For many, a theatre program, especially those that focus on students, we can feel a certain feeling of family with those people.   I know this first hand.  For about the last two and a half years, every time I enter my home theatre for an audition, rehearsal, or otherwise, I hear exclaims of “Mom!” from the younger members of our youth program.  I honestly don’t remember how or exactly when the nickname started, but now that it has, I am so glad that it did.  As I prepare for one of my final auditions with my theatre’s youth program, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on the last two years that I have spent as Muncie Civic Theatre’s youth “mom”. 

When it comes to the live action remake of Aladdin, Disney has had its ups and downs. While I didn't appreciate their portraying that it was difficult to cast actors of color for the lead roles (because it actually isn't), I was happy to see they cast the roles of Jasmine, Jafar and the title character with actors of color along with Will Smith as the Genie. They even knocked it out of the ball park by casting SNL-Alum, Nasim Pedrad who is Iranian. 

However, I'm sure there was a pocket of white Disney fans asking, "where are all the white people?!?!" 

Don't worry, your concerns have been heard and the issue appears to have been settled by the news of the casting of Billy Magnussen as a new character, Prince Anders.

On September 5th, 2017 North Shore Music Theatre announced the cast for its upcoming production of Evita. To no one’s surprise, the cast features all non-Latinx white leads that include Nick Adams as Magaldi, Briana Carlson-Goodman as Eva, John Cudia as Peron, and Tony Award Nominee Constantine Maroulis as Che. This casting announcement follows a tradition of whitewashing a musical that features real life Latinx political figures. The production is directed by Nick Kenkel who manages to find an authentic Latinx cast (of volunteers) for Broadway Bares’ annual Latino number.

Over the past couple of decades, it has become undeniable that climate change is happening, and is one of the most critical issues facing our planet. If bold actions aren’t taken to do something to reserve the current trends, scientists say that the long-term impact could be catastrophic. While our current political leaders are largely ignorant of these issues, that’s not stopping the artists working on the Climate Change Theatre Action initiative from doing what they can to increase awareness of what’s happening to our environment.

OnStage Blog is thrilled to announce our new staff of theatre critics for Connecticut. The staff consists of Tara Kennedy, Noah Golden, Maegan Clearwood and John P. McCarthy.

Look, I have many opinions about the Donald Trump Presidency. I have even more opinions about those who supported him and still support him to this day. However, what I won't do is try to generalize nor try to stereotype who they are. 

I wish I could say the same for others, such as singer John Legend. 

Anytime a Broadway show closes, there are a lot of emotions people connected with the show, go through. A performer friend of mine said they go through something similar to the "Five Stages of Grief"(denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance). Anytime this happens, some people deal with it better than others. 

Over the past month, the situation involving Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 and its soon-to-be closing has been one of the biggest stories of the year. In my history, it's the first time where social media uproar played a huge role in killing the show. 

Now one would think that since news of the show's closing, the social media sniping would come to a halt. I was apparently wrong for thinking that. 

It’s that time of year again. The show/season has been announced. And it is time to get going. We need to find a director, a production team, and of course a cast.

Last year I took on the role as co-producer for my local community theater’s first two productions of the season. This was my chance to see and learn how things are done right from the start.  Someone thought I would be a good producer and asked me if I would be interested in the role. I am always willing to learn more and said “yes” because I also like to try new things.

The end of August is usually a time where college seems to be on everyone's mind. Whether it's incoming freshmen getting ready to move into their residence halls or high school seniors preparing their applications, college is a constant discussion. 

For theatre students, where you attend can certainly have an impact on your career with the type of training you receive. It's also important to note that while each school listed here is excellent, a college degree doesn't guarantee success nor is one required to become successful in this industry. 

Here at OnStage, we take months to research the best BFA programs to come up with our own lists.

We're going to do separate lists for each type of degree field. Let's start today with BFA in Dance. 

Recent debate about a production of Albee's 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?', in which the Albee estate withheld production rights due to the fact that a black actor was cast in the role of Nick, is just another of many examples which in my opinion prove that we need to accept certain things and move on.