Broadway To Vegas

Copyright: October 24, 2021
By: Laura Deni
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BUMBLING PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS PURDY & CHASE ARE FUN

Purdy & Chase, a four part comedy series about two young and inexperienced private detectives investigating very low key crimes in a small inconsequential British town are perfect examples of who should never get into the spy business.

You don't need to enjoy the episodes in order. Nor are they meant to be a serious study in anything. Just relax, eat some ice cream and listen to Purdy & Chase delightfully bumble away your stress.

Novice private investigating duo and best friends Pen Purdy and Daisy Chase negotiate a heady mix of insurance fraud and mystery shopping, while dealing with their own assortment of doubts and fears in small town Wexton. Pen and Daisy are tiptoeing towards their thirties, desperately trying to face their uncertain future and the inevitable fate looming in the background – having to grow up.

Starring Jessica Dennis as Purdy and Josephine Arden as Daisy Chase with James Parker.

In Episode I Purdy is conspicuously hiding among the city bushes, much to the annoyance of passing parents who think she might some sort of a pervert. Her target, Mr. Peters, might be wearing that neck brace legitimately, but if she can catch him on camera without the brace then that's insurance fraud.

Purdy is a hapless detective with serious allergies, who frequently needs eye drops. She has a mother who uses various illnesses and conditions to keep her daughter home. The woman doesn't like to be alone and her father keeps calling, checking up on how the job is going.

It's not a conducive environment for spying.

When Mr. Peters passes the bushes he speaks to the girls who blow their cover by answering back.

In episode two Purdy and Chase pretend they are lesbians who have just married and are starting their honeymoon at the Shingle Inn when they are really mystery shoppers.The closest thing to a wedding dress Chase could scrounge up was one of her mother's old maternity dresses. They are appalled to discoverer that the honeymoon suite they requested has only one bed, not twin beds, and they will be forced to share a bed - an annoyance since one of them snores. Pen gets acquainted with the mini-bar and a maroon velvet jumpsuit, while Daisy finds the guests at the Hotel are all too familiar - her father is registered at the hotel with a woman who isn't her mother - a woman who she admits, is a mean alcoholic. Purdy and Chase follow them to their honeymoon suite. They plan to take pictures, this time remembering to remove the lens cap.

Written by Dawn Crumpler.
Directed by Emma Hearn.
Edited by Joe Richardson.
Music by Oliver Ford.

In episode three starring Jessica Dennis as Pen Purdy, Josephine Arden as Daisy Chase, James Parker as Matt and Ceri Gifford as Issy, we meet Daisy's boyfriend, Matt as he helplessly gets drawn into the investigative world of Purdy & Chase. While Pen Purdy is finally on a date with Issy - when she's not in the bathroom since she feels she is required to drink 1.6 litres of water each day and does so at one session. As the evening progresses its more than friendship that brings the four of them together. Matt kissed Daisy Chase with his eyes open and watched as her father left the house. They pursue his Mercedes car and end up in the suburb where he enters a house. When asked what the plan is - the reply is that they have no idea. They look through the window and discover Mr. Chase kissing a lady - Pen's mother.

This segment can get confusing because the female voices sound somewhat similar and the failure to call each other by proper names - instead using affectionate nouns such as "babe."

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This is not your typical, totally boring textbook.

In the pages of How To Earn A Living As A Freelance Writer (the first to be lied to and the last to be paid) you'll find sex, celebrities, violence, threats, unethical editors, scummy managers and lawyers, treacherous press agents, sex discrimination; as well as a how-to for earning money by writing down words.

ART AND ABOUT

MGM RESORTS IN LAS VEGAS

Women in a Red-Orange Beret a 1938 portrait of Picasso's mistress, Marie-Therese Walter. Photo: Sotheby.

played host to an auction for 11 pieces painted by Picasso between 1917 to 1969. Gaveled down by Sotheby's whom MGM Resorts International enlisted to come to Las Vegas to auction off the cache amassed years ago by shunned casino mogul Steve Wynn.

Jay Leno was on hand to encourage bidding which began at $40,000 for the 11 Picassos - nine are works on paper and two are ceramic pieces - which have long been hung at a Picasso-themed restaurant at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino.

The October 23 sale was part of MGM’s effort to become a major player in contemporary art. By shedding the Picassos, the casino operator aims to make room and money to expand its contemporary art collection, using the proceeds to purchase contemporary works by women and artists of color.

The sale, expected to bring in at least $70-$100 million, was viewed as one of the most closely watched of the industry. A major first is Sotheby’s staging a road show. The house generally ships and sells consigned art to established hubs like Los Angeles or New York, thus an auction conducted within a casino will test whether sophisticated art buyers are ready to mingle in a venue with nickle slots.

Highlights from the collection include Picasso’s portrait of his early muse Marie-The´re`se Walter. Titled Femme au beret (1938), the painting depicting a young blonde-haired Marie-The´re`se was expected to fetch $20 million. It last sold at auction in 1987 for $880,000 and was acquired by Wynn in 1998. In 2000, MGM acquired that work and the other soon-to-be-auctioned works when it bought the Mirage casino and hotel from Wynn, who had assembled a blue-chip collection of 19th- and 20th-century art that was housed at his other hotel’s Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art.

The trove of MGM’s Picasso works range from paintings to the artist’s works on paper and experiments in ceramics, spanning from 1917 through 1969.

Other top examples from the offering include two large-scale late-period portraits Homme et enfant (1969–70) and Buste d’homme (1969–70). Together, the paintings were expected to fetch at least $30 million. Each were included in the artist’s expansive 1973 exhibition at the Palais des Papes in Avignon, France. A still-life painting titled Nature morte au panier de fruits et aux fleurs (1942) was estimated at $10 million–$15 million.

The auction coincied with Picasso's 140th birthday. The Spanish painter was born on October 25, 1881.

VERY VOLCANIC OVER THIS GREEN FEATHER a major new installation by Petrit Halilaj (b.1986 in Kostërrc, Kosovo) for his first solo exhibition in the UK. Halilaj is internationally recognized for his expansive artworks, often using his own biography as point of departure to reflect on private and collective histories in constant transformation. Deeply connected to Kosovo’s recent history, he frequently incorporates materials from his native country and re-elaborates them through installation, performance, textiles, drawing and video. Halilaj’s work explores issues related to individual memory and cultural identity.

This exhibition at Tate St Ives stems from Halilaj’s own personal story, while also bringing forward the collective trauma of the Kosovar Albanian people and other survivors of conflict. Displaced by the Kosovo War (1998–9) as a thirteen-year-old, Halilaj and his family lived at the Kukës II and Lezhe-Shengjin refugee camps in Albania in 1999. For this exhibition, Halilaj presents a poignant new installation reimagining a collection of felt-tip drawings he made as a child at Kukës II.

The original pictures were created under the guidance of Italian psychologist Giacomo ‘Angelo’ Poli, who was taking part in a humanitarian mission at the refugee camp. Poli supported the children in communicating their experiences through drawing, encouraging them to document the destruction they had experienced but also to imagine ideal, fantasy worlds for the future as a tool to escape the present. In a period of 15 days, Halilaj created 38 drawings, all of which have been preserved by Poli until today. After Poli’s departure, Halilaj continued to create drawings of his experiences, one of which he showed to Kofi Annan, then Secretary General of the United Nations, when he visited Albania.

Since 1999, Poli has become a close friend and supporter of Halilaj, who is now an established artist based in Berlin. In 2021 Halilaj revisited the original pictures he made with Poli for the first time in over two decades. Informed by those conversations, Halilaj has created an immersive environment within Tate St Ives’s largest gallery, magnifying and reconstituting fragments from the original drawings on a grand scale to reflect on personal and collective memories. Fusing the atrocities he witnessed with his birds and fantastical visions, the exhibition presents a powerful meditation on conflict, hope and memory.

An adjoining gallery space offers additional information about the Kosovo War and the political and social contexts which continue to impact the country and Kosovar society. This gallery also features materials, videos and photographs from Halilaj and Poli’s archives.

Petrit Halilaj: Very volcanic over this green feather is curated by Anne Barlow, Director of Tate St Ives, with Giles Jackson, Assistant Curator.

Until January 16, 2022 at Tate St Ives, UK.

COLUMBUS MUSEUM OF ART will officially unveil the new George Bellows Center, a hub dedicated to fostering and incubating exhibitions, publications and scholarly research and presenting public programs related to the legendary American artist and his contemporaries. A leading modern and realist artist, George Bellows (1882-1925) was born and educated in Columbus, Ohio, before leaving for New York City to study art. Housed within the Columbus Museum of Art, the Bellows Center will include a gallery and study space for visiting scholars and students and will convene public events throughout the year. The new center was made possible with leadership support from the Teckie and Don Shackelford family. The Shackelford family also endowed CMA’s curator of American art, who will serve as the director of the Bellows Center.

The November 4, 2021, opening weekend event will be headlined by noted Bellows scholar Mark Cole, William P. and Amanda C. Madar curator of American painting and sculpture at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cole will present on Bellows’ life both as a gifted athlete and astute observer, chronicler and interpreter of the world around him, including sporting subjects as a microcosm of society. For Bellows, sports were metaphors for life itself, and his images of skill and rivalry stand as potent symbols for the brash competitive spirit of early modern America.

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SWEET CHARITY

THE KISS BREAST CANCER GOODBYE EVENT tonight, Sunday, October 24th, Dolly Parton will be closing the evening with a special acoustic performance with her long time musical director and producer Kent Wells on guitar, to help raise money and awareness for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The Kiss Breast Cancer Goodbye event will be taking place at the Country Music Hall of Fame CMA Theater. The intimate one-hour performance will highlight the international superstar’s career singing all her biggest hits with anecdotes we all come to expect and love.

“I am thrilled to be performing some of my greatest hits with my friend Kent for such a worthy cause,’ says Dolly Parton. “Breast cancer has touched every single one of us in some capacity, so I am thankful for Donna Wells asking me to be part of this event. I hope we can raise some good money and help fight this horrible disease, so bring your checkbooks,” elaborates Dolly.

Other music guests will include Dennis Quaid, Collin Raye, Linda Davis, Artimus Pyle, and Nelson with special guests Todd and Julie Chrisley.

PARADISE SQUARE takes place in Chicago on Tuesday, November 9, 2021.
6:00 PM Cocktail Reception with Moisés Kaufman at Fisk & Co.
8:00 PM Performance at the Nederlander Theater, Chicago

For the past few years Moisés has been working on Paradise Square, a new musical about the people of New York City’s Five Points neighborhood in the months and days leading up to the 1863 Draft Riots, the bloodiest civil uprising in US history. Paradise Square had it’s premiere at Berkeley Rep in 2019 and now visits Chicago before its Broadway bow this coming March.

While Paradise Square is not a Tectonic Theater Project production, the company invites you to celebrate Moisés and his brilliant collaborators and raise much needed funds to support the development of groundbreaking new works. Proceeds from this event will directly support Tectonic’s New Play Development initiatives.

SPREADING THE WORD

SWEAT Alley Theatre’s acclaimed production filmed live in front of their theatre audience. A three camera shoot gets you closer to the action on stage – see the actors’ emotions and reactions up close all from the comfort of your couch.

Filled with humor and tremendous heart, Sweat tells the story of three women who have spent their lives sharing drinks, secrets, and laughs while working together on the factory floor. But when layoffs and picket lines begin to chip away at their trust, they find themselves pitted against each other in a heart-wrenching fight to stay afloat.

Available to view October 25 through November 7, 2021.

DALLAS BLACK DANCE THEATRE (DBDT) celebrates its 45th anniversary as a Catalyst for Change with internationally acclaimed works. The Director’s Choice series features the classic works of five master choreographers: Milton Myers, Elisa Monte and David Brown, Darrell Grand Moultrie, and the late Bruce Wood®. The performance takes place November 5-6, 2021 at 7:30 pm CDT in the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre in the Dallas Arts District. The Saturday performance can also be viewed in real-time via live stream and on-demand until Monday at 11:59 pm CST.

DID YOU KNOW THAT Charles Dickens was in a serious railroad crash? Dickens was greatly affected by the horrible tragedy he witnessed, and the accident inspired him to write a short story named “The Signal Man”.

On June 9, 1865 Charles Dickens, his mistress, actress Ellen Ternan, and her mother a caught the 2.38pm “tidal train” from Folkestone, Kent to Charing Cross, London. They were returning from a holiday across the Channel. As the train passed through Kent, disaster struck. Shortly after 3pm the train chugged past the small, country station of Headcorn when the driver saw an alarming sight not far up ahead. At the side of the railway stood a man waving a red flag, a sure sign of something amiss on the line ahead.

The driver whistled for the brakes, but it was too late to stop the train, traveling at nearly 50 miles per hour. It screeched towards the missing line over the viaduct, hitting it at 3.13pm while still moving at a dangerous speed. The engine, tender and first carriage bowled across the cast-iron bridge, while the middle of the train was thrown over the side, falling 3 metres into the muddy riverbed below. carrying well over 100 passengers. The screams of the trapped rang out and bodies littered the ground.

The crash killed ten people, injured 40 more.

Theirs was the only first-class carriage not to go over the bridge, meaning Dickens could climb out the window and set up a rudimentary platform to allow the Ternans to escape. He then surveyed the scene and set about helping in any way he could.

He offered sips of brandy from his flask and filled his hat with water, tending to the injured for hours.

There was little Dickens could do, and he witnessed several men and women die while he was with them. “I am a little shaken,” he wrote a few days later to a friend. “Not by the beating and dragging of the carriage in which I was, but by the hard work afterwards in getting out the dying and dead, which was most horrible.”

Before he finally walked away from the chaos, he remembered a belonging he had abandoned in the initial panic – the manuscript for his latest work, Our Mutual Friend. He climbed aboard the unstable carriage to retrieve it.

I came upon a staggering man covered with blood with such a frightful cut across the skull that I couldn’t bear to look at him.

Dickens was traumatized by his experiences that day, supposedly losing his voice for two weeks. And for the remainder of his life, Dickens suffered from siderodromophobia—a fear of traveling by train.

On June 9, 1870, five years to the day after the Staplehurst disaster, Charles Dickens died, having suffered a stroke.

PROJECTIONS: WOMEN IN HORROR FILMS is a two day online course taught by Mary Wild from the Freud Museum in London.

"In this course, we will rely on psychoanalytic theory to investigate the feminine discursive position in horror cinema. The genre affords us an indispensable language for approaching the more complex elements of female subjectivity. "

October 30-31, 2021.

FREDA PAYNE celebrated R&B and jazz vocalist, who shot to fame with her #1 Hit, "Band of Gold," and "Bring the Boys Home," pays tribute to the legendary Ella Fitzgerald. Payne, the star of such Broadway shows as Jelly’s Last Jam, Sophisticated Ladies and Blues in the Night, 'recreates the spirit of Ella" with her renditions of "A Tisket, a-Tasket," "Sweet Georgia Brown," "It Don’t Mean A Thing," and "Mack the Knife," as well as many other Fitzgerald classics.

Freda’s engagement at the Playhouse was cut short due to the flooding caused by Hurricane Ida. She returns to the Playhouse for encore performances October 29, 30 and 31. Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, PA.

OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY

THE RECORDING ACADEMY is accepting submissions for the 24th Annual Entertainment Law Initiative Student Writing Competition. The deadline is January 4, 2022.

For the past 23 years, the program has included a legal writing competition that offers law students the chance to win up to $10,000 in tuition-based scholarships. The ELI Writing Competition challenges students to identify, research and write an essay outlining a proposed solution on a compelling legal issue confronting the music industry. A nationwide panel of music law experts will judge the papers in a blind process to select a winner and two runners-up. This contest is open to Juris Doctorate (JD) and Master of Laws (LLM) candidates at U.S. law schools.

One winner will receive: $10,000 scholarship paid on behalf of the student toward their law school tuition
Two tickets to the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.
Two tickets to MusiCares Person of the Year honoring Joni Mitchell.
Recognition at the Entertainment Law Initiative Grammy Week Event
Los Angeles roundtrip airfare and hotel accommodations for winner and guest
Publication of paper in the ABA Entertainment & Sports Lawyer Journal
Mentorship session with an ELI Executive Committee attorney member.

Two Runners=Up will receive: $2,500 scholarship paid on behalf of the student toward their law school tuition
Recognition at the Entertainment Law Initiative GRAMMY Week Event
Mentorship session with an ELI Executive Committee attorney member.

SAUDI FILM BOX OFFICE RECEIPTS helped save the movie industry. Film box office in Saudi Arabia enjoyed an of 3 percent in 2020 to $115 million as opposed to the globally the box office combined revenuesdropped by 28.5 percent to approximately $31 billion from $42.5 billion in 2019 according to research by PriceWaterhouseCooper (PwC).

The PwC figures also predicted that cinema box office revenues in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are expected to grow by 4 percent to $1 billion by 2024, compared to a 2.4 percent decline worldwide.

Also the number of cinema screens in Saudi Arabia is expected to grow to 2,500 screens by 2030.

The figures were released ahead of the 4th META Cinema Forum which takes place from October 26-28, 2021 at Atlantis, The Palm, Dubai.

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MRS DOUBTFIRE the new musical comedy based on the 1993 hit movie of the same name, features a score by Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick and a book co-written by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O'Farrell.

Directed by Jerry Zaks.

Starring Rob McClure in the lead role as Daniel Hillard, alongside returning cast members Jenn Gambatese as Miranda Hillard, Peter Bartlett as Mr. Jolly, Charity Angél Dawson as Wanda Sellner, Mark Evans as Stuart Dunmire, J. Harrison Ghee as Andre Mayem, Analise Scarpaci as Lydia Hillard, Jake Ryan Flynn as Christopher Hillard, Avery Sell as Natalie Hillard, and Brad Oscar as Frank Hillard.

Returning company members also include Cameron Adams, Calvin L. Cooper, Kaleigh Cronin, Maria Dalanno, Casey Garvin, David Hibbard, KJ Hippensteel, Aaron Kaburick, Erica Mansfield, Brian Martin, Alexandra Matteo, Sam Middleton, LaQuet Sharnell Pringle, Akilah Sailers, Jaquez André Sims, Travis Waldschmidt, and Aléna Watters, with Jodi Kimura joining the cast. Original ensemble member Doreen Montalvo passed away in October 2020 following a sudden illness. The creatives include choreography by Lorin Latarro, with music supervision by Ethan Popp. Scenic design by David Korins, costume design by Catherine Zuber, lighting design by Philip Rosenberg, sound design by Brian Ronan, hair and wig design by David Brian Brown, and make-up design by Tommy Kurzman.

The new musical had played three preview performances at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre before the pandemic forced the stoppage of the production, along with all other Broadway shows. It had originally been scheduled to open April 5, 2020. Mrs. Doubtfire resumed performances at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre on October 21, with an opening night scheduled for December 5.

MY FAIR LADY the Lerner and Loewe mega hit. This glorious Lincoln Center production is directed by Bartlett Shear.

Experience the magic of this timeless classic all over again! This beautifully designed revival by New York's esteemed Lincoln Centre was nominated for several Tony Awards in 2018, and is now taking to the road on a North American tour! Based on Shaw's play and Pascal's movie Pygmalion, with book music and lyrics by Lerner and Loewe, My Fair Lady is triumphant. With musical greats like "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?", "Get Me to the Church on Time" and "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face", it's no wonder everyone - not just Henry Higgins - falls in love with Eliza Doolittle time and time again.

The 1956 debut Broadway production of My Fair Lady was a smash hit, setting a new record for the longest run of any major theatre production in history. It was followed by a hit London production, a popular film version starring Audrey Hepburn-which won eight Academy Awards and numerous revivals. It has been called "the perfect musical".

For Professor Henry Higgins, a person's voice is of the utmost importance. A student of phonetics, he holds the opinion that with the right accent and tone of speech, anything is achievable. To prove his point, he wagers a friend that he can teach cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle to speak 'properly', and then present her as an upper class lady at a high society ball. So the pair's lessons begins, but little does Henry Higgins know, that their time together will change him just as much as it does her.

The hit Broadway revival tours North America!. My Fair Lady at the Orpheum Theatre, San Francisco, CA. November 2 - 28, 2021.

BLUES IN THE NIGHT conceived by Sheldon Epps and directed by Wren T. Brown, producing artistic director of L.A.’s Ebony Repertory Theatre.

Music direction by William Foster McDaniel.

Choreography by Keith Young.

Set in 1948 in a rundown Chicago hotel, three women and a man — Jenna Gillespie Byrd as “The Girl with a Date,” Karole Foreman as “The Woman of the World,” two-time Tony nominee Vivian Reed as “The Lady from the Road” and Clinton Derricks-Carroll as “The Man in the Saloon” - share their stories about the misery and humor of life, love and the dogged determination to do more than just survive. The drama reveals itself through 26 hot, torchy, glorious songs by Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer, Alberta Hunter, Harold Arlen, Jimmy Cox, Ida Cox and more.

The creative team includes scenic designer Ed Haynes, Jr., lighting designer Donna Ruzika, costume designer Kim DeShazo, sound designer Corwin Evans, prop master Patty Briles, and hair and wigs designer Anthony Gagliardi. Casting is by Michael Donovan, CSA and Richard Ferris, CSA, and the production stage manager is Michele Miner. Amy and Rich Lipeles and the Port of Long Beach are honorary producers. Producing artistic director caryn desai [sic] produces for International City Theatre.

Blues in the Night runs through November 7 at International City Theatre's home in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center. On Sunday, October 31 there will be a post-performance talk-back with the cast.

SHEEP #1 an inventive minimalist performance by NYC-based Japanese artist Sachiyo Takahashi.

Inspired by the writings of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Le Petit Prince), SHEEP #1 follows the adventures of a sheep in search of the meaning of life. In this performance, NYC-based Japanese artist Sachiyo Takahashi manipulates tiny figurines which are magnified with a video camera and projected onto a screen in real time, combining live operation with cinematic presentation in a style coined by the artist as "Microscopic Live Cinema-Theatre." With this production, Takahashi explores the border between narrative and abstraction, generating dream-like fables for the subconscious through wordless storytelling, an electroacoustic soundtrack and live musical accompaniment. Takahashi was awarded grants by The Jim Henson Foundation in 2017, 2018 and 2021 for her innovative work in the field of puppetry.

The creatives are: Concept, Sound Design, Visual Design and Performance: Nekaa Lab / Sachiyo Takahashi; Live Music: Emile Blondel, piano (Program A); Kato Hideki, bass guitar (Program B); Dramaturg: Peter Eckersall; Technical Advisor, Builder: Willie Gambucci; Original Live Music by Emile Blondel with excerpts from Franz Schubert (Program A): Original Live Music by Kato Hideki (Program B). Electroacoustic Soundtrack by Sachiyo Takahashi; Text: Quoted from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and original text by Sachiyo Takahashi; Production: Nekaa Lab / Sachiyo Takahashi.

Four performances at Japan Society in New York City , playing November 4 – 7, will deliver two distinct programs. Program A, featuring Emile Blondel on piano, will be performed Thursday, November 4 at 7:30pm and Sunday, November 7 at 2:30pm. Program B, featuring Kato Hideki on bass guitar, will be performed November 5 & 6 at 7:30pm.

OATRIA Y VIDA In February 2021, Cuban musical artists Yotuel, Gente De Zona, Descemer Bueno, Maykel Osorbo and El Funky released atria y Vida. The song went viral in July when it became the anthem for protests that erupted throughout Cuba. Patria y Vida was recently nominated for "song of the year" at the Latin Grammys.

"The story happening in Cuba today in this moment is a continuation of the story you will see in Celia and Fidel — people are desperate for food, vaccines, freedom — and have taken to streets. The song “Patria y Vida,' which means Country and Life as opposed to Castro’s slogan, Country or Death, has spurred the new revolution this summer. Artists always lead." — Molly Smith, Artistic Director It's 1980s Cuba and the revolution has reached a crazed tipping point. Fueled by a stagnant economy, 10,000 citizens have fled to the Peruvian Embassy in Cuba seeking asylum. As Fidel Castro grapples with his desire to maintain power or to do what is best for his country, he turns to his closest confidant and political partner, Celia Sánchez, for answers. What kind of a leader is he? Merciful or mighty?

Now playing through November 21 at Arena Stage in Washington, DC.

AUTUMN ROYAL by Kevin Barry.

Directed by Ciarán O’Reilly.

May and Timothy are looking after the father who has long since taken ill to bed. Their own lives are on hold and they’re not getting any younger. Should they stay and help? Or is it time for them to move on? This dark comedy set on the northside of Cork city is about life and death, love and hate, jealousy, rage, horror, and homicidal notions – just a normal play about a family.

The cast features Maeve Higgins as May and John Keating as Timmy.

The creatives include: set design by Charlie Corcoran, costume design by China Lee, lighting design by Michael Gottlieb, original music and sound design by Ryan Rumery, sound design by Hide Nakajo, projection design by Dan Scully and properties by Deirdre Brennan. Jeff Davolt serves as Production Stage Manager with Karen Evanouskas (as Stage Manager.

Autumn Royal marks the return of in-person performances at Irish Rep and began on October 8, 2021, on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage and officially opened on October 18, for a limited run through November 21, 2021.

Following the successful run of its world premiere in 2017, Autumn Royal returned to The Everyman, Cork in 2018 before touring throughout Ireland. Irish Repertory Theatre is delighted to reopen the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage with this North American premiere.

POOR CLARE by Chiara Atik, based on the real story of St Clare of Assisi.

Directed by Alana Dietze.

Starring Kari Lee Cartwright, Martica De Cardenas, Tony DeCarlo, Jordan Hull, Ann Noble, Michael Sturgis, Donna Zadeh.

Clare is just a regular noblewoman living in medieval Italy, trying out hairstyles and waiting to get married… until a man named Francis starts ranting in the courtyard - what happens when your eyes are opened to the injustice of the world around you and you can’t look away.

The creative team includes scenic designer Amanda Knehans; lighting designer Azra King-Abadi; sound designer Jeff Gardner; costume designer Dianne K. Graebner; wig and hair designer Klint Flowers; and graphic designer Christopher Komuro. The production stage manager is Christopher Jerabek. The associate producer is Alexa Yeames, and Chris Fields, Kelly Beech and Rachael Zambias produce for the Echo Theater Company.

World premiere opened October 23, running thru November 29 at the The Echo Theater Company @ Atwater Village Theatre, Los Angeles, CA.

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This is not your typical, totally boring textbook.

In the pages of How To Earn A Living As A Freelance Writer (the first to be lied to and the last to be paid) you'll find sex, celebrities, violence, threats, unethical editors, scummy managers and lawyers, treacherous press agents, sex discrimination; as well as a how-to for earning money by writing down words.

FINAL OVATION

HALYNA HUTCHINS award winning cinematographer on October 21, 2021 was accidentally shot with a prop gun by star Alec Baldwin on the set of the film Rust in which she was the Director of Photography. She died at UNM Hospital, Albuquerque, NM. She was 42.

Hutchins was a Los Angeles-based cinematographer, originally from Ukraine. She grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle. Hutchins earned a degree in International Journalism from Kyiv National University and worked as an investigative journalist before graduating from the American Film Institute conservatory in 2015.

She was selected as one of American Cinematographer's Rising Stars of 2019. Her work include Adam Egypt Mortimer's art house superhero action film "Archenemy," starring Joe Manganiello, which premiered in 2020 at Sitges International Film Festival, where it received a nomination for Best Motion Picture.

She is credited with work on more than 30 films, short films and TV miniseries.

Represented by Innovative Artists, she was a member of ICG Local 600 Los Angeles.

She is survived by her husband Matthew Hutchins and their nine-year-old son.

PETER SCOLARI Emmy winning actor who gained fame co-starred with Tom Hanks in Bosom Buddies and Bob Newhart in Newhart died October 22, 2021 in New York City following a two year battle with cancer. He was 66.

Scolari also performed on Broadway in Wicked; Sly Fox; Hairspray and 2014's Bronx Bombers, in which he played baseball's Yogi Berra. In Lucky Guy, he played journalist Michael Daly opposite his former Bosom Buddies co-star Tom Hanks.

Scolari also appeared Off Broadway in Old Man Joseph and His Family; The Exonerated; In the Wings; The Music Man, and White's Lies.

In 1996, Scolari starred in a version of the stage musical Stop the World – I Want to Get Off produced for the A&E television network.

In 2019 he appeared in a two months engagement of Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues in Kansas City. At the Bay Street Theatre he starred in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To The Forum along side Conrad John Schuck and Jackie Hoffman.

A New York native whose previous marriages ended in divorce, he's survived by his wife, actor Tracy Shayne, who played opposite him as Berra's wife in Bronx Bombers. Other survivors include his children Nicholas, Joseph, Keaton, and Cali.

JOY CLAUSSEN SCULLY who starred off-Broadway and gained fame as "The Aim Tootpaste Lady" died October 12, 2021 in Camden, South Carolina of lung cancer. She was 83.

She had the leads in seven off-Broadway musicals. She also played Hedy LaRue in How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying starring Robert Morse and Rudy Vallee. Claussen was also featured as Aphrodite in the Broadway musical, Happiest Girl in the World . She starred in over 200 national commercials, best known as the 10 year spokesperson for AIM toothpaste. She starred in stage musicals across the country primarily as Dorothy Brock in <>42nd Street.

Claussen served on the Los Angeles board of the American Cancer Association and on the West Coast Council of the Actors’ Fund of America. Claussen was a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and Actors Equity. In Camden, South Carolina, where she moved in 2005. She is survived by her husband of 36 years, author Tony Scully, former mayor of Camden, SC.

LEE O'CONNOR actor, technical director and stage manager of the East Lynne Theatre Company in Cape May, New Jersey died March 21, 2021 of cancer. He was 72.

He studied liberal arts a Bucks County Community College and interned at Bucks County playhouse. He served in Vietnam where he contracted jungle rot in his feet and had to be medi-vacked to Saigon, where he finished his Army tour serving with an Army theater troupe. He then majored in history at Penn State. After moving to NYC he met Gayle Stahlhuth , who would become his wife.

As a member of Actors Equity he was production assistant for Liza With a Z at Radio City Music Hall and for 10 years was a production assistant for A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden. Stage manager for Wuthering Heights: The Musical at Second Stage and prop master for Penn and Teller Rot in Hell. When his wife was commissioned by The Smithsonian Institution to write a play about mental health advocate Dorothy Lynde Dix, she wrote the two person Not Above a Whisper that she performed with Lee across the country.

Lee stage managed several regional theaters, including East Lynne Theater Company where Gayle was already performing. When ELTCs founder and artistic director passed way in 1998, the Board of Trustees, asked Gayle to take over a artistic director, a position she still holds. Lee become the company's technical director and stage manager. Together they mounted 115 different productions between 1999-2020.

BETTY LYNN who appeared as sweet as apple pie Themla Lou the girlfriend of Don Knotts’ neurotic sheriff Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show in the 1960s, died Saturday, October 16, 2021 in a retirement home in Mount Airy, N.C., the town that had served as the inspiration for Mayberry in the beloved series, and where she had lived since 1996. She was 95.

On Broadway, she appeared in Walk with Music (1940), Oklahoma! (1943), and Park Avenue (1946). She was discovered in a Broadway production by Darryl F. Zanuck and signed to 20th Century Fox.

Lynn was inducted into the Missouri Walk of Fame, located in Marshfield, Missouri, in 2007. Nine years later on August 30, 2016, she was presented with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest civilian honor in North Carolina, by the state's lieutenant governor Dan Forest, having been granted it by governor Pat McCrory.

Next Column: October 31, 2021
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Laura Deni

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