George Jean Nathan News

The fourth annual M. Edgar Rosenblum Awards will be given at a ceremony on November 15, during a benefit for the Irondale Ensemble Project at the Irondale Center, 85 South Oxford Street, in the BAM Cultural District of Fort Greene. Awards will be presented to Tucker Reed, President of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, Marvin Carlson, Sidney E. Cohn Professor of Theatre, Graduate Center, CUNY, and New York State Senator Velmanette Montgomery. The event will be co-chaired by David Lombino, Director of Special Projects at Two Trees Management Company and Joseph Roach, Sterling Professor of Theater, Yale University.

The Village Voice, the nation's largest alternative weekly newspaper, announced today that tickets will go on sale April 9, 2014 for the 59th Annual Obie Awards on Monday, May 19, 2014, at Webster Hall in the East Village, 125 East 11th Street.

The New York Times reports that theatre critic and writer Martin Gottfried passed away on Thursday, March 6, 2014, due to complications of pneumonia. He was 80.

The Village Voice, the nation's first and largest alternative weekly newspaper, announced today that esteemed critic and longtime judge of the awards, Michael Feingold, will serve as Obie Chairman for the 59th Annual Village Voice OBIE Awards, to be presented Monday, May 19, at Webster Hall.

The George Jean Nathan Award Committee has chosen theater critic Scott Brown as the recipient of the 2012-13 prize for the year's best work in dramatic criticism.

Since its founding in 1961, La MaMa Experimental Arts Club has been a hub for risk-taking theater artists from around the globe. La MaMa will celebrate their 2013 season of performances with a gala honoring two pillars of arts journalism: former Village Voice critic Michael Feingold, and publisher Patsy Tarr of 2wice. Throughout their long careers, these two individuals have carved out a voice for the arts, championing countless artists working across platforms.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University and the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research (formerly known as the Du Bois Institute), in conjunction with Hilton Als of The New Yorker, will present a staged reading of Alice Childress's Wedding Band: A Love-Hate Story in Black and White, co-directed by Hilton Als and A.R.T. Artistic Associate Shira Milikowsky. It takes place at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge, starting at 7:30pm, and will be followed by a post-reading discussion.

Since its founding in 1961, La MaMa Experimental Arts Club has been a hub for risk-taking theater artists from around the globe. La MaMa will celebrate their 2013 season of performances with a gala honoring two pillars of arts journalism: former Village Voice critic Michael Feingold, and publisher Patsy Tarr of 2wice. Throughout their long careers, these two individuals have carved out a voice for the arts, championing countless artists working across platforms.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University and the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research (formerly known as the Du Bois Institute), in conjunction with Hilton Als of The New Yorker, will present a staged reading of Alice Childress's Wedding Band: A Love-Hate Story in Black and White, co-directed by Hilton Als and A.R.T. Artistic Associate Shira Milikowsky. It takes place at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge, starting at 7:30pm, and will be followed by a post-reading discussion.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG) is pleased to announce the publication of An Ideal Theater: Founding Visions for a New American Art, a wide-ranging, inspiring documentary history of the American theatre movement as told by the visionaries who goaded it into being.

Riflettiamo su cosa vuol dire essere critico. Da un anno a questa parte, il Manifesto del Critico Teatrale e diventato la mia Bibbia. Di giorno in giorno, di recensione in recensione, cerco di attenermi ai punti elencati dall'americano Chris Caggiano: prima, per amore del teatro musicale tendevo a tacere sui difetti degli spettacoli che avevo davanti; adesso, proprio in virtu di quell'amore per il teatro musicale, mi sono reso conto che questo atteggiamento non e salutare. Il critico - specialmente in un periodo in cui la gente sceglie oculatamente cosa andare a vedere a teatro - deve fungere da guida per i suoi lettori e, pur non mettendo da parte il cuore, dev'essere onesto nei loro confronti.

Mint Theater today announced their current production, Philip Goes Forth by George Kelly will extend one additional week, through October 27h. Jerry Ruiz (Love Goes to Press, Basilica) directs a cast that includes Cliff Bemis, Teddy Bergman, Bernardo Cubria, Carole Healey, Christine Toy Johnson, Natalie Kuhn, Brian MacDonald, Jennifer McVey and Rachel Moulton. Opening Night is set for Sunday September 22nd at Mint's home (311 West 43rd Street).

Remember these names: Renee Albulario, Carol Angeli, Melody Butiu, Nathaniel P. Claridad, Natalie Cortez, Debralee Daco, Joshua Dela Cruz, Jose Llana, Kelvin Moon Loh, Jaygee Macapugay, Jeigh Madjus, Ruthie Ann Miles, Maria-Christina Oliveras, Clint Ramos, Conrad Ricamora, George Salazar, Trevor Salter and Janelle Velasquez. These Fil-Ams are the talented stars and crew of HERE LIES LOVE, the immersive musical event by David Byrne and DJ Fatboy Slim, currently performing at the Joseph Papp Public Theater.

Theatre for a New Audience, whose vision is based on its core commitment to ideas, to language, and to artists and audiences, has scheduled the first three of its new Open Books Series of free lectures beginning Today, April 25, at 6:00pm with Kenneth Gross, author of Puppet: An Essay on Uncanny Life (University of Chicago Press, 2011), and continuing with Penelope Niven, author of Thornton Wilder: A Life (Harper, 2012) Tuesday, May 21,at 5:00pm and Jonathan Kalb, author of Great Lengths: Seven Works of Marathon Theater (University of Michigan Press, 2011), Today, May 30, at 6:00pm.

Theatre for a New Audience, whose vision is based on its core commitment to ideas, to language, and to artists and audiences, has scheduled the first three of its new Open Books Series of free lectures beginning Thursday, April 25, at 6:00pm with Kenneth Gross, author of Puppet: An Essay on Uncanny Life (University of Chicago Press, 2011), and continuing with Penelope Niven, author of Thornton Wilder: A Life (Harper, 2012) Tuesday, May 21,at 5:00pm and Jonathan Kalb, author of Great Lengths: Seven Works of Marathon Theater (University of Michigan Press, 2011), Thursday, May 30, at 6:00pm.

In association with the U.S. debut of Backa Theatre of Sweden at the Nordic Cool 2013 Festival at the Kennedy Center in D.C., Randy Gener, the Nathan Award-winning editor, writer, curator and artist, and the Embassy of Sweden in Washington, D.C., are collaborating on a lively seminar about the growing genre of documentary theater.

In association with the U.S. debut of Backa Theatre of Sweden at the Nordic Cool 2013 Festival at the Kennedy Center in D.C., Randy Gener, the Nathan Award-winning editor, writer, curator and artist, and the Embassy of Sweden in Washington, D.C., are collaborating on a lively seminar about the growing genre of documentary theater.

Maggie Siff plays Beatrice and Jonathan Cake Benedick in Theatre for a New Audience's new production of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Arin Arbus, opening tonight, February 17, at 3:00pm at The Duke on 42nd Street, 229 West 42nd Street.

Maggie Siff plays Beatrice and Jonathan Cake Benedick in Theatre for a New Audience's new production of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Arin Arbus, beginning previews Saturday, February 2 at 8:00pm for an opening Sunday, February 17, at 3:00pm at The Duke on 42nd Street, 229 West 42nd Street.

The New Yorker has just announced that after twenty years as the publication's chief theatre critic, John Lahr will give up regular reviewing to focus on the profiles he also contributes to the magazine, as well as book projects.