Star City Blog / Theatre & Film

Warren Miller's Dynasty Coming to the Ross December 5 & 6

Sixty years ago, an adventurous man with a pair of wooden boards strapped to his feet and an 8mm-movie camera in his hand changed the way we thought about snow. Today, Warren Miller is the most recognized name in the ski industry, and Warren Miller Entertainment® (WME) hosts the largest action sports film tour on the planet.
 
This winter, we celebrate 60 years of filmmaking with the release of Warren Miller’s Dynasty. Fresh cinematography and immeasurable talent explodes from Dynasty, showcasing the experience, the influence, and the originality that has grown from the action sports filmmaking institution that is Warren Miller Entertainment.  
 
Warren Miller’s Dynasty is showing at the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center on Saturday, December 5 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, December 6 at 3 p.m.  Show times are available at www.TheRoss.org, by consulting your newspaper, or by calling the MRRMAC film information line at 402.472.5353.  Tickets are $10 for general admission and $8 for students, members of the Friends of the Ross, seniors, and children.  Advance tickets may be purchased at the MRRMAC box office. 

UNL’s Nebraska Repertory Theatre Presents Paul Steger in 'The Santaland Diaries'

The Nebraska Repertory Theatre, the professional theatre at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, presents Executive Director Paul Steger in David Sedaris’s biting comedy The Santaland Diaries.  The production, directed by Artistic Director Virginia Smith, will have performances December 9 & 10 at 7:30 pm, December 11 & 12 at 7:30 and 10:00 pm, and December 13 at 2:00 pm in the Studio Theatre, first floor of the Temple Building at 12th and R Streets.

Tickets are $20, $18 faculty/staff and senior citizens, and $10 students with ID. Tickets are available from the Lied Center Ticket Office, 301 N. 12 Monday through Friday 11 AM to 5:30 PM and one hour prior to the performance in the Temple Theatre's Lobby, or by telephone at 472-4747 or 800-432-3231.

'Bright Star' @ The Ross

Opening at The Ross on Friday, December 4, set in the bucolic suburbs of early–19th century London, as fresh and dewy as a newly mowed lawn, Jane Campion’s BRIGHT STAR recounts the love affair between a tubercular young poet and the fashionable teenager next door.
 
“BRIGHT STAR satisfies a hunger we may not have known we had, a hunger for an exquisitely done, emotional love story that marries heartbreaking passion to formidable filmmaking restraint, all in the service of an unapologetically romantic belief in "the holiness of the heart's affections,” according to Kenneth Turan, film critic for the Los Angeles Times.
 
“A literate, lyrical love story in the age of Hollywood crass,” writes Peter Travers in Rolling Stone.  He continues, “I must be dreaming.”

'World's Greatest Dad' @ The Ross

The work of stand-up jokester-turned-auteur Bobcat Goldthwait, opening at The Ross on Friday, December 4, WORLD'S GREATEST DAD delivers an off-center but observant skewering of mass hypocrisy and media cynicism as well as a touching portrait of a sad-sack high school English teacher with aspirations that exceed his talents.
 
“Offering Robin Williams his richest role in memory while serving up a nice cold bowl of shock soup for the audience, World's Greatest Dad is a surprisingly smart and severely twisted dark comedy from comic Bobcat Goldthwait,” opines Tom Long, Detroit News film critic.

Review of 'King Lear' at the University Theatre

By Sarah F. Sullivan

Considered by many to be one of William Shakespeare’s greatest works, King Lear was definitely given its due on the stage of the Howell Theatre in UNL’s Temple Building Thursday night. 

The classic play revolves around two noble families, families whose children keep their treachery and greed close to the chest and disguise it as loyalty. Lear (masterfully played by guest Actors‘ Equity Association Actor Steven Patterson), King of Britain, prepares to divide his kingdom among his three daughters. The daughter who shows the most love for him will receive the largest portion of the land.

While daughters Goneril (Beth King) and Regan (Tiffiney Baker) gush and spout off empty words, Cordelia (Lucy Lockamy), her father’s favorite, chooses to speak honestly. It is a meager attempt in contrast with her sister’s fine speeches and Lear is so angered that he disinherits Cordelia and divides the kingdom between his two silver-tongued daughters. Lear quickly realizes that the daughter he cast off was the one who truly loved him and through a series of events, quickly descends into madness.

'Turandot' Encore Rescheduled

Official Statement from the Metropolitan Opera:
 
During Saturday's (November 7) HD transmission of "Turandot," the Metropolitan Opera experienced some technical difficulties in the uplink of the signal to North American viewers. As a result, there were video and audio dropouts. We regret this inconvenience to our opera-loving customers.
 
These issues will not affect the encore presentations of "Turandot" that take place after November 10.

The Angels Theatre Company Presents “Girl Gone” at the Lincoln Community Playhouse

Imagine living in a dangerously dark world surrounded by sex, drugs, violent crime, sexual exploitation, prostitution and hustling.  You wake up one morning and your best friend, your lifeline, is gone…

The Angels Theatre Company presents Girl Gone by playwright Jacquelyn Reingold.  Directed by Sasha Dobson, Girl Gone opens Wednesday, December 9th and runs through December 12th at the Lincoln Community Playhouse, located at 2500 S. 56th St, Lincoln, NE, 68506.   

Ticket prices are $15 for adults and $10 for students and all performances will take place at 10:00 p.m.  Tickets are available at the door or can be reserved by calling 402-474-2206.  Visit the Angels Theatre Company website at www.angelscompany.org.  

This play contains adult themes and is not suitable for children.

Holiday Show to Fill the TADA Theatre with Glee

TADA's tradition of fun and creative holiday productions continues this December with A Rockin' Christmas.
 
Spoofing such shows as Glee and High School Musical, this original show is centered around the All Girls School of Famed Performing Arts where an eclectic group of misfits gather to put on their holiday concert.

There is Crissy, the student who majors in playing the tuba; Tanisha, a streetwise single mother; Alexander, the class hunk; Nicky, who has been acting since the age of eight; Tim, the transfer student with a nervous stomach; Jamm, a girl focused on her cell phone and Facebook; and Mr. Skinner, an aloof faculty member.

Review of 'Reefer Madness: The Musical' at the Lincoln Community Playhouse

by Ladd Wendelin

Young Jimmy Harper was but a lad of 16, an ace student, an aspiring athlete and madly in love with his blushing sweetheart, Mary Lane. Until (dramatic organ music) Jimmy Harper made the acquaintance of the Devil’s grass, wacky weed, the assassin of youth…MARIJUANA!

So begins the tale of Reefer Madness: The Musical, affectionately adapted by Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney from the 1936 cautionary cult film of the same name, brought to life in the Lincoln Community Playhouse Gallery theatre through Nov. 22nd.  Directed by Shawn Carlson, Reefer Madness follows the misadventures of Jimmy (Michael Cleveland) as he runs afoul of dope pushers, the law, William Shakespeare and even Satan himself on a downward spiral into a smoky green haze of depravity, mock-violence and the occasional musical number.

Local Filmmaker Presents Documentary 'Paths of the Displaced' November 14

By Hanna Day-Woodruff

This Saturday is the last scheduled public screening of local filmmaker Natalia Ledford's documentary Paths of the Displaced. I was lucky enough to attend its premiere at the Ross in late September. The theatre was packed and people were sitting in the aisles. I was deeply moved, and not alone in my feelings: Ledford received a standing ovation and a very engaging 45 minutes of questions and answers from the audience.