Francis Jue News

The 37th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway was presented on Sunday, May 1, 2022 and we have the full list of winners and nominees!

Nominations for the 37th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway were announced today by theatre veterans Lilli Cooper and Lea DeLaria, stars of Broadway’s POTUS. With COVID safety in mind, rather than having one host and multiple presenters, this year the Awards will be handed out by a few Host/Presenter pairs on Sunday, May 1, 2022 at NYU Skirball beginning at 7:00pm EST. The Lucille Lortel Awards are produced by the Off-Broadway League and Lucille Lortel Theatre, with additional support provided by TDF.

BroadwayWorld talks to composer Paul Gordon and director Robert Kelley about their collaboration on a glorious new musical adaptation of Jane Austen's 'Sense and Sensibility' which runs live onstage at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto from March 9th to April 3rd.

Yale Repertory Theatre opens its 2022 Season with Today is My Birthday by Susan Soon He Stanton, directed by Mina Morita. The critically-acclaimed comedy about loneliness in the age of connectivity will be performed January 28–February 19 at Yale Repertory Theatre.

Signature Theatre has announced one-week extension for Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, National Humanities Medal-recipient Anna Deavere Smith’s gathering of voices surrounding the 1992 L.A. civil unrest in a complex portrait of a city’s racial anguish.

Signature Theatre just celebrated opening night of Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, National Humanities Medal-recipient Anna Deavere Smith's gathering of voices surrounding the 1992 L.A. civil unrest in a complex portrait of a city's racial anguish.

National Asian Artists Project members Austin Ku, Kendyl Ito, Kyra Smith, Jaygee Macapugay, Emily Stillings, Billy Bustamante, and Raymond J. Lee, are in the company of Francis Jue, Paul HeeSang Miller, Jon Hoche, and Kristen Faith Oei who appear in David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori’s Soft Power on the “Kennedy Center at 50” concert.

Signature Theatre has announced the cast of Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, National Humanities Medal-recipient Anna Deavere Smith’s gathering of voices surrounding the 1992 L.A. civil unrest in a complex portrait of a city’s racial anguish.

Ojai Playwrights Conference (OPC) will be presenting their virtual celebration CONNECTIONS benefiting their 2021 season June 12, 2021. CONNECTIONS will feature new or adapted works by playwrights: Luis Alfaro, Jon Robin Baitz, Father Greg Boyle, Bill Cain, Culture Clash, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Danai Gurira, Samuel D. Hunter, David Henry Hwang, Julia Izumi, James Morrison and his son Seamus Morrison, Jeanine Tesori and Charlayne Woodard. Performers include Brian Cox, Eileen Galindo, Tzi Ma, Rose Portillo, Samantha Quan, John C. Reilly, Israel López Reyes, Nikkole Salter, Jimmy Smits, and Phillipa Soo; as well as some of the playwrights performing their own pieces.

Jeffrey Lo seems to be just about everywhere these days. As if his day job as TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s Director of Community Partnerships / Casting Director weren’t enough, he is also enjoying quite a successful career as a director and playwright. With the recent, tragic spike in prejudice and violence toward the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, Lo decided to take action by calling on his own Filipino American heritage. He spearheaded TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s efforts to stream a benefit reading of his play Writing Fragments Home to raise funds to support and uplift the AAPI community. The comedic play is an unapologetically Filipino American story about art, family, and culture. The top-flight cast includes stage veteran Emily Kuroda, perhaps best known for playing Mrs. Kim on TV’s Gilmore Girls. Co-presented by more than 40 leading theatres and arts organizations in the Bay Area and beyond, the reading will benefit Compassion in Oakland, a nonprofit formed in response to the surge of anti-Asian attacks and dedicated to promoting safety and community in Oakland Chinatown and beyond. Writing Fragments Home will be streamed live at 7pm PDT, Saturday, June 5, 2021 (with streaming on-demand access available June 6 to June 9). For more information, visit TheatreWorks.org.  BroadwayWorld with Lo last week about his impetus to write the play, how the benefit reading came together, his thoughts about Asian American representation in the theatre, and his experience working with some of his personal heroes. Lo is very easy to talk to – laid-back, thoughtful and self-effacing with an underlying gentle humor – all qualities which likely serve him well in his roles at TheatreWorks. At the same time, I got the impression he is someone who knows how to step up to the plate and get the job done.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, is pleased to announce the performances for the TCG’s 60th Anniversary Gala: Our Stories, which will be held virtually on Tuesday, May 18, 2021 at 7:30pm ET with an afterparty to follow.

Tonight at 7pm ET, the Off-Broadway League and the Lucille Lortel Theatre present the 2021 Lucille Lortel Awards - a celebration of all the people who create Off-Broadway excellence. The pre-taped special will honor the writers, actors, directors, choreographers, designers, musicians, stagehands, producers, theatre staff, and the audiences who contribute to the incomparable magic of Off-Broadway theatre.

Broadway might be dark, but that doesn't mean that theatre isn't happening everywhere! Below, check out where you can get your daily fix of Broadway this weekend, May 1-2, 2021.

The Off-Broadway League and the Lucille Lortel Theatre will present the 2021 Lucille Lortel Awards as a celebration of all the people who create Off-Broadway excellence. The pre-taped special will honor all contribute to the incomparable magic of Off-Broadway theatre on Sunday, May 2, at 7:00PM.

Today, Jess McLeod, Eric Keen-Louie, and Lauren Yee announced the launch of a celebrity digital video campaign aimed at raising awareness about the dramatic rise in hate crimes against the Asian American community.

The national advocacy organization to issue several statements and demands from the national Asian American theatre community, featuring a PSA to honor the victims of the Atlanta massacre and condemn anti-Asian hate, the social media campaign #HadABadDay, and community anti-violence training sessions.

In honor of World Theatre Day, Art House Productions, along with former In the Life producers Charles Ignacio and John Catania, present Out on Stage, a virtual screening of archival clips and post-screening panel, on Sunday, March 28 from 3:00pm - 4:00pm EST via Zoom.

Tomorrow, March 14, the 63rd GRAMMY Awards air on CBS, and of the 83 categories, Broadway fans are zeroed in on just six nominees- the competitors for Best Musical Theater Album.

I didn’t know that Soft Power would become one of my favorite musicals. 

Stars in the House continues tonight (8pm) with a 'Elegies' Reunion with Jayne Houdyshell, J Harrison Ghee, Marisha Wallace, Robin Lord Taylor and Vicki Lewis.