Lynn Nottage News

The final two plays have been announced for Manhattan Theatre Club's upcoming 2018-2019 season off-Broadway at New York City Center (131 W. 55th Street).

New Dramatists, Tony® Honor recipient and the nation's premier playwright development laboratory, just honored Tony®and Academy Award-winner Denzel Washington at its 69th Annual Spring Luncheon tribute. Washington, currently starring on Broadway in The Iceman Cometh, directed by George C. Wolfe, received New Dramatists' 2018 Distinguished Achievement Award. Tributes to Mr. Washington and performances were presented by three-time Grammy Award-winner Branford Marsalis with bassist Noah Jackson, Tony®Award-winners George C. Wolfe and Stephen McKinley Henderson, Constanza Romero (August Wilson Estate), and Pulitzer Prize finalist and New Dramatists resident playwright Kristoffer Diaz (The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity).

Paradise Blue opened on Monday, May 14 and runs till June 10, 2018 in The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street between 9th and 10thAvenues). Check out the photos below!

Manhattan Theatre Club's world premiere of Dan Cody's Yacht, written by Anthony Giardina and directed by Tony Award winner Doug Hughes, begins performances tomorrow - Tuesday, May 15 - at MTC at New York City Center - Stage I (131 West 55th Street). The new play will celebrate opening night on Wednesday, June 6.

Goodman Theatre revives Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years, Emily Mann's 'warming theatrical event' (Variety)that celebrates the lives of 'two strong, vibrant women dispensing joy and wisdom' (Chicago Tribune). Goodman Theatre Resident Director Chuck Smith's production features Ella Joyce and Marie Thomas as the Delany centenarians, Bessie (1891 - 1995) and Sadie (1889 -1999), respectively, as they trace their lives in a heartfelt reflection of their family history and triumphs over prejudices in times of social unrest.

The Acting Company (Ian Belknap, Artistic Director; Elisa Spencer-Kaplan, Executive Director) presents William Shakespeare's beloved comedy, Twelfth Night, directed by Tony nominee Maria Aitken (The 39 Steps) with a dynamic cast of The Acting Company alumni and ensemble members of Delaware's Resident Ensemble Players (REP). When her ship is wrecked, Viola washes ashore in the unfamiliar land of Illyria and embarks on a journey to find her lost brother. Brimming with music, love and longing, Shakespeare's enchanting play transports audiences to a world of comedic mayhem, mistaken identity and unrequited passion. This co-production with the Resident Ensemble Players comes to Polonsky Shakespeare Center (262 Ashland Pl, Brooklyn), May 10-27.

Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director) and Barry Grove (Executive Producer) are pleased to announce full casting for Manhattan Theatre Club's world premiere of Sugar in Our Wounds, a new play by Donja R. Love, directed by Saheem Ali (Twelfth Night for the Public Theater's Mobile Unit).

True Colors Theatre Company (Kenny Leon, Co-Founding Artistic Director) and Jujamcyn Theaters (Jordan Roth, President) are proud to announce the winners of the 10th Annual August Wilson Monologue Competition that was held last night, on Monday, May 7th at 7:00 p.m. at the August Wilson Theatre (245 West 52nd Street). In first place, Gerardo Navarro from Los Angeles, in second place, Nia Sarfo from Chicago, and third place went to Teslyne Junior from New York City.

Manhattan Theatre Club will present its annual Spring Gala on Monday, May 14 at Cipriani 42nd Street (110 East 42nd Street), hosted by four-time Tony Award nominee Condola Rashad, who is currently starring in Saint Joan.

Pioneer Theatre Company announces its 2018-2019 staged concert production, La Cage aux Folles, winner of the Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Original Score. Running for one weekend only, March 15 & 16, 2019.

Rivendell Theatre Ensemble (RTE), Chicago's only Equity theatre dedicated to producing new work with women at the core will add four performances to the run The Cake by Bekah Brunstetter, directed by Lauren Shouse, and featuring RTE Founders Tara Mallen and Keith Kupferer, RTE Member Krystel McNeil, with Tuckie White.  Eight performances have been added to the run, which must close June 2, 2018 at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, 5779 N. Ridge Avenue in Chicago. 

Soho Rep. (Sarah Benson, Artistic Director; Cynthia Flowers, Executive Director), in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, presents the world premiere of Jackie Sibblies Drury's Fairview, directed by Soho Rep. Artistic Director Sarah Benson, May 29 - July 1. Following her "inventive," "pulse-pounding" We Are Proud to Present…(The New York Times, Time Out New York, and New York Magazine Critics' Picks), Sibblies Drury returns to Soho Rep. with Fairview, a play that shows us that nothing's funnier than "family drama."

Sundance Institute's Theatre Lab kicks off on May 6th, and today announced this year's participating acting company and creative advisors. The Lab, which runs through May 27 at the Fellah Hotel outside Marrakech, Morocco, is supervised by Artistic Director Philip Himberg and Producing Director Christopher Hibma, and is the centerpiece of the Institute's year-round work with the theatre community, alternating locations between Sundance Resort in Utah and a venue in the Middle East/North African region, as part of a multi-year commitment to international work and a means of facilitating cultural exchange between artists writing in English and Arabic.

Furthering its established, 27-year reputation for best-in-class subscriber loyalty and exceptional artistic achievement, Everyman Theatre proudly announces its 2018/19 Season-a gloriously compelling showcase for the esteemed Resident Company which celebrates exciting new voices in playwriting alongside long-celebrated masters of the form.

The 2018 Tony nominations were announced this morning. If you haven't checked them out yet, what are you waiting for?! CLICK HERE to check out a full list of this year's nominees, and HERE for reactions from the lucky few!

The Juilliard School today announced that alumnus Wynton Marsalis, trumpeter, director of Juilliard Jazz Studies, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, will address the graduates at the school's 113th commencement ceremony, which takes place Friday, May 18, 2018, at 11am in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center. Mr. Marsalis received an honorary doctor of music degree from Juilliard in 2006. This will be the final commencement for Juilliard President Joseph W. Polisi, who has had a long association with Mr. Marsalis and asked that he be the commencement speaker. In July, Damian Woetzel will begin as the school's seventh president.

MTC's powerful new production of Saint Joan, opened on Broadway last night, April 25, at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Check out photos below of all of the stars arriving at opening night!

On April 28, the Long Beach Playhouse Studio Theatre opens the 2018 season. Opened in 1963, the upstairs theatre has become the place audiences can come to see contemporary and more avant garde productions. The Studio's proscenium stage in the 98-seat theatre feels intimate and inviting. And although it's a smaller space no less attention is given to the quality of its productions.

The Acting Company presents a one-night-only benefit reading of The Night of the Iguana, Tennessee Williams' feverishly poetic 1961 drama, at The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College (68th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues), on Monday, June 11. Directed by Michael Wilson, the acclaimed Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award-winner, the performance reunites much of the cast and creative team from last season's critically acclaimed production at the American Repertory Theatre. 

Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director) and Barry Grove (Executive Producer) are pleased to announce the New York premiere of The Cake, written by Bekah Brunstetter ("This Is Us," "American Gods," The Oregon Trail) and directed by MTC's award-winning artistic director Lynne Meadow (The Assembled Parties, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, The Commons of Pensacola).