Linda S. Chapman

Interview: Director Leigh Silverman's Always SEARCHING FOR INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE & Beyond

Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner’s re-imagined The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe has opened at the Mark Taper Forum to audience and critics’ raves. Leigh Silverman directs this one-woman show starring Saturday Night Live’s Cecily Strong. I got to chat with Leigh while she was making her way home amidst the hustle and bustle of the New York City streets.

BWW Review: THE CHRONICLES OF BEEBO BRINKER at Desert Ensemble Theater

Pulp fiction got its name from the low-quality, pulpy paper the stories were printed on, not the content. However, 'pulp' became synonymous with trashy, back alley reading punctuated with cheap sensationalist thrills, fast-paced plot lines and bad writing. Tell that last bit to John Lange (aka Michael Crichton), Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and Dashiell Hammett (The Thin Man, and Sam Spade) who have all had off-shoot careers in pulp.

Desert Ensemble Theatre Announces 11th Season and New Home at Palm Springs Cultural Center

Learn more about the full season here, which includes The Beebo Brinker Chronicles, Artificial Morality, Salty, and All This Intimacy.

New York Theatre Workshop Announces Retirement of Associate Artistic Director Linda S. Chapman

New York Theatre Workshop announced today that Associate Artistic Director Linda S. Chapman will retire at the end of the year following 25 years with the company. Chapman joined the company in 1995 and has served as an instrumental curator, advocate and collaborator.

La Jolla Playhouse Announces Projects for 2018 DNA New Work Series

La Jolla Playhouse is pleased to bring back for a sixth year its acclaimed new play development initiative, the DNA New Work Series, a weekend of readings of new works, taking place March 22 - 25, 2018 in the Playhouse's Rao and Padma Makeneni Play Development Center. Tickets for the DNA New Work Series are free but reservations are required by calling (858) 550-1010 or visiting LaJollaPlayhouse.org.

The Global Theater Initiative (GTI), a partnership between Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics (The Lab), is organizing its third delegation to the Santiago a Mil Festival from January 17-22, 2017.

Midtown Direct Rep (MDR) concludes its 2015-16 Theater in the Loft series at the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) with a staged reading of BLINK, written by Kate Moira Ryan and directed by Mark Armstrong.

?Midtown Direct Rep (MDR) concludes its 2015-16 Theater in the Loft series at the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) with a staged reading of BLINK, written by Kate Moira Ryan and directed by Mark Armstrong. The staged reading will be performed for one night only on Sunday, March 20, 2016 at 7pm at SOPAC (One Sopac Way, South Orange, NJ, 07079). The reading is $15 and open to the public. Tickets can be purchased at the SOPAC box office, www.sopacnow.org, or by calling 973-313-ARTS (2787). For direct link to purchase tickets, please Click Here.

Ann Bannon, a puesdonym for Ann Weldy, wrote six lesbian themed pulp novels from 1957 to 1962. These novels are collectively known as The Beebo Brinker Chronicles, and have experienced several renaissances of rediscovery. The most recent was when Cleis Press rereleased the series from 2001 to 2003 with newly penned autobiographical forwards. The Hourglass Group presented the World Premiere of Kate Moira Ryan and Linda S. Chapman's play adaptation of the series in 2007. The writers used material from the second, third, and fourth novels (I Am a Woman, Women in the Shadows, and Journey to a Woman) to construct their narrative. THE BEEBO BRINKER CHONICLES found success both Off-Off-Broadway and Off-Broadway, and was awarded the GLAAD Media Award for "fair, accurate, and inclusive" character portrayals of gay and lesbian people.

Theater Breaking Through Barriers, the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway company known for its productions that integrate able-bodied actors with artists with disabilities, presents the world premiere of Kate Moira Ryan's BASS FOR PICASSO -- a new play about five New Yorkers, including a physically disabled food writer for The New York Times, whose secrets are exposed during a memorable dinner party -- with previews to begin April 17 prior to its official press opening May 2 at Theatre Row's Kirk Theatre (410 West 42nd Street). Ike Schambelan directs.