Branden Jacobs-Jenkins News

Catastrophic Theatre joins forces with The University of Houston to present Will Eno's WAKEY, WAKEY.

Style. Status. Success. A group of twentysomething editorial assistants are pursuing it all at one of New York's most esteemed cultural magazines. When a seemingly normal day at the office turns out to be anything but, these aspiring journalists recognize an opportunity to seize a career-defining moment. In this dark comedy, MacArthur 'genius' grant winner Jacobs-Jenkins skewers the cutthroat, opportunistic culture of modern media.

The League of Professional Theatre Women (Kelli Lynn Harrison and Catherine Porter, Co-Presidents), an organization which has been leading the gender parity conversation and championing women in the professional theatre for over 35 years, will present the 2019 Theatre Women Awards at The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture (18 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012) on Monday, March 25 at 7pm (doors open at 6:30pm). For more information on the 2019 Theatre Women Awards, and to purchase tickets, please visit www.theatrewomen.org. 

The Auburn Avenue Research Library in collaboration with Actor's Express will host director Donya K. Washington, dramaturg Dr. Angela Farr Schiller, and Atlanta Distinguished Professor Emerita of Southern Studies Dr. Theda Perdue in a discussion on the performance of race through the context of history and the Obie Award-winning play An Octoroon by playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. The New York Times praises An Octoroon as "This decade's most eloquent theatrical statement on race." In it, Jacobs-Jenkins reframes the 19th century melodrama, The Octoroon by Dion Boucicault, blending theatrical styles and 21st century cultural politics in an exploration of the art form's interplay with race and identity. Opening with a scene from the Atlanta production of An Octoroon featuring actor Neal A. Ghant, our panelist share in discussion about the play's themes, their relation to our state and local history, and why it's still relevant today.

The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has announced 10 Finalists for its prestigious playwriting Award, the oldest and largest prize awarded to women playwrights.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' play "Everybody", currently at 12th Ave Arts from Strawberry Theatre Workshop, tells us from the beginning that we're in for a show about death. The House Manager (Justin Huertas) lets us know that this is a story that has been told before, many many times. But what makes "Everybody" fascinating, other than the fact that it's superbly written, is the way that it's presented to us with the actors being given their parts lottery style right in front of our eyes making this a show you could also see again and again and never quite see the same one twice.

Vineyard Theatre Artistic Directors Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern announce dates and casting for the New York premiere of Mara Nelson-Greenberg's DO YOU FEEL ANGER?, directed by Margot Bordelon. Performances will begin at Vineyard Theatre (108 East 15th Street) on Wednesday, March 13 with opening night set for Sunday, March 31.

Building on 40 years of producing powerful contemporary theatre, Studio Theatre is pleased to announce a new class of commissioned playwrights and directors to Studio R&D, its incubator to support the creation of new work from inception to first production. Incoming Studio R&D artists are playwrights James Fritz, James Ijames, Steph Del Rosso, and Emily Schwend, as well as directors Carl Cofield, Lila Neugebauer, and Eric Ruffin. These exciting talents from the US and UK will have Studio's full support in creating aesthetically diverse new work to be presented in future seasons and introduced into the international repertoire. As they create Studio-specific works, commissioned artists will visit Studio to get to know its theatres, programming, and audiences in person.

Actor's Express presents An Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Directed by Donya K. Washington, Associate Producer at the Alliance Theatre, this wildly imaginative new work turns a 19th century melodrama on its ear in a riotous romp that hurls the antebellum south into direct collision with 21st century cultural politics. "Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is one of the most exciting playwrights writing for the American theatre today. This play uses crazy theatricality to cast a critical eye on the modern world through the lens of the past," says Artistic Director Freddie Ashley.

California Shakespeare Theater (Cal Shakes) today announced directors for the 2019 Season at the Bruns Amphitheater, including the Cal Shakes debuts of directors Megan Sandberg-Zakian (House of Joy) and Victor Malana Maog (Macbeth).

Morality and Mortality have never been such a perfect pair!

12 Peers Theater announces their eighth season featuring the return of Mythburgh, a site-specific performance and storytelling series, and two local premieres, Blank and Everybody. Blank is a performance piece by Nassim Soleimanpour, the mastermind behind 2016's White Rabbit Red Rabbit. Everybody is a 2018 Pulitzer Prize finalist by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins that remixes the classic Everyman for a modern audience. The play features a rotating cast of performers, ensuring no two performances are the same.

New Brooklyn Theatre, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2012 to democratize the American theatre, has announced Raja Feather Kelly as its new Artistic Director. Kelly currently serves as the Founding Artistic Director of the dance-theatre-media company the feath3r theory, which has formally merged with New Brooklyn Theatre. He is the recipient of two Princess Grace Foundation Awards and most recently, the Breakout Award from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation and Dance Magazine's inaugural Harkness Promise Award. the feath3r theory shares the ethos of New Brooklyn Theatre in the mission to broaden space for unheard voices and repressed histories in theatre. Since 2009, the feath3r theory has been recognized as a unique cross-disciplinary theatre company that aims to challenge its audience and creators to interrogate and celebrate their shared relationship to human empathy and personal ethics as expressed in popular media.

Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3 has announced that Gabby Beans, Marceline Hugot, and Ismenia Mendes will join Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Karen Kandel, and Lucy Taylor for the world premiere of MARYS SEACOLE, a new play by Jackie Sibblies Drury, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65 Street).  MARYS SEACOLE will begin performances Saturday evening, February 9 and run for six weeks only through Sunday, March 24.  Opening night is Monday, February 25.

The Signature Theatre production of Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine, by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner and Residency 1 playwright Lynn Nottage and directed by Obie Award-winner Lileana Blain-Cruz, opened just last night, December 10.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' EVERYBODY is not your normal holiday fare, but I highly recommend you find time in your busy schedule to see it...at least once.

Yesterday, December 3, Suzan-Lori Parks was honored with 2018 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award.

Artists Repertory Theatre presents Everybody, by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, a Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama. The production is co-directed by Jessica Wallenfels and Damaso Rodriguez, and is an inventive twist on a medieval morality play. Everybody runs from November 25 through December 30 on the Alder Stage.

Natasha Sinha will join Signature Theatre as Director of Artistic Programs, the company announced today. Ms. Sinha has previously worked as LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater's Associate Director and Barrington Stage Company's Associate Producer.

Wagner College Theatre Stage One presents Everybody, a sparkling new riff on the 15th-century morality play The Summoning of Everyman, by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, from November 29 through December 2.