Mac Wellman News

Playwrights Foundation (PF) and The New York based company, The One-Minute Play Festival are thrilled to announce the 5th Annual SF One-Minute Play Festival (#1MPF), December 15th and 16th, 2014 - an evening of more than 80 brand new one minute plays by 53 Bay Area playwrights -- a highly vaunted group, all written within the past month specifically for the event.

The Flea Theater will offer a 2nd extension of Kim Davies' World Premiere SMOKE. It is directed by Flea Resident Director Tom Costello (The Wundelsteipen) and features members of The Bats, the resident acting company at The Flea. Says Producing Director Carol Ostrow, "where 50 Shades of Grey dances on the surface of BDSM, Smoke cuts to the core."

?New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) (Artistic Director James C. Nicola and Managing Director Jeremy Blocker) is currently accepting applications for the 2015/16 season of its 2050 Fellowship program for emerging playwrights and directors.

The Flea presents the World Premiere of I SEE YOU by Kate Robin. This romantic comedy will be directed by Flea Artistic Director Jim Simpson. Previews of this limited run Off-Broadway engagement begin November 7 with opening slated for Sunday, November 16.

Fort Point Theatre Channel presents In the Summer House, with a stellar ensemble of eight actresses and two actors.

The Flea Announces 2nd Part of Grand Guignol Series, The Cutthroat Series: Grand Guignol Duels -- Cruelty, today, October 14-25.

The Flea Theater presents Pod 2 of their terrifying 4 part theatrical event - THE CUTTHROAT SERIES: GRAND GUIGNOL DUELS beginning October 14. These turn of the century French plays alternate between ghastly horrors and carnal comedies to create a gripping, deplorable evening of theater. To add to that thrill, audience members will vote on their favorite play from each of the four pods (titled GORE, CRUELTY, NIGHT TERROR, and LUST) and the winners will return for an extended run in January. The winner from GORE was TICS, OR DOING THE DEED.

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at The Graduate Center, CUNY presents the 2014 PRELUDE FESTIVAL. The annual festival is dedicated to artists at the forefront of contemporary New York City theatre and performance. Following the enormous success of its tenth anniversary in 2013, the eleventh annual PRELUDE festival will be curated by Chloe Bass, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Sarah Rose Leonard, Allison Lyman, and Frank Hentschker.

Alan Smithee Directed This Play from Big Dance Theater comes to BAM's Harvey Theater (651 Fulton Street), running tonight, September 30-October 4, 2014.

On Sunday, October 5th, Tina Satter and Obie Award-winning theater company Half Straddle will host a benefit gala at The Kitchen to support the company's upcoming world premiere of ANCIENT LIVES (Jan. 2015 at The Kitchen). The party runs from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m., Sunday, October 5, at The Kitchen, 12 West 19th Street (b/w 10 and 11 Ave.) Kimberly Clark, Bushwick's drag queen DJ with the mostess, emcees and plays throughout the evening.

The Flea Theater has announced the newest Dance @ The Flea series, featuring four choreographers for three nights only. Molissa Fenley, Amanda Loulaki, Nina Winthrop, and Roxanne Steinberg will be presenting original works October 9-11 at 7pm.

Due to critical acclaim and popular demand, The Flea Theater announces the extension of the World Premiere of Kim Davies' SMOKE, directed by Flea Resident Director Tom Costello. Extension performances will run October 9- November 9.

Slightly Altered States Theater Company presents the World Premiere of MR. LANDING TAKES A FALL, an absurdist comedy by Sari Caine, directed by Sherri Eden Barber. Inspired by Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the play was a PlayPenn 2013 semi-finalist and short-listed for both the 24/7 (UK) and the Ronald Duncan Award (UK). Previews begin tonight, September 12 at The Flea Theater with opening slated for Monday, September 22.

Billy Magnussen joins his previously announced chums - Kristine Nielsen, David Hyde Pierce and Sigourney Weaver - for a reading of Noel Coward's A SONG AT TWILIGHT. The VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE friends are reuniting for a benefit performance to kick off the 2014/2015 season of The Flea Theater. The performance will take place on Monday, September 15. A cocktail reception begins at 6 pm followed by the reading at 7pm and then a talkback with the actors. Flea Artistic Director, Jim Simpson directs the event at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center (199 Chambers St).

Kathryn Rossetter, who appeared on Broadway opposite Dustin Hoffman in Death Of a Salesman and is currently head of the MFA Acting Program at the New School for Drama, will join Adam LeFevre (Broadway's Footloose, Mamma Mia, Guys and Dolls) in the World Premiere of MR. LANDING TAKES A FALL, an absurdist comedy by Sari Caine. Inspired by Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the play was a PlayPenn 2013 semi-finalist and short-listed for both the 24/7 (UK) and the Ronald Duncan Award (UK). It is produced by Slightly Altered States Theater Company and directed by Sherri Eden Barber. Previews begin September 12 at The Flea Theater with opening slated for Monday, September 22.

In the spirit of Facing Our Truth, The New Black Fest will commission 6 black male playwrights to write monologues and/or performance essays entitled HANDS UP: 6 playwrights, 6 testaments. The playwrights include Dennis Allen II, Nathan James, Nathan Yungerberg, Eric Holmes, Idris Goodwin, and Glenn NSangou.

The Flea Theater will present the World Premiere of Kim Davies' SMOKE, directed by Flea Resident Director Tom Costello (The Wundelsteipen) and featuring members of The Bats, the resident acting company at The Flea. Previews begin tonight, August 22 with opening slated for September 7. Says Producing Director Carol Ostrow, 'where 50 Shades of Grey dances on the surface of BDSM, Smoke cuts to the core.

Alan Smithee Directed This Play from Big Dance Theater comes to BAM's Harvey Theater (651 Fulton Street), running September 30-October 4, 2014.

The Flea Theater will present the World Premiere of Kim Davies' SMOKE, directed by Flea Resident Director Tom Costello (The Wundelsteipen) and featuring members of The Bats, the resident acting company at The Flea. Previews begin August 22 with opening slated for September 7. Says Producing Director Carol Ostrow, "where 50 Shades of Grey dances on the surface of BDSM, Smoke cuts to the core.

New York actress Susannah Melone re-imagines the world of Gilded Age celebrity Lillie Langtry in The United Solo Festival this fall. In "Gilding the Lily," the notorious beauty takes the stage as Shakespeare's Rosalind, but the American critics are unimpressed. Join Lillie as she explores her life, loves, and career and discovers the difficult art of letting our hearts be our craft.