Famed actress Dame Diana Rigg dies of cancer

Famed actress Dame Diana Rigg dies of cancer

            (NBC via wikimedia commons) Diana Rigg Actress Dame Diana Rigg, a renowned English performer who played roles such as Emma Peel in The Avengers and Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones, has died at age 82.  In addition to these roles, the late stage...

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Prominent lighting designer dies of cancer

Prominent lighting designer dies of cancer

  Howell Binkley One of Broadway’s most renowned lighting designers, a two-time Tony Award winner who also received nominations for many other awards, died on Friday. Howell Binkley was 64. He succumbed to lung cancer at a hospital in Jacksonville, N.C., his wife, Joyce Storey, confirmed on Facebook. Binkley’s designs...

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Ohio teens performing ‘The Crucible’ safely and in person

Ohio teens performing ‘The Crucible’ safely and in person

Photo courtesy of Toledo Repertoire Theatre Two cast members from Toledo Repertoire Theatre’s Young Rep group rehearse a scene in person and with social distancing in mind.   By AARON KRAUSE Several Toledo teenage thespians who are performing in person Arthur Miller’s classic, The Crucible, are viewing masks and social...

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Artist and advocate during the AIDS crisis dies at 84

Artist and advocate during the AIDS crisis dies at 84

Larry Kramer Photo by David Shankbone via Wikimedia Commons   Larry Kramer, a fiercely passionate playwright, screenwriter, and advocate whom many credited with jump-starting the response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in America, has died in Manhattan. He was 84 and less than a month from his 85th birthday. His husband,...

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Drama Desk Awards postponed

Drama Desk Awards postponed

        Due to “breaking news events” in New York this weekend, “Spectrum News NY1″ and the Drama Desk organization postponed the Drama Desk Awards. Officials will re-schedule the ceremony. They had originally planned the broadcast for Sunday, May 31. “The Drama Desk celebrates all that’s outstanding in...

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Renowned playwright Terrence McNally dies at 81

Renowned playwright Terrence McNally dies at 81

By AARON KRAUSE SARASOTA, Fla. — Five-time Tony Award recipient Terrence McNally, the world-renowned playwright who received the Tony Awards’ Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre honor last year, died March 24 in Sarasota. He was 81 . Photo via Wikimedia McNally succumbed to complications from COVID-19, the disease caused by...

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‘Skylight’ nourishes the mind and entertains at Palm Beach Dramaworks

‘Skylight’ nourishes the mind and entertains at Palm Beach Dramaworks

Photo by Alicia Donelan Kyra Hollis (Sarah Street) is deep in thought in Palm Beach Dramaworks’ production of Skylight. By AARON KRAUSE WEST PALM BEACH — Echoes of Henry Higgins and Eliza Dolittle emanate from the stage in Skylight. It is the curious title to British playwright Sir David Hare’s...

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Les Miz remains a favorite due to upbeat messages, breathtaking songs

Les Miz remains a favorite due to upbeat messages, breathtaking songs

    Photo by Mattthew Murphy Nick Cartell appears as a transformed, polished Jean Valjean in a U.S. touring production of Les Miserables.   By AARON KRAUSE FT. LAUDERDALE — Even after witnessing Les Miserables for the umpteenth time, this beloved British megamusical from the 1980’s somehow re-assures us anew...

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Palm Beach Dramaworks’ Fences offers ample power, pathos

Palm Beach Dramaworks’ Fences offers ample power, pathos

Photo by Samantha Mighdoll Rose (Karen Stephens) confronts her husband, Troy (Lester Purry) in Palm Beach Dramaworks’ riveting production of August Wilson’s Fences.  By AARON KRAUSE WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Toward the end of Palm Beach Dramaworks’ breath-stealing, intense and all-together riveting production of August Wilson’s masterpiece, Fences, fierce thunder claps...

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