American Playwrights News

LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater's world premiere production of LUCE, by JC Lee, directed by May Adrales is currently in previews. The cast features Marin Hinkle, Neal Huff, Olivia Oguma, Okieriete Onaodowan, Sharon Washington. LUCE will run through Sunday, November 17 at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65th Street). All tickets $20. Opening night is Monday, October 21. Check out photos of the cast in action below!

Playwright Lauren Gunderson's I and You will make its World Premiere with the Marin Theatre Company, directed by Sarah Rasmussen (of Oregon Shakespeare Festival's BLACK SWAN Lab for New Work), and featuring Jessica Lynn Carroll (Bellwether) and Devion McArthur (MTC debut), October 10 - November 3, 2013. Opening Night is set for Tuesday, October 15, and previews run tonight, October 10 - Sunday, October 13.

Abingdon Theatre Company - which has produced more than 80 new American plays in its 21-year history -celebrated its 2013-14 Season with ABINGDON: SWINGING ON A STAR, its Annual Benefit Gala and dinner, on Monday night at Espace (635 West 42nd Street in Manhattan). Dick Cavett, celebrated author, actor and host of the Emmy Award-winning 'The Dick Cavett Show,' hosted. Check out photos from the special event below!

Fresh from earning his PhD and eager to get on track for tenure, Curt (Carlos Emjay) is paying his dues teaching introductory acting classes at a women's college when Anna (Nicole Finney), a pushy freshman, requests his help preparing for an audition. He critiques her work on Portia from Julius Caesar harshly but she is faces his challenge. This encounter creates a powerful bond between them, and over the next sixteen years they attempt to communicate about their lives, careers, and fraught relationship with one another through Shakespeare.

Abingdon Theatre Company - which has produced more than 80 new American plays in its 21-year history -celebrates its 2013-14 Season with ABINGDON: SWINGING ON A STAR, its Annual Benefit Gala and dinner, tonight, October 7 at Espace (635 West 42nd Street in Manhattan), beginning at 6pm. Dick Cavett, celebrated author, actor and host of the Emmy Award-winning 'The Dick Cavett Show,' is set to host.

Savory Thymes hosts a benefit for Marin Theatre Company's New Play Program today, October 6, 2013, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. at Hillside Gardens in Mill Valley.

Native Voices at the Autry continues its vital role as the country's only equity theatre company dedicated exclusively to developing the work of Native American playwrights with a free staged reading of Measure for Measure: An Indian Boarding School Comedy, a bawdy adaptation of Shakespeare's play set in the Old West by Randy Reinholz (Choctaw*), founder and producing artistic director of Native Voices at the Autry, on Thursday, October 24, 2013, 7:30 p.m., at the Wells Fargo Theater at The Autry National Center in Griffith Park. The reading, which is followed by an audience 'Talk-Back' with Reinholz, director Chris Anthony and dramaturg Robert Caisley, is part of Native Voices' signature FIRST LOOK SERIES: Plays in Process, which brings playwrights together with professional directors, dramaturgs, and actors for a workshop and public presentation at the Autry, providing an important next step in the play's development.

Marin Hinkle, Neal Huff, Olivia Oguma, Okieriete Onaodowan and Sharon Washington comprise the cast of the upcoming LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater world premiere production of LUCE, by JC Lee, directed by May Adrales. LUCE begins previews tonight, October 5, opens Monday, October 21 and will run through Sunday, November 17 at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65thStreet).

The Department of Theater and Dance at UC Santa Barbara has announced another exciting year of new work from its talented faculty and students. The 2013-2014 line-up of drama includes old classics and contemporary work from European and American playwrights. The two annual dance concerts will showcase original choreography from the advanced UCSB dance students in addition to choreography from faculty members.

Marin Theatre Company (part of MTC's Theater Series for Young Audiences) presents Rapunzel, adapted by Mike Kenny, based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Directed by Daunielle Rasmussen, the show runs November 2-10, 2013.

Olney Theatre Center Artistic Director Jason Loewith announced the company would revamp and expand its traditional subscription format while producing an ambitious slate of three seasons and nine productions for the Theatre's 2014 76th Season. Three "mini-seasons" will feature Rolling World Premieres, 20th century American classics, four extraordinary musicals, and an outdoor Shakespeare production beneath the stars.

New York City Players' world premiere production of Tina Satter's House of Dance, presented in association with Half Straddle and Abrons Arts Center, will run October 23 - November 9 at the Abrons. House of Dance is the third production in New York City Players' American Playwrights Division, a program curated byRichard Maxwell and devoted to producing full productions by emerging writers who direct their own work. The cast of the world premiere will include Jess Barbagallo, Jim Fletcher, Elizabeth DeMent and Paul Pontrelli.

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust today announced it will honor playwrights Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph at the Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright 'Mimi' Awards on 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 Obie and Drama Desk Award-winning Ma-Yi Theater Company -- one of the nation's leading theaters dedicated to developing and producing new and innovative plays by Asian American writers -- will celebrate its 25th anniversary season in 2013-14, beginning with the New York premiere of Bike America by Mike Lew, with its official opening night tonight, October 1 Off-Broadway at The Theater at St. Clement's (423 W. 46 St.) in Manhattan.

Cowboy Versus Samurai, Michael Golamco's hit comedy inspired by Cyrano de Bergerac, will make its Los Angeles debut at The Rosenthal Theater at Inner-City Arts with an opening tonight, September 28, 2013.

Native Voices at the Autry, America's leading Native American theatre company with a mission to develop new plays by emerging and established Native playwrights, announces its 2013-14 season, which spotlights themes of law, lawmakers, lawyers and activists.

Abingdon Theatre Company - which has produced more than 80 new American plays in its 21-year history - is set to celebrate its 2013-14 Season with ABINGDON: SWINGING ON A STAR, its Annual Benefit Gala and dinner, on Monday, October 7 at Espace (635 West 42nd Street in Manhattan), beginning at 6pm. Dick Cavett, celebrated author, actor and host of the Emmy Award-winning 'The Dick Cavett Show,' is set to host.

The Obie and Drama Desk Award-winning Ma-Yi Theater Company -- one of the nation's leading theaters dedicated to developing and producing new and innovative plays by Asian American writers -- will celebrate its 25th anniversary season in 2013-14, beginning with the New York premiere of Bike America by Mike Lew, with previews tonight, September 24 prior to an official opening night on October 1 Off-Broadway at The Theater at St. Clement's (423 W. 46 St.) in Manhattan.

Playwrights Horizons and Symphony Space will present a panel discussion previewing the theater company's new season tonight, September 23 at 7:30 PM at Symphony Space's Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater (2537 Broadway at 95th Street). Moderated by The Washington Post's Chief Theater Critic Peter Marks, joined by Playwrights Horizons Artistic Director Tim Sanford, the 6th annual panel discussion will feature artists representing the six productions of the theater company's 2013/2014 Season.