Bill Rauch News

Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation has announced the recipient and three finalists for the annual Zelda Fichandler Award. The Fichandler Award recognizes directors and choreographers who have demonstrated great accomplishment to-date with singular creativity and deep investment in a particular community or region.

Randy Reinholz (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma), Producing Artistic Director of Native Voices at the Autry, is stepping down after more than two decades leading America's only Equity theatre company devoted exclusively to developing and producing new work by Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and First Nations playwrights.

Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation, the not-for-profit foundation of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, announced today that nominations for the Zelda Fichandler Award are now being accepted through July 10, 2020.

The Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center today announced the appointment of Meiyin Wang as Producing Director, starting this June. Under the executive leadership of Artistic Director Bill Rauch and President Leslie Koch, Wang will manage all artistic programming for the new performing arts organization.

Long Wharf Theatre announced today the complete lineup for its 2020/21 Breaking Boundaries season. In the first season fully programmed by Artistic Director Jacob G. Padrón, the non-profit theatre is re-dedicating itself to its founding mission to present innovative art with the community at its center and is committed to creating work that galvanizes New Haven and revolutionizes the new American theatre. The season will include work by directors Tatiana Pandiani, Aneesha Kudtarkar and Patricia McGregor; playwrights Monet Hurst-Mendoza, Kristoffer Diaz and Madhuri Shekar; a radical reimagining of a classic Shakespeare tale adapted and directed by Shana Cooper; and a revival of the award-winning musical Jelly's Last Jam, with a book by George C. Wolfe, music by Jelly Roll Morton & Luther Henderson and lyrics by Susan Birkenhead.

By 1939. the Depression had begun to wane, but Dorothy still took a road trip to Oz to find out that there's no place like home. John Steinbeck published The Grapes of Wrath that year; the Joad family also had to leave their Oklahoma home and hit the road because the Dust Bowl was no Miss Gulch nor a dream they'd wake up from. Steinbeck called the road they took, Route 66, the Mother Road which has given Octavio Solis his title for Arena's current production through March 8.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater presents Octavio Solis' Mother Road, a sequel to John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Mother Road premiered at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2019 and will run at Arena Stage from February 7 - March 8, 2020 in the iconic in-the-round Fichandler Stage.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater will present the American Voice Award to Assistant Speaker Ben Ray Luján on Thursday, February 13, 2020.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater presents Octavio Solis' Mother Road, a sequel to John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Mother Road premiered at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2019 and will run at Arena Stage from February 7 – March 8, 2020 in the iconic in-the-round Fichandler Stage.

In what has become an annual ritual, a total of 40 established and emerging composers, lyricists, and librettists will converge on the Goodspeed campus from mid-January through mid-February 2020 to participate in the Johnny Mercer Foundation Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals. The writing teams, representing 15 new musicals, will populate the campus, creating a truly exciting environment for discovery and inspiration.

Kathleen Culebro, Artistic Director of Amphibian Stage, today announced that Hans & Sophie, a new play created by New York-based trio Sean Hudock, Illana Stein and Deborah Yarchun, will have its world premiere at the Fort Worth, TX theatre February 5 - March 1, 2020. Illana Stein, who helmed Amphibian's regional premiere of David Davalos' A Lost Leonardo, will direct.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces casting for Octavio Solis' Mother Road, a sequel to John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Mother Road premiered at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2019 and will run at Arena Stage from February 7 - March 8, 2020 in the iconic in-the-round Fichandler Stage.

Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan's The Great Society, starring Brian Cox ('Succession') as LBJ, directed by Bill Rauch, will play its final performance, as scheduled, on Saturday, November 30 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater (150 West 65th St) at Lincoln Center. At the time of closing, The Great Society will have played 26 preview performances and 72 regular performances.

With more than 8,000 ballots counted to date, and with two weeks left to vote in the 'Great Society Primary' at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater, it is still anyone's race for President. In recent weeks, Senator Elizabeth Warren's once strong lead over the crowded Democratic field has slipped, and Mayor Pete Buttigieg has overtaken Vice President Joe Biden for the #2 spot in the poll. In addition, speculation of Mayor Michael Bloomberg joining the race has resulted in a handful of write-ins on his behalf, possibly fueled by his recent attendance at The Great Society.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival wrapped up its 2019 season October 26-27 with the final performances of Mother Road, How to Catch Creation, As You Like It, La Comedia of Errors, Indecent, Between Two Knees, Hairspray a?" The Broadway Musical, and Cambodian Rock Band. Preparations for the 2020 season and this month's 2020 Member Presale are already underway. The 2020 opening weekend is March 6-March 8; preview performances begin February 28.

Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan's THE GREAT SOCIETY, starring Brian Cox (a?oeSuccessiona??) as LBJ, directed by Bill Rauch, will play its final performance, as scheduled, on Saturday, November 30 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater (150 West 65th St) at Lincoln Center. At the time of closing, The Great Society will have played 26 preview performances and 72 regular performances.

What will two Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwrights have to say to each other in a room full of critics about creating drama based on real-life characters and events?

Week after week, and with more 6,500 ballots now counted for the 'Great Society Primary' at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center, theatergoers of The Great Society continue to choose Senator Elizabeth Warren as the Democratic presidential candidate with 36% of the vote (-1% from Week 6), followed by Vice President Joe Biden (17%, NC), Mayor Pete Buttigieg (16%, NC). In the Republican primary field, President Donald Trump comes in at 4% (NC), followed by Governor Bill Weld (2%, NC) and Congressman Mark Sanford (0.6%, NC).

With over 6,000 ballots now counted for the 'Great Society Primary' at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center, theatergoers of The Great Society continue to vote for Senator Elizabeth Warren as the Democratic presidential candidate with 37% of the vote (-1% from Week 5), followed by Vice President Joe Biden (17%, NC), Mayor Pete Buttigieg (16%, NC), Kamala Harris (6%), Bernie Sanders (5%), Amy Klobuchar (4%), Cory Booker (2%) and Andrew Yang (2%). In the Republican primary field, President Donald Trump comes in at 4% (NC), followed by Governor Bill Weld (2%, NC) and Congressman Joe Walsh (0.3%, NC).

Thomas brings to life the conscience and energy of Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey in Robert Schenkkan's latest exploration of the earth-shaking events of the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson.