit An Octoroon, the production will also feature vocal compositions by Linda Tillery and Molly Holm.

California Shakespeare Theater's 25th anniversary season at the Bruns Amphitheater continues with August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning story of the American Dream deferred, Fences, directed by Raelle Myrick-Hodges in her Cal Shakes debut. Fences, which plays from July 6 through July 31, marks the first time Cal Shakes has presented August Wilson's work on its stage. For tickets and information, contact the Cal Shakes Box Office at 510.548.9666 or visit www.calshakes.org