Ellen Stewart News

Fourth Arts Block (FAB), a coalition of cultural and community organizations, is kicking off more than $16 million in capital improvements to the East 4th Street Cultural District at a Groundbreaking Celebration on Wednesday, May 21st at 11:30am.

The Drama League (Jano Herbosch, President; Roger T. Danforth and Gabriel Shanks, Executive Directors) proudly announces the roster of presenters scheduled to appear for the The 74th Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony and Luncheon on Friday, May 16, 2008 (noon) at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square (1535 Broadway at 46th Street).

Soho Think Tank will present Kirk Wood Bromley's latest play, Me, directed by Alec Duffy. Performances will be at the Ohio Theater, located at 66 Wooster Street, between Spring and Broome Streets in Soho. Performances will begin on Saturday, May 3rd, continuing through Saturday, May 24th.

Soho Think Tank to present 'Me' by Kirk Wood Bromley beginning May 3rd.

The Drama League (Jano Herbosch, President; Roger T. Danforth and Gabriel Shanks, Co-Managing Directors) proudly announces nominations for the 2007-08 Drama League Awards, to be awarded at The 74th Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony and Luncheon on Friday, May 16, 2008 (noon) at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square (1535 Broadway at 46th Street).

On Tuesday, April 22, 2008, past Drama League Award recipients Norbert Leo Butz and Christine Ebersole, along with [title of show] co-author and star Hunter Bell, will announce the nominations for The 74th Annual Drama League Awards. The nominations will be announced at Sardi's Restaurant (234 West 44th Street) at 10:30 a.m. This year, for the first time in the history of the Drama League, the nominations announcement can also be viewed live on the internet, via an exclusive webcast hosted by BroadwayWorld.com.

BroadwayWorld.com is proud announce that we will be launching the first Godspell teaser ads. If you go to http://www.broadwayworld.com/gs/gs.cfm and register your name, e-mail and tell us your favorite Godspell songs, you will receive up to date information about casting and special offers, including a chance to attend the demo recording session!

Pan Asian Repertory Theatre in association with The Institute for Vietnamese Culture & Education (IVCE) announces the North American premiere of THE MISSING WOMAN, a Vietnamese folk tale examining the lives of women in Vietnamese society. Written and directed by NGUYEN Thi Minh Ngoc and music by TRAN Vuong Thach and HAI Phuong, THE MISSING WOMAN is performed in Vietnamese with English narration and plays April 2nd - April 12th at the West End Theater, 263 West 86th St. Opening night is Monday, April 7th at 7:30 PM.

The idea of families in Darfur being torn apart, wives from husbands, children from mothers, deeply moved Hollywood film producer Doug Claybourne ('Nights in Rodanthe,' 'North Country,' 'Fast and the Furious,' 'The Mask of Zorro') and playwright L.D. Napier. Knowing that women and children were being raped and brutally killed as they go for firewood each night, stopped them cold. They were forced to ask themselves a hard question - 'What can we do - just one individual?' The answer led Claybourne to put his 28 year producing career on hold and Napier to write a play.

The Drama League (Jano Herbosch, President)announced the recipients of its three annual specialty awards, to be presented along with its five annual production and performance awards at The 74th Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony and Luncheon on Friday, May 16, 2008 (noon).

La MaMa e.t.c. in association with Triple Shadow presents the world-premiere production ALICE: END OF DAZE -- a dark adaptation of Lewis Carroll's 'Through the Looking Glass' featuring live music, real-time video projection, puppetry and masks, conceived by director Beth Skinner and composer Edward Herbst -- with previews to begin April 24, at La MaMa ETC (74A East 4th Street) in Manhattan.

South Coast Repertory's Pacific Playwrights Festival (PPF) will celebrate its 11th annual edition with a lineup composed of seven SCR-commissioned plays from an array of writers. Since its creation in 1998, PPF has grown into one of the most important festivals of new scripts in the United States. This year's Festival will take place during the May 2 through May 4 weekend with a workshop production, four staged readings and two fully-staged World Premieres on South Coast Repertory's two major stages. Tickets to PPF may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office.

South Coast Repertory's Pacific Playwrights Festival (PPF) will celebrate its 11th annual edition with a lineup composed of seven SCR-commissioned plays from an array of writers. Since its creation in 1998, PPF has grown into one of the most important festivals of new scripts in the United States. This year's Festival will take place during the May 2 through May 4 weekend with a workshop production, four staged readings and two fully-staged World Premieres on South Coast Repertory's two major stages. Tickets to PPF may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office.

South Coast Repertory Artistic Directors David Emmes and Martin Benson have been named the recipients of the 2007-08 Margo Jones Medal. The prestigious award honors those who have demonstrated a significant impact, understanding and affirmation of the craft of playwriting, with a lifetime commitment to the encouragement of the living theater everywhere. The venerable duo has guided South Coast Repertory from a small touring company into one of the country's leading professional theaters, now approaching its 45th season and known world-wide for its development of new work for the stage. The Ohio State University Libraries and College of the Arts will present the award to Emmes and Benson on May 1 at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California, kicking off the theater's nationally-renowned Pacific Playwrights Festival.

In honor of Black History Month, La MaMa e.t.c. is proud to present Beatrice Manley's Conjur Woman, a dramatic folk opera chillingly sung by Obie-Winner Sheila Dabney and directed by George Ferencz, a resident director at La MaMa. Original music for Conjur Woman is composed by La MaMa Founder & Artistic Director Ellen Stewart along with Sheila Dabney, Harry Mann, Jasper McGruder and Yukio Tsuji, and is played on a cornucopia of instruments including a harmonica, washboard, jug, acoustic guitar, bass and percussion…think 1800s music of the slave. Performances take place January 31 to February 10, 2008 in a limited engagement at La MaMa's Annex Theater in NYC.

Robert Patrick, that legendary pioneer of Gay Theatre, may spend most of his time on that other coast these days, but his heart always remains at a little storefront on Cornelia Street that once housed the birthplace of Off-Off Broadway, the Caffe Cino.  One of my first assignments for BroadwayWorld was an interview with that remarkably colorful playwright, where he shared vivid memories of that exciting time in American theatre when he and the likes of Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson and John Guare enjoyed complete artistic freedom in seeing their early efforts staged.  Bernadette Peters starred in the original one-act version of Dames At Sea on the tiny Cino stage.

In honor of Black History Month, La MaMa ETC. is proud to present Beatrice Manley's Conjur Woman, a dramatic folk opera chillingly sung by Obie-Winner Sheila Dabney and directed by George Ferencz, January 31-February 10.

Producer Adam Epstein (Cry-Baby, Hairspray) announced today that the landmark rock musical Godspell is scheduled to begin performances on Broadway in the summer of 2008 at a Shubert Theatre to be announced.

La MaMa ETC will present a new adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, written and directed by the legendary Ellen Stewart, featuring a cast of 26 from the acclaimed Great Jones Repertory Company at La MaMa ETC Annex