American Playwrights News

Salon/Sanctuary Concerts presents Exodus: Dreams of the Promised Land in Antebellum America featuring The Western Wind Vocal Ensemble with guest actors Rosalyn Coleman Williams and Jennifer Rau. The Script and Stage Direction is by Erica Gould and Jessica Gould did the program concept and dramaturgy.

REG E. CATHEY (House of Cards, The Wire) joins the cast of EXODUS: DREAMS OF THE PROMISED LAND IN ANTEBELLUM AMERICA, playing multiple roles including Solomon Northrup (Twelve Years a Slave) and the Abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The cast also includes ROSALYN COLEMAN WILLIAMS (The Mountaintop, Seven Guitars, The Piano Lesson) in multiple roles including Elizabeth Keckley (familiar to audiences from the movie Lincoln), JENNIFER RAU as Abolitionist Angelina Grimke, and the noted vocal ensemble THE WESTERN WIND. Conceived by Salon/Sanctuary's Founding Artistic Director Jessica Gould to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, EXODUS was originally presented last year in a sold-out performance staged at the historic Fraunces Tavern, the oldest structure in Manhattan.

Fresh Produce'd LA will hold a new play workshop on April 17 at 8:00pm. The workshop is held on the third Thursday of every month and will feature three new short plays or excerpts of plays from three new writers. Doors open at 7:30 and the runtime is 90 minutes. The workshop is held at The Other Space Theater at The Actors Company. Tickets are available at the door and can be purchased for a suggested $5 donation.

The 2013-2014 season at Cleveland Play House (CPH) continues with the compelling world premiere production of Deborah Zoe Laufer's Informed Consent. Co-produced with Geva Theatre Center, this incredibly thought-provoking production is inspired by the real life court case between the Havasupai Indian tribe and Arizona State University, and sparks an intriguing debate on both ethicality and morality. Directed by Sean Daniels and Sponsored by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic and MetroHealth, Informed Consent will serve as the centerpiece to CPH's 2014 New Ground Theatre Festival and will run from April 23 - May 18 in the Second Stage.

Florida Studio Theatre announces its annual Richard and Betty Burdick New Play Reading Series, which will present three new plays by contemporary American playwrights. The series will take place in the Keating Theatre on Monday, April 28 at 7:00pm, Monday, May 5 at 7:00pm, and Saturday, May 10 at 2:00pm, and is part of FST's Sarasota Festival of New Plays. Tickets for the series are 3 plays for $25, or individual play readings for $10. Additionally, FRIENDS of FST can purchase a subscription for all 3 plays for $15. They may be purchased by calling the FST Box Office at (941) 366-9000 or by visiting www.floridastudiotheatre.org.

BAY STREET THEATRE NEW WORKS FESTIVAL will take place on April 25-27 at the Bay Street Theatre on the Long Wharf in Sag Harbor, NY. The Festival is produced in Association with SPACE on Ryder Farm. The media sponsor for the festival is Dan's Papers Literary Prize Contest.

On Saturday, May 3, 2014, The Luna Theater concludes its critically acclaimed Once Upon a Time season with the Philadelphia premiere of BRAINPEOPLE by Jose Rivera. Performances run May 3rd through May 24th at the new theater in the Bella Vista neighborhood: 620 S. 8th Street Philadelphia, PA 19147.(between Bainbridge and South Streets) Tickets are $15-$25 and can be purchased by visiting www.lunatheater.org or by calling 215-704-0033.

The Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Keen Company today announced the plays for the inaugural Keen Playwrights Lab: Skopje by Gabe McKinley, directed by Christian Parker; The Human Court by Jessica Dickey, directed by Davis McCallum; and Dust by Qui Nguyen, directed by Linsay Firman. This year's Keen Playwrights Lab will offer this year's readings at Art-NY's Bruce Mitchell Room, beginning April 8th.

Aspen's acclaimed Theater Masters will present workshop reading of two new plays: 'To Boldly Go!' by Nick Carr and 'The Infinity Pond' by Maria Alexandria Beech on April 7th and 8th at The A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts Black Box Theater (501 South Sapodilla Ave) in West Palm Beach. Admission is FREE!

Cherry Lane Theatre's award-winning MENTOR PROJECT for emerging playwrights concludes its 16th season with Lina Patel's new play RAGGED CLAWS, running at the Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce St. in Greenwich Village) from today, April 2 to 12. Jedadiah Schultz directs RAGGED CLAWS, and the Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang serves as Ms. Patel's Mentor Playwright.

Colman Domingo is finding that you can go home again, as he returns to his native Philadelphia to perform for the first time since his Tony Award-nominated Broadway turn in the hit musical, The Scottsboro Boys. Philadelphia Theatre Company concludes its 2013-2014 season with the Philadelphia premiere of A Boy and His Soul, written and performed by Colman Domingo with direction by Tony Kelly. This solo play with soul music runs May 23-June 22 at Philadelphia Theatre Company's Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets).

Last evening, Monday, March 31, 2014, The Juilliard School honored Christopher Durang and Marsha Norman for their 20 years of leadership of Juilliard's Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program. Scroll down for photos!

America-in-Play will present the premiere of A Time-Traveler's Trip to Niagra, Following the Bold Adventures and Strange Detours of an Unlikely Group of Travelers Across Time and America. Running May 3-18 at the Hudson Guild Theatre (441 West 26th Street), this unique comedy interweaves two journeys up the Hudson River: one by bus in 2014 and one by steamboat in 1828. From upper class Brits taking a tour of the Early Republic to a modern brother and sister taking a bus ride upstate to trace their roots, the two trips converge at the iconic and spectacular Niagara Falls and aim to investigate the relationship between the American landscape and identity while exploring ties between past and future. A unique 'Dime Museum' exploring Americana and the play will be open 30 minutes before each performance.

Center Stage has announced the honorees for this year's Young Playwrights Festival, an annual competition that welcomes Maryland students in grades K-12 to submit original scripts. This year, student playwrights submitted nearly 500 plays. The plays selected will be showcased with workshops, in-school performances, and select pieces will be staged at the Annual Young Playwrights Festival performance at Center Stage on Monday, May 5, at 7 pm.

Playwrights Horizons presents the World Premiere production of YOUR MOTHER'S COPY OF THE KAMA SUTRA, a new play by Kirk Lynn (Co-Artistic Director, Austin's Rude Mechanicals), directed by Obie Award winner Anne Kauffman (Detroit, Maple and Vine at PH; Belleville; This Wide Night; The Thugs), which begins previews this weekend.

Perseverance Theatre opens Pulitzer Prize winning Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tenessee Williams. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is showing in the Sydney Laurence Theatre at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts April 11 - 27, 2014. Tickets are now available through Centertix online at centertix.net or by calling 263-ARTS. There is a Pay-As-You-Can Previews on Thursday, April 10th at 7:30p.m.

The life of privilege long enjoyed by a venerable Texas family is slipping away and its members refuse to let go of it without a fight in Horton Foote's absorbing and widely praised comedy, Dividing the Estate, which opens at Palm Beach Dramaworks tonight, March 28 (8pm). Performances at the Don & Ann Brown Theatre (201 Clematis Street) continue through April 27.

The regular season will be staged August 2014 through July 2015 at the intimate Aurora Theatre in the downtown Berkeley arts district. For single tickets ($32-$60) or subscriptions ($155-$305), the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org. Subscriptions on sale March 27. Single tickets on sale for subscribers July 29 and on sale August 5 to the general public.

Raven Theatre's 32nd Season, under the theme 'Family Business,' will include four plays exploring the nature of family ties, according to Producing Artistic Director Michael Menendian and Co-Artistic Director JoAnn Montemurro.