ArtCraft

Broadway has seen no shortage of iconic, music-fueled films adapted for the stage in recent years, to varying degrees of success. “Sister Act” and “Footloose” met with mixed critical responses, but “Hairspray” knocked the ball out of the park, winning eight Tony Awards.  “Flashdance” is the latest Eighties film to get the Broadway musical treatment, and the musical is previewing with a national tour before it makes its way to New York later this year.

Every year, Actors Theatre of Louisville produces a slate of ten-minute plays featuring the members of the acting apprentice company. Many of the plays are directed by directing interns, and literary interns serve as dramaturgs, too. The plays are selected from submissions to the annual National Ten-Minute Play Contest, some of which go on to be produced for the final weekend of the Humana Festival of New American Plays. 

Actor's Choice opened Suzan-Lori Parks' Pulitzer Prize-winning drama "Topdog/Underdog" Thursday in the Henry Clay Theatre. Directed by Kathi E.B. Ellis, this tense, finely-acted two-hander explores the relationship between two adult brothers, Lincoln and Booth, as they struggle with a legacy of abandonment by their parents, masculine identity, racism and the lure of a life of crime. 

Louisville Orchestra CEO Robert Birman will leave his post at the end of this month. The orchestra announced his resignation Saturday morning.

“I leave on a high note,” says Birman. “I’m very proud of the players and my board and my staff. Everybody is pulling in one direction, and for that reason I thought this was an appropriate time to make this announcement.”

On today's Byline, I welcomed Grammy Award-winning songwriter Brett James and composer Charlie Judge, two of the members of the Music City Hit-Makers team. James has written songs for Kenny Chesney ("Out Last Night," "When the Sun Goes Down") and Carrie Underwood (including the Grammy Award-winner "Jesus, Take the Wheel"), as well as Taylor Swift, Kelly Clarkson, Tim McGraw and dozens of other chart-topping artists.

Meredith McDonough makes her directorial debut in her new role as associate artistic director at Actors Theatre of Louisville with a powerful production of Matthew Lopez's heartbreaking Civil War drama "The Whipping Man." Set against the backdrop of the days between General Lee's surrender at Appomattox and President Abraham Lincoln's assassination, "The Whipping Man" is the riveting emotional story of thre