Anna Sosenko News

a??a??a??a??a??a??a??Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF) has announced this year's recipients of the Stephen Schwartz and Thom Thomas Awards. Khiyon Hursey is the recipient of the Stephen Schwartz Award. Erika Dickerson-Despenza, Julia Meinwald, and Benjamin Velez are the first multiple honorees of the Thom Thomas Award

Immigrant Artists and Scholars in New York (IASNY) Playwrights Across Borders plan to celebrate Women Artists History Month at the storied Nuyorican Poets Café (236 East 3rd ST. New York, NY 10009) on Saturday, March 14, 1 - 3 pm with an afternoon of IMMIGRANT WOMEN'S MONOLOGUES written by 13 fabulous women playwrights/artists:

Broadway's Future Songbook Series - presented by Arts and Artists of Tomorrow - continues its 2019-20 season on Monday, February 24th in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center located at 111 Amsterdam Avenue and 65th Street. Produced, Directed and Hosted by John Znidarsic, the evening spotlights the songs of James B. Rubio. (Some lyrics by David Caudle and Katie Baldwin Eng will also be featured.) Show time is 6PM and ADMISSION IS FREE.

In what has become an annual ritual, a total of 40 established and emerging composers, lyricists, and librettists will converge on the Goodspeed campus from mid-January through mid-February 2020 to participate in the Johnny Mercer Foundation Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals. The writing teams, representing 15 new musicals, will populate the campus, creating a truly exciting environment for discovery and inspiration.

The Fred Ebb Foundation (Mitchell S. Bernard, Trustee) in association with the Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) presented the fifteenth annual Fred Ebb Award for aspiring musical theatre songwriters to Angela Sclafani & Benjamin Velez. The award, named in honor of the late award-winning lyricist Fred Ebb, was presented by Kate Baldwin on Monday, December 2nd from 6-8pm at a by-invitation-only ceremony in the Penthouse Lounge of The American Airlines Theater.

The Fred Ebb Foundation (Mitchell S. Bernard, Trustee) in association with the Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) will present the fifteenth annual Fred Ebb Award for aspiring musical theatre songwriters to Angela Sclafani & Benjamin Velez. The award, named in honor of the late award-winning lyricist Fred Ebb, will be presented by Kate Baldwin on Monday, December 2nd from 6-8pm at a by-invitation-only ceremony in the Penthouse Lounge of The American Airlines Theater.

The Tank will present the World Premiere of The Séance Machine, written by EllaRose Chary and Brandon James Gwinn (Cotton Candy and Cocaine with Theater C; TL;DR: Thelma Louise; Dyke Remix at Rhinebeck Writers Retreat/The Tank), co-produced by Kimberly Hyacinthe and directed by Julia Sears (Bullet Catchers with Women in Combat Theatre Project; Wives Tale with Exquisite Corpse Company), at The Tank (312 West 36th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues), October 10-31.

The Tank (Meghan Finn, Artistic Director) will present the World Premiere of The Séance Machine, written by EllaRose Chary and Brandon James Gwinn(Cotton Candy and Cocaine with Theater C; TL;DR: Thelma Louise; Dyke Remix at Rhinebeck Writers Retreat/The Tank), co-produced by Kimberly Hyacintheand directed by Julia Sears (Bullet Catchers with Women in Combat Theatre Project; Wives Tale with Exquisite Corpse Company) at The Tank (312 West 36th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues), October 10-31. Performances will be on Thursday, October 10 at 7pm & 9:30pm, Friday, October 11 at 7pm, Saturday, October 12 at 7pm, 9pm & 11pm, Thursday, October 17 at 7pm & 9:30pm, Friday, October 18 at 7pm, Saturday, October 19 at 7pm, Thursday, October 24 at 9:30pm, Friday, October 25 at 7pm, Saturday, October 26 at 7pm, 9pm & 11pm, Monday, October 28 at 7pm & 9pm, Tuesday, October 29 at 7pm & 9pm, Wednesday, October 30 at 7pm, and Thursday, October 31 at 7pm, 9pm & 11pm. Tickets ($20) are available for advance purchase at www.thetanknyc.org. The performance will run approximately 60 minutes, with no intermission.

Robert ('Bob') Ullman (left), the legendary theatre press agent, whose career included Ethel Merman and Mary Martin: Together on Broadway, A Chorus Line (from workshop to Public Theater to Broadway), Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in The Visit, Lauren Bacall in Cactus Flower, The Dining Room, Driving Miss Daisy, Sunday in the Park with George, and over 150 additional Broadway and off-Broadway plays and musicals, died on July 31, 2019 in Bayshore, Long Island, New York. He was 97. The cause of death was cardiac arrest. Bob's death was announced by Rev. Joshua Ellis, a long-time Ullman friend, a former Broadway press agent, and now, an Interspiritual minister.

The New York Musical Festival (NYMF) and Sharp Women, LLC present Overture the Musical, a new story celebrating the extraordinary grass-roots efforts to save the Kansas City Philharmonic, with music and lyrics by Krista Eyler, book by Krista Eyler and Barbara Nichols. Ms. Nichols directs a cast of twelve, including Krista Eyler, Joel Morrison, Kay Noonan and Kipp Simmons with Whitney Armstrong, Erica Baruth, Jennifer Cannady, Stasha Case, JC Dresslaer, John Edmonds, Mark Murphy, and Rob Reeder. Five performances will be staged at The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street in New York City, from July 24-28, 2019.

North/South Consonance, Inc celebrates the Cinco de Mayo holiday on Sunday afternoon May 5 presenting a special event featuring vocal music from the Baroque and Contemporary eras by composers from Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Guatemala, Peru and Puerto Rico.

Broadway's MOTOWN: The Musical and Helen Hayes nominee N'Kenge, will be the first to perform a solo show at The Pierre Hotel. She will be collaborating with Musical Director Josh Kight on piano. Broadway at The Pierre Series is thrilled to have N'Kenge back after a Sold Out performance a few months ago where she performed alongside Antoine L. Smith and Dan Domenach. Its a One Night Only event on Monday May 7, 2018 at 8:30PM in the Two E Lounge.

Company of Fools' 22nd season of theatre programming will conclude with the charming production of Inside, Outside, Upside Down! - a mini-musical commissioned by Company of Fools (COF) and the Sun Valley Center for the Arts as part of its new BIG IDEA project, Bees. Two free public performances are scheduled for Saturday, April 21 at 6 p.m. and Sunday, April 22 at 2 p.m. Both will be held at the Liberty Theatre in Hailey and will be followed by a unique interactive workshop.

4th Wall Theatre Company's 2017 - 2018 season wraps up with the regional premiere of Suzanne Bradbeer's hilarious comedy, Shakespeare in Vegas May 17 - June 9, 2018, at Studio 101, Spring Street Studios, 1824 Spring Street, Houston, TX 77007. 4th Wall offered a staged reading of the play during its 2017 "4th Wall Reads: Women's Voices" series. 4th Wall audiences will remember Bradbeer's work from the 2014 production of her political drama, The God Game.

After the lauded World Premiere of The Boy Who Danced On Air, Diversionary is proud to produce the World Premiere of another groundbreaking new musical.

After a sold out run last summer in The Tank's 'Pride Fest' T and L, and their magical flying Thunderbird/badass rock band are back for a one-night-only concert reading at the Tank on Monday February 19th at 7pm. 

Houston Grand Opera's (HGO) Opera to Go! presents the world premiere of Monkey & Francine in the City of Tigers, with music by rising composer Kamala Sankaram and libretto by David Johnston, February 2 and 3, 9:30 and 11 a.m. both days, at Heinen Theater, 3517 Austin St., Houston. Performances are free. The 45-minute family opera is inspired by Indian and Chinese mythology and includes music influenced by Bollywood. A hilarious fable, Monkey & Francine in the City of Tigers demonstrates the power of teamwork as a monkey prince and his brainy sister outwit a hungry crocodile and escape from the City of Tigers. The opera is a co-commission of HGO's HGOco arm with American Lyric Theater, which presented a partially staged performance in New York City earlier in January. Seen and Heard International noted, the libretto was sophisticated and fresh, while the music was witty and eclectic. You tapped your toes and found yourself singing along.

After several exciting and successful shows in the fall of 2017 (Only You, A Queer Cabaret; Love: A How (Not) To Guide; and No Way To Say Goodbye by artists Donnie and Rebecca Cianciotto, Jen Anaya and Deepali Gupta) The Tank (Meghan Finn and Rosalind Grush, Artistic Directors) is launching a full season of monthly cabaret events for 2018! Tank-aret: A Taste of Something Different, a new cabaret series featuring underrepresented artists, will kick off on Saturday, January 20 at 10:30pm, in the 99-seat theater space at The Tank (312 West 36th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues). Tickets ($14, with a 1 drink minimun) are available for advance purchase at www.thetanknyc.org.

Following the opening of the Company's first permanent home, Target Margin Theater has announced that 13 diverse artists, via three distinct programs, will be supported in 2018. The Company's new home, located in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn, enables Target Margin Theater to deepen their support of the next generation of theater makers through its annual incubator LAB festival, it's five-year-old fellowship program, and its new artist-in-residency program.

The Mountain Playhouse will conclude its 78th season with a rare opportunity for audiences to see the very first performances of a new musical. At First Sight will be presented October 3 - 15. The music and lyrics are by Brandon Lambert. The book was written by Gary Jaffe and Brandon Lambert. The production is directed by Guy Stroman.