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JOAN CUSHING


{{Infobox satirist/playwright
| name = Joan Cushing

| image =

Joan Cushing in 2017. Photo by Dave Nuttycombe of Middle C Music in Washington, DC.

| caption = Joan Cushing
| birth_date = (1946-08-18) August 18, 1946 (age 78)
| birth_place = Evanston, IL, U.S.
| education = University of Maryland (BS)

| occupation =

  • Comedian/Satirist
  • Writer
  • Composer/Lyricist
  • Singer
  • Playwright

| years_active = 1975–present
| marriage = Paul J. Buchbinder (died 2010)
| children = 2
| mother = Marie Donnelly Cushing
| father = Dr. Vincent Cushing
| website = www.joancushing.com

Joan Cushing (born August 18, 1946) is a political satirist and playwright. She is best known for her character Mrs. Foggybottom, a wise-cracking society woman who wittingly mocked Washington, DC as part of her cabaret shows and other appearances from the 70s through the mid-90s. In a 1987 article, The Washington Post dubbed her “The Clown of Powertown.”[1] Her next gig was writing musicals for young audiences. A 2001 commission by Imagination Stage to adapt Harry Allard and James Marshall’s humorous children’s book Miss Nelson Is Missing! to the stage led to many more similar collaborations with the theatre, as well as with others.[2]

Early Life / Family

Joan was the oldest of eight children. Being a talented pianist, her mother, Marie Donnelly Cushing, had received a scholarship to Webster College, close to St. Louis, Missouri. In 1945, Marie married Vincent Cushing, who had been her high school boyfriend.[3] Vincent’s studies at the University of Notre Dame lead to degrees in Physics and Mathematics.[4] Many earlier Cushing family members also had attended the university, including Vincent’s grandfather, John F. Cushing, who donated $300,000 to Notre Dame to build a hall of engineering there.[5] At the Illinois Institute of Technology, Vincent Cushing received a Doctorate in Physics. He went on to have a distinguished career, which included being awarded 28 patents.[4] In 1961, Marie graduated with a Bachelor's Degree from American University, after having returned to college upon raising her children. Then, in the early years of Head Start, she was a teacher in this educational program for low-income children. And in 1982, she received a Master's Degree at Notre Dame College of Belmont, CA in Montessori Education, subsequently becoming a head primary teacher.[3] The children were brought up in Winnetka, IL (near Chicago), Kensington, MD, Deerfield, IL, and Huntington, NY. Marie and Vincent’s marriage lasted nearly 75 years, ending with his death in 2018. Marie passed in February 2023.[3]

Political Satire

After college graduation at the University of Maryland in 1969, Joan Cushing taught second grade in Landover Hills, MD during the day. At night, she moonlighted as a singer/pianist at area piano bars. Eventually Cushing decided she was having more fun playing piano than teaching children. Mrs. Foggybottom, a gossipy dowager, became a staple character in her act after the owner of the Fire Escape Lounge in Alexandria, VA suggested using comic chit-chat between songs to engage the audiences at this club above the former Café Lafayette.[2] She and Mrs. Foggybottom would go on to perform there on Fridays and Saturdays for over eight years, gaining notoriety and fans.[6]

What also helped Cushing and her Mrs. Foggybottom become known was appearances and participation in Hexagon, an annual benefit comedy revue. For at least 15 years, Cushing performed, and wrote songs and skits for the show.[1] Hexagon is re-emerging now after a break during the pandemic.[7]

Ultimately Cushing would be considered part of the “upper crust” of Beltway comics, along with Art Buchwald and Mark Russell.[1] The “Mrs. Foggybottom” routine involved throwing zingers at Capitol Hill personalities and finding humor in political news, while wearing white gloves, rhinestone glasses, and a feathered hat, drinking a martini and clutching a cigarette holder.[2] She claimed her top choice in books was the Green Book. The Betty Ford Center, her favorite vacation destination. Cushing also wrote and performed songs that fit the old woman’s persona of an aging Washington socialite. For instance, in the “Water Music Minuet,” she joked about “the Trickle-Down Theory working at last” with mandatory drug testing under the Reagan administration. In addition to the Fire Escape Lounge, the performer, as society woman Mrs. Foggybottom and herself, made local appearances at political parties, conventions, and more. Her show also travelled. Her out-of-town gigs had a $1,500 price tag. She had a column too, which ran in the Georgetowner and Roll Call.[1]

Cushing in time turned her show into a multi-person revue, “Mrs. Foggybottom and Friends.” The act originated at the innovative New Playwrights Theatre in 1986. Its home base then became the Omni Shoreham Hotel’s Marquee Lounge in Northwest Washington, DC. "Mrs. Foggybottom & Friends” was presented until 1995, a time that brought new hotel ownership. Cushing told The Washington Post that she never revisited the accompanied version of the revue because of the death of its director, Ron O’Leary.[2]

In a spoof campaign for the Presidency in 1988, Cushing ran as Mrs. Foggybottom under the “Cocktail Party,” and joked, “I believe that what the country needs after eight years of Ronald Reagan is a four-year happy hour.” The candidate promised that by the time she left office, every American would be able to spell the term hors "d’oeuvres."[8]

Adult Musicals

The performer then reinvented herself as a playwright. Though Mrs. Foggybottom still made special appearances from time to time, Cushing was busy developing something quite different. In July 1998, her original musical Flush! opened the Source Theatre Company’s 18th Annual Washington Theatre Festival along with Roy Barber’s musical Gift. Describing the origins of her play to The Washington Post, Cushing said, “I took a wedding and a funeral and thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny to do a revue where you only see people in the restroom?’... People’s anxieties come out, you have secrets.”[9]

Next up, in 2000, was the macabre and dark story of real-life waxworker Madame Tussaud. According to Joan Cushing’s website, her musical Tussaud “attempts to strip away the carnival atmosphere, and put a human face on the woman who was at the very center of one of the most turbulent and bloody periods of French history.”[10] The real Marie, whose first family last name was Grosholtz, received her professional training by master waxworker Phillippe Curtius, a Swiss. During the French Revolution, Marie was forced to cast death masks of famous people from their guillotined heads.[11] Cushing’s musical Tussaud was presented through at least four staged readings from 2000 to 2006,[12] including another opening slot at the Washington Theatre Festival in 2000.[13] There Cushing won the Pat Murphy Sheehy New Play Fund Award, and the cast, directors and musicians were honored for their ensemble work.[14] In 2006, Tussaud received a full production at the University of Florida’s Footlights Theatre in Tampa, FL.[15] Song titles included “Familiar Faces/Carry On,” “I’ve Got a Date with Voltaire,” “Bonjour, Robespierre,” and “In My Hands.”[16]

In 2011 the musical Breast in Show was first produced, with Cushing writing the music and lyrics and playwright Lisa Hayes, the script/book.[17] The idea for a musical about breast cancer came in 2009 to the play's executive producer Eileen Mitchard, who wanted to give voice to those touched by the disease. The show's foundation was formed from over 200 interviews done by Mitchard, Hayes and Cushing over a two-year period.[18] This is a project that had to be postponed in 2010, when Cushing’s husband Paul Buchbinder was dying of advanced pancreatic cancer. Getting back to the musical after he passed became an experience of healing for Cushing, who returned to the project with a new awareness and a feeling that she had something to say.[17] Also on board on the production as director was Kathryn Chase Bryer, who Cushing by then was working with at Imagination Stage on theatre for young audiences.[17] Featured in the Breast of Show script are four women and one man with breast cancer. The show’s goals included raising awareness about the disease, and in an interview with the Quad-City Times, executive producer Mitchard said, "It'll make you laugh, it'll make you cry. It'll make you do both at the same moment, but it ends on a hopeful note."[19] The show received six full productions, starting with the JCC Theatre in Rockville, MD in 2011.[20] Promotion for Breast of Show at the 2014 Capital Fringe Festival proclaimed, “This is the show that puts humor in the tumor.” DC Theatre Arts reviewer Terry Byrne wrote, “…hats off to composer/lyricist Joan Cushing… I cannot summon enough praise for Cushing’s creations."[21] Other productions were at the Acts of Faith Festival in Richmond, VA in March 2013[22], the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse in Rock Island, IL in October 2013,[19] the Art Barn in Gaithersburg, MD in September 2014,[23] and O'Connell and Company of Buffalo, NY in September and October 2016.[24] In total, there have been over 30 performances so far.

Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) Musicals

Dress rehearsal for musical Miss Nelson Is Missing! at the First Stage Theatre of Milwaukee on April 27, 2011. Photographed by Mark Frohna.

Cushing’s theatre writing would go in a new direction, after she was commissioned in 2001 by Imagination Stage to adapt the popular children’s book Miss Nelson Is Missing! by Harry Allard (writer) and James Marshall (illustrator). She developed the book into a musical for their theatre at White Flint Mall. This would be her first Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) project. “It is a very edgy, witty, clever book,” Cushing told The Washington Post. “I like writing for other people. I’m not performing right now.”[25] The book is about a class of uncontrollable kids at Horace B. Smedley Elementary School whose sweet teacher, Miss Nelson, stops showing up. In her place is the ferocious hag, Miss Viola Swamp, who the children hate and fear. Suddenly the children have a new appreciation for their missing teacher. Cushing frequently used some of the language of the book in the script and lyrics (such as the kids considering if “a swarm of angry butterflies” took their teacher away). Here and there Cushing added in items for adults to enjoy, including theatre references, local topics, and politics.[25] This show would go on to be performed as far away as China and Papua New Guinea,[26] and there were still productions in 2023.[27] [28] About a production at the Manhattan Children's Theater in 2005, The New York Times reviewer Laurel Graeber writes, "A gifted playwright and composer, Ms. Cushing has created a musical that will charm anyone who has ever sat in front of a schoolteacher's desk - or, for that matter, behind it."[29]

Cushing’s adaptation of author Barbara Park and illustrator Denise Brunkus’s book Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business! would be another commission for Cushing from Imagination Stage, opening at their new $12 million center in July 2003.[30] This show centers on a raucous five-year-old kindergartener (Junie B. Jones) who at the opening of the musical sings “The World According to Me,” underscoring how she rules her world. Soon she has to deal with the worrisome, pending arrival of a sibling. Also, Junie has no idea what to share in the next show-and-tell at school. The two issues combine to lead the musical into humorous developments.[31] Meanwhile, along with all the fun, the play looks at sibling rivalry and how a new baby’s arrival can stir insecurity.[32] Interviewed about her TYA playwriting process at the time by The Washington Post, Cushing commented, “I gear them to kids, but I don’t write down to them. I write them for families… I think it’s nice when a grandparent and a child can go to a musical together and get something from it.”[30] While Cushing’s central story was from Park’s monkey business book, she lifted scenes from other books in the Junie B. Jones series to make the play work. “I didn’t feel there was enough in that book to write a whole musical on,” Cushing shared with The Washington Post. “…I had to go and wrap my arms around the whole series to really feel the characters.”[33]

Additionally, Cushing was commissioned to write other TYA musicals by Imagination Stage including Miss Nelson Has a Field Day!, Petite Rouge: A Cajun Red Riding Hood, Heidi, George & Martha: Tons of Fun and 101 Dalmatians.[34][35]

The Children’s Theatre of Charlotte would premiere two Cushing TYA musicals, Ella’s Big Chance: a Jazz Age Cinderella in 2015, which despite its Roaring 20s costumes and jazzy dance numbers only received one run[36], and Grace for President in 2016, which also was produced elsewhere and as recently as 2023.[37] [38] [39] The Grace musical is based on a 2008 book by Kelly DiPucchio (writer) and LeUyen Pham (illustrator). Looking at a school display featuring US presidents, Grace discovers that a woman has never held America's highest office. In response, she decides to run for president of her class. Grace’s opponent is Thomas Cobb, a popular young man with a big ego.[40] Musical numbers include “The Democracy Rap” ala the musical Hamilton[41], as well as “Boys, Boys, Boys” and “My Vote Counts.”[40] According to the River Cities Reader review in April 2022 of the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's production, Grace delivers "important messages" about voting, using one's voice and more through fun songs and dancing and lively characters.[38]

For her musical Diary of a Worm, a Spider & a Fly, Cushing combined three popular children's books by Doreen Cronin (writer) and Harry Bliss (illustrator), Diary of a Worm, Diary of a Spider and Diary of a Fly.[42] The result allowed her to explore friendship, differences and the individual contribution each being gives to their world.[43] This play was commissioned by the Oregon Children’s Theatre of Portland, and it premiered there in 2011.[42] During the show, the audience comes to know what excites each character, and what makes them feel insecure. Worm frets about having no legs or wings, and thus no value. Spider is impatient to shed his exoskeleton and grow. Fly wonders if her dreams of becoming a superhero will ever come true. Along with the joyful rap, hip-hop, ballads and dance, the play also interweaves fascinating info about bugs as well as relatable struggles.[43] For a local 2012 production, The Dallas Morning News reported: “This raucous, joyous show, rapping spiritedly at Dallas Children’s Theatre, offers an intoxicating mix of educational and entertaining fare… it’s a memorable biology lesson and uplifting message for kids seeking their own special role in the world."[44]

Legacy

Joan Cushing's musicals for young audiences have interested theatres across the country to produce them, and some continue to be performed today.[39] [28] [45] Miss Nelson Is Missing! has traveled the world.[30] The Gurman Agency’s Theatre for Youth website shows a list of the accessible Cushing plays. These include Miss Nelson Is Missing!, Miss Nelson Has a Field Day!, Grace for President, Diary of a Worm, a Spider & a Fly, Petite Rouge: A Cajun Red Riding Hood, George and Martha, Heidi and more.[46]

Critical Response

Scene from musical Petite Rouge at Imagination Stage of Bethesda, Maryland. Photographed by Stan Barouh.

It is clearly in Theatre for Young Audiences where Joan Cushing made her mark in playwriting, creating the book (script), lyrics and music for most of her musical adaptations of popular children's books. For the premiere of Petite Rouge: A Cajun Red Riding Hood at Imagination Stage in 2005, Jayne Blanchard of The Washington Times wrote: “Mrs. Foggybottom has gone zydeco… in a variation of Red Riding Hood that is as snappy as a string of cayenne peppers… You are hard pressed to keep your toes from tapping… Petite Rouge is a feast for the senses and the appetite, as Miss Cushing’s adaptation revels in the sights, music and food of Cajun country.”[47] In a 2008 Washington Post piece featuring the 100th production of Miss Nelson Is Missing!, Celia Wren says, “…it’s easy to see why the show has so many notches on its belt. It brims with conflict and drama, without being scary; it balances the perspectives of its zany adult and obstreperous child characters; and it revels in sly comic touches.”[48] On Grace for President in The Charlotte Observer during 2016, critic Lawrence Toppman reports, “She tells the story so rousingly that children in the audience were cheering for Grace and Thomas by the end, like nominations at a political convention.”[40] For a 2018 Cyrano’s Theatre Company production of Diary of a Worm, a Spider & a Fly in Alaska, the Anchorage Press professed, “…this musical coming of age tale will ring true for the young, and the young at heart.”[49]

Personal Life

Cushing was married to Paul J. Buchbinder, a sales representative for Wall Goldfinger, a furniture manufacturer. He was a graduate of Brown University. Their marriage lasted 25 years, ending when Paul died in 2010 only four months after he received a diagnosis of advanced pancreatic cancer.[50] Of that time, in 2011 Joan wrote: “Those four months were the hardest, most heartbreaking, and yet most intensely loving of our… marriage.”[17] In a 2011 interview by The Washington Post, Cushing added that after Paul’s death “my whole world just turned upside down. I’ve had a really hard time, but doing these projects [the musicals] is saving me.“[51] She has two sons, Patrick and Ben Buchbinder.[50] Ben Buchbinder is a New Orleans musician.[52]

Awards and Honors

Flush!, 1998, 18th Annual Washington Theatre Festival. --H.D. Lewis Award for Playwright Development

Tussaud, 2000, 20th Annual Washington Theatre Festival. --Pat Sheehy New Play Fund Award; --Ensemble Award

Miss Nelson Is Missing!, 2002, National Children’s Theatre Festival Award. --Best New Musical (Winner)

Miss Nelson Has a Field Day!, 2005, National Children’s Theatre Festival Award. --Best New Musical (Finalist)

Junie B. Jones & a Little Monkey Business!, 2006, Leon Rabin Award, 7 Nominations, including Outstanding Production (Dallas Children’s Theatre)

Junie B. Jones & a Little Monkey Business!, 2007, Creative Loafing Award, 8 Nominations, including Best Musical (Children’s Theatre of Charlotte)

Petite Rouge: A Cajun Red Riding Hood, 2007, New York Musical Theatre Festival's Awards for Excellence. --Next Link Project; --Best in Script (Honorable Mention)

The Christmas Doll, 2007. --National Youth Theatre Award, Outstanding Play/Musical

Heidi, 2009. --Helen Hayes Nomination for Outstanding Resident Production, Theatre for Young Audiences, Imagination Stage

Joan Cushing, Playwright, 2011. --Imagination Award for service to children’s theatre, from the Imagination Stage

Breast of Show, 2014, Capital Fringe Festival. --Scene Stealer; --Most Heartfelt Performance by an Ensemble.

Joan Cushing Musicals

Unless noted otherwise, Joan Cushing wrote the play’s script-book, music and lyrics.

Adult Musicals (Premieres)

Flush!, July 8, 1998, Source Theatre Company's 18th Annual Washington Theatre Festival, Washington, DC

Tussaud, August 5, 6, 12, 13, 2006, Footlights Theatre, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL

Breast in Show (Music & Lyrics by Joan Cushing / Script-Book by Lisa Hayes / Executive Producer, Eileen Mitchard), October 15 through October 16, 2011, JCC Theatre, Rockville, MD

Family Musicals (Premieres)

The Christmas Doll, adapted from the book by Elvira Woodruff. November 25 through December 15, 2007, Children's Theatre of Charlotte, Charlotte, VA

Ramana's Garden (Music by Joan Cushing / Script and Lyrics by Kathleen Carroll and Joan Cushing). Based on true stories of children at an orphanage in India. Staged Reading with Band, July 16, 2010, Friends of Ramana’s Garden

Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) Musicals (Premieres)

Miss Nelson Is Missing!, adapted from the book by Harry Allard (author) and James Marshall (illustrator). November 10, 2001 through January 13, 2002, Imagination Stage, Bethesda, MD

Brave Irene, adapted from the book by William Steig (author/illustrator). January 18 through February 23, 2003, Adventure Theatre, Glen Echo, MD

Junie B. Jones & a Little Monkey Business!, adapted from books by Barbara Park (author) and Denise Brunkus (illustrator). July 1 through August 17, 2003, Imagination Stage, Bethesda, MD

Miss Nelson Has a Field Day!, adapted from the book by Harry Allard (author) and James Marshall (illustrator). November 12, 2003 through January 11, 2004, Imagination Stage, Bethesda, MD

Petite Rouge: A Cajun Red Riding Hood, adapted from the book by Mike Artell (author) and Jim Harris (illustrator). February 5 through April 3, 2005, Imagination Stage, Bethesda, MD

Heidi (Music & Lyrics by Joan Cushing / Script-Book by Martha King de Silva), adapted from the book by Johanna Spyri. April 4 through May 24, 2009, Imagination Stage, Bethesda, MD

Diary of a Worm, a Spider & a Fly, adapted from books by Doreen Cronin (author) and Harry Bliss (illustrator). Originally commissioned in August 2009, performed January/February 2011, Oregon Children's Theatre, Portland, OR

George & Martha: Tons of Fun, based on the collection of stories by James Marshall (author and illustrator). April 9 through May 28th, 2011, Imagination Stage, Bethesda, MD

Ella’s Big Chance: a Jazz Age Cinderella, adapted from the book written and illustrated by Shirley Hughes. December 4 through December 20, 2015, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, Charlotte, VA

101 Dalmatians (Music and Lyrics by Joan Cushing / Script-Book by Martha King de Silva), adapted from the book by Dodi DeSanto. November 19, 2014 through January 11, 2015, Imagination Stage co-opening with Children’s Theatre of Charlotte

Grace for President, adapted from the book by Kelly DiPucchio (author) and LeUyen Pham (illustrator). October 21 through November 6, 2016, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, Charlotte, VA




References

  1. ^ a b c d Swisher, Kara (April 30, 1987). "Joan Cushing, The Clown of Powertown". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d Kelly, John (January 3, 2015). "Mrs. Foggybottom, the Onetime Toast of D.C. Cabaret Shows, Still in the Theatre Business". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c "Marie Donnelly Cushing Obit". The Capital Gazette. February 26, 2023. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Vincent Cushing Obituary". The Washington Post. February 4, 2018. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  5. ^ "Cushing Centennial". Signatures: Engineering Advances at the University of Notre Dame. Winter 2007. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
  6. ^ Stokes, W. Royal (January 6, 1985). "Kooky Characters". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  7. ^ Fraley, Jason (April 13, 2023). "Hexagon political comedy revue returns from pandemic hiatus at new location in Silver Spring". WTOP Radio. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
  8. ^ Staff Report (April 18, 1988). "Mrs. Foggybottom Entertains Barbs on Washington Life". Morning Call. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  9. ^ Horwitz, Jane (July 7, 1988). "Mrs. Foggybottom Visits the Restroom: Joan Cushing's 'Flush!' to Kick Off Source Theatre's Festival". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  10. ^ "Tussaud Synopsis". Joan Cushing official website. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  11. ^ Carey, Edward (October 4, 2018). "Madame Tussaud: the astounding tale of survival behind the woman who made history". The Guardian. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  12. ^ "Tussaud Production History - Readings". Joan Cushing Official Website. Joan Cushing. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
  13. ^ Fox, Larry (July 14, 2000). "Weekend's Best". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  14. ^ Horwitz, Jane (August 22, 2000). "Kisses All Around". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  15. ^ "Tussaud Production History". Joan Cushing official website. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  16. ^ "Tussaud Song Samples". Joan Cushing official website. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  17. ^ a b c d Cushing, Joan (October 20, 2011). "Theatre Kibbitz: Joan Cushing on the Musical 'Breast of Show'". MD Theatre Guide. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  18. ^ "Show Info". Breast of Show Official Website. Eileen Mitchard. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
  19. ^ a b Burke, David (September 30, 2013). "Musical takes humorous, real look at breast cancer". The Quad-City News. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  20. ^ Joan, Cushing (October 10, 2011). "Theatre Kibbitz: Joan Cushing on the Musical 'Breast in Show'". MD Theatre Guide. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  21. ^ Byrne, Terry (July 14, 2014). "Capital Fringe 2014 Review: 'Breast in Show'". DC Theatre Arts. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  22. ^ Scott, Tracy (January 28, 2013). "Acts of Faith Theatre Festival 2013 Schedule". Richmond Family Magazine. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  23. ^ Staff Writer (September 11, 2014). "Gaithersburg's Art Barn Presents Breast in Show". Montgomery County Media. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  24. ^ "Theatre Talk: Ongoing Shows". WBFO-FM. October 14, 2016. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  25. ^ a b Horwitz, Jane (November 20, 2001). "Miss Nelson Is ... Here!: Joan Cushing Trades the Political Satire of 'Foggybottom' for Children's Musical". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  26. ^ Wren, Celia (October 7, 2011). "Washington's theaters are an incubator for children's plays and musicals". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  27. ^ A.A., Cristi (February 20, 2023). "Photos: First Look at Miss Nelson Is Missing! at Main Street Theater". Broadway World: Houston. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
  28. ^ a b "CTC's Final Youth Theatre Production Of Season, "Miss Nelson Is Missing!" Is May 12-21". Chattanoogan.com. May 3, 2023. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
  29. ^ Graeber, Laurel (March 25, 2005). "A Class Learns Lessons It Will Never Forget". The New York Times. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
  30. ^ a b c Horwitz, Jane (July 1, 2003). "In Bethesda, Imagination's Dream Come True". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  31. ^ Horwitz, Jane (August 12, 2003). "Child's Play for All Ages; 'Junie B. Jones' Opens Imagination Stage with a Very Merry Musical". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
  32. ^ Wren, Celia (December 5, 2006). "Junie B's Playground: 'Monkey Business' Is Pure Fun". Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  33. ^ Via, Dan (August 1, 2003). "Writer Finds Her 'Junie B.' Voice,". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  34. ^ "Joan Cushing News". Joan Cushing official website. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
  35. ^ "Joan Cushing Musicals". Joan Cushing official website. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
  36. ^ Cauthen Thornton, Dawn (December 10, 2015). "Children's Theatre lays down a jazz beat with 'Ella'". The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  37. ^ "Joan Cushing News". Joan Cushing official website. Joan Cushing. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  38. ^ a b Pavey, Jr., Robert (April 25, 2022). "Ballot-eers: "Grace for President," at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse through May 14". River Cities Reader. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  39. ^ a b "Grace for President - June 30, 2023–July 9, 2023". San Diego Junior Theatre website. San Diego Junior Theatre. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  40. ^ a b c Toppman, Lawrence (October 19, 2016). "'Grace for President' deserves your vote". The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  41. ^ "Grace for President: The Democracy Rap". Children's Theatre of Charlotte YouTube Channel. Children's Theatre of Charlotte. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  42. ^ a b Johnson, Holly (January 24, 2011). "Theatre review: 'Diary of a Worm, a Spider and a Fly' Charms". The Oregonian/Oregon Live. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  43. ^ a b Brady, Mary (May 5, 2019). "Review: OCTC's Diary of a Worm, a Spider and a Fly". New Kids Magazine. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  44. ^ "Theater review: Little creatures rap, romp and rule at Dallas Children's Theater". The Dallas Morning News. May 14, 2012. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  45. ^ "Productions - 2023-2024 Season". Columbus State University website. Columbus State University, Columbus, GA. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  46. ^ "Theatre for Youth - Musicals". Gurman Agency. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  47. ^ Blanchard, Jayne (February 14, 2005). "Red Hot Taste of the Bayou". The Washington Times. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  48. ^ Wren, Celia (November 29, 2008). "A class act, 'miss nelson' still permits a sly smile". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  49. ^ Johnson, RJ (December 3, 2018). "Buggin: Diary of a Worm, a Spider, and a Fly opens at CTC". Anchorage Press. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  50. ^ a b "Paul Buchbinder Obituary". The Washington Post. November 18–19, 2010. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  51. ^ Horwitz, Jane (April 19, 2011). "Joan Cushing's Second Act: Adapting Kids Books". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  52. ^ "Resident Musicians". MRB Bar & Kitchen. MRB. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
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