American Playwrights News

Since its founding in 1992, SITI Company has redefined contemporary theater in the United States through an innovative approach to collaboration, cultural exchange and actor training. The company's newest project is a dramatic incarnation of 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winner Julia Wolfe's profound art ballad STEEL HAMMER.

BroadwayWorld is excited to report that among the 17 recipients of the 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom are Broadway legends Stephen Sondheim and Barbra Streisand, as well as pop star and ON YOUR FEET! creator Gloria Estefan. President Barack Obama named this year's honoreees today, and the awards will be presented at the White House on November 24th.

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust will host the 2015 Steinberg Playwright Awards (the 8th Annual 'Mimi' Awards) honoring Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and Dominique Morisseau tonight, November 16, 2015 at Lincoln Center Theater's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 West 65th Street, New York, NY 10023).

The 2016 season for the Dead Writers Theatre Collective at the Athenaeum Theatre will include "The Importance of Being Earnest" directed by Jim Schneider on July 1-July 31, "Oh, Coward" directed by Charlie Marie McGrath on August 26--September 18, and "The Heiress" directed by Jim Schneider on August 29-October 23.

Award-winning director and University of Washington School of Drama professor Valerie Curtis-Newton will serve as co-curator of the 2016 Intiman Theatre Festival, which will be devoted to great American playwrights who are also inter-generational black female writers.

Playwrights Talk about the importance of grants and awards for young writers.

Playwrights Horizons begins accepting entries today, Wednesday, November 11, for the LIVEforFIVE online lottery for $5 tickets to their New York premiere of 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist Marjorie Prime, a new play by Jordan Harrison (Maple and Vine, Doris to Darlene at PH; Amazons and Their Men; Kid-Simple; 'Orange is the New Black').

Since its founding in 1992, SITI Company has redefined contemporary theater in the United States through an innovative approach to collaboration, cultural exchange and actor training. The company's newest project is a dramatic incarnation of 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winner Julia Wolfe's profound art ballad STEEL HAMMER.

Theatre luminaries will gather on Monday, November 16, 2015, to honor Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and Dominique Morisseau at the 2015 Steinberg Playwright Awards, presented by The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. Scenes highlighting their previous and new work will be presented at the 8th Annual 'Mimi' Awards, which will take place at Lincoln Center Theater's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. 

Acting Up Stage Company is thrilled to announce they will present the Toronto premiere of the critically acclaimed and Tony award-winning musical - GREY GARDENS.  GREY GARDENS will run in Toronto from Friday, February 19th to Sunday March 6th (Opening night February 22) at the Berkeley Street Theatre Downstairs (26 Berkeley St.), having its first preview40 years to the day that the film premiered theatrically in the U.S.. Tickets - on sale starting today - run from $35 to $55 and are available by phone at 416-368-3110, online at www.canadianstage.com, or in person at the box office.  

Due to critical acclaim and popular demand, Playwrights Horizons has announced a second extension of their New York premiere production of HIR, a new play by Obie Award-winning theater artist Taylor Mac (A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, The Lily's Revenge, The Walk Across America for Mother Earth, The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac, The Young Ladies Of).

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust will host the 2015 Steinberg Playwright Awards honoring Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and Dominique Morisseau on Monday, November 16, 2015 at Lincoln Center Theater's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 West 65th Street, New York, NY 10023).

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announces the 25th anniversary of the biennial workshop NEW VISIONS/NEW VOICES from May 6 to May 8, 2016. Dedicated to the development of new plays and musicals for young people and their families, this innovative series pioneers a unique forum for the field of theater for young audiences (TYA).

Steven Leigh Morris has been named Executive Director of LA STAGE Alliance, it was announced today by Brian Kite, LASA Board Chair. Morris succeeds longtime leader Terence McFarland, who left the post in April of this year. Morris's start date with the not-for-profit arts service organization will be announced shortly.

The OBIE Award-winning NAATCO, National Asian American Theater Company, continues their 25th season with the World Premiere of Lloyd Suh's Charles Francis Chan, Jr.'s Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery. Ed Sylvanus Iskandar directs a cast that includes Jeff Biehl, Jennifer Ikeda, Peter Kim, Orville Mendoza, KK Moggie and Jeffrey Omura. This Off-Broadway limited engagement at Walker Space (46 Walker Street) opens tonight, November 2nd. Performances continue through November 21st only.

This holiday season, Marin Theatre Company is staging a story that has warmed the hearts of children and adults since 1943: Antoine de Saint-Exupery's classic The Little Prince.

The 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winner Julia Wolfe's art ballad STEEL HAMMER comes to BAM in a dramatic reincarnation by director Anne Bogart, performed by six members of SITI Company, Bang on a Can All-Stars, and three vocalists- Emily Eagen, Katie Geissinger, Molly Quinn. The production makes its New York Premiere, presented by Julia Wolfe, SITI Company and Bang on a Can All-Stars, at the BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton St), December 2-6, 2015.

This December the playwright producing collective Orbiter 3 will present the world premiere of Emma Goidel's A Knee That Can Bend. Over the past two years Goidel has risen to the forefront of emerging American playwrights, working with and being recognized by organizations such as Ars Nova, the Kilroys, Labyrinth Theater Company and the Playwrights Realm. A Knee That Can Bend will mark her full-length theatre debut.

Philadelphia Young Playwrights (PYP) announced today that, after 15 years as its Executive Producing Director, Glen Knapp is choosing to leave the organization to pursue new career opportunities in education and in the foundation world.

Arthur Miller, the author of THE CRUCIBLE, which is now in production at the Cleveland Play House's Outcalt Theatre, was one of the most important modern American playwrights. Credited with being the developer of the contemporary definition of the American tragedy, he would have been 100 this year. Ironically, this is CPH's one-hundreth birthday, as well.