Samantha Jacobsen

The Rose Theater's 10/11 season sponsored by Children's Hospital & Medical Center sets the stage for FUN...lots and lots of unforgettable family fun that will take boys and girls of all ages by surprise.

Those who have been unable to reserve seats to The Fountain Theatre's sold out production of The Ballad of Emmett Till will get another chance. The Fountain Theatre has announced a third extension through May 30.

Acorn Productions, presenters of the popular 'Naked Shakespeare' series, announces plans for the first annual Westbrook Shakespeare Festival, to take place May 14 to 23 at Riverbank Park in Westbrook. The Westbrook Shakespeare Festival will feature 2 different outdoor productions by Naked Shakespeare actors in repertory over 2 weekends. The featured presentation is As You Like It, directed by Michael Howard, which will be presented as a full-length production Friday through Sunday evening at 5:30 p.m. As You Like It is a classic comedy of disguise, in which Rosalind, one of Shakespeare's strongest female characters, dresses as a man when she is exiled to the forest of Arden along with her cousin Celia. Theater-goers are invited to bring a picnic or purchase a fresh taste of the old Southwest from the event's sponsor, the Blue Burrito, who will be doing concessions for the performances. Acorn's production of Shakespeare's classic tragedy Romeo and Juliet, directed by Karen Ball, will be shown weekend afternoons at 2 p.m. This heart-breaking tale of teenage love has been substantially abridged to run about 90-minutes and is the final project of the Young Actors Shakespeare Conservatory, a training program for local teen actors that began meeting in the fall of 2009. Admission to all performances at the Westbrook Shakespeare Festival is free, with a $5 suggested donation for Romeo and Juliet and $10 for As You Like It. More information about this event is available at Acorn's website www.acorn-productions.org.

Phoenix Producing Director Bryan Fonseca has created a play using only John Prine songs to tell the story. There is no dialogue. It's only Prine's music - played live. It's sort of folk opera. Six distinct characters come together to share tall tales, hidden desires and quite a few beers at the local bar. (This takes place on the wonderful set of Yankee Tavern.

The Comedy of Errors (Thu, Fri, Sat - July 1, 2, 3, Fri, Sat, Sun - July 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18) will be directed by Kevin P. Kern, who states 'Shakespeare's first play is also his funniest: Comedy Of Errors is an apt title, especially for this Kingsmen production. We're setting this highly physical, brightly colored slapstick comedy in the world of Commedia de Arte' for maximum laughs and pure family fun.' Kevin is a veteran of the Festival and is currently Assistant Professor of Theatre at The University of West Florida and Artistic Director of The Pensacola Shakespeare Theatre.

Ravinia Festival President and CEO Welz Kauffman has been selected to lead a team of Illinois decision-makers-including leaders from the Illinois State Board of Education, The Polk Brothers Foundation and the University of Illinois-at a multi-state Education Leadership Institute convened by the National Endowment for the Arts. The Illinois team joins four others-led by the Oregon Arts Commission; Washington States Arts Commission; New Hampshire State Council on the Arts; and the Ohio Arts Council-at the NEA Institute in Chicago on July 26-28. The goal is to create strategies to strengthen arts education. The Illinois team will explore the role of the arts in developing 21st-century skills.

Bay Area audiences will be given a rare opportunity to see one of his vivid worlds come to life when the work of Peter S. Beagle, iconic American fantasy author best known for his international bestseller The Last Unicorn, will be presented on stage in the World Premiere of GIANT BONES. Written and directed by acclaimed Bay Area playwright Stuart Bousel, GIANT BONES is based on four of Beagle's short stories, as told by a traveling troupe of actors in a distant land. Interlacing myth and memory with dangerous magic and absurd bravery, and culminating in a climactic play within a play that questions who writes history and who remembers it, GIANT BONES runs May 14 through June 19 at the EXIT Theatre (156 Eddy Street, San Francisco). For tickets (previews $15, regular $20-$30, opening $40, Gala $50), call 650 728 8098 or visit www.brownpapertickets.com. Every ticket holder will also receive a free signed hardcover 'Gold Sigil' edition of the book that inspired the play. (This out of print book is being reissued for this production, and signed copies, dated by show, will be given only to ticket holders, limiting the size of the edition to the same number that attend the play, making it a rare collectors item.)

Theaterlab, the experimental company founded by Carlo Altomare and Orietta Crispino, kicks off its 2010 season with the world premiere of THREE SISTERS COME AND GO, a piece based on the texts of Anton Chekhov, Samuel Beckett and French philosopher Julia Kristeva and directed by Crispino. Previews begin May 12, 2010 before an official opening May 14th at Theaterlab (137 West 14th Street).

As sudden as Peter Pan was to appear, he was just a quick to vanish! With only 3 shows left, Peter will be soon gone! Good seats remain for Thursday, Friday and Saturday of this week. but they won't last! Get yours before they are gone - reserve on line at www.fmpat.org, click 'Tickets'.

he newly restored Church of St. Francis Xavier and the Mary Lou Williams Foundation will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the First Lady of Jazz with a concert to benefit Xavier Mission outreach programs including the homeless shelter and soup kitchen. WBGO Jazz 88.3FM radio host Rob Crocker will emcee the celebration taking place on Saturday, May 8, 2010 at 7:30pm. The concert will serve as the first of many events marking the church's recent restoration. The lineup will include: renowned jazz pianist Aaron Diehl with his trio, including special guest Victor Goines on saxophone and clarinet; Yasushi Nakamura on bass and Marion Felder on drums; Laurel Massé, founding member of the vocal group Manhattan Transfer and a 40-voice choir directed by John Uehlein, Music Director at the Church of St. Francis Xavier. Mr. Diehl was hailed by The New York Times as a 'revelation' and by the Chicago Tribune as 'the most promising discovery that [Wynton] Marsalis has made since Eric Reed.'

Arden Theatre Company is proud to announce its participation in New Visions/New Voices, a week-long festival to support and stimulate the creation of new plays and musicals for young audiences, hosted by The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. At the festival, the Arden will be further developing their commission of The Flea and the Professor, Jordan Harrison's new musical adaptation of the story by Hans Christian Andersen. Following a week of collaborative workshops, The Flea and the Professor will be featured in a series of public readings beginning May 21, 2010.

In advance of his new memoir, 'Decision Points,' George W. Bush will deliver a seminar entitled 'How to Deal with your Demons.' This seminar is the vehicle for a new show titled 'The Bush Monologues: Inside the Decider' and is written by Emmy Award winner Rick Overton ('Dennis Miller Live', 'The Informant') and satirist/comic Troy Conrad ('Satiristas', 'The Comedy Jesus Show')

The critically acclaimed, award-winning Elephant Theatre Company will begin its 14th season with the world premiere of Supernova by Timothy McNeil, with performances beginning on Thursday, May 20. Opening night set for Saturday, May 22, and Supernova will play a limited engagement through June 27.

Carmen Souza's voice purrs like kernels of corn swirling on a traditional wooden platter one moment and bursts with a perfect blue note the next. It rings like a red-hot solo and sighs like a ship-deck lament. It finds the sweet spot between Birdland and the white sands of Cape Verde, the archipelago far off the coast of West Africa

Star of DISNEY'S most popular and Emmy Award winning TV show, WIZARDS of WAVERLY PLACE, Bill Chott (Mr. Laritate), is in St. Louis and will be hosting two days of guaranteed laughs for the entire family to benefit The Improv Trick's Improv Summer Camp for Kids.

The Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe opens its 51st season with POSIBILIDAD, or Death of the Worker. A small U.S. factory is shutting down. All of the workers are losing their jobs, and to add insult to injury, they have also lost their last two weeks of pay and retirement funds, which were raided over the years to pay stock dividends. They are despondent, but feel there is nothing they can do, so they put in their last shift and raise a glass to their years together. As they leave the Factory for the last time, one of the older Workers gets snagged on a machine. Interpreting this as an act of defiance, The Boss calls security. The situation escalates and before anyone has a chance to think, the Workers have accidentally occupied the Factory!

The Princeton Jazz Quartet featurin Joe Cohn & Steve Wilson is set to perform on Monday, May 24th at 8pm at the Limerick Bar at Rosie O'Grady's Times Square. Tickets are $20 and includes one drink.

Standing O Productions presents This is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan at Chesapeake Academy's Black Box Theatre (1185 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd. Arnold, MD). Shows are set for May 14, 15, 20, 21, 22 at 8:00 PM and will be directed by Jacki Null. The production stars Ron Giddings, Samuel Gillam, and Coty Warn.

The family and friends of George Russell will be celebrating the life and legacy of this legendary composer/theoretician and innovator, whose profound influence upon artists of all musical disciplines spanned more than half a century.

A strong lineup of productions for the 2010-11 season continues Children's Theatre of Charlotte's commitment to providing theatre that entertains, challenges and inspires young people and families. In its 63rd year, the Theatre presents a wide range of shows, including musical spectacular Disney's Aladdin, the return of popular holiday production Scrooge! and several storybook adaptations that are new to area audiences.