*** FREE THEATER ONLINE ***
THE WIZ
Through Sunday 2pm EST / 7pm BST (not available in Asia or Latin America except Brazil)
The YouTube channel The Shows Must Go On! began by rolling out a different Andrew Lloyd Webber musical every week. That well having run dry, it has moved on to NBC’s live broadcasts of musicals, which stay up for 48 hours each. This week’s edition, directed by Kenny Leon and Matthew Diamond, is the joyous 2015 telecast of The Wiz, an African-American spin on The Wizard of Oz that was a hit on Broadway in 1975. The 18-year-old Shanice Williams makes an impressively poised debut as Dorothy, and sings superbly. Elijah Kelley offers a sweet, limber, comically original performance as the Scarecrow. Mary J. Blige seems to have a ball as the wicked Evilene; Uzo Aduba, in an intense late cameo as the beneficent Glinda, is a glory of magical realness. Glamorous costumes and makeup give the proceedings a sense of theatrical event; there is even a vaguely Ziegfeld-ish sequence with beautiful chorus girls as flowers. And the camera stays still enough to let the staging and choreography do their own work. Not everything goes off without a hitch, but Charlie Smalls’s funky, familiar score keeps the energy high, and dated spots in William F. Brown’s scripts are minimized in Harvey Fierstein’s rewrite. The whole thing seems less self-conscious about being a musical than NBC's earlier live broadcasts; it has the heart, brains and courage to take its own road, proving once again that musical theater works best when it believes in itself.
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
Shakespeare's Globe
Watch A Midsummer Night's Dream for free, Shakespeare's enchanting, magical comedy, filmed from Shakespeare’s most famous stage, the Globe Theatre. https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/don... In return for these free streams, we appreciate any voluntary donations at this time. Your support is critical for our future.
A Midsummer Night's Dream YouTube Premiere available until Sunday 28 June 2020.
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
Molecule accepts submissions of poetry, prose (fiction & non-fiction) plays, reviews and interviews in 50 words or less (including titles and interview questions). Visual artwork of tiny things like tea bags and toothpicks, or tiny paintings, also wanted: no skyscrapers please!
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Break A Leg Productions Delicious Comedy Series
We are looking for plays that have not yet been produced or published. We ideally would like to work with the playwright on developing their play or subsequent future plays going forward giving them an opportunity to see their work on stage in order to develop as an artist.
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Every other year Clubbed Thumb invites playwrights to propose plays inspired by a particular prompt. The application is open to all, and read blind. The winning proposal(s) receive (or split) a $15,000 award and two years of development support.
For this year’s commission consider The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio – but don’t write about the Plague. Consider The Decameron as a piece that came from the ashes of the Plague but is decidedly a piece of the Renaissance. Consider it as a celebration of voice and style, as a compendium of stories from a wide span of sources. Consider it as an opportunity to take a deep research dive, if that’s your thing.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site at https://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
*** BLACK AMERICAN THEATER ***
The Classical Theatre of Harlem (CTH) provides theatrical productions and theatre-based educational and literary programs at little or no cost to underserved communities in Harlem and beyond. Since its founding in 1999, CTH has prioritized opportunity and access in the theatrical arts: onstage, backstage, in its administration, board, and audience. By leading with diversity, equity and inclusion as its core values, CTH attracts one of the most racially, generationally and socio-economically diverse theatre audiences in New York City.
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African-American Shakespeare Company was introduced in 1994 to open the realm of classic theatre to a diverse audience; and provide an opportunity and place for actors of color to hone their skills and talent in mastering some of the world’s greatest classical roles. We do this by producing work from the canon of classical theatre including Shakespeare and great American and world playwrights that is lively, entertaining and relevant.
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Harlem Stage is the performing arts center that bridges Harlem’s cultural legacy to contemporary artists of color and dares to provide the artistic freedom that gives birth to new ideas.
For over 35 years our singular mission has been to perpetuate and celebrate the unique and diverse artistic legacy of Harlem and the indelible impression it has made on American culture. We provide opportunity, commissioning and support for artists of color, make performances easily accessible to all audiences and introduce children to the rich diversity, excitement and inspiration of the performing arts.
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Founded in 1976 by Producing Director Ron Himes, The Black Rep is the largest, professional African-American theatre company in the nation and the largest African-American performing arts organization in Missouri.
After its inception, Himes began to take the company on the road, performing for people everywhere by touring college campuses, community centers and various art / theatre festivals. The Black Rep started to draw such huge crowds when they performed and in 1980, the company took residence in the former Greeley Presbyterian Church’s sanctuary on the corner of St. Louis Avenue and 23rd Street, renovating the interior into a theatre space. During the 1980′s, the company began to hire guest actors, directors, designers and choreographers locally and nationally. In addition, The Black Rep began presenting regional dance companies and a musical film series. By 1986, the company became the only African-American theatre in the Midwest to operate under a contract with the Actor’s Equity Association, guaranteeing union wages to its actors and stage managers. Later in the eighties, The Black Rep decided to narrow its focus to only producing African-American live theatre.
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The AUDELCO and Obie Award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre is artistic anchor to the largest African American community in the nation: Central Brooklyn and one of the last remaining theaters forged in the aesthetic and sociocultural kiln of America’s Civil Rights/Black Arts Movements. Founded in May 1972 by Restoration, The Billie Holiday Theatre is a beacon for world class art rooted in racial justice in the heart of Bed-Stuy: producing, presenting, and commissioning new and classic works and festivals in theater, dance, music, visual arts, and film; providing artistic and institutional residencies; and serving ages 3 to 103 with educational programming. For bold and daring artists and audiences from around the corner and around the world who look to The Billie as a rigorous artistic space that tackles racial injustices, presents new and unapologetic voices, and imagines a world where all people can flourish...welcome home.
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National Black Theatre [NBT] was founded in 1968 in the heart of Harlem by the late Dr. Barbara Ann Teer, an award winning, visionary artist and entrepreneur. With a distinguished history of innovative work in its community, NBT is among the oldest Black Theaters in the country, and amongst the longest owned and operated by a woman of color. NBT is also a pioneer as the first to establish revenue generating Black art complex located at 2031 5th Avenue in Harlem, NY. NBT’s achievements reflect Dr. Teer’s lifelong commitment to community service through the arts. She believed whole-heartedly in the power of Black Theatre to uplift, strengthen, and heal Black communities on a local and on a national level.
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Why Hansberry Project?
What is a black play?
“A theatre piece, created by a black artist, which explores the human experience through a black cultural lens.”
Why black plays?
We present black plays because we are committed to the idea of an American Theatre that accurately reflects the richness and diversity of American life. From initial sketches to fully-realized productions, the Hansberry Project promotes and supports black theatre artists of diverse interests and disciplines, speaking on a range of themes and working in a variety of styles. We are uniquely positioned, in our community, to provide a context for this work, placing it in the historical continuum of black artists in the American Theatre.
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