Gina Taylor News

More than 60 Chicagoland teenagers will perform in two final showcases at Goodman Theatre to conclude the theater's summer programming-Playbuild Youth Intensive and Musical Theater Intensive-on August 11 and 12 at 7pm. Both programs were offered free of charge and taught over a course of seven-to-eight weeks in the Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement ("the Alice"). This year's theme, "What it Means to be an American," uses Langston Hughes' poem "I too, Sing America" as inspiration. The final performances are scheduled for Friday, August 11 and Saturday, August 12 at 7pm at Goodman Theatre (170 N. Dearborn). Tickets are free but reservations are required; call 312.443.3800.  For more information, visit GoodmanTheatre.org/PlaybuildYouthFinal and GoodmanTheatre.org/MusicalTheaterFinal.

Raleigh Little Theatre has announced its 2017-2018 season - scroll down for highlights!

Red Bull Theater (Jesse Berger, Artistic Director/Jim Bredeson, Managing Director) today announced that their seventh annual festival of 10-minute plays of heightened language and classic themes will feature two brand new commissions from Dael Orlandersmith and Arthur Kopit, alongside 6 brand new plays chosen from hundreds of submissions from playwrights across the country. The 2017 Short New Play Festival will be presented on Monday July 24th (7:30pm) at Lucille Lortel Theatre, directed by Craig Baldwin and Evan Yionoulis. Casts will include Tina Benko, Bill Buell, Robert Clohessy, Emily Donahoe, Clifton Duncan, Teresa Avia Lim, Joan MacIntosh, Nadine Malouf, Howard W. Overshown, Alfredo Narciso, and Linda Powell.

Regina Taylor's moving and celebratory gospel musical "Crowns" opens at Raleigh Little Theatre on Friday, August 25. "Crowns" is based on the book by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry, which features portraits and stories of black women in church hats. RLT's production is directed by Terra Hodge..

The annual Playwrights for a Cause benefit, hosted by Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, addresses powerful social and topical issues in our society through the works of prominent playwrights. This year, the event will feature stories of standing up to injustice written by celebrated authors, Catherine Filloux, Lyle Kessler, Jose Rivera, and Regina Taylor. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the company in rehearsal below!

Over 50 productions of local and international artists will visit the stages of La MaMa during the 2017-2018 season. La MaMa's 56th season highlights artists of different generations, gender identities, and cultural backgrounds, who question social mores and confront stereotypes, corruption, bigotry, racism, and xenophobia in their work.

This summer, Goodman Theatre and the Center for Performance and Civic Practice (CPCP) present four one-day capacity building workshops focused on creative change tactics for members of Chicago's communities. These sessions are part of NOURISH-a multi-year initiative between the Goodman and CPCP to develop a greater capacity for arts-based community-led transformation-led by Walter Director of Education and Engagement Willa J. Taylor (Goodman Theatre) and Michael Rohd (Founding Artist/Director of CPCP/Sojourn Theatre).

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust today announced that the 10th-Annual "Mimi" Awards will be presented on Monday, December 4, 2017, at Lincoln Center Theater. The "Mimi" Awards are presented annually to honor the outstanding artistry and accomplishments of some of the most gifted American playwrights.

Raleigh Little Theatre has announced its 2017-2018 season - scroll down for highlights!

Second Stage Theater has announced that the world premiere of GREG PIERCE's play, CARDINAL, directed by KATE WHORISKEY, has been added to the 2017-18 season. The production will open in Winter 2018 at the Tony Kiser Theater (305 West 43rd Street).

Red Bull Theater today announced that their seventh annual festival of 10-minute plays of heightened language and classic themes will feature two brand new commissions from Dael Orlandersmith and Arthur Kopit, alongside six brand new plays chosen from hundreds of submissions from playwrights across the country. 

Goodman Theatre announces a line-up of free staged readings written by 2016/2017 members of its Playwrights Unit - Lucas Baisch, Dawn Renee Jones, Evan Linder and Emma Stanton.

Mike Carlsen and Aaron Roman Weiner star in the headliner of the staged reading series: WITHOUT, a new play by Michael Puzzo at Planet Connections.

This year, the event will be Sunday, July 23, and will benefit the New York Civil Liberties Union with 'The Protest Plays,' stories of standing up to injustice written by celebrated authors, CATHERINE FILLOUX, Lyle Kessler, JOSE RIVERA, and Regina Taylor.

Second Stage Theater has announced that Obie and Drama Desk Award winner LILA NEUGEBAUER will direct the New York Premiere of TRACY LETTS' acclaimed play, MARY PAGE MARLOWE, in June of 2018 at the Tony Kiser Theatre.

2017 Regional Theatre Tony Award Recipient Dallas Theater Center will present the world premiere of Hood: The Robin Hood Musical Adventure, a new musical comedy written and directed by five-time Tony-nominated playwright Douglas Carter Beane with music and lyrics by Lewis Flinn.

Second Stage Theater has announced that Mercedes Ruehl, winner of the Tony Award, Academy Award, and Golden Globe Award, will star opposite the previously announced Michael Urie in the upcoming production of Harvey Fierstein's modern classic, Torch Song, directed by Moises Kaufman.

On the heels of critically-acclaimed sold-out runs at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and The Miracle Center in Logan Square, Teatro Vista's La Havana Madrid by Sandra Delgado extends its run  at Goodman Theatre this summer, July 21 - August 20.

Erik Ehn's Quiet House directed by Glory Kadigan premieres tonight, June 23, at the 2017 Planet Connections Theatre Festivity (The Festivity runs June 12 - July 9 at The Clemente, 107 Suffolk Street, NYC). The presentation will be tonight, June 23rd, at 7:00 p.m.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Jane Chu has approved more than $82 million to fund local arts projects across the country in the NEA's second major funding announcement for fiscal year 2017. Included in this announcement is an Art Works award of $30,000 to Dallas Theater Center (DTC) to support the upcoming world-premiere production of Hood: The Robin Hood Musical Adventure. The NEA received 1,728 Art Works applications and will make 1,029 grants ranging from $10,000 to $100,000.