Features

Meet Dennis Wickline Productions at Broadway Onstage

By Donald V. Calamia

For decades, professional theater has flourished throughout pretty much every corner of Southeast Michigan - except for Detroit's east side and northeast suburbs. Until recently, Dennis Wickline Productions has had that market pretty much to itself since its inception 30 years ago. Located in Eastpointe at Broadway Onstage Live Theatre since 1994, the popular company is about to open its anniversary season with The Social Security Murders. Founder Dennis Wickline talked recently with EncoreMichigan.com about his company's history and what makes it unique among area professional theaters. Continue..

 

Meet Hope Summer Repertory Theatre

By Donald V. Calamia

For 39 summers, theatergoers in and around West Michigan have been treated to an amazing array of professional productions, ranging from Shakespeare to Sondheim and Tartuffe to Kukla, Fran and Ollie: A Retrospective - all courtesy of Hope Summer Repertory Theatre. Based on the campus of Hope College in Holland, HSRT produces seven shows a season on three different stages, and attracts professional actors from all across the nation. Assistant producing director/company manager Matthew R. D'Oyly talked recently to EncoreMichigan.com about the company and its philosophy of producing professional live theater! Continue..

 

Meet Mason Street Warehouse

By Donald V. Calamia

Mason Street Warehouse, West Michigan's only Equity theater, opened its doors in 2003 and quickly became a major asset in a community known for celebrating the arts. Referred to as an uptown theater in downtown Saugatuck, the popular theater is about to open its eighth season with the musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. To celebrate the opening, managing director Ricki L. Levine talked to EncoreMichigan.com about the company, its history and what types of programming MSW offers to theatergoers each summer. Continue..

 

Meet Stormfield Theatre

By Donald V. Calamia

Little did Kristine Thatcher know last fall that her new Stormfield Theatre would soon be the only Equity theater within the city of Lansing's boundaries - but that became the situation in late May when her previous employer, the BoarsHead Theatre, closed its doors. But Thatcher isn't looking backwards; she's charging full speed ahead with Stormfield, and she's brought along with her many familiar and beloved faces. Thatcher talked recently with EncoreMichigan.com about her new company, its upcoming fundraiser June 4-6 and dropped a few hints at what theatergoers can expect in the near future. Continue..

 

IN THE WINGS 20: Patty Hearst continues to provoke and perplex

By Barton Bund

Our upcoming musical is based on the kidnapping of Patricia Campbell Hearst. Our workshop production in 2009 was enormously successful, and Ann Arbor residents came forward with stories of their own radical past. The show engaged some and enraged others. Hearst's 1974 kidnapping was not so long ago, and the controversy has never gone away. Continue..

 

Meet the Detroit Repertory Theatre

By Donald V. Calamia

In the geographical center of Detroit sits the state's oldest professional producing theater company, the Detroit Repertory Theatre. Founded in 1957 as the Millan Children's Theatre, three co-founders are still running the company's day-to-day operations more than a half-century later. As the Rep's 52nd season continues in April with the world premiere of Two Point Oh, fiscal officer Barbara Busby - the woman of many hats - talked with EncoreMichigan.com about the popular, history-making company and its unique mission. Continue..

 

Meet The Encore Musical Theatre Company

By Donald V. Calamia

It's not always easy to tell what types of shows a theater produces based solely on its name, but one of Southeast Michigan's newest theaters left nothing to chance when it debuted last year as The Encore Musical Theatre Company. Located in Dexter and situated half-way between two theatrical powerhouses, The Encore has set itself apart with a passion for the genre and a unique approach to casting. Assistant artistic director Steve DeBruyne - an onstage powerhouse himself, who plays Simon Zealotes in April's production of Jesus Christ Superstar - talked recently with EncoreMichigan.com about the young company and its goals for the future. Continue..

 

Meet The Purple Rose Theatre Company

By Donald V. Calamia

One of the best known theaters in the state is The Purple Rose Theatre Company located in downtown Chelsea. Founded by Jeff Daniels, the award-winning theater consistently produces high quality shows - many of which are world premieres. Nurturing those new works is artistic director Guy Sanville, who has probably brought to the stage more new plays - and successfully so - than any other director now working in the state. Sanville took time out recently from rehearsals for his latest world premiere, Gravity by David MacGregor, to talk about the popular theater. Continue..

 

Meet Williamston Theatre

By Donald V. Calamia

Since it opened its doors in the summer of 2006, Williamston Theatre has become a highly respected force in Michigan's professional theater community. Not only has the company been recognized for its top quality productions, founders Tony Caselli, John Lepard, Christine Purchis and Emily Sutton-Smith received the prestigious Robert Busby Award from the Lansing State Journal in 2008 for extraordinary overall contributions to theater in the Greater Lansing area. About to open its first production of 2010, The Smell of the Kill, executive director John Lepard talked recently with EncoreMichigan.com about the company and its upcoming goals and objectives. Continue..

 

Meet Magenta Giraffe Theatre Company

By Donald V. Calamia

After somewhat of a dry spell, live theater is blossoming all over Midtown and Downtown Detroit. Like many of the new theaters, Magenta Giraffe Theatre Company is using the art form to not only tell timely and important stories, but to educate theatergoers on issues of social justice. Co-founder and artistic director Frannie Shepherd-Bates talked recently with EncoreMichigan.com about her young company and some of its goals for the future. Continue..

 

Meet Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit

By Donald V. Calamia

One of the most unique theater programs for young people is the internationally acclaimed Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit. Named Best-Managed Nonprofit by Crain's Detroit Business in 2006, 95 percent of the young artists who participate in Mosaic's Youth Ensemble graduate from high school and go on to college, many with scholarships. CEO Rick Sperling recently talked with EncoreMichigan.com about the company he founded and how it's shaping audiences and artists alike in the 21st century. Continue..

 

Meet PuppetART

By Donald V. Calamia

Located in Downtown Detroit's Theater District sits one of Detroit's cultural gems, PuppetART. Founded in 1998 by a group of puppeteers and artists trained in the former Soviet Union, PuppetART includes an intimate 70-person theater, a museum that accommodates a growing collection of puppets and a studio featuring various workshops. Co-founder and executive director Igor Gozman talked recently about his company and the many programs it offers to young people and adults throughout Southeast Michigan. Continue..

 

Meet Farmers Alley Theatre

By Donald V. Calamia

Kalamazoo's theater scene brightened considerably in 2008 when Farmers Alley Theatre opened its doors for the first time. Now in its second season, the non-profit professional theater is getting ready to open it's holiday show, Forever Plaid: Plaid Tidings on Dec. 4. Co-founder and executive director Adam Weiner talked recently to EncoreMichigan.com about the popular West Michigan theater's philosophies and goals for the future. Continue..

 

Meet Saugatuck Center for the Arts

By Donald V. Calamia

Since the late 19th century, Saugatuck has been known world wide for its arts and culture. This popular vacation spot located along the shore of Lake Michigan became famous as an artist colony, and today boasts more than a dozen galleries throughout its quaint downtown neighborhood. Since 2003, the Saugatuck Center for the Arts stands at the town's gateway and offers residents and visitors of all ages a broad mix of arts and culture 12 months of the year, including such diverse programming as the recent visit from Chicago's Improv Olympics and the upcoming concert by The Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra on Dec. 12. SCA's executive director Kristin Armstrong talked recently with EncoreMichigan.com about the non-profit's mission and programming. Continue..

 

Meet Meadow Brook Theatre

By Donald V. Calamia

It's that time of the year again when families from all over the area make their annual trek to Meadow Brook Theatre for its annual production of the holiday classic, A Christmas Carol. Now on stage through Dec. 20, the Rochester-based company is the largest non-profit, professional producing theater in Michigan, and more professional actors find work there every season than at any other theater in the state. So when Meadow Brook sneezes, an old saying goes, the industry shivers. Interim artistic director Travis Walter talked recently with EncoreMichigan.com about the 43-year-old institution and the many programs it's offering this season. Continue..

 

Meet Ford Community & Performing Arts Center

By Donald V. Calamia

The City of Dearborn has long provided a rich cultural life for its citizens and guests - from community theater programs to music, and from arts classes to dance. Under the leadership of the late Mayor Michael A. Guido, the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center was built, and today it offers more than 150 programs each year to the public. Cultural arts and theater manager Martin Zbosnik Jr. talked recently to EncoreMichigan.com about the many programs his theater offers. Continue..

 

Meet UDM Theatre Company

By Donald V. Calamia

The UDM Mercy Theatre Company is unique among college undergraduate theater programs. Managed and taught by working theater professionals in an educational environment, the students work side-by-side on stage with guest professional artists. Co-founder and current artistic director David L. Regal - a familiar face to longtime theatergoers - talked recently with EncoreMichigan.com about the company and its almost-40-year history. Continue..

 

Meet AP Theatrical Productions of Holland

By Donald V. Calamia

Our new, twice-weekly series, Meet the Theaters, will provide readers with an in-depth look at each of Michigan's professional theaters. Today we introduce West Michigan-based dinner theater producer AP Theatrical Productions, which enters its fourth season with a new partnership with Baker Lofts Events Center in Holland. Together they'll open Murder at the Howard Johnsons beginning Nov. 12. Co-founder and co-owner Sue Ann Culp talked recently with EncoreMichigan.com about the company she runs with her husband, Michael. Continue..

 

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