American Playwrights News

INTAR today announced the appointment of Paul A. Slee Rodriguez who will be heading up Strategic Partnerships for the organization, helping to design and implement strategies for organizational growth.  He will be working with the staff and Board on expanding the scope and strength of the organization on multiple fronts including Board development, funding, programming, real estate - locally, nationally and internationally. 

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC) has added three performances to its highly anticipated upcoming production of Birdy, adapted by Naomi Wallace from the novel by William Wharton, and directed by Steven Maler. The production now runs February 27 through March 17 at the Carling-Sorenson Theater at Babson College in Wellesley.

Never underestimate the power and talent of a woman. 11 Fearless Women Playwrights will have their plays grace the stage in the Strawberry One-Act Festival with BOLD new ideas that are unapologetic and thought provoking! Beginning with JESSICA MARIE FISHER'S Welcome To Narnia, to JO RODRIGUEZ'S Why We're Here, NATASHA COBB'S Doin' Good and CAROLYN MOSES' Adam's Eve; these women playwrights tackle everything from sexual abuse, identity, empowerment, careers, family and chasing Jibouti forces.

Incoming Artistic Director Simon Godwin today announces Shakespeare Theatre Company's 2019-2020 Season. Godwin's debut season highlights his artistic aspirations for the company to create high quality, exciting, inclusive theatre. Godwin states, This is not my season, but ours, everybody's season.

San Francisco Playhouse announced casting for their first Sandbox Series production of 2019 - the world premiere of A White Girl's Guide to International Terrorism, written by Chelsea Marcantel. Morgan Green will direct. The play was commissioned by San Francisco Playhouse.

San Jose Stage Company presents Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF. Directed by Lee Sankowich, CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF will run from February 6 - March 3, 2019 at San Jose Stage Company (490 South 1st Street, San Jose, CA, 95113). The press opening will take place on Saturday, February 9 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets range from $32 - $72 and can be purchased through the Box Office at (408) 283-7142 or online at www.thestage.org.

Blockchain Theater Project (BTP), founded by Sofia Alvarez and Nicola Korzenko, is a new theater company that empowers artists to produce the work they create, funded in part by cryptocurrency donations. Like Bitcoin and other blockchains, BTP eliminates the institutional gatekeeper, creating a peer-to-peer model of support where the next play to be produced will be nominated by the playwright of the current production. Alvarez's NYLON will start this chain.

Playwrights Horizons (Artistic Director Tim Sanford, Managing Director Leslie Marcus) and Yellow Sound Label announce the release of the original cast recording of Kristen Childs' rowdy, wild, and hilarious Bella: An American Tall Tale. Hard copies of the album, produced by Michael Croiter, can be purchased at yellowsoundlabel.com and phnyc.org beginning February 22, when it will also become available digitally on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and Apple Music. Pre-orders are available now via iTunes.

Broken Nose Theatre announces casting for its Midwest premiere of Yussef El-Guindi's dark comedy LANGUAGE ROOMS, directed by Kaiser Zaki Ahmed.

Twenty-two-year Disney Communications veteran Kevin Brockman, executive vice president, Global Communications, Disney|ABC Television, will depart the Company following the close of the acquisition of 21st Century Fox, Inc.

Cherry Lane Theatre (Angelina Fiordellisi, Founder; Seri Lawrence, Artistic Director) is proud to kick-off its Obie Award-winning Mentor Project with this year's first production, The Maturation of an Inconvenient Negro (or iNegro) written by and starring Kareem M. Lucas, mentored by Craig 'muMs' Grant. The Maturation of an Inconvenient Negro is directed by David Mendizabal and will begin performances on Wednesday, February 20 and run through March 2 at the Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce Street, NYC).  Tickets are $25 ($60 for a three-show membership) and can be purchased by visiting cherrylanetheatre.org or by calling 866-811-4111.

Garry Marshall Theatre presents the West End and Broadway play The Mountaintop by Katori Hall.  The Mountaintop is directed by Gregg T. Daniel, who recently staged A Raisin in the Sun at A Noise Within (Ovation Award nomination for Best Director) and Her Portmanteau at Boston Court.

Interrobang Theatre Project is pleased to announce casting for its Midwest premiere of Emily Schwend's drama UTILITY, an intimate look at an East Texas woman's struggle to make ends meet, directed by Artistic Director Georgette Verdin*.

Nashville Story Garden presents the Nashville premiere of Ironbound by Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok January 26-February 2 at the former Inglewood United Methodist Church, 3511 Gallatin Pike, Nashville. Starring Joe Mobley (Vik), Gerald Pitts (Maks), Tamara Todres (Darja) and Ted Welch (Tommy), Ironbound is directed by Kristin McCalley.

San Francisco Playhouse announced casting for their first Sandbox Series production of 2019 - the world premiere of A White Girl's Guide to International Terrorism, written by Chelsea Marcantel. Morgan Green will direct. The play was commissioned by San Francisco Playhouse.

San Jose Stage Company (Randall King, Artistic Director and Cathleen King, Executive Director) has announced the cast and creative team for The Stage's first production of 2019, Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF. Directed by Lee Sankowich, CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF will run from February 6 - March 3, 2019 at San Jose Stage Company (490 South 1st Street, San Jose, CA, 95113). The press opening will take place on Saturday, February 9 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets range from $32 - $72 and can be purchased through the Box Office at (408) 283-7142 or online at www.thestage.org.

Building on 40 years of producing powerful contemporary theatre, Studio Theatre is pleased to announce a new class of commissioned playwrights and directors to Studio R&D, its incubator to support the creation of new work from inception to first production. Incoming Studio R&D artists are playwrights James Fritz, James Ijames, Steph Del Rosso, and Emily Schwend, as well as directors Carl Cofield, Lila Neugebauer, and Eric Ruffin. These exciting talents from the US and UK will have Studio's full support in creating aesthetically diverse new work to be presented in future seasons and introduced into the international repertoire. As they create Studio-specific works, commissioned artists will visit Studio to get to know its theatres, programming, and audiences in person.

David R. Jimenez, President of the Board of Directors of Hartford Stage, announces that OBIE Award-winning director Melia Bensussen has been named the next Artistic Director of the Tony Award-winning theatre. She will assume the role in June.

People's Light presents Lynn Nottage's Sweat, winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and nominee for the 2017 Tony Award for Best Play. Currently the second-most produced play in the country, Sweat is an extensively researched portrait of early 2000s Reading, PA and an incisive examination of deindustrialized America.

Garry Marshall Theatre presents the West End and Broadway play The Mountaintop by Katori Hall.  The Mountaintop is directed by Gregg T. Daniel, who recently staged A Raisin in the Sun at A Noise Within (Ovation Award nomination for Best Director) and Her Portmanteau at Boston Court.