Ken MacDonald News

Pacific Opera Victoria announces its 2019/20 season, comprising six operas, including a Canadian premiere and a world premiere production.

The San Diego Theatre Critics Circle is pleased to announce the winners of its 2018 Craig Noel Awards. Now in its 17th year, the Craig Noel Awards honor the achievements of professional theaters in San Diego County.

Dear Readers, it has been one crazy year with some amazing theater. You know it's true. We've had dead teens riding a roller coaster, demonic puppets, and an ageless guy with a picture of himself in his attic. And, of course, a hip-hop founding father sweeping through town. But let's not talk about the juggernaut when we have such amazing things right here that blew us all away. At least they blew me away. So, let's talk about what blew me away this past year and what I have chosen to give my BWW 2018 Seattle Critic's Choice Awards (Jay's Picks) to (not to mention all those honorable mentions since often I can't limit myself to just one).

The San Diego Theatre Critics Circle has announced the nominations for its 2018 Craig Noel Awards. Now in its 17th year, the Craig Noel Awards honor the achievements of professional theaters in San Diego County. The nominees are chosen by a nine-member body of professional critics who write for San Diego newspapers, magazines, online publications and blogs.

Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith's gift to Baltimore/Washington theater patrons this season is just plain delightful.

Arena Stage presents Corbin Bleu (Holiday Inn, The New Irving Berlin Musical; In the Heights; Disney Channel's High School Musical) as Billy Crocker and Soara-Joye Ross (Les Miserables, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess National Tour) as Reno Sweeney in Cole Porter's madcap seafaring musical, Anything Goes. Check out Corbin in photos from the shoe below!

Arena Stage's Anything Goes is pitch perfect for a world-weary DC audience.

Dear Readers, in the past you may have heard me refer to what I call "theatrical alchemy". It's where all the right elements seem to magically come together in just the right ways to form pure theatrical gold. Well, the Seattle Rep currently has a bunch of alchemists working with them with their joint production with the American Conservatory Theater and their presentation of "A Thousand Splendid Suns", a riveting tale filled with so much tragic beauty that you'll be left breathless.

Arena Stage announces casting for Cole Porter's madcap seafaring musical, Anything Goes

The 39th Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards for the 2017-2018 season were handed out in a star-studded ceremony in Toronto on the evening of Monday, June 25 at the Winter Garden Theatre of the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre, hosted by acclaimed actor Astrid Van Wieren, currently starring on Broadway in the award-winning Canadian musical Come From Away.

Casting has been announced for the return ofAmerican Conservatory Theater's (A.C.T.) acclaimed theatrical adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's international best-selling novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns-performing at A.C.T.'s Geary Theater for a limited two-week engagement July 17-29, 2018 as part of a West Coast tour that includes runs at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre and Seattle Repertory Theatre. Set amid the war-torn streets of modern-day Kabul, A Thousand Splendid Suns is the epic story of three generations of Afghan women bound together by marriage, family, and a secret past. Strong-willed Laila, unmarried and pregnant, is forced to marry her older neighbor when her family and home are torn apart.

At a press conference held May 31 in the lobby of the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) announced 237 nominations for the 39th Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards, which recognize excellence in the performing arts in Toronto.

A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS is a gorgeous and emotional story of the beauty and power of women's friendship and how it can help them endure even the most horrible of circumstances. Playing through June 17th at the Old Globe www.theoldglobe.org

A sweeping and deeply moving theatrical production based on the best-selling book by Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner). The epic story of three generations of Afghan women and their remarkable resilience, A Thousand Splendid Suns is set in the war-torn neighborhoods of 1990s Kabul. When battle upends her family, beautiful Laila must seek shelter, first in the home and then in the arms of her older neighbor. Soon she forges an extraordinary and unlikely friendship with Mariam, her new husband's first wife. Summoning the strength to defy a tyrannical society, the two women seek hope and the promise of a better future.

The Old Globe's 2017-2018 Season continues with today's announcement of the complete cast and creative team for the Southern California debut of A Thousand Splendid Suns, Ursula Rani Sarma's sweeping and deeply moving theatrical production based on the best-selling book by Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner). Directed by Carey Perloff and presented in association with American Conservatory Theater, A Thousand Splendid Suns will run May 12 - June 17, 2018 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage, Old Globe Theatre, Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Tickets start at $30.00 and are on sale to the general public now. Previews run May 12-16. Opening night is Thursday, May 17 at 8:00 p.m.

The Old Globe's 2017-2018 Season continues with today's announcement of the complete cast and creative team for the Southern California debut of A Thousand Splendid Suns, Ursula Rani Sarma's sweeping and deeply moving theatrical production based on the best-selling book by Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner).

On March 2, 2018, Opera Santa Barbara presented Gioachino Rossini's THE BARBER OF SEVILLE. Based on a libretto by Cesare and staged in a more modern manner by director Josh Shaw, the California performance of the early nineteenth century work was thoroughly amusing from overture to final bow.

The Grand Theatre is thrilled to announce a first-time collaboration with the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), bringing A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS to the Spriet Stage. This acclaimed stage adaptation, based on the award-winning novel by Khaled Hosseini, had its world premiere in San Francisco in July 2016 and became the bestselling production in A.C.T.'s history. The Grand's production will premiere an all new, all Canadian cast with original staging by A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff. The Title Sponsor for A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS is London's Selectpath. 

Following critical and audience acclaim last season, American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) announced today that A Thousand Splendid Suns-the theatrical adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's international best-selling novel of the same name-will return to A.C.T.'s Geary Theater for a limited two-week engagement (July 17-29, 2018) as part of a West Coast tour that includes runs at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre and Seattle Repertory Theatre.

Gioachino Rossini's laugh-out-loud romantic comedy returns to Opera Santa Barbara for the first time since 2001. The Barber of Seville has been entertaining audiences for more than 200 years with its outrageous stage antics and vocal acrobatics. Featuring some of opera's most recognizable tunes, audiences are sure to leave the theater singing Figaro, Figaro, Fiiiiiii-garo!