Douglas J. Cohen News

The Fred Ebb Foundation (Mitchell Bernard, Trustee) has announced that its 2015 donation to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS will total $1.65 million dollars, bringing the foundation's total contribution to BC/EFA to $11.65 million since it began eleven years ago. The foundation, which is funded by royalties from the late award-winning lyricist Fred Ebb's vast catalogue of work, makes an annual donation to BC/EFA.

Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma announces the cast and creative team of its first production of the 2016 season, MANN… AND WIFE. This world premiere musical, running February 3 through 21 at Lyric's Plaza Theatre, is the third musical to have its first full production at Lyric in the past three years. Written by Douglas J. Cohen and Dan Elish, and based on Elish's novel Nine Wives, the musical is produced in partnership with Larry Hirschhorn and Jayson Raitt.

WINTER RHYTHMS, the annual festival and fundraising event produced by Urban Stages Theater in New York City, will present a concert version of A CHARLES DICKENS CHRISTMAS, a family musical about Charles Dickens's personal struggles with writing A Christmas Carol. Through an unexpected 'muse,' Dickens comes to understand his own troubled youth, ultimately learning the true meaning of Christmas and finding the inspiration for this immortal holiday classic. The concert will take place on December 10 and 12, 2015.

Midtown Direct Rep (MDR) continues its 2015-16 Theater in the Loft series at the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) with a staged reading of WHAT GOD HATH WROUGHT ~ A TRANSATLANTIC FARCE, written by John Walch, with songs by Rachel Peters.

Urban Stages (Frances Hill, Founding Artistic Director, Peter Napolitano, Producer/Director of Musical Programming) today announced the line-up for this year's Award-Winning Musical event WINTER RHYTHMS 2015, which will begin Wednesday, December 2 and will feature some of New York's best musical performances through December 13, 2015 at Urban Stages Theatre. WINTER RHYTHMS 2015 marks the seventh year that Urban Stages has brought noted musical artists to its stage during the holiday period. The mission of Winter Rhythms is to bring the talents of known and unknown singers, musicians, lyricists and composers to the attention of the New York theater community while performing at Urban Stages Theater. Winner of the 2015 Ruth Kurtzman Benefit Series MAC Award, WINTER RHYTHMS benefits Urban Stages' acclaimed Outreach Program, which brings more than 200 free "arts in education" presentations to libraries and schools throughout the five boroughs. This year's event features 20 shows and more than 100 artists.

Urban Stages announces the line-up for this year's Award Winning Musical event WINTER RHYTHMS 2015, which will begin Wednesday, December 2and will feature some of New York's best musical performances through December 13, 2015 at Urban Stages Theatre (259 West 30thStreet, just East of 8th Avenue). Tickets are $25 per show and may be purchased by visiting urbanstages.org or by calling (866) 811-4111. For complete schedule information, visit urbanstages.org.

BroadwayWorld has just learned that film, television, and theatre actor Geoffrey Arend (MADAM SECRETARY on CBS) will be joining previously announced Stephanie J. Block and Sebastian Arcelus in Midtown Direct Rep's staged reading of THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF NOW, a new play written by Y York and directed by Will Pomerantz.  Broadway actress Marni Raab (The Phantom of the Opera) will read the stage directions. 

National Alliance for Musical Theatre (Betsy King Militello, Executive Director) is thrilled to announce the cast 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). In person registration for industry members will be available on Thursday at 9:30 AM at New World Stages (340 West 50 Street). (Please note the admission process for each event in the individual descriptions.)

Midtown Direct Rep (MDR), kicks off its 2015-16 season at the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) with Theatre in the Loft, a series of staged readings of new plays and musicals. The Impossibility of Now, written by Y York and directed by Will Pomerantz, will be performed for one night only on Sunday, October 18, 2016 at 7pm at SOPAC (One Sopac Way, South Orange, NJ, 07079).

Berkeley Playhouse at the Julia Morgan Theater proudly announces their eighth season. The ambitious season will see an increase of productions from four to six, their first 'R-rated' show, a world premiere commission, the first non-musical in the company's history, and a Bay Area premiere.

Playwright Frank D. Gilroy, whose 1964 Broadway debut, THE SUBJECT WAS ROSES was the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, a Tony and a Drama Critics' Circle Award, passed away on Saturday

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.)

This August, The Human Race Theatre Company begins a new chapter in its commitment to the development of new theatre with its first-ever Festival of New Works. This new festival combines the efforts of The Race's Musical Theatre Workshops and its Marsha Hanna New Plays Workshops into a unified program. 'It allows us to showcase what we do-musicals and plays-at one time of year,' says Human Race President and Artistic Director Kevin Moore. 'It's a better use of our resources and personnel. Plus, it creates a greater, more diverse experience for our audiences.' The 2015 Festival of New Works presents a collection of readings of five scripts-three plays and two musicals-by local, national and international writers. Readings will be held in the 60-seat Caryl D. Philips Creativity Center of The Human Race and The 212-seat Loft Theatre in downtown Dayton.

Berkeley Playhouse at the Julia Morgan Theater proudly announces their eighth season. The ambitious season will see an increase of productions from four to six, their first "R-rated" show, a world premiere commission, the first non-musical in the company's history, and a Bay Area premiere.

Midtown Direct Rep (MDR), the ensemble-based theater company based in South Orange/Maplewood, NJ, announces A CONVERSATION WITH BILLY PORTER, on Monday, June 15, 2015 at 7:30 PM at the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) in a one-night-only benefit appearance hosted by NY1's Budd Mishkin.

MANN... AND WIFE, a new musical by Douglas J. Cohen and Dan Elish based on Elish's novel Nine Wives, will receive its world premiere at Lyric's Plaza Theatre in February of 2016. This musical will continue the new works initiative started in 2014 with TRIANGLE by Tom Mizer, Curtis Moore, and Joshua Scher and continuing in October 2015 with BERNICE BOBS HER HAIR by Adam Gwon and Julia Jordan.

A serial killer being hunted by the police sounds like ripe fodder for a musical comedy, right? No? Well then you need to expand your perception and get out to Village Theatre to catch their current production of "No Way to Treat a Lady" which not only manages to amuse while it horrifies but also boasts a killer ensemble each of whom slays their roles.

Fox Valley Repertory opens their 2015 theater series with Douglas J. Cohen's musical game of cat and mouse, No Way To Treat a Lady. Based on the novel and movie by William Goldman (The Princess Bride, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), the award-winning musical is directed by John Gawlik with music direction by Jeffrey Poindexter and choreography by Christie Kerr. Performances will take place at the Pheasant Run Resort Mainstage January 15 - March 8, 2015.

?Fox Valley Rep, in residence at Pheasant Run Resort, announces their calendar-year 2015 season of nostalgic toe-tapping Off-Broadway musicals and modern award-winning comedies, including the Off-Broadway musical thriller, No Way To Treat a Lady, the award-winning farce, Unnecessary Farce, followed by the fun 1960's music revue, The Bikinis, then to the romantic comedy, Maybe Baby It's You, to a holiday music revue, A Christmas Survival Guide.

Mainstreet Musicals' 2015 guest artistic director, Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer, recently announced the winners of the 2015 Mainstreet Awards: A GOOD MAN (Ray Leslee and Philip S. Goodman),THE GIG (Douglas J. Cohen), and HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (Roger Ames and Elizabeth Bassine).