Felicia P. Fields News

The New Works Virtual Festival, now scheduled to take place from Sunday October 25th to Saturday the 31st, will stream video readings of 20 new scripts featuring the work of a diverse group of writers and all-star cast members.

Patton Daye Slater Productions announced today that Tony Award-winning producer, Obie Award-winning actor and renowned director Tamara Tunie (Julius Caesar on Broadway with Denzel Washington, 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit') has signed on to direct the company's New York-bound musical drama Love & Southern D!scomfort.

From Sunday October 18th to Saturday the 24th, the first-ever New Works Virtual Festival (NWVF) will stream video readings of 20 new scripts featuring the work of a diverse group of writers and all-star cast members. All proceeds will be donated to the Actors Fund.

An all-star line-up of Chicago natives and stars who got their start in the Windy City have come together for a new music video, performing the Blues anthem a?oeSweet Home Chicago.a?? 

Writers Theatre Artistic Director Michael Halberstam and Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma announce plans for the company's 2020/21 Season with a new adaptive producing model, one committed to remaining flexible and responsive to current events and that allows the theatre to welcome patrons back to the theatre when the time is right. 

Black Arts MKE, Adam Slater Productions and Patton Daye Slater Productions present the captivating new musical 'Love & Southern D!scomfort' in Milwaukee this May.

Black Arts MKE has been approved for a $10,000 Challenge America grant to support its annual spring new musical production of a?oeLove & Southern D!scomforta?? featuring Tony Award Nominee Felicia P. Fields in association with Patton Daye Slater Productions.

As evidenced by the breadth of nominations for Broadway World's Annual Audience Choice Awards, Maine's theatrical landscape seems to grow and flourish with each new season. For a state as remote as we are, we boast two prestigious regional theatres now in their second half centuries a?" Maine State Music Theatre and Ogunquit Playhouse a?" which are leaders on the national regional scene and which have become destinations for travellers from far flung places. Add to these an array of countless other companies of every size and philosophic bent, and you have a colorful, rich artistic arena that grows more interesting each year. I am privileged to get to sample these performances as Broadway World's Maine editor and to be able to compare many of them favorably with shows I see across the country, in New York and London. These are my personal choices of the best in Maine for 2019, grouped by theatre company and show.

Acclaimed Chicago actor Larry Yando returns for his 12th season at Goodman Theatre as Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, directed for the seventh year by Artistic Associate Henry Wishcamper.

Acclaimed Chicago actor Larry Yando returns for his 12th season at Goodman Theatre as Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, directed for the seventh year by Artistic Associate Henry Wishcamper.

Patton Daye Slater Productions and South Of Broadway Theatre Company will present the WORLD PREMIERE of the captivating new musical 'Love & Southern D!scomfort'.

More than 1.5 million people have experienced A Christmas Carol, 'the greatest seasonal story of alla?? (Chicago Tribune), now in its 42nd year at Goodman Theatre, November 16 a?" December 29. Under Artistic Associate Henry Wishcamper's direction for the seventh year, the annual production features Chicago actor Larry Yando, who leads the 25-member cast as the irascible businessman Ebenezer Scrooge. Joining Yando is Paris Strickland, 12, who reprises her role as Tiny Tim for the third year along with a host of returning favorites and eight newcomers; a complete cast list appears below. The new young performers in A Christmas Carol, cast from hundreds of Chicagoland youth who auditioned, include Jillian-Giselle Fabulous, 11, as Emily Cratchit, Isabel Kaegi, 17, as Belinda Cratchit; Vikram Konkimalla, 7, as Tiny Tim Alternate; and returning young performers include Asher Alcantara, 14, as Boy Scrooge; Nelson Simmons, 12, as Turkey Child.

In the opening number of their revue, LETTIN' THE GOOD TIMES ROLL, E. Faye Butler and Felicia P. Fields sing "You only live once, so let the good times roll!" And for the next one hundred minutes,these two legendary divas unleash a torrent of song, story, and soul that rocks the Pickard Theater with unchained energy, joy, and inspiration.

"I did this show two decades ago with these amazing ladies, and when I asked them if they would be willing to reprise their performances. When they said 'yes,' I was thrilled to be able to bring this new production here to MSMT." Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark is speaking about Maine State Music Theatre's 2019 season opener, the dazzling Duke Ellington revue, SOPHISTICATED LADIES, and its co-stars E. Faye Butler and Felicia P. Fields, who are now playing at Brunswick's Pickard Theater. Butler, Fields, and Jessica A. Lawyer, one of the astounding dancers in the show, have joined Clark and BROADWAY WORLD'S Maine Editor, Carla Maria Verdino-Sullwold, on June 12 at Curtis Memorial Library to discuss the production at the opening panel discussion of the theatre's annual PEEK BEHIND THE CURTAIN series.

"It's the kind of music that makes you feel regal," actress Felicia P. Fields says, describing the genius of Duke Ellington. "The word 'sophistication' isn't used as much today as it was back then. There was an elegance in the period." Fields, who is one of the stars of Maine State Music Theatre's new production of SOPHISTICATED LADIES, which runs at the Pickard Theater from June 5-22, 2019, believes that the production, directed by Marc Robin with three individual choreographers and an eleven piece orchestra perfectly captures the 1920s and 1930s and the big-band era.

So what does a theatre company do to keep its momentum and even up the ante after a 60th anniversary season that broke all records? Why not hire three choreographers, fourteen virtuoso singer-dancers, and an eleven-piece big band orchestra, to mount the largest dance show in its history that celebrates the music of one of America's immortal musical geniuses, Duke Ellington? That is precisely what Maine State Music Theatre has done in its 2019 season opener with its sensational all-singing, all-dancing, visually opulent extravaganza, SOPHISTICATED LADIES, that is currently blowing the roof off the Pickard with its high-octane visceral energy, heady joy, and pure lyrical magic.

"Felicia and I have a song in our concert, LETTIN' THE GOOD TIMES ROLL, that we wrote. It's called 'That Wasn't Me,' laughs actress E. Faye Butler. It talks about how people will walk up to me and say, 'Felicia, I'm so glad to see you.' And then they do the same thing to Felicia, calling her E. Faye. It makes us laugh!" Butler is speaking of her close friend and co-star at MSMT this summer, actress Felicia P. Fields, with whom she shares the stage in SOPHISTICATED LADIES and in their joint revue, LETTIN' THE GOOD TIMES ROLL. "We have known each other for thirty-one years on and off stage. We both began our journeys growing up on Chicago's South Side. I am godmother to her daughter; our husbands are good friends. We have gone on vacation and spent holidays together. She is like a sister to me. We can laugh, argue, say I'm sorry, and hug it out. We can finish each other's sentences. Working with Felicia is easy, so it is always a treat to do a show together."

The nationally regarded Fulton Theatre, in association with Maine State Music Theatre is proud to present the dance and music-filled Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Ladies, May 2 through May 25, with Previews April 30 and May 1. Three acclaimed choreographers, Broadway's Mark Stuart, Broadway's Kenny Ingram and Lancaster's own Marc Robin, have joined to make this one memorable celebration! 

Tickets for Maine State Music Theatre's summer season go on sale to the general public on Wednesday, April 24 at 9:00 AM.

This visceral American classic serves as the 1920s chapter of August Wilson's epic American Century Cycle. What begins as a routine recording session becomes more strained as tensions rise between the members of a blues band and the owners of the recording studio. The white producers mean to exploit the talents of the band especially the gifted and impulsive Levee but when Ma insists on having things her way, tensions are enflamed and the play builds to an unexpected and searing climax.