Theodore Ward News

The 2010 Sundance Institute's Playwrights' Retreat at Ucross begins today and will run through February 19, 2010.

The Playwrights Realm - under the leadership of Co-Artistic Directors John Dias and Katherine Kovner and Producing Director Stephanie Ybarra - and the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts present the 2009 WRITERS JAM SESSION - a week of readings by emerging artists, featuring such acting talents as Tovah Feldshuh (IRENA'S VOW, GOLDA'S BALCONY), Michael Cumpsty (DEMOCRACY, COPENHAGEN), Mather Zickel ('Rachel Getting Married,' 'I Love You, Man'), etc. free and open to the public - at the NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program Center (113 2nd Avenue, between 6th and 7th Streets). For reservations please email jd1429@nyu.edu.

The Playwrights Realm - under the leadership of Co-Artistic Directors John Dias and Katherine Kovner and Producing Director Stephanie Ybarra - and the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts present the 2009 WRITERS JAM SESSION - a week of readings by emerging artists, featuring such acting talents as Tovah Feldshuh (IRENA'S VOW, GOLDA'S BALCONY), Michael Cumpsty (DEMOCRACY, COPENHAGEN), Mather Zickel ('Rachel Getting Married,' 'I Love You, Man'), etc. free and open to the public - at the NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program Center (113 2nd Avenue, between 6th and 7th Streets). For reservations please email jd1429@nyu.edu.

Playwright Zakiyyah Alexander has been named ACT's 2009 New Play Award winner for her play Sweet Maladies. Two FREE staged readings will be presented by The Hansberry Project in ACT's Falls Theatre on June 6 at 7:30 p.m. and June 7 at 2:00 p.m. Each reading will be followed immediately by post-play discussions with the playwright and the director, Valerie Curtis-Newton. A special reception will be held following the June 7 presentation.

An upper class African American family wrestles with parental expectations, sibling rivalry, and issues of class and race. Following a two-year hiatus, Joseph Stern's multiple award-winning Matrix Theatre Company returns with the West Coast premiere of Stick Fly by Lydia R. Diamond, an important new play from one of America's freshest and most dynamic voices. Shirley Jo Finney directs Chris Butler, Avery Clyde, Tinashe Kajese, Terrell Tilford, John Wesley and Michole Briana White at The Matrix Theatre, April 4 through May 31, with previews beginning March 26.

An upper class African American family wrestles with parental expectations, sibling rivalry, and issues of class and race. Following a two-year hiatus, Joseph Stern's multiple award-winning Matrix Theatre Company returns with the West Coast premiere of Stick Fly by Lydia R. Diamond, an important new play from one of America's freshest and most dynamic voices. Shirley Jo Finney directs Chris Butler, Avery Clyde, Tinashe Kajese, Terrell Tilford, John Wesley and Michole Briana White at The Matrix Theatre, April 4 through May 31, with previews beginning March 26.

On February 18 and 19, La MaMa will host an open house, 'New Voices Heard,' featuring a sampling of eight plays that were developed during the summer of 2008 in the La MaMa Umbria International Playwrights Retreat. This free event will take place at La MaMa La Galleria, 6 East First Street, Manhattan (between Second Avenue and Bowery), Manhattan. Admission is free. Excerpts of eight plays will be presented. Seven will be staged readings and one will be fully acted.

Bristol Riverside Theatre continues its America Rising: Voices of Today reading series with Zakiyyah Alexander's SICK?. This reading will take place Sunday, February 15 at 5 p.m. at St. James Parish Hall, 225 Walnut Street in Bristol. Subscriptions are $45, $40 for BRT members, and individual reading tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. Tickets include entertainment and a soul food dinner. Conceived, produced and directed by Artistic Associate Adam Goldstein, the America Rising: Voices of Today staged reading series is a celebration of culture and language. Presented in partnership with Temple University's MFA graduate acting program, the series opens the door to the hottest new voices of the American theatre.

On February 18 and 19, La MaMa will host an open house, 'New Voices Heard,' featuring a sampling of eight plays that were developed during the summer of 2008 in the La MaMa Umbria International Playwrights Retreat. This free event will take place at La MaMa La Galleria, 6 East First Street, Manhattan (between Second Avenue and Bowery), Manhattan. Admission is free. Excerpts of eight plays will be presented. Seven will be staged readings and one will be fully acted.

Bristol Riverside Theatre continues its America Rising: Voices of Today reading series with Zakiyyah Alexander's SICK?. This reading will take place Sunday, February 15 at 5 p.m. at St. James Parish Hall, 225 Walnut Street in Bristol. Subscriptions are $45, $40 for BRT members, and individual reading tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. Tickets include entertainment and a soul food dinner. Conceived, produced and directed by Artistic Associate Adam Goldstein, the America Rising: Voices of Today staged reading series is a celebration of culture and language. Presented in partnership with Temple University's MFA graduate acting program, the series opens the door to the hottest new voices of the American theatre.

Ars Nova (Jason Eagan, Artistic Director; Jon Steingart and Jenny Wiener Steingart, Executive Producers) proudly announces its 2009 Play Group and Artists-in-Residence. Play Group is Ars Nova's vibrant and eclectic group of emerging writers who gather twice a month at Ars Nova to share new work and get peer feedback. The group offers members the chance to develop their plays with peer support, form collaborative relationships and build a strong sense of community within Ars Nova.

Michael Attenborough will direct Steven Mackintosh and David Morrissey in the European premiere of Neil LaBute's three hander, In a Dark Dark House, which runs at the Almeida from November 20th -January 17th, with press night on November 27th. In a Dark Dark House is designed by Lez Brotherston, with lighting by Howard Harrison and sound by Howard Wood. Final casting will be announced shortly.

Almedia Theater announces fall casting.

Almeida Theatre announces Fall/Winter Season.

Full casting has been announced for Almeida Theatre Artistic Director Michael Attenborough's production of Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing!,

Michael Attenborough will direct Stockard Channing in Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing!.

Michael Attenborough, Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre, will direct the European Premiere of African-American playwright Theodore Ward's Big White Fog.

Signature Theatre Company (James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director; Kathryn M. Lipuma, Executive Director) announced today that it would extend August Wilson's KING HEDLEY II one additional week since the originally scheduled run has been sold-out for weeks.