Anna Deveare Smith News

The Playwrights Realm, led by Katherine Kovner, Founding Artistic Director, and Roberta Pereira, Producing Director, will celebrate its tenth anniversary with the annual Writers Block Party honoring Realm Board Member and award-winning playwright and actor, Anna Deavere Smith.

The Off Broadway Alliance, the organization of Off Broadway producers, theaters, general managers, press agents, and marketing professionals, has announced the nominees for the 7th Annual Off Broadway Alliance Awards, honoring commercial and not-for-profit productions that opened Off Broadway during the 2016-2017 season.

The Drama League has announced the 2017 Drama League Awards Nominees for Outstanding Play, Outstanding Revival of a Play, Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Revival of a Musical, and the much-coveted Distinguished Performance Award. Scroll down for the full list of nominees!

Villanova Theatre has announced the 11th Annual Philadelphia Theatre Research Symposium (PTRS), featuring a keynote address by renowned director Kwame Kwei-Armah and distinguished dramaturg Gavin Witt of Baltimore Center Stage, one of the leading regional theatres in the nation.

Playwrights Foundation (PF) Artistic Director Amy Mueller has announced a year-long celebration of its illustrious 40-year legacy discovering and supporting unknown playwrights, who have gone on to become some of the most important contemporary voices of American theater. Playwrights Foundation kicks off the 40th Anniversary celebration with its flagship event, the annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF) July 14 - 23, 2017 at Custom Made Theatre, San Francisco CA.

Playwrights Foundation (PF) Artistic Director Amy Mueller has announced a year-long celebration of its illustrious 40-year legacy discovering and supporting unknown playwrights, who have gone on to become some of the most important contemporary voices of American theater.  Playwrights Foundation kicks off the 40th Anniversary celebration with its flagship event, the annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF) July 14 - 23, 2017 at Custom Made Theatre, San Francisco CA.  The Festival is a two-week celebration of playwriting during which six new plays, selected from over 500 submissions, are performed as staged readings with top Bay Area actors, offering audiences an intimate experience of engaging with the creative process.  Tickets go on sale June 1st.  For more information, visit our new website, playwrightsfoundation.org.

WP Theater (formerly Women's Project Theater), under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty and Managing Director Michael Sag, has announced WP Theater's 32nd Annual Gala, honoring game-changing women with the Women of Achievement Awards. The gala will honor Emmy Award-winning actress and activist Debra Messing ('Will & Grace,' Outside Mullingar) and trailblazing media executive, President of BBC Worldwide North America, Ann M. Sarnoff.

Ars Nova and WP Theater are pleased to present the world premiere of Sundown, Yellow Moon (February 28-April 1), a nighttime play, with songs, by Rachel Bonds, directed by Anne Kauffman (OBIE and Drama Desk Award winner), with songs by the indie-folk duo The Bengsons (Hundred Days) and additional lyrics by Bonds.

WP Theater (formerly Women's Project Theater), under the direction of Producing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty, has announced that Michael Sag has joined the company as Managing Director.

THEATER TALK gathers together three top critics to assess the New York theater season. THEATER TALK then celebrates the holidays by welcoming actors Bryce Pinkham and Lora Lee Gayer from the stage musical Holiday Inn, who sing Irving Berlin's 'White Christmas,' the best-selling song of all time.

THEATER TALK gathers together three top critics to assess the New York theater season. THEATER TALK then celebrates the holidays by welcoming actors Bryce Pinkham and Lora Lee Gayer from the stage musical Holiday Inn, who sing Irving Berlin's 'White Christmas,' the best-selling song of all time.

Ars Nova, under the leadership of Founding Artistic Director Jason Eagan and Managing Director Renee Blinkwolt, has announced 18 months of boundary-pushing world premiere productions, all commissioned and developed by Ars Nova at their West 54th Street home.

WP Theater welcomes Obie Award Winning actress Zainab Jah (Eclipsed) and rising actress Jessica Luck, joining two-time Grammy-nominated comedian Lisa Lampanelli (HBO, Comedy Central, The Howard Stern Show) and Outer Critics Circle Award winner Ann Harada (Avenue Q, Cinderella) in completing the cast for the world premiere of STUFFED, a new play written by Lampanelli, with additional material by Ashley Austin Morris.

Due to artist scheduling conflicts, Arizona Theatre Company has added acclaimed actor/playwright Ruben C. Gonzalez' one-man tour de force La Esquinita, USA to the 2016-17 50th anniversary season and rescheduled Marisela Treviño Orta's The River Bride to 2017-18. La Esquinita, USA will run in Tucson from Jan. 14 to Feb. 4, 2017 and in Phoenix from Feb. 2-26, the same dates as the postponed The River Bride.

WP Theater welcomes Obie Award Winning actress Zainab Jah (Eclipsed) and rising actress Jessica Luck, joining two-time Grammy-nominated comedian Lisa Lampanelli (HBO, Comedy Central, The Howard Stern Show) and Outer Critics Circle Award winner Ann Harada (Avenue Q, Cinderella) in completing the cast for the world premiere of STUFFED, a new play written by Lampanelli, with additional material by Ashley Austin Morris.

WP Theater welcomes Obie Award Winning actress Zainab Jah (Eclipsed) and rising actress Jessica Luck, joining two-time Grammy-nominated comedian Lisa Lampanelli (HBO, Comedy Central, The Howard Stern Show) and Outer Critics Circle Award winner Ann Harada (Avenue Q, Cinderella) in completing the cast for the world premiere of STUFFED, a new play written by Lampanelli, with additional material by Ashley Austin Morris.

WP Theater (formerly known as Women's Project Theater) has announced its 2016-17 Season at the McGinn/Cazale Theater (2162 Broadway, at 76th Street), the artists for the 2016-2018 WP Lab and the new Domestic Partner residency initiative.

YALE REPERTORY THEATRE announces its 50th Anniversary Season, which will include three world premieres commissioned by Yale Rep and two contemporary masterpieces.

Chae Chaput - a native of Manchester, New Hampshire, who did her undergraduate work at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, New Jersey, where she earned her BA in Theater Arts with a double concentration in Acting and Technical Theater with a minor in film - is one such member of the group.

Chris Ramirez is an excellent example of the talented, driven and committed individuals honing their craft at USC. A native of Kansas City, Kansas - "aka Wyandotte County, aka The Dotte!" - he earned his B.A. in theatre performance at the University of Kansas before heading westward to USC.