[image-2} There is so much theatre happening in the area these days, there doesn't seem to be a spring/summer/fall/winter season anymore — it's just ongoing all year long, which is g]]> “My radiation oncologist cruelly resisted my pleas. I begged him to irradiate the unaffected breast so it would be big and perky and glow in the dark like the one they ]]> Five thousand years of Chinese performing arts and culture will take the stage Feb. 9 at Sangamon Auditorium in a multimillion-dollar touring production called Shen Yun (“divine character”]]> The stories we tell and the songs we sing help us make sense of the past, understand the present and build the future. Civil War Journeys, which opened last weekend at New Salem’s Theatre in the]]> Cast members from the organization’s three upcoming shows cheered wildly as Muni President Flynn Hanners mentioned them in his opening night remarks last Friday. As Hanners spoke, th]]> Ringing in the new year doesn’t need to be an adults-only party. Instead, welcome 2010 with a celebration of family-friendly arts, music and theater at the 23rd annual First Night. This year&rsq]]> Playwright Charlayne Woodard has something in common with her characters. Like Oh Beah, Mercy, Ezra, Alma, and Nate – the five slaves in Flight’s ensemble – Woodard is compelled to t]]> Untitled Document The fall theater season has much to offer. Here is just some of what will be happening on area stages. The season starts off in a big way Sept. 21-23 at the ]]> Summer theater is upon us and there’s quite an exciting list of possibilities for area theater-goers over the next three months.Theatre in the Park at New Salem outside Petersburg opens its seas]]> Untitled Document If you’ve never seen Larry Shue’s play The Nerd, try making a point of catching one of the performances being presented by the Spri]]> Halloween is here, and it seems that theater practitioners have decided to produce more than the usual haunted-house fare this year. First, the Roxy Group has created an original show of its own]]> One can take the pulse of a community's theater scene by counting the number of new or little-known shows that are produced. It's always a risk to stage something new because, more than likely,]]> Don’t let the music fool you. The stage adaptation of Shenandoah is a drama. Set in the Commonwealth of Virginia during the Civil War, the play explores the impact of the war on a family whose p]]> For fans of live theater in Springfield, attending The Muni’s new production of Fiddler on the Roof is a bit like seeing the James Bond movie Casino Royale — we’ve heard t]]> In a city largely absent of activities and events related to African American culture, Springfield’s black residents have long suffered from the “there’s-nothing-to-do syndrome.&rdqu]]> Auditions for Noel Coward's classic 1925 comedy Hay Fevertake place on Sunday and Monday, Feb. 22-23, at the UIS Studio Theatre from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Callbacks are on Tuesday, Feb. 24. The show, ]]> Many area theaters take the opportunity to present new and innovative works during the winter months, something I noted in my last column. The latest example of this trend is Born with ]]> Untitled Document Missy Thibodeaux-Thompson, director of the University of Illinois-Springfield theater department’s fall production, Picnic, held rehearsals five nights a ]]> Every morning for nearly two years now, I’ve passed a lifelike figure of John Wilkes Booth on my way to work at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. This week, Booth comes to life onstage in]]>