Michelle Hand News

It's December! Voting is now underway for the 2019 BroadwayWorld St. Louis Awards, brought to you by TodayTix! Now you can vote to make sure your favorite local theatres and performers are recognized. Check out the first set of stats below.

Voting is NOW OPEN and the first votes are in for the 2019 BroadwayWorld St. Louis Awards, brought to you by TodayTix! The nominees are set, and now you can vote to make sure your favorite local theatres and performers are recognized!

2017 Tony Award winner for Best Play, Oslo, by J.T. Rogers, is Repertory Theatre St. Louis' artistic director Steven Woolf's final directing project before his retirement begins. It is the story of the Norwegian couple-an academic and social scientist, Terje, who has developed a new approach to conflict resolution, and his clever wife, Mona, who is a dignitary in the office of the Foreign Ministry-who together initiated and facilitated clandestine peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinian Liberation Organization in 1992 and 1993; talks that would highlight the past and decide the futures of two peoples, each having reasonable grievances, though each striving to find resolution.

For longtime Repertory Theatre of St. Louis artistic director Steven Woolf, Oslo is his final directing project before his retirement at the end of this season. So it's no surprise that The Rep is pulling out all the stops in its production of the 2017 Tony Award winner for Best Play, assembling an all-star cast and design team to bring this grand political epic to The Rep stage.

Ben Nordstrom and Kari Ely will play opposite one another in "Into the Breeches!," the headlining production of Shakespeare Festival St. Louis' new program titled, In the Works, set for Oct. 28 through Nov. 24, at the Grandel Theatre. Written by George Brant and directed by Nancy Bell, the month-long, ticketed production is the culmination of the Festival's 2018 season.

Temperatures are rising in St. Louis and it isn't just the dog days of summer. St Lou Fringe is heating things up with its annual Act Your Pants Off fundraiser, a spirited competition among local actors that's all for fun and Fringe!

This seems to be the year of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, a tale of love, loss and longing. There have been a multitude of adaptations produced locally in the last 12 months.

With its lively patter, sharp satire and empowered female lead, Born Yesterday is a classic comedy that continues to surprise and entertain. Since its Broadway debut in 1946, Garson Kanin's sendup of political gamesmanship has seen multiple prominent film and stage adaptations, including a 1995 production at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.

The 2017 awards honor productions which opened between October 1, 2016 and September 30, 2017. Nominations were completely reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended October 31, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors.

The 2017 awards honor productions which opened between October 1, 2016 and September 30, 2017. Nominations were completely reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended October 31, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors.

After ten seasons, Mustard Seed Theatre returns to one of their first productions, and it's an intriguing work called REMNANT by Ron Reed. It's a window into a plague-ravaged future where civilization has been lost, and mistrust runs rampant. But, there are remnants from the past that keep hope alive, and one of them is a passed down tale of Christmas.And, while this may seem like an unusual holiday presentation, I actually appreciate that aspect. Besides, this is a show that's amusing, tense, joyful, and touching, and that covers most people's experience of the holidays in one way or another. The dialog is also quite interesting since it reflects the loss of many aspects of a culture's language, and so some words substitute for more familiar ones, and others are pronounced differently. But that aspect only adds to the atmosphere of the show, since their meaning is always clear. Whether you're looking for something a little different this season, or not, REMNANT is well worth your time and attention.

The 2017 awards honor productions which opened between October 1, 2016 and September 30, 2017. Nominations were completely reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended October 31, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors.

The 2017 awards honor productions which opened between October 1, 2016 and September 30, 2017. Nominations were completely reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended October 31, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors.

The 2017 awards honor productions which opened between October 1, 2016 and September 30, 2017. Nominations were completely reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended October 31, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors.

The 2017 awards honor productions which opened between October 1, 2016 and September 30, 2017. Nominations were completely reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended October 31, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors.

Local step company, The Gentlemen of Vision, and a 60-person choir whose members represent area churches and high schools, will take to the stage with professional actors, including Joneal Joplin, and St. Louis residents when rehearsals begin this week for the sixth annual Shakespeare in the Streets' production titled, Blow, Winds, a play artfully adapted from William Shakespeare's King Lear. 

Parts of playwright Brian Friel's DANCING AT LUGHNASA are joyous, and some are unsettling, mainly because we come to care so much about the Mundy family that inhabits it. I personally found it fascinating and disturbing at the same time. It's that dichotomy that drives the action, and it provides no easy answers for the viewer. I actually like that aspect. Because life isn't a bed of roses for most of us, instead it's a journey where obstacles pop up, sometimes unexpectedly, forcing us to constantly adapt and change, or risk being steamrolled by circumstance. Mustard Seed Theatre is presenting this engrossing play as they close their tenth season, and it's a production well worth your time and attention. Go see it!

The Theater at Monmouth kicked off its ambitiously programmed 2016 summer season, Vive La France, with one of the timeless treasures of French theatre, Cyrano de Bergerac. Presented in a severely abridged seventy-five minute adaptation by Jo Roets, the Edmund Rostand play made its impact largely through the artful staging and charismatic performance of its three-person cast.

Theater at Monmouth will kick-off its 2016 Vive La France season with Cyrano adapted by Jo Roets from Edmond Rostand's 1897 masterpiece on Saturday, June 25th at 7:30 p.m. Infused with enchantment from start to finish, this classic tale of unrequited love offers an inspired take on Rostand's admired work.

Monmouth Community Players is proud to announce the cast of their final 2015-2016 season production of the Tony Award-winning adventure comedy, Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps, directed by MCP's Artistic Director Adam P. Blais. Performances begin on April 15th at the historic Cumston Hall in Monmouth for this madcap cross between a 1930's film noir spy thriller and a slapstick British farce.