American Playwrights News

In Song of a Convalescent Ayn Rand Giving Thanks to the Godhead (in the Lydian Mode), longtime collaborators Michael Yates Crowley and Michael Rau once again tap into the political zeitgeist with an audacious collage of ideas, scenes, sketches, songs, poetry, and PowerPoint lectures that challenges the myth of the suffering artist. The production will have its world premiere at the Greenwich Village theater incubator IRT from tonight, September 15th to 29th.

After a call for new work that resulted in submissions of more than 120 plays, Capital Repertory Theatre and Proctors announce the winning selections for the inaugural NEXT ACT NEW PLAY SUMMIT.

Five new plays (two fully staged workshop productions performed in repertory plus three staged readings) comprise Goodman Theatre's free 2012 New Stages Amplified in the Owen Theatre, a series that since 2004 has given audiences a first look at more than 50 new plays in development.

People's Light & Theatre presents August Wilson's Seven Guitars, running tonight, September 12-October 7, 2012 on the Main Stage. Jade King Carroll directs.

Master playwright Edward Albee, the winner of three Pulitzer Prizes for drama and two Tony Awards, including a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2005, will participate in a panel discussion October 1st as part of the final night of the 7th Annual Harold Clurman Festival of the Arts.

Luna Stage Theatre Company, currently celebrating its 20th season, has announced that Dara Falco has joined the company as Interim Managing Director. Ms. Falco has been a leader in the Arts and Academic community for over 20 years. She served as the Executive Director of Newark School of the Arts for two years, and has held positions at such varied venues/companies as ArtsRock, Riverspace Arts in Nyack, Columbia University, and The John Harms Center for the Performing Arts in Englewood, NJ. She has managed numerous Off-Broadway companies and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the State University of New York at Purchase.

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 THE DAY WE WERE BORN, a new play by Jaisey Bates (Long House Huron, Algonquin*) on Thursday, September 20, 2012, 7:30 pm, at the Wells Fargo Theater at The Autry National Center in Griffith Park.

John Tartaglia, Stephanie D'Abruzzo and Carey Anderson (all from Broadway's AVENUE Q) along with Gwen Hollander (LITTLE WOMEN), Christine Toy Johnson (FALSETTOLAND), Francis Jue (THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, PACIFIC OVERTURES), singer/songwriter Phoebe Kreutz, Raymond J. Lee (ANYTHING GOES), Adam Levinskas, Jose Llana (THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE, RENT), Orville Mendoza (PETER AND THE STARCATCHER), Olivia Oguma (MAMMA MIA) and actress Lexi Windsor will all be on hand to perform and pay tribute to the beloved director and actor ALAN MURAOKA ('Sesame Street', Broadway's MISS SAIGON, THE KING AND I) at an evening to benefit National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO) tonight, September 10 at 416 W. 42 St.

The Sheldon Art Galleries in St. Louis announces a major retrospective exhibition of the work of St. Louis-born artist Al Hirschfeld to open as part of The Sheldon's 100th anniversary celebration. Accompanying program: In Conversation: David Leopold and Louise Hirschfeld, today, September 8, 10:30 a.m., admission free.

Shattered Globe Theatre kicks off its 2012/13 Season with BURN THIS by Lanford Wilson, directed by Linda Gillum, playing October 18 - November 18, 2012 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago. The production features Shattered Globe ensemble members Kate LoConti and Brad Woodard, with Ryan Kitley and Jake Szczepaniak. Tickets for BURN THIS are currently available at www.shatteredglobe.org or by calling (773) 795-8150. The press performance is Sunday, October 21 at 3 pm.

The Sheldon Art Galleries in St. Louis announces a major retrospective exhibition of the work of St. Louis-born artist Al Hirschfeld to open on Friday, September 7, 2012 as part of The Sheldon's 100th anniversary celebration. Accompanying program:?In Conversation: David Leopold and Louise Hirschfeld, Saturday, September 8, 10:30 a.m., admission free. David Leopold, Archivist, Al Hirschfeld Foundation, and curator of the exhibition Al Hirschfeld's Jazz and Broadway Scrapbook will share stories and with Al Hirschfeld's wife and historian Louise Hirschfeld, illuminating the life and career of the illustrious artist. The exhibition is made possible by Mary Strauss and Terry Schnuck.

Lanford Wilson's romantic comedy, Talley's Folly, will launch Palm Beach Dramaworks' 2012-13 season on Friday, October 12 (8PM) at the Don & Ann Brown Theatre (201 Clematis Street). The production will play a strictly limited engagement through November 11, with specially priced preview performances slated for October 10 and 11.

The Lark Play Development Center named five New York City-based dramatists as Playwrights' Workshop Fellows for the 2012-13 season. The group spans a wide range of cultural backgrounds and professional experiences and will meet regularly through June to develop new plays.

Adam Szymkowicz has been carving a niche for himself among our best young crop of comedy writers, describing love affairs of many kinds with an admirable simplicity. His latest work, 'The Why Overhead,' will have its premiere run tonight, September 6 to 23, presented by Zootopia Theatre Company at Access Theater, 380 Broadway. The piece imagines what happens in the office while the boss is away. Matthew J. Nichols directs a cast of 12, which includes Susan Louise O'Connor, a Theatre World Award winner for 'Blythe Spirit' on Broadway. Get a first look at the production in the photos below!

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) has just announced a new production of Lanford Wilson's Pulitzer Prize winning play Talley's Folly, directed by Michael Wilson, will complete the 2012-2013 theatrical season.

San Jose Stage Company has announced its landmark 30th Anniversary 2012-2013 Season. For three decades, San Jose Stage Company has been committed to providing Silicon Valley with bold, challenging, thought-provoking theatre and this season will be no different.

The Juilliard School will offer its first Master of Fine Arts in Drama with classes beginning in the Fall of 2012, a watershed moment in the Drama Division's forty-four year history.

Marin Theatre Company continues its 2012/13 Season with Suzan-Lori Parks's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Topdog/Underdog, which runs from September 27 to October 21.

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) has announced additional casting for its 2012/2013 Season, with initial casting for THE GREAT GOD PAN, the World Premiere of a new play by Obie Award winner Amy Herzog (After the Revolution at PH, 4000 Miles), directed by Carolyn Cantor (After the Revolution and Essential Self-Defense at PH, Pumpgirl, Orange Water Flower).

The Sheldon Art Galleries in St. Louis announces a major retrospective exhibition of the work of St. Louis-born artist Al Hirschfeld to open on Friday, September 7, 2012 as part of The Sheldon's 100th anniversary celebration.