Margo Hall News

San Francisco's premier Black theatre company Lorraine Hansberry Theatre has announced the appointment of Bay Area theatre titan Margo Hall as its new Artistic Director.

Stagebridge, the nation's first performing arts company for older adults, returns to a 12-week digital session showcasing pillars of the San Francisco Bay Area theater and storytelling communities and beyond leading into the fall.

Today (July 27) in live streaming: the Muny's Summer Variety Hour continues, Jim Caruso returns with Pajama Cast Party, and so much more!

The West Coast's premiere launchpad for exceptional plays and playwrights, Playwrights Foundation announces the artistic teams for the 2020 Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF), featuring playwrights Tyler English-Beckwith, Stefani Kuo (e??a??ae??), Jordan Ramirez Puckett, Deneen Reynolds-Knott, and Noelle Viñas. The 2020 Bay Area Playwrights Festival runs July 17-26, 2020 in an online format available worldwide . 

The West Coast's premiere launchpad for exceptional plays and playwrights, Playwrights Foundation announces the artistic teams for the 2020 Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF), featuring playwrights Tyler English-Beckwith, Stefani Kuo (e??a??ae??), Jordan Ramirez Puckett, Deneen Reynolds-Knott, and Noelle Viñas. The 2020 Bay Area Playwrights Festival runs July 17-26, 2020 in an online format available worldwide . 

More than 30 Bay Area theatres are joining forces to present a reading on Juneteenth, encouraging donations to support a bold Go Fund Me Campaign that aims to fundraise one million dollars for Black theatre projects in America. Spearheaded by PlayGround, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, and Planet Earth Arts, these Bay Area theatres (including TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Berkeley Rep, A.C.T, Cal Shakes, and many more) are co-presenting a livestreamed Zoom reading of Vincent Terrell Durham's Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids at 7pm PT on June 19 as part of the Juneteenth Theatre Justice Project, a national theatre movement to produce this reading of Durham's play to commemorate anniversary of the freeing of enslaved Black people. BroadwayWorld spoke with Aldo Billingslea, the longstanding pillar of the Bay Area theatre community who is producing the livestream and also leads the Juneteenth Theatre Justice Project. Billingslea is well-loved throughout the Bay Area as a man of many talents, including actor, professor, producer, collaborator and mentor.

Aurora Theatre Company Artistic Director Josh Costello and Managing Director Julie Saltzman Kellner announced last week that the Berkeley theatre company will shift its focus to a membership program for the 2020/2021 season, with online offerings replacing live productions until conditions allow for audiences to gather safely.

The PLAYGROUND FESTIVAL OF NEW WORKS is a leading showcase of new plays and new playwrights. This year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival marks its 25th anniversary, by presenting its offerings on-line. The resulting fest is a 25-event covering 5-weeks, all live-streamed via Zoom, and largely free of charge.

In light of curfew orders throughout the Bay Area PlayGround has moved the showtime of its Saturday, June 6 opening night performance of Genevieve Jessee's The Rendering Cycle to 5pm PT.

PlayGround, San Francisco's premier theatre development lab, is hosting the nation's largest fully digital new play festival PlayGround Zoom Fest presented May 11 through June 14, 2020.

Theatre Bay Area will be holding the sixth-annual TBA Awards Celebration on Monday, November 4 at the Herbst Theatre (401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco). Among the 65 award recipients and 315 individual finalists being recognized that evening, TBA will be giving out five special awards, including three TBA Legacy Awards.

Theatre Bay Area, one of the largest regional performing arts service organizations in North America, has announced the finalists of the 2019 TBA Awards. The sixth-annual TBA Awards Celebration will take place on Monday, Nov. 4 at the Herbst Theatre (401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco).

Aurora Theatre Company opens its dynamic 28th season with the Bay Area Premiere of Ike Holter's  EXIT STRATEGY. Aurora's new Artistic Director Josh Costello will direct this powerful examination of the Chicago public school system. 

Due to critical and box office success, California Shakespeare Theater extends The Good Person of Szechwan by Bertolt Brecht, adapted by Tony Kushner from a translation by Wendy Arons, through July 28, 2019 at the Bruns Amphitheater. Tickets will continue to be available through TodayTix, online at calshakes.org, or through the Cal Shakes Box Office at 510.548.9666.

California Shakespeare Theater continues its 2019 summer season with The Good Person of Szechwan by Bertolt Brecht, translated by Wendy Arons and adapted by Tony Kushner, playing July 3 through July 21, 2019 at the Bruns Amphitheater. A Pay What You Can performance will be held on Wednesday, July 3. Tickets will be available starting at 10am on the day of the show through TodayTix and the Cal Shakes Box Office at 510.548.9666.

BWW Review: JAZZ at Marin Theatre Company is Nambi E. Kelley's ambitious adaptation of Toni Morrison's tribute to the musical genre and African-American culture.

PlayGround concludes the 25th season of its celebrated Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series with a special evening of environmental-inspired plays as part of the 5th annual PLANET EARTH ARTS NEW PLAY FESTIVAL on Monday, April 1, 8 PM at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. The topic for the April 1 program (rescheduled from the previously announced March 18 date) is "BORDERS, ISLANDS & WALLS". Members of the 2018-19 PlayGround Writers Company have just five days to generate their original ten-minute plays inspired by the topic. The top six scripts will each receive an hour-and-a-half rehearsal and a professional script-in-hand staged reading at Berkeley Rep on April 1.

PlayGround continues its 25th season of its celebrated Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series with the first 2019 Monday readings on Monday, January 21, 8 PM at Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Roda Theatre. The topic for January's round, announced last Friday, is "ADAPT A FAIRY TALE". Members of the 2018-19 PlayGround Writers Company have just four-and-a-half days to generate their original ten-minute plays inspired by the topic. The top six scripts will each receive an hour-and-a-half rehearsal and a professional script-in-hand staged reading at Berkeley Rep on January 21. PlayGround writers in Los Angeles are working simultaneously on the same prompt and their finalists will be presented at Hollywood's Broadwater Mainstage (home of Sacred Fools Theatre Company) on January 14. Tickets are $15-$30 and 3-admission flex subscriptions are just $60 ($45 for 25-and-Unders). For tickets or more information, visit http://playground-sf.org/monday.

Cutting Ball Theater's signature festival returns in the 2018/2019 Season, marking the 20th anniversary of the company's founding. The Cutting Ball Variety Pack - called 'half shindig, half artistic salon' by Artistic Director Ariel Craft - is an eleven-day festival dedicated to exploration and collaboration, featuring directorial shorts, new play workshops, and roundtable readings. The Cutting Ball Variety Pack offers an eclectic array of programming with particular delights for the creatively curious from November 8 through November 18. Tickets to festival offerings cost $15 each and all-festival passes costs $30 each. Admission includes a free drink at Cutting Ball's bar.

PlayGround continues its 25th season of its celebrated Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series on Monday, November 26, 8 PM at Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Roda Theatre. The topic for November's round, announced this morning, is "FALL DOWN, GET UP". Members of the 2018-19 PlayGround Writers Company have just four-and-a-half days to generate their original ten-minute plays inspired by the topic. The top six scripts will each receive an hour-and-a-half rehearsal and a professional script-in-hand staged reading at Berkeley Rep on November 26. PlayGround writers in Los Angeles are working simultaneously on the same prompt and their finalists will be presented at Hollywood's Broadwater Mainstage (home of Sacred Fools Theatre Company) on November 12.  Tickets are $15-$30 and 5-admission series subscriptions are just $75 ($50 for 25-and-Unders). For tickets or more information, visit http://playground-sf.org/monday.