Zakiyyah Alexander News

Last night, The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues presented 'Fists Up/Underlying Conditions,' a special event featuring entirely Black artists to benefit Communities United For Police Reform.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival today announced Branden Jacobs-Jenkins as the 37th and final commissioned artist as part of American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle, OSF's multi-decade program for developing new plays about moments of change in United States history.

Studio Theatre and Artistic Director David Muse have announced that Reginald L. Douglas will join the organization as its new Associate Artistic Director later this month. Douglas comes to Studio from City Theatre Company in Pittsburgh, where he has served as Artistic Producer since 2015.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival today announced six new commissions as part of American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle, OSF's multi-decade program of commissioning and developing 37 new plays about moments of change in United States history. The commissioned artists are Zakiyyah Alexander, Jaclyn Backhaus, E. M. Lewis, Mary Katheryn Nagle, Sara Nović, and Sanaz Toossi.

On Monday, March 25th The League of Professional Theatre Women (Kelli Lynn Harrison & Catherine Porter, Co-Presidents) presented the 2019 Theatre Women Awards at The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture (18 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012).

The League of Professional Theatre Women (Kelli Lynn Harrison and Catherine Porter, Co-Presidents), an organization which has been leading the gender parity conversation and championing women in the professional theatre for over 35 years, will present the 2019 Theatre Women Awards at The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture (18 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012) on Monday, March 25 at 7pm (doors open at 6:30pm). For more information on the 2019 TheatreWomen Awards, and to purchase tickets, please visit www.theatrewomen.org.

The League of Professional Theatre Women (Kelli Lynn Harrison and Catherine Porter, Co-Presidents), an organization which has been leading the gender parity conversation and championing women in the professional theatre for over 35 years, will present the 2019 Theatre Women Awards at The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture (18 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012) on Monday, March 25 at 7pm (doors open at 6:30pm). For more information on the 2019 Theatre Women Awards, and to purchase tickets, please visit www.theatrewomen.org. 

New year, new Kilroys! For the past five years The Kilroys, an LA-based collective of playwrights/producers continuing the fight to achieve gender balance in the American theater, have been advocating for equal representation on our American stages, and have released an annual list of under-produced plays by women, trans, and non-binary writers. Despite some measurable progress, we still have a long way to go before we strike that balance. So, as we approach 2019, we are beyond thrilled to introduce a fresh new gang of fearless badass leaders. These women will seize our reins and continue the fight for equality, creating random acts of disruption along the way, while the OG Kilroys will serve as an advisory board supporting the current class. 

DNAWORKS presents a series of events on the campus of Texas Christian University (TCU) between October 9 and 23 that highlights the relationship and impact that the arts can play in social justice and equity work. Events of this residency range from a TCU Community Leaders Workshop to a multimedia dance performance, concluding with a Community Town Hall Meeting. The College of Fine Arts' newly formed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Arts Programming Committee provided funding for this residency.

DNAWORKS presents a series of events on the campus of Texas Christian University (TCU) between October 9 and 23 that highlights the relationship and impact that the arts can play in social justice and equity work. Events of this residency range from a TCU Community Leaders Workshop to a multimedia dance performance, concluding with a Community Town Hall Meeting. The College of Fine Arts' newly formed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Arts Programming Committee provided funding for this residency.

DNAWORKS presents a series of events on the campus of Texas Christian University (TCU) between October 9 and 23 that highlights the relationship and impact that the arts can play in social justice and equity work. Events of this residency range from a TCU Community Leaders Workshop to a multimedia dance performance, concluding with a Community Town Hall Meeting. The College of Fine Arts' newly formed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Arts Programming Committee provided funding for this residency.

National New Play Network (NNPN), the country's alliance of professional theaters that collaborate in innovative ways to develop, produce, and extend the life of new plays, has added three new Core Members: Silk Road Rising (Chicago), Company One (Boston), and City Theatre Company (Pittsburgh). As of the date of this release, NNPN has 114 Members Theaters, comprised of 32 Cores and 82 Associates.

In collaboration with Ghiberti Foundation at Grace Cathedral, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) is pleased to present Requiem Mass: A Queer Divine Rite, a monumental choral work organized by renowned singer-composer Holcombe Waller. Making its San Francisco debut, Requiem Mass honors and invokes the peaceful repose of those who have suffered persecution due to their sexual orientation or gender expression.

Center Theatre Group has announced the launch of the inaugural L.A. Writers' Workshop Festival: New Plays Forged In L.A., to celebrate some of the freshest and most exciting voices in modern American theatre coming out of Los Angeles and Center Theatre Group's long-standing L.A. Writers' Workshop. To be held annually at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, the festival will feature readings of three new plays by three L.A. Writers' Workshop participants from throughout the program's thirteen year history. The inaugural festival will be on June 23 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. with readings of "A Kind of Weather" by Sylvan Oswald, "New Life" by Dan O'Brien and "How To Raise A Freeman" by Zakiyyah Alexander.

Center Theatre Group has announced casting for the inaugural L.A. Writers' Workshop Festival: New Plays Forged In L.A., a one day event at the Kirk Douglas Theatre celebrating some of the freshest and most exciting voices in modern American theatre. The festival will take place on June 23 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. with readings of three new plays by three L.A. Writers' Workshop participants from throughout the program's 13-year history. The readings include "A Kind of Weather" by Sylvan Oswald, "New Life" by Dan O'Brien and "How To Raise A Freeman" by Zakiyyah Alexander.

McCarter is proud to welcome a group of esteemed and emerging playwrights and theater artists to Princeton for the Sallie B. Goodman Artists' Retreat. The annual Retreat in June is a centerpiece of McCarter's LAB, a platform and creative incubator devoted to ongoing theatrical development and artist cultivation. The 2018 Retreat will take place from June 6 - June 13.

Center Theatre Group has announced the launch of the inaugural L.A. Writers' Workshop Festival: New Plays Forged In L.A., to celebrate some of the freshest and most exciting voices in modern American theatre coming out of Los Angeles and Center Theatre Group's long-standing L.A. Writers' Workshop. To be held annually at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, the festival will feature readings of three new plays by three L.A. Writers' Workshop participants from throughout the program's thirteen year history. The inaugural festival will be on June 23 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. with readings of "A Kind of Weather" by Sylvan Oswald, "New Life" by Dan O'Brien and "How To Raise A Freeman" by Zakiyyah Alexander.

In what has become an annual ritual, a total of 36 established and emerging composers, lyricists, and librettists will converge on the Goodspeed campus from mid-January through mid-February 2018 to participate in the Johnny Mercer Foundation Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals. The writing teams, representing 18 new musicals, will populate the campus, creating a truly exciting environment for discovery and inspiration.

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

National Alliance for Musical Theatre presents its 29th Annual FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS, set for today, October 19, and tomorrow, October 20, 2017 at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues). The Festival kicked off yesterday, October 18, with its celebrated concert, The 46th Minute.