American Playwrights News

Composer Stephen Flaherty just revealed in a recent interview with Aussietheatre.com, that his recent dance musical IN YOUR ARMS, which premiered last year as at part of the summer season at Vassar's Powerhouse Theatre, will soon get a regional run.

Marin Theatre Company begins 2015 with the Bay Area premiere of The Convert, which marks the Bay Area debut of award-winning Zimbabwean-American playwright Danai Gurira, running Feb 19-March 15.

Nothing beats the winter blues like satire, swizzle sticks, and a pistol-packing nun! The University of Southern Maine (USM) Department of Theatre will present An Evening with Christopher Durang: 'For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls' and 'Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You,' directed by William Steele, USM professor of theatre, Feb. 6-14, at the Portland Stage Studio Theater.

Due to popular pre-sale demand, Aurora Theatre Company announces that it will again extend Lanford Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning TALLEY'S FOLLY, the second fully staged production to be performed in the company's second stage performance space, Harry's UpStage.

MSG Entertainment (MSGE) announced today that Lenny Wolpe and Jared Grimes are joining the cast of New York Spring Spectacular, the highly-anticipated new production at Radio City Music Hall.

There has always been something threatening to kill the theatre. Long before 49 producers were needed to mount a show, reality stars hit the boards, or 42nd Street became Disney-fied... And even long before Andrew Lloyd Webber, the same constant revivals, or premium ticket prices... It was a countless list of other events daring to put the theatre six feet under. The theatre community's constant fear of these other diabolical dilemmas: from the caustic critic, the invention of the automobile, burlesque, union strikes, the 'talkies' and more are cleverly skewered as only Moss Hart & George S. Kaufman could in The Fabulous Invalid. Their 1938 'valentine' to the theatre's resilience is the first reading in ReGroup Theatre's new monthly series 'ReGroup Reads: The Greatest American Playwrights.'

Luna Stage welcomes back Tony and Grammy nominee reg e gaines for a special performance and free workshop celebrating Black History Month.

Trust me: you will become absorbed with these characters. You will care about who these people are and what they're going to do next. In the end the Whale's heroism matters; the motivations the dramatist tenders for that heroism don't much. It's just an interesting story touchingly told

Luna Stage is now accepting submissions of monologues and 10-minute plays for the 3rd annual New Moon Short Play Festival. Playwrights of all career levels making their home in New Jersey, New York or Pennsylvania may apply. There is no fee for submission. The festival will be presented on two days: Monday, May 11th and Tuesday, May 12th 2015 at 7:30pm at Luna Stage in West Orange, NJ.

Playwrights Horizons announced today the promotion of the theater company's Director of New Play Development Adam Greenfield to Associate Artistic Director. This is the first major change to the Artistic leadership of the acclaimed organization since Mr. Sanford was promoted from the same associate position to become Artistic Director in 1996.

In a new interview with PEOPLE, DANCING WITH THE STARS five-time champion Derek Hough has revealed that he will not appear on the upcoming season of the ABC celebrity dance competition when it returns this March.

Artistic Director Les Waters and Managing Director Jennifer Bielstein are pleased to announce the lineup of The Tens, an evening of world premiere ten-minute plays. The Tens runs tonight, January 13 - 17, 2015 in the Victor Jory Theatre.

Today January 9, 2015 in New York City, Obie Award winner David Drake will direct the inaugural reading of the new musical The Beachcomber Boys, with book and lyrics by Myra Slotnick and music by Grammy Award-winning composer Peter Stopschinski, whose contribution to Madeleine George's The Curious Case Of Dr. Watson was nominated for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

Marin Theatre Company presents Around the World in 80 Days by Toby Hulse, based on the book by Jules Verne, as part of MTC's Theater Series for Young Audiences. Directed by Daunielle Rasmussen, the production runs tonight, January 9 - 18, 2015.

The White Horse Theater Company is set to present Sam Shepard's gripping, yet rarely seen play Eyes For Consuela from February 6-21 at the Gene Frankel Theatre (24 Bond Street). The four-person drama surrounding the nature of love, loss and separation in a dreamlike Mexican landscape will be directed by White Horse Theater Company's Producing Artistic Director Cyndy A. Marion.

Luna Stage begins 2015 with a revival of A Perfect Ganesh, Terrence McNally's beautiful story of love and redemption. A Perfect Ganesh opens to previews on Thursday January 29, 2015 and runs Thursdays through Sundays through February 22nd. Opening night is Saturday January 31, 2015. Select performances are followed by Talkbacks with the creative team. Tickets range from $25-$35. Group sales available. $10 Student Rush tickets available one half-hour before curtain. Individual tickets can be purchased at lunastage.org, or at the box office Tues.-Fri. 10am-3pm (973-395-5551).

The Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Keen Company today announced the writers for this year's Keen Playwrights Lab and Keen Teens programs.

MSG Entertainment (MSGE) announced today that Bella Thorne will be the voice of the Alice in Wonderland Statue, one of the featured large-scale puppets that appears in the Central Park scene in the highly-anticipated New York Spring Spectacular.

On January 9, 2015 in New York City, Obie Award winner David Drake will direct the inaugural reading of the new musical The Beachcomber Boys, with book and lyrics by Myra Slotnick and music by Grammy Award-winning composer Peter Stopschinski, whose contribution to Madeleine George's The Curious Case Of Dr. Watson was nominated for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

In a dying Texas town, a routine business deal erupts into a primal battle between father and son in San Francisco playwright William Bivins's twisted dark comedy, Ransom, Texas, opening January 8th at Theatre Asylum Lab in Hollywood. Directed by Jon Tracy and designed by Nina Ball, Ransom comes to Hollywood directly following a highly successful run in San Francisco at Tides Theatre. Virago Theatre Company's commitment to bringing new Bay Area plays to larger audiences is turning heads on both coasts on the heels of their New York run of AROUSAL and The Lover at the Flea in summer, 2014.