Corbin Bleu discusses his August 5 Hollywood Bowl debut as Seaweed J. Stubbs in Hairspray, why musicals are now considered cool and what’s up with his Food Network fandom.  READ MORE

Discipline, doubt and kale are among a few of Anna Deavere Smith’s favorite things as she brings Let Me Down Easy, her solo show on health care, to the Broad Stage. READ MORE

Clowning around on public transportation is usually frowned upon. However, soon there will be a lot of real Bozos riding the Metro Rail. The Watts Village Theater Company (WVTC) in association with the Watts/Century Latino Organization have plans to turn those frowns upside down when they present, Meet Me @Metro II, a nearly three-hour theatrical journey that will take place at five stops on Los Angeles’ Metro Rail system between Long Beach and Watts during the weekends of July 2-3 and July 9-10, 2011.  READ MORE

It’s 11:30 in the morning and Debbie Allen is dancing from one end of the rehearsal hall to the other with two young actresses who probably aren’t old enough to remember her as Lydia Grant, the dance teacher, on the popular television series Fame (1982-87). At 60, Allen is directing the Pasadena Playhouse production of Twist, a musical adaptation of Oliver Twist set in New Orleans on the eve of the Great Depression.  READ MORE

A celebration of African American theater will take place nationwide on June 20, as 17 black theater companies across the country light their collective lights for 1Voice, 1Play, 1Day, an inaugural theatrical event spearheaded by Project1Voice. In Los Angeles, Ebony Repertory Theatre was selected to participate with the others in producing a benefit staged reading of Alice Childress’ Trouble In Mind, a provocative and satiric drama based on the conflict of not compromising one’s artistic integrity.  READ MORE

Sipping on a drink at Café MUSE in Hollywood, White looks tres chic in her black slacks, black blouse, gold metallic shoes, gold earrings and necklace, all accented with a black/white striped scarf about her head. From the wide smile on her face and the sparkle in her eyes, it’s obvious that she’s excited about her latest theatrical undertaking.  READ MORE

Roger Guenveur Smith can hold a grudge. And, if you press him about it, he’ll hold his ground, dig in deeper, look you straight in the eye and tell you in no uncertain terms just why the chip on his shoulder is justified. He lays it all out in his latest endeavor, Juan and John, a DouglasPlus project set to open May 19 at the Kirk Douglas Theater in Culver City.  READ MORE

When Lonsesome Traveler opened April 13, it marked the end of a five-year expedition for James O’Neil, co-founder along with his wife Karyl Lynn Burns, of the Rubicon Theatre Company in Ventura.  READ MORE

F. Murray Abraham has about 30 minutes to talk before he has to go to rehearsal for Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, which is set to open April 14 on the Broad Stage in Santa Monica.  He’s not rushed. In fact, he talks slowly and deliberately, as if time has agreed to wait for him to conclude his discourse. The Oscar winner’s conversation is of both a personal and professional nature, with the gist being about the fun and joy he’s having bringing the character of Shylock to life on stage.  READ MORE

It’s a week before the March 25 opening of Ebony Repertory Theater’s production of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun,and Phylicia Rashad — who’s making her Los Angeles directorial debut with the play — is sitting on the back of a chair at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center looking extremely relaxed. She’s conversing with actress Kenya Alexander about the wardrobe for her character, Beneatha Younger. The conversation is light, but focused.  READ MORE

Just inside the [Inside] the Ford theater, director Ron Klier and production stage manager and assistant director Tommy Dunn are sitting back in their chairs watching actors Johnny Clark and Michelle Clunie ever so convincingly play a couple knee-deep in a clandestine affair. This is a rehearsal for The Mercy Seat, Neil LaBute’s caustically funny examination of opportunism in the wake of tragedy, set to have its Los Angeles premiere March 19, presented by Vs. Theatre Company.  READ MORE

The Nate Holden Performing Arts Center (NHPAC)  is buzzing these days. Rehearsals are happening in one room, wardrobe fittings in another while lighting and sound design is being worked out and a set replicating a 1950s flat on the Southside of Chicago is being installed and erected. Everyone involved is moving at a deliberate pace in anticipation of the opening of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun on March 25, directed by Tony winner Phylicia Rashad.  READ MORE