Barbara Kingsley News

TenthPlanet: Planet Connections 10th Annual Theatre Festivity played to packed houses and great acclaim for each production. Another sold out house was achieved for the company's annual 'Playwrights for a Cause' event, this year, benefiting the Ali Forney Center. The banner season culminates with the Planet Awards. This year, the gala event will be Friday, September 21, at the Abrons Arts Center at 466 Grand St, New York City. Tickets and further info: planetconnections.org/

Host and creator, Sean Chandler, interviewed a seven-woman panel of theatre professionals for his popular theatre podcast, Your Program Is Your Ticket. The interview focuses on the #MeToo movement and how it affects the world of theatre.

Always a bridesmaid, never the bride… or so the old saying goes. But what happens when all the bridesmaids become brides and the gay best friend is left quite literally standing alone? That's the premise of Joshua Harmon's smart, funny and poignant play SIGNIFICANT OTHER. Harmon's play premiered off-Broadway in 2015 and was billed as one of the top ten productions that year by The New York Times. It opened for a limited run on Broadway in 2017, marking Harmon's Broadway debut. This week SIGNIFICANT OTHER marks the second production in Theatre Raleigh's Summer Series at The Kennedy Theatre. Harmon, as a millennial himself, truly has his finger on the pulse of the 20-something generation, which makes this play completely engaging for the under 30 crowd. But the questions posed by Harmon's script and the fear of being alone are ageless and will appeal to all audiences. The bottom line is SIGNIFICANT OTHER is one invitation worth RSVPing to.

Watch four friends on their quest to find "the one', as they also realize that supporting the ones you love can be just as impossible as finding it, at the Kennedy Theatre June 13 -24.

Watch four friends on their quest to find 'the one', as they also realize that supporting the ones you love can be just as impossible as finding it, at the Kennedy Theatre June 13 -24.

The Acting Company will conclude its 2016-2017 John McDonald Salon Series with Meg Miroshnik's Lady Tattoo, a compelling new play about the subversive trend of wealthy American women embracing tattoo artistry at the turn of the 20th century. Lady Tattoo explores the human need for the power and control that secrets offer. 

Step-sisters in a magical trailer park, a clash between past and present (that's a realtor's nightmare), an exploration of race and family in segregated Cleveland, a murderous family in the American West -- sounds like this year's finalists for The Landing Theatre Company's New American Voices Play Reading Series.

The Landing Theatre Company's New American Voices Play Reading Series annually features four new plays by American authors. The final selections have been made for this year's event, which will be held on the weekend of April 1-2, 2017 at The Docks Theatre, where the company makes it's home.

The Landing Theatre Company's New American Voices Play Reading Series annually features four new plays by American authors.  The final selections have been made for this year's event, which will be held on the weekend of April 1-2, 2017 at The Docks Theatre, where the company makes it's home.

T minus one week until take-off! Miranda Theatre Company will present readings of They Promised Her The Moon by Laurel Ollstein.

 To kick off her first season as the Jungle Theater's Artistic Director, Sarah Rasmussen will direct THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, one of William Shakespeare's first plays. With twists that echo in his later work, this lavish production honors and mirrors Elizabethan tradition with an all-female cast. The new version also offers a modern take on Shakespeare's own Globe Theatre, bringing 24 seats on stage to create a dynamic connection between actors and audience. The Two Gentlemen of Verona opens February 12 and runs through March 27 at the Lyn-Lake neighborhood theater, 2951 Lyndale Ave. So. in Minneapolis. 

On Monday night I attended my 9th Ivey Awards. Yes, even before I started Cherry and Spoon in 2010 and started getting press tickets to the event in 2013, I was still a theater geek (read all the words I've written about the Iveys here). The Ivey Awards are my favorite theater night of the year, not so much for the awards themselves, but because it's a celebration of another year of amazing local theater that gathers all of my favorite theater artists in one room. Even though I've met many of them, I still get starstruck when I walk through the crowd and every other face I see is someone I've enjoyed watching on stage. I love to watch awards shows on TV so it's a thrill to get all glammed up and actually attend one in person. I even painted my toenails with a glittery green called 'One Short Day' - appropriate because of its musical theater geekiness and and because this event that I look forward to all year goes by in a whirlwind of people and honorees and loud music and conversations. And now it's over for another year, but more great theater is still to come which we will be celebrating next year!

Joe Dowling, the Guthrie Theater's recently retired artistic director, was honored at the 2015 Ivey Lifetime Achievement Award, the celebration of Twin Cities theater, on September 21 at the Historic State Theatre in downtown Minneapolis. Critically-acclaimed actor Mikell Sapp received the Emerging Artist Award.

59E59 Theaters welcomes Contemporary American Theater Festival with the New York premiere of UNCANNY VALLEY, written Thomas Gibbons and directed by Tom Dugdale. UNCANNY VALLEY begins performances on Thursday, October 2 for a limited engagement through Sunday, October 26. Press opening is Wednesday, October 8 at 7:15 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday - Thursday at 7:15 PM; Friday at 8:15 PM; Saturday at 2:15 PM & 8:15 PM; and Sunday at 3:15 PM & 7:15 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Tickets are $35 ($24.50 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or go to www.59e59.org.

The Contemporary American Theater Festival at Shepherd University (CATF) completed its 24th season on August 3. However, the Theater Festival is not quite done for the year. CATF has been invited to transfer its world premiere production of Uncanny Valley by Thomas Gibbons to New York City's Off-Broadway venue 59E59 Theaters

Gulfshore Playhouse will begin their 2014-2015 season with their Second Annual New Works Festival, to take place September 1-7, 2014. The week-long festival will bring together a tram of actors and directors, and will allow each of the four playwrights the opportunity to hone their play and then present their work to an audience in a staged reading.

For a show heavily focusing on artificial intelligence and technology, Thomas Gibbon's Uncanny Valley displays a genuine feature of human emotion. Directed by Thomas Dugdale and set in the "not-distant future", Uncanny Valley portrays the relationship between retiring neuro-scientist Claire (Barbara Kingsley) and an artificial intelligence being named Julian (Alex Podulke). Claire teaches Julian how to speak, think and act like a human to blend into society, but when Julian unlocks some emotional and ethical questions, the creation ends up teaching his creator about life.

Alex Podulke progresses by tiny gradations over the course of an hour and a half from impersonating a machine in speech and movement to a near-human in those regards, and one finds oneself saying, Of course that's how a machine trying to imitate a human would look, even though one has never seen it before.

Northlight Theatre, under the direction of Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans, announces casting for the first three productions of the 40th Anniversary Season.

Cool off after a day at the beach with eight evenings of music (plus one free family afternoon) at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater. By popular demand, this year's line up is a sampling of many music styles, from some of the best acts in their genre. Concerts are Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 8pm, on the Julie Harris Stage. A free family concert is Sunday, July 13 at 4pm, in the garden in front of the theater.