American Playwrights News

American Stage is excited to continue their support of the next generation of American playwrights with their 2019 21ST CENTURY VOICES: NEW PLAY FESTIVAL. This festival is a core component of our 21stCENTURY VOICES: EMERGING PLAYS, dedicated to discovering, developing, and introducing audiences to new works for the stage. A diverse committee of 40 community members works alongside our Producing Artistic Director Stephanie Gularte each year to read and evaluate over 500 new play submissions from up-and-coming playwrights across the globe.

American Stage is excited to continue their support of the next generation of American playwrights with their 2019 21ST CENTURY VOICES: NEW PLAY FESTIVAL. This festival is a core component of our 21stCENTURY VOICES: EMERGING PLAYS, dedicated to discovering, developing, and introducing audiences to new works for the stage. A diverse committee of 40 community members works alongside our Producing Artistic Director Stephanie Gularte each year to read and evaluate over 500 new play submissions from up-and-coming playwrights across the globe.

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and Founding Artistic Director Steven Maler announced the cast of the second production of its 2018-19 Season: Birdy, adapted by Naomi Wallace from the novel by William Wharton, and directed by Steven Maler. The production runs February 27 through March 10 at the Carling-Sorenson Theater at Babson College in Wellesley.

Queens Theatre is thrilled to announce that director and community-engaged theater maker Dominic D'Andrea has recently signed on as its Director of Community Engagement.

Dutch Kills Theater (In Quietness, The Sister, The Providence of Neighboring Bodies) will present the World Premiere of SELKIE by Krista Knight (Hissifit, Primal Play). Directed by Matt Dickson (Disco Pigs, We The People), performances run through December 22 at The Wild Project.

Cherry Lane Theatre is proud to announce that this year's Mentor Project playwrights include Kareem M. Lucas, Matthew Paul Olmos, and C.A. Johnson, who will join the previously announced mentors, Craig muMs Grant, Taylor Mac and Martyna Majok as part of the 21st season of the Obie Award-winning Mentor Project. Mentor Project will culminate in three fully-staged productions presented between February 20 to April 13, 2019.   

Yesterday, December 3, Suzan-Lori Parks was honored with 2018 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award.

JAG Productions joins full-ship African-American music festival at sea with its production of the profound jazz musical, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill.

Chain Theatre Playwriting Lab aims to honor the themes and legacies of the great diverse American playwrights of our time, through the development of new theatrical work.

Join Keen Company for the first public reading of three new plays, developed through the Keen Playwrights Lab. The 2018 Playwrights Lab features playwrights Kia Corthron, Rinne Groff, and Edwin Sanchez. Tickets are FREE and open to the pubic! Space is limited, so reservations are a must.

Cherry LaneTheatre (Angelina Fiordellisi, Founder; Seri Lawrence, Artistic Director) is proud to announce that Craig muMs Grant, Taylor Mac & Martyna Majokwill participate as mentors as part of the 21st season of the Obie Award-winning Mentor Project.

American Theater Group proudly announces the full cast and creative team for its World Premiere production of Tell Them I'm Still Young, a new play by Julia Doolittle, at the South Orange Performing Arts Center January 24 - February 3, 2019. Joining the previously announced Andre Braugher (Homicide: Life on the Streets, Men of a Certain Age, Brooklyn Nine-Nine) and Michele Pawk (Hollywood Arms, Hairspray, Mamma Mia) are Janice Amaya (Seen/Unseen) and Seth Clayton (The Madrid).

Playwrights Horizons (Artistic Director Tim Sanford, Managing Director Leslie Marcus) will, from today, November 12, through Thursday, November 15, accept entries for the Live for Five online lottery, giving out $5 tickets to the New York premiere production of Noura, from 9 Parts of Desire playwright and actor Heather Raffo and director Joanna Settle. The Washington Post deemed this "epic-feeling, nearly searing portrait of a woman torn between cultures and family" the "best premiere of the Women's Voices Theater Festival" when it made its world premiere in Washington, D.C. earlier this year. Produced in association with Shakespeare Theatre Company, it will be performed at Playwrights Horizons from November 27 to December 30. Playwrights Horizons created Live for Five in 2007 as part of their Arts Access program to reach out to those who may not be able to afford the cost of a full-price theater ticket. Since its inception, over 3,000 theatergoers have been able to attend the theater thanks to the initiative.

American Theater Group announces the World Premiere production of Tell Them I'm Still Young, by Julia Doolittle, at the South Orange Performing Arts Center January 24-February 3, 2019. The cast includes two award-winning leading actors of stage, film and television. Andre Braugher and Michele Pawk portray a professor and a poet whose marriage is shaken when tragedy strikes. As they grapple with the aftermath, a lover from the past and an ambitious graduate student enter their lives.

Continuing its role as the only Equity theatre company dedicated exclusively to developing new work by Native American artists, Native Voices at the Autry presents its eighth annual Short Play Festival: Food! Held during the Autry Museum of the American West's American Indian Arts Marketplace on Sunday, November 11, 2018, the event features new short plays by Native American playwrights that pose the question: What's on the table in Indian Country?

Show-only tickets to Second Stage Theater's Fall Benefit Honoring Harvey Fierstein are now on sale to the general public.  Hosted by Michael Urie, the benefit will take place on Monday, November 12 at Terminal 5 (610 West 56th Street).  The evening will feature performances and appearances by Cyndi Lauper, Rosie O'Donnell, Annaleigh Ashford, Keala Settle, Wayne Brady, Christopher Sieber, Michael Urie, Marissa Jaret Winokur, as well as Shoshana Bean, J. Harrison Ghee, Bianca Del Rio, and Gino Emnes.  To purchase tickets, please go to: https://2st.com/support-us/events/fall-benefit.

Golden Thread Productions, the first American theatre company devoted to the Middle East, is proud to announce the seven plays for its prestigious ReOrient 2019 Festival of Short Plays celebrating its 20th anniversary.

Leviathan Lab (Ariel Estrada, Producing Artistic Director) will present THE WALL: IMMIGRATION IN THE TIME OF 45, featuring new short plays on the immigration crisis by Asian American playwrights at The Tank (312 West 36th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues) on Friday, October 26 at 7:00 PM and Today, October 27 at 7:00 PM.

New York Stage and Film has announced that Donja R. Love's soft will be the second installation in their NYC Reading Series at Barnard College, held on Monday, October 29th at 7:00pm at the Glicker-Milstein Theater at The Diana Center. Directed by Awoye Timpo, the cast of soft features Gabriel Diego Hernandez, Galen Ryan Kane, Obie and AUDELCO Award winner Russell G. Jones, Andy Lucien, Joshua E. Nelson, Cristina Pitter, Lortel Award nominee Namir Smallwood, Ryan Jamaal Swain, and James Udom.

Leviathan Lab (Ariel Estrada, Producing Artistic Director) will present THE WALL: IMMIGRATION IN THE TIME OF 45, featuring new short plays on the immigration crisis by Asian American playwrights at The Tank (312 West 36th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues) today, October 26 at 7:00 PM and Saturday, October 27 at 7:00 PM.