News

With so much turmoil in the world, it’s at least a little comforting that things haven’t changed much in Grover’s Corners, the place that gives Our Town, Thornton Wilder’s beloved 1938 report from Smalltown USA, its name. People there are born, love and die without so much as looking up to savor what they have. That’s life.

And while a check-in from the fictional New Hampshire town circa 1901-1913 is always a moving and welcome addition to anyone’s frazzled day, the new staging by Kenny Leon, opening on Broadway tonight at the Ethel Barymore Theatre with a cast that includes Jim Parsons, Katie Holmes, Richard Thomas, Billy Eugene Jones, Ephraim Sykes and Zoey Deutch, lacks the strong personality that would send it to the top of the many Our Towns that have staked claims on the world’s stages for nearly a century.

Leon, a...

The Tony award-winning play Our Town is getting another revival on Broadway!

Jim Parsons and Katie Holmes are set to the lead the cast of the upcoming adaptation, which will have a very limited engagement on the Great White Way, Deadline reports.

Also joining the cast is Zoey Deutch in her Broadway debut!

Keep reading to find out more…

“Thornton Wilder’s Our Town in my mind stands at the top of the Mount Rushmore of great American Theatre,” director Kenny Leon shared in a statement. “I feel blessed and fortunate to have gained the trust of The Wilder estate to present this classic to another generation of theatre lovers. It’s long been a burning desire to collaborate on a Broadway production of such magnitude that speaks so beautifully and intimately to all people about our shared time on the planet.”

Jim will star as the Stage Manager, Katie...

The previously announced Broadway revival of the Ossie Davis comedy Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch starring Leslie Odom, Jr. will begin previews on Thursday, September 7, at The Music Box Theatre, with an opening date to be announced.

The preview date was announced today, along with complete casting details. In addition to Odom, the revival will star Vanessa Bell Calloway, Billy Eugene Jones, Noah Pyzik, Noah Robbins, Jay O. Sanders, Heather Alicia Simms, Bill Timoney, and Kara Young. Kenny Leon directs.

The play marks Odom’s return to Broadway after winning the Tony for his performance as Aaron Burr in Hamilton.mThe creative team will feature scenic design by Derek McLane, costume design by Emilio Sosa, lighting design by Adam Honoré and sound design by Peter Fitzgerald.

Purlie Victorious tells the story of a Black preacher’s machinations to reclaim his inheritance and win back his church.

Click here to read the full article.

The Directors Guild of America has promoted director of field operations Faith Santilla to the position of assistant executive director.

The guild’s national executive director, Russell Hollander, announced the appointment on Tuesday. “Since joining the DGA in 2015, Faith has helped to grow our field representative operations to address the unique needs of our members working in all categories,” Hollander said in a statement. “In her new role as Assistant Executive Director, her deep union experience and specialized labor knowledge will now be put to work on behalf of our Ad and Upm members, as she joins the DGA’s executive team.”

As assistant executive director, Santilla will focus on assistant directors (ADs) and unit production managers (UPMs) in the DGA’s western region and will represent guild staff on the Western Ad/Upm Council.

Santilla started at the DGA as a field...

Faith Santilla has been promoted to assistant executive director of the DGA, the position formerly held by Steven Knauss shortly before his death in March at age 42.

In her new role, Santilla will work with assistant directors and unit production managers in the Western region and serve as the staff liaison to the guild’s Western Ad/Upm Council, reporting to Associate National Executive Director/Western Executive Director Danny Bush.

“Since joining the DGA in 2015, Faith has helped to grow our field representative operations to address the unique needs of our members working in all categories,” said DGA National Executive Director Russell Hollander. “In her new role as assistant executive director, her deep union experience and specialized labor knowledge will now be put to work on behalf of our Ad and Upm members, as she joins the DGA’s executive team.”

Santilla joined the DGA in 2015 as a field representative.

Tony Goldwyn will return to Broadway in Ivo van Hove’s much-anticipated production of Network, joining Bryan Cranston and Tatiana Maslany in the stage adaptation of the 1976 Oscar-winning film.

Goldwyn will play Max Schumacher, the TV exec in the midst of a mid-life crisis played by the Oscar-nominated William Holden in the film. British actor Douglas Henshall originated the role in the West End production of the play last year.

Known to TV audiences for playing President Fitzgerald Grant in Shonda Rhimes’ Scandal and next to be seen onscreen in Netflix’s Chambers with Uma Thurman, Goldwyn has a long stage history. Among his credits: Theresa Rebeck’s The Water’s Edge, Craig Lucas’ The Dying Gaul, Holiday at Circle in the Square opposite Laura Linney, and an Obie-winning performance in The Sum of Us. He most recently appeared on Broadway in the 2010 revival of Promises, Promises.

Performances of Network begin on Saturday,...

In his first appointments as the new national executive director of the DGA, Russ Hollander has promoted Danny Bush to associate national executive director and Cynthia Tollett to assistant executive director. Bush, whose new title includes Western executive director, will join fellow associate national executive directors Bryan Unger and David Korduner in focusing on the growing challenges of national and international representation of directors and their teams in all…...

In his first appointments as the new national executive director of the DGA, Russ Hollander has promoted Danny Bush to associate national executive director and Cynthia Tollett to assistant executive director. Bush, whose new title includes Western executive director, will join fellow associate national executive directors Bryan Unger and David Korduner in focusing on the growing challenges of national and international representation of directors and their teams in all…...

Recently, CBS delivered the new,official synopsis/spoilers for their upcoming "Blue Bloods" episode 14 of season 5. The episode is entitled, "The Poor Door," and it turns out that we're going to see some pretty intriguing stuff take place when Danny and Baez investigate a luxury building that's housing lower income residents ,and more. In the new, 14th episode press release: Danny and Baez are going to investigate a murder of a lower income resident in a luxury building. Press release number 2: Danny and Baez will investigate a murder of a lower income resident in a luxury building where 20 percent of the units are made affordable for lower income housing. Also, Frank is going to take issue with a detective friend of Gormley's who takes advantage of his position with legal loopholes. Guests stars feature: Stephen O'Reilly (Wally Cantrell), Mark Ivanir (Ivan Radchenko), Theodora Woolley (Rada Radchenko), Socorro Santiago (Manuela...

Recently, CBS released the new,official synopsis/spoilers for their upcoming "Person Of Interest" episode 12 of season 4. The episode is entitled, "Control-Alt-Delete," and it turns out that we're going to see the head of Samaritan start to contemplate just how much control she actually possesses, and more. In the new, 12th episode press release: The head of Samaritan's team within the government, is going to begin to wonder how much control she really has. Press release number 2: Control (Camryn Manheim), who oversees the handling of relevant numbers for the government, will begin to question the methods and intentions of the Samaritan program. Also, alarming news reports of a pair of vigilantes rampaging through the Northeast, will begin to surface. Guest stars feature: Suzy Jane Hunt (Shiffman), Michael Potts (Travers), Alice Chastain Levy (Julia), Ryan Shams (Yasin), Zarif Kabier (Massoud), Shahar Isaac (Tariq), Omar Rahim (Hussain), William Jackson Harper (Stroble...

While AMC’s Mad Men gets most of the press, the network has another amazing show called Breaking Bad. The show’s about a brilliant high school chemistry teacher that finds out he’s dying. To help provide for his family after he’s gone and also to pay for medical treatment, he gets into cooking crystal meth. The problem is…the guy has always been a straight shooter and completely honest, so he doesn’t understand how the drug trade works. Trust me, this is a show you should be watching and the lead performance by Bryan Cranston is amazing. That’s probably why he won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series the past two years.

With season three just starting and season two out on home video, I was able to speak with Bryan Cranston to help promote the series. During the interview we...