American Playwrights News

Following the loss of three-time Tony Award and three-time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, producer and director Edward Albee, Off Broadway theatres across NYC will dim their lights on Wednesday, September 21st at 7:45PM for exactly one minute, the Off Broadway League has announced. Widely considered one of the greatest American playwrights of his generation and of the 20th Century, Mr. Albee passed away at age 88 on Friday, September 17, 2016.

The marquees of Broadway theatres in New York will be dimmed in Edward Albee's honor on Wednesday, September 21, 2016 at exactly 7:45pm for one minute.

Zeitgeist Stage Company presents a collection of short plays by Tennessee Williams. EIGHT BY TENN has the trademark lyrical writing style that makes Williams Williams, but not all characters are equally developed, posing a challenge for the actors. Artistic Director David J. Miller directs an ensemble of three newcomers and five returnees whose performances are uneven.

Fantasy Island for Dummies (low cut daydream too near, too near) is a new music-theatre work inspired by an episode of the iconic television series about the pleasures and perils of wish fulfillment. Devised in a collaborative exploration with Trap Door Theater actors, the piece is written by Ruth Margraff and directed by Kate Hendrickson, with original music composed by Pink Velvet. A 1980 "Fantasy Island" episode about a ventriloquist and her devious dummy inspires a voyage into suppressed identities, ancient Babylonian sex goddesses, and a "perfect wife" struggling with her defiant side. 

A world-premiere play, Among the Dead by Hansol Jung; a world-premiere musical by Michi Barall, Paul Lieber, and Matt Park, PEER GYNT & the Norwegian Hapa Band; and the special presentation of the hit play The Wong Kids in the Secret of the Space Chupacabra Go! by Lloyd Suh in Manila comprise the season to be produced by Ma-Yi Theater Company during their 2016-2017 season, it is announced by the company's Producing Artistic Director Ralph B. Peña and Executive Director Jorge Z. Ortoll. 

La Jolla Playhouse presents Tiger Style! by La Jolla native Mike Lew, directed by Playhouse Associate Artistic Director Jaime Castañeda, running now through October 2 (press opening: tonight, September 14 at 7:00pm) in the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre.

The Dramatists Guild Fund will host Annual Presentation of New Work by DG Fellows at Playwrights Horizons in New York on September 19, 2016 at 7:00 PM.

The Lark named five New York City-based playwrights as Rita Goldberg Playwrights' Workshop Fellows for the 2016-17 season. The group spans a wide range of backgrounds and professional experiences and will meet regularly throughout the year to develop new plays.

The OBIE Award-winning NAATCO, National Asian American Theater Company, concludes their 25th anniversary season with the New York Premiere of MJ Kaufman's Sagittarius Ponderosa. Ken Rus Schmoll directs an all-Asian American cast that includes Daniel K. Isaac (of TV's 'Billions'), Mia Katigbak, Glenn Kubota, Bex Kwan and Virginia Wing.

La Jolla Playhouse presents Tiger Style!, by La Jolla native Mike Lew, directed by Playhouse Associate Artistic Director Jaime Castañeda, running tonight, September 6, through October 2 (press opening: Wed, September 14 at 7:00pm) in the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre.

Tickets are now on sale for Temple Theaters 2016-2017 season of performances at Temple University - dramas by acclaimed American playwrights, two Broadway hit musicals and a new play by Pulitzer Prize nominee Kristoffer Diaz and more.

The Trap Door Theatre presents Fantasy Island For Dummies (low cut daydream too near, too near), written by Ruth Margraff and directed by Kate Hendrickson, with original music composed by Nikos Brisco. The production opens Thursday, September 29, 2016 at 8 p.m. and runs through Saturday, November 5, 2016.

Playwrights Horizons has announced complete casting for A LIFE, the world premiere of a new play by Obie Award winner Adam Bock (A Small Fire and The Drunken City at Playwrights, The Receptionist, The Thugs, Swimming in the Shallows). Directed by two-time Obie Award winner Anne Kauffman (Marjorie Prime, Detroit, Maple and Vine at Playwrights; You Got Older; Belleville; This Wide Night; Smokefall), A LIFE will be the second production of the theater company's 2016/2017 Season.

Ever wonder what evil lurks in the heart of suburbia? Get ready for another wild ride fromThe Echo Theater Company when Dustin Wills directs theworld premiere of a modern-day, darkly comic revenge tragedy by Mary Laws. Blueberry Toast puts the "dys" in family dysfunction beginning Sept. 17 at Atwater Village Theatre.

Playwrights Horizons today announced Musical Theatre Factory as the second theater company to join its Resident Company Program.

The Utah Shakespeare Festival has announced a new name, an increased commitment, and an enhanced mission, for its new plays program. Formerly known as the New American Playwrights Project (NAPP), the Festival primary vehicle for exploring new works will now be a new program, Words3.

Previews begin next Friday, August 19 at 8PM for the Playwrights Horizons New York premiere production of AUBERGINE, a new play by Susan Smith Blackburn Prize winner Julia Cho (BFE at Playwrights, The Language Archive, The Piano Teacher, Durango, The Architecture of Loss).

As the election season swings into high gear Philadelphia Theatre Company revisits one of the city's most controversial politicians, Frank Rizzo, with a re-mounting of Theatre Exile's production of Rizzo by Bruce Graham on September 23-October 16.

Artistic Director of The Print Room at the Coronet Anda Winters today announces the full cast for Tennessee Williams' rarely performed A LOVELY SUNDAY IN CREVE COEUR, which opens the theatre's new Autumn season. Michael Oakley directs Debbie Chazen as Bodey, Hermione Gulliford as Helena, Laura Rogers as Dorothea and Julia Watson as Miss Gluck. The production opens in the main theatre space on 15 September, with previews from 12 September and runs until 7 October.

Playwrights Horizons begins accepting entries today, Monday, August 8, for the LIVEforFIVE online lottery for $5 tickets to their New York premiere production of AUBERGINE, a new play by Susan Smith Blackburn Prize winner Julia Cho (BFE at Playwrights, The Language Archive, The Piano Teacher, Durango, The Architecture of Loss).