Pearl Cleage News

Arena Stage has announced its 2020/21 Season, which is set to include five world premieres, four plays and three musicals, including a Corbin Bleu-led Catch Me If You Can.

Keen Company is presenting the New York Premiere of Blues for an Alabama Sky by Pearl Cleage.  LA Williams directs a cast that features Alfie Fuller, Jasminn Johnson, John-Andrew Morrision, Khiry Walker, and Sheldon Woodley.  The design team includes You-Shin Chen (scenic), Asa Benally (costumes), Oona Curley (lighting), and Lindsay Jones (original music & sound design). Casting is by Billy Hopkins Casting. Fran Rubenstein serves as Production Stage Manager and Drew Francis is the Production Manager.

Quick Silver Theater Company (QSTC) presents a staged reading of Pearl Cleage's latest play: 'Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous'

Today, AUDELCO (Audience Development Committee) President Jackie Jeffries, SeasonWalk Productions CEO Denise Gray, Marcia Pendelton, President of Walk Tall Girl Productions/Black Theater Online, and the Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts, LIU Brooklyn Campus (Rodney Hurley, Managing Director) announced THE THEATERMAKERS - A Black Theater Preview: Winter/Spring Edition.

Falcon Theatre's third production of its 30th anniversary season is Pearl Cleage's Blues for an Alabama Sky. The play is a brutally honest and candid examination of an array of issues--including race, gender, sexuality, and cultural intolerance--in the historical context of the Harlem Renaissance and the early years of the Great Depression. The production, directed by Torie Wiggins, opens January 24, 2020.

Today Keen Company Artistic Director Jonathan Silverstein announced the cast for the New York Premiere of Blues for an Alabama Sky by Pearl Cleage. LA Williams will direct a cast that features Prema Cruz, Alfie Fuller, John-Andrew Morrision, Khiry Walker, and Sheldon Woodley. The design team includes You-Shin Chen (scenic), Asa Benally (costumes), Oona Curley (lighting), and Lindsay Jones (original music & sound design). Casting is by Billy Hopkins Casting. Fran Rubenstein will serve as Production Stage Manager and Drew Francis will be the Production Manager.

Westport Country Playhouse announces its upcoming 90th Season in 2020, featuring five productions, playing April 14 through November 21, under the artistic direction of Mark Lamos. The historic, professional theater's 2020 lineup includes two musicals, two dramas, and a new comedy.

L.A. Theatre Works has announced its 2019-20 season of seven plays, each of which will be recorded in front of a live audience for future radio broadcast and online distribution. Performances take place at the James Bridges Theater, located on the campus of UCLA in West Los Angeles. In addition, the company will introduce audiences to its signature style of radio theater at venues across the country during its 16th annual national tour.

Today Keen Company Artistic Director Jonathan Silverstein announced his plans for the upcoming season, Keen's 20th

2019 Tony winner Andre De Shields has been attending The National Black Theatre Festival® (NBTF) in Winston-Salem, N. C. since 1995. Dubbed the 'Black Theatre Holy Ground,' NBTF is the international outreach program of the North Carolina Black Repertory Company, founded by the late Larry Leon Hamlin in 1979. The Festival, also founded by Hamlin, has been held biennially since 1989. The NCBRC celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, while the NBTF celebrated its 30th.

When the stars come out…there is magic in the air.  That's exactly how the opening day of the National Black Theatre Festival (NBTF) in Winston-Salem felt…majestic and magical.  As the originators and attendees declare…”This Is Holy Ground!”   The NBTF is “taking over” the city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina this entire week, July 29-August 3. 

The Alliance Theatre has assembled a diverse group of 20 students from metro Atlanta for the 18th Palefsky Collision Project, an annual program that gives high-school students a platform to tackle important social issues.  Guided by the Alliance's Mellon Playwright in Residence Pearl Cleage, director Patrick McColery, and assistant director Rodney Williams, participants are encouraged to find and claim their own voices within a judgment free zone of creativity and community. This innovative program challenges metro Atlanta teens to 'collide' with a classic text and make it their own.  This year's ensemble will explore George Orwell's classic text, 1984, and ultimately create their own unique showcase exploring the prevalent themes inspired by this story.

Court Theatre, under the continuing leadership of Charles Newell, Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director, and Angel Ysaguirre, Executive Director, has announced casting for August Wilson's King Hedley II, directed by Resident Artist Ron OJ Parson. King Hedley II runs September 12 - October 13, 2019 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave. The press opening is Saturday, September 21, 2019 at 7:30pm.

The Bishop Arts Theatre Center was awarded the 2019 Peter Zeisler Memorial Award during Theater Communications Group's national conference on Friday, June 7, 2019 at the Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center in Miami, Florida.

For 16 seasons, Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre Company has created masterful works of theatre art that honor the African American experience, lift up diverse voices, and create cultural understanding. To honor those who have championed the company's mission of celebrating the tradition of Black storytelling while giving voice to bold artists of all cultures, True Colors will host the second annual True Colors Applauds Awards Brunch on Saturday, June 1, 2019 at 11:00 AM at the InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta Hotel.

Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein today announced the appointment of Travis LeMont Ballenger as Associate Artistic Director. The Globe will have two people in this key position, as Ballenger joins Associate Artistic Director Justin Waldman, who has been at the Globe since 2011. Ballenger and Waldman will report jointly to Edelstein. Ballenger will assume his artistic duties at The Old Globe on May 1.

Theatre of Young Audiences/USA (?TYA/USA?)?, the national service organization supporting, connecting, and advocating for the field of theatre for young audiences, will present the ?2019 National TYA/USA Awards? in three categories: ?Stan Foote ?and? Rosemary Newcott? will receive the ?Harold Oaks Award for Sustained Excellence in TYA?; ?Chicago Children's Theatre? (Jacqueline Russell, Artistic Director) will receive the ?TYA Artistic Innovation Award?; and ?Courtney J. Boddie ?will receive the ?TYA Community Impact Award?.

Know Theatre is delighted to close our 21st MainStage season with a return to the world of playwright Steve Yockey, with the regional premiere of Mercury.

WP Theater, under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty and Managing Director Michael Sag, is thrilled to announce the inaugural WP Theater's 40th Anniversary Reading Series. In the first outing of this annual series, past meets present as WP shares staged readings of five extraordinary plays from throughout its history, directed by recent alums and current members of the WP Theater Directors Lab. The 5-night free series will launch on Monday, March 25 and run through Friday, May 3, 2019 at WP Theater, 2162 Broadway at 76th Street. 

The Alliance Theatre is pleased to announce the world premiere of ANGRY, RAUCOUS AND SHAMELESSLY GORGEOUS by acclaimed Atlanta author and playwright, Pearl Cleage.  In this funny and hopeful new play, artists from different generations and worldviews must find a way to reconcile their different beliefs and make peace with lingering ghosts from the past.  The play looks closely at women as they age, their place in society as they age, and how women's voices are heard and when throughout their lives.  Directed by the Alliance Theatre's Artistic Director Susan V. Booth, ANGRY, RAUCOUS AND SHAMELESSLY GORGEOUS will premiere on the Alliance's newly renovated Coca-Cola Stage from March 20 - April 14, 2019.  Opening Night is Wednesday, March 27, 7:30 p.m.