Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center

Dreams are centrally located on Broadway, in a twelve-block strip in the city’s mid-section, bordered on the south by the Nederlander Theater on West 41st Street and on the north by the Broadway theater on West 53rd.  Within that narrow stretch of skyscrapers and cement, they land in droves, season after season, generation after generation – dreamers of any age, armed with unbridled and unprotected hopes of making their own individual statement on the theatrical stage. “Showbusiness: The Road to Broadway” examines the annual influx of ambitious, star-crossed hopefuls, scrambling for the high-board to make their big leap into everlasting limelight.  It could be any season, because this phenomenon continues as faithfully and ritualistically as swallows’ return to Capistrano.

• Isabel Wilkerson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, is author of The New York Times’ bestseller, The Warmth of Other Suns.The book brings to life one of the greatest underreported stories of the 20th Century, a migration that reshaped modern America.  Wilkerson interviewed more than 1,200 people, unearthed archival research and gathered the voices of the famous and the unknown to tell the epic story of the redistribution of an entire people.  She chose to tell the story through three unforgettable protagonists as they make the decision of their lives.

  Warmth won the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, the 2011 Anisfield-Wolf Award for Nonfiction, the 2011 Hillman Book Prize, the 2011 Lynton History Prize from Harvard and Columbia universities, the 2011 Heartland Prize for Nonfiction, the Stephen Ambrose Oral History Prize, the Independent Literary Award for Nonfiction, the Horace Mann Bond Book Award from Harvard University, the NAACP Image Award for best literary debut and was shortlisted for the 2011 Pen-Galbraith Literary Award for Nonfiction and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.

  Wilkerson won the Pulitzer Prize for her work as Chicago Bureau Chief of The New York Times in 1994, making her the first black woman in the history of American journalism to win a Pulitzer Prize and the first African-American to win for individual reporting. Wilkerson has also won the George Polk Award, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, and she was named Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists.

  Wilkerson has spoken on the topics of migration, social justice, urban affairs and 2oth Century history at universities across the country and in Europe. She has appeared on national programs such as CBS’ 60 Minutes, PBS’s Charlie Rose, NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, NBC’s Nightly News, MSNBC, C-SPAN, and others.

A story of twin sisters, two cultures, and two new chances at life.

Inspired by their 2007 memoir, “The Power Of Two” offers an intimate portrayal of the bond between half-Japanese twin sisters Anabel Stenzel and Isabel Stenzel Byrnes, their battle with the fatal genetic disease cystic fibrosis (CF) and miraculous survival through double lung transplants. Defying all odds, Ana and Isa have emerged as authors, athletes and global advocates for organ donation, and their connection to the CF and transplant communities provides rare insight into the struggles — and overlooked joys — of chronic illness.

The twins’ receiving new lungs would have been unlikely in their mother’s native country, Japan, where organ donation rates are strikingly low. At the crux of a rising movement to change laws and stigmas, Ana and Isa embark on a tour of Japan to inspire change in the hearts and minds of a culture resistant to transplantation.

Featuring archival footage and probing expert interviews, this poignant directorial debut of Academy Award nominated producer Marc Smolowitz (“The Weather Underground”) presents a multi-faceted portrayal of a society at a tipping point around this triumph of modern medicine. Back in the U.S., the twins thrive, rejoicing in their ability to breathe with healthy lungs, sharing their story, mentoring others on the same path, and experiencing unexpected life milestones.

Evocative without being sentimental, “The Power Of Two” reveals the twins not as heroines but as authentic women who share our fears about mortality and inspire us to make a difference.

p>Twist & Shout is the definitive Beatles experience played by brilliant musicians with an inherent understanding of why The Beatles will forever be the most beloved and respected rock band in history.  Beginning with the early hits, colored with film clips from the 60’s, Twist & Shout will immerse you in a complete experience from a band that look and sound like the real deal, without smoke and mirrors (or pre-recorded tracks).  By the time they hit Abbey Road you’ll be completely in awe.

To name a piano trio after the popular 19th century German poet Christian Morgenstern was the inspiration of Catherine Klipfel, piano, Stefan Hempel, violin, and Emanuel Wehse, cellist, who met during their studies at the Folkwang Conservatory in Essen, Germany.

After only two short years of working together, the Morgenstern Trio emerged on the German music scene by continuously being awarded top prizes and awards. In January 2010, the Kalichstein–Laredo-Robinson Trio Award elected the Morgenstern Trio for the most prestigious piano trio prize in the US, which comes with twenty major debuts.

In Wretches & Jabberers, two men with autism embark on a global quest to change attitudes about disability and intelligence. Determined to put a new face on autism, Tracy Thresher, 42, and Larry Bissonnette, 52, travel to Sri Lanka, Japan and Finland. At each stop, they dissect public attitudes about autism and issue a hopeful challenge to reconsider competency and the future.

Growing up, Thresher and Bissonnette were presumed “retarded” and excluded from normal schooling. With limited speech, they both faced lives of social isolation in mental institutions or adult disability centers. When they learned as adults to communicate by typing, their lives changed dramatically. Their world tour message is that the same possibility exists for others like themselves.

Between moving and transformative encounters with young men and women with autism, parents and students, Thresher and Bissonnette take time to explore local sights and culture; dipping and dodging through Sri Lankan traffic in motorized tuk-tuks, discussing the purpose of life with a Buddhist monk and finally relaxing in a traditional Finnish sauna. Along the way, they reunite with old friends, expand the isolated world of a talented young painter and make new allies in their cause.

From beginning to end, Thresher and Bissonnette inspire parents and young men and women with autism with a poignant narrative of personal struggle that always rings with intelligence, humor, hope and courage.

The group’s jump-to-your-feet show features top hits from a who’s who of the ‘60s including The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Temptations, The Jackson 5, and The Four Seasons, whose story they brought to life every night as Stars in the Original Cast of Jersey Boys.

THE MIDTOWN MEN are Tony Award Winner Christian Hoff, Michael Longoria, Daniel Reichard, and Tony nominee J. Robert Spencer.

They are not your father’s wild-haired, juggling, flame-throwing, kilt-and-tutu-wearing performers. Each night, the audience is invited to bring objects to the theater for the Brothers to keep airborne in a challenge that ends either with a pie in the face or a standing ovation. As director/founder/performer Paul Magid says, “Juggling is dropping.” Julia Roberts had to go all the way to India to learn the same thing; you need only see THE FLYING KARAMAZOV BROTHERS.

How do you reconcile a commitment to non-violence when faced with violence? Why do the poor often seem happier than the rich? Must a society lose its traditions in order to move into the future? These are some of the questions posed to His Holiness the Dalai Lama by filmmaker and explorer Rick Ray. Ray examines some of the fundamental questions of our time by weaving together observations from his own journeys throughout India and the Middle East, and the wisdom of an extraordinary spiritual leader. This is his story, as told and filmed by Rick Ray during a private visit to his monastery in Dharamsala, India over the course of several months. Also included is rare historical footage as well as footage supplied by individuals who at great personal risk, filmed with hidden cameras within Tibet. Part biography, part philosophy, part adventure and part politics, “10 Questions for The Dalai Lama” conveys more than history and more than answers - it opens a window into the heart of an inspiring man. If you had only one hour, what would you ask?

CONFESSIONS OF A SUPERHERO is a feature length documentary that chronicles the lives of three mortal men and one woman who make their living working as superhero characters on Hollywood Boulevard.  This deeply personal look into their daily routines reveals their hardships and triumphs as they pursue and achieve their own kind of fame.  The Hulk sold his Super Nintendo for a bus ticket to LA; Wonder Woman was a mid-western homecoming queen; Batman struggles with his anger, while Superman’s psyche is consumed by the Man of Steel.  Although the Walk of Fame is right beneath their feet, their own paths to stardom prove to be long, hard climbs.