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Natalia Spengler performs as Beatrice during a tech rehearsal of “Much Ado About Nothing”. Anna Becknell as Hero sits in the window behind her. (Courtesy of Flordelino Lagundino)

News

‘Some cupid kills with arrows, some with traps’

Theater Alaska brings deception and delight to Juneau venues with Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing”

Leslie Ishii, Perseverance Theatre’s artistic director, is the winner of the 2025 Paul Robeson Award as well as this year’s Zelda Fichandler Award for directing. (Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation photo)

News

Leslie Ishii recognized with national awards for arts, advocacy

Artistic director at Perseverance Theatre receives two honors this spring.

Gabriel von Eisenstein (David Cangelosi) is pulled in two separate directions by his wife Rosalinda (Sara Radke Brown, right) and Rosalinda’s maid, Adele (Kayla Kohlhase, left) during a dress rehearsal of “Die Fledermaus” on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)

News

Juneau Lyric Opera celebrates a chorus of community for 50th anniversary

German operetta “Die Fledermaus” that launched JLO gets revival with old and new voices Friday night.

Kristen Rankin rehearses the opening scene from “The Thanksgiving Play” on Thursday night at Perseverance Theatre. (Photo by Molly Johnson)

News

Political correctness runs afowl in Perseverance Theatre production opening Friday

Satirical comedy “The Thanksgiving Play” comes to Juneau, no thanks to cancel culture.

Ariel Estrada rehearses his one-man play “Full Contact” at Perseverance Theatre on Saturday, Nov. 30. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Filipino life in Sitka, AIDS in NYC and martial arts combine to make ‘Full Contact’ at Perseverance Theatre

Ariel Estrada’s one-man self-narrative play makes world stage debut after six years of evolving work.

“Dreaming the Future” written by Mike Tobin and directed by Donnie Gott, and performed as part of the Climate Fair for a Cool Planet at Bill Overstreet Park on Saturday, ends with actors in an electric bus driving toward the future. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)

News

Climate Fair for a Cool Planet cultivates a culture of change with songs and theater

Record rain in Juneau and record-high global temps are both worrisome signs, organizers say.

Meredith Jordan/ Juneau Empire The women of the Kit Kat Club in “Cabaret” take center stage during a rehearsal Monday night at McPhetres Hall for the production by Theatre in the Rough that opens Friday

News

Director says history is repeating itself, old chum

“Cabaret” kicks off at McPhetres Hall on Friday, with free previews Tuesday and Thursday

Tanner Johnson, playing the role of Candide, rehearses Tuesday at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé. The operetta “Candide” is based on Stephen Sondheim’s adaptation of the classic novella by Voltaire. (Meredith Jordan/ Juneau Empire)

News

Juneau Symphony and Lyric Opera team up for ‘Candide’

Ensemble includes 60-chair symphony, 40-person chorus, seven actors.

Longtime Juneau musician Rob Cohen performs at an outdoor cabaret show during the Alaska Theater Festival in 2022. This year’s festival will begin with a series of Neighborhood Cabaret shows at various locations throughout Juneau between June 28 and July 2. (Courtesy of Theater Alaska)

Neighbors

Neighborhood watch

Fourth annual Alaska Theater Festival to stage outdoor productions throughout Juneau this summer.

From left to right, Megan Peirce, Ava Grimes, Kyra Wood and Johnathan Gee-Miles star in Juneau high school’s collaborative production of the classic “The Wizard of Oz” at JDHS auditorium. (Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire)

News

Are you off to see the wizard?

Play wraps up run with shows this weekend.

Characters Rose (Xáalnook Erin Tripp) and Anthony (Kenny Ramos) smile and chat midway through the Wednesday night rehearsal performance of “Where the Summit Meets the Stars” at Perseverance Theatre. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

‘Where the Summit Meets the Stars’ opens Perseverance Theatre season on uncharted waters

New play draws from traditional stories, Tlingit arts

Dancers rehearsed in front of “Tahku,” the whale sculpture, ahead of the Climate Fair for a Cool Planet in 2021. (Courtesy Photo / Mike Tobin)

News

Art and action: An upcoming fair plans to use art as a way to talk about climate change

There’s free ice cream, too.

Annie Bartholomew prepares her banjo for rehearsal for her Victorian folk opera, “Sisters of White Chapel,” at the Treadwell Mine Office on July 5, 2022. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

News

Play brings rarely-seen side of Klondike Gold Rush to fore

The performance will look at the lives of some of the women of the era.

Ben Hohenstatt / Capital City Weekly A masked Benedick (Aaron Elmore) and Beatrice (Katie Jensen) exchange repartee during dress rehearsal for Theatre in the Rough’s production of “Much Ado About Nothing.”

News

‘Sigh no more’: Theatre in the Rough is back with a twist on a classic

Local theater company’s latest is a take on “Much Ado About Nothing.”

Ben Hohenstatt / capital city weekly Big Alison (Allison Mickelson) watches Small Alison (Fiona McFarlin) join in a family cleaning frenzy ahead of an important visit during rehearsal for “Fun Home.”

News

Let the ‘Fun Home’ begin

Long-awaited musical is set to open soon.

This picture shows the playbill for "A Tlingit Christmas Carol", which is presented by Perseverance Theatre and is now streaming online at https://www.ptalaska.org/. (Screenshot/Perseverance Theatre)

News

Tlingit-themed holiday classic streaming on a screen near you

Free, holiday offering from Perseverance Theatre

Sarah (Erin Tripp) and Carl (Jared Olin) laugh while working on the Voyager project during a dress rehearsal for Perseverance Theatre's "Voyager One." The play, which is running now, is simultaneously two period pieces. One is set in the '70s, the other is in the distant future. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

News

Review: A fantastic ‘Voyager’ welcomes audiences back to Perseverance Theatre

It’s definitely worth a spin.

Sarah (Erin Tripp) talks to Carl (Jared Olin) while the two low-level NASA workers work to make the 1970s Voyager project happen in a dress rehearsal for Perseverance Theatre’s “Voyager One.” (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

News

New Perseverance Theatre season is ready to launch

In-person plays return with “Voyager One.”

Theater Alaska performers Bostin Christopher, left, and Erin Tripp perform a short play in front of an audience at Mayor Bill Overstreet Park on Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021. Theater Alaska partnered with environmental group 350Juneau to put on a Climate Fair for a Cool Planet, which drew over 100 people. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

Juneauites use performances to urge climate action

Climate ‘catastrophe.’

Miranda (Natalia Spengler) covertly stares at recent arrivals to the remote island on which she resides during rehearsal for Theatre in the Rough's upcoming production of "The Tempest." (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

News

‘O, wonder’: Theatre in the Rough puts on ‘The Tempest’

Prospero and Ferdinand, here on Caliban’s isle.