John Baker News

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center announces casting and creative teams for the summer season of new musicals and plays selected for development at the National Music Theater Conference and National Playwrights Conference.

Calendar Girls - The Musical by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth is the award-winning production based on the true story of the calendar girls - a group of ordinary ladies who achieved something extraordinary.

Dirt Dogs Theatre Co. (DDTCo.) proudly presents its Season 4 lineup for 2019-2020. The season opens with a very human look at race relations in America with the regional premiere of White Guy on the Bus by Bruce Graham. Following, is another regional premiere, the unrelenting tragedy, The Dead Eye Boy by Angus MacLachlan. Season 4 concludes with the political drama, Farragut North by House of Cards creator, Beau Willimon. All productions will be performed at MATCH in Midtown Houston.

To conclude its wildly successful inaugural season, ACT (A Contemporary Theatre) of Connecticut is excited to present the hit Broadway musical THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE with performances from May 30 - June 23, 2019. 

Plays by local high-school seniors, Sierra Butterwick, Lauren Dodds, and Amado Velasco have been chosen by Dirt Dogs Theatre Co. (DDTCo.) as selections for its second annual Student Playwright Festival.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts hosts more than 120 outstanding theater students from colleges and universities across the nation as part of the 50th annual Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF), which runs April 16-20, 2019 in multiple locations throughout the Center. The Center also announced the national awardees for the KCACTF. Selected awardees and representatives will be brought to Washington, D.C. for an expense-paid trip to participate in the National Festival. These student artists from across the United States have been recognized for their outstanding work from the eight regional festivals that were held January 8 through February 28, 2019.

The Tribeca Talks program will return to entertain and inspire audiences at the 18th annual Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, taking place April 24 - May 5. This year's lineup will include intimate and once in a lifetime conversations with a diverse list of groundbreaking and critically acclaimed filmmakers, artists, entertainers, and icons.

Dirt Dogs Theatre Co. (DDTCo.) is seeking submissions for our Student Playwright Festival. High school seniors from the Houston metropolitan area are encouraged to submit previously unproduced one-act plays, up to 30 minutes in length for consideration.

The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the showcase of new independent feature films selected across all categories for the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. The Festival hosts screenings in Park City, Salt Lake City and at Sundance Mountain Resort, from January 24 - February 3, 2019.

RATTLESTICK PLAYWRIGHTS THEATER announces the extension of the New York premieres of LEWISTON/CLARKSTON, two plays written by MacArthur Genius Grant Winner Samuel D. Hunter (The Whale, Bright New Boise, The Few) and directed by his long-term collaborator Davis McCallum

RATTLESTICK PLAYWRIGHTS THEATER announces casting for the New York premieres of LEWISTON and CLARKSTON, two plays written by MacArthur Genius Grant Winner Samuel D. Hunter (The Whale, Bright New Boise, The Few) and directed by his long-term collaborator Davis McCallum.

RATTLESTICK PLAYWRIGHTS THEATER announces casting for the New York premieres of LEWISTON and CLARKSTON, two plays written by MacArthur Genius Grant Winner Samuel D. Hunter (The Whale, Bright New Boise, The Few) and directed by his long-term collaborator Davis McCallum.

RATTLESTICK PLAYWRIGHTS THEATER announces casting for the New York premieres of LEWISTON and CLARKSTON, two plays written by MacArthur Genius Grant Winner Samuel D. Hunter (The Whale, Bright New Boise, The Few) and directed by his long-term collaborator Davis McCallum.

It's 1987 and Barry Champlain, a controversial on-air radio "shock jock" is doing what he does best: treating his late-night callers with contempt. But when his Cleveland-based program is considered for national syndication and his producer cautions him about offending sponsors, Barry defiantly responds and excoriates his audience...but they just keep calling.

It's been more than 50 years since Mrs. Robinson seduced Benjamin Braddock-as well as film audiences-in Mike Nichols' cinematic classic, The Graduate. This summer, Dirt Dogs Theatre Co. pays homage to this iconic picture by incorporating film into its production of the play. The stage adaptation, written by Terry Johnson, not only features classic scenes from the film, but dialogue from the original novel, as well as new scenes created by the playwright. And while the play uncovers new insights into the characters that audiences have known all of their lives, the basic premise of the story remains unchanged. It is 1964, and Benjamin Braddock is leaving behind the safety of college for an unknown future full of insecurities. Enter Mrs. Robinson, the frustrated wife of his father's business partner, and Ben gets an education not found in any college curriculum.

It's been more than 50 years since Mrs. Robinson seduced Benjamin Braddock-as well as film audiences-in Mike Nichols' cinematic classic, The Graduate. This summer, Dirt Dogs Theatre Co. pays homage to this iconic picture by incorporating film into its production of the play.

Dirt Dogs Theatre Co. (DDTCo.) proudly presents its Season 3 lineup for 2018-2019. The season opens with the hard-edged Talk Radio by Eric Bogosian. Following, is the tart and witty all-female play, Boston Marriage by David Mamet. Season 3 closes with the fiery drama A Lie of the Mind by Sam Shepard. All productions will be performed at MATCH in Midtown Houston.

Recently signed to Melodic Revolution Records, keybordist & composer Lisa LaRue is set to release her new album “Origins” in April 2018! A double album celebrating 25 years and 11 release by LaRue, “Origins” features some of the best musicians in the business: John Payne Asia, GPS), Michael Sadler (Saga), Mitch Perry (Talas, Aerosmith), Gilli Smyth (Gong), Don Schiff (Rocket Scientist, Kracked Earth), Federico Fantacone (Orchestre Celesti) John Baker (Forever Twelve, Mars Hollow) as well as Steve Adams, Brenda K, Michael Wheeler, Merrill Hale, Svetlan Raket (Par Lindh Project), John “Yafke” Timothy, Michael Alvarez.

If it could happen to them, could it happen to you? Six everyday people-some simply in the wrong place at the wrong time-each tried, found guilty and sentenced to death. These are the stories of The Exonerated. Artistic Director of Dirt Dogs Theatre Co. (DDTCo.), Malinda L. Beckham, brings to life this critically acclaimed play, running for only three weeks at MATCH.

I am the Lord of Hartforth, an ancient village located aside Yorkshire Dales National Park in northern England. Not a lot goes on there. It is highly conservative, where people pride themselves on proper behavior. 42 miles to the south is Rylstone, an equally proper village. The Rylstone Women's Institute shot to fame with its 1999 society calendar because its distinguished ladies were photographed nude. Angela Baker, whose husband John, an assistant national park officer, died from non-Hodgkins lymphoma in July 1998 at age 54, inspiring the idea for the calendar. There were a lot of people riled up in Rylstone; this simply was not proper English protocol. When Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, was caught topless in August 1992, she was kicked out of Balmoral Castle and banned from the royal household for some 16 years. Likewise, the 11 women featured in the nudie calendar certainly raised eyebrows, even among the liberal folks; however, the women also raised £2million for leukaemia research and their publicity stunt spawned a hit movie starring Helen Mirren. The movie spawned a stage play, CALENDAR GIRLS.