Pearl Cleage News

Court Theatre announces its 62nd season under the continuing leadership of Artistic Director Charles Newell and Executive Director Stephen J. Albert.

The Dramatists Guild Fund (DGF) announces that playwright Madeleine George will conduct a master class with students and early career writers at the College of Charleston (66 George Street Charleston, South Carolina 29424) on February 5th at 4:00 PM, during the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival as part of the Traveling Masters Program.

The Alliance Theatre will host a variety of free activities for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

The Dramatists Guild Fund with PlayPenn and University of the Arts will present A Traveling Masters Event with Melissa James Gibson (Placebo, All Is Bright, The Americans) as part of DGF's Traveling Masters Program tonight, November 13 at 6:30 PM at  The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA (401 South Broad Street).

The Dramatists Guild Fund with PlayPenn and University of the Arts will present A Traveling Masters Event with Melissa James Gibson (Placebo, All Is Bright, The Americans) as part of DGF's Traveling Masters Program on Friday, November 13 at 6:30 PM at  The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA (401 South Broad Street).

Chicago's Eclipse Theatre Company, the Midwest's only theatre company to focus on a single playwright each season, will feature the works of Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis for their 2016 Season.

The Dramatists Guild Fund with TeCo Theatrical Productions will present A Conversation with Terrence McNally (MASTER CLASS, CORPUS CHRISTI, RAGTIME, KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN) as part of DGF's Traveling Masters Program tonight, October 8 2015 7:30 PM at The Bishop Arts Theatre Center in Dallas, TX.

The Dramatists Guild Fund with TeCo Theatrical Productions will present A Conversation with Terrence McNally (MASTER CLASS, CORPUS CHRISTI, RAGTIME, KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN) as part of DGF's Traveling Masters Program on Thursday, October 8 2015 7:30 PM at The Bishop Arts Theatre Center in Dallas, TX.

Playwright Pearl Cleage (What I Learned in Paris, Blues for an Alabama Sky) and Alliance Theatre Artistic Director of Theatre for Youth and Families Rosemary Newcott, are pleased to announce a new play for middle school audiences - Tell Me My Dream.  When two modern day teenagers find themselves in 1910 Atlanta, history is made present and their lives are forever changed. 

The American Theatre Wing has just announced new appointments to its Board of Trustees and Advisory Committee, BroadwayWorld has learned.

GFour Productions, winners of 54 Drama Desk and 44 Tony Awards, today announced the cast of leading ladies for the Memphis production of the international hit show Menopause The Musical, which will play the Orpheum Theatre for 3 performances, August 1-2, 2015. Tickets are available for purchase online at the official Orpheum Theatre website, www.orpheum-memphis.com, The Orpheum Box Office (901.525.3000), the ticket counter at The Booksellers at Laurelwood, and all Ticketmaster centers (901.743.ARTS).

Twenty students will gather at the Alliance Theatre next week to begin the 14th annual Palefsky Collision Project. This diverse group of teenagers from around the metro Atlanta area will explore a classic text under the guidance of a professional playwright. The provocative 1955 play Inherit the Wind will serve as the source text that will inspire a new performance piece developed by the students. Under the guidance of the Alliance Theatre's Mellon Playwright in Residence, Pearl Cleage, and Director Patrick McColery, students will explore themes of intellectual freedom, tolerance, and the role of religion and science on education, and will examine how these themes are manifested in modern times.

As a part of the Dramatists Guild Fund's Traveling Masters Program, playwright Anne Washburn visited Ellensburg, WA, to talk to students and early-career writers about the craft and business of being a dramatist. Click below to go behind the scenes!

As a part of Dramatists Guild Fund's Traveling Masters Program, Andrew Lippa recently visited Saginaw, Michigan, to talk to students and early-career writers about the craft and business of being a dramatist. Click below to watch highlights from and interviews about his experience!

When a play weaves in watershed moments in American history, there's sure to be connectivity and enlightenment. Before Obama and the Change movement, there was Maynard Jackson. Jackson was the first black mayor of Atlanta. He would go on to serve three terms, during which he made huge strides in improving race relations and development in the city. Pearl Cleage's play WHAT I LEARNED IN PARIS serves up a history lesson, a powerful story, and a witty cast of characters. Cleage is an Atlanta-based writer with an impressive literary imprint. She is a best-selling author with Oprah Winfrey book club accolades. There is no denying her literary significance to the world. Cleage is not only a novelist, but a playwright of great works such as FLYIN' WEST, A SONG FOR CORETTA and WHAT I LEARNED IN PARIS. I had the esteemed honor to see Houston's Ensemble Theatre's Regional Premier and I have to say, I am glad that I was in the building.

Atlanta's nationally acclaimed Alliance Theatre and Jennings Hertz Artistic Director Susan V. Booth are pleased to announce the 2015/16 Season for the Alliance Stage, Hertz Stage, Theatre for Youth and Families, and Theatre for the Very Young series. The 47th season includes five world premieres, a musical by BeBe Winans and Charles Randolph-Wright, a Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, a literary classic featuring an all-Atlanta cast, and exceptional productions for youth and families.

ATLANTA, GA - The music and civil rights activism of legendary singer/songwriter Nina Simone will be celebrated at the 5th Kenyetta: A Festival of Women in Jazz at Spelman College, March 26-28, 2015, with a series of presentations, lectures and musical performances, including a featured concert by the Geri Allen Trio with special guest artist Carmen Lundy.

The Alliance Theatre has announced its upcoming production of Blues for an Alabama Sky, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the production's world premiere at the Alliance in 1995. Written by beloved Atlanta author and playwright, Pearl Cleage (What I Learned in Paris, The Nacirema Society…) and directed by Alliance Theatre Jennings Hertz Artistic Director Susan V. Booth, Blues for an Alabama Sky is a timeless look at hopeful dreams in the hopeless days of the waning Harlem Renaissance. Opening night is Wednesday, April 22, 2015.

Continuing its 2014-15 Script in Hand playreading series featuring women playwrights, Westport Country Playhouse will present Pearl Cleage's humorous and gripping "Flyin' West," on Monday, March 9, at 7 p.m. Director is Anne Keefe, Playhouse associate artist and curator of the playreading series. Tickets are $20 each.

In 2013, New York Times art critic Holland Cotter described Maren Hassinger as 'another artist awaiting serious study.' The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art agrees and will present Maren Hassinger . . . Dreaming, from today, Feb. 12 to May 16, 2015.