Lauren Gunderson News

In the early 20th century, women were barred from many fields of study - even pondering the wonders of the night sky. But that did not stop Leavitt from making discoveries that lead to establishing a measurement standard for astronomers all over the world. She left behind the familiar world of her father's pulpit in Wisconsin, ventured off to Harvard, and uncovered a way to use the brightness of stars to determine their distance from one another.

There's something truly remarkable about playwright Lauren Gunderson's work I AND YOU that's difficult to explain without spoiling the experience. So, I'll tread lightly. Just know that you should definitely check out this terrific new work that gives anyone who watches it insight, not just in how our kids live their lives these days, but also into how the power of Walt Whitman's 'Leaves of Grass' can still resonate with a modern reader who has the perception to see how it speaks to all of humankind in its grace, beauty, and wisdom. This is a brilliantly engaging show that's a perfect fit for the intimacy of the Emerson Studio Theatre, where The St. Louis Repertory is presenting it. This is a fresh and invigorating production, and it's absolutely mandatory that you see it!

Kitchen Theatre Company's 25th Anniversary Season continues with I AND YOU by Lauren Gunderson. Playwright Gunderson is intrigued by the contrast between what is on the surface and what lies underneath. She asks important questions about how we connect with others and what our legacy will be. And she boldly puts these questions and reflections into the hearts and minds of two unforgettable, offbeat teenage characters.

Unwanted pregnancy and terminal illness haunt the flinty girls at the center of two gritty new plays by playwrights Ruby Rae Spiegel and Lauren Gunderson now receiving their New England premieres at Company One in Boston and Merrimack Rep in Lowell.

Take Cate Jo, for example: A native of Birmingham, Alabama, she originally arrived on the Vanderbilt campus with an eye toward a career in academia, ultimately changing course to pursue a career as an actress. Most recently, she played the challenging role of Bianca in Tennessee Women's Theater Project's production of Lauren Gunderson's The Taming, a fanciful contemporary comedy that fairly crackled with intensity as it examined popular and political culture in the United States, viewing the trajectory of American political thought from the earliest days of the republic to the present. Earlier this year, she played Lady Nijo and Nell in Vanderbilt University Theatre's production of Caryl Churchill's Top Girls.

Playwrights Foundation delivers lightning in a bottle with FlashPlays a lively new format of 30 second to 2 minute plays on December 6 & 7, 2015. Over 40 playwrights will create roughly 80 short plays to drive this whirlwind event at the historic Brava Theater in San Francisco. These short works come together forming an artistic mosaic of the here and now, a depiction the world around us in a fun and dynamic format.

Central Works concludes its 25th season with a commissioned new work by local playwright Lauren Gunderson, Ada and the Memory Engine, opening tonight, October 17 (previews Oct 15 & 16), and running through November 22 at the historic Berkeley City Club.

We're back! After an extended absence due to The Last Five Years (we directed it to boffo notices from our critical colleagues), The 2015 First Night Honors (which played to SRO crowds at Chaffin's Barn in September) and a sense of overwhelming malaise and ennui (we are ever so dramatic at times), BWW Nashville's Critic's Choice is back on the interwebs, offering you our insights and advice on the shows that are coming up and what you should try to find time to see - or to avoid at all costs, depending on our perspective.

The Theatre Company at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts is proud to announce the four selected playwrights for the 2016 Colorado New Play Summit. The festival of new work will take place over two weekends, 2/13-2/14 and 2/19-2/20 and will feature new plays by Jose Cruz Gonzalez, Lauren Gunderson, Tira Palmquist, and Mat Smart.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis opens the 2015-2016 Studio Theatre series with I and You by Lauren Gunderson and directed by Jane Page. This moving production runs October 28 - November 15 in the Emerson Studio Theatre of the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts. Curtain times are Tuesday at 7 pm; Wednesday-Friday at 8 pm; Saturday matinees at 4 pm; selected Saturday nights at 8 pm; Sunday matinees at 2 pm; and Sunday evenings at 7 pm.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre is following up on the overwhelming success of the season opener, 'The Lion,' with a regional premiere directed by the company's new artistic director Sean Daniels. 'I and You' by Lauren Gunderson tells the story of two very different teenagers, Caroline and Anthony, who struggle to connect as they work on a school project about Walt Whitman's poetry. Over the course of the play and through a stunning surprise ending, they find that there is more that unites them than divides them. This production marks the New England premiere of the play that won the 2014 Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award, which recognizes new work produced outside of New York.

It's all in the timing. No matter if you're delivering a joke, performing a new play or just putting something noteworthy out into the ether, the key to success is often just a matter of good timing. Case in point: the recently crowned Miss America 2016 came into the pageant as Miss Georgia - and in Lauren Gunderson's play, The Taming (now onstage at Nashville's Z. Alexander Looby Theatre in the "first east of the Rockies" production from Tennessee Women's Theater Project), we are treated to the "art imitates life" scene in which Miss Georgia becomes Miss America.

Tennessee Women's Theater Project launches its 2015-16 season with the fast-paced, irreverent comedy The Taming by Lauren Gunderson. The production opens tonight at Nashville's Looby Theater, running weekends through October 18. Which means it's a matter of perfect timing for actress Colette Divine and director Maryanna Clarke to take on our Friday Five questions and to give us some insight into their theatrical lives.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre is following up on the overwhelming success of the season opener, "The Lion," with a regional premiere directed by the company's new artistic director Sean Daniels. "I and You" by Lauren Gunderson tells the story of two very different teenagers, Caroline and Anthony, who struggle to connect as they work on a school project about Walt Whitman's poetry. Over the course of the play and through a stunning surprise ending, they find that there is more that unites them than divides them. This production marks the New England premiere of the play that won the 2014 Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award, which recognizes new work produced outside of New York.

Theater-by-the-Grove at Indiana University of Pennsylvania will present "I and You" as its opening production of the season.

American Theatre's annual lists of the 10 most produced plays of the upcoming season and the 20 most produced playwrights.

Central Works concludes its 25th season with a commissioned new work by local playwright Lauren Gunderson, Ada and the Memory Engine, opening October 17 (previews Oct 15 & 16), and running through November 22 at the historic Berkeley City Club.

59E59 Theaters has announced the line-up of shows for Fall 2015.  All performances take place at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues).  Ticket prices and performance schedules vary. For tickets, call Ticket Central at 212-279-4200 or online at www.59e59.org. 

Kitchen Theatre Company's 2015-2016 Season begins next month! This season marks a major milestone for the theater: the 25th Anniversary Season and the sixth in its beautifully renovated, LEED-certified home at 417 W. State/MLK, Jr. St. in downtown Ithaca, NY. Led by Artistic Director Rachel Lampert and Managing Director Stephen Nunley, Kitchen Theatre Company is Central New York's Off-Broadway theater, a small professional Equity company producing new and modern plays. 'Important conversations happen in the Kitchen' is the motto that has defined the work of this company for over two decades and motivated the play choices in this silver anniversary season. Subscriptions for the seven-play season are on sale now.