Nilo Cruz News

Magic Theatre will welcome back Obie Award-winning playwright Taylor Mac with the world premiere of Hir. The production is directed by Niegel Smith and will run January 29 - February 23, 2014 at Magic Theatre, Fort Mason Center, Building D, 3rd Floor. Press Dates are February 6-9, 2014.

Now in its 10th year, Goodman Theatre's 2013 New Stages festival features five FREE new plays-two fully staged workshop productions performed in repertory plus three staged readings-in the Owen Theatre, today, December 7 - 22.

Lyric Opera of Chicago and composer Jimmy Lopez are the recipients of the Prince Charitable Trusts 2013 Prince Prize for Commissioning New Original Work - the first time ever the Prince Prize has been awarded for an opera commission. The $75,000 award ($25,000 of which goes to the composer) was awarded for the opera Bel Canto, which is based on the best-selling Ann Pachett novel of the same name. The opera will receive its world premiere at Lyric in December of 2015 and will star renowned soprano Danielle de Niese in the central role. The libretto is by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz. Bel Canto will be directed by Kevin Newbury and conducted by Lyric Opera music director Sir Andrew Davis.

By popular demand, Victory Gardens Theater adds three performances of its Co-World Premiere of Appropriate by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Gary Griffin. The additional performances are December 12 and 13 at 7:30pm and December 14 at 4pm at Victory Gardens Theatre, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue. Appropriate is presented in association with Actors Theatre of Louisville and was developed, in part, by IGNITION 2012.

Happy Birthday Daphne Rubin-Vega! Rubin Vega is a two-time Tony and Drama Desk nominee and recipient of the Theater World, Obie, Blockbuster awards and was recently nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for her role in Jack Goes Boating. She is perhaps best known for the roles she originated, including Mimi (RENT) and Conchita (Anna in the Tropics), both Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway shows for which she was nominated for the Tony award. She also originated the role of Rahmi (Gum), Sofia (Nilo Cruz' Two Sisters and a Piano), Canary Mary (Suzan-Lori Parks' f**king A, Lucille Lortel nomination) and Lucy (Jack Goes Boating) at the Public Theater, as well as starred in the Broadway revivals of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Magenta) and Les Mis, ('Fantine') and most recently, The New Group's Blood From a Stone ('Yvette') opposite Ethan Hawke.'

Magic Theatre welcomes award-winning playwright Victor Lodato and Obie Award-winning composer Polly Pen with the world premiere of their musical Arlington. This unique musical production runs tonight, November 13 - December 8, 2013.

Anthony Freud, general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, announced today that the acclaimed American director Kevin Newbury will direct the world-premiere production of Bel Canto during the company's 2015-16 season. Newbury replaces Stephen Wadsworth.

The hit West End production of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, directed by Sam Mendes, announced today that it has extended its booking period by six months until 1 November 2014. The show had previously been booking until 31 May 2014. The production, which has so far been seen by almost 300,000 people since it began previews in May 2013, is extending its run due to popular demand, releasing almost 400,000 extra tickets.

Goodman Theatre announces the complete line-up for its 2013 New Stages festival, this year celebrating Latino playwrights. Three staged readings-The Rooster Room by Pulitzer Prize winner Quiara Alegria Hudes, Feathers and Teeth by Charise Castro Smith and Another Word for Beauty by Jose Rivera-complement the previously-announced two fully-staged workshop productions, The Upstairs Concierge by Pulitzer Prize finalist Kristoffer Diaz and The Solid Sand Below by former Goodman Theatre Playwrights Unit member Martin Zimmerman.

Tonight, October 29 at 7:30 p.m., soprano Jessica Rivera and mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor are joined by pianist Robert Spano on a program featuring three New York premieres, two of which are Carnegie Hall co-commissions.

The One-Minute Play Festival (Dominic D'Andrea, Producing Artistic Director) and INTAR (Lou Moreno, Artistic Director; John McCormack, Executive Director) continue their dynamic partnership with the The 2nd Annual New York One-Minute Play Festival Of Latino Voices, with part of the proceeds to benefit INTAR's emerging artist training program UNIT52.

Magic Theatre welcomes award-winning playwright Victor Lodato and Obie Award-winning composer Polly Pen with the world premiere of their musical Arlington. This unique musical production runs November 13 - December 8, 2013.

The Walter W. Naumburg Foundation will be presenting Soyeon Kate Lee, 2010 Piano Award winner, on Wednesday, November 6, 2013 at 8:00 p.m. in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Ms. Lee will be performing the world premiere of Gabriela Lena Frank's Sonata Andina No. 2, a Naumburg commission.

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust today announced it will honor playwrights Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph at the Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright 'Mimi' Awards on Monday, November 18, 2013 at the Lincoln Center Theater in New York. The 'Mimi' Awards are presented biennially to honor the accomplishments of some of the most gifted up-and-coming American playwrights and to recognize the promise they hold for the future of American theater.

Shattered Globe Theatre is pleased to kick-off its 2013-14 season with OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY by Jerry Sterner, directed by Dennis Zacek, playing September 5 - October 19, 2013 in its new artistic home as a resident theatre company at Chicago's Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago.

On Tuesday, October 29 at 7:30 p.m., sopranoJessica Rivera and mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor are joined by pianist Robert Spanoon a program featuring three New York premieres, two of which are Carnegie Hall co-commissions. Ms. O'Connor and Ms. Rivera have collaborated in concert halls and on modern operatic masterpieces including Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar and John Adams's El Niño. This unique program features Ms. O'Connor performing the New York premiere of David Bruce's That Time With You, a four-song cycle that she co-commissioned with Carnegie Hall. Ms. Rivera sings the New York premiere of Jonathan Leshnoff's Monica Songs, another Carnegie Hall co-commission. Two selections from The Kitchen Songbook by Gabriela Lena Frank will also have their New York debuts, sung by both Ms. O'Connor and Ms. Rivera. Completing this diverse program, the artists present vocal duets by Saint-Saens, Mendelssohn, and Gounod, as well as Debussy's erotically charged Chansons de Bilitis and Mompou's haunting "Combat del Somni."

Theatre of NOTE presents the world premiere of SHEET CAKE SLIDING, written by Stacia Saint Owens and directed by Nicholas Newell. SHEET CAKE SLIDING, in which a nuclear family goes BOOM!, will preview tonight, September 13 and Saturday, September 14, and will open on Friday, September 20 at 8pm and run through Saturday, October 19 at Theatre of NOTE, 1517 N Cahuenga Blvd (just north of Sunset) in Hollywood.