[20][21] Bechdel, Kron, Tesori and musical director Chris Fenwick accompanied the cast. ", "Village Voice Announces Winners of 59th Annual Obie Awards, Names Tom Sellar Lead Theater Critic", "69th Annual Tony Awards Nominations Announced! “Fun Home” is set partly in the 1980s and references the AIDS crisis. Inspired by Alison Bechdel's graphic novel-memoir of the same title, Fun Home follows the real-life Bechdel's journey to accept the death of her stern, closeted father, Bruce, while coming to terms with her own sexuality. She loves dive bars and very dry martinis with olives, though never simultaneously. Stay abreast of discount offers for great theater, on Broadway or in select cities. Once she was Miss America. Over the next year, Ms. Shindle will be traveling from city to city, introducing the country to one of the more unlikely recent musical successes, while simultaneously leading her union as it works to improve pay and benefits for more than 50,000 actors and stage managers across the United States. The Sting (2018) – Billie – Paper Mill Playhouse; Publications. Abby Corrigan, Kate Shindle and Alessandra Baldacchino Joseph Marzullo/WENN The first national tour of the Tony Award-winning musical Fun Home will launch October 2 … Kamala Harris will be the first female vice president, as well as the first Black and Asian American person to occupy that post. Bechdel’s memoir, written in 2006 near the end of the first run of her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For (now on hiatus), has been praised for its artistic merit, storytelling strength, and vulnerability, attributes that earned it countless awards and spots at the top of best-of lists. “Full Bloom” is a new competition with a format similar to “The Great British Baking Show,” except these contestants are making eye candy with flowers. Where: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, When: 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays; ends April 1 (call for exceptions), Info: (213) 972-4400, www.centertheatregroup.org, Running time: 1 hour and 40 minutes, no intermission, Review: ‘Fun Home’ weaves tragedy and comedy into an original American musical, ‘Fun Home’ composer Jeanine Tesori hears the music in everyday life, Diego Rivera’s Cubist masterpiece arrives at LACMA, At the Hammer Museum, Jimmie Durham’s art throws some well-aimed stones, This female photographer’s goal? After her term as Miss America was up, she finished her senior year at Northwestern and moved to New York to make a career in acting. “I tend to think big, but beyond that, I have no idea. Now this. "Shortly after we were married..." – Helen & Medium Alison, 22. And she was voted president of the Actors’ Equity Assn. Medium Alison writes to her parents, asking for a response to her coming-out letter. Fun Home is also part of what Shindle calls “the next generation of musicals”—those that are demanding and actively incite audiences, asking them to critically engage while being entertained. After failing to persuade the show to let her wear a wig, she chopped most of it off the day before the first rehearsal, and has had multiple trims since, each one bringing her nearer to the close-cropped style favored by Ms. Bechdel. Those of us targeted by Trump cried and danced with them. [26] The first international production of Fun Home premiered in Manila, Philippines, in November 2016, with Cris Villonco as Alison, Lea Salonga as Helen and Eric Kunze as Bruce. "Clueless in New York…" – Alison, Small Alison & Bruce, 17. “There are challenges, but I’m a pretty happy actor right now.”. Shindle is a hard-working actress who mostly cut her teeth in New York and regional theater; she knows what it feels like to go without work for months and months. Ms. Shindle grew up in Moorestown, N.J., and found herself drawn to the stage in seventh grade, when she wrote a paper about theater. – Bruce & Alison, 24. “There was a young woman who came up to me last week in Charlotte,” Shindle says.