Today’s Highlights:
* #WhileWeBreathe: A Night of Creative Protest benefit event, written by Azure D. Osborne-Lee, Liza Jessie Peterson, Lee Edward Colston II), Arvind Ethan David, Cheryl Davis, Nathan Alan Davis, Steve Harper), Bianca Sams, Keenan Scott II, Aurin Squire, Khari Wyatt, and Karen Zacarias, directed by Carl Cofield, Kirya Traber, Tamara Tunie, Steve Broadnax III, Bianca LaVerne Jones, Patricia McGregor, Pratibha Parmar, and Charles Randolph-Wright, performed by Patina Miller, Lynn Whitfield, Alfie Fuller, Will Swenson, Marcus Henderson, Birgundi Baker, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Bryan Terrell Clark, Neil Brown Jr, Keith Eric Chappelle, Kevin R. Free, Chris Herbie Holland, Ty Jones, Lori Elizabeth Parquet, Esau Pritchett, Michele Shay, Hailey Stone, and TL Thompson, premieres at 9 PM ET here.
* Three Kings, virtual world premiere by Stephen Beresford, directed by Matthew Warchus, featuring Andrew Scott, begins streaming at London’s Old Vic.
* North Coast Rep‘s benefit iPhone version of Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking, directed by Jenny Sullivan, starring Linda Purl, streamed today through Aug. 2.
* A Conversation with Harry Connick Jr. livestreamed at 7 PM ET here.
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GRACE NOTES Quote of the Week: “Theater is life with the dull bits cut out.” ~ Alfred Hitchcock
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2020 Primetime Emmy Award nominations:
Click here for the complete list of nominations.
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Video: “Stars in the House,” celebrates the #SavetheArts campaign, with special guests Annette Bening, Alex Brightman, Kenny Leon, Marlee Matlin, Rosie Perez, Randy Rainbow, Marc Shaiman, and Sarah Silverman. (2:02:59)
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An online reading of Lydia R. Diamond’s Stick Fly, directed by Dell Howlett, will take place Sat. Aug. 1 at 2 PM ET here (and will remain available for 24 hours). The event features new original music composed & performed by Crystal Monee Hall.
Jelani Alladin (Kent), Daniel J. Watts (Flip), Rachelle Stewart (Taylor), Caroline Innerbichler (Kimber), Keith Randolph Smith (Dr. LeVay), and Renika Williams (Cheryl).
A pair of affluent African-American brothers bring home their respective girlfriends for a family weekend on Martha’s Vineyard, leading to rising tensions and unveiled secrets.
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The 2020 Venice Film Festival has announced its lineup.
Click here for the complete lineup of films (scroll down)
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The Seth Concert Series continues at Provincetown’s The Art House. 
here.
* Cheyenne Jackson (Aug. 2)
* Liz Callaway (Aug. 9)
* Stephanie J. Block (Aug. 16)
* Rachel Bay Jones (Aug. 23)
Each weekly show will premiere Sunday nights at 8 PM ET with a second showing on Mondays at 3 PM ET.
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Video: Today is the last day to watch the reading of Shaw’s Misalliance, adapted & directed by David Staller, featuring Marc delaCruz, Dan Domingues, Midori Francic, Peter Francis James, Teresa Avia Lim, Jamie Sanders, Thom Sesma, Ryan Spahn, and Sharon Washington. (2:47:04)
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NJ’s Paper Mill Playhouse will continue its Brookside Cabaret every Thursday & Saturday nights through September:
:
July 30: Erin Maguire: An Evening of Comedy and Song
Aug. 1: Louis Danowsky Trio: Broadway Blues
Aug. 6: Matt Castle
Aug. 8: Susan Speidel and Joe Regan
Aug. 13: Matt Castle
Aug. 15: Louis Danowsky Trio: Broadway Blues
Aug. 20: Elizabeth Ward Land with Matt Castle: A Linda Ronstadt Tribute
Aug. 22: Susan Speidel and Joe Regan
Aug. 27 & 29: Kelli Rabke, with John Fischer & Sean Harkness
Sept. 3: Elizabeth Ward Land with Matt Castle: A Linda Ronstadt Tribute
Sept. 5: Susan Speidel and Joe Regan
Sept. 10 & 12: Nicole Vanessa Ortiz
Sept. 17: Kyle Taylor Parker: An Evening of Broadway Soul
Sept. 19: TBA
Sept. 24: Dwayne Clark
Sept. 26: Rema Webb: A Tribute to Judy Garland and Ella Fitzgerald
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All Arts will present the U.S. premiere of “In This Life – An Exploration of Grief in Five Acts,” directed by Bat-Sheva Guez, and starring Robbie Fairchild, on Wed. Aug. 5 at 8 PM.
Robbie Fairchild, Warren Craft, James Alsop, Andrea Miller, and Christopher Wheeldon.
The film explores grief as a painful physical experience without words. It illustrates the five stages of grief through dance, narrative scenes, and performance art, coveying the complexity of loss in the often wordless way it impacts all our lives. It is the journey of grieving the person we used to be prior to the major loss, an accepting the new version of ourselves, often fraught with rage and pain.
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Video: Trailer for Tim Minchin’s upcoming Sundance series “Upright,” which will debut on Aug. 6. Two new episodes will drop every Thursday.
Tim Minchin, Heather Mitchell, Daniel Lapaine, Ella Scott Lynch, Daniel Frederiksen, and Asmara Feik.
The series follows shabby musician Lucky, who decides to drive across Australia to visit his dying mother one last time. With nothing but a piano, Lucky finds his baggage increased when runaway Meg comes into his life. Together, they traverse the outback.
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The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus has announced its annual benefit, Crescendo: Voices Rising, to take place Mon. Aug. 7 at 7 PM PT.
Billy Porter and Ariadne Getty.
Alex Newell, Okland Interfaith Gospel Choir, and more…
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Video: Jim Caruso’s Pajama Cast Party, featuring CJ Emmons, Lesli Margherita, Edmundh Bagnell, Tierney Sutton, Brian Eads, and Matthew Rodin. (1:25:18)
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RIP: Michael Mandell has died (cause of death and date not reported).
Michael made his Broadway debut in the original production of Big River, and went on to appear in the 2010 & 2012 productions of Elf. Off-Broadway he appeared in the original production of Romance in Hard Times, in addition to A New Brain, Bad Habits, and Machinal, along with countless regional credits. He also toured in It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues.
TV credits include “Glee,”” “Law & Order:SVU”, “Ugly Betty,” “I Love You Phillip Morris,” “New Year’s Eve,” and more.
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Play-PerView has announced its upcoming programming:
* Knife to the Heart (through July 30), by Stan Zimmerman & Christian McLaughlin, directed by Zimmerman, featuring Andrea Bowen, Wendie Malick, Todd Sherry, and Josh Zuckerman.
* “The Debrief” (July 31 at 3 PM), talk show, with Marin Ireland.
* Dutchman (Aug. 8 at 7 PM ET), by Amiri Baraka, directed by Robert Barry Fleming, and featuring Dulé Hill, Jennifer Mudge, and Chris Myers
* The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Aug. 15 at 7 PM ET), written & by Kristoffer Diaz, featuring Usmann Ally, Terence Archie, Desmin Borges, and Christian Litke.
* RoosElvis (Aug. 1), directed by Rachel Chavkin, featuring Libby King and Kristen Sieh.
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Quiara Alegría Hudes will write a Latin music-infused film, titled “Life Is a Carnival” for Warner Bros.
Timeline, casting, release date, and additional information TBA.
A story about generations of Latinas that folded in the survival, struggle, and celebration “my own” elders modeled for me.
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Due to Covid-29, LA’s LGBT Center has cancelled its 7th annual CineArte Arts Festival of the Latinx queer community, original scheduled for September.
The popular event includes film screenings, digital media, art installations, and musical performances that represent the intersections and complexities of Latina/o queerness through arts and culture.
The festival will take place int 2021, with the exact date and details TBA.
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LA Opera has postponed 4 productions that were to take place this Fall — Il Trovatore, Tannhäuser, and La Cenerentola and the concert presentation of the film Get Out.
All of these will now take place in the first half of the 2021–22 season, with most of the principal singers returning. Dates and additional information TBA.
In addition, performances will resume for:
* Don Giovanni (returns Jan. 30)
* The Marriage of Figaro (early 2021)
In lieu of a Fall mainstage season, the opera company will present some in-the-works digital programming (TBA).
Additionally, tentative plans are in place for in-person, open-air performances (details TBA),