Naomi Iizuka News

Steppenwolf for Young Adults (SYA) is thrilled to announce casting for the second production of its 2014/15 season, the world premiere of This Is Modern Art (based on true events) by acclaimed playwright Idris Goodwin and "Louder Than A Bomb" founder Kevin Coval. Directed by Lisa Portes, the cast of professional actors features Brittani Arlandis Green, Jerry MacKinnon, J. Salome Martinez Jr., Kelly O'Sullivan, Jessie D. Prez and Chris Rickett.

Cygnet Theatre, in collaboration with Playwrights Project, is proud to present the third annual Playwrights in Process: New Play Festival. Cygnet Theatre has long been committed to celebrating human stories through the medium of live theatre. Playwrights in Process will present four readings of new plays by selected Southern California playwrights. The four winning plays were selected from more than 160 submissions - more than triple the number from last year - with three of the playwrights coming from the San Diego region.

Cutting Ball Theater opens its 16th season with the World Premiere of SUPERHEROES, written and directed by Sean San Jose. Featuring Myers Clark, Juan Amador, Donald E. Lacy, Jr., Britney Frazier, Ricky Saenz, and Delina Patrice Brooks, SUPERHEROES plays November 21 through December 21 (Press opening: December 2) at the Cutting Ball Theater in residence at EXIT on Taylor (277 Taylor Street) in San Francisco. For tickets ($10-50) and more information, the public may visit cuttingball.com or call 415-525-1205.

The monologues will be read at a public reading tonight, November 6, 2014 following the 8:00 p.m. performance. The writers will also receive a session with American Voices New Play Institute Dramaturg Jocelyn Clarke, a listing in the Our War program and an award certificate. The finished monologues along with video clips of the performed monologues will be posted on Arena Stage's website and shared via social media. Directed by Anita Maynard-Losh, Our War runs October 21 - November 9, 2014 in the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle.

The Process Series at UNC will feature an engaging new work by an acclaimed playwright in November. Commissioned by the Goodman Theater in Chicago, Lauren Yee's King of the Yees will be performed tonight and tomorrow, November 6 and 7, 2014, at 8:00pm in Studio 6 of Swain Hall at UNC-Chapel Hill. The performance is free and open to the public with a $5 suggested donation.

Playwrights Foundation (PF) and The New York based company, The One-Minute Play Festival are thrilled to announce the 5th Annual SF One-Minute Play Festival (#1MPF), December 15th and 16th, 2014 - an evening of more than 80 brand new one minute plays by 53 Bay Area playwrights -- a highly vaunted group, all written within the past month specifically for the event.

In a bold undertaking as part of the company's involvement with the multi-year, multi-city National Civil War Project, Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater has commissioned Our War, a dynamic new theatrical event and collection of short stories that explores-through diverse perspectives-the historical memory and present-day reverberations of the U.S. Civil War. The series launched on October 21 and continues through November 9, 2014. BroadwayWorld has a first look at opening night below!

The Process Series at UNC will feature an engaging new work by an acclaimed playwright in November. Commissioned by the Goodman Theater in Chicago, Lauren Yee's King of the Yees will be performed November 6 and 7, 2014, at 8:00pm in Studio 6 of Swain Hall at UNC-Chapel Hill. The performance is free and open to the public with a $5 suggested donation.

Happy Medium Theatre starts its sixth season by ending the run of the Factory Theatre with LANGUAGE OF ANGELS, a testament to the ambience and creative possibilities of the soon-to-be-defunct space. Director Lizette M. Morris does a masterful job of building and prolonging the suspense, with a strong assist from her design team and ensemble cast.

In a bold undertaking as part of the company's involvement with the multi-year, multi-city National Civil War Project, Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater has commissioned Our War, a dynamic new theatrical event and collection of short stories that explores-through diverse perspectives-the historical memory and present-day reverberations of the U.S. Civil War. The series launched on October 21 and continues through November 9, 2014. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Happy Medium Theatre (HMT) opens its 6th season with Language of Angels by Naomi Iizuka. Heading up the production is award-winning and widely-praised Boston Fringe director, Lizette M. Morris (DOG SEES GOD: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, HMT, Elliot Norton Award Outstanding Fringe Production). The production runs for two weeks (today, October 23rd - Nov. 1st, 2014) as the final show at the Factory Theatre, 791 Tremont Street, Boston, MA, 02118.

Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director) and Barry Grove (Executive Producer) announce recent recipients of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Initiative commissions for Manhattan Theatre Club. The commissioned writers are Jeff Augustin (Little Children Dream of God), Courtney Baron (A Very Common Procedure) and Juliana Nash (Murder Ballad), Nell Benjamin (The Explorers Club), Madeline George (The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence), Tom Holloway (And No More Shall We Part), Nathan Jackson (Broke-ology), Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (An Octoroon), Greg Pierce (Slowgirl), and Alexandra Wood (The Initiate).

In a bold undertaking as part of the company's involvement with the multi-year, multi-city National Civil War Project, Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater has commissioned Our War, a dynamic new theatrical event and collection of short stories that explores-through diverse perspectives-the historical memory and present-day reverberations of the U.S. Civil War. The series launches today, October 21, and continues through November 9, 2014.

In Haiti, at night, entire villages gather around fires and candlelight to listen to folklore whispered by a single storyteller. My family carried that tradition with them to the states, where my six older siblings and I grew up listening to magical and fantastical stories, many based on religious and voodoo figures. I never knew what was real or supernatural, or if the supernatural was just as real as I. In these stories, characters were constantly running from their family and their land in search for a new identity. But in a world where spirits, deities, and God guide life, these characters were bound to their destinies.

In a bold undertaking as part of the company's involvement with the multi-year, multi-city National Civil War Project, Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater has commissioned Our War, a dynamic new theatrical event and collection of short stories that explores-through diverse perspectives-the historical memory and present-day reverberations of the U.S. Civil War. The company just met the press, and BroadwayWorld has photos below!

The Theatre School at DePaul University will present IN THE HEIGHTS, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, book by Quiara Alegria Hudes, and conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda, in the Fullerton Stage Theatre in the new Theatre School building located at Racine and Fullerton. The production, directed by Lisa Portes, premieres on Friday, October 3, and runs through Sunday, October 12, 2014. Performances are Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 PM and Sundays at 2 PM. Previews are tonight, October 1 and tomorrow, October 2, at 7:30 PM.

In June, Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announced a national call for three-minute monologues held in conjunction with the world premiere of Our War, a dynamic new theatrical event and collection of short stories by 25 esteemed playwrights that explores--through diverse perspectives--the historical memory and present-day reverberations of the U.S. Civil War. The open monologue contest inspired by Our War brought in more than 150 entries from around the world, and the theater is pleased to announce the three winning monologues: Tree by Dave Lankford of New York, NY; Mary/Marcus by Sarah Pitard of London, UK; and The Peacock's War by Lisa Sillaway of Wichita, KS.

The Theatre School at DePaul University will present IN THE HEIGHTS, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, book by Quiara Alegria Hudes, and conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda, in the Fullerton Stage Theatre in the new Theatre School building located at Racine and Fullerton. The production, directed by Lisa Portes, premieres on Friday, October 3, and runs through Sunday, October 12, 2014. Performances are Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 PM and Sundays at 2 PM. Previews are on October 1 and 2, at 7:30 PM.