Ensemble Studio Theatre News

Theatricum's new play development program, Botanicum Seedlings, continues to inspire growth by reaching out to a mix of emerging and award-winning playwrights for SeedlingsFest, its second festival of new plays. This Festival of (short) Playreadings features two days of plays written on a theme - 'Certified Organic' - expressly for this event, giving Theatricum company members and audiences the opportunity to sample fresh new works that are 100% natural and pesticide-free - and enjoy seasonal gourmet treats and live music as part of the package. SeedlingsFest takes place Saturday, November 19 and Sunday, November 20, at 1 pm. Admission is Free; donations gratefully accepted.

Penumbra Theatre Company and Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church announce a special musical tribute to Mahalia Jackson, the Queen of Gospel, marking the 100th anniversary of her birth.

CEO Theatre (formerly Cockeyed Optimists Theatre Company) is set to present their newest production, The Complaint. Directed by Bryn Boice (Navy Pier; Orange Flower Water, InProximity Theatre), Randy Noojin's (writer/performer Hard Travelin' with Woody, FringeNYC) unexpected new comedy opens at 45th Street Theatre Thursday, October 27 and runs through Sunday, November 13, 2011.

Living Image Arts presents CHARLES WINN SPEAKS written by C. S. HANSON and directed by LYNN M. THOMSON

Leviathan Lab, an Asian American professional creative studio invested in advancing the careers of Asian American artists, will present its inaugural production, Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT at Arclight Theatre at 152 West 71st Street, Level 1 between Broadway and Columbus Avenues in Manhattan, November 3 - 19 (Thursdays - Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m.; Wednesday, November 16 at 8 p.m.).

Playwright Jason Odell Williams will be in residence at the Playhouse throughout the rehearsal and performance process. Two special 'Playwright Talk-backs' will take place after the 8 p.m. performance on November 10th and after the 3pm matinee performances on Sunday, November 13th and 20th. In the 2010-2011 season, three of Jason's plays were produced in New York. He began writing plays in 2007, and since then his work has been developed at Primary Stages, Manhattan Theatre Club, New Jersey Rep, The Bleecker Street Theatre, The Jewish Cultural Arts Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Rep Stage and The Baltimore Playwrights Festival.

Women's Project, the 34-year-old non-profit theater dedicated to producing plays written and directed by women, will present its 2011-12 season of new American plays featuring 20 women theater artists, Julie Crosby, Producing Artistic Director announced.

terraNOVA Collective announces six new playwrights for the 2012 season of their Groundbreakers Playwrights Group which will include Krista Knight (2011 KCACTF Musical Theater Award for Salamander Leviathan), Jennifer Lane (Harlowe at 3LD), Andrea Lepcio (NEA Outstanding New American Play Award finalist for Looking for the Pony), Matthew Paul Olmos (Princess Grace Award finalist), Crystal Skillman (2010 New York Innovative Theatre Award for The Vigil or The Guided Cradle), and Ken Urban (Summer Play Festival at The Public).

Burning Coal Theatre Company continues its 15th season with Shakespeare's Henry V (on Trapeze) presented in collaboration with the NYC-based Fight or Flight. The production will run December 1 - 18, 2011 at the Murphey School, 224 Polk Street, Raleigh, NC.

Lincoln Center's upcoming White Light Festival (October 20-November 19, 2011), in its second season, will include two outstanding theater productions among the range of works of music, film, dance, art and discussion to be presented.

Court Theatre Artistic Director Charles Newell and Executive Director Stephen J. Albert present the regional premiere of An Iliad, adapted from Fagles' translation of Homer's Iliad by Denis O'Hare and Lisa Peterson, directed by Artistic Director Charles Newell.

Playwright Jason Odell Williams will be in residence at the Playhouse throughout the rehearsal and performance process. Two special 'Playwright Talk-backs' will take place after the 8 p.m. performance on November 10th and after the 3pm matinee performances on Sunday, November 13th and 20th. In the 2010-2011 season, three of Jason's plays were produced in New York. He began writing plays in 2007, and since then his work has been developed at Primary Stages, Manhattan Theatre Club, New Jersey Rep, The Bleecker Street Theatre, The Jewish Cultural Arts Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Rep Stage and The Baltimore Playwrights Festival.

The Ensemble Studio Theatre, William Carden, Artistic Director, will present Robert Askins's Hand to God, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel and featuring Steve Boyer, Geneva Carr, Bobby Moreno, Megan Hill and Scott Sowers, at The Ensemble Studio Theatre, 549 West 52nd Street, beginning previews Thursday, October 27, at 7:00pm for an opening Monday, October 31, at 7:00pm.

Sugar Valley Theatricals , in association with Isaac H. Suggs, Jr. is pleased to announce its production of MUNCHED by Kim Porter, a groundbreaking play dealing with Munchhausen Syndrome by Proxy and a young woman's reluctant search for the gory details of life with her mother.

The premise is simple: take 25 young (under 30-years-old) playwrights in the Ensemble Studio Theatre Youngblood lab program, have them draw titles, actors, directors and songs from a hat, and give them one week to write, rehearse and produce a ten-minute play.

The Theatre @ Boston Court presents 'The Dinosaur Within,' a West Coast Premiere play by John Walch, directed by The Theatre @ Boston Court Co-Artistic Director, Michael Michetti. The play opens tonight on the Main Stage at Boston Court Performing Arts Center, 70 North Mentor Avenue.

Mac Wellman presents 3 2's; or AFAR on Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays, October 6-8, 13-15, 20-22, 27-29 at 7:30 pm at Dixon Place (161A Chrystie Street New York, NY 10002). Tickets cost $15 in advance and $18 at door. For more information, visit online at www.dixonplace.org or call 212 219-0736.