MJ Kaufman News

Redtwist Theatre presents A Chicago Premiere, Sagittarius Ponderosa, by MJ Kaufman. Directed by James Fleming

Casting is announced for WP Theater's second biennial Pipeline Festival, which begins performances today, Thursday March 29. The festival, which showcases the work of the celebrated WP Lab residency for playwrights, directors and producers, runs through April 28 at WP Theater (2162 Broadway & 76th Street).

Japan Society presents a staged reading of Manhood by Japanese playwright Hideto Iwai, led by director Sarah Hughes, taking place Monday, March 26 at 7:30 PM at Japan Society (333 East 47th Street). Manhood marks the 13th installment of the Society's Play Reading Series of contemporary Japanese plays in English translation, introducing topical plays from up-and-coming playwrights in Japan to artists and audiences in the U.S. This event, part of Japan Society's 110th Anniversary Season, aligns with the Spring 2018 Performing Arts focus on deepening the Society's relationship with New York artists.

Philly favorite choreographer/performer Annie Wilson returns to JACK with At Home with the Humorless Bastard: an exploration of personal and collective grief that shifts the audience's perspective by bringing them onstage and casting them in the dance. Through the piece, she asks whether immediate and deep intimacy with a stranger is possible, and, if not, whether adding nudity, glitter, or amateur renditions of Charles Manson songs would help. Wilson takes aim at social structures that both allow and inhibit the deep connection many are aching for, constantly, relentlessly, like a low-frequency hum that's a little unsettling in the bowels. The Humorless Bastard pokes at those structures, letting them fill up with water, turning the volume up on that hum.

What summer would be complete without a picnic and free outdoor entertainment? Add into that live music, a wild love triangle, and mistaken identities and you have this year's edition of Shakespeare in Clark Park. This year SCP will showcase Philadelphia's finest actors alongside student musicians for a glam rock inspired Twelfth Night, directed by Jack Tamburri, which is set to run July 25-29, 2018 in Clark Park in West Philadelphia.

Japan Society presents a staged reading of Manhood by Japanese playwright Hideto Iwai, led by director Sarah Hughes, taking place Monday, March 26 at 7:30 PM at Japan Society (333 East 47th Street). Manhood marks the 13th installment of the Society's Play Reading Series of contemporary Japanese plays in English translation, introducing topical plays from up-and-coming playwrights in Japan to artists and audiences in the U.S. This event, part of Japan Society's 110th Anniversary Season, aligns with the Spring 2018 Performing Arts focus on deepening the Society's relationship with New York artists.

The Public Theater announced the fifth season of PUBLIC STUDIO today, which will present two new plays this spring. Continuing The Public's commitment to nurturing new playwrights, the two plays will run in succession in The Public's Shiva Theater and be presented as pared-down productions with the low ticket price of $15. This vital program continues The Public's mission of making new work by emerging artists accessible to all audiences.

The League of Professional Theatre Women (Kelli Lynn Harrison & Lisa Rothe, Co-Presidents) will present the 2018 Theatre Women Awards at The TimesCenter (242 West 41st Street between 7th and 8th Avenues) on Friday, March 16 beginning at 6:30PM. Tickets ($65-$250) are available for advance purchase at www.theatrewomen.org. 

Mixed Blood Theatre Company presents ON OUR OWN TERMS: Voices at the Intersection of Transgender Experience and Mixed Blood Theatre, living at the crossroads of theater and the trans experience at Mixed Blood on April 28-29. The weekend propels Mixed Blood's ambition to become an artistic home for trans theatre artists.

Casting has been announced for The Trial, the next play in the Politics of the Absurd reading series presented by Christopher Maring/ CM Stage Productions. Joining the reading will be Krysta Rodriguez (What We're Up Against, "Trial & Error", Spring Awakening), Mamoudou Athie ("The Get Down", Patti Cake$,), Brian Wiles ("Public Morals", "Turn"), Brian D. Coats (Jitney, "Boardwalk Empire"), John Rothman (Ghostbusters, "One Mississippi") Sam Breslin Wright ("Madame Secretary", The Beaver), and Tony nominee Kristine Neilson (Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, You Can't Take it With You). The Trial, adapted by Steven Berkoff from the novel by Franz Kafka, and directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt (What We're Up Against, Dry Land), will take place at the Baruch Performing Arts Center on March 5, 6, and 7.

WP Theater (formerly known as Women's Project Theater), under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty and Managing Director Michael Sag, is thrilled to announce the lineup for the second biennial Pipeline Festival, showcasing the work of the celebrated WP Lab residency for playwrights, directors and producers from March 29 - April 28 at WP Theater (2162 Broadway & 76th Street.)

A National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of Mermaid Hour: ReMixed opens at Mixed Blood on April 6th, 2018. This new chamber musical explores the gender continuum through the prism of a prepubescent transgender biracial girl. Written by David Valdes Greenwood, the show tells the story of how working class parents Pilar and Bird face the cracks in their marriage, their opposing parenting styles, and their fears as they negotiate their daughter's gender transition. Meanwhile, she navigates puberty, her first crush, and the possibility that YouTube holds all the answers. Original score written by Eric Mayson.

Over the past eleven years, The Playwrights Realm, led by Founding Artistic Director Katherine Kovner and Producing Director Roberta Pereira, has continually produced work by brave new voices and expanded its commitment to providing holistic support to playwrights striving to make a life in the arts. The Realm is now accepting applications for their two popular open submission programs: the Writing Fellowship and Scratchpad Series.

The League of Professional Theatre Women (Kelli Lynn Harrison & Lisa Rothe, Co-Presidents) will present the 2018 Theatre Women Awards at The TimesCenter (242 West 41st Streetbetween 7th and 8th Avenues) on Friday, March 16 beginning at 6:30PM. Tickets ($65-$250) are available for advance purchase at www.theatrewomen.org.

The Jewish Plays Project (David Winitsky, Executive Artistic Director) is thrilled to present the New York premiere of the future off-Broadway smash hit culinary and theatrical event Raging Skillet, the true story of Chef Rossi, the punk-rock caterer, event maestro, and TV star. The reading-with-food-and-drink of 'Skillet' will star Judy Gold and Marilyn Sokol and be held at the Theater at the 14th Street Y on March 28, 2018 at 7 pm. Tickets can be purchased at www.jewishplaysproject.org/skillet

Mixed Blood Theatre Company presents ON OUR OWN TERMS: Voices at the Intersection of Transgender Experience and Mixed Blood Theatre, living at the crossroads of theater and the trans experience at Mixed Blood on April 27-28. The weekend propels Mixed Blood's ambition to become an artistic home for trans theatre artists.

Is it enough just to be working on your sh*t ? Lauded playwright MJ Kaufman's skewering play SENSITIVE GUYS, presented by InterAct Theatre Company as the second show of their 30th Anniversary Season, uses the safe spaces of a small liberal arts college, and the passionate yet na ve students who inhabit them, to explore pitfalls that lurk on the path toward undoing institutionalized patriarchal norms. This prescient piece, though developed a few years ago through InterAct's Core Playwrights program, speaks directly to the current cultural moment with humor, biting insight, and hopeful compassion.

Five time Obie Award-winning theater company Clubbed Thumb (Maria Striar, Producing Artistic Director; Sarah McLellan, Managing Director; Michael Bulger, Associate Artistic Director) has announced the winners of the seventh Clubbed Thumb Biennial Commission. Playwrights Angela Hanks and Gabrielle Reisman will split the $15,000 award, each also receiving two years of development support. Three finalists were also named: Gracie Gardner, Daniel Glenn and Paul Cameron Hardy, each of whom will receive a $1,000 award and an opportunity to workshop their plays.

Is it enough just to be working on your sh*t ? Lauded playwright MJ Kaufman's skewering play SENSITIVE GUYS, presented by InterAct Theatre Company as the second show of their 30th Anniversary Season, uses the safe spaces of a small liberal arts college, and the passionate yet na ve students who inhabit them, to explore pitfalls that lurk on the path toward undoing institutionalized patriarchal norms. This prescient piece, though developed a few years ago through InterAct's Core Playwrights program, speaks directly to the current cultural moment with humor, biting insight, and hopeful compassion.

Over the past eleven years, The Playwrights Realm, led by Founding Artistic Director Katherine Kovner and Producing Director Roberta Pereira, has continually produced work by brave new voices and expanded its commitment to providing holistic support to playwrights striving to make a life in the arts. With its newest program, Scratchpad Series, The Playwrights Realm is proud to grant career-propelling developmental workshops to three promisingly talented, diverse and dedicated playwrights: Benjamin Benne, MJ Kaufman, and Miranda Rose Hall.