Lisa Portes News

THE WAY SHE SPOKE is a haunting, visceral piece that digs for the roots of an epidemic of violence that has resulted in the murders of thousands of women and gives voice to a community rendered silent by fear. Michelle Lopez-Rios returned to Milwaukee for this powerful one-woman performance that blurs reality as she shares harrowing details of the fates of las desaparecidas, the vanished women of Ciudad Juárez.

Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), the theatrical union that unites, empowers, and protects professional stage directors and choreographers throughout the United States, announced the results of its 2020 Executive Board election at its Annual Membership Meeting on Monday night

The Drama League has announced the formation of its first Directors Council, featuring nationally-renowned directors Daniel Banks, Melia Bensussen, Christopher Burris, Jillian Carucci, Jennifer Chang, Desdemona Chiang, R.J. Cutler, Estefanía Fadul, Raz Golden, Brian Eugenio Herrera, Adam Immerwahr, Gwynn MacDonald, Tony Phelan and more.

In an unprecedented collaboration with Showtime and The Actors Fund, Goodman Theatre is proud to present the stream of the Tony Award-winning Broadway production of Arthur Miller's Death of A Salesman, starring two-time Tony Award winner Brian Dennehy and directed by Goodman Theatre Artistic Director and Tony Award winner Robert Falls.

Stage Directors and Choreographers Society has announced that the Union is endorsing Joe Biden in his 2020 bid for the presidency. This is the first time in the Union's 60-year history that it has endorsed a presidential candidate.

Theatre Communications Group has announced actress, playwright, educator, and arts advocate Nikkole Salter as the new chair of the board.

Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation, the not-for-profit foundation of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, announced today that nominations for the Zelda Fichandler Award are now being accepted through July 10, 2020.

Stage Directors and Choreographers Society today released an open letter on racial justice to their colleagues in the field.

Olney Theatre Center kicks off the decade with a production of Quiara Alegría Hudes' newest musical, Miss You Like Hell on the Mainstage (January 29 - March 1, 2020). Hudes, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Lin-Manuel Miranda's collaborator on the book and film of In The Heights, wrote the book and shares credit for the lyrics with folk-rock star Erin McKeown who also wrote the music. Lisa Portes and Breon Arzell make their Olney Theatre debuts as director and choreographer, respectively. Press is invited to attend the performance on Saturday, February 1 at 8:00 pm.

The Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF), the not-for-profit foundation affiliated with Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, presented the third annual SDCF Awards including the Gordon Davidson Award, Zelda Fichandler Award, Joe A. Callaway Awards, and Breakout Award. The event took place on Tuesday, November 12, 2019 at the Laurie Beechman Theatre.

The Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF), the not-for-profit foundation affiliated with Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, presents the third annual SDCF Awards including the Gordon Davidson Award, Zelda Fichandler Award, Joe A. Callaway Awards, and Breakout Award.

Thanks to an endowment gift from the Eugene B. Casey Foundation, Olney Theatre Center announces the launch of its Vanguard Arts Fund to support collaboratively-developed new works. Starting in the 2019-20 season, the Fund will support an annual series of developmental workshops that push the boundaries of the theater form and bring together exceptional artists from around the region and around the world.

Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF), the not-for-profit foundation affiliated with Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), has announced the winner and three finalists for the annual Zelda Fichandler Award. The award will be presented at an invitation-only event on Tuesday, November 12, 2019 in New York City. The Fichandler Award recognizes directors and choreographers who have demonstrated great accomplishment to-date with singular creativity and deep investment in a particular community or region, and is named for Zelda Fichandler, the founding artistic director of Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. This year's Fichandler Award focused on directors and choreographers from the central region of the United States.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, welcomes six new members to its board of directors: May Adrales, associate artistic director, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Milwaukee, WI; John Fontillas, planner, architect, partner, H3, New York, NY; Angela Gieras, executive director, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Kansas City, MO; Mara Isaacs, founder and executivecreative producer, Octopus Theatricals, New York, NY; Anthony Rodriguez, producing artistic director and co-founder, Aurora Theatre, Lawrenceville, GA; and Hana S. Sharif, artistic director, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, St. Louis, MO. 

Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF), the not-for-profit foundation of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), announced today that nominations for the Zelda Fichandler Award, for a director or choreographer who is transforming theatre in the Central Region, are now being accepted through July 2, 2019.

Olney Theatre Center and Baltimore Center Stage announced an innovative partnership whereby the two official state theatres of Maryland will collaborate on their separate and independent area-premieres of Miss You Like Hell by Quiara Alegria Hudes and Erin McKeown. 

Spring and comedy are in the air beginning March 23 when THE THANKSGIVING PLAY, with support from the Rosenthal Family Foundation, opens in the Shelterhouse Theatre. The satirical take on political correctness run amok plays through April 21. Opening night is March 28.

Today, Olney Theatre Center Artistic Director Jason Loewith unveiled a lineup of 16 plays, concerts, and presentations coming in 2019-2020 as part of the company's 82nd season, including the highly-anticipated DC-area premiere of Miss You Like Hell by Quiara Alegria Hudes and Erin McKeown. Included are both classic and contemporary musicals, family fare for the holidays, Tony-winning dramas and work by some of the most innovative American playwrights.

Victory Gardens Theater announces the extension of the critically-acclaimed hit Rightlynd, written by Ike Holter and directed by Lisa Portes with original music by Charlie Coffeen. With six additional performances, the production now runs through December 30, 2018, at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

Ike Holter's RIGHTLYND sets into motion the central theme of the tension between political idealism and the realities that come with power in a complicated, often staid political machine.