Branden Jacobs-Jenkins News

Artistic Director Robert Falls announces the 2016/2017 Season-his 30th year as "Chicago's most essential director" (Chicago Tribune) and the creative force behind the 92-year old not-for-profit Goodman Theatre, "one of the country's most respected stages" (NPR ).

What if all of the white actors in your play quit? AN OCTOROON begins tonight, March 16, 2016; and opens today, March 23, 2016.

Theatre for a New Audience has announced complete casting for A DOLL'S HOUSE, in an adaptation by Thornton Wilder not seen in New York since its Broadway premiere in 1937, and August Strindberg's THE FATHER, in a new version by Scottish author David Greig (Strindberg's Creditors at BAM) commissioned by Theatre for a New Audience.

In response to popular demand and three weeks before performances begin, Soho Rep., in association with John Adrian Selzer, extends the U.S. premiere of Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. to May 15.

From tonight, March 12, to April 9, 2016, SpeakEasy Stage Company will present the New England Premiere of BOOTYCANDY, a shockingly funny and saucy spin on race, sex, and sexuality, written by award-winning playwright and director Robert O'Hara.

Hosted by actress Gretchen Mol, Spring Fete, Soho Rep.'s Spring 2016 Gala, will honor actor, writer and director Tim Blake Nelson on March 14th at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers.

? The American Theatre Wing announced today that the 2016 Jonathan Larson Grants recipients are Cesar Alvarez (book, music and lyrics), Nikko Benson (music and lyrics), Carson Kreitzer (book and lyrics), and Sam Salmond (book, music, and lyrics). Four prestigious grants of $10,000 each, totaling $40,000, will be presented on Monday, March 21, 2016 at a private event at the WNYC Greene Space. The event will feature special performances of the recipients' work.

Vineyard Theatre, in association with La Jolla Playhouse and Yale Repertory Theatre, will present the New York premiere of INDECENT, a new play with music, written by Paula Vogel, created by Paula Vogel and Rebecca Taichman, and directed by Rebecca Taichman, at The Vineyard (108 East 15th Street) with previews beginning April 27 and opening night set for May 17. INDECENT features music composed by Lisa Gutkin (KLEZMATICS) and Aaron Halva (RED NOSES) and choreography by David Dorfman (GREEN VIOLIN). 

The Play Company's (PlayCo) Idea Lab series complements the productions in their 2016 season by bringing together artists, scholars, writers and community leaders for stand-alone events to examine themes raised in the shows. Following performances of the world premiere of The Wildness, a co-produced with Ars Nova, Playco will present three post show events over three Thursdays, March 3, 10 & 17.

The advocacy organization grants awards for Master American Dramatist, American Playwright in Mid-Career and Emerging American Playwright.

Soho Rep., in association with John Adrian Selzer, presents the U.S. premiere of Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. by award-winning British playwright Alice Birch. Originally commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company, the American premiere is directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, 30, with both rigor and a playful spirit, and features Daniel Abeles, Molly Bernard, Eboni Booth and Jennifer Ikeda. The production introduces American audiences to Birch, 29, who was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2012 and 2015 and is a co-winner of the 2014 George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright.

Several stage names are among the recipients of the newly renamed 2016 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Awards, to be presented at The Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center tonight, March 2, 2016.

The Windham-Campbell Prizes today announced the annual slate of nine prize recipients that have left their mark on the world of literature and theater or have been judged by their peers as exceedingly likely to do so.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: Wayne Brady honors Jon Viktor Corpuz, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Nellie McKay and more at Lincoln Center's Emerging Artist Awards!

Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has assaulted the fourth wall and countless racial stereotypes in his funny and audacious new play AN OCTOROON. Adapted from an 1859 melodrama titled "The Octoroon" by Irish playwright Dion Boucicault, Jenkins' piece weaves a biting contemporary narrative within Boucicault's stock storytelling to turn familiar antebellum tropes into jarring racial commentaries. Imagine "Gone with the Wind" down the rabbit hole and you get the idea.

What if all of the white actors in your play quit? AN OCTOROON begins on Wednesday, March 16, 2016; and opens on Wednesday, March 23, 2016.

Vineyard Theatre today announced that their 2016 Gala honoring award-winning actress and Vineyard Board President Kathleen Chalfant and New York theatrical press agent Sam Rudy will be hosted by Michael Urie and Ryan Spahn. Scott Schwartz will direct the evening. Paul Masse will be the music director.

Nottage's new play is based on interview with residents of Reading, Pennsylvania, which was named the nation's poorest city in 2012,

The hip hop musical is the winner of the Kennedy Prize for Historical Drama. The news was announced by Columbia University and Jean Kennedy Smith. The award, named in honor of Senator Edward M. Kennedy