Ted Snowdon News

The final two plays have been announced for Manhattan Theatre Club's upcoming 2018-2019 season off-Broadway at New York City Center (131 W. 55th Street).

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Auburn ("Proof") will provide opening remarks and Rick Younger, featured actor in "Mean Girls," nominated for 12 Tony Awards, will introduce fellow Broadway performers in a celebration of student playwriting called LEAP OnStage: Rising Voices. The fundraiser will be held Monday, May 21, 6-9 pm, in the event space of National Geographic Encounter: Ocean Odyssey, 226 W. 44th Street. Proceeds will benefit LEAP (Learning through an Expanded Arts Program), an arts education organization that serves more than 20,000 students in 175 schools throughout New York City each year. Tickets range from $75 to $250 and can be purchased at leapnyc.org.

Edward Albee's Three Tall Women will play a special Midnight Performance as a benefit for The Actors Fund. The production, directed by Joe Mantello, opened on Broadway on March 29 to ecstatic reviews. Last week, Mantello's production of The Boys in the Band started previews on Broadway. To celebrate their director and the vital work of The Actors Fund, the entire cast of The Boys in the Band will host the Midnight Performance of Three Tall Women,

Producer Scott Rudin announced today a special Midnight Performance for Edward Albee's Three Tall Women on Thursday, May 17 at the Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street), which will be a one-night-only benefit for The Actors Fund. The first Broadway production of Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece stars two-time Academy Award®-winner Glenda Jackson, Tony Award® winner, three-time Emmy Award® winner, and 2018 Academy Award® nominee Laurie Metcalf, and Tony Award® nominee Alison Pill, and is directed by two-time Tony Award® winner Joe Mantello. Tickets will be available at actorsfund.org.

The Friars archives and Wikipedia have finally been corrected. Nineteen Eighty Eight was a watershed year for women. They gained membership to numerous private men's clubs that heretofore were off limits to women. The Friars, being one of the more famous of the bunch had an article heralding the event written by a less than factual reporter for The New York Times. The paper of record, in an early forerunner of fake news only listed the first 7 women and overlooked number 8...Jamie deRoy who was in that initial group, along with Liza Minnelli, Joan Rivers, Brooke Shields, and other prominent female entertainment figures was not mentioned.

It was one of the season's most exciting Off Broadway Opening Night's at The Cherry Lane Theatre last night as Primary Stages in association with Jamie deRoy and Hartford Stage presented writer and performer Sharon Washington in Feeding The Dragon.

Gingold Theatrical Group (David Staller, Artistic Director) held the 2018 Golden Shamrock Gala on Saturday, March 17 at 3 West Club (3 West 51st Street), and honored actress and activist Martha Plimpton and actor, producer, and long-time Executive Director of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Tom Viola. This year's gala was geared toward raising funds for GTG's full production of Shaw's masterpiece, Heartbreak House, which will run in New York's Theatre Row on 42nd Street from August 28 through September 29th.

Q. Smith, featured cast member of Broadway's Come From Away, hosted the 10th annual New York City August Wilson Monologue Competition, sponsored by LEAP (Learning through an Expanded Arts Program, Inc.). Two winning students, first place Teslyne Junior of Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, and second place Victoria Lino, of Repertory Company High School for Theater Arts in Manhattan, will move on to the National August Wilson Monologue Competition on Broadway in May. Anthony Perez, also from Repertory Company High School, took third place and is the alternate. The presentation was held March 5 on Stage 2 of New World Stages, 340 W. 50th St., New York, N.Y.

Q. Smith, featured cast member of Broadway's Come From Away, is set to host the 10th annual New York City August Wilson Monologue Competition, sponsored by LEAP (Learning through an Expanded Arts Program, Inc.). A total of 16 LEAP students from eight New York City high schools in four boroughs will inhabit Wilson's extraordinary characters and provide their unique interpretations. Tony Chiroldes, original Broadway cast member of In the Heights, will be a featured singer as well. The exciting presentation begins at 7 pm on Monday, March 5, and will be held on Stage 2 of New World Stages, 340 W. 50th St., New York, N.Y., off 8th Avenue. The event is free to the public.

Manhattan Theatre Club (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer) is pleased to announce the lineup for this spring'sTed Snowdon Reading Series.

Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) has announced three World Premiere productions for the EST 2018 season.

National Alliance for Musical Theatre kicks off the 29th Annual Festival of New Musicals with its celebrated The 46th Minute concert tonight, October 18th, at 6:30 pm directed by Branden Huldeen and produced for NAMT by Ciera Iveson with Karin Nilo.

National Alliance for Musical Theatre (Betsy King Militello, Executive Director) is thrilled to announce this year's line-up for the MIDDAY CABARETS and SONGWRITERS SHOWCASE hosted byCome From Away's Caesar Samayoa, which are part of the 29th annual FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS. The Festival will take place on Thursday, October 19 and Friday, October 20, 2017 at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues).

National Alliance for Musical Theatre will kick off the 29th Annual Festival of New Musicals with its celebrated The 46th Minute concert on October 18th at 6:30 pm directed by Branden Huldeen and produced for NAMT by Ciera Iveson with Karin Nilo.

National Alliance for Musical Theatre (Betsy King Militello, Executive Director) is thrilled to announce the line-up of directors and initial casting for the 29th Annual FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS, which takes place on Thursday, October 19 and Friday, October 20, 2017 at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues). The Festival kicks off on Wednesday, October 18 with its celebrated concert, The 46th Minute.

National Alliance for Musical Theatre (Betsy King Militello, Executive Director) is thrilled to announce the line-up of new musicals for their 29th Annual FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS, which takes place on Thursday, October 19 and Friday, October 20, 2017 at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues). The Festival will kick off on Wednesday, October 18 with its celebrated concert, The 46th Minute.

National Alliance for Musical Theatre has announced the line-up of new musicals for their 29th Annual FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS, which takes place on Thursday, October 19 and Friday, October 20, 2017 at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues). The Festival will kick off on Wednesday, October 18 with its celebrated concert, The 46th Minute.

It has just been reported that Sweat, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Lynn Nottage, directed by Kate Whoriskey, will close on Sunday, June 25.

BUILDING THE WALL, the new play by Pulitzer and Tony winner Robert Schenkkan (All The Way, Hacksaw Ridge - Academy Award nom. The Kentucky Cycle), currently making its New York premiere at New World Stages has announced an early closing.

Students from 10 NYC public schools, whose plays will be published by renowned publisher Samuel French, will showcase their original works and perform them at The Pearl Theatre as part of the acclaimed LEAP OnStage program.