Ars Nova News

The members of THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY company are excited to host their final fundraising event, LOVE IS ALWAYS BETTER - An Evening of Music by Jason Robert Brown and More, for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS at Washington, DC's Town Danceboutique (2009 8th St NW, Washington DC 20001) on Monday, July 11 at 8pm.

Led by Founding Artistic Director Katherine Kovner and Producing Director Roberta Pereira, The Playwrights Realm will kick off its 2016-17 10th anniversary season with the world premiere of Sarah Delappe's The Wolves. Directed by Lila Neugebauer and featuring a company of ten female actors, DeLappe's award-winning debut play will be presented at The Realm's new home for the season The Duke on 42nd Street, August 29-September 24, 2016.

Students from Rubicon Theatre Company are currently in rehearsals for what is sure to be a 'master-peach' of a production - a delightfully offbeat musical adaptation of Roald Dahl's beloved book James and the Giant Peach JR.

Camille Harris announces the release of her upcoming EP Where I Go, which is out on July 29th on all digital platforms.

The Old Globe today announced the complete cast and creative team of the world premiere of Steve Martin's new play METEOR SHOWER, an adult comedy, marking his welcome return to the Globe following the great success of Bright Star.

Continuing Adirondack Theatre Festival's (ATF) 22nd summer season of professional theatre is A COMEDY OF MANORS. Performances will be held at the Charles R. Wood Theater (207 Glen Street in downtown Glens Falls) July 12th - July 22nd at 7:30pm with a special matinee performance on July 20th at 2:00 pm. Tickets are $32-$45 and are available at the Wood Theater Box Office, online at ATFestival.org, or by calling (518) 480-4878. Discount season flex passes are available for the full seven show line-up.

Students from Rubicon Theatre Company are currently in rehearsals for what is sure to be a 'master-peach' of a production - a delightfully offbeat musical adaptation of Roald Dahl's beloved book James and the Giant Peach JR.

Salty Brine announces the premiere of a new cabaret, Good News, or Harry the Dog, as the latest installment in his series, Salty Brine's Spectacular Living Record Collection Cabaret. Salty Brine's Spectacular Living Record Collection Cabaret, which performs every Wednesday as part of Brine's residency at The Red Room (85 E. 4th St.), explores a different iconic album each month in a live cabaret setting.

Victory Gardens Theater announces the lineup for the 2016 IGNITION Festival of New Plays, including The Wayward Bunny by Greg Kotis; BREACH: a manifesto on race in America through the eyes of a black girl recovering from self-hate by Antoinette Nwandu; EOM (end of message) by Laura Jacqmin; Kill Move Paradise by James Ijames; Gaza Rehearsal by Karen Hartman; and Girls In Cars Underwater by Tegan McLeod. The 2016 Festival runs August 5-7, 2016 at Victory Gardens Theater, located at 2433 N Lincoln Avenue.

Small Mouth Sounds, written by Bess Wohl, will return to New York this summer for a strictly limited engagement. Directed by Obie Award-winner Rachel Chavkin (Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812), Small Mouth Sounds begins previews for a commercial run at The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street) on Sunday, July 3, 2016 at 7:30pm, with an official opening night set for Wednesday, July 13, 2016. The limited engagement will run through September 25, 2016.

Artistic Director Robert Lyons presents the 23rd annual OBIE Award-winning Ice Factory Festival. Ice Factory 2016 takes place at New Ohio Theatre, located at 154 Christopher Street between Greenwich and Washington Streets in New York City. Ice Factory 2016 will present seven new works over seven weeks, running from June 29 - August 13, 2016.

WATCH ME BURN, a new play by Rae Binstock and directed by Alex Tobey, will be presented by The Fresh Fruit Festival, one of New York's premiere LGBT theatrical events.

Opera Saratoga's Artistic and General Director Lawrence Edelson announced today the three exciting new productions that will comprise the company's 2017 Summer Festival, which will build on the company's commitment to producing masterpieces from the operatic cannon, important American works, and works in which dance plays an integral role.

Molly Beach Murphy, whose plays have been developed at New York Theatre Workshop, Williamstown Theatre Festival and Ars Nova and Loren Beri's new musical will be read and performed as a part of the NYMF Developmental Reading Series on July 12th, 16th, and 17th at Playwrights Horizons South Studio (416 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues), directed by Gabriel Vega Weissman and featuring Grace McLean (Natasha and Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, Brooklynite) in the title role of "Neil deGrasse Tyson".

Watch (but mainly listen) as Tanya O'Debra lends her voice to ten characters while staging live sound effects in this naughty 1940's radio detective spoof. When a wealthy client hires Private Dick Nick McKittrick to find her husband's killer, she learns that he will literally stick his nose where it doesn't belong. Just like the golden age of radio. Only much, much dirtier.

In honor of NYC Pride, Joel is re-airing 'RSVP,' his original musical about a closeted science fiction writer, set in the 1970s. 'RSVP' - a chamber musical. Book, Music, and Lyrics by Joel B. New. Directed by Lori Wolter Hudson. Cast: Greg Etling as 'Michael Walker,' Jenny Neale as 'Susan,' Scott Guthrie as 'The Stranger.' 'RSVP' was recorded live at Ripley-Grier Studios in NYC on March 16, 2013. Sound design by Emily Auciello.

The New York Musical Festival (NYMF) in association with Chinese Mother Jewish Daughter & Michael Chase Gosselin presents LUDO's Broken Bride, a new rock opera about one man's epic journey to save his true love's life, utilizing LUDO's entire discography. Adapted by Stacey Weingarten (NYMF: Les Enfants de Paris, Rescue Rue) with additional story and arrangements by Dana Levinson, the cast of 14 includes Spencer Clark (Regional: West Side Story, Romeo In Your Arms), Carson Higgins (Nat. Tour: American Idiot; NYMF: The Runaway Clone), Larry Hamilton (Off Bway: You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown; Captain Louie), Catherine Landeta (Regional: The King and I, Avenue Q, Bat Boy), Melissa Hunter McCann (TV: 'Tony Awards'; NY: Carnegie Hall's West Side Story, Encore's Paint Your Wagon), Gabrielle McClinton (Bway: Pippin; 1st Nat. Tour: American Idiot), Brendan Malafronte (Nat. Tour: Annie, The Producers, Singin' in the Rain), Jamen Nathakumar, Jackson Perrin, Devin Richey, Brian Charles Rooney (Bway: The Threepenny Opera; NYMF: Bedbugs!!!), Ashley Talluto (Nat. Tour: Flashdance, West Side Story), Michael Jayne Walker (Regional: Hair, Godspell, Tommy), and Amy Whitcomb (TV: 'The Voice;' 'The Sing-Off'). LUDO's Broken Bride is being staged at The Duke on 42nd Street a NEW 42ND STREET project, 229 West 42nd Street (bet. 10th and 11th Aves.) in NYC for five performances from Tuesday, August 2 through Saturday, August 6, 2016.

The Tony Award-winning musical Ragtime will receive a one-night site-specific developmental concert on Ellis Island on August 8, 2016. An all-star cast of Broadway and Off-Broadway veterans including Olivier winner Laura Michelle Kelly, Tony and Grammy nominee Brandon Victor Dixon, Emmy winner Michael Park, Robert Petkoff, Shaina Taub, and five-time Emmy nominee Georgia Engel will perform a selection of songs from the American musical with music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. Sammi Cannold will direct the concert in anticipation of a full production in 2017.

MEN ON BOATS, the critically-acclaimed comedy which premiered at Clubbed Thumb's 2015 Summerworks Festival, announced today casting for its return this summer in a co-production by Clubbed Thumb and Playwrights Horizons.

Continuing the fight to achieve gender parity in the American Theater, LA-based playwright/producer collective THE KILROYS has released its third annual list of industry-recommended new plays.