Ellen Stewart News

La MaMa in association with Skysaver Productions presents GRAND PANORAMA – a music-theater work by Theodora Skipitares about Frederick Douglass's obsession with photography and its power to 'tell the truth' about the humanity of African-Americans during slavery – will be given its world-premiere at La MaMa, with previews beginning February 17 prior to a press opening on February 20, it has been announced by Mia Yoo, La MaMa's artistic director.

A new play by a female or female identifying writer will be showcased every fortnight. Plays include themes such as female friends finding queer love together later in life, motherhood and knife crime in the black British community, a poetic piece about swimming the channel, and the story of a flight of an unaccompanied refugee boy from a war zone.

All For One Theater has selected 5 playwrights who will create and develop five brand new solo plays as part of All For One's 2022 Solo Collective development series: Nia Calloway (HOMEBODY: A Ritual Party), Rachel Lin (Dear John), Matthew Paul Olmos (the un'admiring), Reynaldo Piniella (Black and Blue), and Jason Odell Williams (Destroying David).

New, provocative works by John Sims and James E. Reynolds will debut at La MaMa’s Ellen Stewart Theatre (66 E. 4 St.) in December.

The New York Innovative Theatre Awards have announced its 2021 Honorary Awards Ceremony, hosted by Shalewa Sharpe and Courtney Fearrington. This year’s celebration will take place at The Kraine Theater (85 E 4th St, New York, NY 10003) on November 14th, 2021 starting at 7pm, as well as live-streamed.

As part of its new Words Matter initiative, The Workshop Theater will be presenting four newly-commissioned one-act plays by Samantha Chanse, Caridad Svich, Ellen McLaughlin, and Rehana Lew Mirza on behalf of JALBCA.

Opera Hispánica has announced its star-studded 2021/2022 season featuring new opera productions, an America premiere, several recitals, traditional and new repertoire, internationally renowned opera stars, fresh young artists, important collaborations and exciting venues.

Stage Director George Ferencz (1947-2021), passed away on September 14 following a long illness according to his wife of 35 years, Sally Lesser. For over a half century, Ferencz was a beloved fixture of New York’s Off- and Off-Off-Broadway theatre scenes.

The Odyssey Theatre Ensemble re-opens its re-envisioning of the Odyssey's 1969 West Coast premiere of The Serpent, the Obie award-winning play by Jean-Claude van Itallie. The production initially opened in March, 2020 as part of the Odyssey's 50th Anniversary “Circa '69” Season, but was shuttered five days later by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The New York Innovative Theatre Awards has announced the recipients of the 2020-21 Honorary Awards. The Honorary Awards and recipients are Caffe Cino: The Parsnip Ship; Ellen Stewart: The Indie Theatre Fund/IndieSpace; Artistic Achievement: Penny Arcade/Steve Zehentner; Outstanding Stage Manager: Rachel April and more.

An exclusive live theatre event to celebrate the publication of 50 Women In Theatre at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Shakespeare's Globe will be presented on Sunday 3 October 2021 at 6pm.

La MaMa – one of the first major theatres in the U.S. to present contemporary puppet artists and their work on its mainstages – will begin its 60th season with the celebrated, biannual LA MAMA PUPPET SERIES from September 29 to October 24 at the Ellen Stewart Theatre and Downstairs Theatre.

The Tony Award-winning theatre has announced a fresh season of work – on its various stages in the East Village - that explores new rituals of our time from a multiplicity of perspectives and speaks to the epic changes of the 21st century.

For their 38th season at Undermain they are creating an exciting array of diverse performance opportunities to inspire and enrich our community and support artists in North Texas. They hope to be able to offer live performances in addition to the virtual streaming videos for each production. 

The Obie Award-winning HERE has announced programming for its upcoming 2021/22 Season.

The Tony Award-winning La MaMa ETC will mark Pride and celebrate its 50+ year history of drag artistry when a bevy of trailblazing queer and drag stars are honored at LA MAMA LOVE CABARET on Tuesday, June 22 at 6:30 p.m. 

For the final online experiment in La MaMa's 59th season, seven writers (Erik Ehn, Huntrezz Janos, Adrienne Kennedy, Haruna Lee, Chuck Mee, Robert Patrick, and Christopher Rivas), two performers, and an online audience come together for A FEW DEEP BREATHS, premiering Friday, June 25 at 8pm ET.

Pan Asian Repertory Theatre will present a special virtual event: NuWorks 2021, the annual experimental series of self-created work from innovative artists exploring an eclectic range of genres and techniques using poetry, text, dance and music.

The Marsh partners with Remote Studios will present a reading of Caridad Svich's new drama, The Book of Magdalene, as part of a newly launched month web show of readings on its digital platform, MarshStream.

The New York Innovative Theatre Awards, which for the past 17 years has celebrated New York City's independent theatre artists by honoring those who have achieved artistic excellence in the Off-Off Broadway/Indie theatre realm, is now accepting applications for its 2020-21 Honorary Awards.