Ars Nova News

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.

Television writer, Sinead Daly (current associate producer and writer, The Get Down (Netflix, Baz Luhrmann) and CBS' Blue Bloods) is also a celebrated playwright. Her moving and imaginative work, PAINTING HIS WINGS makes its New York theatre debut as part of the 2015 New York International Fringe Festival. The play is produced by Making It Happen Productions and is directed by Heather Lanza, the play's original director from its premiere at the 2013 Berkshire Fringe.

The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre, the acclaimed comedy/variety show, will return to JOE'S PUB at The Public Theater on Sunday, September 27 at 9:30 PM to open the Fall 2015 Season.

Split Knuckle Theatre presents THE CURIOUS CASE OF PHINEAS GAGE, a physical theater piece created by Jason Bohon, Greg Webster, Andrew Grusetskie, Michael Toomey, and John Egan, directed by Vincent Cardinal, in collaboration with writer Nick Ryan, featuring music composed by Andrew Lynch. Performances are Aug 15-22, 2015.

HAMILTON, the story of 'the ten-dollar Founding Father without a father,' opens tonight at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. Learn more about the full company and watch clips from the musical!

Artists accepted into The Brick Resident Artist Program have demonstrated the highest level of excellence and invention in the New York theater scene.  These are the artists you have only just begun to hear of; presented alongside pedigreed artists who have already won your hearts.  They will change your expectation of Off-Off Broadway and they will reinvent the experimental and non-traditional theater world as you know it.

Vineyard Arts Project, a nonprofit performing arts residency center on Martha's Vineyard, has announced the cast and creative team of Flying Over Sunset, a new musical to be developed in residence in August. 

Woodshed Collective, leaders of audience immersive, site specific performance and creators of Twelve Ophelias ('A deconstructed masterstroke' - New York Press) The Tenant ('A great theatrical tapestry of vintage grit...a triumph of simultaneity and atmosphere' - Village Voice) , and The Confidence Man ('A breathtaking stunt! 5 STARS!' - Adam Feldman, TimeOutNY), present Empire Travel Agency, a unique theatrical experience that allows four audience members at a time to participate in the performance, taking them on a surreal quest through lower Manhattan. Tickets are free and performances begin August 19th with trips running six nights a week through September 27th. The audience's immersive experience begins by booking their tickets on empiretravelagency.com, where they'll reserve a spot on the new trip the agency is offering - 'The Hidden City Excursion.' This exclusive experience will begin at a payphone in Lower Manhattan, at which point the audience will be whisked away into the night.

Joe's Pub at The Public has announced its nightly performances, running tonight, August 5 - August 16, 2015.

Two River Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst, kicks off its fifth annual Crossing Borders festival of new plays by Latino writers.

MOLLY POPE - brassy belter/whiskey guzzler/benevolent lunatic - will continue her acclaimed concert series on Friday, August 14, following her recent acclaimed Off Broadway performances in Found at the Atlantic Theater Company and Horseplay, or the Fickle Mistress at La MaMa ETC / Theatre Askew. With the new show Molly Pope Likes Your Status, she sheds all pretense of humility and shamelessly entreats you to adore her for an hour while she prances about making loud noises. Unable to deny that she defines her self-worth entirely via social media notifications, the 'viscerally thrilling alto' (Time Out New York) exploits her fragile ego and vocal chops for your entertainment. Expect the unexpected juxtapositions of song and substance alongside a healthy helping of her roots in The Great American Songbook. Over-sharing? Of course. Sing-a-long? Yes. Three encores? Why not. After debuting earlier this season, the show has been extended a month and will now be performed on Friday nights, August 14, September 11 and October 9, all 9:30 PM at The Duplex in New York. Molly Pope Likes Your Status will be recorded as a live album next season.

SPARKLE & CIRCULATE with JUSTIN SAYRE - the official monthly podcast of the International Order of Sodomites - has posted the ninth episode, which features an in-depth conversation with James Gavin, author of the acclaimed biography 'Is That All There Is? The Strange Life of Peggy Lee' and previous books on Lena Horne, Chet Baker and New York nightlife. The show is available on iTunes here. Previous episodes- featuring interviews with Randy Harrison, Justin Vivian Bond, Michael Musto, Frank DeCaro, Kim David Smith, Jeffery Self and R&B legend Sarah Dash - are also available. SPARKLE & CIRCULATE is produced by Dan Fortune and Tyrus Emory.

The new play ROMANCE LANGAUGE will receive its New York City premiere this fall at Theater 511 at Ars Nova (511 W 54th St, New York). Written by Joe Godfrey (A Queer Carol) and directed by Carl Andress (Charles Busch's The Tribute Artist and The Divine Sister), ROMANCE LANGUAGE will star Jessie Austrian (Fiasco Theater's Into the Woods), Audrey Heffernan Meyer ("Royal Pains"), and Jared Zirilli (Pretty Filthy). ROMANCE LANGUAGE begins previews on October 13, 2015, and will officially open Thursday, October 22, 2015, playing a strictly limited engagement through November 8, 2015. Tickets are on sale now at www.RomanceLanguagePlay.com or by calling 866-811-4111.

Joe's Pub at The Public has announced its nightly performances, running August 5 - August 16, 2015.

The songwriting team of Will Van Dyke and Jeff Talbott is set to release an EP of their songs called A View of the River on Tuesday, September 15, 2015.  They will then follow up the release with a concert of their songs at 54 Below on Monday, September 21, 2015 at 9:30 p.m.  

The 21st annual Summer Festival of Sacred Music at St. Bartholomew's Church continues on Sunday, August 16, at 11 am with works from the Ars Nova period including music by Guillaume Machaut and Guillaume Dufay. The Ars Nova refers to a musical style that flourished in France and the Low Burgundian countries in the fourteenth century through the death of Guillaume Machaut (1377), its greatest proponent.