Ntozake Shange News

The Public Theater announced complete casting today for the major New York revival of FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE/WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF, written by legendary playwright/poet Ntozake Shange.

651 ARTS, Brooklyn's premier organization for the African Diasporic arts, today announced the appointment of seasoned nonprofit arts leader David J. Roberts as the renowned institution's new Executive Director. The selection of Roberts follows an extensive nationwide search led by cultural consulting firm CJAM Consulting, LLC and 651's Board of Directors. Roberts, who succeeds former Executive Director Shay Wafer, will report to the Board of Directors and will officially assume the role in August, 2019. 

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company announces that Laverne Cox, Woolly Mammoth, and Joe's Pub, a program of The Public Theater will present a reading of Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi's For Black Trans Girls...

The Creative Co-Lab is proud to announce the cast for the national tour of FOR COLORED BOYZ ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN when freedom ain't enuff, a choreopoem by Bryan-Keyth Wilson (Hood Boy Chronicles, Pamlet, The Subway Series) inspired by Ntozake Shange's for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf. 'Wilson's work boldly carves its own space within the theatrical canon just as its female-focused predecessor,'said Alric Davis of Broadway World.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Today's top stories: Debra Messing returns to Broadway, first look at the West Side Story cast, and more!

Alicia Foxworth's period drama Ghost Writer will bring the curtain down on the 2018 -19 season of the Frank Silvera Writer's Workshop monthly play reading series in partnership with The Billie Holiday Theatre.

Public Theater announced the line-up today for The Public's 2019-20 Season 

Just last night, The Public Theater celebrated its Annual Gala, WOMEN OF THE PUBLIC, at the Delacorte Theater. Directed by Leigh Silverman, with music direction by Mary-Mitchell Campbell, it celebrated those who shaped our past and guide our future. 

Woodie King's New Federal Theatre has set four plays for the June, 2019 edition of its Annual Ntozake Shange Readings Series. The series will run four Tuesdays--June 4, 11, 18 and 25--with all readings at Castillo Theatre, 543 W 42nd Street.

The Off Broadway Alliance, an organization of Off Broadway producers, theaters, general managers, press agents, and marketing professionals has announced the winners of the 9th Annual Off Broadway Alliance Awards, honoring commercial and not-for-profit productions that opened Off Broadway during the 2018-2019 season.

By drawing a comparison of the sacrifice of fame within Black experience to the pondering of death within the most famous speech in literary history, Wilson's work boldly carves its own space within the theatrical canon just as its female-focused predecessor.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham; Board Chair, Arielle Tepper) announced casting today for The Public's Annual Gala, WOMEN OF THE PUBLIC onMonday, June 3 at the Delacorte Theater. Directed by Leigh Silverman, with music direction by Mary-Mitchell Campbell, the highly-anticipated summer gala under the stars will celebrate those who shaped our past and guide our future. The evening of dinner and performances at the Delacorte Theater will be hosted by Gala Co-ChairsKathryn Chenault, Faith Gay, Suzan-Lori Parks, Julie Rice, and Lauren Rosenkranz.

The Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop will present Douglas Lyons's new family comedy Chicken & Biscuits Monday May 13th at 7pm; at The Billie Holiday Theatre. Chicken & Biscuits, written in residence at The Directors Company, has previously been selected and performed in the Front Porch Reading Series and Queen Theatre's 2019 New American Voices Reading Series.

The Off Broadway Alliance, an organization of Off-Broadway producers, theaters, general managers, press agents, and marketing professionals, has announced the nominees for the 9th Annual Off-Broadway Alliance Awards, honoring commercial and not-for-profit productions that opened Off Broadway during the 2018-2019 season.

Southern Rep Theatre (Producing Artistic Director Aimee Hayes) has announced plans for the 2019-20 Mainstage Season and the future of Southern Rep, now located in its permanent home at 2541 Bayou Road, New Orleans. The 2019-20 Mainstage Season, its 33rd, will feature Regional Premieres of AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY by Tracy Letts, NATIVE GARDENS by Karen Zacarias, and Bertolt Brecht's MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN, translated by Ntozake Shange. In addition, back by popular demand and updated for the holiday season will be MANDATORY MERRIMENT (PART DEUX): A NEW ORLEANS HOLIDAY MUSICAL created by Leslie Castay and Ian Hoch. The season will also feature the NNPN (National New Play Network) Rolling World Premiere of REYKJAVIKby Steve Yockey (in partnership with the Saints & Sinners Literary Festival), and the home-grown World Premiere of CHEMIN DU BAYOU by local New Orleans playwright Pamela Davis-Noland.

On March 29th The Creative Collab had their world premiere of FOR COLORED BOYZ ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN/ when freedom ain't enuff, a choreopoem by Bryan-Keyth Wilson (Hood Boy Chronicles, Pamlet, The Subway Series) inspired by Ntozake Shange's for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf. FOR COLORED BOYZ first hit the Houston Theatre scene 4 years ago during the workshop phase. ! On February 21, 2015 a workshop was presented in Galveston at Old Central sponsored by The Nia Cultural Center then following the next year Kevin Anderson and the T.R.U.T.H. produced the 2nd phase of the script workshop. After two script workshops and staged readings Wilson and his creative team are ready to release this theatrical gem to the theatre community.

The Drama League has announced the twelve stage directors who have been selected as the 2019 Directing Fellows of The Drama League Directors Project: NJ Agwuna, Sharifa Elkady, Raz Golden, Chika Ike, Rebecca Marzalek-Kelly, Ismael Lara, Jr., Amanda McRaven, Lindsey Hope Pearlman, Ben Randle, Tai Thompson, Gabriel Torres, and Sophia Watt. They will be publicly introduced to the professional theatre community during the 85th Annual Drama League Awards, which will be held on Friday, May 17, 2019 at the Marriott Marquis Times Square (1535 Broadway). More information can be found at www.dramaleague.org

Tony-Award Producer/Press Agent  Irene Gandy  received the M.Power Arts 1st annual 'Shattered Glass Ceiling Award' for (Breaking barriers in your Professional Life)  at the Synchroncity Theatre in Atlanta, Ga.

The Creative Co-Lab is proud to announce the world premiere of FOR COLORED BOYZ ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN/ when freedom ain't enuff, a choreopoem by Bryan-Keyth Wilson (Hood Boy Chronicles, Pamlet, The Subway Series) inspired by Ntozake Shange's for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf. FOR COLORED BOYZ first hit the Houston Theatre scene 4 years ago during the workshop phase. On February 21, 2015 a  workshop was presented in Galveston at Old Central sponsored by The Nia Cultural Center then following the next year Kevin Anderson and the T.R.U.T.H. produced the 2nd phase of the script workshop. After two script workshops and staged readings Wilson and his creative team are ready to release this theatrical gem to the theatre community.

KCMPT's 2019-20 lineup features some of the greatest names in African American theater: August Wilson, Lorraine Hansberry, and Ntozake Shange and newcomer Lewis J. Morrow. Newly minted Artistic Director Nicole Hodges Persley states "We wanted to give our audiences a "Greatest Hits" of African American theater.