Lydia R. Diamond News

In preparation for the opening of the theater's renovated complex in Southwest D.C., Arena Stage has undertaken ARENA RESTAGED-a two-year festival of American voices. Part Two will continue the remarkable exploration of American work and provide the theater with necessary time to move into the new Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in time for the Fall 2010 opening.

New plays by Huntington Playwriting Fellows Lydia R. Diamond, Jacqui Parker, and Joyce Van Dyke and a new musical by Chay Yew and Fabian Obispo will be read this July and August as part of the Huntington Theatre Company's sixth Breaking Ground Festival, held at the Huntington's Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts.

Two World Premieres, two East Coast Premieres, and a New England Premiere are all part of Central Square Theater's exciting 2009-2010 season, which includes a mix of plays, from a psychological drama to a double bill of nostalgic holiday stories to a witty take on our understanding of the theory of evolution! This season, Central Square Theater also announces an inaugural subscription campaign.

The Huntington Theatre Company announces today that Arthur Miller's Tony Award winner ALL MY SONS and Craig Lucas' modern classic PRELUDE TO A KISS will complete its 2009-2010 Season, creating a bold, diverse, and entertaining lineup of American stories. David Esbjornson, Miller's last living director, helms All My Sons; Huntington Theatre Company Artistic Director Peter DuBois will direct Prelude to a Kiss.

Stick Fly - The West Coast premiere of Lydia R. Diamond's provocative and witty drama about an upper class African American family extends through June 28 at The Matrix Theatre. In this new play from one of America's freshest and most dynamic voices, a wealthy African American family vacationing on Martha's Vineyard wrestles with parental expectations, sibling rivalry, and issues of class and race. Sensitive Kent LeVay and his slick brother Flip see their weekend at the family home as the perfect opportunity to introduce their girlfriends to their parents. Instead, they stumble onto a domestic powder keg of prejudice, hypocrisy and family secrets.

The Huntington Theatre Company announces today its 2009-2010 Season. The bold, diverse, and entertaining lineup includes the return of August Wilson's voice to his artistic home at the Huntington with the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning 'Fences.' It will be coupled with a spring production of Huntington Playwriting Fellow Lydia R. Diamond's groundbreaking new play 'Stick Fly,' uniting the great African-American voice of the Huntington and American theatre's past with a thrilling and incisive new voice.

An upper class African American family wrestles with parental expectations, sibling rivalry, and issues of class and race. Following a two-year hiatus, Joseph Stern's multiple award-winning Matrix Theatre Company returns with the West Coast premiere of Stick Fly by Lydia R. Diamond, an important new play from one of America's freshest and most dynamic voices. Shirley Jo Finney directs Chris Butler, Avery Clyde, Tinashe Kajese, Terrell Tilford, John Wesley and Michole Briana White at The Matrix Theatre, April 4 through May 31, with previews beginning March 26.

An upper class African American family wrestles with parental expectations, sibling rivalry, and issues of class and race. Following a two-year hiatus, Joseph Stern's multiple award-winning Matrix Theatre Company returns with the West Coast premiere of Stick Fly by Lydia R. Diamond, an important new play from one of America's freshest and most dynamic voices. Shirley Jo Finney directs Chris Butler, Avery Clyde, Tinashe Kajese, Terrell Tilford, John Wesley and Michole Briana White at The Matrix Theatre, April 4 through May 31, with previews beginning March 26.

Nighttime Traffic, a new musical with book, music and lyrics by Boston University senior Theatre Arts major Alex Wyse, premieres February 26-March 1 at Boston University.

In preparation for the opening of the theater's renovated complex in Southwest D.C., Arena Stage has undertaken ARENA RESTAGED-a two-year festival of American voices. Part One of ARENA RESTAGED was an ambitious staging of 10 productions ranging from classics such as Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance to the Broadway-bound rock musical Next to Normal. Part Two will continue the remarkable exploration of American work and provide the theater with necessary time to move into the new Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in time for the Fall 2010 opening.

Nighttime Traffic, a new musical with book, music and lyrics by Boston University senior Theatre Arts major Alex Wyse, premieres February 26-March 1 at Boston University.

McCarter Theatre Center announces the complete cast for Eclipsed, the Spotlight Production of the theater's 3rd Annual In-Festival of new works. Written by Obie Award-winning actress and playwright Danai Gurira and directed by Liesl Tommy, the five-woman play features Pascale Armand, Nikiya Mathis, Keiana Rich?rd, Stacey Sargeant, and April Yvette Thompson. Eclipsed runs on Wednesdays through Sundays from January 26 to February 8, 2009 in The Room in the Berlind Theatre (opening night January 31). Set in war-torn Liberia, Eclipsed offers a chilling, humanizing, and surprisingly funny portrait of transformation and renewal. With wit, compassion, and defiance, this gripping play unearths the wreckage of war and celebrates the women who navigate and survive the most hostile of circumstances. Danai Gurira first introduced excerpts of Eclipsed to McCarter in 2007, followed by a public reading of the work during the 2008 In-Festival. In researching the play, Ms. Gurira traveled to Liberia through a TCG New Generations Grant, which she applied for with McCarter Theatre. Pascale Armand has been seen in New York at Playwrights Horizons and Manhattan Theatre Club and regionally at numerous theaters including Kansas City Rep, Arena Stage, Yale Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, American Repertory Theatre, and Actors Theatre of Louisville.

Get $10 off tickets to the smash hit drama 'A Steady Rain' on any rainy day in April!

DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND THE SMASH HIT DRAMA 'A STEADY RAIN' IS EXTENDED THROUGH JUNE 8

Steppenwolf Theatre Company continues its Steppenwolf for Young Adults 2007-2008 Season with the world premiere of Harriet Jacobs by Lydia R. Diamond and directed by Hallie Gordon.

Dule Hill, Carl Lumbly, Kimberly Elise, Justine Bateman, Tessa Thompson and Terrell Tilford star in Stick Fly, the West Coast premiere of a play from one of America's most provocative new playwrights, Lydia R. Diamond. Shirley Jo Finney directs five performances for LA Theatre Works, November 14-18 at the Skirball Cultural Center.

The winners of Chicago's Jefferson Awards were announced in a ceremony at the DePaul Merle Reskin Theatre (60 Balbo Drive) in Chicago on November 6th

Stephen Flaherty, Frank Galati, Gary Griffin, Mary Zimmerman, David Ives and James Lapine, as well as performers Tyler Hanes, Rondi Reed, Mary Beth Peil, Hollis Resnik, Anthony Crivello and E. Faye Butler are among the nominees for the 2006 Joseph Jefferson Awards, which recognize achievement in Chicago-area Equity theatre