Warner Miller News

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom by August Wilson runs now through October 20, 2013 at Portland Stage. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

'Blues are a way of understanding,' Ma Rainey tells her band in the second act of August Wilson's 1984 play set in a 1920s recording studio in Jim Crow era Chicago. And, indeed, Wilson uses music as a means of making sense of the African-American experience in a world scarred by racism and violence. The Portland Stage's new production, which opens its 2013-2014 season, is a tautly directed, intensely acted interpretation of Wilson's meditation on what it is like to be black in a white man's world. The play, which uses the a quasi-musical blues structure of long, seemingly improvised solos interspersed with short rhythmic exchanges of dialogue, builds slowly and tensely to its chilling climax. Along the way, it penetrates the recesses of the musicians' hearts, their troubled pasts and their tenuous presents. And it examines the high cost of 'making it' in white America, where, for all their artistic talent and success, these determined entertainers remain faceless and invisible. Delivering Wilson's prose with an engaging blend of humor and pathos, the Portland Stage Company's cast scales the poetic heights of the playwright's genius.

Premiere Stages will open its ninth season as the professional theatre company in residence at Kean University with a free staged reading of Darren Canady's powerful new play Ontario Was Here. Selected from over 400 submissions, Ontario Was Here is the first of two scripts scheduled for expanded development as part of the 2013 Premiere Stages Play Festival. The Festival is an annual competition for unproduced scripts by playwrights with ties to the greater metropolitan area (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut), and perfectly embodies the theatre's passionate and longstanding commitment to supporting emerging artists through the development and production of new plays.

Premiere Stages will open its ninth season as the professional theatre company in residence at Kean University with a free staged reading of Darren Canady's powerful new play Ontario Was Here. Selected from over 400 submissions, Ontario Was Here is the first of two scripts scheduled for expanded development as part of the 2013 Premiere Stages Play Festival. The Festival is an annual competition for unproduced scripts by playwrights with ties to the greater metropolitan area (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut), and perfectly embodies the theatre's passionate and longstanding commitment to supporting emerging artists through the development and production of new plays.

Tonight, March 10 at 3pm, the Warner Theatre welcomes the world famous Glenn Miller Orchestra to the main stage.

On Sunday, March 10 at 3pm, the Warner Theatre welcomes the world famous Glenn Miller Orchestra to the main stage.

On Sunday, March 10 at 3pm, the Warner Theatre welcomes the world famous Glenn Miller Orchestra to the main stage.

Head to Arena Stage for this new, challenging, and entertaining play with music.

Following its celebrated opening at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Pullman Porter Blues travels across the country in its world-premiere co-production at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Inspired by her grandfather's work on the postal trains, playwright Cheryl L. West, whose work at Arena Stage includes Jar the Floor and Play On!, returns with the tale of three Pullman train porters whose journey is underscored by Midwest blues songs, including "Sweet Home Chicago" and "This Train." Directed by Lisa Peterson (Arena's The Rainmaker and The Quality of Life), Pullman Porter Blues runs November 23, 2012 - January 6, 2013 in the Kreeger Theater. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the production below.

Following its celebrated opening at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Pullman Porter Blues travels across the country to sweep D.C. audiences along for a ride in its world-premiere co-production at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Inspired by her grandfather's work on the postal trains, playwright Cheryl L. West, whose work at Arena Stage includes Jar the Floor and Play On!, returns with the tale of three Pullman train porters whose journey is underscored by Midwest blues songs, including "Sweet Home Chicago" and "This Train." Directed by Lisa Peterson (Arena's The Rainmaker and The Quality of Life), Pullman Porter Blues runs November 23, 2012 - January 6, 2013 in the Kreeger Theater.

I understand that opening night isn't always the glorious shining gem that it ought to be. Sometimes, no matter how good a show it may be, it's just not quite there yet. Such was the case with the Seattle Rep's opening night of Cheryl L. West's new play with music "Pullman Porter Blues". With a combination of opening night nerves, technical gaffs and a muffled sound system, it just wasn't the show I was so eagerly awaiting since I saw the workshop of the piece some years back. But even through its shortcomings the show still managed to shine through with history and heart and had some killer moments.

Seattle Repertory Theatre Artistic Director Jerry Manning announced today that Seattle writer Cheryl L. West's new play with music, Pullman Porter Blues, will be the season opener for the theatre's 50th Anniversary season, beginning fall 2012. The remainder of the 50th Anniversary season will be announced this spring.

On Friday, March 4, the Billie Holiday Theatre opened world-premiere play The Legend of Buster Neal to a sold-out house. In addition to cast Charles Anthony Burks, Sidiki Fofana, Stephen Hill, Dennis Johnson, Patrick Mitchell, and Nathan Purdee, in attendance were playwright Jackie Alexander, Emmy Award-winning actor Robert S. Woods (One Life to Live), Sean Ringgold (One Life to Live), Marja Harmon (The Lion King, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Aida), playwright/actor Layon Gray (creator of Black Angels Over Tuskegee), Delano Barbosa (Black Angels Over Tuskegee), and actors Jamil A.C. Mangan and Warner Miller.

Every season there are those few shows that absolutely blow you away, shows that you think about for days, weeks, even months afterward and that you annoy your friends with even longer by saying things like "You mean you didn't see that?!" Last season for me it was "Equivocation" and "An Iliad" at the Rep and "Hamlet" at Seattle Shakes. So far this season the only one to come close to that was OCT's "The Cut". That is until now. That is until "The Brothers Size" came to the Seattle Rep last night and showed me a stunning and moving portrait of the depths of brotherly love that left me reeling from its theatrical blow.

The award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre launches its 39th season on October 15, with the world premiere of Jackie Alexander's play Brothers from the Bottom. The Equity production, also directed by Jackie Alexander, will open October 28 and run through December 19 at the 200-seat Billie Holiday Theatre, Restoration Plaza, 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn; Thursday - Saturday at 8:00pm, Saturdays at 3:00pm, and Sundays at 4:00pm, with tickets $15 - $25, available at zerve.com/BHolidayInc/Brothers.

The Billie Holiday Theatre, Brooklyn's premiere off-Broadway company, opens its 39th Season with the world premiere of Jackie Alexander's play Brothers from the Bottom. Two more Equity productions of original plays by Alexander will follow: The Legend of Buster Neal and The Right Reverend Dupree in Exile.

The award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre launches its 39th season on October 15, with the world premiere of Jackie Alexander's play Brothers from the Bottom. The Equity production, also directed by Jackie Alexander, will open October 28 and run through December 19 at the 200-seat Billie Holiday Theatre, Restoration Plaza, 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn; Thursday - Saturday at 8:00pm, Saturdays at 3:00pm, and Sundays at 4:00pm, with tickets $15 - $25, available at zerve.com/BHolidayInc/Brothers.

The award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre launches its 39th season on October 15, with the world premiere of Jackie Alexander's play Brothers from the Bottom. The Equity production, also directed by Jackie Alexander, will open October 28 and run through December 19 at the 200-seat Billie Holiday Theatre, Restoration Plaza, 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn; Thursday - Saturday at 8:00pm, Saturdays at 3:00pm, and Sundays at 4:00pm, with tickets $15 - $25, available at zerve.com/BHolidayInc/Brothers.

The Billie Holiday Theatre, Brooklyn's premiere off-Broadway company, opens its 39th Season with the world premiere of Jackie Alexander's play Brothers from the Bottom. Two more Equity productions of original plays by Alexander will follow: The Legend of Buster Neal and The Right Reverend Dupree in Exile.

The Billie Holiday Theatre, Brooklyn's premiere off-Broadway company, opens its 39th Season with the world premiere of Jackie Alexander's play Brothers from the Bottom. Two more Equity productions of original plays by Alexander will follow: The Legend of Buster Neal and The Right Reverend Dupree in Exile.