American Playwrights News

Acording to the Chicago Tribune, theatre legend Stephen Sondheim will receive Chicago Public Library Foundation's 16th Carl Sandburg Award. As a part of the ceremony on October 21, 2015, Sondheim will be interviewed onstage by Scott Simon of NPR. The Carl Sandburg Literary Award is presented annually to an acclaimed author in recognition of outstanding contributions to the literary world and honors a significant work or body of work that has enhanced the public's awareness of the written word. The Carl Sandburg Award in the Arts is presented to an individual who embodies a spirit of creativity and social consciousness.

SIGHT UNSEEN by Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies opened on Broadway in 2004 and went on to win an Obie Award for Best New American Play, an Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Play, and brought Laura Linney a Theatre World Award and nominations for both the Tony and Drama Desk Awards. It centers on celebrated artist Jonathan Waxman who, despite immense popularity, yearns for something more in his life. His soul-searching leads him to visit an old girlfriend and former muse he selfishly dismissed over a decade before.

In Little Children Dream of God, playwright Jeff Augustin uses aspects of magical realism, a style that originated in literature and visual art. The framework of his play is apparently realistic, until elements of dream, magic, and supernatural phenomena are introduced.

USA Today went backstage at New York's Radio City Music Hall where NEW YORK SPRING SPECTACULAR is now playing to chat with some of the Rockettes and co-stars about performing the 'Singing in the Rain' dance number as 500 gallons of simulated rain pours down on them!

MSG Entertainment (MSGE) welcomes a brand new production at Radio City Music Hall, New York Spring Spectacular, presented by Chase. This awe-inspiring theatrical Spectacular, which is jointly produced by Madison Square Garden Entertainment and Weinstein Live Entertainment, has already captured the hearts of thousands in the first week of previews. The limited seven-week engagement opens tonight, March 26, 2015 and runs through May 3, 2015.

Marin Theatre Company continues its 48th Season with the West Coast premiere of Mona Manour's The Way West, winner of the company's 2013 Sky Cooper New American Play Prize.

In Little Children Dream of God, playwright Jeff Augustin uses aspects of magical realism, a style that originated in literature and visual art. The framework of his play is apparently realistic, until elements of dream, magic, and supernatural phenomena are introduced.

On March 22, musical theatre legend Stephen Sondheim will celebrate his 85th birthday, and Buzzfeed has reached out to some of Broadway's finest to find out why they love his work. Barbra Streisand said:

Previews begin tomorrow, today, March 20 for the Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) world premiere of IOWA, a new musical play written by Susan Smith Blackburn Prize finalist Jenny Schwartz (God's Ear, Somewhere Fun), music by Todd Almond (Stage Kiss at PH, Kansas City Choir Boy, The Tempest, On the Levee) and lyrics by Mr. Almond and Ms. Schwartz. Directed by two-time Obie Award winner Ken Rus Schmoll (Red Dog Howls, Middletown, What Once We Felt; next season's Antlia Pneumatica at PH), the musical play will be the fifth production of the theater company's 2014/2015 Season.

Geva Theatre Center presents The Mountaintop - a soul-stirring reimagining of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s last night on earth by playwright Katori Hall, directed by Skip Greer. The Mountaintop begins performances March 31, opens April 4 (the anniversary of Dr. King's assassination), and runs in the Elaine P. Wilson Mainstage through April 26.

MSG Entertainment (MSGE) announced today that the brand new production at Radio City Music Hall, New York Spring Spectacular, presented by Chase, enjoyed a strong opening weekend of previews with two sold-out shows and one near sellout, following near sellouts of the first preview performances on Thursday and Friday.

MSG Entertainment (MSGE) and Weinstein Live Entertainment announced today that custom costumes designed by Diane von Furstenberg, Isaac Mizrahi and Zac Posen will be worn by the Rockettes in New York Spring Spectacular, presented by Chase.

Playwrights Horizons presents the world premiere of PLACEBO, a new play by Obie Award winner Melissa James Gibson (This at PH, What Rhymes with America, Suitcase, [sic], the FX series 'The Americans,' 'House of Cards' on Netflix). Directed by three-time Obie Award winner Daniel Aukin (This at PH, The Fortress of Solitude, Bad Jews, 4000 Miles, [sic]), the play is the fourth production of the theater company's 2014/2015 Season. Opening Night set for tonight, March 16 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street). Let's see what the critics had to say...

MSG Entertainment announced today that New York Spring Spectacular, presented by Chase, will include cameos by various celebrities, making the brand new production at Radio City Music Hall an all-star collaboration.

Bob Marley's Three Little Birds will be presented by Bay Area Children's Theatre as part of Marin Theatre Company's Theater Series for Young Audiences. Adapted by Michael J. Bobbitt; based on the story by Cedella Marley, with music by Bob Marley; additional music and lyrics by John L. Cornelius, II, the show will be directed by Michael Mohammed and runs tonight, March 7 - March 15, 2015.

Marin Theatre Company's Teen Apprentice Program and Director of Education Daunielle Rasmussen are pleased to announce the eight finalists of the sixth annual 10-Minute Play Festival.

Ma-Yi Theater - one of the nation's leading companies dedicated to the development and performance of new works by Asian-American playwrights - will present a reading of the new play with songs, PAPER DOLLS by Philip Himberg on Monday, March 9 at 3:30 pm at The Acorn Theatre on Theatre Row (410 W. 42 St.)

Aurora Theatre Company continues its 23rd season with TALLEY'S FOLLY. In a season dedicated to his memory, the company pays homage to one of the most prolific and revered American playwrights of the 20th century, Lanford Wilson, with 'The Talley Trilogy,' of which TALLEY'S FOLLEY is the first entry in the series of three interrelated plays.

Pulitzer Prize- and Greenfield Prize-winner Nilo Cruz's exquisite new play Sotto Voce opens Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 8pm in the Historic Asolo Theater and runs through Sunday, April 26, with previews on Tuesday, March 31 at 7:30pm and Wednesday, April 1 at 8pm.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces the full company for the Washington, D.C. premiere of Christopher Durang's Tony Award-winning comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.