By Amy J. Parrent Theater artist Emilio Rodriguez's story of two teen boys in an LGBT homeless shelter will be included in the Michigan Playwrights' Festival at Ann Arbor's Theatre Nova. Photo: Brandy Joe Plambeck [...]

By David Kiley "A Streetcar Named Desire" plays through Monday, Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Monday nights with 3 p.m. Sunday matinees. Ticket prices are $20 for Friday and Saturday performances, [...]

By David Kiley "The Passenger" runs through Nov. 22. Ticket prices range from $29-149. The Michigan Opera Theatre/Detroit Opera House is located at 1526 Broadway, Detroit. Following Michigan Opera Theatre's successful staging last month of [...]

By Amy J. Parrent "You have to love yourself. It's our prayer everyone can hear that." That is University of Detroit Mercy's Greg Grobis describing the theme of the award-winning play "The Whale," a co-production [...]

Maxim Vinogradov as Brad (left) and Jackson Abohasira as Jack (right). Photo courtesy of Slipstream Theatre Initiative. picture on server: S2_For2338_SlipstreamCC.jpg Photo Caption: Maxim Vinogradov as Brad (left) and Jackson Abohasira as Jack (right). [...]

ANN ARBOR - Theatre Nova unveils the two remaining plays of its 2015 season, following a successful Indiegogo funding campaign and well-received productions in the first half of the year. As well, the company reveals [...]

WEST BLOOMFIELD - Theater professionals from across Michigan gathered Aug. 31 for The 2015 Wilde Awards ceremony at The Berman Center for the Performing Arts. Presented by EncoreMichigan.com, the most comprehensive resource for news and [...]

"Jersey Boys" Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 13-18 Location: Wharton Center, Cobb Great Hall, East Lansing Tickets: From $35 Ticket Office: [...]

By Ed English Natural-born talents don't come more naturally than with digital painter and ceramicist Spencer Barefield. He's the son to a musically inclined father and artistically inclined mother, and by the age of 2 [...]

It lasted far longer than it was supposed to. When Pride Source Media Group and I launched http://EncoreMichigan.com in 2008, the website devoted exclusively to professional theater in Michigan was intended to be in use [...]

BY SHELBY CLARK PETKUS Metro Detroit's traditional array of events benefitting local LGBT organizations begins this month. Walk AIDS Walk Detroit commemorates its 25th year on Sunday, Sept. 13 with a 5K walk and quilt [...]

DETROIT - The Detroit Artist Market's current show, "We The Vehicles: A Tribute to Detroit Bicycle Culture," is all about and for bicycles. Each unique work of art either is a creation from scrap parts [...]

Susan Rogal is passionate about the city of Detroit. She is also passionate about art. As of late, she has intertwined these two passions under the umbrella of the Detroit Urban Design Studio. "Our motto [...]

DETROIT - Singer-songwriter, guitarist and activist Melissa Etheridge comes to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Oct. 12 to perform songs from her new album, "This is M.E.," as well as other known hits such as "Come [...]

Gay playwright Samuel Hunter wrote the award-winning play The Whale, a touching look into the psyche of a gay man after the loss of his lover. FERNDALE - The University of Detroit-Mercy's 45th [...]

Michigan Opera Theater Puccini's masterpiece, "La Boheme," is a timeless treasure that paints the story of a poor young couple seeking a lovers' paradise among resilient, struggling friends in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Some [...]

BY AJ TRAGER ROYAL OAK - Harvey Fierstein's fiery Broadway play, "Casa Valentina," will come to Detroit in May 2016. Performed by 2nd Stage, Stagecrafters Contemporary Theatre in an intimate blackbox theater design, "Casa Valentina," [...]

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. - Eisenhower Dance, Metro Detroit's premier contemporary dance company, is celebrating 25 years of dance. Founded by choreographer and Artistic Director Laurie Eisenhower in 1991, Eisenhower Dance has grown from a small ensemble [...]

BY BTL STAFF S2_Arts_MatrixSeason.jpg In honor of 25 years performing, Detroit's Matrix Theatre Company has released its four unique performances for the 2015-2016 season. The opening performance for the season, "A Kid Like Jake," highlights [...]

ROYAL OAK - The 18th annual Ford Arts, Beats & Eats presented by Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort will once again offer unparalleled healthy and delicious edible options. Healthy food choices return while many new [...]

"Urinetown: The Musical!," the Tony-award-winning hit from 2001, will have its last performances by Ann Arbor's Penny Seats Theatre Company this weekend. Set in an admittedly absurd dystopian future where one must pay to pee, [...]

LANSING - Rodgers + Hammerstein's "Cinderella," the 2013 Tony Award winning Broadway musical from the creators of "South Pacific" and "The Sound of Music," is the first MSU Federal Credit Union Broadway at Wharton Center [...]

The Purple Rose Theatre Company is proud to announce its fourth annual Backyard BBQ Fundraiser beginning at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 2. The BBQ will feature a farm-to-table dinner created by Zingerman's Roadhouse with [...]

SAUGATUCK, Michigan -- Mason Street Warehouse (400 Culver St.) has received two Wilde Award nominations for the 2014 Mason Street Warehouse (MSW) production of "Beehive." The first nomination is for "Best Musical" and the second [...]

After a critically acclaimed and intensely bloody run of "Hamlet," Slipstream Theatre Initiative says "goodbye" to death and "hello" to marriage in the most wickedly funny way! "The Importance of Being Earnest," by Oscar Wilde, [...]

By John Quinn SHOW DETAILS: South Pacific Encore Musical Theatre 3126 Broad St., Dexter June 4-July 3; check website for performance times $32-$28 734-268-6200 http://www.TheEncoreTheatre.org The "book musical" is as thoroughly American as baseball and [...]

By Shelby Clark Petkus Years before American shows would dare to "go there," the "Kids in the Hall" were skewering homophobia, dressing in drag and lampooning the stereotypes of gay men, feminist women and more. [...]

By John Quinn So what do we know about "The Bikinis, a new musical beach party!" other than its title is in need of judicious editing? If we know it's in production at Meadow Brook [...]

by John Quinn 10 Naked Men The Ringwald Theatre 22742 Woodward Ave., Ferndale May 15-June 8; Friday, Saturday and Monday evenings at 8 p.m., Sunday matinees at 3 p.m. http://www.TheRingwald.com If LGBT playwright Ronnie Larsen [...]

By BTL Staff Five15 and Stagecrafters are presenting Elton John & Tim Rice's "Aida" this month and into June, with Between the Lines and GOAL (Get OUT And Live) as media sponsors. Based on Verdi's [...]

FERNDALE - The Ringwald Theatre is sounding a call for local troupes to be a part of their Sixth Annual Gay Play Series (GPS). The Detroit-area's only GLBT short play festival is striving to provide [...]

Michigan Theater is partnering with Wine Enthusiast Magazine to offer a special film series focused on the world of wine on Wednesdays at 7 p.m., April 29-May 27. Both wine and film are full sensory [...]

ROYAL OAK - Set to a thrilling pop-rock score, Pulitzer Prize-winning "Next to Normal" offers an intimate portrait of a family dealing with bipolar disorder that is at once devastating, honest, heartbreaking - and unexpectedly [...]

The Ann Arbor Film Festival will present two nights of its Cinema and Music Performance series at 11:30 p.m. Thursday, March 26 and Saturday, March 28 at the Performance Network Theatre. Performances on March 26 [...]

ANN ARBOR -- Award-winning Wild Swan Theater continues its 35th season of bringing the finest professional theater to families with "The Ugly Duckling." Resident playwright Jeff Duncan puts his spin on Hans Christian Andersen's tale [...]

By BTL Staff East Lansing's Wharton Center will host the inaugural "imaGen project" production this month: "Chess - A Staged Concert." Jen Werner, the associate director of "The Book of Mormon," has been hired to [...]

ROYAL OAK -- Water Works Theatre Company announces that auditions for its 15th season of Shakespeare Royal Oak in Starr Jaycee Park will take place March 23 and 24. This season, Water Works will present [...]

"A Doll's House" opens March 8 at the Michigan Actors Studio in Ferndale. Slipstream Theatre Initiative will present their third show, Henrik Ibsen's classic "A Doll's House," March 8 through April 2. Reimagined from [...]

By BTL Staff "Spring Awakening," the edgy, pop/rock musical that took Broadway by storm and captured the 2007 Tony Award for Best Musical, sizzles with immediacy today thanks to the raw and electrifying pop score. [...]

By Bridgette Redman A lot can happen in 65 years - both in the life of a couple and in the world at large. Lansing's Peppermint Creek Theatre Company launches the U.S. premiere of a [...]

By Shelby Clark Petkus In protest of the ever-bitter Michigan cold, The Magic Bag hosts the "Anti-Freeze Blues Festival" this month in Ferndale. The two-day long festival features a variety of local and national blues [...]

Jenaya Jones-Reynolds and Aaron Kottke in "Sweet Pea's Mama." Photo: Lance Luce. "Sweet Pea's Mama" by Robert Lawrence Nelson, a timely story about racial dignity, will have its world premiere at 8:30 p.m. Jan. [...]

Retiring editor Donald V. Calamia celebrating his recent 60th birthday. Photo: J. Williams Back in the summer of 2001 when co-publishers Jan Stevenson and Susan Horowitz placed a small ad in the newspaper seeking [...]

By Jenn McKee "Wicked" continues at the Detroit Opera House through Jan. 4. Photo: Joan Marcus "Wicked" has long been typecast as "a girl thing," but while watching the newest touring production of the [...]

By Bridgette M. Redman "Anne of Green Gables" continues at What A Do Theatre through Dec. 20. Photo: WAD When you have a strong asset, you're going to use it. Especially when that asset [...]

By Carolyn Hayes Harmer PuppetART's "Snow Queen" continues through Jan. 31, 2015. Photo: Detroit Puppet Theatre Winter doesn't officially begin until late December, but Michigan weather usually arrives early to that particular party. So [...]

By John Quinn Slipstream Theatre Initiative's inaugural production, "The Winter's Tale," continues through Dec. 31 at Michigan Actors Studio. Photo: STI "A sad tale's best for winter." So says young Mamillius, heir to the [...]

By Bridgette M. Redman Celebrate the holidays at Great Escape Stage Company with the classic "It's a Wonderful Life." Photo: Debbie Culver When it comes to heartwarming and uplifting, few stories can compete with [...]

By Bridgette M. Redman Beverly (Wendy Hedstrom), Jimmy (Tony Sump) and Clara (Ruth Crawford) await Ruth's (Emily Sutton-Smith) big announcement in "Miracle on South Division Street" by Tom Dudzick at the Williamston Theatre. Photo: Chris [...]

By John Quinn Pat Caporuscio, Aaron Smith and Kathy Vertin in "Mame" at the new Riverbank Theatre in Marine City. Photo: Riverbank Theatre My Auntie Mary Clare took me to see the film "Auntie [...]