Queens Hindu Community Center iexperiences  Broadway for the first time.

See what happens when members of the Hindu Community Center in Queens go to see the Broadway revival of “Chicago.” (Part of TDF’s New Audiences for New York program.)  [Read more →]

The Voca People try to reach everyone

How do we define “universal entertainment?” What makes a show reach all generations on every continent?

Plenty of artists are trying to answer those questions. If they succeed, then they can reach millions (and make a fortune in the process).

“It’s like a Coca-Cola formula,” says Lior Kalfo, and he may have brewed the magic potion. An Israeli writer, director, and performer, he’s the co-creator of the international hit Voca People, a “vocal theatre performance” that blends a cappella singing, clowning, and popular music.

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How can the theatre enhance your mind and your personal relationships? Just ask these students, teachers, and theatre professionals, who recently took part in Theatre Development Fund’s Open Doors Program.

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Playwrights Horizons launches an innovative program for parents

It’s a common conundrum: Parents in the tri-state area want to experience the city’s theatre scene, but they struggle with the compound cost of tickets, babysitting, and travel. When they can’t solve this riddle, once-avid theatre supporters often throw up their hands in exasperation and stay home.

The staff at Playwrights Horizons thought this situation was unfortunate, intolerable—and fixable. Thanks to its new Playtime series , the company is making it possible for the entire family to spend an afternoon at the theatre.

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Plucked from a New York club, Dan Mills makes his Broadway debut in “Million Dollar Quartet”

Last December, at a gig at Rockwood Music Hall in NYC, Dan Mills was focused on boosting his eponymous band. The singer-songwriter-guitarist wanted to impress a gaggle of music insiders in the crowd, and he wanted to show the venue itself that the band was hot enough to handle its larger hall.

Unbeknownst to Mills, a theatrical casting agent from Bernard Telsey Casting was in the audience, watching the young, lanky crooner nail mean guitar riffs with old-school style. Just a few days later, Mills received a call from his team and was quickly thrust into an intense audition process for the Broadway hit Million Dollar Quartet. The show imagines the legendary night when Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis met for a jam session at Sun Records in Memphis, and now Mills is in rehearsal as the standby for Perkins. Call it a New York twist on a Tennessee tale.

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