J. Davis News

JACK will present Best Life by New Dramatist resident playwright Melisa Tien. Directed by Susanna Jaramillo, Best Life is an alarming dark comedy that centers on two women trying to bridge their racial and economic differences. Best Life runs October 21 – November 6, 2021, at JACK (20 Putnam Ave, Brooklyn).

The Dramatists Guild Legal Defense Fund has announced that the recipient of the 2021 Defender of the Year Award is Sharai Bohannon. The Defender Award is given in recognition of an individual, group, or organization’s efforts in support of free expression in the dramatic arts.

After a successful screening of SPOILED: The Film Project, Chapter One, The Hess Collective has announced the live stream of SPOILED: The Film Project, Chapter Two. A post-show conversation follows, called Giving Voice to Marginalized Girls, Women and Femmes, moderated by Shonna Trinch.

The thrilling and tragic stories of Jewish artists and circus owners who captivated Europe with their amazing acts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries are coming to The Braid for Circus Jews, an international Zoom event on Sunday, August 8.

Little Island, New York City's new public park in Hudson River Park by W. 13th Street, begins performances for the 2021 Storytelling Festival tomorrow, Wednesday, July 21. The multidisciplinary festival is curated by Little Island Artists-in-Residence PigPen Theatre Co. and will run through Sunday, July 25.

A post-show conversation follows, called Giving Voice to Marginalized Girls, Women and Femmes, moderated by Shonna Trinch, Professor of Gender Studies at J Jay College of Criminal Justice, with panelists Ruchira Gupta, Emmy-award winning journalist and founder of anti-sex trafficking organization Apne Aap and Ochiro Olwoch, Ugandan writer who covers taboos of LGBTQ+ community and African Representative of Women Playwrights International. 

Little Island, New York City's new public park in Hudson River Park by W. 13th Street, announced today the line-up for the 2021 Storytelling Festival, running July 21-25, 2021 and Dance Festival, running September 15-19, 2021.

THE ROAD THEATRE COMPANY have announced the Twelfth Annual Summer Playwrights Festival returns to its online format making new plays more accessible than ever.

Two famous genealogists will give you tips on tracing your Jewish roots across the diaspora at a new Sunday Morning with The Braid Zoom event on Sunday, June 13.

The Road Theatre Company has begun streaming playwright Steve Yockey’s REYKJAVÍK, their second show of their 2021 virtual season. Set in Reykjavík, Iceland, Ann Hearn Tobolowsky directs the REYKJAVÍK cast of Stephen Tyler Howell, Alaska Jackson, Carlos Lacamara, Brian Ibsen, Danny Lee Gomez and Jacqueline Misaye. Ann managed to find some time between REYKJAVÍK rehearsals, and being half of a beloved Los Angeles theatre acting/directing couple, to answer a few of my enquiries.

When the pandemic hit, Charles E. Gerber, a NY actor, director, and acting instructor, moved his studio, Will's Playshop, online. From April 25th at 4 p.m. EST - Midnight April 29th, performances will be accessible to a worldwide audience, on a 'pay what you can' basis to benefit The Food Bank for New York City as well as The Workshop Theater.

IAMA Theatre Company will present the virtual premiere of “The Latrell Show,” written and performed by actor, writer and social justice advocate Brandon Kyle Goodman. Co-directed by IAMA co-artistic director Stefanie Black and company member Devere Rogers, “The Latrell Show” will be filmed on stage at the Pico Playhouse.

Today’s Jewish mother is nothing like the one-dimensional stereotype that plagued her predecessors.  She’s inspiring, collaborative, and successful—and three of them and their successful kids will be featured in a new Sunday Morning with The Braid event (formerly Jewish Women’s Theatre) on May 2, a week before Mother’s Day.

First an author, then the producer of such musical hits as Stormy Weather: The Story of Lena Horne, An American in Paris, and soon the international smash An Officer and a Gentleman, which she co-wrote and produced, Sharleen Cooper Cohen has been called a true Jewish Renaissance Woman.  Now she's going to tell virtual audiences how she does it all when she visits Sunday Morning with The Braid (formerly Jewish Women's Theatre) on March 14.

SPOILED: The Film Project, created by The Hess Collective, unearths the roots of global gender-based violence from the male point of view but is performed by an ensemble of women.

Salt Lake Acting Company has announced the second installment in its first-ever New Play Sounding Series Festival. The virtual festival, comprised of three new works written by, directed by, and starring BIPOC artists, launched last month with DADDY ISSUES by Kimi Handa Brown

Victory Gardens Theater and Geva Theatre Center announce the online streaming production of Brian Quijada's music-infused production of Where Did We Sit on the Bus?, written and performed by Brian Quijada and directed by Chay Yew.

Melanie Chartoff has done it all.  Broadway, soap operas, hit TV series, movies, and cartoon voice-overs.  Now she's an author, and she will perform and discuss stories from her new book, Odd Woman Out, when she visits Sunday Morning with The Braid (formerly Jewish Women's Theatre) on Valentine's Day.

For the first time in its 19-year history, ABC Talent and Casting will present its annual ABC Discovers: Talent Showcases virtually, as part of the company’s legacy and commitment to create powerful opportunities to discover, nurture, and recognize talent.

Best selling author and biographer Michael Posner, author of the just-released Leonard Cohen, Untold Stories, which chronicles the breadth of Cohen's extraordinary life, will share stories at a new Sunday Morning with The Braid Zoom Event on Sunday, December 6, at 11:00am PT/2:00pm ET.