Branden Jacobs-Jenkins News

New casting announced for the new National Theatre season. Full cast has been announced for Brian Friel's Translations including Colin Morgan and Ciaran Hinds, part of the Travelex season with thousands of tickets available at £15. Eric Kofi Abrefa and Thalissa Teixeira join Vanessa Kirby in the cast of Julie, part of the Travelex season with thousands of tickets available at £15. Sam Mendes directs The Lehman Trilogy, a co-production with Neal Street Productions, cast includes Adam Godley, Ben Miles and Simon Russell Beale. Full casting is announced for the award winning An Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, transferring to the National Theatre in a co-production with the Orange Tree Theatre. The NT will tour to 30 venues in 27 towns and cities across the UK and Ireland, for a total of 83 playing weeks over the next year. Rufus Norris' Macbeth to tour to 18 venues across the UK and Ireland from autumn 2018. War Horse returns to the National Theatre marking the centenary of Armistice Day.

The Diana Tapes, by James Clements directed by Wednesday Sue Derrico, is the true story of one of the greatest media scandals in British history - the publication of Andrew Morton's book about Princess Diana, "Diana Her True Story in Her Own Words", which ended her marriage and shook the monarchy to its core.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) announced the nine new playwrights today for the 2018-19 Emerging Writers Group. Now in its seventh cycle, the Emerging Writers Group is an ongoing initiative that targets playwrights at the earliest stages of their career, creating an artistic home, and offering support and resources for a diverse group of up-and-coming playwrights.

Artistic Directors Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern announce that Irina Dvorovenko ('The Americans'), a former American Ballet Theatre principal dancer, Tony Award nominees Tony Yazbeck (ON THE TOWN, FINDING NEVERLAND) and Peter Friedman (RAGTIME, The Vineyard's THE SLUG BEARERS OF KAYROL ISLAND...), and Teagle F. Bourgere (THE CRUCIBLE, A RAISIN IN THE SUN) will be featured in the world premiere of THE BEAST IN THE JUNGLE, an original work fusing dance, drama and music by legendary composer and four-time Tony Award winner John Kander (CABARET, CHICAGO), Tony Award nominee playwright David Thompson (STEEL PIER; FLORA, THE RED MENACE), and five-time Tony Award-winning director and choreographer Susan Stroman (THE PRODUCERS, CONTACT). Performances will begin May 4, 2018 with opening night set for May 23. Kander, Thompson, and Stroman previously collaborated at The Vineyard on THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS.

On the heels of a sold out, twice-extended world premiere produced by Vineyard Theatre in association with Audible, Audible Inc., the world's largest producer and provider of downloadable audiobooks and other spoken-word entertainment, is pleased to announce that Tony Award winner Billy Crudup will return to the title role in Harry Clarke, written by Obie Award winner David Cale (Lillian) and directed by Leigh Silverman (Violet).

NYU Tisch School of the Arts today announced it will honor notable alumnus, screenwriter, Emmy-winning producer and director Eddy Moretti ('98) at its 2018 gala. Moretti will join previously announced honorees Chris Columbus ('80) and Eleanor Columbus ('11) at the annual event, which will be held on Monday, April 16, 2018, at Capitale. 

Seven theatre artists have gathered for the nineteenth annual Sundance Institute Playwrights & Composers Retreat at Ucross Foundation in Wyoming, currently underway from February 5 to February 23, 2018. Designed to support theatrical writing in its earliest stages, the residency is dedicated to uninhibited creativity, peer mentorship and professional growth.

Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA; Jeffrey Horowitz, Founding Artistic Director) has added a performance (February 8 at 9pm) to its critically lauded world premiere production of Adrienne Kennedy's He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box, directed by Evan Yionoulis. The run will conclude, as a scheduled, on February 11.

NYU Tisch School of the Arts today announced it will honor notable alumni Academy Award nominated producer, director and screenwriter Chris Columbus ('80) and filmmaker Eleanor Columbus ('11) at its 2018 gala. The annual event will be held on Monday, April 16, 2018, at Capitale."Chris and Eleanor Columbus represent a unique father-daughter partnership, both influenced by their time at the Tisch School of the Arts, and now influencing one another as they create, promote, and support fresh and exciting work," said Allyson Green, Dean, NYU Tisch School of the Arts. "This is the first time we've honored a father-daughter duo at the Tisch Gala, and we are thrilled. Together, Chris and Eleanor understand the importance of supporting and celebrating the next generation of storytellers, both through Maiden Voyage Pictures and also through their support of scholarships and production awards at Tisch."

What Will the Neighbors Say? will present the New York Premiere of James Clements' THE DIANA TAPES, directed by Wednesday Sue Derrico (HVMLET for She NYC Arts Festival) at HERE(145 6th Avenue), May 24-June 10. Performances will run Tuesday through Saturday at 7pm, with matinee performances on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2pm.

NYU Tisch School of the Arts today announced it will honor notable alumni Academy Award nominated producer, director and screenwriter Chris Columbus ('80) and filmmaker Eleanor Columbus ('11) at its 2018 gala. The annual event will be held on Monday, April 16, 2018, at Capitale.

In response to popular demand, Soho Rep. (Sarah Benson, Artistic Director; Cynthia Flowers, Executive Director) extends the world premiere of Aleshea Harris's Relentless Award-winning Is God Is, directed by Taibi Magar by two weeks, through March 25. In this play, which dauntlessly cracks jokes as it eviscerates, twin sisters Anaia (Alfie Fuller) and Racine (Dame-Jasmine Hughes) undertake a murderous journey from the Dirty South to the California desert, seeking payback for a horrendous act. Is God Is treats both morality and genre as notions to be exploded, drawing on the ancient, the modern, the tragic, the Spaghetti Western, hip-hop and Afropunk in its subversion of theatrical constructs.

Cherry Lane Theatre has announced casting for the first production of the Obie award-winning MENTOR PROJECT now in its 20th season. Kate Cortesi's A PATRON OF THE ARTS, is being presented at Cherry Lane (38 Commerce St.) from March 1- 10, 2018, it has been announced by Seri Lawrence and Janio Marrero, Cherry Lane's Co-Artistic Directors.  Angelina Fiordellisi is Cherry Lane's Founding Artistic Director. Ms. Cortesi is mentored by Guggenheim, a Whiting, an Alpert, PEN/Laura Pels award winner Anne Washburn.

Signature Theatre (Paige Evans, Artistic Director; James Houghton, Founder) will host several special events at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues) this winter, the company announced today.

Vineyard Theatre's Artistic Directors Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern and Managing Director Suzanne Appel announce that the 2018 Gala Fundraiser will celebrate Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer and the award-winning theatre company's 35th Anniversary.

Artists Rep presents the World Premiere of Magellanica, by E.M. Lewis, directed by Damaso Rodriguez from January 20 through February 18 on the theatre's Morrison Stage. Magellanica is a five-part epic play written by Oregon playwright E.M. Lewis. This production is made possible through major funding from the Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) Creative Heights Initiative and the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award. Magellanica is a part of Portland's Fertile Ground Festival of New Works.

The Offies 2018 finalists were announced live on Twitter & Facebook at 1pm today by OffWestEnd Panel Judge & Critic for The Stage Mark Shenton.

Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA; Jeffrey Horowitz, Founding Artistic Director) announces a free post-performance discussion moderated by Pulitzer Prize-winning theatre critic and Negroland: A Memoir author Margo Jefferson in connection with TFANA's world premiere production of Adrienne Kennedy's He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box. The talk, which begins at 8.30 PM is open to all and features director Charlotte Braithwaite and playwrights Lydia Diamond and Jackie Sibblies Drury, follows the January 20 performance of Kennedy's first new play in a decade, which begins at 7:30 that evening, at Polonsky Shakespeare Center (262 Ashland Place, Brooklyn, NY 11217). The discussion will also be streamed live on Theatre for a New Audience's Facebook page. He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box runs January 18-February 11. To reserve a seat to this panel, visit www.tfana.org/heartpanel.

Soho Rep. (Sarah Benson, Artistic Director; Cynthia Flowers, Executive Director) today announces the complete cast and creative team for the world premiere of Aleshea Harris's Relentless Award-winning Is God Is, directed by Taibi Magar (Ars Nova's Underground Railroad Game), February 6 - March 11, 2018. The play, with which Soho Rep. reopens its longtime Tribeca theater, dauntlessly cracks jokes as it eviscerates. Alfie Fuller and Dame-Jasmine Hughes play Anaia and Racine, twin sisters who undertake a murderous journey from the Dirty South to the California desert, seeking payback for a horrendous act. Is God Is treats both morality and genre as notions to be exploded, drawing on the ancient, the modern, the tragic, the Spaghetti Western, hip-hop and Afropunk in its subversion of theatrical constructs.

When Actors Touring Company's English language version of Winter Solstice received its world premiere at Orange Tree Theatre in early 2017, it received rave reviews and played to sell out audiences. From February to March 2018, the company takes Roland Schimmelpfennig's startling drama to the road for a national tour of the UK.