Lynn Nottage News

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! This weekend's big news: SWEAT opens on Broadway this Sunday, and the world premiere of VANITY FAIR starts tonight Off-Broadway!

Artistic Director Robert Falls announces Goodman Theatre's new 2017/2018 Season, which builds on the theater's 40-year commitment to producing works that are representative of American society. In announcing the new season, Falls serves up a dynamic mix of works from culturally and aesthetically diverse playwrights-new plays and revisited classics that address the most significant issues facing the country today.

This spring, Joe's Pub at The Public welcomes a lineup of singer-songwriters that redefine the traditional conventions of the title. A Joe's Pub favorite, Lady Rizo is a cabaret star with songwriter chops, who will debut a new show, Red, White & Indigo, all about her love-hate relationship with America, and tease her forthcoming album Indigo from March 23-25.

This year's Rough Draft Festival at LaGuardia Performing Arts features six new plays that are in the pre-production stage of development. Each of the plays has gone through readings and workshops in the past and the writers Melis Aker, Scott Barrow, Leila Buck, Kevin Doyle, Joey Merlo, Kyoung Park and their plays are ready for the next step.

Women in theater news for March 2017

Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director) and Barry Grove (Executive Producer) have just announced two productions as part ofManhattan Theatre Club's upcoming 2017-2018 season.

Honor! Madness! Blood! Obie Award-winner Jo Bonney directs the world premiere of an edgy, intense and darkly comic new play by John Pollono (Small Engine Repair, Lost Girls) in a Latino Theater Company production presented in association with The Temblors, a unique new collective of seven Los Angeles-based playwrights. Rules of Seconds opens March 23 at The Los Angeles Theater Center, with low-priced previews beginning March 16. 

Rivendell Theatre Ensemble (RTE), Chicago's only Equity theatre dedicated to producing new work with women at the core, announces the world premiere of The Firebirds Take the Field by Lynn Rosen and directed by Jessica Fisch. The Firebirds Take the Fieldruns April 15 - May 20, 2017, at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, 5779 N. Ridge Avenue in Chicago.The Firebirds Take the Field is produced with support from the Alfred P. Sloane Foundation and Ensemble Studio Theater and is the second production of RTE's 2017 Season 'Exploring the Mind/Body Connection.'

Joe's Pub at The Public has announced its nightly performances, running March 22 - April 2, 2017. Scroll down for details!

Next week, TheatreSquared will open the award-winning, poignant, and uplifting new American drama Intimate Apparel, winner of five national awards for Best Play. This turn-of-the-century story about the empowerment of Esther, an African American seamstress who sews brilliantly intricate "intimates" for high society and red-light women alike, was written by Pulitzer Prize and MacArthur "genius" grant recipient Lynn Nottage. Shana Gold (Rapture Blister Burn, Proof) directs a professional cast hailing from Northwest Arkansas, Chicago and New York. Performances are scheduled for March 22-April 16, 2017, with tickets ($15-$45) available at theatre2.org or (479) 443-5600.

The American Playwriting Foundation, which awards the largest annual grant in American theater to an unproduced play, is partnering with two of the most vibrant theaters in London to give eight American playwrights per year an opportunity to create artistic relationships with the British theater community.

Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director) and Barry Grove (Executive Producer) have announced that Manhattan Theatre Club will present the American Repertory Theater production of In the Body of the World, written and performed by Tony Award winner Eve Ensler and directed by Tony Award winner Diane Paulus, as part of MTC's 2017-2018 season.

Following a sold-out, critically acclaimed engagement at New York's Public Theater, Sweat, the new play by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, directed by Kate Whoriskey transfers to Broadway's Studio 54 (254 West 54th Street). Broadway performances of Sweat began March 4 for a March 26, 2017 opening, and BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

The Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) presents Macbeth, directed by Tony Award-nominee Liesl Tommy and featuring Jesse J. Perez as Macbeth and Nikkole Salter as Lady Macbeth. The show will run April 25-May 28 at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW).

The searing new play Sweat is in previews on Broadway at Studio 54 (254 West 54th Street). Following a sold out, critically acclaimed engagement at New York's Public Theater, Sweat, the new play by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, directed by Kate Whoriskey will officially open on Broadway on March 26, 2017.

This Spring, Joe's Pub at The Public is headquarters for flamenco and flamenco-inspired artists. The acclaimed Flamenco Festival's New York edition returns, from March 10-18, with their Beyond Flamenco series, featuring Josemi Carmona & Javier Colina, Alfonso Aroca, Sonia Olla & Ismael Fernandez and Ultra High Flamenco. Then, from April 17-27, Joe's Pub favorites, the dazzling Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca, return for their annual weeklong residency with a new show called Intimo.

The Public Theater will begin previews for the world premiere musical THE OUTER SPACE on Thursday, February 23 in Joe's Pub at The Public. With book and lyrics by Ethan Lipton and directed by Leigh Silverman, the show has been extended one week through Sunday, April 9, with an official press opening today, March 8. THE OUTER SPACE features music composed and performed by Ethan Lipton, Vito Dieterle, Eben Levy, and Ian Riggs.

The Global Theater Initiative (GTI), a partnership between Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and the Laboratory for Performance and Politics (the Lab) at Georgetown University, invites all theatres, individual artists, institutions, and audiences to celebrate the 55th annual World Theatre Day on March 27, 2017.

The 2017 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has been awarded to U.S. playwright Clare Barron for her play Dance Nation.  On March 6, New York's Playwrights Horizons hosted a ceremony honoring the winner and finalists of the prize and celebrating the 39th anniversary of the international prize, which is based in Houston.

The 2017 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has been awarded to U.S. playwright Clare Barron for her play Dance Nation. On March 6, New York's Playwrights Horizons hosted a ceremony honoring the winner and finalists of the prize and celebrating the 39th anniversary of the international prize.