Lauren Gunderson News

An award-winning season including five Tony Award winners with over 100 nominations among them; a Grammy for Best Musical Theatre Album  and the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama Salt Lake City -- Pioneer Theatre Company's 2018-2019 season will open with the Regional Premiere of Oslo by J. T. Rogers, winner of the 2017 Tony Award for Best Play and the 2017 Obie Award for Best New American Theatre Work.

On Monday evening, March 19, PlayGround concludes its 24th season of Monday Night PlayGround with a special "Musical Theatre Night," inspired by and featuring the music of Philip Glass. The playwrights have just four-and-a-half days to generate their original short musicals and plays with music set to Philip Glass' String Quartets Nos 2-5 (as recorded by San Francisco's own Kronos Quartet in the 1995 recording "Kronos Quartet performs Philip Glass"). The top six will be matched up with leading directors and actors and presented as script-in-hand staged readings at Berkeley Repertory Theatre on March 19 at 8pm. Los Angeles writers will have their work on the same topic presented at L.A.'s Zephyr Theatre on March 12. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit http://playground-sf.org/monday.

San Francisco Playhouse (Artistic Director Bill English; Producing Director Susi Damilano) expanded its commitment to developing new plays and nurturing the voices of active playwrights with the launch of a 5-Year Commission Program dedicated to the creation of 20 new plays over the next 5 years. This will elevate the Playhouse's acclaimed New Play Program, now approaching its 10th season.

San Francisco Playhouse (Artistic Director Bill English; Producing Director Susi Damilano) expanded its commitment to developing new plays and nurturing the voices of active playwrights with the launch of a 5-Year Commission Program dedicated to the creation of 20 new plays over the next 5 years. This will elevate the Playhouse's acclaimed New Play Program, now approaching its 10th season.

Civil Rights, the Russian connection, and a marriage gone hilariously wrong: The Theater Project is presenting three plays about three different aspects of American life, delivering an entire season of thought-provoking entertainment in less than one month. The professional theater company at the Burgdorff Center in Maplewood gives theatergoers a wide selection -- and a chance to save money if they buy a three-play package for $45.

Town Hall Theatre Company (THT) is excited to announce four powerhouse productions for its 2018/19 Season: LOST & FOUND. Town Hall's LOST & FOUND Season opens with the Bay Area premiere of Lauren Gunderson's seriously smart comedy The Revolutionists; continues with Great Expectations, the West Coast premiere of Grace Childs Daly's high-energy adaptation of Dickens' beloved novel; followed by Brooklyn Bridge, a captivating play for the whole family by Melissa James Gibson; and closes with the sizzling musical farce Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, based on Pedro Almodovar's film, with book by Jeffrey Lane, music and lyrics?by David Yazbek. Subscription package sales are now available.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre (MRT) has announced its 2018-19 Season of seven plays, celebrating the company's 40th Anniversary Season bringing the best new plays and musicals from national artists to Lowell and the entire Merrimack Valley region.

Chalk it up to antiquated gender politics that a woman must shatter a glass ceiling to validate her achievement. Despite a long history of injustice, the establishment is relatively unscathed and rarely accountable.

Tony Award winner Billy Crudup begins performances tomorrow in the Vineyard Theatre production of Harry Clarke, produced by Audible Inc., the world's largest producer and provider of downloadable audiobooks and other spoken-word entertainment. Harry Clarke is written by Obie Award winner David Cale (Lillian) and directed by Tony Award nominee Leigh Silverman (Violet).

After lengthy deliberation, the American Theatre Critics Association has selected six finalists for the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award, recognizing playwrights for the best scripts that premiered professionally outside New York City during 2017.

City Theatre Company, Pittsburgh's home for new plays, has announced the details of the theatre's 44th season of new works. Under the leadership of Managing Director James McNeel, and with the artistic team of Artistic Producer Reginald L. Douglas and Director of New Play Development Clare Drobot, the plays represent a diversity of voices and styles, including laugh-out-loud comedies, ripped-from-the-headlines dramas, and fresh explorations of the world around us.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre (MRT) is proud to announce that it received 15 nominations from the Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) for its 22nd Annual IRNE Awards, including nominations in the Best Play and Best Director categories for Silent Sky and The Royale, and two nominations for My 80-Year-Old Boyfriend, including Best New Play.

Artistic Director Blake Robison announced Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park's 2018-2019 season today, which features blockbuster musicals, contemporary comedies, world premieres and some of theatre's leading playwrights and directors.

The Drama Group will be presenting the Philadelphia area premiere of "Silent Sky" by Lauren Gunderson, directed by Robert Bauer.

Gulfshore Playhouse, Naples' premiere professional regional theatre, recently announced its lineup for the 2018-19 season

Mad Cow Theatre is delighted to announce the cast and creative team of Lauren Gunderson's Silent Sky, the true story of 19th century astronomer Henrietta Leavitt, which plays out against a landscape of fierce sisterly love, early feminism, universe-revealing science, and a time when humans were called "computers." 

On the heels of a sold out, twice-extended world premiere produced by Vineyard Theatre in association with Audible, Audible Inc., the world's largest producer and provider of downloadable audiobooks and other spoken-word entertainment, is pleased to announce that Tony Award winner Billy Crudup will return to the title role in Harry Clarke, written by Obie Award winner David Cale (Lillian) and directed by Leigh Silverman (Violet).

Artistic Director Mark Clements and Managing Director Chad Bauman are thrilled to announce Milwaukee Repertory Theater's 65th Anniversary Season which will be the largest season in over a decade featuring 15 productions across four venues with nearly 700 performances including expanded programming in the Stiemke Studio.

Audible Inc., the world's largest producer and provider of downloadable audiobooks and other spoken-word entertainment, today announced the first class of theater commissions selected to receive support from its fund dedicated to the commission and development of innovative English-language works from playwrights around the globe. Announced earlier this year, the $5 million fund will enable the creation of one- and two-person audio plays driven by language and voice, in keeping with Audible's core commitment to elevating listening experiences through powerful performances of brilliantly composed words.

ENSEMBLE THEATRE COMPANY is thrilled to announce the third show of its 2017-2018 Season, the 2014-2015 Outer Critics Circle & Drama Desk award nominee for Best Play, THE CITY OF CONVERSATION, written by Anthony Giardina and directed by Cameron Watson. Meredith Baxter and Sharon Lawrence star in this deeply moving and thought-provoking story about how the political divide tears apart an American family. THE CITY OF CONVERSATION begins previews on Thursday, February 8, opens on Saturday, February 10, and runs through Sunday, February 25, 2018 at The New Vic, 33 W. Victoria Street in Santa Barbara.