Ars Nova News

The BLUEBARN Theatre, founded in 1989 by graduates of the SUNY Purchase Acting Conservatory, proudly announces a creative partnership with STRANGEMEN THEATRE COMPANY, a New York-based non-profit, originally founded in 2010 by graduates of that same conservatory. In celebration of BLUEBARN's 30th Anniversary and the shared origins of the two companies, we are honored to welcome STRANGEMEN to Omaha for the first time. Members of the original creative team of THE WOODSMAN will again bring this award-winning production to life here at the BLUEBARN, enlisting Omaha's incredible local talent. Based on the forgotten writings of L. Frank Baum, Strangemen Theatre Company's THE WOODSMAN gives this darkly beautiful, haunting, and heart-breaking story new life through original music, physical storytelling, and innovative puppetry. A re-imagined tale of the origin of Baum's 'The Tin Woodman of Oz' that is not to be missed this season!

Ars Nova, under the leadership of Founding Artistic Director Jason Eagan and Managing Director Renee Blinkwolt, kicks off its 2018-2019 season at its original home with the world premiere of Rags Parkland Sings The Songs Of The Future. Created by Andrew R. Butler, a former Ars Nova resident artist and 2018 Jonathan Larson Grant recipient, this sci-fi folk concert is directed by Jordan Fein (Erin Markey's Singlet) and strengthens Ars Nova's reputation as an innovator in stretching the bounds of music-driven theater.

American Repertory Theater at Harvard University (A.R.T.), under the leadership of Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director Diane Paulus and Executive Producer Diane Borger, announces complete casting and creative team for The Black Clown. The production begins previews Friday, August 31; opens Wednesday, September 5; and closes Sunday, September 23, 2018 at the Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge, MA.

How fetch! Mean Girls will celebrate "Mean Girls Day" on October 3, which this year falls on a "pink" Wednesday, with a free fan performance! The show will take place at 7:00pm at the August Wilson Theatre (245 West 52nd Street), featuring special appearances by members of the Mean Girls creative team. Tickets to the fan performance can be won by entering a special digital lottery, which is now open at www.MeanGirlsonBroadway.com/Oct3.

In this collaboratively-created play by blossoming theater company TV, the ensemble unpacks the longing one can feel for another time and place, whether real or imagined: childhood, years without war, early human history, a time when everyone enjoyed the outdoors and raised chickens and heard gossip from the neighbors, when strawberries were tiny and sour. With choral odes by Deepali Gupta, this whimsical show hops millennia in its exploration of what once was or never was at all.

Beginning tomorrow, July 28, designer, director, master puppeteer, and MacArthur "genius" Basil Twist will perform in his singular creation, Symphonie Fantastique, during all Saturdayevening performances. The 20th-anniversary production, which has received near universal acclaim and is scheduled to close on September 2, will include Twist on July 28, August 4, 11, 18, 25 and September 1 at 8:30pm. Set to Hector Berlioz's revolutionary 1830 score, Symphonie Fantastique, for the first time in New York, features live piano accompaniment by Christopher O'Riley. Hailed as a creative masterpiece when it debuted in 1998, the production, which opened on April 4, is a presentation from HERE's Dream Music Puppetry Program and a centerpiece of HERE's 25th anniversary season.

CRACKED! is presented as part of Broadway Bound Theatre Festival 2018 (Festival Director, Lenore Skomal). Come out and play, New York! Affordable theatre is alive, well and living in NYC's eclectic and electric East Village. Broadway Bound takes a fresh approach to the theatre festival model as it mentors the continent's brightest playwrights on successful self-production.

Two-Player Game - the new album from George Salazar and Joe Iconis - is available on CD online and in stores today, Friday, July 27. The album is being released in conjunction with the debut New York production of Be More Chill, which is now in previews.

GHOSTLIGHT RECORDS has announced that Two-Player Game - the new album from George Salazar and Joe Iconis - will be available on CD online and in stores on Today, July 27. The album is being released in conjunction with the debut New York production of Be More Chill, which starts previews on Thursday, July 26. Two-Player Game is currently available in digital and streaming formats. For more information, please visit www.ghostlightrecords.com/joe-iconis-george-salazar-two-player-game.html

Flying Elephant Productions is pleased to conclude its inaugural season with the Chicago premiere of DEFACING MICHAEL JACKSON, Aurin Squire's racially-charged comedy about adolescence, sexual discovery and the conflict between community and culture.

MAX VERNON will launch his first ever residency at Joe's Pub at The Public this fall. MAX VERNON: Existential Life Crisis Lullaby will be performed Tuesday nights, September 25, October 23 and November 27, all at 7:00 PM.

Closing out the Weston 2018 Main Stage season is the Broadway hit Million Dollar Quartet, a rock and roll sensation brought to life, running August 9-September 2.

Crowded Outlet announces its next production, beep boop, a multimedia clown show created by physical comedian Richard Saudek (Balls at 59E59), TV and film composer Jesse Novak ("BoJack Horseman," "The Mindy Project") and director Wes Grantom (Lone Star Spirits, Eager to Lose). beep boop will play a limited engagement at HERE (145 6th Ave, New York, NY 10013; enter on Dominick, 1 Block South of Spring), performing Thursday September 6th through Sunday, September 30th. The Opening is Saturday, September 8th.

The Tank (Meghan Finn and Rosalind Grush, Artistic Directors) will present the World Premiere of Red Emma & The Mad Monk, written by Alexis Roblan and directed by Katie Lindsay at The Tank (312 West 36th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues) as part of the 2018 Lady Fest, August 18-September 1

Artistic Directors Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern announce casting for Vineyard Theatre's Developmental Lab production of Tori Sampson's THIS LAND WAS MADE, directed by Whitney White.

Exquisite Corpse Company is thrilled to announce upcoming festival, THIS IS A DISTRACTION. The festival, a culmination of the ECC's innaugural Playwrights-in-Residence cycle, offers up perspectives of distractions in our modern world. Presented within non-traditional performance space, The Parlour, the festival will feature an art gallery curated by ECC Artistic Director, Tess Howsam, and performances of four original one-act plays.

Stripped Scripts in association with Long Island City Artists Inc. and The Plaxall Gallery has announced that it will present Aaron Posner's STUPID F##KING BIRD, a satirical spin on the Chekhov's classic text, 'The Seagull', directed by Adam Knight ('In The Room, 'Naperville'), running July 6th - July 21st, Wednesdays, Fridays and Todays at The Plaxall Gallery (5-25 46 Avenue, Long Island City).

The Playwrights Foundation, a launchpad for exceptional plays and playwrights announces the lineup for the 2018 Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF) running July 20-29, 2018. The six Playwrights were selected from more than 700 submissions nationally, 85% from outside the bay area, from more than 2 dozen states and Canada - coast to coast a very North American cohort.

It's been a brutally hot summer lately, but this week we're so excited to Be More Chill with the talented and fabulous Joe Iconis and Jennifer Ashley Tepper! We're being fancy and pouring out Manhattans with our favorite Hudson Manhattan Rye Whiskey...well, we aren't pouring them out; they're being made for us by Guest Bartender and Be More Chill Musical Director Emily Marshall! Joe and Jennifer spill about Be More Chill's journey from regional premiere to Tumblr/Spotify Domination to it's highly-anticipated NYC premiere.

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Andre Bishop) has announced two new productions for this fall: THE HARD PROBLEM, a new play by Tom Stoppard, to be directed by Jack O'Brien, beginning performances Thursday, October 25 and opening Monday, November 19 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater; and the Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3 production of PLOT POINTS IN OUR SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT, a new play by Miranda Rose Hall, to be directed by Margot Bordelon, which will begin performances Saturday, October 6, open on Monday, October 22, and run through Sunday, November 18 at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65 Street).