Ars Nova News

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 Saturdays at The Plaxall Gallery (5-25 46 Avenue, Long Island City).

New Light Theater Project is thrilled to announce that Jacob Perkins has been tapped as Literary Manager. This newly formed position leads the company into its 5th Season.

The Play Company (PlayCo), led by Founding Producer Kate Loewald and Managing Director Robert G. Bradshaw, today announces the complete cast for Toshiki Okada's Time's Journey Through a Room, marking PlayCo's third collaboration with Okada, translator Aya Ogawa, and director Dan Rothenberg, May 10 - June 10, 2018. This haunting play, set in post-Fukushima Japan, will star three Japanese born performers, all of whom are now based in New York: Yuki Kawahisa (Honoka), Maho Honda (Arisa) and Kensaku Shinohara (Kazuki). The play is both an intimate examination of how we move forward from life-altering events, and a study of how we experience time, asking whether we can ever be alive to the present moment. 

The American Shakespeare Center (ASC) today announces that Amy E. Witting's Anne Page Hates Fun and Mary Elizabeth Hamilton's 16 Winters or the Bear's Tale are the first two winners of 'Shakespeare's New Contemporaries,' an international playwriting competition designed to create a modern canon of companion pieces for each of Shakespeare's 38 plays.

The time has come for the 63rd Annual Drama Desk Awards, hosted by Michael Urie, June 3 (8:00 PM) at The Town Hall in Manhattan.

Broken Nose Theatre, recipient of the 2018 Broadway In Chicago Emerging Theatre Award, is pleased to continue its 2018 Season with Sam Chanse's contemplative new drama THE OPPORTUNITIES OF EXTINCTION, directed by company member Jen Poulin*, playing June 2 - 30, 2018 at The Den Theatre (2A), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. Tickets are currently available at brokennosetheatre.com. Tickets for all Broken Nose Theatre productions are available on a "pay-what-you-can" basis, allowing patrons to set their own price and ensuring theatre remains economically accessible for all audiences. The press opening is Monday, June 4 at 7:30 pm.

The Muny announced today its full cast, design and production teams for the theatre's centennial season closing production of Meet Me In St. Louis, August 4 - 12. 

BoHo Theatre has announced that Stephen Schellhardt will become BoHo's new Artistic Director beginning next season, which will begin in early 2019. Schellhardt has been the Artistic Associate with the company since 2015. He assumes the position from outgoing Artistic Director Peter Marston Sullivan, who will remain with BoHo as the new Artistic Associate.

"Packed with young talent…in the risk-taking venture that is summer festival-going, encountering talent you want to see more of is a worthy payoff." - Laura Collins-Hughes,The New York Times

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey continues their 56thseason with the popular tradition of an Outdoor Stage production, this year featuring The Servant of Two Masters, directed by Doug West. The adaptation had its world premiere here in 2010 and was heralded as a "delicious production" by The New York Times. Patrons can now enjoy a fresh take on this Italian comedy by Carlo Goldoni and translated and adapted by Bonnie J. Monte, and experience a night of theatre under the stars at the Outdoor Stage.

DESPERATE MEASURES, a musical comedy gone wild with music by David Friedman (Listen To My Heart), book and lyrics by Peter Kellogg (Anna Karenina), and directed by Bill Castellino (Cagney, Marry Harry), will play New World Stages (340 West 50th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues), it was announced today by producers Pat Flicker Addiss and Mary Cosette. Following critical and audience acclaim at The New York Musical Festival and The York Theater Company, performances for the open-ended engagement begin May 30th and opening night is set for June 13th.

Project Y Theatre Company presents the 3rd Annual WOMEN IN THEATRE FESTIVAL from May 30 - June 24 at IRT Theatre (154 Christopher Street, between Washington & Greenwich Streets in the West Village). The Festival seeks to broaden the opportunities for women in the entertainment industry by producing new work by women with more than 50% female representation of all artists involved.

Rebel Theatrical Management, LLC (Harvey Butler, producer), in association with The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture, have announced, today, the cast and the creative team for the New York premiere of the new play Little Rock, written and directed by Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj. Performances are set to begin Today, May 30, 2018 for a limited run through September 8, 2018 at The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture (18 Bleecker Street). Opening Night is set for Thursday, June 14, 2018 at 7:00PM.

Soho Rep. (Sarah Benson, Artistic Director; Cynthia Flowers, Executive Director) today announced that actor Charles Browning will take over for Lance Coadie Williams in the world premiere of Jackie Sibblies Drury's Fairview, which Soho Rep. Artistic Director Sarah Benson directs, and which the downtown Manhattan theater presents in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Due to unforeseen personal circumstances, Williams is unable to continue.The production now runs at Soho Rep. June 2 - July 8, with opening now set for Sunday, June 17. 

McCarter is proud to welcome a group of esteemed and emerging playwrights and theater artists to Princeton for the Sallie B. Goodman Artists' Retreat. The annual Retreat in June is a centerpiece of McCarter's LAB, a platform and creative incubator devoted to ongoing theatrical development and artist cultivation. The 2018 Retreat will take place from June 6 - June 13.

The 12-time Tony Award-nominated Best Musical Mean Girls will partner with Young Women's Leadership Network (YWLN) on 'Fearless Leaders' annual initiative beginning this September.

Charles Dickens' beloved orphan makes his Goodspeed debut in the hope-filled musical set in the dark shadows of Victorian London. Bounced from workhouse to forced labor, Oliver Twist escapes to the streets where he meets Fagin, the Artful Dodger and a band of child pickpockets. Will he find love, home and happiness before it's too late?

LAUNDRYFEST will make its world premiere at The Soap Box, 110 Saratoga Ave, Brooklyn NY 11233. The show will be comprised of site specific and site responsive pieces in an actual laundromat. The festival, produced by The Motor Company (Lillian Meredith, Artistic Director; Jessica Schmidt, Producing Director), will feature new short plays and musicals by Sean Pollock, Billy Recce, Ben Holbrook and Cherry Lou Sy. Directors include NJ Agwuna, David Kahawaii, Phoebe Padget, and Lillian Meredith. The festival is co-curated and co-produced by Sean Pollock. The performance schedule is Friday, June 8th, Today June 9th, Friday, June 15th, and Today June 16th at 9:00PM; Sunday June 10th and Sunday June 17th at 7:00PM. Admission is free of charge to the public.

New Light Theater Project is thrilled to present the New York premiere of the hollower written by Liza Birkenmeier and directed by Kristy Dodson. the hollower begins performances Thursday, May 17 for a limited engagement through Saturday, June 9. Press opening is Today, May 25 at 8 PM.

Theater (Jonathan Bank, Producing Artistic Director) will present the New York Premiere of Miles Malleson's political love story Conflict. Performances will begin May 25th and continue through July 21st at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street). Opening Night is set for June 21st.