Patrick Hogan News

ROUND WENT THE WHEEL, a new play written by Frank Ceruzzi and directed by Janet Bentley, will have its world premiere this summer as an Official Selection the 2019 Broadway Bound Theatre Festival at the Lion Theatre at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036). The performances are Tuesday, August 13 at 5pm, Wednesday, August 14 at 8pm, and Saturday, August 17 at 5pm.

Seattle's critics' circle announces Nominees of Excellence in Seattle theatrical productions. Spanning dozens of theater companies and productions, from large and prominent to small and humble, the Gypsy Rose Lee Awards honor the excellence found in the myriad of professional theater productions that we reviewers attend in a year.

Talented cast knows how to some some laughs.

Baltimore Center Stage has announced the cast and artistic team for its second play of the 2018/19 season, King of the Yees. Written by award-winning playwright Lauren Yee, King of the Yees is the hilarious and heartfelt generational story of a Chinese-American family.

Ride the Cylcone, this season's dark and hilarious co-production between The 5th Avenue Theatre and ACT - A Contemporary Theatre, is now in preview performances and has its official opening night this Thursday, March 22 at ACT - A Contemporary Theatre. The award-winning director and choreographer Rachel Rockwell has continued to refine and explore the world of Ride the Cyclone with its writers Brooke Maxwell and Jacob Richmond, returning to direct after working on its two previous U.S. productions in Chicago and Off Broadway. This co-production, which is the eighth collaboration between The 5th and ACT, will showcase new developments to the script and score. At least one third of the script has been newly created for this production, which is in addition to countless small but crucial tweaks and refinements. These new developments have continued to define and shape the world that the Saint Cassian High School Chamber Choir inhabits onstage.

Steeped in the difficulty of reunification and reconciliation, American Hwangap tells the story of Min Suk Chun, who some 15 years earlier left his family in a West Texas suburb to return to his native Korea. On the occasion of his 60th birthday (hwangap), a milestone signifying the completion of the Eastern Zodiac and a type of rebirth, he returns to his ex-wife and now adult children as they struggle to reconcile their broken past with the mercurial, verbose and often exasperating patriarch now back at the head of the table. Through a tense birthday weekend filled with humor, heartbreak and half-filled expectations, this American hwangap and its aftermath bears a family not quite whole but still somehow transformed, and not quite happy but still somehow beautiful.

Women and artists of color took center stage earlier this week at Theatre Puget Sound's 2017 Gregory Awards. Scroll down for the full list of winners!

This holiday season Lorna Luft, the beloved performer and daughter of film and television icon Judy Garland, will star as Louise in The 5th Avenue Theatre's new production of Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn, which began rehearsals this week.

The 5th Avenue Theatre has announced full casting for its evocative new production of Ragtime, which begins rehearsals today. A tale of family, heart and perseverance at the turn of the 20th century, Ragtime is a vital story about the headstrong and determined individuals and their families who helped make the United States a diverse and thriving nation.

The 5th Avenue Theatre has announced full casting for its evocative new production of Ragtime, which begins rehearsals today. A tale of family, heart and perseverance at the turn of the 20th century, Ragtime is a vital story about the headstrong and determined individuals and their families who helped make the United States a diverse and thriving nation.

This week The 5th Avenue Theatre and ACT - A Contemporary Theatre plot their first step in musical mayhem and begin rehearsals for the drop dead funny musical comedy Murder for Two.

Spanning 28 theater companies and 59 productions, from the largest and most prominent to small, humble and innovative, the Gypsy Rose Lee Awards honor as much professional theater as we reviewers can cram into our year.

The 'large theater' productions of ACT Theatre's The Royale and The 5th Avenue Theatre's How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying take top honors and the 'small theater' productions of ArtsWest's Death of a Salesman and Washington Ensemble Theatre's The Things Are Against Us take top honors - for most category wins!?

Spanning 28 theater companies and 59 productions, from the largest and most prominent to small, humble and innovative, the Gypsy Rose Lee Awards honor as much professional theater as we reviewers can cram into our year.

It's been a crazy year, Dear Readers. Lots of ups, lots of downs, and LOTS of emotions. And I'm not just talking about on stage. But let's not dwell on the bad things that may have happened in the world and focus on some of the amazing things Seattle theater companies gave us this past year, and let me tell you there were quite a few. So many in fact that in some categories I simply had to call out more than the usual Honorable Mentions as some performances just needed to be noted. You'll see what I mean especially when you get to the female categories as the ladies were certainly bringing it this year. But let's get started shall we? Out of the myriad shows I saw this year in Seattle, here are the shows and performances that truly stood out to me.

First off if you're expecting to see a Tippi Hedren lookalike being chased by animatronic birds in Strawberry Theatre Workshop's current production of "The Birds" then you'll be quite disappointed. This is not an adaptation of Hitchcock's film but of Daphne du Maurier's book. But even though we never really see the attackers, the evening still contains a good amount of creepiness. After all, the monsters in our minds are scarier than anything they could show us.

Inspired by the true story of University of Washington student Gordon Hirabayashi, Hold These Truths follows Gordon during the U.S. Government's decision to forcibly remove and incarcerate people of Japanese ancestry during World War II.

Artists Repertory Theatre is proud to present Portland audiences with The Invisible Hand by Ayad Akhtar, directed by former Artistic Director Allen Nause, beginning March 10, 2015. This production is in association with Seattle's ACT Theatre and follows their production of the play last September with much of the same design team, but includes two new cast members. ACT's production was named 'Best Play' in the Broadway World 2014 Seattle Critic's Choice Awards. At the end of 2014, The Invisible Hand was produced Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Beginning this month, A Contemporary Theatre (ACT) continues to partner with the 5th Avenue Theatre, co-producing a musical that appears on each organization's season and performed at ACT. Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris opens tonight, March 12, and runs for 10 weeks in the Falls Theatre, directed by David Armstrong.