Ben Bonnema News

 The Fred Ebb Foundation has announced that their Fred Ebb Award ceremony, previously set for January 3rd, 2022 at Birdland Jazz Club, has been postponed. 

The Fred Ebb Foundation will present the seventeenth annual Fred Ebb Award for aspiring musical theatre songwriters to the team of Isabella Dawis & Tidtaya Sinutoke. The award, named in honor of the late award-winning lyricist Fred Ebb, will be presented on Monday January 3rd, 2022, at a by-invitation-only ceremony at Birdland Jazz Club

National Alliance for Musical Theatre has announced this year’s directors and music directors for the 33rd Annual FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS, which will be held on Thursday, October 21 and Friday, October 22, 2021.

Excitement is in the air as The Winter Park Playhouse announces the six winning selections for the 4th annual Florida Fesival of New Musicals now scheduled for June 24 - 27, 2021. The Festival, which showcases new musical theatre works, is one of very few in the nation and certainly the only one of its kind in the Southeast region.

Broadway Records today released THE WELLSONGS PROJECT, a collection of 16 new songs performed by an all-star broadway cast including Kate Baldwin, Christine Andreas, Lisa Howard, Ethan Slater, Jason Gotay, Margo Seibert, Allie Trimm, Lisa Brescia, Bradley Gibson, Halle Hunt, Marissa McGowan, Michael Mendez, Will Reynolds, and Vishal Vaidya.

David Sisco and Laura Josepher, owners of ContemporaryMusicalTheatre.com, are launching a new radio show on MusicalTheatreRadio.com on Saturday, January 16 at 10 AM (EST).

Artistic Stamp, the original plays-by-mail company, is proud that in a year marred by decimation to the theater industry, they have employed and paid 38 actors in addition to the eight playwrights and creative team. The interactive experiences are written by Liz Duffy Adams, Ben Bonnema, November Christine, West and Dash Hyler, Timothy Huang, Jahn Sood, Elyne Quan, and Natalie Ann Valentine.

The Johnny Mercer Foundation (JMF) and the American Music Theatre Project (AMTP) at Northwestern University are seeking the nation's most talented young songwriters and writing teams for the 16th annual Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project. The free weeklong songwriting workshop will take place virtually from June 20-26, 2021.

On Monday night, The Fred Ebb Foundation in association with the Roundabout Theatre Company presented the sixteenth annual Fred Ebb Award for aspiring musical theatre songwriters to the team of Ben Bonnema & Christopher Staskel, and Michael R. Jackson. 

Plays-by-mail theater company Artistic Stamp have announced that due to the sold-out success of their inaugural season, they are returning with Season Two in 2021. Season Two will include three world premieres by Liz Duffy Adams (Or), Timothy Huang (Costs of Living), and West Hyler (Cirque Du Soleil's Paramour) and Dashiell Hyler plus more.

The Fred Ebb Foundation in association with the Roundabout Theatre Company  will present the sixteenth annual Fred Ebb Award for aspiring musical theatre songwriters to the team of Ben Bonnema & Christopher Staskel, and Michael R. Jackson. The award will be presented by Audra McDonald on Monday November 30th at 7pm.

As the audience writes back, their responses help steer the story and determine the choices the character makes

Presenting original work from six award-winning playwrights--Ben Bonnema (The Apple Boys) , November Christine, Matt Schatz (UNTITLED a New Musical Comedy about Serious Drama, The Burdens), Jahn Sood (The Disappearing Man, We Were an Island), Elyne Quan, and Natalie Ann Valentine.

The Winter Park Playhouse announced the six winning selections for the 4th annual Florida Festival of New Musicals now scheduled for June 24 - 27, 2021.

Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF), the not-for-profit foundation of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), today announced Director Arpita Mukherjee has been chosen as this season's SDCF Denham Fellow for her upcoming production of Raisins Not Virgins by Sharbari Zohra Ahmed.

Māyā, a new musical by Cheeyang Ng (book/music) and Eric Sorrels (book/lyrics), will hold industry readings on February 9th and 10th, 2020 at The Growing Studio.

Astoria Performing Arts Center (APAC) presents the New York premiere of Jump following the critically-acclaimed presentation of Marguerite. The award-winning theater company continues their 2019-20 season with this production taking place at APAC Pop Up theater located at 28-21 Steinway Street in Astoria, Queens.

Shakina Nayfak is a woman blessed with an abundance of talents. She enjoys success as a director, writer, performer, producer, and social activist. Recently she created the critically-acclaimed role of Ava in the Transparent's Musical Finale now streaming on Amazon Prime. She is beloved by fans for her role as Lola on Hulu's Difficult People and has premiered three solo shows at Joe's Pub to sold-out houses. On Saturday, November 9th she brings her one woman show Manifest Pussy back to Joe's Pub. Described as a rock concert/standup special/ritual sacrifice' the show tells the story of Shakina's journey to Thailand for gender confirmation surgery in 2014.

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre will kick-off this year's Festival of New Musicals at The Green Room 42 (at the Yotel, 570 10th Ave) with The 46th Minute concert on Wednesday, October 23 at 7 PM.  This concert is open to the public and tickets starting at $22, can be purchased by visiting TheGreenRoom42.poptix.com. 

The New York Musical Festival (NYMF) has announced the performer lineup for the 2019 Songwriting Workshop public masterclass, led by NYMF Honorary Chair Joe Iconis and Ben Bonnema, and Head and Heart, a presentation from NYMF's Student Leadership Project.