Ars Nova News

One of Broadway's favorite leading men - Kyle Dean Massey, co-star of the hit ABC series Nashville - will conduct a master class in Music City on Wednesday, September 2. Presented by VWA Theatricals, which made its local debut with the critically acclaimed The Last Five Years in August, and The First Night Honors, the master class will be conducted from 6 to 10 p.m. at Van Wye Vocal Studio, 30 Music Square West, Suite 201.

WASHINGTON)—Washington National Opera (WNO) today announced details for the fourth season of the American Opera Initiative, its comprehensive commissioning program that brings contemporary American stories to the stage while fostering the talents of rising American composers and librettists. Three pairings of new opera composers and librettists—Christopher Weiss and John de los Santos, David Clay Mettens and Joshua McGuire, and Sarah Hutchings and Mark Sonnenblick—will premiere new one-act operas, each based on a contemporary American story, in a semi-staged concert performance on December 2, 2015 in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Composer Luna Pearl Woolf and librettist Caitlin Vincent, an alumnus of the program's second season, will present their new hour-long work Better Gods—based on the life of Queen Lili'uokalani, the last monarch of Hawaii—on January 8 and 9, 2016 in the Terrace Theater.

Salty Brine proudly announces the premiere of a new cabaret, He's So Unusual, as the sixth installment in his series, Salty Brine's Spectacular Living Record Collection Cabaret.  Salty Brine's Spectacular Living Record Collection Cabaret, which performs on Wednesdays as part of Brine's residency at The Red Room (85 E. 4th St.), explores a different iconic album each month in a live cabaret setting.  He's So Unusual, inspired by by Cyndi Lauper's debut album She's So Unusual, will run on September 9, 16, 23 and 30 with doors opening at 7:30pm and shows beginning at 8:00pm.

The Representatives in association with The Olmsted Salon present this site-specific re-imagining of VERITAS by Stan Richardson, beginning Thursday, October 21st with an Opening on Monday, October 26. The theatre for the production is The Cave @ St. George's in Gramercy Park, 209 East 16th Street, NYC 10003.

InViolet Theater Company, under the direction of Founding Co-Artistic Directors Michael Henry Harris and Angela Razzano, In association with Melanie Maras, Bryan Tallevi and Andrea Kiefer have announced the off-off Broadway run of SOMMERFUGL, a new play written by Bixby Elliot inspired by the true story of Lili Elbe, the first person to have gender reassignment surgery in 1930. The production begins previews September 19 at the 4th Street Theater (83 East 4th Street) and will have its official opening on September 24. Stephen Brackett directs.  www.InViolettheater.com

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Sarah Benson and Executive Director Cynthia Flowers, Soho Rep. has continually produced work by bold artists who harness the intimate power of the organization's own 73-seat black box theater, as well as other spaces, to create transformative experiences. Soho Rep.'s 2015-16 season, announced today, comprises two more ambitious new works-both characterized by irreverent humor, wild theatricality, and extraordinarily inventive language-and Write with Us, a series of open-to-the-public writing workshops led by acclaimed, Soho Rep.-produced playwrights.

One Year Lease Theater Company presents the World Premiere of Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally by Brooklyn-based playwright Kevin Armento (Good Men Wanted - 2015 O'Neill National Playwriting Finalist/PlayPenn Finalist, 2015-2016 Ars Nova Artist-in-Residence, Companion Piece at Pleasance Theatre, London)for a limited Off-Broadway run from September 30 to October 24 at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, NYC). Tickets for Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally are $35 (59E59 Members $24.50) and can be arranged online at www.59e59.org or by calling 212.279.4200. Running time: 75 minutes, no intermission. Opening night October 3, 2015.

Dave Thomas Brown, recently of Heathers: The Musical at New World Stages, leads a cast that also includes Wayne Duvall (O Brother Where Art Thou?, Leatherheads), Matt McGrath (Cabaret, Hedwig and the Angry Inch), Keith Nobbs (Lombardi, 'The Black Donnellys') and Afton C. Williamson ('Nashville,' 'Homeland'), in Matthew Lopez's THE LEGEND OF GEORGIA MCBRIDE, the first production of MCC's 2015-16 Main Stage Season. THE LEGEND OF GEORGIA MCBRIDE begins previews tonight, August 20, 2015 ahead of a September 9, 2015 opening night.

Today, Phillipa Soo speaks exclusively with BWW and fills us in on the exciting events which have transpired over the past several months.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University, under the leadership of Artistic Director Diane Paulus, presents the first offering of its 2015/16 OBERON Presents series - GHOST QUARTET, with Music, Lyrics, & Text by Dave Malloy, Developed & Arranged by Ghost Quartet, and Directed by Annie Tippe. Performances run September 9, 10, and 11 at 7:30PM, September 12 at 4PM and 7:30PM at OBERON, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge.

Brand new play incubator Brooklyn Yard presents a showcase production of STORM, STILL, a three-person adaptation of King Lear, by playwright Gabrielle Reisman, in Reisman's own backyard in south Bushwick this fall.

New York Shakespeare Exchange, creator of the viral smash The Sonnet Project, is thrilled to announce their return to Hell's Kitchen for their September ShakesBEER. NYC's original Shakespearean pub-crawl takes place on Saturday, September 12 and Saturday, September 19.

En Garde Founder Anne Hamburger, a Pioneering Producer of Site-Specific Theater in New York, Returns with New Festival Challenging 26 Emerging Artists to Think Big

We're thrilled to present a brand new song by Carmel Dean and Jenny Stafford! 'I LOVE YOU is a song about the love/hate relationship every New Yorker has with their city'. Here is If/Then's Ryann Redmond singing it at our concert at 54 Below.

Pipeline Theatre Company will present the World Premiere of Andrew Farmer's haunting play The Gray Man, September 24-October 18 at Walker Space (46 Walker Street between Broadway and Church Street). Performances will be Wednesday through Sunday at 8pm with additional performances on Saturday at 5pm and Tuesday, October 13 at 8pm. Early bird tickets ($20) will go on sale August 20. Regular ticket sales ($25) will begin September 3. Tickets will be available for purchase online at www.pipelinetheatre.org. The show runs approximately 90 minutes, with no intermission. 

F*It Club, the New York Innovative Award-winning film and theatre company, joins acclaimed partner companies The Assembly, EST/Youngblood, The Mad Ones, Naked Angels, Slant Theatre Project and The TEAM at The Green Building in Brooklyn with GAP Presents! The Green Plays 2.0, seven new short plays developed and created by each individual company.

National Alliance for Musical Theatre (Betsy King Militello, Executive Director) is thrilled to announce the lineup for the SONGWRITERS SHOWCASE and the SONGWRITERS CABARET at the 27th ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS on Thursday, October 15 and Friday, October 16. Both events take place at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues). Registration for Industry members is free and now open at www.namt.org/festival. (Please note the admission process for each event in the individual descriptions.)

2014 MAC Award & 2013 BroadwayWorld Award Winner for Best Male Vocalist Jonathan Whitton (HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH) returns for one night only at Don't Tell Mama. Following his award-winning concert residency at the same venue, BLACK SHEEP REDUX VARIATIONS will be presented on Friday, September 18 @ 7PM.

Samuel French has announced the winners of the 2015 Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival, the nation's leading short play competition. The six winning plays were presented in a Showcase on Sunday, August 9th at the conclusion of the week-long festival at the East 13th Street Theater (Classic Stage Company). These plays will be published, and available for licensing by Samuel French in the 40th Annual edition of its Off Off Broadway Plays collection:

General Mischief Dance Theatre presents the World Premiere of Up and Away - Dances for all Hours. Performances will take place on October 11 at 1pm and 6pm at the Goldman-Sonnenfeldt Family Auditorium, JCC Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Avenue, NYC.