The Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation has announced the guest lineup for February 2020 tapings of the popular a?oeLive at the Lortela?? podcast focused on Off-Broadway. Each taping lasts about 60 minutes a?" with 45 minutes of moderated conversation with host Eric Ostrow and 15 minutes for audience questions. As always, tickets are free to the public and can be reserved by visiting www.liveatthelortel.com.
FACTORY THEATRE has announced the World Premiere of Marjorie Chan's LADY SUNRISE, directed by Factory's Artistic Director, Nina Lee Aquino. The play features a powerful ensemble of six Asian Canadian women, Belinda Corpuz, Ma-Anne Dionisio, Zoé Doyle, Rosie Simon, Lindsay Wu, and Louisa Zhu. Presented at FACTORY THEATRE, February 15 - March 8, 2020 (opening night February 20, 2020).
Today, AUDELCO (Audience Development Committee) President Jackie Jeffries, SeasonWalk Productions CEO Denise Gray, Marcia Pendelton, President of Walk Tall Girl Productions/Black Theater Online, and the Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts, LIU Brooklyn Campus (Rodney Hurley, Managing Director) announced THE THEATERMAKERS - A Black Theater Preview: Winter/Spring Edition.
The Fire This Time Festival, the destination for early career and emerging playwrights from the African diaspora, announces its 2020 dates. The 14-day festival, presented in collaboration with FRIGID New York, which annually honors Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will take place from January 20 to February 2, 2020. This year, seven commissioned dramatists will be presented in repertoire as part of the annual celebration held at the Kraine Theater in the East Village.
Jocelyn Bioh's hit comedy School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, comes to Portland this January in a historic co-production between Artists Repertory Theatre and Portland Center Stage at The Armory. Inspired in part by Bioh's mother's time in a boarding school in Ghana, and Bioh's own experience in at a boarding school in Pennsylvania, School Girls tells the story of Paulina, the reigning Queen Bee at Ghana's most exclusive boarding school. Her dreams of winning the Miss Universe pageant are threatened by the arrival of Ericka, a new student with undeniable talent, beauty a?? and lighter skin. The New York Times called Bioh's biting play about the challenges facing teenage girls across the globe a?oea gleeful African makeover of an American genre.a??
The Drama League (Artistic Director Gabriel Stelian-Shanks, Executive Director Bevin Ross) announced today the acting company for the 36th annual DirectorFest, the only festival in the United States dedicated to the art of contemporary stage directing. Directorfest will take place January 10 - February 4, 2020 at various locations around NYC: The New Ohio Theatre (154 Christopher Street), The Drama League Theater Center (32 Avenue of the Americas), LaGuardia Performing Arts Center (31-10 Thomson Avenue), and Joe's Pub (425 Lafayette Street). For festival details and tickets, visit directorfest.org or call (212) 244-9494 x102.
To celebrate the Mentor Project's 22nd Season, Cherry Lane Theatre (Angelina Fiordellisi, Executive Director; Seri Lawrence, Artistic Director) has announced a workshop presentation by poet/ performer Shawn Randall of his original work (The Making Of) How to Save the World in 90 Minutes. He will be mentored by Diana Oh ({my lingerie play}) in the StudioTheatre, March 4 -14, 2020. Cherry Lane then continues its season in partnership with J.A.G. Productions for the rolling World Premiere of Esai's Table by Nathan Yungerberg, originally produced in workshop format by Mentor Project in 2017. Performances of Esai's Table begin March 19, 2020, on the Cherry Lane Main Stage.For tickets, schedule and more information, please visit www.cherrylanetheatre.org.
Signature Theatre presents Fires in the Mirror by Anna Deavere Smith featuring Michael Benjamin Washington and directed by Saheem Ali. The production opened just last night, November 11th in The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues).
The Drama League announced today the 2020 line-up of DirectorFest: The 36th Annual Directors Festival, the only festival in the United States dedicated to the art of contemporary stage directing. For its 36th year, the festival will include six fully-staged productions, a showcase concert of a new musical, a town hall, and conversations with directors including 2017 Tony Award Winner Rebecca Taichman (Indecent), 2014 Tony Award Winner and 2010 Drama League Founders Award for Excellence in Directing Kenny Leon (A Soldier's Play), and Intimacy Director Claire Warden (HBO's Mrs. Fletcher).
The Public Theater presents a major New York revival of FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE/WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF, written by legendary playwright/poet Ntozake Shange. Let's see what the critics are saying...
Pittsburgh Public Theater continues its 45th anniversary season with the Pittsburgh premiere of School Girls; Or The African Mean Girls Play. A smash hit Off-Broadway last year, the play was written by Jocelyn Bioh, a first generation American whose parents emigrated from Ghana in West Africa. Directed by Kenyan native Shariffa Ali, School Girls runs November 7 a?" December 8, 2019 at the O'Reilly Theater, Pittsburgh Public Theater's home in the heart of Downtown's Cultural District. For tickets call 412.316.1600, go to ppt.org, or visit the Box Office.
MCC Theater (Bob LuPone, Bernie Telsey, Will Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) is pleased to announce the next panel discussion as part of their a?oeLet's Talka?? series a?" a?oeAbout the Journey a?" A conversation exploring the unique stories behind the musicals of todaya?? a?" on October 19, 2019, at 5:15pm at The Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space (511 West 52nd Street).
MCC Theater announced today the line-up for their Fall 2019 PlayLabs readings of new plays to be held at The Newman Mills Theater at The Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space (511 West 52nd Street): Gina Femia's Allond(r)a, directed by Elena Araoz; Ana Nogueira's Mask Only, directed by Mike Donahue; C.A. Johnson's I Know I Know I Know, directed by Taylor Reynolds; and Brian Otaño's The Dust, directed by David Mendizábal.
Artistic Director Robert Falls announces an update to Goodman Theatre's 2019/2020 Season. The Chicago premiere of School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play by Jocelyn Bioh, directed by Lili-Anne Brown, originally scheduled for the Owen Theatre, will move into the 856-seat Albert Theatre; the Falls-directed major revival of Molly Sweeney by Brian Friel, originally scheduled for the Albert Theatre, will move into the 350-seat flexible Owen Theatre.
Theater Latté Da today announces the NEXT Generation Commission, an new opportunity for women artists and artists of color designed to support the creation and development of new musical theatre projects.
Playwright Jocelyn Bioh long wanted to name her 2017 work about the social interworkings of young women in Ghana simply 'School Girls.' But it wasn't until she added the subtitle, 'African Mean Girls Play,' that she fully nailed what she was doing.
Firestone Theatre's new season is set to take off with the upcoming production of the comedy School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play by Jocelyn Bioh. The play, under the direction of Ashley Aquilla Wheadon, is a gleeful make-over of an American genre exploring the universal similarities (and glaring differences) facing teenage girls across the globe. Performances of School Girls will be held at 7:30 p.m. October 3, 4, and 5, 2019. Tickets to School Girls are $8.00 in advance, $10.00 at the door, and $12.00 for reserved, VIP seating. All tickets are currently available online and at the door on the night of performance. These performances of School Girls represent the first appearance of this play on any stage in the area and may very well be the first high school production altogether.
