N'Jameh Camara News

Milwaukee Repertory Theater awarded $60,000 to 80 individuals through the Milwaukee Rep Freelance Artist Relief Effort supported by the Rep Rising Emergency Relief Campaign.  Over 125 artists applied for the Freelance Artist Relief Effort and 80 were granted awards ranging from $500 to $1,000.

Milwaukee Rep presents We Rise: MKE’s Celebration of Black History Month with four Facebook Live events every Monday night in February at 7pm CT. The celebration is in honor of the rich contributions that African American artists, administrators, audiences, and board members have made to the growth, strength and development of Milwaukee Rep.

First Stage, one of the nation's leading theaters for young people and families, has announced Through Our Lens - A First Stage Virtual Performance Series which will offer streaming plays, short-form episodic performances, new play readings and other signature theater events shared exclusively online.

Milwaukee Rep continues From Our Home to Your Home online programming through September thanks to the support of Donald & Donna Baumgartner, Elizabeth Quadracci Harned Family and the donors to the Double-Down for Artists Challenge which raised a total of $109,000 to support Milwaukee Rep's artists that have been severely impacted by COVID-19.

'When shall we three meet again?' the eight weird sisters ask each other in unison at the outset of director John Doyle's Classic Stage Company production of Shakespeare's Macbeth, shaved down to 100 minutes.

Classic Stage Company kicks off its 2019-20 season on Thursday, October 10, when previews begin for artistic director John Doyle's new staging of William Shakespeare's Macbeth, opening October 27 and running through December 15 at the Lynn F. Angelson Theater at CSC (136 E. 13th St, New York). Today CSC announces that Timothy Douglas will direct Tristan Bernays' retelling of Frankenstein (beginning January 30), which the company will pair with Kate Hamill's reimagining of Dracula (starting January 14), directed by Sarna Lapine, to form a thrilling repertory cycle of adaptations of two legendary Gothic nightmares by emerging playwrights.

Classic Stage Company announces the full cast of the company's upcoming staging of William Shakespeare's Macbeth, directed by John Doyle.

The touring production of John Doyle's 2016 Tony Award-winning revival THE COLOR PURPLE has landed at Chicago's Auditorium Theatre, where it will make hearts both soar and ache with the blaze of emotion it delivers. Doyle, a director best known for his stripped-down productions of American musicals, has applied that minimalist treatment here as well. And it works beautifully. The set only features a few modest risers flanked by a backdrop wall featuring several wooden chairs (Doyle also designed the scenery). When the actors first make their entrances, they bring more of these simple chairs along with them as they invite the audience into the story. This simplicity, also mirrored in Ann Hould-Ward's costumes and Jane Cox's lighting design, brings a profundity to the staging. THE COLOR PURPLE's modest production values never feel like they're skimpy, but rather they lay the foundation for the show's deeply human message.

Back in 2005 Broadway was abuzz with the arrival of a musical version of the much beloved book and movie "The Color Purple". The problem was, when it arrived it landed with a thud and not a splash. It had a decent showing running for three years and touring but never really catching fire (at least not for me). I saw the original on Broadway and in the tour and it just felt like they missed the mark not really focusing on the heart of the story and with music that felt out of place. Then in 2013 the folks at The Menier Chocolate Factory in London revived the show, scaling it down to a more intimate and streamlined piece and low and behold, it now works! And that, Dear Readers, is the gloriousness that's currently playing at the Paramount.

While its original production, as most Broadway shows go, offered the expected big sets, first-rate costumes, and impressive production values, the 2015 Tony Award-winning revival production of THE COLOR PUPLE---currently slaying audiences for a week-long stop at Orange County's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through June 24---is decidedly more subdued and scaled-down by comparison, allowing the songs, the story, and the cast performances to shine on their own merits instead. The resulting show is a powerful, uplifting one, bathed in a loving, spiritual embrace that shines a light on the struggles, the insecurities, the passions, and the tenacity of African-American women living in the early decades of the 20th Century. I can say without hesitation that this revival production is an excellent way to experience this beautiful, touching, and ultimately triumphant musical.

Producers announce the first North American tour and full casting of the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of THE COLOR PURPLE.  The tour will visit more than 30 cities in its first year on tour, including Seattle, at The Paramount Theatre from June 27 - July 1.

That joyful noise you hear coming from the Hollywood Pantages Theatre this month is the thrilling sound of female empowerment, and it is reverberating like thunder from the heavens in the dynamically robust national tour of THE COLOR PURPLE. Director John Doyle's Tony Award-winning reinvention of the musical - which took Broadway by storm in 2015 - rings like a clarion call to arms for every woman who's ever been violated, abused, or otherwise kept down by a man, and, on opening night, the powerful women leading the cast proved themselves more than capable of leading the charge.

THE COLOR PURPLE, the Tony Award®-winning Broadway revival, will make its L.A. Premiere beginning next week at Hollywood Pantages Theatre, playing three weeks only; May 29 - June 17, 2018. Note: immediately after this L.A. Premiere engagement, the production will play a one week engagement in Costa Mesa at Segerstrom Center for the Arts (June 19 - 24).

Alice Walker's poignantly sad, yet ultimately empowering classic novel, 'The Color Purple,' has found expression on the page, on film and twice now on the musical stage. The revival (book by Marsha Norman; songs by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray), honed to its finest points, tears at your heart as the story of Southern black girl Celie unfolds over decades of poverty, abuse and a loveless existence, only to see her rise triumphantly as she finally comes into her own. Directed by John Doyle (who was also responsible for the sepia-toned, minimalist set design), the show won the 2016 Tony for Best Revival of a Musical and is now on tour, with a wonderous stop at San Francisco's Orpheum Theatre, now through May 27.

Broadway In Chicago and the producers of the Tony Award-winning revival of THE COLOR PURPLE, the truly remarkable musical adapted of Alice Walker's best-selling novel, are delighted to announce that individual tickets for THE COLOR PURPLE will go on sale Friday, May 11. Broadway In Chicago presents THE COLOR PURPLE, directed by Tony winner John Doyle (Sweeney Todd and The Color Purple), at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University (50 E. Congress Pkwy.) for a limited two-week engagement July 17 - 29, 2018.

The National Tour of THE COLOR PURPLE, now at ASU Gammage through April 22nd, is a masterpiece of soulful vibrations, telling of Celie's journey from poverty to empowerment. Deserving of Amens and Hallelujahs! Electrifying cast led by Adrianna Hicks and featuring powerhouse performances by Carla Stewart, Carrie Compere, N'Jameh Camara, Gavin Gregory, and J. Daughtry.

The Monologue Project announced today their online resource featuring 30 original monologues from nationally recognized writers for theater is now available to the public.

Every once in a while we have the opportunity to experience a piece of theatre that not only is a beautiful work of art and technically incredible, but is also deeply moving and makes us think about our lives in a way we haven't before. We have that opportunity beginning tonight when THE COLOR PURPLE opens at the Saenger Theatre.

The Fabulous Fox Theatre is delighted to announce that the first U.S. National tour of the hit musical THE COLOR PURPLE, will play the Fabulous Fox Theatre from Tuesday, March 20 through Sunday, April 1.

When THE COLOR PURPLE opened on Broadway in 2005 it was well received, thanks in large part to the support of producing partner Oprah Winfrey, whose performance in the film twenty years earlier earned her an Academy Award nomination. The show left New York on a high note in 2008 and continued to tour through three separate national tours for several years. Flash forward to 2015, and a new interpretation of the Broadway musical has made its way back to the Great White Way. And amongst the relevant #metoo movement, the compelling story of THE COLOR PURPLE sings louder and prouder today than ever.