Ars Nova News

Fresh from the success of Night of a Thousand Judys, The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre - the acclaimed comedy/variety show hailed as 'rambunctious, uproarious and unpredictable' by The Wall Street Journal, 'delicious and delightfully droll' by The New York Post, and 'hilarious and sardonic' by The Village Voice - has moved to 54 BELOW for a six month run. The next show will be on Wednesday, September 25 at 9:30 PM. Known for its signature blend of outrageous comedy, politics, culture and everything in between, The Meeting* moves uptown after four seasons of packed houses in the West Village. Justin Sayre and The Meeting* were named one of the Top 10 nightclub shows of 2011 by Time Out New York, received the 2012 Bistro Award for 'Comedy Artistry' and a 2011 MAC Award nomination for Best Male Comedy Performance.

Playwright Jen Silverman will receive the 2013 Yale Drama Series award for her new play Still this Thursday evening, September 12 at Lincoln Center Theater's Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65 Street). The evening will include the presentation to the playwright of the David Charles Horn Prize, a cash award of $10,000, and a staged reading of Still, directed by Kate Whoriskey, featuring Jeanine Seralles, Chris Grant, Birgit Huppuch and Elvy Yorst.

UglyRhino Productions will present TinyRhino: September Edition on Tuesday, September 24th at 8 p.m. Come join us for six brand new plays by up and coming playwrights and directors.

Four theater artists will be honored by the Henry Hewes Design Awards Committee during the presentation of its 2013 Awards in a luncheon ceremony scheduled for October 21. Mimi Lien(Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812), Ann Roth (The Nance), Jane Cox (The Flick) andPeter Nigrini (Here Lies Love) will be honored with 2013 Henry Hewes Design Awards. Each of the four is receiving his or her first Henry Hewes Design Award. For the 2013 honors, 84 theater artists were nominated for outstanding artistry in 55 productions presented during the 2012-2013 New York theater season. (A complete list of 2013 nominees follows this awards announcement.)

Partial Comfort Productions (Drama Desk nominee A Bright New Boise) kicks off it's 11th season with the World Premiere of AND MILES TO GO by Chad Beckim. Directed by Hal Brooks (Pulitzer Prize finalist Thom Pain), previews begin October 2 at The Wild Project. Opening night is slated for Thursday, October 10.

Three New Playwrights (Allison Bressi, Executive Producer) has announced a lineup of 45 new works by more than 60 artists, as part of (not just) 3 New Plays, a month-long pop-up event hosted by Tom Noonan's Paradise Factory (64 East 4th Street, Between Bowery & Second Avenue) today, September 8-29, 2013.

Cutting Ball Theater opens its 15th season with the World Premiere of SIDEWINDERS by Basil Kreimendahl. M. Graham Smith makes his main stage directing debut at Cutting Ball with SIDEWINDERS, featuring DavEnd, Sara Moore,Donald Currie, and Norman Muñoz. SIDEWINDERS plays October 18 through November 17 at the Cutting Ball Theater in residence at EXIT on Taylor (277 Taylor Street) in San Francisco. For tickets ($10-50) and more information, the public may visitcuttingball.com or call 415-525-1205.

Three New Playwrights (Allison Bressi, Executive Producer) announced today a lineup of 45 new works by more than 60 artists, as part of (not just) 3 New Plays, a month-long pop-up event hosted by Tom Noonan's Paradise Factory (64 East 4th Street, Between Bowery & Second Avenue) September 8-29, 2013.

Slant Theatre Project presents the seventh episode in their popular live podcast series ON THIS ISLAND tonight, September 5 at 8:00pm at Ars Nova (511 West 54th Street) in Manhattan.

The Bushwick Starr Propeller Project presents Plum de Force, written and directed by Kristine Haruna Lee, with performances tonight, September 5-8, Thursday-Sunday at 8pm.

The Obie and Drama Desk Award-winning Ma-Yi Theater Company -- one of the nation's leading theaters dedicated to developing and producing new and innovative plays by Asian American writers -- will celebrate its 25th anniversary season in 2013-14, beginning with the New York premiere of BIKE AMERICA by Mike Lew, with previews September 24 prior to an official opening night on October 1 Off-Broadway at The Theater at St. Clement's (423 W. 46 St.) in Manhattan.

Ars Nova (Jason Eagan, Artistic Director; Jeremy Blocker, Managing Director) presents, as part of the Out Loud series, a FREE reading of GIRL ON GIRL by Stephen Karam, co-directed by Noah Brody and Ben Steinfeld. The cast includes Jessie Austrian, Darius Pierce, Ben Steinfeld and Emily Young.

Lincoln Center Theater, under the direction of Producing Artistic Director Andre Bishop, has announced that Bianca Amato, Shirine Babb, John Patrick Doherty, Austin Durant, Richard Easton, Francesca Faridany, Stephanie Fieger, Malcolm Gets, John Glover, Ben Horner, Ruy Iskandar, Brian d'Arcy James, Byron Jennings, Aaron Krohn, Jeremiah Maestas, Christopher McHale, Jonny Orsini, Sam Poon, Triney Sandoval, Nathan Stark, Daniel Sunjata, Patrick Vaill, Tyler Lansing Weaks and Derek Wilson will join Ethan Hawke and Anne-Marie Duff in its upcoming production of Shakespeare's MACBETH, directed by Jack O'Brien. The production, which will feature a cast of 27, will begin previews on Thursday, October 24 and open on Thursday, November 21 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater (150 West 65 Street).

NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812, which concluded a hit summer engagement downtown on September 2nd, will take up residence in the Theater District, on West 45th Street between Times Square and 8thAvenue, for a 14-week limited run beginning September 24th. Since its first production at Ars Nova in the fall of 2012, the show has become a sensation, meriting expansion this summer to a 199 seat pop-up supper club built specifically for the production in the Meatpacking District. After playing to packed houses since May, producers Howard & Janet Kagan will bring Dave Malloy's acclaimed electopop opera and its opulent custom venue - Kazino - to the heart of the theater district.

Single tickets are available today for five world premiere plays that are a part of Manhattan Theatre Club's 2013-2014 season. On Broadway, at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street), tickets are available for THE SNOW GEESE (a co-production with MCC Theater) and OUTSIDE MULLINGAR via Telecharge at 212-239-6200, online by visiting www.Telecharge.com, or by visiting the Friedman Theatre Box Office (261 West 47th Street). A third production at the Friedman will be announced shortly. At MTC's Off-Broadway home at New York City Center - Stage I (131 West 55th Street), single tickets are available for THE COMMONS OF PENSACOLA, TALES FROM RED VIENNA, and WHEN WE WERE YOUNG AND UNAFRAID via the New York City Center Box Office (131 West 55th Street), CityTix (212-581-1212) and www.nycitycenter.org.

Ted Cubbin's new comedy The Rufus Equation, which had its world premiere at the 2013 New York International Fringe Festival, has been extended into the Fringe Encore Series, with five performances added for Sunday, September 8 at 3:00 p.m. & 8:00 p.m., Tuesday September 10 at 8:00 p.m., and Sunday. September 15 at 3:00 p.m. & 8:00 p.m. at The Players Theater (115 MacDougal Street, NYC). Tickets for these added performances are available through www.TheRufusEquation.com.

Everything is Ours, written by Nikole Beckwith, directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt, and produced by Devon Berkshire. Performances begin Today, August 31st at 8:30pm, at HERE Arts Center, 145 Sixth Avenue, (entrance on Dominick St. 1 Block South of Spring). Opening night is set for Tuesday, September 3rd at 7:00pm. The show must close Today, September 21st. Tickets are $18 general admission and may be purchased at www.here.org or by phoning 212.352.3101.

Ghostlight Records will release the original cast recording of the hit downtown production of Dave Malloy's electropop opera NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 later in 2013. The album was recorded Monday, August 26th at MSR Studios in New York City. The recording - which preserves the entire score on two discs - was produced by Dean Sharenow, Howard and Janet Kagan and Kurt Deutsch. Sign up to pre-order at www.sh-k-boom.com/greatcomet.

Aurora Theatre Company opens its 22nd season with the Bay Area Premiere of Obie-winning playwright Amy Herzog's (4000 Miles, Belleville, The Great God Pan) family drama AFTER THE REVOLUTION. Joy Carlin (Body Awareness, Jack Goes Boating,Awake and Sing!) directs this drama about what we do with history and how we appropriate it for our own personal needs. Featuring Adrian Anchondo, Jessica Bates, Peter Kybart, Sarah Mitchell, Ellen Ratner, Rolf Saxon, Victor Talmadge, and Pamela Gaye Walker, AFTER THE REVOLUTION plays tonight, August 30 through September 29 at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley.

Ars Nova (Jason Eagan, Artistic Director; Jeremy Blocker, Managing Director) will begin accepting applications for Uncharted, it's newly expanded program for burgeoning musical theater writers, on September 3. The Uncharted program, initially co-conceived with Ars Nova's first Composer-in-Residence Andrew Lippa, has grown this year to include two-year residencies in a writers group designed to support the development of first drafts of new musicals. The Uncharted writers group brings together four writing teams for monthly meetings, providing them with peer and artistic support as they work on new pieces. First year group members will also receive public concerts produced by Ars Nova as a chance to debut their new material in front of a live audience. During the second year of the residency, the writers will receive weeklong workshops of their musicals, culminating in full public readings.