Broadway To Vegas

Copyright: November 21, 2021
By: Laura Deni
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WILL THE THANKSGIVING PLAY BECOME AN ANTHEM FOR THANKSGIVING?

MacArthur genius grant recipient Larissa FastHorse,

It ranks among the most produced plays in the United States and most people have never heard of it.

The Thanksgiving Play.

Penned by MacArthur genius grant recipient Larissa FastHorse, who is from South Dakoka and a member of the Sicangu Lakota Nation. FastHorse is currently a member of the Playwright’s Union and on Theatre Communications Group board of directors.She and Ty Defoe also have a consulting company, Indigenous Direction and she is a part of Native Voices at the Autry Museum.

The Thanksgiving Play which concerns Native American Month and Thanksgiving, was born on paper in an estate in Ireland. FastHorse has been awarded the Joe Dowling Annaghmakerrig Fellowship in 2015 from Joseph Haj at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Within this fellowship she could go to Tyrone Guthrie’s estate in Ireland, which is where she began writing the play. Having conceived and researched the idea in the USA, she then wrote the first draft in ten days while in the Irish countryside.

The Thanksgiving Play is biting satire - how does one celebrate Thanksgiving and Native American Heritage Month at the same time? This is the question facing a troupe of four earnestly progressive theatre-makers as thry scramble to devise a play that is historically accurate, avoids all stereotypes, and doesn’t offend anyone. Glorious chaos ensues in this script which skewers both its characters’ pretensions and the traditional "Thanksgiving Story."

The Thanksgiving Play began it's life at U.C. Berkeley in 2015 for its first reading and a workshop. At Berkeley, it was directed by Paige Johnson and cast with students of the New Play Practicum. The Thanksgiving Play then table hopped to Portland, Oregon at the Artists Repertory Theatre where a reading took place for the staff of the theatre.

After Portland, The Thanksgiving Play was a part of the Play Lab menu during the 2016/2017 season at Center Stage in Baltimore, Maryland. It was directed by Gavin Witt, who is also the Associate Director and Director of Dramaturgy at Center Stage.

After a demi meal in Baltimore, The Thanksgiving Play had a Portland encore for a table/room/stage finishing Commission at the Artists Rep. After Portland, there was another workshop in early 2017 at The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis. The Thanksgiving Play premiered at Playwrights Horizons in New York City on October 12, 2018.

Since then it has been on the warpath around the country.

There was a full production in November, 2019, at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, California. Directed by Michael John Garces featuring Noah Bean, Alexandra Henrikson, Jeff Marlow and Samathan Sloyan the play was mounted at the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater of the Geffen playhouse in 2019.

An online production starring Bobby Cannavale, Keanu Reeves, Heidi Schreck and Alia Shawkat and directed by Leigh Silverman was produced in March 2021. The text was updated to reflect the new context, with the characters rehearsing the titular play over Zoom. The performance included interstitials directed, designed, and performed by Ty Defoe.

Last month The Thanksgiving Play was mounted at the Olney Centre Theatre with Meghan Graves, Dani Stoller and David Schiumpf. The Washington Post stated: that the play "takes a caring knife to wokendom"

Celebrating Thanksgivng early was a benefit for the Actors Fund last March 26th. Directed by Leigh Silverman The Thanksgiving Play starred Bobby Cannavale, Keanu Reeves, Heidi Schreck and Alia Shawkat. The play was available to stream through November 1, 2021.

Last January Audible Audio released an audio version published by L.A. Theatre Works starring narrators Ellis Greer, Josh Stamberg, Mark Jude Sullivan and Liza Weil.

Red Herring Theater Company in Columbus, Ohio is presenting the Columbus premiere which opened November 4, 2021 with productions through November 21.

The Kitchen Thetre Company is staging the play through November 21, 2021. Directed by Margaret Perry the production in Ithaca, New York stars Ginna Hoben, Matthew Boston, Maggie Lou Rader nd Alex Curtis.

In Pittsburgh, PA the play runs at the Arcade Comedy Theater through November 23 and December 2-5 Their mounting of the one act play stars Matt Henderson, Rachel Pfenningwert and Evelyn Hernandez.

Brazosport College Theatre's newest production, The Thanksgiving Play, opened to the community on November 18 running through yesterday, Saturday, November 20. The play was performed at the Theatre in the Glen on the Brazosport College campus in Lake Jackson, TX. Cast members include Jay Adcock, MaKayla Dunn, Carrie Baker and Austin Nachtegale.

iTheatre Collaborative a member of the Theatre Communications Group in Phoenix, Arizona mounted the fast paced satire November 5-20.

The Hickory Theatre Organization's staging was November 5-20 in Hickory, North Carolina.

October was a popular month for the play.

The University of Kentucky staged The Thanksgiving Play October 14–17, 2021 which was presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French Inc.

October was the month that The Quick Center's Resident Theatre Company in Fairfield, Connecticut presented the show. Last month the Reno Little Theatre in Reno, Nevada stage the play directed by Dwight George starred Hannah Widehat, Nui Phonphila, Mike Muren and Leila Rosa.

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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

DURER'S JOURNEYS: TRAVELS OF A RENAISSANCE ARTIST

Friday, December 10, 2021 - Saturday, December 11, 2021 a major academic conference exploring Albrecht Dürer's travels across Europe takes place.

The first major UK exhibition of German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer in nearly 20 years.

Through paintings, drawings, prints, and letters, this exhibition follows Dürer’s travels across Europe, bringing to life the artist himself, and the people and places he visited.

Charting his journeys to the Alps, Italy, Venice and the Netherlands, the exhibition explores how Dürer’s travels sparked an exchange of ideas with Netherlandish and Italian Renaissance artists, fueled his curiosity and creativity, and increased his fame and influence across Europe.

'Dürer’s Journeys' brings together loans from museums and private collections across the world, including the artist's striking ‘Madonna and Child’ (c. 1496/1499) from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, never before seen in the UK.

Exhibition organized by the National Gallery in partnership with the Suermondt-Ludwig Museum, Aachen.

November 20, 2021 – February 27, 2022 in the Sainsbury Wing of The National Museum in London.

LIFE BETWEEN ISLANDS: CARIBBEAN BRITISH ART Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1905s- This landmark exhibition explores the extraordinary breadth of Caribbean-British art over four generations.

It is the first time a major national museum has told this story in such depth, showcasing 70 years of culture, experiences and ideas expressed through art, from visionary paintings to documentary photography.

The exhibition features over 40 artists, including those of Caribbean heritage as well as those inspired by the Caribbean, such as Ronald Moody, Frank Bowling, Sonia Boyce, Claudette Johnson, Peter Doig, Hew Locke, Steve McQueen, Grace Wales Bonner and Alberta Whittle, working across film, photography, painting, sculpture and fashion.

At Tate Britain in London.

COMPANION SPECIES an insightful and timely exhibition that places works of art from Native and non-Native artists in conversation with each other. Its centerpiece is Marie Watt’s vibrant textile “Companion Species (Speech Bubble)” of 2019, in which community members stitched words such as “mother,” “we” and “ancestor” onto pieces of reclaimed red wool blankets. Through an innovative and frequently playful installation of works from 200 B.C.E. to the present day, the exhibition considers the importance of community, reciprocity and fellowship with animals and nature.

The exhibition is organized into three thematic sections: Storytelling, Relationships and Community. The first section, Storytelling, relates how visual narratives can convey moral or personal lessons or cultivate collective memory. These artists understand that their audiences may more easily access stories when animals and nature represent abstract concepts.

The second section, Relationships, explores how Native and non-Native artists across time have depicted animals, used animal materials and reinforced the value of relationships between various species, in their artworks. Often in these works the boundaries between species are blurred, with humans looking to animals to model understanding and acceptance.

The artists represented in the third section, Community, expand its definition to include animals, plants and the land. By depicting and embracing collective activities, such as sewing circles, dancing or hunting, these practitioners reinforce that we are all connected, with new communities born when cross-cultural understanding is fostered.

Among the artists included in the exhibition are Norman Akers, Rick Bartow, Louise Bourgeois, Julie Buffalohead, Charles Burchfield, Beth Cavener, Tony Da, Lesley Dill, Jim Dine, Lela Naranjo Gutierrez and Luther Gutierrez, Laurel Roth Hope, Gina Litherland, Merina Lujan, Quincy Tahoma, Rufino Tamayo and Eah Ha Wa.

Companion Species and its national tour is organized by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, and Art Bridges Foundation, in collaboration with the Museum of Native American History. On view at the Chazen through Dec. 30, 2021. The Chazen Museum of Art makes its home between two lakes on the beautiful campus of the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

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SWEET CHARITY

RUBEN BLADES who not only took home top honors at Wednesday night's Latin Grammy Awards but was also honored by The Latin Recording Academy as its 2021 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year. The sold out, star studded Gala honoring Rubén Blades, with moving renditions of some of Blades’ renowned repertoire featuring past and current Latin Grammy Awards nominees including Ángela Aguilar, Christina Aguilera, María Becerra, Eduardo Cabra, Andrés Calamaro, Sofia Carson, Oscar D’León, Farruko, Flor de Toloache, Lasso, Beatriz Luengo, Marc Anthony, Rafa Pabón, René Pérez, Milly Quezada, Rozalén, Joaquín Sabina, María Toledo, Diego Torres, Vicentico, Carlos Vives and Yotuel.

An eight-time Latin Grammy and nine-time Grammy-winner, singer-songwriter, producer, musician, actor and activist, Rubén Blades was honored for his continued commitment to fighting for social justice around the world by supporting initiatives that raise awareness towards political oppression, hunger, poverty, and more. Through his music, with songs such as "Prohibido Olvidar," "Buscando América" and "Desapariciones," he has been a champion for positive, meaningful change in Latin communities and beyond.

Taking place at the Michelob Ultra Arena at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas the event featured guest appearances via video segments by Michael Bublé, Lila Downs, Jorge Drexler, Erika Ender, Juan Luis Guerra, Natalia Lafourcade, Tania Libertad, Luba Mason, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Alejandro Sanz, Paul Simon and Sting. Roberto Delgado & Orquesta accompanied the performers onstage throughout the night, and the band was also joined by talented artists Egidio Cuadrado, Mayte Montero, Ismael Guijarro, Marc Quiñones and Bobby Allende, who provided the audience with original and unique interpretations of Blades’ songs. The concert ended with a standing ovation after a stellar rendition of "Pedro Navaja" performed by Blades himself.

The stage design was the largest live event production to date by The Latin Academy — and included a nod to Blades’ love of theater and Broadway — with enhanced, state-of-the-art video and mapping technology.

Gustavo Borner, who has received 11 Latin Grammys and five Grammys, was in charge of the sound for the night. The talent coordination fell under the management of Moon Moosic, Inc., the musical director for the evening was three-time Latin Grammy and two-time Grammy winner conductor, arranger, and bass musician Roberto Delgado.

Net proceeds from the 2021 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year Gala will go toward the charitable work of the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation, whose mission is to further international awareness and appreciation of the significant contributions of Latin music and its makers to the world's culture. The Foundation provides college scholarships, educational programs and grants for the research and preservation of its rich musical legacy and heritage, and to date has donated more than $6.5 million with the support of Latin Recording Academy members, artists, corporate sponsors and other generous donors.

COMEDY GIVES BACK realizes the importance of work/life balance and its critical impact on the productivity and general well-being of each and every one. They also understand that "work related pressure, or stress, don’t stay in the office when we go home to our loved ones, and at times might also get amplified by additional, more personal, aspects of our lives."

"For comedians, being on stage alone is part of the job. Feeling alone offstage is unacceptable. Founded in 2011, CGB used stand-up comedy to raise money and awareness for various causes. But after losing too many comedians to mental health issues, we changed our focus to take care of our own. It is Comedy Gives Back’s mission to provide financial crisis relief, mental health and chemical dependency treatment and community support.

"Which is why we are so excited to announce that Comedy Gives Back has partnered with BetterHelp - the world’s largest therapy provider - in extending an additional layer of support to our comedians and their loved ones, providing access to professional counseling, Anytime, Anywhere.

Comedy Gives Back Connect, “Ask an Agent,” on Tuesday, November 30th at 5:00pm PT/8:00pm ET. The panel will include Innovative Artists’s head of The Alternative and Unscripted Department, Rabih Gholam and more! This Connect will focus on the various different types of agencies that exist, the services they provide, advice they have to offer, and how having an agent can benefit a comedian’s career. Join as they tell stories, give advice and take part in a Q&A which will be moderated by comedy journalist, Sara Dahms.

CAMILLA, THE DUCHESS OF CORNWALL delivered an impassioned address at a reception ahead of the Shameless! Festival in London next month, which plans to bring art and activism together to combat attitudes towards sexual violence.

“This country has been appalled and saddened by the loss of women to violence this year. On average, one woman is killed by a man every three days,” Camilla said. “Sarah Everard, Sabina Nessa, Wenjing Lin, Geetika Goyal and Bennylyn Burke are names which, with all the others, must never be forgotten.”

She continued: “We do not, in any way, hold all men responsible for sexual violence. But we do need them all aboard to tackle it. After all, rapists are not born, they are constructed. And it takes an entire community -- male and female -- to dismantle the lies, words and actions that foster a culture in which sexual assault is seen as normal, and in which it shames the victim.”

Shameless Fetival! is a one day festival of Activism against Sexual Violence, taking place November 27, 2021 at the Battersea Arts Centre in London.

Created in collaboration by The SHaME Project and WOW – Women of the World, Shameless! will feature talks by high profile speakers, survivors, researchers and medical professionals, alongside performances by incredible artists, poets and musicians, as well as interactive workshops, ‘how to’ clinics and wellness spaces.

The festival line-up includes WOW Founder Jude Kelly; prizewinning author Professor Joanna Burke; Founder of Black Minds and UK Slam champion Rachel Nwokoro; best selling author and survivor Winnie M Li; Humanitarian and activist Payzee Mahmod; Soma Sara, the Founder of Everyone’s Invited; poet in residence for the Consent Collective Tanaka Mhishi; authors Laura Bates and Rachel Thompson; Academic Dr Rabiya Majeed-Ariss and award winning podcaster Sangeeta Pillai.

The orgnization is "an interdisciplinary research hub for scholarship on the interlinks between sexual violence, medicine, and psychiatry. Sexual harms are experienced by people across different societies and are often shrouded in complex feelings around shame. We aim to move beyond shame to address this global health crisis."

The interntional advisory bord includes: Lord Ian Blair, Baron Blair of Boughton London
Professor Susan Brownmiller Independent Scholar, New York
Professor Ivan Crozier Independent Scholar, Marseille
Professor Philip Dwyer University of Newcastle (Australia)
Dr Carine Minne London
Professor Carine M. Mardorossian University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Professor Stephen M. Robertson George Mason University
Professor Jennifer Temkin City University London
Dr Regina Mühlhäuser SVAC (Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict) Hamburg Foundation for the Advancement of Research and Culture

SPREADING THE WORD

JULIUS JONES a man most feel is innocent, who has been on death row for over 20 years, had his death sentence commuted last Thursday - just a few hours before he was set for execution - by the Governor of Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt.

Despite serious questions in the case, Jones still faces a sentence of life without parole for the 1999 shooting murder of affluent businessman Paul Howel,

See Broadway To Vegas column of September 12, 2021

MACY'S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE the holiday tradition which has been stepping off since 1924 will march down the streets of New York City on November 25 with several Broadway shows participating. Those hoofing it to musical beats include 20 matching bands plus Broadway shows: Six, Moulin Rouge!, and Wicked, plus NBC's upcoming Annie Live!.

Additional performers include newly engaged Kristin Chenoweth and Darren Criss, both of whom have new holiday albums out this season, along with Jordan Fisher, the high kicking Rockettes, Ballet Hispánico, and the cast of Girls5Eva.

There will also be 15 iconic high flying character balloons, including a new Baby Yoda.

The world's largest parade will be broadcast on NBC.

AUDIBLE THEATER: APPROVAL JUNKIE Faith Salie in conversation with Josh Gondelman takes place o line Tuesday, November 30 presented by 92Y in New York City.

Join Emmy Award-winning comedian and journalist Faith Salie with writer and comic Josh Gondelman on Audible’s new production of Faith’s one-woman show Approval Junkie. A hilarious and heartbreaking account of looking for validation in all the wrong places, Approval Junkie is a deeply personal ode to self-acceptance showcasing Faith Salie’s talent as both writer and performer. Watch her and Gondelman discuss how the show came to be — the line between real life and performance, reckoning with the impulse to seek approval, candid stories that didn’t make it into the show, and much more.

GEORGE STREET PLAYHOUSE in New Brunswick, New Jersey has welcomed Holly Garman of HMG Public Relations who has come aboard as a press representative.

THE OFFICIAL LATIN GRAMMY AFTER PARTY ended a successful Latin Grammy Week honoring excellence in Latin music on Thursday, November 18, at Hakkasan Nightclub, in Las Vegas immediately following the 22nd Annual Latin Grammy Awards.

Attendees celebrated the festivities on the dance floor at the 80,000-square-foot venue to the beats of Mr. Pauer, known for "Electrópico," his Miami-born signature sound fusing salsa, zouk, reggae, cumbia, dancehall, merengue, kuduro and other genres with electronic dance music.

Latin Grammy winner and legendary jazz trumpeter Charlie Sepúlveda treated guests with an eclectic ensemble of renowned musicians at the Latin Jazz Lounge. Among his special guests: 2021 Best Latin Jazz/Jazz Album nominee Roxana Amed, 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award honorees Sheila E. and Pete Escovedo, singer/songwriter and past Latin Grammy nominee Lupita Infante, past Latin Grammy winners and this year’s Best Traditional Tropical Album nominees Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Jon Secada, past Latin Grammy winner Manuel Tejada and 2021 Best Merengue/Bachata Album nominee Fernando Villalona.

In addition, Mastercard staged a special performance by brand ambassadors Domino Saints, an urban music duo from Puerto Rico, and TURESPAÑA presented a flamenco show, Arcángel, highlighting the traditional Spanish artform.

DID YOU KNOW THAT Handel composed his famed Messiah is a mere 24 days.

OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY

THE OLD GLOBE THEATRE in San Diego, CA has received more than $1 million in contributions from the California Bank & Trust since 1987.

The Tony Award winning venue has named the financial institute an Extraordinary Leader, recognized in the Globe’s program book and with a paver on the Globe’s Copley Plaza.

California Bank & Trust, then known as Grossmont Bank, made its first $10,000 contribution to the Globe 34 years ago. In 1998, the bank was acquired by Zions Bancorporation and became California Bank & Trust.

Since then, CB&T has been a Globe Corporate Partner, providing extensive volunteer and financial contributions to the Globe. Retired Senior Vice President and now brand ambassador Sandra Redman has served on the Globe’s Board of Directors since 2005 and is instrumental in ensuring the bank’s generous support of the Globe, including for the annual fund and the Globe’s Securing a San Diego Landmark Capital and Endowment Campaign. That campaign redesigned the Copley Plaza and built the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, a 250-seat arena-style theatre, at the center of the Globe’s campus, opening in 2009.

In 2021, CB&T was one of the sponsors of Hair, The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, which played in the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre. In past seasons, CB&T has sponsored Ken Ludwig’s Robin Hood!, Boeing-Boeing, Antony and Cleopatra, Henry V, Floyd Collins, God of Carnage, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Meteor Shower, and Romeo and Juliet.

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IAMA THEATRE COMPANY in Los Angeles has selected a diverse set of playwrights to join its third annual Class of ‘22 Under 30 Playwrights Lab.

Emerging Los Angeles-based writers Sowmya Ashokkumar, A'raelle Flynn-Bolden, Karyn Peyton, Ebony Priddie, Dylan Schifrin and Daysha Veronica each brings a unique voice and point of view to the IAMA table.

The Under 30 Lab provides an artistic home for the next generation of L.A. playwrights and is an integral building block of IAMA’s mission to foster young, hip and modern storytelling. Over the course of this one-year residency, the writers will meet on a monthly basis to share and develop their work in a peer-guided format led by Under 30 alum and program director, Nicholas Pilapil. Members of the Lab will also be given dramaturgical support from the artistic and literary staff at IAMA, as well as a ticket to each of IAMA's mainstage and virtual productions. The Lab will culminate in a public presentation of the members’ work.

IAMA accepts submissions on an annual rolling basis; applicants must be between the ages of 18 and 29 and must be Los Angeles-based.



A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens; adapted by Michael Wilson.

Directed by José Carrasquillo.

Join the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future as they lead the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge on a journey of transformation and redemption. Director of Artistic Programming José Carrasquillo directs this newly reimagined production based on Michael Wilson’s Radio Play adaptation, featuring traditional caroling and new staging throughout. Acclaimed actor Craig Wallace returns to play Ebenezer Scrooge in this joyful holiday treat for the whole family.

Begins November 23, 2021 with performances through December 27, 2021 at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC.

HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY ITCH Starring Mason Alexander Park as Hedwig.

The revolutionary punk-rock sensation comes to Olney Theatre Center. In the crossfire of cold wars and culture wars, Hedwig is a survivor, and not just of a botched sex change operation that left her with the aformentioned "Angry Inch". Transported to America, she is chasing rock stardom and though the band may be stuck in some seedy dive while Tommy Gnosis, her one-time protege and lover plays the stadium across the street, Hedwig's tale is bound for punk rock glory. For those who like their music loud, Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a rock 'n' roll musical that incorporates a cabaret confessional, drag, and a heart of gold, guarded by barbed wire and sequin spiked heels.

November 26 - January 2, 2022 at the Olney Theatre Center in Olney, MD.

THE ALCHEMIST by Ben Johnson. Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher.

Directed by Jesse Berger.

Featuring Nathan Christopher, Stephen DeRosa, Carson Elrod, Manoel Felciano, Teresa Avia Lim, Jacob Ming-Trent, Louis Mustillo, Reg Rogers, Jennifer Sánchez, and Allen Tedder.

"Ben Jonson’s Jacobean jack-in-the-box of a play is a side-splitting, screwball farce of magical proportions. London. 1606. It’s plague time again. When a wealthy gentleman flees to the country, his trusted servant opens his house to a pair of con artists and sets up a den of criminal capitalism. Claiming alchemical powers, the quick-witted trio fleece an onslaught of greedy sheep with their virtuoso ability to improvise amidst increasingly frantic comings and goings. It’s comic gold with dupes, double-dupes, duels, disguises, and a lucky flea named 'Lewis.'"

The creative team includes Alexis Distler (scenic design), Tilly Grimes (costumes), Cha See (lighting), Greg Pliska (sound), Deborah Hecht (dialect and voice), and Rick Sordelet (action movement). Scholar Tanya Pollard will serve as dramaturg.

Performances at New World Stages in New York City for a limited Off-Broadway engagement through December 19th only.

SCHTICK A POLE IN IT New York City's only comedy and pole dancing show, has announced new performance dates November 27, 2021 - January 22, 2022 for its open-ended run at Drom in the East Village. Hailed as one of the city’s “Top 5 Comedy Shows to Catch” by The NY Times this is an entertainment mashup you will literally not find anywhere else. Combining the aerial artistry of the city’s best pole dancers with the comic chops of its funniest stand-ups, SCHTICK is an evening of sexy, hilarious, eye-popping, jaw-dropping fun.

Hosted by comedy power couple Dan Goodman and JoAnna Ross, every month’s show features a different music theme from Cardi B to Frank Sinatra, Queen to Hamilton and Megan Thee Stallion to Led Zeppelin.

Comics for the November 27 show include Calvin Cato (Oxygen’s “My Crazy Love,” National Geographic’s “Brain Games”), Anthony DeVito (“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” “Comedy Central Presents”), Ophira Eisenberg (Host of NPR’s “Ask Me Another”), Dan Goodman (Fusion Network, Skinja!) and JoAnna Ross (Original Broadway Cast of Footloose). Dancers include Victoria Finehout-Vigil (Queen of the Night, Kanye West), Niara Lucas Eustace (Pole Art Italy), Lara Michaels (US Pole Dance Federation/USPDF National Champion 2017), Brittnai Pytlar (USPDF Miss Sexy 2019), Patricia Yndigoyen (North American Pole Champ 2018) and Jenny Zhou (Ms. Pole Dance Japan finalist).

O. HENRY'S CHRISTMAS BY INJUNCTION AND DICK SPINDLER'S FAMILY CHRISTMAS by Bret Harte, adapted by ELTC's artistic director Gayle Stahlhuth.

"There are three cousins, a half-uncle, a kind of brother-in-law – that is, the brother of my sister-in-law’s second husband – and a niece. That's six. But I've never met 'em, and I want to give them a Christmas party, and I'd like you to run it for me," explained Dick Spindler to the widow Huldy Price. How this Christmas party comes together in the town of Rough and Ready is all part of the fun in "Dick Spindler's Family Christmas by Bret Harte.

Meanwhile, another miner, Cherokee, wants to share his new-found fortune with old friends and all the children in Yellowhammer - a town whose youngest citizen uses a safety razor. How the townsfolk try to make Cherokee's Christmas plans come true is at the core of O. Henry's humorous and touching story, Christmas by Injunction.

Francis Bret Harte (1839-1902) signed a contract with "The Atlantic Monthly" in 1971 to write twelve stories in one year for $10,000, the most that had ever been offered an American writer up to that time. O. Henry (William Sydney Porter, 1862-1910) adopted his pseudonym while serving time in prison. The creator of one of the most popular Christmas stories of all time, The Gift of the Magi, died with 23 cents in his pocket.

For eight performances only, both Western Christmas tales come to life when the award-winning Equity professional East Lynne Theater Company presents Christmas with Harte and O'Henry on Friday and Saturday, November 26 and 27; Sunday, December 5; Thursday through Saturday, December 9, 10 and 11, with special Saturday matinees on November 27 and December 11. Performances of "Christmas with Harte and O. Henry are at The Cape May Presbyterian Church, where the company is in residence.

ELTC is also collecting non-perishable items for the Food Closet.

FLYING OVER SUNSET a new musical with a book and direction by James Lapine, music by Tom Kitt, lyrics by Michael Korie.

Choreography by Michelle Dorrance, . the MacArthur grant winner, who is making her theatrical debut as the show’s choreographer.

Featuring Carmen Cusack, Kanisha Marie Feliciano, Harry Hadden-Paton, Nehal Joshi, Emily Pynenburg, Michele Ragusa, Robert Sella, Laura Shoop, Atticus Ware, and Tony Yazbeck. Aria Braswell, Danny Gardner, Kate Marilley, Patrick Scott McDermott, Tony Roach, and Michael Winther understudy various roles.

Set in the 1950's, Flying Over Sunset is a work of fiction inspired by the lives of three extraordinary and accomplished people - writer Aldous Huxley (played by Harry Hadden-Paton); playwright, diplomat, and congresswoman, Clare Boothe Luce (Carmen Cusack); and film legend Cary Grant (Tony Yazbeck) - each of whom in real life experimented with the drug LSD. At a crossroads in their lives the three come together, and under the influence of the drug, take a trip and confront the mysteries of their lives and their world.

The creatives are: sets by Beowulf Boritt, costumes by Toni-Leslie James, lighting by Bradley King, sound by Dan Moses Schreier, projections by 59 Productions, and casting by The Telsey Office, with orchestrations by Michael Starobin, and music direction by Kimberly Grigsby. Rick Steiger is the Production Stage Manager.

The Lincoln Center Theater's production is mounted at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in New York City.

E-Book

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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

BOB BONDURANT champion race car driver and founder of The Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving died November 12, 2021. He was 88.

From the age of 23 to 34, Bob became one of the most iconic race car drivers in the world. He had won the National Corvette Title, Le Mans GT, the World Championship, and the Baja 500. Between 1961 and 1963, he won 30 out of 32 races in Corvettes. Bob is the first and only American to bring the World SportsCar Championship trophy home to America in the legendary Carroll Shelby Daytona Coupe #26. He then rose to the highest level in racing with Ferrari in Formula 1 and prototypes.

He has been inducted into ten motorsports halls of fame. Bondurant Racing School was founded in 1968 and has graduated celebrities for car movies like James Garner, Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, Nicholas Cage, and Christian Bale, along with over 500,000 graduates from around the world.

He is survived by his wife, Pat.

ED BULLINS one of the leading playwrights of the Black Arts Movement, Bullins wrote works including the 1975 Obie-winning The Taking of Miss Janie.laywright died November 13, 2021 in Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts. He was 86.

Sometimes publishing as Kingsley B. Bass Jr, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship.

He was also associated with the Black Panther Party, for which he was the minister of culture in the 1960s.

After completing his G.E.D., Bullins enrolled in Los Angeles City College and began writing short stories for Citadel, a magazine he started.[2] In 1964, he moved to San Francisco and joined the creative writing program at San Francisco State College, where he started writing plays. Clara's Ole Man, which premiered on August 5, 1965, at San Francisco's Firehouse Repertory Theatre, is about an Ivy Leaguer who meets the titular Clara and several other "strange and unpleasant characters" who show her the "realities of ghetto life". It turns out that "Clara's ole man" is actually Clara's partner, a woman.

From 1973, he was playwright-in-residence at the American Place Theatre. He founded the Bronx-based Surviving Theatre, active from 1974 to around 1980. From 1975 to 1983, he was on staff at the Public Theater with the New York Shakespeare Festival's Writers' Unit. During these years, Bullins wrote two children's plays, titled I Am Lucy Terry and The Mystery of Phillis Wheatley. He also wrote the text for two musicals, titled Sepia Star (1977) and Storyville (1979).

Bullins later returned to school, and received a bachelor's degree in English and playwriting from Antioch University in San Francisco. As of the late 1980s, Bullins taught drama at the City College of San Francisco. In 1995, he became a professor at Northeastern University.

In addition to Bullins's playwriting, he wrote short stories and novels, including The Hungered One and The Reluctant Rapist. which features Bullins's alter ego, Steve Benson, who appears in many of Bullins's works.

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Laura Deni

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