Lanford Wilson News

For over half a century Jordan Charney has been a forceful presence in the world of entertainment as a performer, writer, director and teacher.

Mabou Mines, the esteemed experimental theater company, and Weathervane Productions, in association with Philip Glass' Days and Nights Festival, add free documentary film screening and Promenade concert performance, and announce complete casting for a unique upcoming celebration of legendary playwright and director María Irene Fornés. The February 21-March 7 engagement centers on the New York premiere of Philip Glass' transformation of her five-page play Drowning into an opera and a version of Fornés' acclaimed Mud. JoAnne Akalaitis directs these two intimate productions-both with new music composed by Glass-at Mabou Mines (150 First Avenue).

American Blues Theater, under the continued leadership of Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside, announces the winner of the 2020 Blue Ink Playwriting Award is Recent Unsettling Events by Andrea Stolowitz. A staged reading of the play will be presented as part of the 2020 Blue Ink Playwriting Festival, along with new work by finalists Football Football Football Football (or I Love Lave Dash) by Kristoffer Diaz, The Mermaids' Parade by Gina Femia, and Crying on Television by R. Eric Thomas. The Blue Ink Playwriting Festival runs May 2-4, 2020 at 4809 N Ravenswood, Suite #126, in Chicago.

Steep Theatre is extending the run of Isaac Gomez' The Leopard Play, or sad songs for lost boys through March 14, adding eight more chances to catch this heart-wrenching and powerful play.

The Dramatists Guild of America has announced they will present the 2020 Horton Foote Playwriting Award to Lydia Diamond at the Dramatists Guild's awards presentations in July. The Richenthal Foundation is again sponsoring the award.

2019 was a great year for Adam Driver. Just a year ago, he was getting ready to return to Broadway for the third time in Burn This- a performance for which he earned a 2019 Tony nomination. Now his name is back in the spotlight for one of the four films that hit the big screen this season.

Astoria Performing Arts Center (APAC) presents the New York premiere of Jump following the critically-acclaimed presentation of Marguerite. The award-winning theater company continues their 2019-20 season with this production taking place at APAC Pop Up theater located at 28-21 Steinway Street in Astoria, Queens.

The Kleban Foundation celebrates the 30th anniversary of the annual Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre with the announcement of the 2020 prize winners.

Casting has been announced for the upcoming New York City premiere of Leaving the Blues, a new play by Jewelle Gomez, directed by Mark Finley. Rosalind Brown (original Broadway productions of Footloose and One Mo' Time) will play the lead role of Alberta Hunter, the great American jazz singer and songwriter. The cast also features Michael Michele Lynch, Joy Suddath, Cooper Sutton, Benjamin Mapp, Ameerah Briggs, Tsebiyah Mishael Derry and Erik Ransom.

Burning Coal Theatre Company is proud to present Talley's Folly by Lanford Wilson, a story about how, despite all odds, love can bring the most unlikely people together.

Westport Country Playhouse will present a Script in Hand playreading of 'Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley,' the romantic comedy sequel to Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice,' by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, on Monday, December 16, at 7 p.m. The reading will be directed by Anne Keefe, Playhouse associate artist and curator of the playreading series. Tickets are $20 each.

Pear Theatre kicks off the New Year with Alan Ayckbourn's hilarious farce, Taking Steps (directed by Troy Johnson). Taking Steps previews on Thursday, January 16, with press and Opening Night on Friday, January 17, followed by a champagne gala. The show runs Thursdays through Sundays through February 9. All performances are held at the Pear Theatre, 1110 La Avenida St., Mountain View. Tickets can be purchased by visiting www.thepear.org or calling (650) 254-1148.

Baltimore Center Stage has announced a special event featuring a staged reading of Thornton Wilder's The Long Christmas Dinner, which will take place on Monday, December 16, 2019.  This one-night-only presentation of this revered classic features notable personalities with Baltimore ties in the classic roles of the Bayard Family during their 100-year-long Christmas dinner. The reading will serve as a launch-point for a post-performance conversation on the importance of family traditions, moderated by Artistic Director Stephanie Ybarra.

My fall quarter at SCAD just ended last week and now I'm off until the beginning of January for my winter break. One of the classes I took as a dramatic writing major was playwriting and I got to thinking about some of my favorite plays that I would love to share with people and hopefully they can experience for themselves one day. You can also add these to your Christmas wish list if you so desire.

Musical theater returns to McCarter Theatre Center with the 2021 arrival of Bhangin' It, a large-scale uplifting new musical that will premiere in June 2021, following a production at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego.

The UC San Diego Department of Theatre and Dance presents Balm in Gilead, by Lanford Wilson and directed by Kim Rubenstein.

This winter, Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3 will produce the world premiere of THE HEADLANDS, a new play by Christopher Chen, directed by Knud Adams, which will begin performances Saturday, February 8 and run for six weeks only through Sunday, March 22 at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65 Street). Opening night is Monday, February 24.

Artistic Directors Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern announce that Charly Evon Simpson is the recipient of the 2019-20 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award. Ms. Simpson will be presented with the award at The Vineyard's annual Emerging Artists Luncheon on Monday, November 25 from noon-2:30pm at the National Arts Club (15 Gramercy Park South) in Manhattan.

The soprano Constance Barron will take part in the world premiere a new work by composer Laura Clayton, Queen of Heaven, Songs To Goddess Inanna with pianist Dr. Donna Coleman at this week's 2019 OutBach Festival of (Mostly) Women's Music at the San Miguel Mission in Santa Fe, NM on Thursday, October 24 at 7:00 PM.

The Donmar Warehouse announces the full cast for Teenage Dick, Mike Lew's darkly comic take on Shakespeare's Richard III, directed by Donmar Artistic Director Michael Longhurst. Joining previously announced cast Daniel Monks and Susan Wokoma are Callum Adams, Alice Hewkin, Siena Kelly and Ruth Madeley.