Deborah Stein News

Julian Lerner has joined the cast of New York City Center production of Oliver! as The Artful Dodger.

Two couples from very different worlds experience the pleasures and challenges of commitment. But when disagreements and deceptions begin to unravel their relationships, they must decide how to achieve happiness. This new play is by Anna Ziegler, author of Six Points Theater hits Actually and Photograph 51.

Casting has been announced for the New York City Center production of Oliver! Learn more about the show, and who will be leading the iconic cast here!

Playwrights Horizons has announced its most recent slate of commissioned artists, providing crucial support to today’s most imaginative writers, and to the realization of works that will shape the future of the American theater.

Pig Iron Theatre Company, Philadelphia's acclaimed creators of interdisciplinary performance, and Swarthmore College will co-present 10 performances of Love Unpunished, a hypnotic dance-theater piece about the moments just before the collapse of the World Trade Center, as part of the 2021 Philadelphia Fringe Festival, presented by FringeArts.

Since 2001, MTC has awarded a total of 100 commissions through the Sloan Foundation Program. Learn more about this year's commissions here!

The Award-Winning Chalk Repertory Theatre with funding from L.A. City's Department of Cultural Affairs announces the launch of its new audio play series Chalk Lines. Five short plays using immersive audio storytelling will bring to life unsung landmarks in Los Angeles City Council districts 8, 9, and 10 including the Metro Expo Line, Leimert Park, Historic West Adams, and Exposition Park.

The Award-Winning Chalk Repertory Theatre with funding from L.A. City's Department of Cultural Affairs announces the launch of its new audio play series Chalk Lines.

Ojai Playwrights Conference has announced a series of online, intimate artistic residencies and programs designed for 2020 circumstances, continuing for the 23rd season the work of developing new plays and providing support for diverse writers both emerging and established.

Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director) and Barry Grove (Executive Producer) have announced this year's six recipients of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Initiative commissions. The commissioned writers are Kate Attwell, Mia Chung, Noah Diaz, Julia Izumi, Ife Olujobi, and Stacey Rose.

The Orchard Project today announced its 2020 programs as well as the names of participating artists and companies. This year includes the launch of two new labs a?' the Liveness Lab to explore the nature of live performance right now and an Audio Storytelling Lab to provide support and mentorship to podcast, radio, and immersive audio projects.

Need something new to read or watch? Check out this week's list of new and upcoming releases including Cats on Blu-Ray, Sea Wall/A Life audiobook, and more!

Williamstown Theatre Festival (Mandy Greenfield, Artistic Director) has announced that Sanaz Toossi is the 2020 L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award recipient for her play English. Sanaz receives the $10,000 award as well as the $10,000 Jay Harris Commission to write a new play.

Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director) and Barry Grove (Executive Producer) are pleased to announce the complete casting for the world premiere of Continuity, the new play by Lortel and Drama Desk Award nominee Bess Wohl (Small Mouth Sounds, American Hero) and directed by Tony Award nominee Rachel Chavkin (Hadestown; Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812). The production will feature Max Baker (1984, The Explorers Club), Jasmine Batchelor (The River), Rosal Colon ('Orange is the New Black,' Between Riverside and Crazy), Curran Connor (Pidgeon, A Picture of Autumn), Garcia ('Tales of the City'), Darren Goldstein (Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes, The Madrid), Alex Hurt (Cardinal, The Whirligig) and Megan Ketch (The Big Wedding, 'American Gothic').

The University of Washington has announced the complete roster of artists who have been selected as Creative Research Fellows as part of its first three-year Creative Fellowships Initiative. Funded by a $750,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the interdisciplinary initiative will advance the field of performing arts by supporting artists in the development of new works and by integrating the performing arts disciplines into a broader context academically, artistically, and socially.

Victory Gardens Theater, with Actors Theatre of Louisville, to present the Co-World Premiere of How to Defend Yourself, written by Lily Padilla and directed by Marti Lyons. How to Defend Yourself will be presented at the 2019 Humana Festival of New American Plays (March 21 - April 7, 2019) and as part of the Victory Gardens Theater 2019/2020 Season (January 24 - February 23, 2020).

THE BITTER GAME, a 'high-impact' immersive theater experience ripe with pain, poetry, and laughter that explores the experience of being black in America, debuts at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday, November 14 through Saturday, November 17, 2018, outdoors on The Wallis' Promenade Terrace. Playwright-actor Keith A. Wallace's multi-character, solo performance in five acts, structured as the four quarters and overtime of a basketball game, tells the story of Jamel Smith, who witnesses a neighborhood act of violence as a child and later must learn to navigate his interactions with police. It speaks to both a personal and universal truth that is 'a sharp reminder of the persuasive powers of live theater,' according to The New York Times, which also described the play as closing the gap between artist and audience, giving the familiar subject an 'unignorable visceral immediacy.' Based on Wallace's youth in Philadelphia, THE BITTER GAME is created, written and performed by Wallace, co-created by Deborah Stein, and directed by Malika Oyetimein.

THE BITTER GAME,  a 'high-impact' immersive theater experience ripe with pain, poetry, and laughter that explores the experience of being black in America, debuts at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday, November 14 through Saturday, November 17, 2018, outdoors on The Wallis' Promenade Terrace.

Theater takes center stage in 2018/2019 as the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts presents some of the finest work from local, national and international artists featuring the return of For the Record'sLove Actually Live as a full-length, expanded production, the development of the new documentary musical Witness Uganda, National Theatre of Great Britain's landmark production of An Inspector Calls, the return of Hershey Felder in Hershey Felder as Claude Debussy:A Paris Love Story, the powerful solo performance The Bitter Game, and several family-friendly options including PigPen Theatre Company'sThe Old Man and The Old Moon,Trusty Sidekick Theatre Company's Shadow Play and the return of Story Pirates.

Victory Gardens Theater Artistic Director Chay Yew, Managing Director Erica Daniels and Director of New Play Development Skyler Gray announce the lineup for the 10th Anniversary IGNITION Festival of New Plays, including Prosthesis by Robert Askins; Untitled Road Trip Play by Lauren Yee; White History by Dave Harris; How to Defend Yourself by Lily Padilla; Seeing Eye by Nick Malakhow; and The First Deep Breath by Lee Edward Colston II. The 2018 Festival runs August 3 -5, 2018 at Victory Gardens Theater, located at 2433 N Lincoln Avenue.