It's Tony Nomination Time!

Sutton Foster and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, two Broadway stars who've made it big on the small screen as well, announced this year's Tony Award nominations today. If you missed the announcement, you can see it here. If you want a handy reference list, you can check out the interactive guide the Tony folks have created here. Or you can peruse this list of the nominations (in the order they were announced):

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Tom Hanks, Lucky Guy
Nathan Lane, The Nance
Tracy Letts, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
David Hyde Pierce, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Tom Sturridge, Orphans

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Laurie Metcalf, The Other Place
Amy Morton, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Kristine Nielsen, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Holland Taylor, Ann
Cicely Tyson, The Trip to Bountiful

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Bertie Carvel, Matilda The Musical
Santino Fontana, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella
Rob McClure, Chaplin
Billy Porter, Kinky Boots
Stark Sands, Kinky Boots

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Stephanie J. Block, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Carolee Carmello, Scandalous
Valisia LeKae, Motown The Musical
Patina Miller, Pippin
Laura Osnes, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella

Best Revival of a Play
Golden Boy by Clifford Odets
Orphans by Lyle Kessler
The Trip to Bountiful by Horton Foote
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee

Best Revival of a Musical
Annie
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Pippin
Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella

Best Play
The Assembled Parties by Richard Greenberg
Lucky Guy by Nora Ephron
The Testament of Mary by Colm Toíbín
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang

Best Musical
Bring It On: The Musical
A Christmas Story, The Musical
Kinky Boots
Matilda The Musical

Best Book of a Musical
Douglas Carter Beane, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella
Harvey Fierstein, Kinky Boots
Dennis Kelly, Matilda The Musical
Joseph Robinette, A Christmas Story, The Musical

Best Original Score
Trey Anastasio and Amanda Green, Hands on a Hardbody
Cyndi Lauper, Kinky Boots
Tim Minchin, Matilda the Musical
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, A Christmas Story, The Musical

Best Choreography
Andy Blankenbuehler, Bring It On: The Musical
Peter Darling, Matilda The Musical
Jerry Mitchell, Kinky Boots
Chet Walker, Pippin

Best Orchestrations
Chris Nightingale, Matilda The Musical
Stephen Oremus, Kinky Boots
Ethan Popp and Bryan Crook, Motown The Musical
Danny Troob, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella

Best Scenic Design of a Play
John Lee Beatty, The Nance
Santo Loquasto, The Assembled Parties
David Rockwell, Lucky Guy
Michael Yeargan, Golden Boy

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Rob Howell, Matilda The Musical
Anna Louizos, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Scott Pask, Pippin
David Rockwell, Kinky Boots

Best Costume Design of a Play
Soutra Gilmour, Cyrano de Bergerac
Ann Roth, The Nance
Albert Wolsky, The Heiress
Catherine Zuber, Golden Boy

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Gregg Barnes, Kinky Boots
Rob Howell, Matilda The Musical
Dominique Lemieux, Pippin
William Ivey Long, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella

Best Sound Design of a Play
John Gromada, The Trip to Bountiful
Mel Mercier, The Testament of Mary
Leon Rothenberg, The Nance
Peter John Still and Marc Salzberg, Golden Boy

Best Sound Design of a Musical
Jonathan Deans and Garth Helm, Pippin
Peter Hylenski, Motown The Musical
John Shivers, Kinky Boots
Nevin Steinberg, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, Lucky Guy
Donald Holder, Golden Boy
Jennifer Tipton, The Testament of Mary
Japhy Weideman, The Nance

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Kenneth Posner, Kinky Boots
Kenneth Posner, Pippin
Kenneth Posner, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella
Hugh Vanstone, Matilda The Musical

Best Direction of a Play
Pam MacKinnon, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Nicholas Martin, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Bartlett Sher, Golden Boy
George C. Wolfe, Lucky Guy

Best Direction of a Musical
Scott Ellis, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Jerry Mitchell, Kinky Boots
Diane Paulus, Pippin
Matthew Warchus, Matilda The Musical

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Danny Burstein, Golden Boy
Richard Kind, The Big Knife
Billy Magnussen, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Tony Shalhoub, Golden Boy
Courtney B. Vance, Lucky Guy

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Carrie Coon, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Shalita Grant, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Judith Ivey, The Heiress
Judith Light, The Assembled Parties
Condola Rashad, The Trip to Bountiful

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Charl Brown, Motown The Musical
Keith Carradine, Hands on a Hardbody
Will Chase, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Gabriel Ebert, Matilda The Musical
Terrence Mann, Pippin

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Annaleigh Ashford, Kinky Boots
Victoria Clark, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella
Andrea Martin, Pippin
Keala Settle, Hands on a Hardbody
Lauren Ward, Matilda The Musical

The Tony Awards celebration will be televised live in a three-hour broadcast on CBS on June 9, 2013. For the whole scoop on Tony night, click here.

ALL MY KIDS and ONE LIFE TO LIVE Are Resurrected

Pardon me while I try to tamp down my excitement.

I watched ABC daytime dramas from approximately 1971 till All My Children and One Life to Live got canceled in 2011 and 2012, respectively. General Hospital, my one-time favorite, was the only one of ABC's soaps not to get the ax, but by that point, it was a dreary mess of mobsters and misogyny, and I had no desire to stick with daytime TV just for that.

So I gave it up cold turkey. Then there was talk that production company Prospect Park would bring All My Kids and One Life back from the dead, with all-new episodes broadcast only on the internet. I had a healthy dose of skepticism it would ever happen, but guess what? It did, it has, and both soaps showed off their first new episodes today exclusively on Hulu.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEE! It's really, really nice to have them back.

The shows are now broadcast in 30-minute episodes, like soaps of yore, instead of the hour-long shows you'll remember from the pre-2011 bloodbath. Some of your favorite actors and characters are back, from Viki, Clint, Bo, Nora, Blair, Todd (albeit briefly), Natalie, Cutter, Tea, Dorian and David on One Life, to Angie, Jesse, Adam, Brooke, a different David (the evil doctor instead of the Boy with the Chipmunk Tattoo), Opal, Dixie, Bianca, Zach, and relative newcomers, sister and brother Cara and Griffin, on AMC.

Missing is, of course, Erica Kane, as played by Susan Lucci, along with Tad the Cad, played by Michael E. Knight, and (at least so far) Erica's daughter Kendall, last played by Alicia Minshew.

From One Life, the missing list includes Michael Easton's John McBain and Kristen Alderson's Starr Manning, both of whom had moved on over to General Hospital's Port Charles in the wake of the cancellation. There's been talk both will be back at some point, just like Starr's daddy Todd, played by Roger Howarth, who'd also shipped out to GH only to be pulled back.

Personally, I already like the new One Life eons better than General Hospital, but I also like Todd Manning, a guy who totally puts the anti in antihero, so I hope he sticks around. Seriously. How much better is it to come back and mix it up with Blair one more time instead of getting stuck in the cesspool named Carly over on GH?

In any event, no matter who's staying and who's going and who's never coming back, the new shows look spiffy, with very nice production values, scripts that are working for me so far, cheekier dialogue than you can get away with on network TV in the afternoon (including swear words), more daring situations (AJ all grown up and playing guitar nude? Destiny transformed into a much taller, much skinner girl in a tube top, with legs for days?), actors I'm happy to see, some interesting newbies, and some fun surprises. What happened after we last saw JR in that closet in Pine Valley? What are they all avoiding talking about? What in the world is Kelly and/or Kitty (Francesca James) doing back in town, only now called Evelyn? How are they going to explain Destiny and Matthew being so much older when Dani and Jack aren't? What happened to bust up Natalie and John? And what about that last-second reveal, you know, the guy in the hoodie whose name I don't want to give away in case you haven't seen it yet?

I admit it. I'm hooked. Thanks, Prospect Park! Thanks, Hulu! It's awfully nice to have my soaps back.

Young at Heartland Playwrights in Print!

It's only fitting that the Young at Heartland senior acting troupe should celebrate their tenth anniversary by branching out into yet another venture. Not content to sit on their acting and touring laurels, the Young group began writing their own scripts a year or two again. It's always tough to find material suited to short pieces for actors over 55, so members decided to create their own. And now they're publishing some of those pieces to provide material for other senior acting groups, too!

Young at Heartland Program Director Ann White has announced that 16 plays by YAH members will be published by ArtAge under the title Seniors Still Acting Up, which ArtAge is billing as a "vibrant collection of [Young at Heartland's] short plays and monologues." The playwrights and plays included in the collection are:

Bruce Boeck
Two of a Kind

Elsie Cadieux
Doctor's Office, Storm, First Time

Judy Franciosi
Good Grief, A Promise Kept, For Better or Worse...But Not for Lunch

Janet Grupp
The Car and the Garage Door, Fire

Holly Klass
Lend Me Your Ear...Puhleese, What Emergency, Lemme See

Jane Plum
Gadgetry

Joy Schuler
Pink

Carol Scott
Ladies Who Lunch

Lynda Straw
Afternoon Antiquing

You can see the back cover below, including ordering information. The volume will be priced at $24.95 and available from ArtAge at PO Box 19955, Portland OR 97280 or calling 503-246-3000 or 800-858-4998.

IWU Workshops a Brand-New Musical Saturday at 8

This Saturday, April 27, the Music Theatre Workshop Class at Illinois Wesleyan University will perform the Midwest premiere workshop presentation of All the Kids Are Doing It, a topical new musical with book and lyrics by Kate Thomas and music by Joey Contreras. Not only does this workshop give you the chance to see a brand-new, still-in-development musical, but it's free!

Thomas and Contreras will also offer a discussion of the show on Sunday, April 28, at 11 am in the E. Melba Johnson Kirkpatrick Laboratory Theatre at Illinois Wesleyan.

All the Kids Are Doing It was previously workshopped at the Provincetown Playhouse in New York City in March of this year in conjunction with the NYU Steinhardt songwriting program. Broadway World describes the piece as "a contemporary pop-rock musical that explores the reality of young adults today who exploit themselves and others in order to achieve personal gain."

Thomas and Contreras have written a piece that explores college, the internet, artistic freedom, celebrity, privacy and a struggle to find a voice in an increasingly complicated world. In other words, All the Kids Are Doing It is of the moment and perfect for today's college kids.

Kate Thomas

Kate Thomas is a New York City based writer and actress. She received her BA in Theatre from Sarah Lawrence College, and her MFA in Musical Theatre Writing from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. Her musical theatre work includes, ALL THE KIDS ARE DOING IT (book & lyrics), The Champagne Fountain (book & lyrics), and Flung (book & lyrics). She has also appeared in numerous NYC productions, some of which include, Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, Spring's Awakening, and Spike Heels. Kate is the recipient of the Paulette Goddard Scholarship and is now a proud member of the Dramatist's Guild.

Joey Contreras at the piano

Joey Contreras is a musical theatre songwriter in the New York scene. His original compositions and arrangements have been featured in NYC venues including Joe's Pub, Lincoln Center, Le Poisson Rouge, Laurie Beechman Theater, The Duplex and multiple Broadway in South Africa galas at the Manhattan Center. Internationally, performances of his music have stretched as far as Australia, Germany, South Korea and the UK. He remains at work on his song cycle, This Thing Called Love, originally produced by Philly Music Theatre Works, and has two other musicals currently in development. Recipient of the 2010 ASCAP Foundation Max Dreyfus Scholarship Award, Joey holds a BFA in musical theatre from University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA and is in NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. His first album, Love Me, Love Me Not: The Music of Joey Contreras features performances by exciting Broadway talent and is available on iTunes and CDbaby.com.

ALL THE KIDS ARE DOING IT

A Musical

Book and Lyrics by Kate Thomas

Music by Joey Contreras

Cast: Annie Simpson, Amy Stockhaus, Patsita Jiratipayabood, Will Henke, Zach Mahler, Ben Mulgrew, T. Isaac Sherman, Joey Chu, Marek Zurowski, Adam Walleser, Josh Levinson, Emilie Hanlet, Kate Rozycki,Lizzie Raniville, Jenna Haimes, Kayla White and Brittany Ambler.

Musical Direction by Saundra DeAthos-Meers

Choreography by Jean MacFarland Kerr

Directed by Scott Susong

Saturday, April 27, 2013

8 pm

E. Melba Johnson Kirkpatrick Laboratory Theatre 

MIDDLETOWN Burns Bright at Heartland

In a piece on Will Eno's Middletown earlier this year, Boston Globe critic Christopher Wallenberg called the play "a meditation on birth and death and the lives burning bright in between."

Note "the lives burning bright in between." The characters living in Middletown tell us about birth and death all through this quirky, engaging play, as they muse on why they're here, what their places are in this world, and what their legacies might be. It's easy to fall under the spell of Eno's heady writing in all its poetic beauty. But don't miss the fact that he is also etching vivid portraits of a town's worth of people -- the librarian, the mechanic, the cop, the handyman, the newcomer, even the astronaut who once called Middletown home -- in heartbreaking, wonderful detail. These people are as quizzical, as amusing, as real as your neighbors, and yet not like your neighbors at all.

It's to the credit of director John Kirk's current production for Heartland Theatre that each of those portraits comes across loud and clear. His actors, most of whom play multiple roles, have worked hard to come up with individuals who are different from each other, a little odd, a little awkward, and quite fascinating.

Rhys Lovell and Karen Hazen are out front among the cast, both turning in terrific, layered performances. Lovell is always good, but his John Dodge, a man in between jobs, in between hobbies, living very much in the in between, is something very special. Dodge may be a bit of a mess -- well-meaning, but a mess -- but Lovell's performance is anything but. He's fantastic.

And Hazen is just as subtle, just as amazing, opposite him as Mary Swanson, the newbie in town, the one who serves as our eyes on Middletown. Hazen's portrayal of Mary makes the character funny, sweet, and relatable, as Mary's yearning for something more, something more than a husband who is so often on the road, becomes clear.

Kathleen Kirk's librarian and Dean Brown's "public speaker," who introduces the idiosyncratic tone of the piece, add quirky warmth to the tableau, while George Freeman's scary cop and Richard Jensen's scary (in a different way) ne'er-do-well mechanic bring harder edges into Middletown. Others in the cast who shine are Aric Diamani and Devon Lovell as doctors, John Poling as an astronaut high above the town, Lynna Briggs as a strange spectator, and Ann White and Megan Huff, who pair up as guide/tourist and hospital attendants.

Your guidebook to Middletown is written right into the script. Pay attention to how many times the "great and unexamined middle," as Eno puts it, comes up. The middle, the intermission, the time between birth and death, waiting periods and in-between times... Or, you know, life.

Eno has a unique voice in contemporary theater, just as Heartland Theatre has a unique place in our local theater scene. And what a good match they are.

MIDDLETOWN
By Will Eno

Heartland Theatre Company

Director: John W. Kirk
Assistant Director/Stage Manager: Jess Friedli
Scenic Designer: Kenneth P. Johnson
Lighting Designer: Anita McDaniel
Costume Designer: Jeanine Fry
Properties: Cyndee Brown
Sound Engineer: Aaron Paolucci

Cast: Lynna Briggs, Dean Brown, Aric Diamani, George Freeman, Karen Hazen, Megan Huff, Richard Jensen, Kathleen Kirk, Devon Lovell, Rhys Lovell, John D. Poling, Ann Bastian White

Running time: 2:30, including one 15-minute intermission

Remaining Performances: April 25-27 and May 2-4 at 7:30 pm and April 28 and May 5 at 2 pm.

For show times, click here. For reservation information, click here.

Puppet Building Excitement This Weekend with the Illinois Shakespeare Festival

What with improv shows, Edward III, Fanny Kemble and Adopt-a-Bard-Buddy, there are lots of new things happening at this year's Illinois Shakespeare Festival. One of the coolest may be the entry of puppets into the Festival landscape, when they are used to tell the story of Philip Dawkins' Failure: A Love Story, which will fill the one non-Shakespeare slot on this year's roster.

And it's not just that puppets will be on stage during Failure. You can help build them, too! Festival organizers are holding a two-day workshop with Luke Verkamp, Puppet Designer for Quest Theatre Ensemble, this weekend. One of Quest Theatre's puppet designs is shown at left, from their production of The People's Passion Play.

If you choose to join them on April 27 and 28, you can participate in the construction of "large puppets" that will be used to stage Failure: A Love Story this summer. In other words, you can "join in the excitement of making art that will be seen on-stage later this summer."

Details are sketchy on the Festival homepage, but you are invited to call the box office at 866-IL-SHAKE for details.

AUDITIONS! Heartland Theatre Needs You for a Package, Parcel or Present Play

 Heartland Theatre Company has announced the winners in its annual 10-minute play competition, with the eight winning plays -- each involving a package, parcel or present of some sort -- to be performed in June. Heartland will hold auditions for these 10-minute plays on Tuesday, April 23, and Wednesday, April 24, from 6:30 to 9 pm at the theater. If you choose to audition, you will be asked to read from the script. No monologues necessary.

Here is the list of winners and casting requirements:

AND TWICE ON SUNDAY by Brad Sytsma, Kentwood MI
If you wear a trench coat to the park and sit on a popular park bench to await a package drop, you have to be able to tell a chipmunk from a rhinoceros. Or there will be… Misunderstandings.
1 Woman* any age. 3-4 Men* -- 20s-40s

THE CHEESECAKE PLAY by John Frusciante, Astoria NY
Jeff and Andrea are less than thrilled that the people upstairs are noisy and thoughtless and downright annoying. But revenge is sweet when the neighbors’ cheesecake delivery goes astray.
1 Woman, 20s-30s. 2 Men, 20s-30s.

DEAR SUSAN, LOVE HAROLD by James Walczy, Hilton Head Island SC
It’s understandable that a man would be upset when he discovers a box of intimate love letters written to his wife long ago. Who was this Harold, anyway?
1 Woman, 60s. 1 Man, 60s

DO NOT OPEN by Candace Perry, Wellfleet MA
A big old package lands in the middle of three sisters enjoying a weekend away at a secluded beach. Uh oh. It’s from Mom, who never could resist inserting herself into their lives.
3 Women, mid-30s to early 40s.

LAST CALL by James McLindon, Northampton MA
Melissa has carried a bowling bag to the bar her dad loved best. Why a bowling bag? She’s dying to tell someone that story…
1 Woman, 20s-30s. 2 Men, 1 20s-30s and 1 30s-40s.

A MILLION TIMES OVER by Molly Campbell, Chicago IL
A handsome man keeps bringing pretty little packages to Marie as she rests in a hospital. They look like empty boxes. Except they’re not empty at all in Marie’s memory.
2 Women, 1 70s and 1 30s. 1 Man, 20s.

MINCED SPIES by Doc Watson, Bath, Somerset UK
Spies, pies, newspapers, teapots, aardvarks, and, of course, a mysterious parcel… Things can get tricky when you’re testing spies. And pies.
1 Woman* any age. 2 Men* any age.

STANDING ROOM ONLY by C. J. Ehrlich, Chappaqua NY
Charlene is so upset about seeing what love could be, she won’t give a stranger a seat on the ferry. Until he pushes his way past her comfort zone.
1 Woman, 50-60s. 2 Men, 1 20s and 1 any age.

*Gender flexible or not specified. 

That creates a total of 24 roles, with approximately 11 female roles and 13 male roles. Note that several roles are either not specified as male or female or flexible. Some age ranges may also be flexible. So if you don't fit perfectly, never dear. Audition anyway!

Performance for these Package Plays will be June 6-9, 13-15, 20-23 and 27-30, and rehearsals can be expected to take up some of your evenings in May. For all the details, come out for the auditions on Tuesday and Wednesday, or before that, email mdobbins@heartlandtheatre.org with questions.