American Playwrights News

People's Light & Theatre presents Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts running January 15-February 9, 2014 on the Steinbright Stage. Ken Marini directs. People's Light & Theatre is located at 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, PA 19355. For tickets call 610.644.3500 or visit PeoplesLight.org.

As part of the ninth edition of the COIL festival, Performance Space 122, New York City Players (NYCP) and American Realness present an encore engagement of Tina Satter's House of Dance as part of NYCP's American Playwrights Division in association with Half Straddle and Abrons Arts Center. Following a sold-out, critically acclaimed run this fall, which Ben Brantley in The New York Times called, 'enchanting,' and, 'so very refreshing,' House of Dance returns to Abrons Arts Center for four performances only.

BAM and Scott Rudin will present Goodman Theatre's renowned revival of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh from February 5 through March 15, 2015. Directed by Goodman Artistic Director Robert Falls and featuring Tony Award-winning stage and screen actors Nathan Lane (as Theodore "Hickey" Hickman) and Brian Dennehy (as Larry Slade), the production, including its original Chicago cast, is slated for a six-week run in the BAM Harvey Theater. Ticket on-sale dates will be announced in the fall of 2014.

This February Company of Fools (COF) will present the critically acclaimed and award-winning play, Good People, by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire. As part of The Center's multi-disciplinary project Creativity and Work, COF will present 13 public performances running from February 12 through March 1.

The Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Keen Company today announced the inaugural Keen Playwrights Lab. Under the leadership of Mark Armstrong, Keen's Director of New Work, each playwright will be developing a new full-length play inspired by Keen Company's mission - sincere story telling with heart, honesty and hope. The collaborative and supportive environment brings together three acclaimed American playwrights in mid-career to develop new work and facilitate that work's exposure to a greater audience. The program will culminate in three public readings in April, 2014. More details TBA. Keen Playwrights Lab made possible in part thanks to a Creative Space Grant with A.R.T./New York. This season's participants are Jessica Dickey, Gabe McKinley and Qui Nguyen.

Abingdon Theatre Company, in an ongoing effort to recognize excellence in playwriting, established the Christopher Brian Wolk Award to be presented annually to an American writer of a full-length play not produced in New York City. The award is based upon the writer's demonstrated ability to reach a mature artistic vision using theatre. Playwright Sheldon Bull will receive the $1,000 cash award and a staged reading of his script MALLORCA, directed by Donald Brenner (GREAT EXPECTATIONS), at the award ceremony, December 16, starting at 7:00PM in the June Havoc Theatre, 312 West 36th Street in Manhattan.

Long Wharf Theatre presents the world premiere of The Consultant by Heidi Schreck, directed by Kip Fagan, from January 8 through February 9, 2014 on Stage II.

Cherry Lane Theatre's award-winning MENTOR PROJECT for emerging playwrights will present its 16th season from February 19 to April 12, 2014 with expanded programming - the addition of a new Director Mentorship -- it has been announced by Angelina Fiordellisi, Founding Artistic Director of Cherry Lane Theatre and co-founder of MENTOR PROJECT. Cherry Lane Theatre is located at 38 Commerce Street in Greenwich Village.

Cherry Lane Theatre's award-winning MENTOR PROJECT for emerging playwrights will present its 16th season from February 19 to April 12, 2014 with expanded programming - the addition of a new Director Mentorship -- it has been announced by Angelina Fiordellisi, Founding Artistic Director of Cherry Lane Theatre and co-founder of MENTOR PROJECT. Cherry Lane Theatre is located at 38 Commerce Street in Greenwich Village.

The American Theater Group will present a one-night only concert performance featuring songs from VERY VERY, the brand new electric adaptation of Shakespeare's classic comedy "As You Like It" reimagined as a contemporary rock concert on December 9, 2013 at 8:00 pm at Union County Performing Arts Center's Hamilton Stage. Acting Company Alum, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey Artistic Associate, and current Artistic Director of National Players with The Olney Theatre Center, Jason King Jones, will direct.

It's back - the funny, smart, and irreverent musical Nerds! Philadelphia Theatre Company revisits the musical satire Nerds with book and lyrics by Jordan Allen-Dutton and Erik Weiner, music by Hal Goldberg, and a brand new cast and creative team. Directed by Casey Hushion with choreography by Joshua Bergasse, the ensemble features Stanley Bahorek, Matt Bradley, Briana Carlson-Goodman, Benny Elledge, Lexy Fridell, Raymond J. Lee, Alyse Alan Louis, Robert Morrison, Kevin Pariseau, Catherine Ricafort, and Blake Segal.

Cherry Lane Theatre, under the direction of Angelina Fiodellisi, presents the world premiere of Fist In Mouth, a new play written and directed by Dan Hasse.

Marin Theatre Company, in association with Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, announces the casting of its spring production of August Wilson's Fences, directed by Derrick Sanders. Fences, which won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize and 1987 and 2010 Tony Awards, will feature veteran film and television actor Carl Lumbly as Troy Maxson, Steven Anthony Jones, the artistic director of Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, as Jim Bono and award-winning actor, playwright and director Margo Hall as Rose, as well as Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Eddy Ray Jackson as Cory, Adrian Roberts as Gabriel and Tyee Tilghman as Lyons. MTC's production of Fences will run from April 10 through May 4.

Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol by Tom Mula will be presented by Marin Theatre Company, directed by Jon Tracy (It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play) and featuring Khris Lewin (A Steady Rain), Rami Margron (debut), Nicholas Pelczar (The Whipping Man) and Stacy Ross (God of Carnage), tonight, November 21 - December 15, 2013.

The 2013 Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust honored playwrights Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph at last night's 2013 Steinberg Playwright Awards held at Lincoln Center Theater's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. The evening also highlighted the work of David Henry Hwang, who received the 2012 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, as last year's event was canceled due to Hurricane Sandy. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you a brief look back at the event!

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University and the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research (formerly known as the Du Bois Institute), in conjunction with Hilton Als of The New Yorker, will present a staged reading of Alice Childress's Wedding Band: A Love-Hate Story in Black and White, co-directed by Hilton Als and A.R.T. Artistic Associate Shira Milikowsky. It takes place at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge, starting at 7:30pm, and will be followed by a post-reading discussion.

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust honors playwrights Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph at the Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright 'Mimi' Awards tonight, Monday, November 18, 2013 at the Lincoln Center Theater in New York. The 'Mimi' Awards are presented biennially to honor the accomplishments of some of the most gifted up-and-coming American Playwrights and to recognize the promise they hold for the future of American theater.

The Utah Shakespeare Festival soared this year in more ways than one. Not only did the Festival produce a regional premiere of a Tony Award-winning play, it continued the Complete the Canon initiative, started the History Cycle, and the company is preparing to break ground on a new arts center. The Festival continues to push the envelope and through countless hours and a resilient company of artists, the Festival once again received tremendous praise this year for an artistically successful season.

Page 73 Productions, now in its 16th year premiering the next generation of American playwrights - who have included Pulitzer Prize winner Quiara Alegria Hudes, Drama Desk Award winner Sam Hunter, New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award recipient Dan LeFranc, and more - will present the New York premiere of George Brant's gripping new play GROUNDED, directed by two-time Obie Award-winning director Ken Rus Schmoll (TELEPHONE, A MAP OF VIRTUE) and starring Hannah Cabell (3C, A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS opposite Frank Langella) with preview performances beginning Off-Broadway on January 8 prior to an official press opening of January 16 at Walkerspace (46 Walker Street) in Manhattan. GROUNDED has a runtime of 70 minutes, with no intermission.

Playwrights Horizons has announced initial casting for the New York premiere production of STAGE KISS, a new play marking the eagerly-awaited return of two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl(Dead Man's Cell Phone at PH; The Clean House, In the Next Room...) to the theater company. Directed by Rebecca Taichman (Milk Like Sugar at PH; the current Marie Antoinette, Orlando, The Scene, Luck of the Irish), the production will begin previews Friday evening, February 7 at 8PM with an Opening Night set for Sunday, March 2 at 7PM. The limited engagement will play through Sunday evening, March 23 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street).