Ars Nova News

The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) announced today a one-week extension for the world premiere of KINGS, written by Sarah Burgess and directed by Thomas Kail. Part of The Public's Astor Anniversary Season at their landmark downtown home on Lafayette Street, celebrating 50 years of new work at 425 Lafayette Street and the 50th Anniversary of HAIR, KINGS officially opens on Tuesday, February 20 and will now run an additional week through Sunday, April 1.

The Catastrophic Theatre continues its 2017-2018 season with the rolling world premiere of Leap and the Net Will Appear by Chana Porter, who two-time Obie Award-winning playwright and director Craig Lucas has called 'the most original and funny and touching and interesting young playwright out there at this moment.' The production will be directed by Porter's collaborator, NYC director Tara Ahmadinejad, and features original music by composer Andrew Lynch.

February 19, 2018 - Based on Roundabout Theatre Company's Tony Award-winning production, Sam Mendes (Skyfall, American Beauty) and Rob Marshall's (Into the Woods and Chicago, the films) CABARET will play The Playhouse on Rodney Square in Wilmington for eight performances, March 13-19. This is the first time the Broadway revival has toured the historic Wilmington theater.

Cult-hit Brooklyn rockers Sky-Pony are known for their themed live shows: 'a beautiful mash-up of music, choreography, costumes, projections and drama' (Village Voice). On Sunday March 18 they'll serve up their latest themed concert, titled 'Rites of Spring', at NYC's Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2. Expect a healthy dose of their lush, lyrical, cheeky indie-pop -- welcoming springtime with a program of songs about lust, love and rebirth. 

The Organizers of TEDxBroadway announced today that two new speakers will join the lineup for this year's event at New World Stages, Tuesday, February 27, 2018.

BroadwayWorld has a first look at Penn State Centre Stage premiere production of the musical Love in Hate Nation, February 13-24, in the Playhouse Theatre, University Park. With Music, lyrics, and book by Joe Iconis, Love in Hate Nation was commissioned by Penn State Musical Theatre as part of their New Works Initiative.

La Jolla Playhouse announces Hundred Days, book by The Bengsons and Sarah Gancher, music and lyrics by The Bengsons, directed by Anne Kauffman, and movement direction by Sonya Tayeh, as the final production of its 2018/2019 season, to run September 22 - October 21 in the Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Forum.

Victory Gardens Theater continues its 43rd season with BREACH: a manifesto on race in america through the eyes of a black girl recovering from self-hate, written by Antoinette Nwandu and directed by Lisa Portes. BREACH runs February 9 - March 11, 2018, with the press performance on Friday, February 16, 2018 at 7:30pm at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

La MaMa, in association with The Assembly, presents the world premiere of SEAGULLMACHINE, created by The Assembly, conceived by Nick Benacerraf, co-directed by Jess Chayes (Lucille Lortel Award winner) and Nick Benacerraf, and text by Anton Chekhov, Heiner Muller and The Assembly. SEAGULLMACHINE runs from April 14 - 29, 2018 in a limited engagement at La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Theatre, located at 66 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and the Bowery in New York City. Previews begin April 14 for an April 16 opening.

The American Theatre Wing (Heather Hitchens, President & CEO) announced today that the 2018 Jonathan Larson® Grants recipients areJay Adana (music and lyrics), Andrew R. Butler & Andrew Farmer (music, lyrics, and book), Emily Kaczmarek & Zoe Sarnak (music, lyrics, and book), and Mark Sonnenblick(music and lyrics). Four prestigious, unrestricted grants of $10,000 each, as well as additional support in the form of residencies, concerts, and recording grants, totaling over $48,000, will be presented on Monday, March 19, 2018 at a private event at the WNYC Greene Space. The event will feature special performances of the recipients' work.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) announced the nine new playwrights today for the 2018-19 Emerging Writers Group. Now in its seventh cycle, the Emerging Writers Group is an ongoing initiative that targets playwrights at the earliest stages of their career, creating an artistic home, and offering support and resources for a diverse group of up-and-coming playwrights.

WP Theater (formerly known as Women's Project Theater), under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty and Managing Director Michael Sag, is thrilled to announce the lineup for the second biennial Pipeline Festival, showcasing the work of the celebrated WP Lab residency for playwrights, directors and producers from March 29 - April 28 at WP Theater (2162 Broadway & 76th Street.)

F*It Club, the New York Innovative Award-winning film and theatre company, continues its annual series of short, commissioned world-premiere plays at the IRT Theater as part of their 3B Development Series in Manhattan's West Village with The Spring Fling: Chemistry, seven new short plays by Mario Correa (Tail! Spin!), Jahna Ferron-Smith (Ensemble Studio Theatre's Youngblood), Jon Kern (Modern Terrorism), Dan McCabe (Christina Martinez), Mara Nelson-Greenberg (Do You Feel Anger?), Erica Saleh (Channel Zero, Wisdom of the Crowd) and Amy Staats (Eddie and Dave).

What if, instead of drowning, Shakespeare's Ophelia had splashed through the brook water and found a parallel universe on the other side?

WP Theater and The Bushwick Starr, in association with New Georges, are pleased to announce that due to popular demand, [PORTO], the upside-down romantic comedy written by Obie Award Winner Kate Benson (Super Magic Wild Forest, Desert) and directed by Obie Award winner Lee Sunday Evans (Bull in a China Shop, Caught), will extend. Previously scheduled through February 25,[PORTO] will now play its final performance on Sunday, March 4, 2018 at WP Theater (2162 Broadway).

SPARKLE & CIRCULATE with JUSTIN SAYRE - the official monthly podcast of the International Order of Sodomites - has posted its new episode, which features an interview with Julian Fleisher. The sophisticated vocalist, composer, bandleader, producer, actor and author discusses his albums "Rather Big" and "Finally," his book 'The Drag Queens of New York: An Illustrated Field Guide'... and why he needs a boyfriend. Plus, he spills secrets about his musical collaborations with Kiki & Herb and Ana Gasteyer. And Justin sends us his best for the new year, if slightly belatedly. SPARKLE & CIRCULATE was recently named among the "10 Comedy Podcasts You Should Listen To" by Backstage. All episodes are available on iTunes HERE.

Seven theatre artists have gathered for the nineteenth annual Sundance Institute Playwrights & Composers Retreat at Ucross Foundation in Wyoming, currently underway from February 5 to February 23, 2018. Designed to support theatrical writing in its earliest stages, the residency is dedicated to uninhibited creativity, peer mentorship and professional growth.

Main Street Theater continues its 42nd Season with Men on Boats by Jaclyn Backhaus - and it's played by all women.  Men on Boats tells the story of Major John Wesley Powell's actual expedition of the Grand Canyon in 1869.  The play depicts the amazing journey of these 10 explorers with all its humor and wonder and danger and excitement.  It's an extraordinary adventure.

Walton Arts Center is pleased to announce the eight a cappella groups chosen to compete in the 2018 VoiceJam Competition on Saturday, April 7, 2018 at 7:30 pm.

Abrons Arts Center is pleased to present the world premiere of Aloha, Aloha, or When I Was a Queen (April 4-21), a solo play written and performed by Eliza Bent and directed by Knud Adams. In 1996, a young Eliza Bent, along with a friend, created, directed and starred in an amateur historical film for a school project. In it, Bent portrayed Hawaii's last reigning monarch, Queen Liliuokalani. 22 years later, Bent uses her home movie as a jumping off point to lead audiences on a journey that grapples with personal history, legacy, and cultural appropriation. In the tradition of Spaulding Gray, Fran Leibowitz, and David Sedaris, Bent's humorous cringe-inducing stories chart a young Bostonian's education in race and appropriation.