Lorraine Hansberry News

ENSEMBLE THEATRE prepares to open its 39th consecutive Season! THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT. Our entire 2018- 2019 Season will take place in the heart of Coventry Village on the Coventry P.E.A.C.E. Campus !!!

Smugbug Productions presents the New York Premiere of The Eleventh Hour!, a new rock musical comedy by David Seamon running through June 27, 2018 at Town Stages, 221 West Broadway, NYC.

LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE is thrilled to present the final show in its 97thseason, the critically acclaimed, Pulitzer and Tony award winner for Best Play, CYLBOURNE PARK, written by Bruce Norris and directed by Matt August. Executive Director Ellen Richard comments, "What a privilege to close this extraordinary season with one of the most important plays of the past decade."

Sponsored in part by ArtsWa and the City of Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, Mirror Stage is thrilled to continue its Expand Upon staged reading series which creates opportunities for local artists to respond to important issues while engaging the community in meaningful dialogue. For this second round of Expand Upon, the community selected the theme "Incarceration/Prison Industrial Complex," and Mirror Stage commissioned The Assailant by Alma Davenport, and The Swimming Pool by Stacy D. Flood.

PlayGround's Festival of New Works 2018 festival continues with the premiere of the full-length play SCAPEGOAT by William Bivins opening with a press night on May 23, running through June 17 (previews May 21 & 22), a co-production with Lorraine Hansberry Theatre.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company presents the Chicago premiere production of The Roommate by Jen Silverman, directed by Tony Award Winner Phylicia Rashad. A unique story that expresses how early-life choices can lead to mid-life challenges and the humorous, touching and unexpected rewards of bridging the divide, the Steppenwolf production will feature ensemble members Ora Jones as Robyn and Sandra Marquez as Sharon.

After last year's (2017) sold-out run, and the most successful show in the 40 year history of Theatre Rhinoceros, we are thrilled to be presenting - BY POPULAR DEMAND - an encore production for 2017/2018 Season of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - The Musical. Priscilla has a book by Australian film director/writer Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott, using well-known pop songs as its score. Adapted from Elliott's 1994 Oscar-winning film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, the musical is the heart-warming, uplifting adventure of three friends who hop aboard a battered old bus searching for love and friendship and end up finding more than they could have ever dreamed of. With a dazzling array of over-the-top costumes, extraordinary headdresses, A FULL SIZE BUS - ON STAGE, and a hit parade of dance floor favorites, this wildly fresh and funny musical is a journey to the heart of FABULOUS.

Smugbug Productions presents the New York Premiere of The Eleventh Hour!, a new rock musical comedy by David Seamon from May 11 - June 27, 2018 at Town Stages, 221 West Broadway, NYC. Tickets are $35 and are available at https://www.eleventhhourmusical.com/performance-tickets/the-eleventh-hour.

PlayGround's Festival of New Works features the premiere of the full-length play BRIGHT SHINING SEA by Julianne Jigour opening with a press night on Wednesday May 16, running through June 16, (previews May 14 & 15). BRIGHT SHINING SEA is a co-production with Planet Earth Arts and one of two PlayGround commissioned full-length plays featured this season.  In Julianne Jigour's Bright Shining Sea, six characters find their lives intertwined as they face the personal challenges caused by environmental degradation. Bright Shining Sea confronts destruction-personal and environmental-but presents connection and compassion as the means by which hope is possible. Julianne remarks "It asks us to view the Earth holistically, to recognize our interconnectedness, and to do what the current administration won't-to take responsibility for our planet, for each other, and for future generations.

Aurora Theatre Company presents the Bay Area premiere of DRY POWDER, the razor-sharp and whip-smart comedy by Sarah Burgess that skewers the world of high finance. Jennifer King directs the recent New York hit that features Aldo Billingslea (Collapse), Emily Jeanne Brown, Jeremy Kahn (Wittenberg) and Kevin Kemp (Luna Gale).

Plays at Chapin and Workshop come to a close and Trustus opens its original musical!

The 2018 Tony nominations were announced this morning. If you haven't checked them out yet, what are you waiting for?! CLICK HERE to check out a full list of this year's nominees, and HERE for reactions from the lucky few!

The 9th Annual Lilly Awards Ceremony, which honours the accomplishments of women working in the American theatre, will take place on Monday, May 21st, 2018, at the Minetta Lane Theatre.

Openings at Chapin and Workshop, Theatre South Carolina closes its season, and RENT rolls through town!

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.)Conservatory Director Melissa Smith announced today that honorary Master of Fine Arts degrees will be conferred on A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff, as well as acclaimed actors, directors, and teaching artists Steven Anthony Jones and Gregory Wallace. Perloff, Jones, and Wallace will receive their degrees at the graduation ceremony for the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program class of 2018 on Monday, May 21 at 11 a.m. at A.C.T.'s Geary Theater (415 Geary Street, San Francisco).

The Old Globe's 2017-2018 Season continues with today's announcement of the complete cast and creative team for the Southern California debut of A Thousand Splendid Suns, Ursula Rani Sarma's sweeping and deeply moving theatrical production based on the best-selling book by Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner).

Kansas City Repertory Theatre wraps up its 2017/18 season with its OriginKC: NEW WORKS FESTIVAL. Entering its third season, the OriginKC: NEW WORKS FESTIVAL, running April 27 through May 27, 2018, positions Kansas City as a major player and national center for the cultivation and production of new works, while offering theatre artists from across the country the financial, creative and artistic resources required to develop vital, diverse works of theatre.

Boston Court Performing Arts Center presents the West Coast premiere of Her Portmanteau written by Mfoniso Udofia and directed by Gregg T. Daniel, May 24 - June 30, 2018 (press opening June 2).  The production stars Joyce Guy (Abasiama), Omoze Idehenre (Adiaha) and Dele Ogundrian (Iniabasi).

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced programming for its 2018-2019 season of Performances for Young Audiences, featuring trailblazing journeys in theater, music, and dance that will inspire and resonate with audiences of all ages. The Kennedy Center has commissioned and co-commissioned six world premiere works that will bring audiences on expeditions through time and place to Birmingham in the 1960s, through a young man's imagination in present day New York City, and even to the stars and beyond.