Jacqueline E. Lawton News

People in the St. Louis area have two opportunities to see the show. Center of Creative Arts (COCA, 524 Trinity Ave, St. Louis, MO 63130) will be hosting a performance on Saturday, October 15th at 8pm and The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (130 Edgar Rd, Webster Groves, MO 63119) will be hosting a performance on Monday, October 24th at 8pm. All performances will be free of charge.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces an open call for submissions for the 2017 Playwrights' Arena, a year-long program which invites a small group of up to five local theater makers to convene once per month with Arena Stage artistic staff to investigate their artistic process to develop their dramaturgical practice while creating new work.

Missing Bolts Productions (Blair Baker & Zac Kline, artistic directors) and NoPassport Theatre Alliance and Press (OBIE-winner Caridad Svich, founder) are curating a collection of new plays from noted international playwrights in response the shooting at Pulse Nightclub, June 12, 2016.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is seeking proposals from theater companies, ensembles and individual artists interested in participating in the 2016/17 Kogod Cradle Series as part of the American Voices New Play Institute. Now in its fifth season, the Kogod Cradle Series supports the exploration and development of new and emerging work in the theater's intimate 200-seat Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle.

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.

Arena Stage just announced an exciting, starry 2016/17 season, which will showcase the theater's mission of American voices and artists.

Virginia Stage Company's first production of 2016, The Hampton Years, explores the empowering nature of art through the journey of two students and their professors.

Sponsored in part by 4Culture, the 2015-16 season of Mirror Stage's popular FEED YOUR MIND staged reading series traces a path from Jamestown, Virginia in 1676 to Hampton, Virginia in 1945, with a detour through Hades and Ancient Greece, exploring questions of racial and gender equity.

As rehearsals begin for WAM Theatre's fall MainStage production of HOLY LAUGHTER the company is basking in the glow of a successful season of 'Fresh Takes' Play Readings. Curated by WAM's Artistic Associate Molly Clancy, all five of this year's plays were penned by living female playwrights,  directed by women and featured many local professional theatre artists.

Neil LaBute, Erik Ehn, Arthur Kopit, Deborah Laufer, Ryan McCurdy of Broadway's ONCE, and Heather Woodbury join CLIMATE CHANGE THEATRE ACTION - a series of worldwide readings and performances intended to bring awareness to, and foster discussion around, climate change during the months of November and December 2015.

Sponsored in part by 4Culture, the 2015-16 season of Mirror Stage's popular FEED YOUR MIND staged reading series traces a path from Jamestown, Virginia in 1676 to Hampton, Virginia in 1945, with a detour through Hades and Ancient Greece, exploring questions of racial and gender equity.

Virginia Stage Company (VSC) announces its 37th season; which includes two new plays and two Tony Award winning plays. This season is set to be a powerful line-up with a little something for everyone.

Center Stage has launched a new endeavor for local playwrights. Dubbed the Playwrights Collective, the program will allow a rotating group of writers to develop work, foster collaborative connections, and share professional mentorship within the framework of a resident regional theater. At the same time, it allows Center Stage to feed back into and help foster the local artistic ecology.

WAM Theatre has announced that Jayne Atkinson will be directing the next play in their 2015 Fresh Takes Play Reading Series, Noms de Guerre by Jacqueline E. Lawton.  

Grab some children - or kids at heart - and make your way to Adventure Theatre MTC for their new version of Baum's popular tale, here called THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ. In a whirlwind of a production, aimed at young audiences, this WIZARD weaves a spell that cannot be broken by the wickedest of witches.

WAM Theatre has announced the line-up for its second season of Fresh Takes Staged Readings at No. Six Depot Roastery and Cafe in West Stockbridge. The first series last year sold out all five readings, and whetted the appetites of area audiences for more professional readings of plays that explore the lives and experiences of women and girls. Each reading is followed by a talkback with the actors and directors.

WAM Theatre's Artistic Director Kristen van Ginhoven announced highlights of the 2015 season today. The Berkshire-based professional theatre company will celebrate its sixth year with an inspiring and thought-provoking series of play readings, special events, productions and educational programs that continue its mission to use theatre to benefit women and girls.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces a rare opportunity for D.C.-area theatergoers to hear groups of distinguished actors, directors, playwrights and artistic directors discuss their work and the myriad challenges facing their art form, in a special series of three Monday evening panels entitled The Summit. Organized and moderated by The Washington Post Theater Critic Peter Marks, the three free installments will gather some of the region's most accomplished theater professionals to talk about everything from their passion for their craft to the problems of trying to lure new audiences to live theater.

The 2013/14 Kogod Cradle Series continues in the new year with the Helen Hayes Award-winning Commedia dell'Arte troupe Faction of Fools, who are bringing their devilish sense of humor and trademark masked comedy style to Thornton Wilder's classic Our Town. The following month, award-winning Resident Playwright Samuel D. Hunter (The Whale) invites audiences to join him for open workshops for two of the new plays created during his residency, Lewiston and Clarkston. In March, the six members of the inaugural Playwrights' Arena (Norman Allen, Randy Baker, Jacqueline E. Lawton, Heather McDonald, Danielle Mohlman and Shawn Northrip) will introduce selections from the six plays they have each been working on independently as part of their yearlong collaborative program. Our Town runs January 9-12, 2014, Lewiston and Clarkston run February 6-9, 2014 and Playwrights' Arena-A Weekend of New Work runs March 6-9, 2014 in the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle.