Lauren Gunderson News

In this, the second installment in our series on women playwrights, the playwrights speak about critical interpretation of their work and the lack of powerful female critics. Please read Part I here, which discusses the more general issues female playwrights face.

The Board of Directors of Raven Theatre has announced that Sarah Slight will serve as the theater’s Interim Artistic Director beginning December 1, 2022, as the theater conducts a search to replace Cody Estle, who is departing to serve as the Artistic Director of Next Act Theatre in Milwaukee.  

This December, Shakespeare & Company returns to the lively world of Jane Austen-inspired theater with a costumed, staged reading of Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, written by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, and directed by Ariel Bock.

This Week's New Classified Listings on BroadwayWorld for 11/3/2022 include new jobs for those looking to work in the theatre industry.

Northlight Theatre will continue its 2022–2023 season with Georgiana & Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, directed by Marti Lyons. The production runs November 25 – December 24, 2022.

Theatre Tuscaloosa and Shelton State Community College will host the Alabama Conference of Theatre's annual Community Theatre Festival (ACTFest) November 5-6 in the Bean-Brown Theatre on the Martin Campus of Shelton State Community College.

Southbank Theatre Company electrifies its second season with playwright Lauren Gunderson's 60-minute, one-woman, tour-de-force show, inspired by Hamlet's iconic “To be or not to be” soliloquy. Tickets are on sale for “Natural Shocks” at Fonseca Theatre on Indianapolis' Near Westside, November 10-20, 2022. 

It's quintessential Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, in which it is that highly stylized, laugh-out-loud comedy, undercut with heart and passion and vulnerability. And strong female characters who are smashing the patriarchy and choosing their own futures. Women who are finding and re-defining themselves. Which is what I've always loved about Lauren's writing.

Arizona Theatre Company will kick off the holiday season with The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley Nov. 5 through Dec. 2 in Tucson and Dec. 8 through Dec. 23 in Phoenix.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre (MRT) has announced that Bonnie J. Butkas, Executive Director, resigned effective Wednesday October 12th, 2022 to pursue other projects. Butkas joined MRT in fall 2017. During her tenure the company broke all previous event records with its 40th Anniversary Gala; welcomed a new artistic director; posted three of the top 10 bestselling shows; and received a prestigious Barr Klarman Massachusetts Arts Initiative grant.

This Week's New Classified Listings on BroadwayWorld for 10/13/2022 include new jobs for those looking to work in the theatre industry.

San Francisco Playhouse will continue its 20th Anniversary season with the imaginative and exhilarating hit musical adaptation of William Shakespeare's As You Like It. Helmed by San Francisco Playhouse's Artistic Director Bill English with music direction by Dave Dobrusky and choreography by Nicole Helfer, As You Like It will perform November 17, 2022 – January 14, 2023.

ActorsNET of Bucks County, in residence at Morrisville’s Heritage Center Theatre, has set its October 2022 – June 2023 production schedule.

Phoebe Cheffings (12) from Wrexham, North Wales, Eve Corbishley (13) from the Wirral and Eva Johnson (11) from Salford have all been cast as Young Clare in the world premiere of The Time Traveller's Wife: The Musical, based on the best-selling novel by Audrey Niffenegger and the New Line Cinema film screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin. 

Stories of transformation highlight the newsletter this week - with two different stories below - one looking at the evolution of Broadway, the other how Regional Theatres are transforming. Both are asking questions in light of racial justice protests that have occured over the past few years, alongside a powerful moment for the labor movement.

Something wicked this way comes. Merrimack Repertory Theatre (MRT) will present a unique take on William Shakespeare's Macbeth: the sinister tale will be told in its entirety through the eyes of the play's three powerful witches, directed by Rosa Joshi, from October 16 through November 6, according to Nancy L. Donahue Artistic Director Courtney Sale and Executive Director Bonnie J. Butkas.

The  Top 10 Most-Produced Plays and Top 20 Most-Produced Playwrights for the new season include Clyde's, Clue, Once, Sweat, and more.

The Saint Sebastian Players' (SSP's) 41st season opens with the wacky French comedy Boeing-Boeing by Marc Camoletti, translated by Beverly Cross and Francis Evans. Performances take place October 28–November 20, 2022 in the lower level of St. Bonaventure, 1625 W. Diversey, Chicago (enter on Marshfield).

Opening Burning Coal Theatre Company's 2022-2023 season, A  Great Big Wooly Mammoth Thawing From The Ice is a world premiere by London based playwright Tatty Hennessy.

One of Boston’s most iconic actors will take on the holiday season’s most iconic character when Karen MacDonald stars as Ebenezer Scrooge in Courtney Sale’s world premiere adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol from November 30 to December 24 at Merrimack Repertory Theatre (MRT) in Lowell. Sale, the theatre’s Nancy L. Donahue Artistic Director, will also direct.