Broadway To Vegas

Copyright: August 7, 2022
By: Laura Deni
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CIRCLE JERK IS TIMELY AND FUNNY

Why would a heterosexual, senior citizen, white woman want to see Circle Jerk by Fake Friends?

Because its funny.

An over the top romp introduced by an outrageously dressed, prancing Troll (portrayed by Patrick Foley) who speaks in rhyme.

Starring Michael Breslin, Patrick Foley and Cat Rodríguez.

Rory Pelsue directs this energetic and vibrant Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Peppered with seriously explicit profanity, drinking, drugs and sex, it's not for the rigid Bible Belt practitioner.

Set designer Stephanie Osin Cohen's purple walled, modern living room is the setting for assorted confrontations. Inspired by Amazon's Alexa, Alexia (portrayed by Cat Rodriguez) is there spouting facts. Rodriquez also portrays Eva Maria and Kokoma.

Fake news is the norm and Circle Jerk attempts to expose and set the record straight.

Everyone has an equal opportunity at being the target of an insult.

Director Rory Pelsue. Publicity hand out

David Bengali’s lighting and video work are impressive. Costume designer Cole McCarty has gay costuming down to an art form including having a fur jacket worn over a summery, vibrant, flower print shirt.

Officially: "It’s winter on Gayman Island, a summer retreat for the homosexual rich and fame-ish. This off-season, two White Gay internet trolls hatch a plot to take back what’s wrongfully theirs. Cancellations, meme schemes, and political and erotical flip flops abound as three actors playing nine parts play out this chaotic live-streamed descent into the high-energy, quick-change, low-brow shitpit of the internet.

"Across its own histories, queer theater has played with identity, staging the joys of artificiality and the crises of attempted authenticity. It confronts our aversions and attractions, putting the Ridiculous and the humiliated on the pedestal where “straight plays” enshrined perfection, Realism, and truth. Queer theater flips scripts. But what can it offer us when the world has lost the plot? And what can it tell us when we find ourselves stuck in perpetual loops, from “Don’t Ask” to “Don’t Say”?

"In Circle Jerk, politics (made in the bedroom) and pleasure (found on a screen) empower a group of the oppressed to become the oppressors of others. The title takes its name both from the homoerotic ritual in which men masturbate in a circle, getting off on watching each other get off, and the subreddit “/r/circlejerk,” a forum for the groupshaming of online groupthink (mostly populated by young white men). This circle jerk pits our collective gaze at our inherited supremacies and the white, dimpled underbelly of our discourses and cults of culture. In it, Fake Friends (writers Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley, collaborators Catherine María Rodríguez, Ariel Sibert and Rory Pelsue), attempt an (impossible?) exhibition: an experimental theater that tries to expose violence without reproducing harm.

"The show combines quick changes and deep fakes, theatricality and the post-COVID livestream, to take on the laptop-orchestrated shitshow that is online life and its political discontents. The result is a homopessimist hybrid of yesterday’s live theater and today’s livestream (set in tomorrow’s news cycle), a new form made of old parts: An experimental film. A hijacked Instagram story. A queer, deranged live-audience sitcom featuring Gen-Z TikToks and Millennial memes."

The viperous venom spares no one as stealthy thrown barbs project equal portions of nasty insults and profound hopes.

All aspects of these men are laid bare including self doubt: "I'm never going to be in a relationship because I'm ugly and annoying; and Can you be man if you don't carry a gun?

There is also rationalization: Repression is the only thing that allows for great gay art.

And ego: Back stabbing Michael, who is Patrick’s (Foley) best friend, says: "I don’t work in theater, I curate performance. The relationship to reality is totally differen."

Inside jokes abound. Two of the biggest laugh getters are delivered by Honney (Breslin) who is Jurgen’s (Foley) maid, addicted to Broadway message boards: You can always get your finger on the pulse of America by looking to Broadway. Insider Broadway jokes skewer the criticized - The Music Man and Funny Girl by citing "a belting Marion Paroo and a non belting Fanny Brice" results in howls from the audience.

Another crowd pleaser concerns a drag queen poll dancing on David Geffen's yacht who then sues him after falling overboard.

It may be subjective, but the high tech implementation of the frenetic plot-line may be easier to comprehend if one is gay.

For the heterosexual, the important, attention holding aspect is the no holds barred attack on fake news, gossip, attitudes, acceptance and the era in which we now live.

Two of the most prophetic line in the play are:
In the current era where everyone is expected to have a pronoun. The goal is to find a place where people accept you for who you are - where you don't have to explain yourself.

The creatives are: Dramaturg Ariel Sibert - co-lighting and video designer David Bengali - co-lighting designer and video associate Ted Boyce-Smith - Scenic and props designer Stephanie Osin Cohen - costume designer Cole McCarty - sound designer Kathy Ruvuna - hair, wag & makeup designer Tommy Kurzman - production stage manager Codey Leroy Butler - production manager Violet Asmara Tafari - technical director Jesse Mattes - assistant stage manager Carolina Arboleda - assistant scenic designer Anthony Freitas - associate video designer Ted Boyce-Smith - video associate Stivo Arnoczy - video engineer Ted Charles Brown - video programmers Alejandro Crawford and Austion Woolfolk - marketing manager Patrick Kavanagh.

Staged at The Connelly Theatre in New York City.

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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

WORLD KITE MUSEUM is where you can go when you're told to go fly one. Located in Long Beach, Washington, the venue is home to the International Kite Festival which takes place August 15-21, 2022

This International Kite Festival is the largest in North America. Held since 1955, more than 100,000 in attendance.

The week long featival draws fans from around the world who participate in high flying action and choreographed movement.

There will also be the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, kite parties and new exhibits.

BIOSFERA PELUCHE / BIOSPHERE PLUSH the first UK solo exhibition by Argentinian artist Ad Minoliti has come to Cornwall, England. Trained as a painter, Minoliti (b.1980) draws on the rich legacy of geometric abstraction in Latin America to create alternative universes influenced by feminist and queer thought. For this interactive show, Minoliti’s playful approach to painting has transformed the physical gallery space into an imagined world, merging ideas around modern art, social justice, internet subcultures, and science fact and fiction. Following an inaugural presentation at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, this site-specific installation for Tate St Ives reimagines the gallery as a vibrant and futuristic environment that proposes ideas for inclusive living.

The exhibition takes as its starting point a critical exploration of Biosphere 2 – the world's largest Earth science experiment, launched in the Arizona desert in 1984. This monumental project isolated eight people in airtight domes to study whether humans could create and sustain life in artificial environments such as space stations. Interested in how this experiment highlighted the colonial and capitalist intentions of space exploration, as well as perpetuating a patriarchal and monocultural society, Minoliti has created an experimental station that subverts these purposes, valuing all identities, experiences and abstract forms.

Using the gallery walls as a canvas, Minoliti’s colorful geometric murals set the scene for this new universe. Inside the imagined biosphere, new works from the artist’s Fables (Butterfly and Flowers) series use color and shape to deconstruct gender roles. These are shown alongside works from Minoliti’s Space Playset series, often referred to as "cyborg paintings" due to their origins as spray-painted images that are digitally manipulated, printed, and then overpainted by hand. Created by both human and machine, Minoliti invites viewers to question the distinctions we make between biology and technology. The space is also inhabited by hybrid creatures, who reference cartoons and contemporary subcultures popular online. These human-sized avatars, a species which Minoliti calls "Furries", each have non-binary names and wear clothing designed by the artist alongside collaborator Lam Hoi Sin. Bringing together ideas from queer and feminist theory, animalism and childhood, Minoliti further encourages viewers to think beyond the categorizations that we make between things – male and female, terrestrial and alien, art and everyday life.

A focal point of the installation is Minoliti’s Feminist School of Painting – an anti-school of art. Transforming the gallery space into an active classroom, the school hosts a series of free workshops open to visitors. These experimental sessions apply ideas from feminist and queer theory to reimagine portraiture, still life and landscape, in relation to power, gender and sexuality. Through discussion and practical art activities, visitors are invited to take part in rebuilding a new world which focuses on generosity and cooperation.

Biosfera Peluche / Biosphere Plush has been produced by BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, curated by Irene Aristizábal. This exhibition has been creatively adapted for Tate St Ives in collaboration with Anne Barlow and Giles Jackson.

On exhibit through October 30, 2022.

THE FREUD MUSEUM in London has welcomed their new director Giuseppe Albano PhD, MBE who takes over from Carol Seigel who is retiring after 13 years at the helm of the Freud Museum London.

Since 2011 he was Curator and Director of the Keats-Shelley House in Rome, Giuseppe Albano brings a wealth of experience of developing a successful historic house museum.

THE IRISH MUSEUM OF TIME located on Greyfriars Street in Waterford, Ireland's National Horological Museum is home to the oldest Irish-made grandfather clocks, table clocks and watches in the world.

Housed in a a refurbished gothic-style church the museum celebrates the outstanding skills of craftsmen who have created "remarkable beauty and technological genius".

A two-part attraction in two of Waterford’s most significant buildings is a unique attraction.

Part I in Greyfriars explores the science of time and the five thousand year story of how the passage of time was marked and recorded in Ireland and how it shaped and molded the Irish landscape.

Part II in the Almshouse - When Times Runs Out - explores how the traditions, rituals and superstitions of the Irish Wake shaped and molded the Irish landscape and the very psyche of the Irish people.

Enabled by the donation of an extraordinary collection of museum-quality Irish clocks and watches, the new Irish Museum of the Science and Story of Time explores the story and the science of time for all age groups in two remarkable historic buildings using spectacular state-of-the-art 3D technology thanks to an extraordinarily generous gift by Colman Curran and his wife Elizabeth Clooney who have spent thirty years collecting museum-quality Irish time pieces made by clock and watchmakers throughout the island of Ireland. The unique collection consists of some thirty grandfather clocks or long-case clocks, over 30 important bracket and wall clocks, 30 pocket watches and some interesting ephemera - all Irish. The collection represents the evolution of Irish timepieces. It is a window into the technical, scientific, social, economic, and political and the art and craft history of Ireland, particularly in Ireland’s Ancient East from the late 17th to the end of the 19th century.

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SWEET CHARITY

BERNIE WILLIAMS AND HIS BAND OF FRIENDS BREATHLESS CONCERT AND CELEBRITY SOFTBALL GAME BENEFIT FOR PFF Famed New York Yankees Centerfielder and Latin Grammy nominee Bernie Williams is back with another star-studded day featuring celebrities from the worlds of sports and music, all to benefit the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (PFF). The day begins with a celebrity softball game on the ballfield next to The Ridgefield Playhouse with Bernie and his bandmates, along with special guests, including legendary Yankees closer Mariano Rivera and many more! Following the game will be an outdoor concert with Bernie and his musical guests also on the outdoor field!

Saturday, August 12, 2022 next to the Ridgefield Playhouse in Ridgefield, CT.

SPREADING THE WORD

MAGICIAN DIRK ARTHUR who has spent the last 20 years performing in Las Vegas using large animals, is going to have to revamp the act. A week ago it was announced that Arthur would be returning to the Vegas stage, this time at Notoriety Live on Fremont Street. His Magic Unleashed show promised to feature white and orange tigers, a snow leopard, and a bobcat. Faster than a magician can say abracadabra, the Notoriety Live venue announced that they had made the act disappear from their roster. The problem - those big cats. The venue, which respects Arthur's talent, had been inundated with complaints regarding the use of exotic animals.

This isn't the first time Arthur and his big cats have been in controversy. In 2014 despite protests and backlash, he was starring at the Riviera Hotel in his Wild Illusion show. The following year it was reported that Arthur was one of only three magicians nationwide who still use big cats in their performances. In 2017 the controversial performer was set to open at the Westgate when the venue announced that Arthur would no longer be using a snow leopard and a bobcat in his show.

A SALON READING of ESSPY by Nandita Shenoy takes place Monday, Agusut 15, 2022 at New Jersey Rep in Long Branch, NJ.

Directed by Aneesha Kudtarkar, a medical student unlocks his own humanity via his interactions with a young actress who works as a substitute patient or ‘esspy’. Through these encounters, he learns the part of medicine that can’t be taught in books – how to care for his patients with compassion.

Readings are followed by a brief discussion. Seating is first come, first served, and masks are required.

ENCANTO: THE SING ALONG FILM CONCERT takes place Thursday, August 11 at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia. Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Academy Award-winning film comes to life in a one-of-a-kind concert event, featuring the entire feature-length film and an on-stage band celebrating all the record-breaking hit songs from the beloved soundtrack.

WALKING THE BEAT the Fountain Theatre’s innovative community-building program that sees cops and teens working together to create theater, presents Flicker.

Seven teenagers from Hollywood High School, Hawthorne High School and Orthopaedic Hospital Medical High School, with support from the Bresee Youth Center, joined in a transformative group process with four officers representing the Los Angeles School and UCLA Police Departments to generate ideas, stories and experiences over the course of nine weeks. Flicker is a compilation of their writings, conversations and improvisations—all exploring what it means and takes to keep ourselves and our communities safe.

Performances, with lighting design by Alison Brummer, sound design by Marc Antonio Pritchett and video design by Adler Lefleur, will take place August 13-14, 2022 on the Fountain Theatre’s outdoor stage.

Now in its third year at the Fountain, Walking the Beat utilizes performing arts as a vehicle for youth empowerment and community building, providing life-changing experiences for underserved youth and police officers. Founded by the Elizabeth Youth Theater Ensemble and led by executive and artistic director Theo Perkins, this year's program provides students with opportunities to work hands-on with program facilitator and director Angela Kariotis, renowned artist Kristina Wong, drama therapists Adam Stevens and Danielle Levenas, and mindfulness and yoga coach Tina LeMar.

Walking the Beat supporters include Warner Media/AT&T, Mary Jo and David Volk, L.A. County Department of Probation, Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Allison Thomas. the Phillips-Gerla family, East Hollywood Neighborhood Council and Deborah Irmas.

The Fountain Theatre is located in Los Angeles.

MINACK THEATRE in Cornwall, England is celebrating it's 90th Anniversary. The Minack opened its gates to the public with a production of Shakespeare's The Tempest, on August 16, 1932. To celebrate this amazing milestone, a special exhibition telling the story of that first performance can be enjoyed in the Visitor Centre next to the cafe.

This August, as part of our celebrations, the popular Hertfordshire Players will perform their production of The Tempest. (And if you're coming to this performance, look out for some Tempest-related entertainment on site from members of our Acting Academy as well!) Discover more about the Minack from one of Minack's expert guides. Hear the story of Rowena Cade's Theatre Under the Stars from former Minack Theatre Manager, Phil. Discover the challenges of Gardening on the Edge of a cliff, with one of our Head Gardeners Claire and Jeff. Be transported back in time and find yourself part of a very special celebration in The Birthday Party taking place August 19.

The year is 1983 and Rowena Cade is approaching her 90th birthday. Join organizer-in-chief Edith Trewern in a race against time to celebrate the life of a very special woman. With utmost secrecy you will tour the theatre and discover the remarkable story of Miss Cade. An interactive experience that explores the history of the Minack and the life of the inspiring woman who built it.

Born August 2, 1893 in Spondon, Derby, United Kingdom, Rowena Cade discovered and bought the Minack land in the 1920s for £100 and built a house. After Rowena Cade put on a local production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1929, she began searching for a suitable venue for a permanent outdoor stage. The theatre is carved into the granite cliffs at Porthcurno, just a few miles from Land’s End. She built the theatre herself with the help of her gardener Billy Rawlings in 1931–32 The stage took six months to build and the first performance was of Shakespeare's The Tempest in summer 1932. Without any formal lighting, the performance used batteries and car headlights to light the stage.

An artist as well as a builder, throughout the theatre Cade etched complex designs into the wet concrete with an old screwdriver.

In 1976, Cade gave the theatre to a charitable trust. She died on March 26, 1983. The Cade family continued to be involved in the theatre – the general manager in 2015 was married to Rowena's great niece. The theatre is now managed by Philip Jackson and has featured in a number of BBC programs about the South West of Britain.

If Cornwall seems familiar, perhaps it's because that's the location where Doc Martin was filmed.

PENNSYLVANIA SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL the region’s professional Equity theatre hosted on the campus of DeSales University, has announced that Jason King Jones, the former Senior Associate Artistic Director of Maryland’s Olney Theatre Center, has been hired as the new artistic director and he will join current Managing Director Casey William Gallagher in a new dual leadership model.

The news comes following Patrick Mulcahy’s announcement one year ago that he will step down from his role at the Festival at the end of this summer 2022. Mulcahy served as Producing Artistic Director of Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival (PSF) since 2003.

Bringing over a decade of experience as the Senior Associate Artistic Director at Olney Theatre Center, and Artistic Director of OTC’s National Players touring company, Jones will join Gallagher in this new appointment beginning September 1, 2022.

Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival is the only professional Equity theatre of its scope and scale within a 50-mile radius. PSF is one of only a handful of theatres on the continent producing Shakespeare, musicals, classics, and contemporary plays, all of which can normally be seen in rep and in multiple spaces within a few visits in a single summer season.

ROSHUNDA JONES-KOUMBA the recipient of the prestigious Stephen Schwartz Musical Theatre Teacher of the Year Award and the International Thespian Society Inspirational Theatre Educator of the Year Award will serve as the leynote speaker for A&M University in Prairie View, Texas' 111th Summer Commencement Convocation on Saturday, August 13.

About 300 degrees will be conferred.

PRINCESS CHARLOTTE daughter of Prince William and Duchess Kate, as second bone, ranks a step behind her older brother when it comes to one day taking over the British throne.

However, it seems to us that she would make a perfect Prime Minister.

She's intelligent with a strong backbone; opinionated and not afraid to speak her mind (she once told off the press) or show her feelings with gestures. Interesting concept of her being Prime Minister while her father sits on the throne.

At least that would mean that father and daughter would have a private, weekly conversation - which is more than a lot of fathers ever experience.

Yeah, we know, she'd probably have to giver up her right to inherit the throne - but since that job belongs to her older brother and she has a younger brother to service as "the spare" the idea of letting an intelligent, strong willed, female - who just happened to have been born royal - get elected to the PM spot and run the country, isn't a bad idea.

As for now, the confident princess attended the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham with her parents where she displayed a wide variety of emotions.

She also looked smart in a striped dress and wore her hair in braids.

LAS VEGAS TOURISTS LEAVE DRUGS IN THEIR WASTE WATER fans attending the NFL Draft in Las Vegas brought an estimated 1.25 million tourists to the Strip. They left left behind waste water which contained high blood pressure and cholesterol medications. The three day Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC,) resulted in fans excreted MDMA, also known as ecstasy or molly, as well as pain medications.

The grant research was conducted by Southern Nevada College. Dean Dr. Doug Sims led the research. Dr. Sims' research fields include Environmental science, geography, meteorology and climatology. He received his BS in Anthropology and an MS in Water Resources Management (concentration in soil sciences) from UNLV and earned a PhD in Environmental Science with a concentration in soil chemistry at Kingston University, London.

The results were first disclosed by KLAS-TV.

Sims' research found that the amount of MDMA flowing through the Las Vegas wash on the Monday after EDC was 300 times its normal level.

Sims disclosed that 28 compounds were discovered. Las Vegas Wash, which flows into Lake Mead, which eventually flows into water faucets, contains antidepressants, opioids, and medications to treat acid reflux, allergies, cough, diabetes, high blood pressure, muscle spasms, nerve pain, and shingles. Oh, by the way, Lake Mead itself tests as slightly caffeinated.

Citizens are assured that the waste water is purified before being turned into drinking water.

OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY

MOME AND THE NEW YORK FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS (NYFA) has announced that applications are open for the fourth round of grants for the NYC Women's Fund for Media, Music and Theatre. Qualified applicants can apply for a total of $2 million in finishing grants through November 1, 2022.

Since its launch in 2018, the NYC Women’s Fund grant program has awarded $5.5 million to 246 media, theatre, and music projects, with NYFA acting as the grant administrator. The NYC Women’s Fund is a signature initiative launched to address the underrepresentation of women in the entertainment industry.

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BILLY McENTEE named as First Recipient for ATCA Helbing Mentorship Program Announced by The American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) and Foundation ATCA.

The ATCA Helbing fellowship is specifically for for LGBTQ+ theater writers. Members of the Helbing Committee reviewed applications submitted from January through April of this year and selected journalist Billy McEntee of New York City for the program that will begin September 1, 2022 and run for a year. It carries a stipend of $5,000.

McEntee (he/him) is a Brooklyn-based arts journalist and critic and Theater Editor at The Brooklyn Rail.

McEntee has received grants from the Colorado Tourism Office and Queens Arts Council. He has taught with The School of The New York Times, co-hosts the food and cultural podcast Lasagna Time with Billy and Kyle alongside cultural critic Kyle Turner, and was a Fellow at the 2018 National Critics Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.

In making the decision, the committee cited McEntee’s commitment to LGBTQ+ journalism, his desire to explore various media in a changing culture, and his passion for elevating LGBTQ+ visibility and telling stories of these individuals.

Named for the late Terry Helbing, a pioneer in Gay Theater during the 1970s and 1980s, the program has been designed to encourage the development of LGBTQ+ theater coverage and to develop and amplify the voices of LGBTQ+ arts writers through scholarship, mentorship, and professional development. In this way, we aim to make arts journalism a more progressive and inclusive profession.



THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA a new music based on the novel by Lauren Weisberger and the Twentieth Century Fox motion picture with a score by Elton John with lyrics by singer-songwriter Shaina Taub and a book by Kate Wetherhead.

Directed by Tony-winner Anna D. Shapiro.

Runway magazine. The supreme authority of the high-fashion world, and the new home of assistant Andy Sachs. It’s a position a million people would kill for, but under the sharp stilettos of Runway’s legendary editor-in-chief, Miranda Priestly, the job is no dream. Up against Miranda’s blistering leadership and stratospheric expectations, Andy is pushed to the edge, forced to choose between her career and her own happiness. Starring Taylor Iman Jones as Andy Sachs and Tony winner Beth Leavel as Miranda Priestly. Joining Jones and Leavel are Javier Muñoz as Nigel Owens, Christiana Cole as Lauren, Megan Masako Haley as Emily Charlton, Tiffany Mann as Kayla, Michael Tacconi as Nate Angstrom, and Christian Thompson as Christian Thompson.

The ensemble will comprise Kyle Brown, JoJo Carmichael, Olivia Cipolla, Tyrone Davis, Jr., Audrey Douglass, Hannah Douglass, Madison Fendley, Cailen Fu, Michael Samarie George, Henry Gottfried, Marya Grandy, Jessie Hooker-Bailey, Liana Hunt, Amber Jackson, Chris Jarosz, Carlos A. Jimenez, Nikka Graff Lanzarone, Anthony Murphy, Jim Ortlieb, Johnathan Rice, Sawyer Smith, Terrance Spencer, and CJ Tyson.

Choreography by James Alsop and music supervision by Nadia DiGiallonardo.

Performances at the James M. Nederlander Theatre in Chicago through August 21, 2022.

Oh, Elton John dropped by to catch the show.

THE SOAP MYTH by Jeff Cohen.

Directed by Emmy nominee Harris Yulin.

Starring Bob Gunton, a two-time Tony nominee, returns to the New York area stage after a thirty-year hiatus to star in the acclaimed drama. He is joined by Tony winner John Rubinstein, Drama Desk winner Carolyn McCormick, and Rachel Sachnoff.

In The Soap Myth, fifty years after the end of WWII, Holocaust survivor Milton Saltzman (Bob Gunton) enlists the help of young journalist Annie Blumberg (Rachel Sachnoff) in a passionate crusade about a Nazi atrocity that Holocaust scholars (Carolyn McCormick, John Rubinstein) have reclassified from fact to myth. Through the lens of deadline reporting and journalistic integrity, the characters of The Soap Myth are caught between many different versions of the same story. Holocaust historians consider The Soap Myth one of the most important plays ever written about the Holocaust. The play engages one of the central issues of our time – Who has the right to write history? It confronts the pernicious rise of neo-Nazis and White Supremacists while exposing the scourge of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial. Ultimately, The Soap Myth is a call to action: as the survivors of the Holocaust die off, who will be left to tell their story?

The design team includes set designer Andrew Boyce and 3-time Tony Award nominee, winning lighting designer Dennis Parichy.

"I urge audiences to see The Soap Myth. Experience it, interact with it, confront it, wrestle with it, engage it and challenge it." - Michael Berenbaum, Founding Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

"The Soap Myth was epic, historic, important and meaningful beyond words - an evening this festival will not soon forget." - Mandy Greenfield, artistic director of the Williamstown Theater Festival.

The Soap Myth will play for fifteen performances only from August 10–28 at the Southampton Cultural Center’s Levitas Center for the Arts, in Southampton Village, New York. Each performance will include a post-performance talkback with the playwright, the cast and invited panelists.

THE TRIALS by Dawn King.

Directed by Natalie Abrahami.

It’s easy for you to accuse me now but you don’t understand. Everyone lived like we did! Well maybe not everyone, everyone. But…I wasn’t any worse than anyone else.
The near future.
The climate crisis is unfolding and our generation is being judged.
The jurors? Children. But are they delivering justice, or serving revenge?

Meet the jurors...
Elise Alexander, Francis Dourado, Jowana El-Daquk, Will Gao, Pelumi Ibiloye, Mereana Tomlinson, Honor Kneafsey, Joe Locke, Rue Millwood, Charlie Reid Taya Tower and Jairaj Varsani.

Meet the defendants...
including Nigel Lindsay and Sharon Small.

The creative team is Designer: Georgia Lowe; Lighting Designer: Jai Morjaria; Sound Designer and Composer: Xana; Movement Directors: Anna Morrissey and Aaron Parsons; Video Designer: Nina Dunn; Voice Coach: Emma Woodvine; Associate Director: Joseph Hancock; Sustainability Consultants: Julie’s Bicycle; Production Dramatherapist: Wabriya King.

The Trials received its world première at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus in 2021, and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

August 12-27 at Donmar Warehouse in London.

THE INCONVENIENT MIRACLE: A MYSTERIOUS BIRTH MUSICAL Music & Lyrics by Emily Rose Simons. Book by Emily Claire Schmitt.

Directed by Ria T. DiLullo.

When Abigail, the most popular girl at school and a self-described prophet, declares that Vanessa Rosales, the lone atheist, will be the next Virgin Mary, Vanessa responds by punching Abigail in the face. This lands her in detention with Sister Florence, the last remaining nun on campus, who has been begging God for any sign of His existence. Vanessa may be the miracle Florence is looking for, but not in the way either of them expected. The Inconvenient Miracle: A Mysterious Birth Musical is a wholehearted musical exploration of faith, the unknown, self-identification, consent, choice, and healing friendship in a broken world.

The cast will feature Nicola Barrett, Deijah Faulkner, Bella Anaya Hathorne, Morgan Misk, Ellen Orchid, Karen Joy Pangantihon, Samantha Streich, and Cecilia Vanti.

The creative team will include Lighting Design by Leanna Keyes, Costume Design by Caterine Sanchez, Choreography by Kal Leski, and Fight Direction by Luzmyrna Crespo with Musical Director Simon Broucke, Stage Manager Daniel Scarantino, and Production Assistant Callie Considine.

August 11-27 at The Episcopal Actors Guild in New York City.

MR. HOLLAND'S OPUS new screen-to-stage adaptation with a book, lyrics, and direction by BD Wong and music by Wayne Barker.

Directed by BD Wong.

Explore the empowering and lasting influence a music educator and the arts has on his students, his family, and his community in "the most emotionally compelling production ever to grace The Playhouse stage." Mr. Holland's Opus tells the story of a frustrated composer who finds purpose as a beloved and inspirational school music teacher.

Akron Watson will lead the cast. Joining Watson will be Anastasia Barzee as Iris Holland, Joshua Castille as Cole Holland, Veanne Cox as Helen Chae-Jacobs, Chris Orbach as Bill Meister, Timothy Gulan as Eugene Wolters, Kai An Chee as Rowena, Napoleon Douglas as Louis, Yannick-Robin Eike as Bobby Toti, Mary Hould as Natalie, Abeba Isaac as Shondi, Louis Jannuzzi III as Stadler, Angel Lin as Gertrude, Matt Magnusson as Jim Stahlen, Maggie McNeil as Stadler's Mom, Noax as Leonard, Timmy Ong as Lamont, Troy Valjean Rucker as Louis Rus Sr., and Rodrigo Torrejón as Manny.

Rounding out the company in the ensemble will be Stephanie Cha, Jenn Chandler, Francesca Dawis, Tyrone Kiaku, Cat Patterson, Natalie Powers, Garrett Shin, and Nathan Wright, along with understudy Joey Antonio, who also serves as director of artistic sign language. The production will also feature a community chorus comprising young singers from Maine and throughout New England.

The creatives are: choreographer and associate director Darren Lee, music director Kevin Stites, scenic and costume designer Lex Liang, lighting designer Jonathan Spencer, projection designer Caite Hevner, sound designer Kevin Heard, and wig designer Kevin Heard. The production is cast by Michael Cassara, and Nikki Lint is serving as production stage manager. Randy Cohen Keyboard Programmer.

Begins August 13 at Ogunquit Playhouse in Ogunquit, Maine and will continue through September 10, 2022.

CLUE Based on the screenplay by Jonathan Lynn.Written by Sandy Rustin. Additional Material by Hunter Foster and Eric Price. Based on the Paramount Pictures Motion Picture. Based on the Hasbro board game CLUE.

Directed by Brandon Weinbrenner.

A sleuth-lover's play
Was?it?Mrs. Peacock in the study with the knife?
Or Colonel Mustard in the library with the wrench?
You’ll be dying of laughter and guessing until the final twist.
Clue Cast: Elizabeth Bunch as Mrs. White, Michelle Elaine as Miss Scarlet, Dylan Godwin as Wadsworth, Shawn Hamilton as The Unexpected Cop/Chief of Police/Newscaster, Chris Hutchison as Mr. Boddy/The Motorist/Back Up Cop, Susan Koozin as Mrs. Peacock, Melissa Molano as The Cook/Singing Telegram Girl/Back Up Cop, Melissa Pritchett as Yvette, David Rainey as Colonel Mustard, Christopher Salazar as Mr. Green, Todd Waite as Professor Plum, and understudies Alan Brincks and Mai Le.

Now through August 28 at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas.

E-Book

Soft back Book

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

NICHELLE NICHOLS actress, singer, dancer, advocate, died July 30, 2022 in Silver City, New Mexico, She was 89.

Best known for her portrayal of Nyota Uhura in Star Trek she began her career as a dancer and on stage. Nichols' break came in an appearance in Kicks and Co., Oscar Brown's highly touted but ill-fated 1961 musical. In a thinly veiled satire of Playboy magazine, she played Hazel Sharpe, a voluptuous campus queen who was being tempted by the devil and Orgy Magazine to become "Orgy Maiden of the Month". Although the play closed after a short run in Chicago, Nichols attracted the attention of Hugh Hefner, the publisher of Playboy, who booked her for his Chicago Playboy Club. She also appeared in the role of Carmen for a Chicago stock company production of Carmen Jones and performed in a New York production of Porgy and Bess.

Nichols toured the United States, Canada, and Europe as a singer with the Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton bands. On the West Coast, she appeared in The Roar of the Greasepaint and For My People and she garnered high praise for her performance in the James Baldwin play Blues for Mister Charlie. Prior to being cast as Lieutenant Uhura in Star Trek, Nichols was a guest actress on television producer Gene Roddenberry's first series The Lieutenant (1964) in an episode, "To Set It Right", which dealt with racial prejudice.

After the cancellation of Star Trek, Nichols volunteered her time in a special project with NASA to recruit minority and female personnel for the space agency.[3] She began this work by making an affiliation between NASA and a company which she helped to run, Women in Motion.

She is survived by her daughter Kyle Johnson.

Next Column: August 14, 2022
Copyright: August 7, 2022 All Rights Reserved. Reviews, Interviews, Commentary, Photographs or Graphics from any Broadway To Vegas (TM) columns may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, utilized as leads, or used in any manner without permission, compensation and/or credit.
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Laura Deni

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