Pandora Productions News

In his curtain speech, Artistic Director of Louisville's newest theatre company and director of this production stated that both the company and The Mystery of Irma Vep were long-held dreams coming true.

When Harvey Fierstein dropped this story on the world in1981 as Torch Song Trilogy, it ran more than four hours. It was a seminal work in LGBTQA+ theatre, a frighteningly intimate story contained within an epic timeframe.

Pandora Productions, Louisville's only theatre company dedicated and most trusted to tell the stories of the LGBTQ+ community, is proud to open her 2019-2020 Season with Harvey Fierstein's classic of the LGBTQ+ theatre. TORCH SONG, the iconic and groundbreaking play, which enjoyed a revival in 2018, has been expertly trimmed by Mr. Fierstein himself. a?oeWhat you get in this edited version of the play is an electric urgency,a?? says the company's Artistic Director, Michael J. Drury. Pandora continues to bring the best of LGBTQ+ theatre to the stage at the Henry Clay Theatre. 

VOICES of Kentuckiana's Board of Directors has announced the appointment of Amanda Boyd as its new Artistic and Managing Director effective August 1, 2019. Boyd holds a Doctor of Music in Voice Performance and Vocal Pedagogy from Florida State University and currently serves on the voice faculty at the University of Louisville. She succeeds Jeff Buhrman, who retired in 2019 after leading the chorus for 5 years.

Pandora Productions, Louisville's only theatre company dedicated and most trusted to tell the stories of the LGBTQ community, is announcing plans for the 2019-2020 Season.

Why start a theatre company? Louisville already hosts a healthy roster of theatre companies, most of them run by people finding precious hours to make the commitment outside of a full-time job. Against the odds, two veteran actor/directors are starting new initiatives in the community: Jason Cooper (Pandora Productions, CenterStage) is calling his venture The Chicken Coop Theatre Company, while Craig Nolan Highley (Wayward Actors Company, The Alley Theater, CenterStage) and Jeremy Guiterrez (Wayward Actors Company, The Alley Theater) have chosen the moniker, Theatre Reprise. (full disclosure: both Jason Cooper and Craig Nolan Highley are content contributors to Arts-Louisville.com)

That the 1969 riots at the center of Ike Holter's play are identified as 'Stonewall' is a neat metaphorical turn of phrase, even if it is happenstance. It is the turning point for Gays emerging from the shadows and staking a claim for a rightful place in society. And the walls came tumbling down.

As the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots approaches, Pandora Productions is proud to present Ike Holter's HIT THE WALL. An homage to the beginning of a movement! The play follows the stories of regular people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. We must never forget that the courage of a few have made a difference for all. Fed up with harassment by the police, the denizens of the Stonewall Inn fight back! It's the early hours of June 28, 1969 when a routine police raid on The Stonewall Inn, a popular underground gay bar in Greenwich Village, sparks a full-scale riot. Violent protests and street demonstrations continued for the next several days in what became known as The Stonewall Riots, thrusting a group of unlikely revolution-aries onto the frontlines of history and igniting one of the most influential social and political movements of the 20th Century. HIT THE WALL focuses on that wild and enigmatic first night of the riots, placing the audience just on the periphery of the conflict. An imaginative blend of history and mythology, it shines a contemporary light on the legacy of Stonewall.

Pandora Productions presents GIRLFRIEND. Set to the irresistible songs from Matthew Sweet's landmark album, with book by Todd Allmond, GIRLFRIEND will rock your youthful memories of first love. This musical gives voice to those who grew up in small towns, those who didn't quite fit in, and anybody who remembers the terror and thrill of first love. It's small town Nebraska, 1993. Two teenage boys who've just graduated from high school Will, a social outcast keeps his distance from people and Mike, the sports star and big man on campus, who despite having a girlfriend inexplicably finds himself attracted to Will on Mike's suggestion that they hang out they explore a relationship during a summer of self-discovery.

Marriages fail for many reasons, or perhaps, more often than not, it boils down to the fear that you have sacrificed something for that commitment, and you want another chance to get it back. And if you have children, the weight is much greater.

It's the last week to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Louisville 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.

Pandora Productions continues the 2018-19 season with Peter Parnell's funny and touching look at fidelity and gay parenting in DADA WOOF PAPA HOT. The title refers to the first words of the offstage child of Alan and Rob. 'Dada' for Rob, 'woof' for dog, 'Papa' for Alan and 'hot' for radiator. But as Alan explains, if you put those four words together it's 'what every gay dad wants to hear'... The play will run January 11 - 26 at the company's home at the Henry Clay Theatre and is sponsored by Crosby Law Offices, PSC. (**please see note below regarding change in scheduling.)

There's just two weeks left to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Louisville 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 Louisville 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 Louisville 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 Louisville 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.

Kick off the holidays with craziness! Continuing the series by Anthony Wilkinson, Pandora Productions proudly presents MY BIG GAY ITALIAN CHRISTMAS. We've had a Wedding, a Funeral, a Mid-Life Crisis and now the insanity that is the Pinnunziato family comes a holiday installment. Pandora is thrilled to be the first theatre company in the country to present Mr. Wilkinson's work. Pandora will host the playwright during the run of his show in Louisville on Saturday, November 17th with a reception following the performance.

Kick off the holidays with craziness! Continuing the series by Anthony Wilkinson, Pandora Productions proudly presents MY BIG GAY ITALIAN CHRISTMAS. We've had a Wedding, a Funeral, a Mid-Life Crisis and now the insanity that is the Pinnunziato family comes a holiday installment. Pandora is thrilled to be the first theatre company in the country to present Mr. Wilkinson's work. Pandora will host the playwright during the run of his show in Louisville on Saturday, November 17th with a reception following the performance.

'In here, life is beautiful...' a phrase repeated by the Emcee of the Kit-Kat Club in Berlin. This emcee invites his audience to forget and ignore their troubles and hardship and indulge in a world full of dancing girls, flirtations, and decadence. Gritty, powerful and raw, Pandora Productions current production of Kander and Ebb's Cabaret is blistering and beautiful.

'Life is a CABARET...' at Pandora Productions this September as we open the 2018-2019 season.