Andrew W. Mellon News

The fall season at New York Live Arts, home of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company and under the artistic leadership of MacArthur Genius Award and National Medal of the Arts recipient Bill T. Jones and Associate Artistic Director Janet Wong, presents a dynamic roster of new works including five world and four New York City premieres, eight Live Arts commissions and an engaging schedule of humanities events.

Playwrights Horizons begins accepting entries today, Monday, August 8, for the LIVEforFIVE online lottery for $5 tickets to their New York premiere production of AUBERGINE, a new play by Susan Smith Blackburn Prize winner Julia Cho (BFE at Playwrights, The Language Archive, The Piano Teacher, Durango, The Architecture of Loss).

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival continues to expand its ongoing commitment to the development and production of significant new theatrical work with eight new commissions as part of American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle. Thirty-two of 37 American Revolutions plays have now been commissioned.

San Francisco Opera presents the world premiere of Chinese-American composer Bright Sheng's Dream of the Red Chamber, with a libretto by the composer and David Henry Hwang, in six performances from September 10-29, 2016.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG) announces the 2016 Round 4 Cycle A recipients of the Leadership U[niversity]-Continuing Ed program.

Beginning around the year 1000, Jerusalem attained unprecedented significance as a location, destination, and symbol to people of diverse faiths from Iceland to India. Multiple competitive and complementary religious traditions, fueled by an almost universal preoccupation with the city, gave rise to one of the most creative periods in its history. Opening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on September 26, the landmark exhibition Jerusalem 1000–1400: Every People Under Heaven will demonstrate the key role that the Holy City, sacred to the three Abrahamic faiths, played in shaping the art of this period. In these centuries, Jerusalem was home to more cultures, religions, and languages than ever before. Through times of peace as well as war, Jerusalem remained a constant source of inspiration that resulted in art of great beauty and fascinating complexity.

San Diego Repertory Theatre (San Diego REP) presents the world premiere of 'Manifest Destinitis,' an Early California adaptation of Moliere's 'The Imaginary Invalid' from Culture Clash founding member and REP Playwright in Residence Herbert Siguenza. The brand new comedy, directed by REP Co-Founder and Artistic Director Sam Woodhouse opens San Diego REP's 41st season. The show's run begins on Thursday, September 15, 2016 and plays through Sunday, October 9, 2016 with an opening night on Wednesday, September 21, 2016 at 7 p.m. in the Lyceum Space Theatre at San Diego REP in Horton Plaza.

 Z Space continues its commitment to bringing the most innovative new theatre works to the Bay Area with New York City's Stein | Holum Projects and their acclaimed performance piece, The Wholehearted, September 7-10 in San Francisco.

Masters of the Currents is a collaborative theater sharing and community celebration created with the participation of the local Micronesian community.  The event addresses the current tension in Hawaii surrounding its newest immigrants from Micronesia combining community based story collection, social justice practices and devised theater techniques that will result in a world premiere professional theatre production in Hawaii. 

Seven choreographers/companies will present world premieres. Bessie Award-winning performer Caleb Teicher will premiere his full-length Variations, set to Glenn Gould's iconic recording of Bach's "Goldberg Variations." Gabrielle Lamb will present a new group work inspired by artist Soghra Khurasani's woodblock prints, Chloe Arnold's Apartment 33 debuts, and Dzul Dance's new work, presented during Hispanic Heritage Month, explores the idea of ritual as a transformative experience via pre-Hispanic rites of passage. The fall season also includes premieres and performances by CDI artists Azul Dance Theatre, Lauren Cox/Humans Collective andMAWU, and showings by mwest dances, luciana achugar, and Urban Bush Women. Program details and schedule follow.

Prototype: Opera/Theatre/Now invigorates New York City January 5-15, 2017, with its fifth annual explosion of provocative and pioneering opera- and music-theatre, curated by co-founding producers, Kristin Marting (of HERE), Beth Morrison (of Beth Morrison Projects) and Kim Whitener (of HERE).

San Francisco's cutting-edge and highly acclaimed experimentalCutting Ball Theater kicks off its 18th season with Avant GardARAMA! an all-in-one performance festival of seven short experimental plays showcasing the work of Bay Area directors. One of these short plays, a winning submission from a Cutting Ball Theater writer's workshop, is penned by a 16 year old student from San Francisco's celebrated Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts and directed by one of his instructors. Avant GardARAMA! runs October 5 - 23 at Cutting Ball's venue at the EXIT on Taylor (located at 277 Taylor Street at Ellis). Preview is October 5, Press Night is October 6, and Gala Opening Night is October 7. Tickets for all performances through October 23, ranging in price from $15 to $60, are on sale now at cuttingball.com or by calling 415-525-1205.

Berkeley Rep's Michael Leibert Artistic Director Tony Taccone today announced the appointment of Lisa Peterson as the artistic director.

HERE has announced its 2016-2017 producing season, featuring three HERE Resident Artist world premieres, two international presentations from HERE's renowned Dream Music Puppetry Program, the fifth annual PROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/Now festival, and HERE's yearly CULTUREMART festival, where HERE serves up a first look at new work in process from artists in the HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP).

ODC Theater is proud to present RAWdance in the world premiere of Double Exposure, a series of 12 duets each choreographed by a different West Coast choreographer or choreographic team. Artistic Directors Ryan T. Smith andWendy Rein are the evening's sole performers in an event they're calling 'the ultimate duet.' Double Exposure runs July 28 - 31, Thursday to Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 6 p.m. Tickets are $30 - $45, and may be purchased online at odcdance.org/tickets or by phone at 415.863.9834.

Victory Gardens Theater announces the first show of its 42st season, Hand To God by Robert Askins, directed by Gary Griffin. Hand To God runs September 16 - October 16, 2016, with the press performance on Friday, September 23, 2016, at 7:30 pm at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been awarded a new four-year, $1 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for Carolina Performing Arts (CPA) to launch and develop the DisTIL (Discovery Through Iterative Learning) Fellowship program. 

The Huntington Theatre Company's annual Summer Workshop will start rehearsals on July 12 and conclude in public readings of three new plays on July 23 and 24, 2016. The workshop allows selected members of the Huntington Playwriting Fellows program two weeks to focus on developing new plays. The workshop and public readings will take place in the South End at the Huntington's Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston.

FORT WORTH, TX – Fort Worth Opera (FWOpera) announced today that the submission deadline has been extended for its fifth annual Frontiers showcase. Applications will now be accepted through midnight, July 19, 2016. The company's innovative program will be held during the final week of the 2017 Fort Worth Opera Festival – April 15, 2017 – May 7, 2017 and coincides with the 2017 Opera America Conference in Dallas/Fort Worth. Launched during the company's 2012-2013 season, Frontiers remains one of the only programs world-wide that seeks out unproduced works by the finest up-and-coming composers and librettists from North, South, and Central America, and has been acclaimed for the opportunities it provides its winners. Composers and librettists whose works are selected as part of the Frontiers showcase gain valuable exposure for their works in a live performance environment while also taking part in unparalleled networking opportunities with industry professionals including artistic directors of other established opera companies, artist managers, classical music publishers, funding organizations, and conductors.

ODC Theater will present RAWdance in the world premiere of Double Exposure, a series of 12 duets each choreographed by a different West Coast choreographer or choreographic team. Artistic Directors Ryan T. Smith and Wendy Rein are the evening's sole performers in an event they're calling 'the ultimate duet.' Double Exposure runs July 28 - 30, Thursday to Saturday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $30 - $45, and may be purchased online at odcdance.org/tickets or by phone at 415.863.9834.