Ike Holter News

As part of the kick-off event for the 2016 Kennedy Center (KC) American College Theater Festival, a special preview of the EVERY 28 HOURS PLAYS will be performed and livestreamed as part of KC's Millennium Stage Series. The preview consists of an excerpt of the collection with more than 30 one-minute plays inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, with participation by theater makers and institutions across the nation and showcases the creative outcome of a community outreach residency in Ferguson and St. Louis County, Missouri in the fall of 2015.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts hosts more than 150 outstanding theater students from colleges and universities across the nation as part of the 48th annual Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF), which runs April 12-16, 2016 in multiple locations throughout the Center. Thousands of student artists from eight regions across the country presented their work at regional festivals from January 5 through February 27, 2016 and more than 150 were selected to travel to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., for an all-expenses-paid trip to participate in the national festival.

Victory Gardens Theater concludes its 41st season with Midwest Premiere of The House That Will Not Stand by Ensemble Playwright Marcus Gardley, directed by Artistic Director Chay Yew. The House That Will Not Stand runs June 10 - July 10, 2016, with the press performance on Friday, June 17, 2016, at 7:30 pm at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

Primary Stages and Catherine Adler & Jamie deRoy present EXIT STRATEGY, a New York premiere by Ike Holter (Hit the Wall) and directed by Kip Fagan (Grand Concourse). The limited engagement runs through May 6, 2016 at Primary Stages at the Cherry Lane Theatre and features Michael Cullen, Aime Donna Kelly, Rey Lucas, Deirdre Madigan, Christina Nieves, Brandon J. Pierce, and Ryan Spahn. Opening night is Tuesday, April 12. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

The Hypocrites has announced its 20th Anniversary Season, featuring five dynamic productions, including a world premiere musical adaptation and two Chicago premieres. The company is also thrilled to launch a new play development initiative, with its first-ever new play commissions.

Primary Stages will soon present Exit Strategy, a New York premiere by Ike Holter (Hit the Wall)and directed by Kip Fagan (Grand Concourse). The limited engagement runs March 30 - May 6, 2016 at Primary Stages at the Cherry Lane Theatre and features Michael Cullen, Aime Donna Kelly, Rey Lucas, Deirdre Madigan, Christina Nieves, Brandon J. Pierce, and Ryan Spahn. Opening night is Tuesday, April 12at 8PM. Exit Strategy is produced in association with Philadelphia Theater Company.

The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle named the multi-nominated Hit the Wall and Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles as 2015's Outstanding Productions at the organization's 47th annual awards event, held on Monday evening, March 14 at the Moss Theatre of New Roads School in Santa Monica.

Hell in a Handbag Productions is pleased to announce casting for its Chicago premiere of THE DIVINE SISTER, the hilarious comic homage to nearly every Hollywood nun film ever made, by the divine high priestess of camp Charles Busch and directed by Shade Murray.

Sundance Institute today announced the eight new projects selected for its pilot Theatre Lab in the MENA region, held in Morocco, May 2016. The Lab is part of the Institute's international cultural exchange programs for independent artists, which include a new, multi-year commitment to support artists from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), broadening the work of its East African Theatre Exchange over the past 15 years. For the Lab, the Institute will provide promising, fresh voices from the U.S. and MENA region with a rigorous artistic retreat and new opportunities for cross-cultural discovery, artistic reflection and creative experimentation.

First Floor Theater (FFT) is thrilled to announce the second show of their fourth season, the Chicago premiere of THE AWAKE, Ken Urban's lyrical and highly theatrical exploration of interrogation, government control, and the compulsive power of dreams, directed by Josh Altman. Hailed by the New York Times as "Extraordinarily ambitious! Ken Urban's words are poetry!' (Critics Pick), THE AWAKE plays February 14 - March 12 at Collaboraction's Room 300 Theater in The Flat Iron Arts Building.

Following its hit production of No More Sad Things, Sideshow Theatre Company is pleased to continue its 2015/16 Season with the world premiere of David Jacobi's chilling new drama MAI DANG LAO, directed by artistic associate Marti Lyons, playing March 6 - April 10, 2016 at Victory Gardens Richard Christiansen Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago.

?Due to popular demand, A Red Orchid Theatre has extended its critically-acclaimed production of Tennessee Williams' The Mutilated, directed by Ensemble Member Dado. The Mutilated will now run through March 13, 2016. The Mutilated features Ensemble Members Lance Baker, Jennifer Engstrom, Mierka Girten, Steve Haggard, Shade Murray, Doug Vickers and Natalie West with Ciera Dawn, Jennifer Glasse, Roy Gonzalez, Mario Hernandez, Morgan Maher, Lauren Vogel and Dominque Worsley. A Red Orchid Theatre is located at 1531 N Wells.

Two-time Tony Award-nominee and film actress Kathleen Turner kicks off Philadelphia Theatre Company's 2016 Theatre Masters series on February 29 at 7:00 PM at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets). 

Primary Stages announces casting for Exit Strategy, a New York premiere by Ike Holter (Hit the Wall)and directed by Kip Fagan (Grand Concourse). The limited engagement runs March 30 - May 6, 2016 at Primary Stages at the Cherry Lane Theatre and features Michael Cullen, Aime Donna Kelly, Rey Lucas, Deirdre Madigan, Christina Nieves, Brandon J. Pierce, and Ryan Spahn. Opening night is Tuesday, April 12at 8PM. Exit Strategy is produced in association with Philadelphia Theater Company.

?A Red Orchid Theatre concludes its 2015-2016 season with the world premiere of Sender by Ike Holter, directed by Ensemble Member Shade Murray. Featuring Ensemble Member Steve Haggard, the cast of Sender also includes McKenzie Chinn, Mary Williamson and Steven Wilson. Sender will run April 14 - May 29, 2016. The press opening for Sender is April 18, 2016 at 7 p.m. A Red Orchid Theatre is located at 1531 N Wells.

Chicago Theatre Week, an annual celebration of the rich tradition of theatre-going in Chicago, will take place February 11 - 21, 2016, spanning a week and two full weekends.

Philadelphia Theatre Company presents MacArthur Award-winning actress, playwright, and educator Anna Deavere Smith in a special presentation of selected excerpts from her latest work in progress, Notes >From the Field: Doing Time in Education, on Monday, February 8 at 7:00 PM at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets). Tickets starting at $15 are available by calling the PTC Box Office at 215-985-0420 or visiting PhiladelphiaTheatreCompany.org.

Jackalope Theatre Company, the Edgewater-based theatre company currently in its 8th season, announces that Gus Menary will become its third artistic director, effective immediately. Menary had been serving in an interim capacity since March 2015. Additionally, longtime collaborators Paloma Nozicka and Corinne Bass have been named as Jackalope's newest company members.

Jackalope's 8th season continues with the world premieres of Rolling, written by Calamity West, directed by Nate Silver, and Prowess, written by Ike Holter, directed by Marti Lyons, with the full casts and production teams announced below.

Philadelphia Theatre Company will present the gripping and timely play Exit Strategy by "Chicagoan of the Year" Ike Holter January 29-February 28.  Directed by Kip Fagan, the production features an ensemble cast with Michael Cullen, Aime Donna Kelly, Rey Lucas, Deidre Madigan, Christina Nieves, Brandon Pierce, and Ray Spahn. Exit Strategy is the first of several new American plays and presentations at PTC in 2016 which also includes an evening of excerpts from Anna Deavere Smith's new work, Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education, the Philadelphia premiere of Sex With Strangers by Laura Eason, and the East Coast premiere of Hillary and Clinton by Lucas Hnath.