Amy Lewis News

SFIAF 2017 has announced its performance listings. The full Festival lineup with project descriptions is as follows (projects listed chronologically by discipline: dance, music, theatre/ performance art). An online calendar is available here.

In the Dark Times will there also be Singing? The San Francisco International Arts Festival takes Bertolt Brecht's rhetorical question as its theme for 2017 (and beyond) and forms the bedrock of a commitment to develop an artistic platform that addresses the dangerous domestic and foreign policy political abyss currently confronting the United States of America.

There is a lot of original theatre that happens here in Austin and it spans the gamut in terms of quality. A GIRL NAMED SUE, a new play by Christine Hoang, now in its World Premiere production in the Trinity Street Theatre, is among the best in terms of both quality and execution. Ms. Hoang has crafted a funny, witty and touching play that examines intercultural and interracial relationships all set in the world of coffee house collegiate culture. It manages to deliver a powerful message without ever being high handed or preachy. It does what all good theatre must do first and foremost: entertain.

Color Arc Productions is proud to present the world premiere of a A Girl Named Sue, new play by Vietnamese-American playwright Christine Hoang with songs by award-winning Korean-American singer/songwriter BettySoo.

Color Arc Productions is proud to present the world premiere of a A Girl Named Sue, new play by Vietnamese-American playwright Christine Hoang with songs by award-winning Korean-American singer/songwriter BettySoo.

Next year Nancy Karp + Dancers returns to ODC with the world premiere of MEMORY/PLACE. Inspired by the current era of human mass migration, Artistic Director Nancy Karp has made a work in three parts, the first two movements set to newly commissioned scores by Kui Dong and Robert Honstein, respectively, and the third to the late Lou Harrison's almost 30-year-old Grand Duo for piano and violin.

The 2017 San Francisco International Arts Festival will feature a brilliant 11 day program co-presented with, and held exclusively at, the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture.

At a time of anxiety and uncertainty in many parts of the United States, the San Francisco International Arts Festival is proud to announce its 2017 lineup;  an exciting 11 day program featuring over 50 ensembles and individual performing artists from the Bay Area and 14 different countries. It is a program that celebrates diversity, multiculturalism, curiosity and the value of otherness-a commitment that advocates for experiencing the cultural expressions of other societies and civilizations as a way to help understand and embrace them.

Sharr White's THE OTHER PLACE premiered Off-Broadway in 2011, followed by a Broadway run. Watching this potent drama, you may think, at first, that your mind is playing tricks on you. Facts established in one scene vaporize a few scenes later. You may find yourself questioning what you just heard. THE OTHER PLACE lies somewhere between tragedy and mystery succeeding quite beautifully at both. This audience disconnect is no accident. Mr. White purposely keeps the audience questioning everything they are told by the play's narrator, a drug-company scientist named Juliana (Kat Sparks.) White writes with both simplicity and discipline about a situation that is anything but disciplined. Ms. Sparks' performance as Juliana is so commanding that the less we are sure of, the more we are are drawn in. While perceptions of this journey through life may continually shift, the one thing that doesn't is the riveting, nuanced performance of Ms. Sparks.

Next year Nancy Karp + Dancers returns to ODC with the world premiere of MEMORY/PLACE. Inspired by the current era of human mass migration, Artistic Director Nancy Karp has made a work in three parts, the first two movements set to newly commissioned scores by Kui Dong and Robert Honstein, respectively, and the third to the late Lou Harrison's almost 30-year-old Grand Duo for piano and violin.

SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD is a musical theatre piece by Jason Robert Brown. Originally produced Off-Broadway at the WPA Theatre in 1995, this was Jason Robert Brown's first produced show. It is neither a book musical or a revue and has been called a 'song cycle', which was put together out of songs he had written for other venues and events. I was very much struck by the fact that many of these songs sounded like they could fit into his latter shows such as 'The Last Five Years' or 'Parade'. In the final analysis, calling this a musical is a stretch. What it all boils down to is a series of songs very loosely connected by the theme: 'the moment of decision.'

SAFEhouse Arts, a nonprofit organization working to incubate new performing artists through residencies, workshops and performance opportunities, has announced the schedule for its ninth annual summer performance festival, SPF9, featuring ten programs over five days. SPF9 runs today, July 6 to Sunday, July 10 at ODC Theater in San Francisco.

SAFEhouse Arts, a nonprofit organization working to incubate new performing artists through residencies, workshops and performance opportunities, has announced the schedule for its ninth annual summer performance festival, SPF9, featuring ten programs over five days. SPF9 runs Wednesday, July 6 to Sunday, July 10 at ODC Theater in San Francisco.

Very few audience members know what goes into the technical aspects of a stage production. Without the theatre's technical artists, often the unsung stars of any production, your experience at the theatre would be very different. In a new series of articles about the Technical Theatre artists of Austin, BroadwayWorld will be introducing you to some of the artists behind the scenes… the set designers, lighting designers and costumers whose work is so vital to a successful production. The process of lighting a play, dance piece, or opera is highly subjective; each designer has to develop a process that works for them. Lighting designers know how to use the subtle and powerful medium of light, creating effects that can be changed at will to match the mood of the action. We start our series by talking to lighting designer, Amy Lewis.

EXIT 27 by Aleks Merilo, produced by Southwest Theatre Productions at the Boyd Vance Theatre is a fascinating study in mind control and the effects of cult religion on the innocent.

Happy Holidays! It's the last week to vote for the 2015 BroadwayWorld Austin Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of December 18. Nominations were reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors. Voting runs through December 31!

Time is running out to vote for the 2015 BroadwayWorld Austin Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of December 18. Nominations were reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors. Voting runs through December 31!

Voting is fully underway for the 2015 BroadwayWorld Austin Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of December 11. Nominations were reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors. Voting runs through December 31.

Voting has opened for the 2015 BroadwayWorld Austin Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of November 27th. Nominations were reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors. Voting runs through December 31.

Voting has opened for the 2015 BroadwayWorld Austin Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of November 27th. Nominations were reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors. Voting runs through December 31.