Rebecca Taichman News

Vineyard Theatre's Artistic Directors, Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern, announce that the world-premiere of THE BEAST IN THE JUNGLE will extend until Sunday, June 17. This original dance play by legendary composer and four-time Tony Award winner John Kander (CABARET, CHICAGO), Tony-nominated playwright David Thompson (STEEL PIER; FLORA, THE RED MENACE), and five-time Tony Award-winning director and choreographer Susan Stroman (THE PRODUCERS, CONTACT) will begin performances May 4, 2018 with an opening night set for May 23.

 The MacDowell Colony has awarded fellowships to 84 artists from 18 states and six countries, from Colorado to Virginia and from Portugal to Nigeria. They are working in seven disciplines, and 43 percent identify as culturally diverse while 56 percent are women. The fellowships are for upcoming summer residencies at one of the nation's leading contemporary arts organizations. 

The Drama League (Executive Artistic Director Gabriel Stelian-Shanks) has announced the eleven exceptional stage directors who have been selected as the 2018 Directing Fellows of The Drama League Directors Project: Jake Beckhard, Jennifer Chang, Tara Elliott, Kyle Haden, Myeongsik Jason Jang, Kemar Jewel, Seonjae Kim, Margaret Lee, Dennis Yueh-Yeh Li, Ivey Lowe, and Christopher Nuñez. They will be publicly introduced to the professional theatre community during the 84th Annual Drama League Awards, which will be held on Friday, May 18, 2018 at the Marriott Marquis Times Square (1535 Broadway). More information can be found at www.dramaleague.org.

Vineyard Theatre's Artistic Directors Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern and Managing Director Suzanne Appel announce an initial line-up of stars set for the 2018 Gala Fundraiser celebrating Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer and the award-winning theatre company's 35th Anniversary. The annual Gala Fundraiser will take place on Monday, May 14, 2018, beginning at 6:30pm at Edison Ballroom (240 West 47th Street). Cody Lassen is the 35th Anniversary Gala Chair and Audible, Inc. is the lead corporate sponsor of the event.

The Drama League (Gabriel Stelian-Shanks, Executive Artistic Director) today announced the 2018 Drama League Awards Nominees for Outstanding Production of a Play, Outstanding Revival of a Play, Outstanding Production of a Musical, Outstanding Revival of a Musical, and the much-coveted Distinguished Performance Award. The nominations were announced this morning by Tony® Award winners Harriet Harris, Julie White and Tony® Award nominee Christopher Sieber at the official announcement event at Sardi's Restaurant, which was streamed live online right here at BroadwayWorld.com.

The willingness to suspend disbelief is a long-standing tradition in live theatre, and as long as playwrights and directors firmly establish their boundaries of realism, it's reasonable for audience members to go along with them.

Happy opening! THIS FLAT EARTH, directed by Tony Award winner Rebecca Taichman, held its Opening Night at Playwrights Horizons last night! The performance marked the play's World Premiere. Other members of the theatre community, including Lois Smith and Jamie Brewer, joined the cast and crew for last night's celebration.

After a competitive national search, Cleveland Play House (CPH) selected Sarah Wansley to join the company for the 2018-19 season as the Artistic Directing Fellow. This Fellowship, designed to address inequities in the field, is for experienced female theatre directors with regional theatre leadership aspirations. Wansley will work alongside CPH Artistic Director Laura Kepley and Associate Artistic Director Robert Barry Fleming learning theatre management, producing methods, and administration skills. She will also direct the fall CWRU/CPH MFA production, to be announced at a later date, and the New Ground Theatre Festival production of The Wolves, in the spring of 2019.

MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) is thrilled to announce their critically acclaimed, sold out, extended production of School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play, written by 2017-18 Tow Playwright-in-Residence Jocelyn Bioh, and directed by Tony Award winner Rebecca Taichman, will return to New York, playing a strictly limited engagement this fall. Tickets are now on sale for School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play which will begin previews at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street) on Tuesday, October 16, with an official opening night set for Monday, October 22, 2018. The show is set to run through November 25, 2018. Additional information, including casting, will be announced shortly.

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) begins accepting entries today, Monday, April 2, for the Live for Five online lottery for $5 tickets to the world premiere of DANCE NATION, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize-winning new play by Obie Award winner Clare Barron (You Got Older, I'll Never Love Again).  Directed and choreographed by Obie Award winner Lee Sunday Evans (Caught, D Deb Debbie Deborah, A Beautiful Day in November…, [Porto]), the play is the fifth production of the theater company's 2017/2018 Season.  

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) presents the world premiere production of THIS FLAT EARTH, a new play by Lindsey Ferrentino (Ugly Lies the Bone, the current Amy and the Orphans). Directed by Tony Award winner Rebecca Taichman (Familiar, Stage Kiss, Milk Like Sugar at Playwrights; Indecent), the play is the fourth production of the theater company's 2017/2018 Season. See photos from the production here!

The Drama League's 2018 Spring Charity Auction has launched at www.biddingforgood.com/thedramaleague, featuring forty once-in-a-lifetime prize packages. The impressive offerings include celebrity experiences with Alan Cumming (Legal Immigrant at Joe's Pub), Jessie Mueller (Carousel), Lea Salonga (Once On This Island); Andrew Rannells (The Boys in The Band), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Log Cabin), Condola Rashad (Saint Joan), Wayne Brady (Kinky Boots), Matthew Broderick (The Seafarer); House Seats to the hottest shows on and off Broadway, like The Iceman Cometh, Escape to Margaritaville, Sweeney Todd, In & Of Itself and more!

Actor Ben Cherry provides his deep appreciation for this play with music that's reminiscent of his character Lemml's feelings for the play within the play. Read on and see this show before it closes March 24.

Previews begin this Friday, March 16 for the Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) world premiere production of THIS FLAT EARTH, a new play by Lindsey Ferrentino (Ugly Lies the Bone, the current Amy and the Orphans).  Directed by Tony Award winner Rebecca Taichman (Familiar, Stage Kiss, Milk Like Sugar at Playwrights; Indecent), the play is the fourth production of the theater company's 2017/2018 Season.  

The little OPERA theatre of ny (LOTNY), in collaboration with New York based period ensemble New Vintage Baroque,presents the New York City Premiere of Piramo e Tisbe at Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue, NYC, from March 22-25, 2018, with performances on Thursday through Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $35 and are available at https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/35006. Based upon the story of Pyramus and Thisbe from Ovid's Metamorphoses with a libretto by Marco Coltellini, Piramo e Tisbe is byJohann Adolph Hasse, a pivotal opera composer of the 18th Century celebrated for his sweet and tender melodies. Sung in Italian with English supertitles.

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) has announced complete casting for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize-winning DANCE NATION, the world premiere of a new play by Obie Award winner Clare Barron (You Got Older, I'll Never Love Again). Directed and choreographed by Obie Award winner Lee Sunday Evans (Caught, D Deb Debbie Deborah, A Beautiful Day in November…, [Porto]), the play will be the fifth production of the theater company's 2017/2018 Season.

On March 14, Lindsey Ferrentino will be the honorary guest author at the "American Dramaturgies for the 21st Century" International Theatre Conference at the Sorbonne. The evening will give Parisian audiences a chance to familiarize themselves with modern American Playwrights and will feature readings from contemporary plays and a conversation with Ms. Ferrentino, a gifted and truly brilliant member of the young generation of American dramatists.

Artistic Directors Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern announce that Maira Barriga, Elizabeth Dugas, Leah Hofmann, Naomi Kakuk, Brittany Marcin Maschmeyer and Erin Moore will complete the cast of the world premiere of THE BEAST IN THE JUNGLE.

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) begins accepting entries today, Monday, March 5, for the LIVE for FIVE online lottery for $5 tickets to the world premiere of THIS FLAT EARTH, a new play by Lindsey Ferrentino (Ugly Lies the Bone, the current Amy and the Orphans). Directed by Tony Award winner Rebecca Taichman (Familiar, Stage Kiss, Milk Like Sugar at Playwrights; Indecent), the play is the fourth production of the theater company's 2017/2018 Season.

Huntington Theatre Company, Boston's leading independent theatre, announces its 2018-2019 season, featuring two of the most highly acclaimed Broadway plays of the last year, Shakespeare's enduring love story, a theatrical caper with Sherlock Holmes, and three of the most compelling new plays in the country, all with rich and relevant stories that speak to the times we live in.