Lileana Blain-Cruz News

The Off-Broadway League today announced nominations in 19 categories - and bestowed one special award - for the 34th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway. The Awards will be handed out on Sunday, May 5, 2019 at NYU Skirball Center for Performing Arts, beginning at 7:00pm EST. The Lucille Lortel Awards are produced by the Off-Broadway League by special arrangement with the Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation. Additional support is provided by TDF. Beloved and celebrated entertainer, Wayne Brady, will emcee the ceremony.

YALE REPERTORY THEATRE the multiple Tony Award-winning theatre dedicated to the production of new plays and bold interpretations of classic works, has announced its 2019-20 Season.

The New Group and Vineyard Theatre just celebrated opening night of Jeremy O. Harris' 'Daddy,' with Alan Cumming, Tommy Dorfman, Fran Jaye, Kahyun Kim, Hari Nef, Ronald Peet and Charlayne Woodard, in a world premiere production directed by Danya Taymor. 

Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3 has announced that has extended the run of its critically-acclaimed production of MARYS SEACOLE, a new play by Jackie Sibblies Drury, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, through Sunday, April 7 at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65 Street). The production, which features Gabby Beans, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Marceline Hugot, Karen Kandel, Ismenia Mendes, and Lucy Taylor, opened on Monday, February 25 and was originally scheduled through Sunday, March 24.

Over 160 years after she first gained fame tending to wounded British soldiers during the Crimean War, the name Florence Nightingale is still recognized as a symbol of selfless caregiving and she is often regarded as the founder of modern nursing. But there was another woman who was just as beloved by soldiers for her bravery and leadership during that conflict. And though the name Mary Seacole has drifted into obscurity among Americans, she is still revered by the British as a pioneer in nursing.

LCT3's Marys Seacole, by Jackie Sibblies Drury, and directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, officially opened on February 25, at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65 Street).

LCT3's Marys Seacole, by Jackie Sibblies Drury, and directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, officially opened on February 25, at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65 Street).

Daniel J. Watts, currently starring as Sammy Davis, Jr. opposite Dule Hill in the Geffen Playhouse's record-breaking box office smash Lights Out: Nat King Cole, is bringing his solo show The Jam: Only Child to Los Angeles on Monday, March 11th at The Federal in North Hollywood (5303 Lankershim Boulevard). Doors open at 6:30pm, the show begins at 8:30pm. All advance general admission tickets are $20. Tickets are $25 day of and can be purchased at http://thefederalnoho.com/tickets/9231155/daniel-j-watts-the-jam-only-child/.

The Signature Theatre production of By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner and Residency 1 playwright Lynn Nottage and directed by Obie Award-winner Kamilah Forbes, recently celebrated opening night on The Irene Diamond Stage at The Pershing Square Signature Center. Check out photos from the evening below!

On Monday, March 4 at 6:30pm the medieval court of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table will come to life on the stage of the Vivian Beaumont Theater when Lin-Manuel Miranda stars as King Arthur in Lerner & Loewe's CAMELOT, directed by Bartlett Sher, for a one-night-only concert event to benefit Lincoln Center Theater.  He will be joined by Solea Pfeiffer as Guenevere, Jordan Donica as Sir Lancelot, Dakin Matthews as Merlyn, Ruthie Ann Miles as Nimue, Ethan Slater as Mordred, Julie White as Morgan Le Fey, and Jenn Colella, Jason Danieley, and Bonnie Milligan as three of the Knights of the Round Table.   Andy & Betsy Kenny Lack, Brooke & Daniel Neidich, and Caryn Zucker are the Benefit Co-Chairs.  Proceeds from the evening will support Lincoln Center Theater's productions and education programs.

In honor of Black History month, the Live from Lincoln Center presentation of PIPELINE will air Friday, February 8 at 9 p.m. on PBS*. Produced in partnership with BroadwayHD, PIPELINE depicts a mother's hopes for her son and their clash with an educational system rigged against him. The powerful work was originally staged at Lincoln Center Theater in 2017 to wide critical acclaim, and was hailed as "potent and intensely acted" by the New York Times, and confirmed Dominique Morisseau's "reputation as a playwright of piercing eloquence". 

Opera Omaha's ONE Festival returns March 30 - April 14, 2019 with new explorations and exciting work that exemplify innovation and the power of opera.  Led by Omaha native and Opera Omaha General Director Roger Weitz (Chicago Opera Theater, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts) and Festival Artistic Director James Darrah, ONE amplifies the Omaha creative spirit by curating a cadre of interdisciplinary, world-class artists to rethink how contemporary opera is made. Each of the festival's handpicked creatives is an Artist-in-Residence, partnering across mediums to push beyond operatic norms. Together they bring to life two staged operas, a performance series exploring the operatic form, and various films, lectures, and intimate pop-up classical concert experiences. 

The company of LCT3's latest, MARYS SEACOLE, is hard at work in rehearsal. Take a look below to meet the cast and company as they prepare for the stage!

Building on 40 years of producing powerful contemporary theatre, Studio Theatre is pleased to announce a new class of commissioned playwrights and directors to Studio R&D, its incubator to support the creation of new work from inception to first production. Incoming Studio R&D artists are playwrights James Fritz, James Ijames, Steph Del Rosso, and Emily Schwend, as well as directors Carl Cofield, Lila Neugebauer, and Eric Ruffin. These exciting talents from the US and UK will have Studio's full support in creating aesthetically diverse new work to be presented in future seasons and introduced into the international repertoire. As they create Studio-specific works, commissioned artists will visit Studio to get to know its theatres, programming, and audiences in person.

Make a joyful noise! Last night, January 8, Manhattan Theatre Club's Broadway premiere of Choir Boy, written by Academy Award winner Tarell Alvin McCraney(Moonlight, The Brother/Sister Plays) and directed by Drama Desk Award nominee Trip Cullman, officially opened at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street).

New Brooklyn Theatre, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2012 to democratize the American theatre, has announced Raja Feather Kelly as its new Artistic Director. Kelly currently serves as the Founding Artistic Director of the dance-theatre-media company the feath3r theory, which has formally merged with New Brooklyn Theatre. He is the recipient of two Princess Grace Foundation Awards and most recently, the Breakout Award from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation and Dance Magazine's inaugural Harkness Promise Award. the feath3r theory shares the ethos of New Brooklyn Theatre in the mission to broaden space for unheard voices and repressed histories in theatre. Since 2009, the feath3r theory has been recognized as a unique cross-disciplinary theatre company that aims to challenge its audience and creators to interrogate and celebrate their shared relationship to human empathy and personal ethics as expressed in popular media.

Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3 has announced that Gabby Beans, Marceline Hugot, and Ismenia Mendes will join Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Karen Kandel, and Lucy Taylor for the world premiere of MARYS SEACOLE, a new play by Jackie Sibblies Drury, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65 Street).  MARYS SEACOLE will begin performances Saturday evening, February 9 and run for six weeks only through Sunday, March 24.  Opening night is Monday, February 25.

Miami New Drama, the groundbreaking company transforming Miami's theaterscene, co-founded by artistic director Michel Hausmann, will continue as the residentcompany at Miami Beach's historic Colony Theatre for five more years. The renewed commitment from the City of Miami Beach will maintain the company at the Lincoln Road theater until 2023.

The Signature Theatre production of Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine, by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner and Residency 1 playwright Lynn Nottage and directed by Obie Award-winner Lileana Blain-Cruz, opened just last night, December 10.

Get a first look below at the Signature Theatre production of Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine, by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner and Residency 1 playwright Lynn Nottage and directed by Obie Award-winner Lileana Blain-Cruz. The production began performances on November 19.