Leigh Silverman News

Second Stage Theatre will present the world premiere of Sofia Alvarez's FRIEND ART, directed by Portia Krieger, and the New York premiere of Lucy Teitler's ENGAGEMENTS as part of the company's fourteenth annual SECOND STAGE THEATRE UPTOWN SERIES this summer.

The 7th Annual Lilly Awards Ceremony, which celebrates women of distinction in the American Theater, have added honorees to the special awards ceremony, including Tony Award-winner and 2016 Tony Award nominee Jessie Mueller, Kathy Najimy, Genne Murphy, Candis Jones, Rehana Lew Mirza, and the women of Waking the Feminists. They join previously announced honorees include Danai Gurira, Martha Plimpton, Kate Whoriskey, and Mia Katigbak. The Lilly Awards will be presented Monday, May 23, at the Signature Theatre (480 West 42nd St).

MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director)—which recently celebrated the groundbreaking of its first-ever home, a two-theater complex on West 52nd Street and 10th Avenue— has just announced its30th Anniversary Season, which will bring together frequent MCC collaborators alongside artists new to the family for a three-play-and-a-musical season, running September 2016 through June 2017. Anchored by four mainstage premieres, the Theater will also continue its new works in development PlayLabs series and robust education initiatives throughout the season. This year's PlayLabs programming will be announced at a later date. All productions will be performed at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street).  For more info, visit www.mcctheater.org.  

Broadway stars will join New York's LGBTQ community and allies at The Marriott Marquis to celebrate "TrevorLIVE New York," an inspiring and irreverent evening of comedy and music benefitting The Trevor Project, with first-time Special Guest Director, Tony Award-nominee Leigh Silverman (Violet, Well) and Special Guest Writer Tim Federle (Tuck Everlasting, Better Nate Than Ever). The

Five-time Obie Award-winning theater company Clubbed Thumb has announced initial casting for SUMMERWORKS, its annual series of new plays.

The New York Musical Festival (NYMF), previously known as The New York Musical Theater Festival, announced today additional productions and special events for NYMF 2016. THE GOLD, SINGLE, CAMP ROLLING HILLS, LUDO'S BROKEN BRIDE, ARTEMIS IN THE PARKING LOT, CRUDE, and MOLLY MURPHY & NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON ON OUR LAST DAY ON EARTHjoin the previously announced new musicals that will be presented at the 2016 New York Musical Festival from July 11 through August 7 in various venues in Midtown Manhattan. In addition, NYMF is proud to announce additional concerts and special events for the 2016 Festival.

Five-time Obie Award-winning theater company Clubbed Thumb has announced initial casting for SUMMERWORKS, its annual series of new plays.

The 7th Annual Lilly Awards Ceremony, which celebrates women of distinction in the American Theater, will this year honor playwright Danai Gurira, actor Martha Plimpton, director Kate Whoriskey, actor Mia Katigbak, and more to be announced. The Lilly Awards will be presented Monday, May 23, at the Signature Theatre (480 West 42nd St).

The Drama League has announced the 11 stage directors who have been selected as the 2016 Directing Fellows of The Drama League Directors Project: Noa Egozi, Drew Feldman, Sara Holdren, Candis Jones, Yavor Kostov, Katie Lupica, James Palmer, Jesca Prudencio, Ilana Ransom Toeplitz, Chloe Treat, Shaun Patrick Tubbs. More information can be found at www.dramaleague.org

Sundance Institute today announced the acting company, dramaturgs and creative advisors participating in its pilot Theatre Lab in the MENA region, including Sandra Oh, Hoon Lee, Deanna Dunagan, Hala Omran and Raeda Taha. The Lab, held in Morocco next month, is part of the Institute's international cultural exchange programs for independent artists and will kick off a new, multi-year commitment to support artists from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). For the Lab, the Institute will provide promising, fresh voices from the U.S. and MENA region with a rigorous artistic retreat and new opportunities for cross-cultural discovery, artistic reflection and creative experimentation.

Cardboard Piano at Humana Festival: Small Extraordinary Acts of Kindness

Two River Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst, announces the lineup of productions for its 2016/17 Season, which will launch in September with August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, directed by Tony Award-winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Full-season 6-play subscriptions are on sale now from 732.345.1400 or 21 Bridge Avenue, Red Bank. Subscribers save 25% on tickets, receive prime seating and a number of additional benefits. Visit tworivertheater.org for more details. Single tickets will go on sale in August 2016.

Rep Stage, the regional theatre in residence at Howard Community College (HCC), closes its 23rd season with Brooke Berman's "Hunting and Gathering," directed by Kasi Campbell. Named as one of the Ten Best Plays by New York Magazine and lauded by Variety for its "bracing wit and intelligence," the play features four New Yorkers as they seek shelter, physically and spiritually, in a variety of temporary homes and with one another. In this smart and sexy comedy, relationship questions are recast as real estate issues-Who will move in with whom? What will be the price of this commitment?-and Berman take a fresh approach to examining the trials and tribulations of being on your own in a bewildering existential landscape.

Sundance Institute today announced the eight new projects selected for its pilot Theatre Lab in the MENA region, held in Morocco, May 2016. The Lab is part of the Institute's international cultural exchange programs for independent artists, which include a new, multi-year commitment to support artists from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), broadening the work of its East African Theatre Exchange over the past 15 years. For the Lab, the Institute will provide promising, fresh voices from the U.S. and MENA region with a rigorous artistic retreat and new opportunities for cross-cultural discovery, artistic reflection and creative experimentation.

 The New York Musical Festival (NYMF), previously known as The New York Musical Theatre Festival, announced today the initial lineup for NYMF 2016. Among the shows announced in the lineup are the Next Link Project musical selections, as well as invited production selections, developmental reading selections, and concerts. Now in its thirteenth year, the 2016 Festival will take place in July at locations around midtown Manhattan in New York City. 

?Five-time Obie Award-winning theater company Clubbed Thumb has announced the line-up for SUMMERWORKS, its annual series of new plays. Now in its 21st season, SUMMERWORKS will run May 27 through July 9 at The Wild Project (195 E 3rd Street) in Manhattan, and will feature productions of three new plays: EVERY ANGEL IS BRUTAL by Julia Jarcho and directed by Knud Adams; THE TOMB OF KING TOT by Eric Dufault and directed by Portia Krieger; and TUMACHO by Ethan Lipton and directed by Leigh Silverman. Festival passes are now on sale at: https://www.artful.ly/clubbedthumb/store/passes.

Second Stage Theatre will present the world premiere of Sofia Alvarez's FRIEND ART, directed by Portia Krieger, and the New York premiere of Lucy Teitler's ENGAGEMENTS as part of the company's fourteenth annual SECOND STAGE THEATRE UPTOWN SERIES this summer.

Stacey Mindich '86, Tony Award-winning producer and a 1986 alumna of the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, will speak at the Newhouse Convocation Ceremony on Saturday, May 14, at noon in the Carrier Dome.

The critically acclaimed play THE WOODSMAN, a uniquely inventive retelling of the origins of Oz's Tin Woodsman, officially opened last night, February 8, 2016, at Off-Broadway's New World Stages - Stage 5 (340 West 50th Street). BroadwayWorld was there for the special night and you can check out photos from the red carpet below!