Idris Goodwin News

The Merrimack Repertory Theatre (MRT) Board of Trustees and Executive Director Bonnie J. Butkas announced today that Courtney Sale, Artistic Director of Seattle Children's Theatre, will become the Nancy L. Donahue Artistic Director here in March. She will be the first woman to serve as artistic director and the first to fill the position since it was named in honor of Founding Chair Nancy L. Donahue.

The National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that collaborate in innovative ways to develop, produce, and extend the life of new plays, is thrilled to announce that the 2019-20 Annual Commission has been awarded to Core Member Company One Theatre (Boston, MA) and playwri ght Idris Goodwin for the new play Quotable. This new work is a two-person break beat play about generational divides within social justice movements, multiple allegiances and the complications of identity politics in the information age.

Cleveland Play House joins forces with StageOne Family Theatre of Louisville, KY to co-develop and workshop the new hip-hop play Jacked! written by Idris Goodwin, inspired by Jack and the Beanstalk. Designed and developed for children, Jacked! fuses storytelling and poetry with hip-hop and break-beat music to encourage a dialogue about substance abuse and the overwhelming effects the opioid epidemic is having in our communities. Directed by Pamela DiPasquale, Jacked! is the newest artistic component included in Cleveland Play House's KeyBank Classroom Matinee Touring Program. The one-act play has toured elementary schools and community centers in Ohio since August 2019 and will transfer to Kentucky in February 2020.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, recipient of the 2019 Tony Award for Regional Theatre, has announced the appointment of Tim Bond as its new Artistic Director. Bond will join the company officially in March 2020, stepping in as Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley winds down his 50th and final season at the helm of the theatre he created, ending one of the longest tenures in American theatre. Kelley previously announced his retirement at the conclusion of the company's current season in June 2020. Said Bond upon accepting the appointment, a?oeI am thrilled to have the opportunity to continue Robert Kelley's great work, and to lead this spirited company into its next exciting phase.a??

Urban Stages (Frances Hill, Founding Artistic Director), will extend their acclaimed production of Idris Goodwin's Bars and Measures, directed by Kristan Seemel. This limited engagement at Urban Stages (259 West 30th Street) has been extended to run through November 17. Tickets for the show are $40 and may be purchased via OvationTix at www.urbanstages.org or by phone at 1.866.811.4111.

Urban Stages will open its' season with the New York Premiere of Idris Goodwin's Bars and Measures, directed by Kristan Seemel. This limited engagement at Urban Stages (259 West 30th Street) begins preview performances on Friday, October 18, opening on Wednesday, October 23 and will run through Sunday, November 10, 2019. Tickets for the show are $40 ($25 during previews; $50 on opening and $15 student rush) and may be purchased via OvationTix at www.urbanstages.org or by phone at 1.866.811.4111.

Urban Stages (Frances Hill, Founding Artistic Director), will open its' season with the New York Premiere of Idris Goodwin's Bars and Measures, directed by Kristan Seemel.

Who says theater can't be competitive? The Peoples Improv Theater (The PIT) along with longtime comedy co-producers Madeline Mahoney and Matt Stango present SHOW OF SHOWS, a new one-act play competition. The bracket-structured event will take place over four weeks of thrilling shows, as each winning playwright earns the change to stage the next segment of their one-act by audience vote. Six teams will compete to make it to the finals: a chance to stage the play in its entirety.

Urban Stages will open its' season with the New York Premiere of Idris Goodwin's Bars and Measures, directed by Kristan Seemel. 

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announces the biennial festival New Visions/New Voices from May 15-17, 2020, marking the 16th showcase of this industry workshop. Dedicated to the development of new plays and musicals for young people and their families, this innovative series pioneers a unique and vital forum for the field of Theater for Young Audiences (TYA).

When a 17-year-old boy gets brutally murdered at the hands of the police, a rising hip hop trio finds themselves at odds with one another as they decide to use fame to speak out or stay silent. Hype Man: a break beat play is ripped from the headlines, realistic and cool. Actors Theatre of Louisville's 90-minute production examines race, privilege, and points of view with vibrato as striking as the production's underscore.

Urban Stages (Frances Hill, Founding Artistic Director), will open its' season with the New York Premiere of Idris Goodwin's Bars and Measures, directed by Kristan Seemel. This limited engagement at Urban Stages (259 West 30th Street) begins preview performances on Friday, October 18, opening on Wednesday, October 23 and will run through Sunday, November 10, 2019. Tickets for the show are $40 ($25 during previews; $50 on opening and $15 student rush) and may be purchased via OvationTix at www.urbanstages.org or by phone at 1.866.811.4111.

Crowded Fire Theater (CFT) Crowded Fire's Artistic Director Mina Morita unveiled the 2020 mainstage season lineup including two new plays that uphold the company's long tradition of collaborative work and boundary-pushing theater.

Actors Theatre of Louisville and Artistic Director Robert Barry Fleming announce the upcoming production of Hype Man: a break beat play on stage in the Victor Jory Theatre from September 11-October 13, 2019.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival today announced six new commissions as part of American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle, OSF's multi-decade program of commissioning and developing 37 new plays about moments of change in United States history. The commissioned artists are Zakiyyah Alexander, Jaclyn Backhaus, E. M. Lewis, Mary Katheryn Nagle, Sara Nović, and Sanaz Toossi.

Crowded Fire Theater (CFT) Christina Anderson returns to Crowded Fire with INKED BABY, the second production in Crowded Fire's 21st season of new and contemporary plays.  Featuring an ensemble cast directed by Crowded Fire Resident Artist Lisa Marie Rollins, INKED BABY introduces a world that is at once both familiar and strange, and questions why we hold on to home even when that land is toxic. 

Haven Theatre, newly rebranded as "Haven," announces its 2019-20 Season, kicking off this fall with its fifth consecutive DIRECTORS HAVEN, three short plays showcasing the talents of early career directors, each with razor-sharp and inspiring visions for their work and our industry. Helming this year's productions are Lauren Katz, Aaron Mays and AJ Schwartz.

The Gift Theatre continues its 2019 Season with the Chicago premiere of Hansol Jung's WOLF PLAY, a messy, funny and disturbing theatrical experience grappling with a wolf, a puppet, and a very prickly problem: What is a family? What do we need from them, today? Is it very different from the things humans have needed from families before?

THE WHITE DRESS, written by Roger Q. Mason and directed and choreographed by Adin Walker will have a limited engagement Summer run, July 5-20 at the Access Theater, 380 Broadway. Based on the playwright's true-life experience, this is a genderqueer coming-of-age tale for the they/them generation.

La Jolla Playhouse announces the cast and creative team for its world-premiere production of The Luckiest, by Melissa Ross, directed by former Playhouse Associate Artistic Director Jaime Castañeda, running June 30 - July 28 (press opening: Sunday, July 8 at 7:00pm). in the Playhouse's Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre