Steppenwolf Announces 2020/21 Reset Season
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Jun 23, 2020
Steppenwolf Theatre Company announced its 2020/21 Reset Season today featuring a truncated four play lineup (originally six plays) with flexible dates to allow for greater agility in the time of COVID-19, accompanied with a robust slate of original virtual programming.
26th Annual Herb Alpert Award In The Arts Recipients Announced
by A.A. Cristi - May 22, 2020
The Herb Alpert Foundation and the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) have awarded the 2020 Herb Alpert Award in the Arts (HAAIA) to five exceptional mid-career artists. Now in its 26th year, the annual award provides five unrestricted $75,000 grants to independent artists working in the fields of dance, film/video, music, theatre and visual arts. The recipients will be honored at a virtual ceremony hosted by Herb Alpert, his wife Lani Hall Alpert and the Herb Alpert Foundation on Friday, May 22, 2020.
Sundance Institute Announces 2020 New Frontier Story Lab Fellows
by A.A. Cristi - May 11, 2020
Six projects and artist teams have been selected for the 2020 Sundance Institute New Frontier Story Lab, which supports independent artists working at the cutting-edge convergence of film, art, media, live performance, and technology.
BWW Review: KIND THING; NICE THING at Homesick Play Project
by Andrew Child - May 10, 2020
My immediate response to this reading of the play, which had its premiere at Tufts University unfortunately canceled, is that I would love to see how it would change were the actors cast actually artists who use they/them pronouns in their lives.
VAULT Festival 2020 Announces Early Closure
by A.A. Cristi - Mar 16, 2020
Following the announcement by the Prime Minister urging the general public not to visit 'pubs, clubs, or theatres', VAULT Festival has announced that it will not be opening its doors for its final week (Tuesday 17th - Sunday 22nd March) and will be closing with immediate effect.
NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND Will Embark on UK Tour
by Stephi Wild - Mar 6, 2020
Jon Culshaw will star as 'Bill Bryson' in a brand-new stage production of Bryson's award-winning memoir NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND adapted by BAFTA and Olivier Award winning playwright Tim Whitnall. Directed by the Watermill's Artistic Director Paul Hart, the production will have its world premiere in Newbury on Thursday 24 September and play until Saturday 31 October, with a national press night on Monday 28 September. The production will then tour to Malvern, Cambridge, and Richmond, with further dates to announced.
Steppenwolf Theatre Has Announced its 2020/21 Season and the Grand Opening of New Theatre Building
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Mar 4, 2020
Steppenwolf Theatre Company Artistic Director Anna D. Shapiro and the Steppenwolf ensemble announced the 2020/21 Season today. As the storied ensemble theatre company embarks on its 45th season, a lineup of thrilling plays will be featured in its current home at 1650 N Halsted with the final production of the season premiering in the new state-of-the-art theatre building at 1646 N Halsted in August 2021.
Meet the Cast of HANGMEN - Now in Previews on Broadway!
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Feb 28, 2020
Hangmen is officially in previews on Broadway!
Martin McDonagh's Hangmen marks McDonagh's seventh play to be produced on Broadway and his return to the stage following his BAFTA and Golden Globe Award-winning and Oscar-nominated film Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri. Hangmen will officially open on Thursday, March 19, 2020, at Broadway's Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street).
Review: THE UNSEEN HAND and KILLER'S HEAD Showcase Sam Shepard's Loners in the Middle of Nowhere or at a Dead End
by Shari Barrett - Feb 4, 2020
Sam Shepard, who left this world in 2017, was an American playwright and actor whose plays adroitly blend images of the American West, pop motifs, science fiction, and other elements of popular and youth culture. His settings are often a kind of nowhere, notionally grounded in the dusty heart of the vast American Plains. His characters are typically loners, drifters caught between a mythical past and the mechanized present; his work often concerns deeply troubled families, lovers or friends. Two of his plays centering on loners at the end of their rope, THE UNSEEN HAND coupled with Shepard's gritty and audacious KILLER'S HEAD, joins Odyssey Theatre Ensemble's 50th Anniversary a?oeCirca '69a?? Season of significant and adventurous plays that premiered around the time of the company's inception.
Ron Sossi Re-Visits Obie Award-Winning THE SERPENT 50 Years Later
by A.A. Cristi - Jan 31, 2020
Go ahead a?" take the apple. Founding artistic director Ron Sossi directs a revival of The Serpent by Jean-Claude van Itallie a?" winner of the 1969 Obie award and arguably the most successful ensemble work ever created a?" as part of the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble's 50th Anniversary a?oeCirca '69a?? Season. Sossi previously directed the West Coast premiere exactly 50 years ago, in the spring of 1970, as the second production ever at the then brand-new Odyssey Theatre. The Serpent opens on March 7 at the Odyssey's current home in West L.A., where performances will continue through May 3.
Photo Flash: Odyssey Theatre Presents Sam Shepard's THE UNSEEN HAND
by A.A. Cristi - Jan 20, 2020
What happens when 1880 Western bandits are brought back to life in Azusa, CA by a space alien? Sam Shepard's The Unseen Hand joins Odyssey Theatre Ensemble's 50th Anniversary “Circa '69” Season of significant and adventurous plays that premiered around the time of the company's inception, coupled with Shepard's gritty and audacious Killer's Head. Longtime Shepard collaborator Darrell Larson directs both plays for a Jan. 25 opening at the Odyssey Theatre in West L.A., where performances will continue through March 8.
BWW Review: THE CAKE: Two Brides, One Conundrum for North Carolina Baker
by Nancy Grossman - Jan 20, 2020
In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court handed a narrow victory to a Christian baker from Colorado who refused for religious reasons to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. Hailing from a conservative North Carolina background, playwright Bekah Brunstetter is personally familiar with people like Della, the protagonist of THE CAKE, and ideally positioned to protect her and defend her humanity, while also setting her on a path to self-reflection and change. Although the story may be ripped from the headlines, Brunstetter tells it from the perspectives of a quartet of ordinary, yet multi-faceted characters, each of whom comes with a strong set of beliefs.