Alisa Solomon News

In a recent interview with Daily Beast, playwright Tony Kushner chats about one of his current projects- WEST SIDE STORY. Kushner is rewriting the book for the classic movie for director Steven Spielberg. Don't expect any changes to the score, however. "I am not touching in any way the greatest score of a musical ever written,' says Kushner. 'I love the [1961] film. Who doesn't? I am not changing the story, the setting, the period. It is still the Upper West Side in the late 1950s, but I'm exploring the story.'

In a recent interview with the Daily Beast, playwright Tony Kushner opens up about his new play about the Trump presidency. 'The nightmare is in high gear,' says Kushner. 'It certainly feels like folly that I or anyone else has a definitive understanding or comprehensive understanding of what going on. I have my guesses like everyone else has, but it will take some time and a lot will depend on how it is resolved.'

BREAK THE WALL (www.breakthewallproject.org), an open-access hybrid theatre/website theatre project addressing the Israel/Palestine conflict, officially launches on June 5, the 50th anniversary of the start of Israel's Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

Underground Railway Theater will present Tony Kushner's Homebody from April 20 - May 7, 2017. Homebody is directed by Lee Mikeska Gardner. The press performance is Saturday, April 22 at 8PM.

Led by Founding Producer Kate Loewald, The Play Company (PlayCo) has announced the complete schedule of public programs to be presented as part of Idea Lab and in conjunction with the U.S. English language premiere of Guillermo Calderon's Villa (now through April 1).

Led by Founding Producer Kate Loewald, The Play Company (PlayCo) has announced the complete schedule of public programs to be presented as part of Idea Lab and in conjunction with the U.S. English language premiere of Guillermo Calderon's Villa (March 1-April 1).

An epic romance retrieves from oblivion the lost story of the Holocaust of Libyan Jews in 'Benghazi Bergen-Belsen,' a play by Lahav Timor that is inspired by the Brenner Prize-winning 2016 novel of the same name by Yossi Sucary, the first book about Jews in World War II Libya. The play is translated from Hebrew by Inbal Timor and directed by Michal Gamily. La MaMa Theatre will present its world premiere run March 23 to April 9 in its Downstairs Theater, 66 East Fourth Street, Manhattan (East Village).

Angels in America is considered by many to be the seminal play on America at the end of the twentieth century-not the least of which because it features the lawyer Roy Cohn. Cohn, who served as Joseph McCarthy's chief counsel during the Senator's Communist witch hunt that terrorized many in the artistic community and provided the inspiration for Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Cohn also served as the attorney for high-level members of the mafia, and, perhaps most relevant to today's current political environment, worked as Donald Trump's lawyer during the 1970s and 1980s. 

The Archives of La MaMa just launched La MaMa's Digital Collections Website (catalog.lamama.org). Its development was made possible by a generous 'hidden archival collections' grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources. The site, which premieres on June 27, 2016 as part of La MaMa's 55th anniversary season, is freely available for use by artists, scholars, educators, and the interested public. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the collection!

Warehouse Theatre continues its 2016 Season today with Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches by Tony Kushner and directed by Kristofer Green.

Warehouse Theatre is pleased to announce the next production in its 2016 Season, Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches by Tony Kushner and directed by Kristofer Green.

Though he opposes the policy, Kushner serves on the board of an organization that supports sanctions against Israel.

The George Jean Nathan Award Committee has chosen two recipients of the 2014-15 prize for the year's best work in dramatic criticism. Brian Eugenio Herrera is receiving the award for his book Latin Numbers: Playing Latino in Twentieth-Century U.S. Popular Performance (University of Michigan, 2015). Chris Jones has been chosen for his work as theater critic for the Chicago Tribune. 

The new Broadway revival of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF is getting in the holiday spirit by celebrating the first night of Chanukah with four major events this Sunday, December 6. From DOROT on Upper East Side to Macy's and Hebro in Midtown to The Museum of Eldridge Street on Manhattan's historic Lower East Side, the city will be covered with FIDDLER cast appearances and performances to celebrate the Jewish Festival of Lights.

Breaking all box office records in its day, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, currently in previews at the Broadway Theater and scheduled to open December 20th, has thrilled audiences on Broadway and around the world for more than half a century. Generations have embraced Tevye's story and such unforgettable songs as 'Tradition,' 'If I were a Rich Man,' and 'Sunrise, Sunset.' Now as this beloved musical returns to the New York stage, the Museum at Eldridge Street welcomes the show's legendary lyricist: Tony, Grammy, and Pulitzer Prize winner, Sheldon Harnick.

Events marking the return of Fiddler on the Roof to Broadway are not in short supply this fall at The Museum at Eldridge Street. This Sunday, November 1st, come join author and Columbia University Professor Alisa Solomon for a fascinating talk and a real treat. Solomon provides an inside look at the talented team who clashed, collaborated, and created this most celebrated of shows and explores how a story about shtetl life became a musical with worldwide appeal.

A host of special programs providing new insight into this beloved musical and the book it was based on, Sholem Aleichem's TEVYE THE DAIRYMAN.

Stephen C. Widom Cultural Arts at Temple Emanuel of Great Neck (150 Hicks Lane) will commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the landmark Broadway musical, Fiddler on the Roof, on Sunday, April 26, 2015 at 3:00 p.m., with a unique celebration in story and song, entitled, Wonder of Wonders: Fiddler at 50!

Theatre for a New Audience announces its 2015 Open Books series, featuring John Lahr, Andrea Most, and Alisa Solomon: three free evenings of lively, engaging conversation with the authors of some of American theatre's most acclaimed new books at Polonsky Shakespeare Center, 262 Ashland Place.

The February 2015 edition of CUNY TV's ARTS IN THE CITY, hosted by Magalie Laguerre-Wilkinson from The Studio Museum in Harlem, begins today, Feb. 13 (2015) at 10am, 3pm and 8:30pm on CUNY TV*. The Studio Museum is featuring the new exhibitions Harlem Postcards, Speaking of People: Ebony, Jet and Contemporary Art, and solo shows by artists Kianja Strobert and Titus Kaphar.