Last Friday, the Florida Theatrical Association announced the season lineup for the 2018/2019 Fairwinds Broadway in Orlando series. The headline is that the Dr. Phillips Center will be "the room where it happens" when mega-hit Hamilton arrives, running Jan. 22 through Feb. 10, 2019. After a "season option" encore of Jersey Boys in October, the series starts in November with Betty Buckley in Hello, Dolly!, and includes Irving Berlin's White Christmas (December), Fiddler on the Roof (March 2019), Dear Evan Hansen (April 2019), Anastasia (May 2019) and Come From Away (June 2019). Current season subscribers can renew now through April 13; there is a wait list for new subscribers, and individual sales have not yet been announced.
The #MeToo movement has made its way from Hollywood to Orlando, with several recent events focused on female empowerment within the theater community. On March 2, Orlando Shakespeare Theater partnered with UCF, Mad Cow and the Orlando Repertory to host a free sexual harassment and abuse prevention workshop led by Laura T. Fisher of Chicago organization Not in Our House, which drew up a working document of guidelines called Chicago Theatre Standards. And on March 24, Mad Cow will offer "She Speaks," an empowerment workshop for girls in grades 7 through 12, featuring local actors Cynthia Breckert, Lauren O'Quinn and Monica Tamborello. Tickets cost $30 and are available at madcowtheatre.com.
In fundraising news, TheatreWorks Florida has received a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to create "Vet Voices," a free "arts and health" program for Central Florida military veterans. And Orlando Fringe exceeded its $20,000 goal at the Fab Fringe fundraiser on March 5, which featured Tymisha Harris in Josephine, fresh from an off-Broadway run.
NOW PLAYING Silent Sky, through March 18 at Mad Cow Theatre ... The Great American Trailer Park Musical, through March 25 at TheatreWorks ... Twelfth Night, through March 23 at Orlando Shakes ... Shakespeare in Love, through March 25 at Orlando Shakes ... Proof, through March 31 at Theater on the Edge ... Madagascar: A Musical Adventure, through April 8 at the Orlando Rep.
UPCOMING Varietease: Tremble, March 15-24 at the Venue ... All-Female Twelfth Night, March 16-18 at Orlando Shakes ... Motor City Rocks, March 16-24 at Gateway Center for the Arts ... A Tennessee Walk, March 16-31 at Garden Theatre ... Nunsense: A-Men, March 16-April 21 at Winter Park Playhouse ... Spotlight Cabaret: Monica Titus, March 21-22 at Winter Park Playhouse ... The Game's Afoot, March 16-25 at Wayne Densch PAC ... Orlando Ballet presents Arcadian Broad's Beauty and the Beast, March 17-18 at Dr. Phillips Center ... A View From the Bridge, March 23-April 22 at Mad Cow ... Bernarda Alba, March 22-31 at Theatre UCF ... The Luckiest People, March 28-April 29 at Orlando Shakes ... Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, April 5-May 5 at Orlando Shakes ... Bay Street Players present Little Shop of Horrors, April 6-15 at State Theatre Eustis ... Company, April 6-22 at Central Florida Community Arts.