Molly Smith News

The Kennedy Center, in association with the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, the National New Play Network (NNPN)-the country's alliance of non-profit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays-and with Stanford University's National Center for New Plays, will host more than 50 playwrights, directors, and dramaturgs from July 25 to August 2, 2015 as part of the 10th annual weeklong MFA Playwrights' Workshop featuring new works by MFA students from Columbia University, Northwestern University, Fordham University, Yale School of Drama, the Juilliard School, New York University-Tisch School of the Arts, University of California-San Diego, and the Juilliard School.

BroadwayWorld can confirm that President Jimmy Carter will soon bow on The Great White Way.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater welcomed Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad with Event Chair and Arena Stage Board member Shawna Watley (Senior Policy Advisor with Holland & Knight) as the Honorary Chair for THE BLOOD QUILT World Premiere Celebration last night, May 7, 2015. The new play by Katori Hall (The Mountaintop, Our Lady of Kibeho) is directed by Kamilah Forbes and runs now through June 7, 2015 in the Kreeger Theater. Scroll down for photos from the opening celebration!

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is seeking proposals from playwrights, ensembles and theater companies interested in participating in the 2015/16 Kogod Cradle Series as part of the American Voices New Play Institute. Now in its fourth season, the Kogod Cradle Series supports the exploration and development of new and emerging work in the theater's intimate 200-seat Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle. The application is available at http://arenastage.org/artistic-development/work-with-us/, and proposals are due June 15, 2015 for consideration for the 2015/16 season.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad will join Event Chair and Arena Stage Board member Shawna Watley (Senior Policy Advisor with Holland & Knight) as the Honorary Chair for The Blood Quilt World Premiere Celebration tonight, May 7, 2015. The new play by Katori Hall (The Mountaintop, Our Lady of Kibeho) is directed by Kamilah Forbes and runs now through June 7, 2015 in the Kreeger Theater.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director Molly Smith and Executive Producer Edgar Dobie, announces the full cast and creative team for Dear Evan Hansen.

Cleveland Play House's 99th season will draw to a close with an equal dose of hilarity and heart with the world premiere production of Fairfield.

Arena Stage audiences cannot get enough of Justice Antonin Scalia and John Strand's new play THE ORIGINALIST which has premiered in the Kogod Cradle. Performances continue through May 3 and a second extension is scheduled to run May 19 through May 31. Directed by Molly Smith, the play stars one of Washington DC's most recognizable actors, Edward Gero as Scalia. He is joined by Kerry Warren and Harlan Work as two clerks who work for the controversial justice. Broadway World spoke with Kerry Warren about the extension and the impact THE ORIGINALIST is having on audiences.

Abrons Arts Center and 7 Daughters of Eve Thtr. & Perf. Co. are pleased to present the world premiere of Sibyl Kempson's Let Us Now Praise Susan Sontag (tonight, April 28-May 17), a musical meditation on the slippery nature of the photographic image.

Manhattan Theatre Club's presentation of Steppenwolf Theatre Company's production of Airline Highway, the new play by Pulitzer Prize finalist Lisa D'Amour (Detroit), directed by two-time Tony Award winner Joe Mantello (Casa Valentina, Take Me Out), opened last night, April 23 at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street). BroadwayWorld was there for the whole night and you can check out photos from the red carpet theatre arrivals below!

In its upcoming 2015-2016 season, The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego will present three world-premiere productions with multiple sophomore productions, and more. Check out the full lineup below!

Abrons Arts Center and 7 Daughters of Eve Thtr. & Perf. Co. are pleased to present the world premiere of Sibyl Kempson's Let Us Now Praise Susan Sontag (April 28-May 17), a musical meditation on the slippery nature of the photographic image.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater presents the Washington, D.C. premiere of Christopher Durang's Tony Award-winning comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike runs now through May 3, 2015 in the Fichandler Stage. BroadwayWorld has photos from the opening night festivities below!

Cleveland Play House's 99th season will draw to a close with an equal dose of hilarity and heart with the world premiere production of Fairfield.

Artists Repertory Theatre announces the launch of its ambitious New Play Development Program by naming Luan Schooler Director of New Play Development & Dramaturgy. Schooler will begin the post April 13, 2015. At the end of 2014, Artists Rep conducted a national search to find the right match for this position and the aesthetic of the theatre.

Four-time Helen Hayes Award winner and acclaimed D.C. actor Edward Gero stars as one of America's most brilliant and polarizing figures-Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia-in the world-premiere political drama The Originalist, byCharles MacArthur Award winner and Arena Stage resident playwright John Strand. When a bright, liberal law school graduate embarks on a nerve-wracking clerkship with Justice Scalia, she discovers him to be both an infuriating sparring partner and unexpected mentor. How will their relationship affect one of the most incendiary cases ever to reach the nation's highest court? Artistic Director Molly Smith directs this daring new play, which offers a rare portrayal of a sitting Supreme Court justice, and for the first time the intimate Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle will be configured into a three-quarter thrust configuration. The Originalist runs March 6-April 26, 2015. Check out a first look at the opening night party below!

The Theatre @ Boston Court presents My Barking Dog, by Eric Coble, directed by Michael Michetti. Opening night is Saturday, April 25, 2015 on the Main Stage at Boston Court Performing Arts Center, 70 North Mentor Avenue.

John Strand's new political drama The Originalist, based on Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, will receive eight additional performances during its world-premiere run at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. The play, which stars four-time Helen Hayes Award winner and acclaimed D.C. actor Edward Gero as the Justice and is under the direction of Artistic Director Molly Smith, now runs through May 3, 2015.

It's likely of little surprise to anyone that follows the workings of the highest court in our nation that any legal battle situation involving conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and an opponent is ripe for theatricalization. Arena Stage's resident playwright John Strand has done just that with his world premiere play, THE ORIGINALIST. However, the play he wrote is not the one we all might expect.