American Playwrights News

Abingdon Theatre Company is proud to announce a one-time grant sponsored by Tony-Award winning actress Cherry Jones to celebrate the career of a female playwright under 30.

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center Speakers series in collaboration with Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) is pleased to announce an evening of engaging conversation about the theater company's upcoming world premiere of A Small Fire, a new play by Obie Award winner Adam Bock (The Drunken City at PH, The Receptionist, The Thugs, Swimming in the Shallows), featuring Mr. Bock, director Trip Cullman (Adam Bock's The Drunken City at PH and Swimming in the Shallows) and Tony Award-winning actress Michele Pawk (Hollywood Arms, Merrily We Roll Along, Chicago, Caberet and Seussical).

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) announced complete casting today for THE GREAT GAME: AFGHANISTAN, the acclaimed Tricycle Theatre Company production that will be presented in three parts in association with and at NYU Skirball Center from December 1 through December 19 with an official press opening on Tuesday, December 7. Directed by Nicolas Kent and Indhu Rubasingham, THE GREAT GAME: AFGHANISTAN is an ambitious political and theatrical event that was recently nominated for an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement.

Breaking The Leg, written by comedienne Heather Henderson and produced by rapper Clifford 'Redd' Johnson offers a new perspective on the African-American theater experience. In the shadows of successful African-American playwrights like Tyler Perry and David E. Talbert, Breaking The Leg sets out to deconstruct stereotypes and challenge the idea that all black plays are the same. The production will be at the City Theatre for a limited two performances on Saturday, Dec. 18 and Sunday, Dec. 19. Both shows start at 7:00 p.m.

Transport Group (TG), the winner of a special 2007 Drama Desk Award and 2007 and 2010 OBIE Awards, has announced that it will present the New York premiere of Lysistrata Jones, a new musical by Douglas Carter Beane (Xanadu, Little Dog Laughed) and composer-lyricist Lewis Flinn (Divine Sister) on the basketball court of the Judson Memorial Church gymnasium. Dan Knechtges (Xanadu, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) will direct and choreograph. Previews begin May 2011 with an opening date to be announced.

The Hartt Theatre Division presents Ah, Wilderness! Thursday, December 2 through Saturday, December 4, at 7:30 PM, and Sunday, December 5, at 3:00 PM, in the Kent McCray Theater, in the Mort and Irma Handel Performing Arts Center, 35 Westbourne Parkway, Hartford.

SOULED OUT, psychic intuitive Pattie Canova's autobiographical one-woman show, will return to Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex for a 6-show run from September 19 through December 5. Created, written and performed by Canova, SOULED OUT is being presented by the Sunday Series at Abingdon, a company dedicated to new plays and emerging theatre artists.

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center Speakers series in collaboration with Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) is pleased to announce an evening of engaging conversation about the theater company's upcoming world premiere of A Small Fire, a new play by Obie Award winner Adam Bock (The Drunken City at PH, The Receptionist, The Thugs, Swimming in the Shallows), featuring Mr. Bock, director Trip Cullman (Adam Bock's The Drunken City at PH and Swimming in the Shallows) and Tony Award-winning actress Michele Pawk (Hollywood Arms, Merrily We Roll Along, Chicago, Caberet and Seussical).

The Hartt Theatre Division presents Ah, Wilderness! Thursday, December 2 through Saturday, December 4, at 7:30 PM, and Sunday, December 5, at 3:00 PM, in the Kent McCray Theater, in the Mort and Irma Handel Performing Arts Center, 35 Westbourne Parkway, Hartford.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) in association with and at NYU Skirball Center will begin previews Wednesday, December 1 for the acclaimed Tricycle Theatre Company's THE GREAT GAME: AFGHANISTAN.

The Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Ma-Yi Theater Company - one of the country's leading Asian-American theater companies and whose most recent production was Michael Lew's play MICROCRISIS directed by Ralph B. Pena - will continue its 2010-11 season with FLIPZOIDS, a play written by Mr. Pena, with previews set to begin January 11 prior to an official opening on January 18 at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre (416 W. 42 St.) in Manhattan.

Acclaimed theater company Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) will host its second annual Holiday Craft Fair on Tuesday, December 14 from 1PM to 4PM in Playwrights Horizons' festively made-over Ford Motor Company Lobby (416 West 42nd Street). Featuring works created by PH's very own staff, the crafts for sale will include jewelry, knitwear, handmade greeting cards, homemade jam and much more!

Acclaimed theater company Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) will host its second annual Holiday Craft Fair on Tuesday, December 14 from 1PM to 4PM in Playwrights Horizons' festively made-over Ford Motor Company Lobby (416 West 42nd Street).

Santa Rosa's 6th Street Playhouse announces its 2010-2011 'All-American' season featuring four musicals and eight plays. The twelve-show season offers a wide variety of theater productions, from Aug. 13, 2010 through June 26, 2011, including family musicals, comedies, American classics and two world premieres.

In announcing the Denver Center Theatre Company's 2010/11 Season, Artistic Director Kent Thompson expands the company's reputation with American playwrights and theatre professionals as a center for new work by selecting three new plays read at the 2010 Colorado New Play Summit for full production - two of them Denver Center world premieres. In addition he has selected a remarkably current list of critically-acclaimed works, including the 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner, to complement a horror classic, an exciting French Canadian import and a favorite Shakespeare comedy.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company is pleased to announce that John M. Baker has joined Woolly as the theatre's Literary Manager, and Miriam Weisfeld has been appointed as the theatre's Director of Artistic Development in an organizational change that reflects Woolly Mammoth's holistic approach to new play production.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) in association with and at NYU Skirball Center will begin previews Wednesday, December 1 for the acclaimed Tricycle Theatre Company's THE GREAT GAME: AFGHANISTAN.

MTC's New Works Series presents staged readings of works by new and emerging playwrights. Lidless tells the story of Alice, an interrogator at Guantanamo 15 years ago. The beta-blockers she took during her service have left holes in her memories, a fact she welcomes so she can get on with the new life she has created with her husband and daughter. When Bashir, a former detainee dying of liver disease, arrives to confront Alice, she can't remember ever having seen his face. He refuses to let Alice deny her past, demanding shocking payment for the damage she wreaked on his body and soul during their interrogations. Lidless is a story about embracing one's true nature and the quest to re-humanize a world losing sight of its common humanity.

Dallas-Fort Worth arts organizations and cultural instituutions participating in the metroplex-wide Foote Festival have announced festival selections and events. The Foote Festival, March 14 - May 1, 2011, will celebrate the life and work of the late, award winning, Texas playwright Horton Foote (March 14, 1916 - Marc 4, 2009).

The Lark Play Development Center in collaboration with Mexico's Fund for Culture and Arts (FONCA) is pleased to announce The U.S./Mexico Playwright Exchange Program.