Claudia Rankine News

Help, a new play examining white male privilege by acclaimed author and poet Claudia Rankine (Citizen: An American Lyric, The White Card) and directed by Obie Award-winner Taibi Magar (Is God Is, Soho Rep), makes its world premiere and launches The Shed's 2020 season on March 10 with performances through April 5 (previews begin Tuesday, March 10 and opening night is Saturday, March 21). Commissioned by The Shed and performed in its Griffin Theater, Help stars Roslyn Ruff (Theater: Fairview; Film: Marriage Story; TV: Divorce, Pose).

What do young artists (many with intersecting, marginalized identities) think about where Boston theatre will go in the 2020s? a?oeNo one's gonna want to work with me after reading this,a?? Geena Forristall laughed when asked. Although a light-hearted comment, it is backed up with an all too unfortunate truth. As a non-binary theatre artist who uses they/ them pronouns, Forristall admits to being limited in where they can work in Boston. a?oeMaybe it's just me being picky, but I just won't work for theatres whose leadership refuses to respect my identity.a??

As we embark on our voyage through the 2020s, it will be exciting to see if Lopez's lofty ambitions become a reality. After all, Boston theatre has just come through a huge decade of change in which our city's pertinence to the theatre world has grown. Let's look at how our relevance as a city has changed in regards to theatre as an art form in the past decade: 

The Shed presents the world premiere of Help, a new theatrical work by acclaimed author and poet Claudia Rankine (Citizen: An American Lyric) and directed by Obie Award-winner Taibi Magar (Is God Is, Soho Rep) on March 10 through April 5, 2020 at The Shed's Griffin Theater.

Soho Rep. today announced technology entrepreneur Victoria Meakin-a board member of seven years-as the organization's new Chair, and acclaimed poet, playwright, and MacArthur Fellow Claudia Rankine as a new board member. Meakin succeeds longtime Chair Jon Dembrow, who will now serve as Chair Emeritus.

Alex Poots, Artistic Director and CEO of The Shed, today announced its 2020 Season of new productions by progressive artists from across the performing arts, visual arts, and pop culture, including live performances, solo exhibitions, and the final group of The Shed's inaugural Open Call series for emerging New York City-based artists. Poots also announced the appointment of Madani Younis, who joins The Shed in January as Chief Executive Producer. To celebrate the opening season as it draws to a close, The Shed will host its first open house, Meet at The Shed, on Saturday, January 11, 2020, featuring special pop-up events and free admission to its current exhibitions.

The Fountain Theatre is gearing up to present the world premiere of a new play written and directed by company co-artistic director Stephen Sachs (Arrival & Departure, Citizen: An American Lyric, Cyrano). Casting is now complete for Human Interest Story, a timely drama about homelessness, celebrity worship and the assault on American journalism, with the opening date set for Feb. 15, 2020.

The Center for Fiction, a 200-year-old literary nonprofit that's created an immersive home for readers and writers in downtown Brooklyn, and Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, will co-present Craft Talk: Annie Baker & Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Annie Baker and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, who are close friends and accomplished playwrights. will dive into a conversation about realism and the fourth wall.

UCSB's Department of Theater and Dance presents The White Card, the first time this play has been staged on a college campus. It is a theater production by award winning writer Claudia Rankine. The White Card opens on November 21st and runs through November 24th in the Studio Theater on the UCSB campus. Directed by Shirley Jo Finney, UCSB students come together to express crucial ideas about race in our society. 

UCSB's Department of Theater and Dance presents The White Card, the first time this play has been staged on a college campus. It is a theater production by award winning writer Claudia Rankine. The White Card opens on November 21st and runs through November 24th in the Studio Theater on the UCSB campus. Directed by Shirley Jo Finney, UCSB students come together to express crucial ideas about race in our society. 

The International Festival of Arts & Ideas will present its 10th Annual Visionary Leadership Award to actor and activist George Takei at an Award Luncheon and Ceremony on Tuesday, February 18, 2020, at the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale (155 Temple Street).

The Cultural Services of the French Embassy and Albertine Books are pleased to announce that Climate Change Theatre Action (CCTA), an initiative of the Arctic Cycle, which uses theatre to foster dialogue about the global climate crisis, will offer play four play readings, featuring teen actors, as part of Festival Albertine 2019. Curated by celebrated author and environmentalist Bill McKibben, the weekend-long festival focuses on climate chaos and the race to prevent civilization-scale collapse, and features lead prominent thinkers, politicians, activists, artists, and authors from across the U.S., France, and the francophone world, November 8-10. The CCTA readings take place prior to the discussions on November 9 and 10.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, in association with Center for Fiction, will co-present Black Lives/White Gaze: Playwrights Jackie Sibblies Drury and Claudia Rankine in Conversation. 

Cross-Stitch Theater Company will continue to make their mark on the Pittsburgh community with their upcoming production of a?oeThe White Carda?? by New York Times Bestselling poet, Claudia Rankine.

For a quarter century, The Foundry Theatre has raised provocative and timely questions with innovative theatrical productions, public dialogues, and community organizing that have inspired a generation of artists, activists, and organizations.

Playwrights Horizons (Artistic Director Tim Sanford, Managing Director Leslie Marcus) is, from now through Thursday, September 5, at noon, accepting entries for the Live for Five online lottery, giving out $5 tickets to the world premiere production of Heroes of the Fourth Turning, written by Will Arbery (Plano, Evanston Salt Costs Climbing) and directed by Danya Taymor (a?oeDaddy,a?? Pass Over). In Heroes of the Fourth Turning, four young conservatives have gathered at a backyard after-party in rural Wyoming.

Playwrights Horizons continues its 2019/20 season of works from groundbreaking playwrights pushing their singular styles to new heights with Heroes of the Fourth Turning, written by Will Arbery

The nonprofit AT&T Performing Arts Center and Dark Circles Contemporary Dance announced today that tickets for Pete: A New Dance Musical are ON SALE NOW!  Conceived and choreographed by internationally award-winning choreographer and founder of Dark Circles Joshua L. Peugh and inspired by J.M. Barrie's iconic novel Peter Pan, Pete: A New Dance Musical will run from September 12 through September 15, 2019 in Hamon Hall located in the Winspear Opera House in the downtown Dallas Arts District.

Sound Theatre Company, with their season theme of "Un-Erasable" focusing on diversity and "hyper invisibility" of some in America, have started off their season with a stunning piece, "Citizen: An American Lyric" based on the poetry of Claudia Rankine and adapted for the stage by Stephen Sachs. But beyond keying in perfectly to their theme and kicking off the season with a bang, they've coincidentally presented a piece that has tremendous resonance to what's happening in the news today, with the incidents between Serena Williams and Billie Jean King as well as Hurricane Barry in New Orleans giving an all too harrowing reminder of the events of Hurricane Katrina.

The Lillys - in partnership with a broad coalition of theater artists - is pleased to announce 3Views on Theater, a new online journal aimed to expand and deepen theater journalism, writing in many voices about our community. 3Views will generate original content in three categories: Reviews, Interviews, and Purviews (articles submitted by theater artists including responses to reviews, original reviews, opinion pieces, and features).