Anna-Deavere Smith News

Rivendell Theatre Ensemble (RTE), Chicago's only Equity theatre dedicated to producing new work with women at the core, announces the world premiere of Body/Courage, by Danielle Pinnock, produced by Rivendell Theatre ensemble in association with Waltzing Mechanics.

Philadelphia Theatre Company presents MacArthur Award-winning actress, playwright, and educator Anna Deavere Smith in a special presentation of selected excerpts from her latest work in progress, Notes >From the Field: Doing Time in Education, on Monday, February 8 at 7:00 PM at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets). Tickets starting at $15 are available by calling the PTC Box Office at 215-985-0420 or visiting PhiladelphiaTheatreCompany.org.

American Conservatory Theater's Master of Fine Arts Program, Class of 2016, will present Dan LeFranc's The Big Meal-a delicious comedy about eight diners, four generations and one family-February 24-27, 2016 in The Rueff at A.C.T.'s Strand Theater (1127 Market Street, San Francisco). Family is not a word, it's a seating chart in this delicious and provocative comedy. Playwright Dan LeFranc orients the drama around four generations of a single family loving and laughing, fighting and yelling over a series of meals. While the passing of time in LeFranc's world is fluid (this feels like a modern cousin of Thornton Wilder's The Long Christmas Dinner), the meals are quick and casual-a moveable feast. One moment, two young lovers are hooking up over cocktails, the next moment, they're middle-aged and clashing about their kids. With characters that develop, flip, and shift, The Big Meal serves up a thought-provoking feast for audiences.

Second Stage Theatre's 37th Anniversary Gala celebration will honor Producer DAVID STONE, celebrating his ongoing 12 year relationship with the Off-Broadway Company.  The evening's Honorary Chair is James M. Nederlander and the Co-Chairs are Marc Platt, Patrick Catullo, and Nancy Coyne.  The gala evening, which will be directed by James Lapine, will be held on Monday, May 2, 2016 at Cipriani 42nd Street.  The evening's entertainment, which will feature stars who have appeared in Stone's productions over the years, will be announced at a later date.  This is the first time Second Stage's annual gala will be honoring a Broadway producer.

Epic Theatre Company is kicking off 2016 with the Rhode Island Premiere of Anna Deavere Smith's Let Me Down Easy-the latest work by the acclaimed playwright that explores how we interact with our bodies.

Philadelphia Theatre Company will present the gripping and timely play Exit Strategy by "Chicagoan of the Year" Ike Holter January 29-February 28.  Directed by Kip Fagan, the production features an ensemble cast with Michael Cullen, Aime Donna Kelly, Rey Lucas, Deidre Madigan, Christina Nieves, Brandon Pierce, and Ray Spahn. Exit Strategy is the first of several new American plays and presentations at PTC in 2016 which also includes an evening of excerpts from Anna Deavere Smith's new work, Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education, the Philadelphia premiere of Sex With Strangers by Laura Eason, and the East Coast premiere of Hillary and Clinton by Lucas Hnath.

New Science, New Solutions: Changing the Future for At-Risk Youth, hosted actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith, will join leading thinkers to explore new approaches to one of society's most intractable problems.

American Conservatory Theater's Master of Fine Arts Program, Class of 2017, will present I'm Through with Love-a musical revue featuring a lineup of performances that encompass what it is to be in (and out of) love. Set against the backdrop of an art museum in 1959, patrons contemplate their love lives, conjure romantic fantasies, end torrid affairs, and forge new relationships. Performances of I'm Through with Love will take place this week, December 9-12, 2015 at The Garret at A.C.T.'s Geary Theater (415 Geary St., San Francisco).

Actor/writer Jason Lott and writer Helen Murray Pafumi collaborated on writing Wonderful Life currently onstage at the Malibu Playhouse. I caught up with both of them to see how all of this got started and what they feel they have accomplished with their Christmas play. What motivated both of you to adapt It's a Wonderful Life? JL: Honestly, it was all Helen's idea. She wanted to do a one-person holiday show at her theatre, but wasn't finding the right script. She approached me about doing the show (whatever it might turn out to be) and mentioned that she was planning to adapt It's A Wonderful Life. I asked if she'd mind if I co-wrote it with her and she was gracious enough to say 'Yes.' You could make the argument that I only asked to co-write because I knew it would be easier to memorize that way, but that's only half-true (because, honestly, it is easier for me to memorize something I've written). The other side is that I only knew a little bit about It's A Wonderful Life. I knew it was an 'American classic' and I knew that I loved Jimmy Stewart's work in other movies, but the embarrassing fact is that I'd only seen bits and pieces over the years. I'd never watched the whole thing in one sitting. Once I did, though, I fell in love with the movie and absolutely wanted to help bring that story to the stage.

On Monday, November 30, playwright, novelist and songwriter Suzan-Lori Parks was awarded the 22nd annual Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prizeat The Public Theater in New York City.

New Science, New Solutions: Changing the Future for At-Risk Youth, hosted actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith, will join leading thinkers to explore new approaches to one of society's most intractable problems.

 The ten-week run of the United Solo Festival, featuring 150 productions from six continents, concluded on Sunday, November 22 at Theatre Row in New York, where the festival is a resident company. Beginning with its opening night on September 17, United Solo presented between two and five shows every day, in a vast array of categories. Over 80 of the shows were sold out, and nearly 30 were presented in the ENCORE program, which features companies returning to the festival after successful performances in previous years.

Crowded Fire Theater (CFT) Crowded Fire's newly appointed Artistic Director Mina Morita unveiled the 2016 mainstage season lineup of three contemporary plays that continue to uphold the company's long tradition of producing boundary - pushing, thought-provoking theater. At a season-announcement party on Saturday, November 14th Morita addressed Crowded Fire donors, patrons, and artists saying "At Crowded Fire, we are unafraid of tackling big issues. We commit ourselves to true experimentation of form and content to question, disrupt, or complicate comfortable notions of cultural hierarchy."

MCC Theater presents the New York premiere of John Pollono's LOST GIRLS. The production is directed by Jo Bonney who last collaborated with playwright John Pollono on MCC's critically acclaimed production of Small Engine Repair. LOST GIRLS opens tonight, November 9. It is scheduled through November 29, 2015.

TED, the nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, and PBS just launched the first ever TED TALKS LIVE, a six-night speaker event featuring TED Talks, short films and performances at The Town Hall (123 West 43rd Street) in New York's famed Theater District.

Berkeley Playhouse at the historic Julia Morgan Theater begins the family series of their eighth season with Peter Pan.

MCC Theater presents the New York premiere of John Pollono's LOST GIRLS. Golden Globe nominated star of stage and screen, Piper Perabo-who recently completed five seasons of the USA's popular drama series 'Covert Affairs' for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination, and was last seen onstage in the Broadway and MCC Theater productions of Neil LaBute's Reasons to be Pretty-stars alongside Ebon Moss-Bachrach (HBO's 'Girls'), Meghann Fahy (Next to Normal), Tasha Lawrence (Good People, The Whale), and newcomers Lizzy DeClement and Josh Green.

The play imagines a meeting between Anne Frank and Emmett Till.

Arena Stage announces the 2015/16 programming for Actors Arena, a professional development and community-building forum for experienced D.C.-area actors.