WPA Theatre News

The Theatre Series is back! The Carnegie's 2021-22 season features a fast-talking plant; an intimate glimpse into the complicated life of a Hollywood icon; a heartwarming, family musical that will have everyone humming “Do-Re-Mi”; and the debut of a new script by a local arts leader.

On this day, we're wishing a very Happy Birthday to acclaimed composer Jason Robert Brown!

On Saturday, May 8, Emerson College honored alumni with its Distinguished Alumni Award and Young Alumni Achievement Award in a virtual celebration during its first annual Emerson Week, a college-wide, fully online, multi-day event for all Emersonians, formerly alumni weekend.

New York Theatre Workshop announced today that Artistic Director James C. Nicola will depart the theater on June 30, 2022. Nicola has been the Artistic Director of New York Theatre Workshop since 1988.

Two industry veterans have teamed up to honor the 25th Anniversary of Jason Robert Brown’s SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD featuring one of musical theatre’s most inspiring finales, Hear My Song. Performer Jill Marie Burke and music director Brent Crayon enlisted the support of director Alan Bailey, and together they assembled Broadway performers, regional theatre standouts and high school musical students, to record a music video honoring the work of Jason Robert Brown and benefiting the Educational Theatre Foundation. 

The Educational Theatre Foundation is the beneficiary of the passion project of two industry veterans who have teamed up to honor the 25th Anniversary of Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for a New World, featuring one of musical theatre’s most inspiring finales, Hear My Song.

Today's episode features Broadway veteran Stephen Bogardus, who chats about how he's coping with life in the pandemic, how theatre has changed since March, and how he expects changes to continue in the future.

Need some musical inspiration to make it through the day? This new take on a Jason Robert Brown song might do the trick. 

Nowadays there appears to be an increasing awareness in the theatre about presenting women characters through the aesthetic of male playwrights and directors, much of it involving the movie term 'male gaze' which was coined by Laura Mulvey in the 70s to describe the disproportionately sexualized manner in which women were presented in film.  From that context, it's possible to conclude that this is what playwright/actor Charles Busch has been commenting on all along.

Rachel Bertone has set the bar high for the 45th anniversary season of the Lyric Stage Company with her pitch perfect production of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. Assuming the mantle of both director and choreographer, with the dependable Dan Rodriguez as music director by her side, Bertone and her design team capture the grit and the innocence of the story set in the early 1960s, while finding ways to punctuate it with flashes of contemporary pizzazz. Puppet designer Cameron McEachern has crafted an Audrey II without gender bias on its menu, and despite being voiced by a woman (Yewande Odetoyinbo), the plant is no shrinking violet.

With laughter through tears, the Barn Theatre shares how the bonds of female friendship can help us wade through life's hardest times in STEEL MAGNOLIAS playing July 30 a?" August 11.

Today's top stories: Todrick Hall in Waitress, and more!

In the 30th anniversary year of the popular film, the Royal Players is thrilled to announce their production of Steel Magnolias, running June 6th, 7th, 8th, 13th, 14th, and 15th at 7:00 p.m. and June 9th and 16th at 2:00 p.m.

ACT (A Contemporary Theatre) of Connecticut is thrilled to announce its upcoming 2019-2020 Season. Featuring a mix of theatre favorites and new and innovative productions, there's something for everyone to enjoy. 

After his hit production of King Charles III, David Muse returns to Shakespeare Theatre Company to direct Shakespeare's Richard the Third, a mesmerizing chronicle of the megalomaniac's rampage to the throne. The production will play at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) from February 5-March 10, 2019.

The McCallum Theatre presents L.A. Theatre Works' production of Steel Magnolias on Monday, February 25, at 7:00pm. Strong as steel and delicate as magnolias. The six women of Chinquapin, Louisiana, face life's ups and downs together in this beloved comedy/drama. Truvy's home beauty parlor is their gathering place, where they gossip, needle, and jab each other through the best of times and comfort and repair one another through the worst. Based on the hit Off-Broadway show that became a star-studded motion picture in 1989, this is a funny, poignant tale of female friendship and the unbreakable mother-daughter bond.

L.A. Theatre Works will bring its signature radio-theater hybrid style to Morristown on Friday, March 8 as it presents Steel Magnolias.  The play is a funny, heartbreaking story of female empowerment and resilience by Robert Harling, is directed by Brian Kite and features a company of six diverse women including Shannon Holt, Elisa Bocanegra, Monica McSwain, Inger Tudor, Cerris Morgan-Moyer and Patti Yasutake.

After his hit production of King Charles III, David Muse returns to Shakespeare Theatre Company to direct Shakespeare's Richard the Third, a mesmerizing chronicle of the megalomaniac's rampage to the throne. The production will play at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) from February 5-March 10, 2019.

After his hit production of King Charles III, David Muse returns to Shakespeare Theatre Company to direct Shakespeare's Richard the Third, a mesmerizing chronicle of the megalomaniac's rampage to the throne. The production will play at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) from February 5-March 10, 2019.

After his hit production of King Charles III, David Muse returns to Shakespeare Theatre Company to direct Shakespeare's Richard the Third, a mesmerizing chronicle of the megalomaniac's rampage to the throne. The production will play at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) from February 5-March 10, 2019.