Weyni Mengesha News

Steppenwolf Theatre Company announced today it will postpone the 20/21 planned production of Donnetta Lavinia Grays's Last Night and the Night Before to a future season due to extended public health concerns related to COVID-19.

At an online media announcement - pre-taped in front of Meridian Hall with physically distanced protocols in place - streamed June 8 on the Dora Awards YouTube channel, the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) announced 243 nominations for the 41st annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards.

This spring, Stanford Live presents the world premiere of Scott Joplin's Treemonisha, a 21st-century reimagining of the sole surviving opera by the a?oeKing of Ragtimea?? (April 23a?"26). Produced by Canada's Volcano Theatre, in association with Moveable Beast, and led by a predominantly Black, female creative team, the new work combines original source material from Treemonisha (c. 1911), Joplin's visionary tale of community and female leadership, with a new story and libretto by playwright and broadcaster Leah-Simone Bowen, working with co-librettist Cheryl L. Davis, and expanded musical arrangements and new orchestrations by composers Jessie Montgomery and Jannina Norpoth. In the title role, soprano Neema Bickersteth a?" a?oean incredible performera?? (The Guardian) whose a?oegalvanic voice outshines anything else onstagea?? (Vancouver Observer) a?" heads an all-Black cast, with an all-Black majority-female, nine-piece orchestra performing on Western and African instruments, under the award-winning stage direction of Weyni Mengesha, and conducted by Jeri Lynne Johnson.

Lucius is an exuberant, charismatic serial killer who claims to have found God while incarcerated. His exact religious philosophy is unclear - he preaches justice but cannot account for his own atrocities.  Angel was arrested for shooting the leader of a dangerous religious cult. He doesn't think he's done anything wrong, but he lacks Lucius'  energy and confidence; whereas Lucius can convince himself - and others - that God loves all sinners, Angel is plagued by doubts, first in the competence of his attorney, and, eventually, in himself.

A Streetcar Named Desire recently opened at Soulpepper Theatre. Read what critics had to say!

Weyni Mengesha's new production of the Tennessee Williams classic is a solid undertaking, a technically precise, error-free interpretation of a story we know well. 

The Board of Directors of The Theatre Centre is pleased to announce the appointment of Aislinn Rose as General and Artistic Director following an extensive search which attracted a number of talented candidates from a variety of backgrounds. Rose will assume the role on May 27, 2019.

Blockchain Theater Project (BTP), founded by Sofia Alvarez and Nicola Korzenko, is a new theater company that empowers artists to produce the work they create, funded in part by cryptocurrency donations. Like Bitcoin and other blockchains, BTP eliminates the institutional gatekeeper, creating a peer-to-peer model of support where the next play to be produced will be nominated by the playwright of the current production. Alvarez's NYLON will start this chain.

Award-winning storyteller, playwright, and Bay Area local Brenda Wong Aoki is pleased to announce that she has been selected as a recipient of a Hewlett 50 Arts Commission, a program of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to commission new works by world-class artists. Wong Aoki, in collaboration with the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), is among a stellar group of 10 Bay Area based non-profit organizations that will receive $150,000 to create important and unique work that facilitates discussions around the most pressing local issues happening in our country.

Jacob G. Padron, 38, has been named the new Artistic Director of Long Wharf Theatre and will begin his role February 1, 2019.

Soulpepper Theatre Company is pleased to announce the appointment of award-winning director and dramaturge Weyni Mengesha as the company's new Artistic Director. Mengesha began her association with Soulpepper twelve years ago; she was a member of the Soulpepper Academy, and since then has won several awards as a director, dramaturge and teacher.

Broadwayworld.com had the pleasure of interviewing Flor De Liz Perez about her career and her role as Yesica in 'El Coqu Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom' that will be performed at Two River Theater from January 6 to February 4.

The Public Theater is currently presenting its Free Shakespeare in the Park production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, directed by Lear deBessonet with choreography by Chase Brock. The show officially opened last night, Monday, July 31 and runs through Sunday, August 13. BroadwayWorld brings you photos from the opening night red carpet below!

Tickets are on sale for the US debut for SOULPEPPER, Toronto's largest and most celebrated theatre company, in a four-week engagement Off-Broadway at The Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street in New York City. A true repertory program of plays, musicals and concert performances, featuring a company of over 65 artists, the festival, entitled SOULPEPPER ON 42nd STREET, will be presented July 1-July 29, 2017. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the productions below!

At a press conference held May 30 in the lobby of the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) announced 235 nominations for the 38th Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards, which recognize excellence in the performing arts in Toronto.

The New York premiere of Martin Zimmerman's Seven Spots On The Sun, directed by Weyni Mengesha, presented by Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in collaboration with The Sol Project, celebrated its opening night on May 10. Attendees included Ethan Lipton, Leigh Silverman and Keith Randolph Smith. The opening night party and celebration took place at Macondo West (2 Bank St.), and BroadwayWorld has photos from the festivities below!

Most people don't like war. We know that. So when a playwright sets out to write an anti-war drama, it helps to present some kind of specific angle that offers a clear, and hopefully original, message.

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, in collaboration with The Sol Project, presents the New York premiere of Martin Zimmerman's meditation on mourning, redemption and revenge, Seven Spots On The Sun, directed by 2016 Dora Award winner Weyni Mengesha, starring Flora Diaz (The Eyes of My Mother, Fox's 'Gotham'), Peter Jay Fernandez (Broadway: All the Way, Cyrano de Bergerac) and Flor De Liz Perez (CBS's 'The Good Wife,' West End: The Motherf**ker with the Hat, Dolphins and Sharks). BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in collaboration with The Sol Project is presenting the New York premiere of Martin Zimmerman's meditation on mourning, redemption and revenge, Seven Spots On The Sun, starring Flora Diaz (The Eyes of My Mother, Fox's 'Gotham') as Belen, Peter Jay Fernandez (Broadway: All the Way, Cyrano de Bergerac) as Eugenio and Flor De Liz Perez (CBS's 'The Good Wife,' West End: The Motherf**ker with the Hat, Dolphins and Sharks) as Monica. 2016 Dora Award winner Weyni Mengesha directs.

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in collaboration with The Sol Project presents the New York premiere of Martin Zimmerman's meditation on mourning, redemption and revenge, Seven Spots On The Sun, directed by 2016 Dora Award winner Weyni Mengesha, starring Flora Diaz (The Eyes of My Mother, Fox's 'Gotham'), Peter Jay Fernandez (Broadway: All the Way, Cyrano de Bergerac) and Flor De Liz Perez (CBS's 'The Good Wife,' West End: The Motherf**ker with the Hat, Dolphins and Sharks).