American Playwrights News

American Indian Artists Inc. (AMERINDA) will present the World Premiere of POWWOW HIGHWAY, a stage adaptation of David Seals novel turned cult classic film by William S. Yellow Robe, Jr. Directed by Madeline Sayet, previews begin October 10 at HERE. Opening night is slated for Thursday, October 16.

The legendary Cherry Lane Theatre - which this year will celebrate its 90th anniversary as one of the nation's most revered institutions for its commitment to producing new works for the stage - will begin its 90th season with the world-premiere of Lisa Ramirez's play TO THE BONE directed by Lisa Peterson, set to commence previews September 9 prior to an official opening night September 17 at Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce St. in Greenwich Village), it has been announced by Angelina Fiordellisi, the company's Founding Artistic Director. The production runs through October 4.

Playing on Air, a public radio show featuring recordings of select contemporary short American plays, returns to BRIC House for a new season of performances. Nine short plays by notable American playwrights (three per evening) will be recorded live at BRIC House, 647 Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn on October 20, 27 and December 1 at 7:30pm.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company Artistic Director Martha Lavey engages in conversation with John Lahr about his latest book, Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh in a special one-night-only event, Monday, October 13 at 7pm in the Downstairs Theatre. Lahr, who served as senior drama critic for The New Yorker for more than two decades, recently released his twentieth book, an authoritative, extraordinary biography on Tennessee Williams that invites intimate access into the mind of a playwright whose work reshaped the American theater. The conversation will include a Q&A, followed by a book signing in the lobby. Tickets are $10 and are available through Audience Services (1650 N Halsted), at 312-335-1650 or at steppenwolf.org.

According to Variety, London theatre critic David Benedict will soon pen a new Stephen Sondheim biography for Random House, titled: "How Did It Happen: The Life and Career of Stephen Sondheim." The book will include interviews withe the man himself, as well as information gathered from his frequent collaborators. Random House expects Benedict's first daft by December 2017.

Playwrights Horizons announced the appointment of Liz Fallon Culp as the institution's new Director of Development. Ms. Culp joins the acclaimed theater company direct from New York Public Radio (WNYC/WQXR), where she served as the Senior Director of Major Gifts and Legacy Giving. She began with the theater company this month, leading its seven-person Development department.

Arthur Miller's intense drama, raising questions of morality and the limits of family ties, promises to be a special opening production for Raven's 2014-2015 season. Headlining the cast will be Chuck Spencer and JoAnn Montemurro as Joe and Kate Keller. These two Raven ensemble members, who earned accolades for their work as Willy and Linda Loman in Miller's Death of a Salesman and as Victor and Esther Franz in his The Price, will play Joe and Kate Keller. Raven first produced All My Sons in 1990 and they appeared in that production as well, playing George Deever and Ann Deever.

Abingdon Theatre Company - which has produced more than 83 new American plays in its 22-year history - is set to celebrate its 2014-2015 Season with ABINGDON: WHERE THE STARS ALIGN, its annual benefit gala and dinner, on Monday, October 20 at Espace (635 West 42nd Street in Manhattan). Emmy and OBIE award-winning actor John Cunningham, whose credits include 19 Broadway productions (Titanic, Love Letters), is set to emcee the event, which begins at 6:00pm.

Don't look back. Three generations of one family move ever westward, restless, seeking. As they migrate from Croatia, through Wyoming, and onward to Japan, the land of opportunity keeps moving, and the past keeps catching up.

Golden Thread Productions, the first American theatre company focused on the Middle East, is proud to announce the eight short plays selected for its prestigious ReOrient 2015 Festival of Short Plays. The winners feature returning ReOrient favorites Yussef El Guindi, Mona Mansour, Tala Manassah, and Silva Semerciyan, as well as emerging Middle Eastern-American playwrights such as Nahal Navidar.

From October 21 to November 8, August Strindberg Repertory will transport Strindberg's 'Miss Julie' to an antebellum Louisiana plantation in a new interpretation conceived by Artistic Director Robert Greer and adapted by Edgar Chisholm from a translation by Greer. The production will include a ballet sequence, which Strindberg specified in the original manuscript and which has never been performed before. The piece will be directed by Robert Greer and choreographed by Ja' Malik.

And so South Florida's Island City Stage - winner of six Carbonell Awards last season including Best Production of a Play - will kick off its third season with the world premiere of Michael Aman's new comedy POZ. The production will begin with previews on Thursday, October 23and open officially on Saturday, October 25.

The Playwrights Realm has selected four early-career playwrights for its 2014-15 Writing Fellows program: Michael Yates Crowley, Sarah Gancher, Emma Goidel, and Tony Meneses.

FRESH PRODUCE'd L.A. returns today, September 18th at 8 p.m.

In June, Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announced a national call for three-minute monologues held in conjunction with the world premiere of Our War, a dynamic new theatrical event and collection of short stories by 25 esteemed playwrights that explores--through diverse perspectives--the historical memory and present-day reverberations of the U.S. Civil War. The open monologue contest inspired by Our War brought in more than 150 entries from around the world, and the theater is pleased to announce the three winning monologues: Tree by Dave Lankford of New York, NY; Mary/Marcus by Sarah Pitard of London, UK; and The Peacock's War by Lisa Sillaway of Wichita, KS.

American Indian Artists Inc. (AMERINDA) will present the World Premiere of POWWOW HIGHWAY, a stage adaptation of David Seals novel turned cult classic film by William S. Yellow Robe, Jr. Directed by Madeline Sayet, previews begin October 10 at HERE. Opening night is slated for Thursday, October 16.

The legendary Cherry Lane Theatre - which this year will celebrate its 90th anniversary as one of the nation's most revered institutions for its commitment to producing new works for the stage - opens its 90th season with the world-premiere of Lisa Ramirez's play TO THE BONE directed by Lisa Peterson, set to open tonight, September 17 at Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce St. in Greenwich Village). The production runs through October 4.

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust today announced that Stephen Adly Guirgis will be honored with the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award at the Seventh Annual Steinberg Playwright "Mimi" Awards, to be presented on Monday, November 17, 2014 at Lincoln Center Theater. The Mimi Awards promote theater as a vital part of our culture by nurturing American playwrights and encouraging the development and production of new American plays.

Marin Theatre Company continues its 48th Season with the Bay Area premiere of Samuel D. Hunter's The Whale, which won MTC's 2011 Sky Cooper New American Play Prize and has gone on to become one of the most critically acclaimed new plays in America since its premiere in 2012.

Golden Thread Productions, the first American theatre company focused on the Middle East, has announced the eight short plays selected for its prestigious ReOrient 2015 Festival of Short Plays.