Lisa Loomer News

WAM Theatre has announced the appointment of two new board members. Erica Barreto and Toni Buckley join Board President Wendy Healey, Vice President Arwen Lowbridge, Carolyn Butler, Margaret Fluhr, Ellen Ring, Diane Scott, and WAM Co-Founder and Producing Artistic Director Kristen van Ginhoven, as the Berkshire-based company starts its second decade.

Producing Artistic Director Kristen van Ginhoven, Associate Artistic Director Talya Kingston, and the WAM team today announced a 2020 season that focuses on ensembles, community, and civic engagement.

Lisa Loomer's ROE offers a timely exploration of the history behind the 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade and the ongoing political debate around abortion and a women's right to choose. While Loomer's text is not necessarily nuanced in the way that it presents the argument around abortion, ROE does consider both sides of this divisive issue. The play is perhaps most compelling in its capacity to pull back the curtain around the original Roe v. Wade case and reveal the case's history. ROE centers on two critical women, the lawyer Sarah Weddington, who was only in her mid-twenties when she brought this case before the Court, and Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff under the pseudonym 'Jane Roe.' Before I saw this play, I had never heard these women's names before. But now, thanks to Loomer's work, I won't soon forget them. For Loomer interestingly not only presents both sides of the United States' debate over a woman's right to choose but also puts forth Sarah and Norma's two differing perspectives on the events that transpired before and after Roe v. Wade was decided.

THE ROAD THEATRE COMPANY and Taylor Gilbert, Founder/Artistic Director together with Sam Anderson, Artistic Director, remain committed to their meaningful mission to produce and develop New Work for the Stage. 11th Annual Summer Playwrights Festival begins on July 26 and continue through August 2, 2020.

 Conceived in a pizza parlor and argued in the highest court in the land, the landmark 1973 case of Roe v. Wade legalized abortiona?"and is debated still today. Vanessa Stalling returns to the Goodman to direct the 15-member cast, including emblematic characters of plaintiff Norma McCorvey (a?oeJane Roea??) and Sarah Weddington, the young Texan lawyer who argued the case.

Goodman Theatre continues its 2019/2020 Season this winter with two new plays.

Center Theatre Group has selected participants for the 2019-2020 L.A. Writers' Workshop, where local playwrights are invited to spend eight months in residence at the company researching and writing new works with the feedback from artistic staff and their fellow writers. The workshop, administrated by Center Theatre Group's Artistic Department, is designed to foster new voices, inspire playwrights to create their best work, encourage bold writing and build relationships among local playwrights, Center Theatre Group and the Los Angeles theatre community. 

Artistic Director Robert Falls announces an update to Goodman Theatre's 2019/2020 Season. The Chicago premiere of School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play by Jocelyn Bioh, directed by Lili-Anne Brown, originally scheduled for the Owen Theatre, will move into the 856-seat Albert Theatre; the Falls-directed major revival of Molly Sweeney by Brian Friel, originally scheduled for the Albert Theatre, will move into the 350-seat flexible Owen Theatre.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival today announced six new commissions as part of American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle, OSF's multi-decade program of commissioning and developing 37 new plays about moments of change in United States history. The commissioned artists are Zakiyyah Alexander, Jaclyn Backhaus, E. M. Lewis, Mary Katheryn Nagle, Sara Nović, and Sanaz Toossi.

Trustus Theatre expands its theatre walls again this season by partnering with Columbia Children's Theatre to bring Motherhood Out Loud to Columbia

THE ROAD THEATRE COMPANY remains committed to its meaningful mission to produce and develop New Work for the Stage. They have announced their upcoming 28th season, the tenth annual Summer Playwrights Festival.

Every year, more than 2 million kids in America will face a period of homelessness. This from Covenant House, the largest privately funded provider in the Americas of shelter, food, immediate crisis care, and an array of other services to homeless and runaway youth. That is a pretty sobering statistic, even more so when you consider that the majority, if not all, of that 2 million struggles in silence, unseen.

Rubicon Theatre of Ventura has announced a two-week extension of the company's World Premiere presentation of WOMEN BEYOND BORDERS, a funny, poignant and powerful new play about the shared experiences of women everywhere, inspired by the remarkable true journey of a small group of women artists who wanted to find a way to inspire change through creative expression.

 International City Theatre presents a zany comic romp about writers, how they write, the stories they tell and the secrets they keep. Jane Page directs the world premiere of Bestseller by internationally renowned playwright Peter Quilter (End of the Rainbow, Glorious!) for a three-week run, June 14through June 30, atInternational City Theatre in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center. Two low-priced previews are set for June 12 and June 13.

Rubicon Theatre continues the company's 21st "Coming of Age" season with the World Premiere of WOMEN BEYOND BORDERS, a play inspired by and loosely based on the remarkable journey of Lorraine Serena and a dynamic group of California-based artists who founded the non-profit Women Beyond Borders (WBB). Determined to "make art as if the world matters," Serena and her friends fell upon the idea of box as metaphor: hope chest, treasure chest, womb, coffin, etc. They replicated a miniature wooden box no bigger than the size of a human heart and sent the boxes to curators and friends in other countries with the goal of encouraging dialogue, collaboration and community among women and honoring creativity. The founders of WBB were astonished at what came back to them - eloquent expressions of the enormous depth and variety, but also the universality, of women's experiences throughout the world. The boxes were accompanied by equally astonishing artists' statements, in the form of letters, poems and stories asking about transcending barriers: geographical, social, racial, economic, emotional, gender-related, spiritual, etc.

Vassar & New York Stage and Film announce the programming lineup for their upcoming 35th Powerhouse Season, the annual summer season that brings together some of today's most influential theatrical voices for fully-staged productions, workshop presentations, readings, and other works in progress for theater, film and television.

Rubicon Theatre continues the company's 21st 'Coming of Age' season with the World Premiere of WOMEN BEYOND BORDERS, a play inspired by and loosely based on the remarkable journey of Lorraine Serena and a dynamic group of California-based artists who founded the non-profit Women Beyond Borders (WBB).

When entrusting the subject of motherhood to a dazzling collection of celebrated American writers, what results is a joyous, moving, hilarious, and altogether thrilling theatrical play. Utterly unpredictable, Motherhood Out Loud shatters traditional notions about parenthood, unveils its inherent comedy and celebrates the deeply personal truths that span and unite generations.

The Goodman Theatre announces the new 2019/2020 Season of 'Theater That Moves'-three world premiere productions (including a new musical), four Chicago premieres and a major revival of a beloved contemporary classic-on the theater's two stages (the 856-seat Albert Theatre and 350-seat flexible Owen Theatre).