GRACE NOTES: Wednesday, February 17, 2021

 

Today’s Highlights:

* Virtual 2-Part Hamilton Tour – Part 2, offering history buffs the opportunity to explore the theatre district and NYC from their couches, begins streaming here.

* The Look of Love: A Valentines’ Day Presentation, offering an array of artistic creations, conceived by Jonathan Fox & Jenny Sullivan, directed by Sullivan, featuring Meredith Baxter, Michael Gross, Gregory Harrison, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Amanda McBroom, and many more, concludes FREE streaming at Santa Barbara’s Ensemble Theatre Company.

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  GRACE NOTES Quote of the Week: “I’m a skilled professional actor. Whether or not I’ve any talent is beside the point.”  ~ Michael Caine

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  Video: Stars in the House, offering Black Theatre United’s “Behind the Scenes: Up Front,” co-hosted by Carin Ford and Lisa Dawn, joined by Theron Alexander, Anthony Jones, Mia Nel, and Kendra Moore.  (59:19)

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Off-Broadway’s Mint Theatre has announced upcoming on-demand filmed productions:

  Days to Come (available now through Feb. 21), by Lillian Hellman, directed by J.R. Sullivan, featuring Mary Bacon, Janie Brookshire, Larry Bull, Chris Henry Coffey, Dan Daily, Ted Deasy, Roderick Hill, Betsy Hogg, Kim Martin-Cotton, Geoffrey Allen Murphy, and Evan Zes.  A family drama set against the backdrop of labor strife in a small Ohio town which threatens to tear apart both town and family.

  Katie Roche (available through Mar. 28), by Teresa Deevy, directed by Jonathan Bank, featuring Margaret Daly, Patrick Fitzgerald, Jon Fletcher, David Friedlander, Jamie Jackson, John O’Creagh, Wrenn Schmidt, and Fiana Toibin. The play’s mercurial heroine is a servant girl whose romantic ambitions reach for the heavens.

  Women Without Men (Feb. 22 – Mar. 21), by Hazel Ellis, directed by Jenn Thompson, featuring Shannon Harrington, Joyce Cohen, Beatrice Tulchin, and Alexa Shae Niziak. A workplace drama laced with biting humor, set in the teachers’ lounge of a private girls’ boarding school in Ireland in the 1930s. The play explores the clash of conflicting natures and petty competitions that erupt amongst the school’s cloistered teaching staff.

  Yours Unfaithfully (Mar. 22 – May 16), by Miles Malleson, directed by Jonathan Bank, featuring Max von Essen, Mikaela Izquierdo, and Elisabeth Gray. An “un-romantic comedy” about the price of love. An intimate peek behind the closed doors of an open marriage. More than a story of an unconventional couple, the play is about what happens when our ideas clash with our emotions.

  A Picture of Autumn (Mar. 29 – May 23), by N.C. Hunter, directed by Gus Kaikkonen, featuring Helen Cespedes and George Morfogen. Set in Wiltshire, England in 1951, the play follows three aging members of the Denham family as they crawl through life in a monotonous rut.

  The Fatal Weakness (May 17 – June 13), by George Kelly, directed by Jesse Marchese, featuring Kristin Griffith, Victoria Mack, and Cliff Bemis. The story of Ollie Espenshake — and incurable romantic who discovers, after 18 years of marriage, that he husband is a lying cheat.

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The University of Montevallo has created the Rebecca Luker Scholarship for the college’s theatre students.

In addition, a stage in the university’s Center for the Arts will be named after her.

Donate by sending an email to giving@montevallo.edu.

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  DC’s Arena Stage has announced its 2021 digital season:

  Arena Riffs, (Mar. 17, Mar. 31, and Apr. 14. A new filmed 3-part commissioned musical series that features three different composer/lyricist teams, with musical selections infused with sounds of folk, indie, and hip-hop. Each musical will be 20-30 minutes long. The series includes the premiere of The Freewheelin’ Insurgents, written, composed & directed by Psalmayene ‘Psalm’ 24, featuring Louis Davis, Shannon Dorsey, Doug Fitch, Em Goldman, Raja Feather Kelly, Gary L. Perkins, Justin Weaks, Tony Thomas, and Nick “tha ide” Hernandez.

  “Indigenous Earth Voices,” a new theatrical film, which will explore the people’s relationship to the Earth. All of the artists involved in this film, including actors, directors, interviewees, and playwrights, are Indigenous. The film features six stories from locations throughout Canada and the United States focusing on stories of subsistence, family traditions, land rights, myths and legends, regalia, tribal rituals, treaties, and issues that impact Indigenous cultures.

  “Love Letter Experience,” delivered to mail boxes across the country. These stories, written by 6 playwrights, are based on interviews with tribal leaders and storytellers from many different tribes across Canada and the U.S.  Playwrights include Tara Beagan, Lee Cataluna, Dillon Chitto, Frank Henry Kaash Katassee, and Madeline Sayet. The “experience” includes letters, personal photos, and telegrams specifically designed and handcrafted with period details by the Arena Stage prop shop. Mailings will start in early March, with a new letter place in the mail twice a week. Recipients should expect to receive all 9 packets within the 6-week period.

  “Dear Jack. Dear Louise,” by Ken Ludwig. In 2019, Arena Stage introduced you to Louise Rabiner and Jacob Ludwig, parents of the playwright, and audiences fell in love with their heartwarming love story. Patron can now experience the magic of their connection and intimate journey through a series of nine letters of handwritten correspondence, including letters, photos, and telegrams designed and handcrafted with period details by Arena Stage’s Property Director Jenn Sheetz and Assistant Property Director Lance Pennington, and developed by the theatre’s Casting Director Teresa Sapien.

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Due to Covid-19, the forthcoming London production of C.P. Taylor’s Good, which was scheduled to run Apr. 21 – July 17, has been postponed.

The production will be rescheduled (dates TBA) to run at London’s Harold Pinter Theatre, and will star David Tennant, Fenella Woolgar, and Elliot Levery.

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  “The Broadway Cast Reunion Series,” a new weekly online chat show, hosted by Lee Lessack and Robert Bannon, is now available here.

 (so far):
Feb. 17:  Frozen cast
Feb. 24: Hadestown cast
Mar. 10: The Lion King, with Heather Headley
Mar. 24: Dear Evan Hansen
Apr. 7: The Jersey Boys: Everyone Remembers It They Need To, with Rick Elice, Marshall Brickman, and Des McAnuff.

The new chat show gives audiences an opportunity to get close to Broadway during the pandemic with in-person, live entertainment. The series offers online Broadway cast reunions of many major musicals unable to tour this season, providing audiences the chance to stay connected to some of their favorite performers in a unique way. It allows fans to do what they may never have done before: visit “backstage” with the cast and hear personal, hilarious, unscripted stories and gossip, as the casts really let their hair down in the off-the-cuff format. Attendees are able to interact with the cast and ask questions through the chat feature.

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  Video: The latest episode of “Broadway Profiles Show Spotlight Series”  highlights Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations.

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  “Little Me: Growing Up Broadway” has released a new episode here:

The first new episode (which will be released on Feb. 18) spotlights youth talent agent Nancy Carson, who was instrumental in the careers of Britney Spears, Cynthia Nixon, Lea Michele, Mandy Moore, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Miscia Barton, Ariana Grande, Ben Affleck, and Matt Damon.

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A one-night-only workshop production of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, conceived & directed by Igor Golyak, will stream Fri. Feb. 26 at 8 PM ET.    here.

Jessica Hecht (Ranevskaya), Anna Baryshnikov (Varya), Darya Denisova (Tramp), Jeffrey Hayenga (Fiers), Melanie Moore (Anya), Mark Nelson (Gaev), Nael Nacer  (Lopakhin), and Mikhail Baryshnikov (Anton Checkhov).v.

The event will fuse film, theater, and video game technology into the production, which draws from Chekhov’s play, his letters, dreams, and more. The online event accesses Chekhov’s desktop computer, where viewers discover six of his classic characters living in a virtual space, searching for happiness.

 

 


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