Sunday Scoop Post of 12/20/20 Live and Virtual Events Coming Up This Week or Soon Thereafter and More

1) The Actors Fund Announces Inaguraal 2020 Gift Guide

2) Animals Part of  Williamtown Theatre Festival 2020 on Audible Now Available Worldwide

3) Ballet Hispanico Holiday Celebration Club Havana Watch Party Benefit 12/23

4) Broadway Workshop Casting Workshop 12/29

5) Israela Margalit's Crossroads Receives Encore Presentation 12/24 - 12/31

6) New York City Center's An Evening with Audra McDonald Extended Through 1/3

7) Story Pirates Sleep Squad Extended Through 2/21

8) TRU Networking Panel Art and Activism: How Theater Can Open and Change Minds 12/22

1) THE ACTORS FUND

ANNOUNCES

THE INAUGURAL

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

 

PORTION OF ALL PROCEEDS TO

SUPPORT THOSE IN NEED IN

PERFORMING ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

The Actors Fund, a national human services organization for everyone in performing arts and entertainment, is proud to announce their inaugural Holiday Gift Guide, including gift ideas for lovers of Broadway, theater, fashion, sportswear, skincare, beer and wine, and much more. A portion of the proceeds for each item and experience will be donated to The Actors Fund and will go to those in need in the performing arts and entertainment. A perfect way to find gifts for everyone on your list, while giving to those who need extra support this holiday season!

The Actors Fund Holiday Gift Guide can be found at actorsfund.org/HolidayGiftGuide.

The Actors Fund Holiday Gift Guide can be found at actorsfund.org/HolidayGiftGuide.

 

Highlights include:

 

·         “Hooray For 2021” t-shirts from Anna & Amanda Kloots

·         Broadway Roulette Mixer: Mix online with B’way talent! 

·         Broadway Wine Club

·         Broadway World—Theatre Shop: select designs will benefit The Fund

·         “Heart of Green” hoodies

·         Jim Brickman and Brickman for Broadway Christmas Album

·         Kendra Scott shopping and virtual styling event

·         LE At Home unique in-home experiences

·         Download Tony Award-winner Lea Salonga’s new song “Dream Again”

·         MaskUpCurtainUp theatrical logo face masks

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2) ANIMALS

WORLD PREMIERE WRITTEN BY STACY OSEI-KUFFOUR

DIRECTED BY WHITNEY WHITE

 

PRESENTED AS PART OF THE

2020 WILLIAMSTOWN THEATRE FESTIVAL SEASON

ON AUDIBLE THEATER

 

IS AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE TOMORROW AT 3 AM ET ON 

AUDIBLE PLUS

The Williamstown Theatre Festival (Mandy Greenfield, Artistic Director) and Audible Theater (Kate Navin, Artistic Producer) world premiere presentation of Animals is now available worldwide tomorrow within the Audible Plus catalog. Animals is part of the 2020 Williamstown Theatre Festival summer season produced on Audible, the leading creator and provider of premium audio storytelling.

Lydia (Aja Naomi King) and Henry (Jason Butler Harner)’s dinner guests (Madeline Brewer and William Jackson Harper) are about to arrive when Henry’s spontaneous marriage proposal threatens to burn the evening to a crisp. Wine bottles and years of unspoken tensions are uncorked, and, before the evening is through, Lydia must confront her long-held fears and feelings if she’s going to commit to a future with Henry. Directed by Whitney White, Stacy Osei-Kuffour’s world premiere comedy marches into the muddy intersection of romantic entanglement, identity, pride, and survival.

Forged during and in response to a fraught moment in history, the unprecedented collaboration between Williamstown Theatre Festival and Audible Theater preserves the Festival season in a different format, provides continued work for the artists involved in the Festival season, and produces a body of work that will be made available for global Audible listeners to enjoy and experience. It also marks the first time that a theatrical season of work will be produced on Audible.

Animals’ running time is approximately 90 minutes. Special access to all seven titles in the WTF Season on Audible will be made available to eligible WTF donors; visit www.wtfestival.org/support for more information

For more information about Williamstown Theatre Festival, please visit www.wtfestival.org. For more information about Audible, please visit www.audible.com.

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3) Ballet Hispánico Holiday Celebration  Club Havana Watch Party Benefit Featuring Special Guests from the Past 20 Years December 23, 2020

Ballet Hispánico, the nation's renowned Latinx dance organization recognized this year as one of America's Cultural Treasures, invites audiences to the 

Ballet Hispánico Holiday Celebration of Club Havana on Wednesday, December 23, 2020, at 7:30pm, available on YouTube and Facebook.

Ballet Hispánico's signature work Club Havana is a celebration of Cuban music and dance with the Afro-Cuban legacies of the conga, rumba, mambo, and cha cha rhythms. The work is the centerpiece of Ballet Hispanico's fundraiser "BUnidos Our Artists Our Future." The evening is a celebration of the many artists who have made this work a staple of Ballet Hispánico's repertory. 

Host Artistic Director & CEO Eduardo Vilaro chats with special guests who have been a part of the two decades-long history of the work since its 2000 premiere: choreographer Pedro Ruiz, who had a twenty-year tenure as a Ballet Hispánico dancer; alumni Company dancers Natalia Alonso, Rodney Hamilton, and Nicholas Villeneuve and current Company dancers Laura Lopez, Lyvan Verdecia, and Melissa Verdecia; Kate Lear, Board Chair, Ballet Hispánico; and Dr.

AnaMaria Correa, former director of the School of Dance, who incorporated the work as a part of the Company's education program.

Memorable video clips add a bit of holiday spice to the show, sharing Club Havana through the years and from presentations around the world, from the World Premiere in 2000 through the aughts and teens, culminating in a screening of a spectacular recent performance from last year's Vail Dance Festival.

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4) Broadway Workshop Casting Workshop

with L.A. Casting Director, Howard Meltzer

 Casting Workshop with Howard Meltzer

Tuesday, December 29th, 2020 (Holiday Break)

1:00pm – 3:00pm ET (Eastern Time)

Ages 10-16

Zoom Online Workshop

$125

Each student will have the opportunity to work one on one with Mr. Meltzer on scenes and sides from his past TV & Film projects! Students will receive feedback and coaching to help bring their performances to the next level.

The last 20 minutes of the workshop will culminate in a Q&A where both parents and students can come together to ask questions and get more information about the casting process and what they can do to help guide their child’s career.

For more information or to register, visit www.broadwayworkshop.com/program/casting-workshop-with-howard-meltzer/

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5) Moonlight Theatre Productions 

Presents an Encore of 

 

CROSSROADS

Six Short Plays about love, pain, passion, and joy

Conceived and written by Israela Margalit

 

Streaming during Christmas Week

December 24-31, 2020

Moonlight Theatre Productions  will present award-winning writer, director, producer Israela Margalit's  acclaimed newest work  CROSSROADS  in an encore streaming presentation between December 24- 31, 2020. The show is  FREE . To sign up for your link, please visit

Eventbrite .

CROSSROADS is about love, passion, past regrets, and new beginnings. Featuring six short plays, both drama and comedy, they include Drenched, Stuck, Tissues, The Lecture, California King Size,  and Birthdays. 

In  Drenched,  Anna, a happily married woman, is revisited by a long-gone younger lover. This piece, a finalist in the Tennessee Williams Fiction Contest, is a psychological drama about obsession and the eternal question of what kind of love is real. (Features  Matthew Boston, Christian Conn, Jennifer Dorr White, and Rita Rehn; Directed by Israela Margalit.)

Stuck  follows a young woman who has nothing and expects nothing but, faced with losing the man she loves, begins to recognize her self-worth. (Features  PJ Johnnie and Keona Welch .  Directed by John-Martin Green.)

In Tissues, A woman recites the history of love and betrayal in 50 seconds. (Featuring Rita Rehn.)

In The Lecture, Martha meets Barnard fifteen years after their separation and learns about the cruel irony of time in a psychological drama about past and present. (Featuring Jennifer Dorr White, Ranata Hinrichs, and Sturgis Warner, directed by Israela Margalit.)

In  California King Size ,  a finalist of the Glimmer Train Press Very Short Fiction Competition, a woman grapples with her guilt for not wanting to die with her beloved husband. (Featuring  Lynda Gravatt.)

In  California King Size ,  a finalist of the Glimmer Train Press Very Short Fiction Competition, a woman grapples with her guilt for not wanting to die with her beloved husband. (Featuring  Lynda Gravatt.)

Streaming  encore presentation 

December 24-31, 2020 

Tickets are FREE and can be reserved by visiting  Eventbrite 

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6) New York City Center's 

An Evening with Audra McDonald 

Extended Through January 3, 2021

 by Popular Demand

An Evening with Audra McDonald is now available on demand through January 3. Treat yourself to more than an hour of classic songs from Broadway’s golden age and “the intimacy of Audra as if she’s singing just for you” (New York Stage Review) as often as you like through the new year.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.nycitycenter.org/pdps/2020-2021/audra

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7) Story Pirates Sleep Squad Extends Ticket Sales

through February 21st;

Featured Song '30 Moons' Releases This Friday

 

View the SLEEP SQUAD trailer HERE

By popular demand, The Story Pirates and Tony Award-winning producer Eva Price announce today that tickets are now available through February 21, 2021 for SLEEP SQUAD. 

This family-friendly, interactive, virtual audio-visual theater experience turns the viewer’s home into a rocket ship launching kids into their dreams. Family pass tickets start at $35, and are available via Stellar. The show’s featured original pop song, “30 Moons” (written by Ellen Winter) will be released on December 18th. Like all Story Pirates media, the song is inspired by a kid’s original idea.

SLEEP SQUAD stars Tony Award Nominee Lilli Cooper (SpongeBob SquarePants, Tootsie) as the Dream Queen, who guides adventurers through three different enchanting virtual experiences, adapted from stories written by real kids. These include a visit to a desert island, a dinosaur’s birthday party, and an intergalactic nightclub, allowing kids to take ownership of the imagination-powered storytelling. SLEEP SQUAD concludes with soothing music that will help lull adventurers to sleep.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit https://www.storypiratessleepsquad.com/ and https://www.storypiratescreatorclub.com/.

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8) Theater Resources Unlimited

Networking and Panel

Art and Activism: How Theater 

Can Open (and Change) Minds

Tuesday, December 22, 2020 at 6:00pm

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) announces their monthly panel Art and Activism: How Theater Can Open (and Change) Minds on Tuesday, December 22, 2020 at 6pm via Zoom. The Zoom session will open at 6pm for roundtable introductions of attendees, and the program will start at 6:30pm - come prepared with your best 20-second summary of who you are, and what you need. Reserve a spot on the event page athttps://truonline.org/events/art-and-activism/ or by emailing TRUStaff1@gmail.com  - you will be put on a list to receive the Zoom link.

Guest speakers include Jane Dubin, chair of the board of directors of Houses on the Moon Theatre Company; Adam Hyndman, associate at Octopus Theatricals, board of Broadway For Racial Justice, co-founder of The Industry Standard Group;  Ludovica Villar-Hauser, founder/artistic director of Parity Productions; actor and activist Dominique Sharpton; and Gayle Waxenberg, co-founder and executive director of NewYorkRep.

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And that's the scoop. Tune in tomorrow for More Theater Monday.