Kenneth Jones News

The 46th season of The Theatre Company of the University of Detroit Mercy will launch Sept. 22-Oct. 9, 2016, with the Michigan premiere of Kenneth Jones' fact-inspired drama Alabama Story, a play with unique ties to The Motor City. 

Alabama Story, which recently opened at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, begins and ends with the simple, child-like need for the characters to both tell and beckon the audience to prepare for a story: a story that tells of the South but deals with much that is not southern in nature, a story that was not meant to turn into anything other than something with a happy ending. Alabama Story tells a story of people who have stories, make up stories, and never saw the proper end to their stories: all taking place in the turbulent years leading up to the 1960's.

Once again, Peninsula Players imports a fresh new play first produced in 2015 direct from Utah to Door County. Playwright Kenneth Jones' Alabama Story received a first regional premiere at the award-winning Fish Creek theater in a story where an innocent children's book by Garth Williams--'The Rabbits' Wedding'-incites civil unrest in Montgomery, Alabama, 1959.

Inspired by actual events in 1959, Alabama Story centers on a fearless, no- nonsense librarian, a vocal segregationist senator and an innocent children's book. In a parallel story, childhood friends Joshua and Lilly, a black man and white woman, reunite among the societal tensions of the times. In 2000, Emily Wheelock Reed was cited for her work in 1959 Alabama by the American Library Association and received the Scroll of Honor from the Freedom to Read Foundation for refusing to remove the children's book, The Rabbits Wedding from the shelf.

Inspired by actual events in 1959, ALABAMA STORY centers on a fearless, nononsense librarian, a vocal segregationist senator and an innocent children's book. BroadwayWorld has your first look at the production below!

Alabama Story by Kenneth Jones receives its East Coast premiere at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, opening August 25 and running through September 25.

Peninsula Players Theatre, America's Oldest Professional Resident Summer Theatre and Door County's theatrical icon, announces company members for its 81st season, running June 14 through October 16, 2016. The mix of plays include a late-in-life romance, an intriguing whodunit, a raucous pop-rock musical, an engaging Midwest premiere and a wildly comic thriller.

TACT kicks off its 2016 - '17 season with its 6th annual newTACTics New Play Festival (Owen Thompson and Yetti Steinman, Producers, with Lauren Miller, newTACTics advisor), a fresh collection of four unpredictable and engaging new works. The original plays at newTACTics always invite you to expect the unexpected, and this year's offerings are no exception.

Tickets to Peninsula Players Theatre's 81st season are now on sale. America's oldest professional resident summer theater and Door County's theatrical icon has tickets available for a variety of engaging shows - including a gentle new comedy, a classic whodunit, a lively pop-musical, an engrossing new drama and a fast-paced comic thriller.

?Soon the calendar will be filled with events and things to do, so make sure to add Peninsula Players to your must-see list for 2016. 

Modern conveniences like smart phones and GPS often make us forget that the journey of life is full of the unexpected. For its 2016 theater season, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater celebrates these unexpected moments: the realization of first love; a town bonded by a bullied teenager; a family finding common ground through music; the censorship of a fictional marriage between two rabbits; the beauty behind the darkness of Edgar Allan Poe; love lost then found again.

Pioneer Theatre Company presents Two Henrys, the second installment of PTC's play reading series called Play-By-Play. Two Henrys by Kenneth Jones runs February 5 and 6, 2016. PTC Artistic Director Karen Azenberg directs the production.

The premiere production of Pioneer Theatre Company's original revue, IT HAPPENED ONE CHRISTMAS, is a warm ode to the spirit of the holidays.

Pioneer Theatre Company presents the premiere musical event It Happened One Christmas, tonight, December 4 through December 19, 2015.   

Pioneer Theatre Company presents the premiere musical event It Happened One Christmas, December 4 through December 19, 2015.   

Stage Rights announced this week that Acappella is the recipient of the 2015 Stage Rights/NYMF Publishing Award. Roger Bean, President and Founder of Stage Rights, presented the award to book writer Vynnie Meli, who accepted on behalf of the entire Acappella team. Stage Rights and The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) created the publishing award in 2013, and it is presented annually to one or more of the musicals taking part in the festival. Performance rights for Acappella will be available through Stage Rights in spring 2016.

Sandy Hackett's RAT PACK CHRISTMAS will play at the Civic Arts Plaza December 5, 2015. Tickets are on sale now, start at $29, and are available online at BroadwayInThousandOaks.com, at the Fred Kavli Theatre box office, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd., or by calling 800.745.3000. Group tickets of 10 or more can be ordered by calling 1.866.314.7687.

Pioneer Theatre Company presents It Happened One Christmas, December 4 - 19, 2015. It Happened One Christmas is a new musical revue created by Karen Azenberg and Kenneth Jones specifically for the Pioneer Theatre audience.

Peninsula Players Theatre, America's oldest professional resident summer theater and Door County's theatrical icon, is thrilled to announce its 81st season performing June 14 through October 16, 2016. Nestled along Door County, Wisconsin's scenic shore, the award-winning acting company of Peninsula Players has been enthralling generations of audiences in its 600-plus seat, all-weather pavilion since 1935, presenting hundreds of pre-Broadway tryouts, world premieres, classic dramas, comedies and musicals.

Pioneer Theatre Company, Utah's premier professional theatre, has announced its 2015-2016 season. The season is bookended by two blockbuster musicals, Fiddler on the Roof and the professional U.S. premiere of the new Frank Wildhorn musical The Count of Monte Cristo. The season also includes two more musicals and three plays, two of which are world premieres and one of which is a Utah premiere.