Matt Martin News

Beginning in 2024, The Rep's season of mainstage productions will take place each May through August. While specific titles for Summer '24 will be announced at a later date, 3-4 productions are expected each year, including both plays and musicals.

Theatre Communications Group is launching the Theatre for Activism series with Rest Up, a virtual gathering to share practices of self and collective care.

Baltimore Center Stage has announced the return of director Stevie Walker-Webb, fresh from his Broadway directorial debut of Ain't No Mo'. Walker-Webb, who helmed the BCS' productions of The Folks at Home and Our Town, will close the company's 60th anniversary season with a new staging of Life is a Dream, an adaptation of Pedro Calderón de la Barca's play by María Irene Fornés. The tale of power, love, and illusion runs May 4 through 21, 2023.

Baltimore Center Stage has announced the complete 2023/24 Season, the final season programmed by Stephanie Ybarra in her tenure as Artistic Director. Memberships for the 23/24 Season go on sale on May 18, 2023, and single ticket sales will go on sale in the summer. Learn more about the full lineup here!

Singer-songwriter vivi rincon shares her debut EP crash landing. Produced by Matt Martin (COIN, Faye Webster) and accompanied by lead single “the party”, crash landing embodies the very best of rincon’s artistry: wise, intimate, and courageously vulnerable. 

Baltimore Center Stage has announced full details on the company's Spring 2023 production of Tiny Beautiful Things, based on the book by Cheryl Strayed and adapted for stage by My Big Fat Greek Wedding's Nia Vardalos. The production is directed by BCS' incoming Interim Artistic Director Ken-Matt Martin and begins performances on March 9, 2023.

In 2019 I attended my first two Pyramid Theatre shows. Immediately, I was drawn to the work the company was producing. So in 2020, I was heartbroken when Covid forced them to cancel their season. Coming into 2021, I was thrilled to find out they were partnering with Des Moines Playhouse to produce “A Love Offering.”  It was the first live production I saw coming out of the shutdown. This production was just the start of a beautiful partnership that brought a workshop production of “Buffalo Women” and now August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson,” which opened on February 3. If this production is any indication of what the partnership of these two theatre companies can do, then I hope it continues far past this season.

Indie-pop singer-songwriter vivi rincon shares her new single “overflow”. Bravely vulnerable and achingly raw, the yearning ballad explores the euphoric apprehension of obsessive love. “Overflow” is the fourth release from vivi’s upcoming debut EP crash landing. The EP was produced by Matt Martin (COIN, Faye Webster).

A new labor agreement in the UK, multiple high profile departures, and the end of the streaming truce between AEA and SAG-AFTRA are the highlights of this week’s Industry Pro newsletter, which indicates an industry that is in the midst of roaring back and finding its footing.

Baltimore Center Stage has announced that Artistic Director Stephanie Ybarra will depart from the organization after five years of leadership on April 1, 2023 to become Program Officer in Arts and Culture at the Mellon Foundation, the nation's largest supporter of the arts and humanities.

As the year draws to a close, Cara Joy David offers us a preview of some of the decisions facing the Administration Committee of the Tony Awards. We’ve also got good news out of Washington, as the NEA received increased funding in the most recent budget passed by Congress and a look at the uncertain future of Victory Gardens Theater.

Will Victory Gardens ever return following the controversy that unfolded earlier this year? Once one of Chicago's most iconic theatre companies, the future is now unclear as more details are emerging about what exactly went down.

 TheaterWorksUSA in association with The Apollo, will present an invite only staged reading of Jason Reynolds’ New York Times best-selling young adult novel Long Way Down in a compelling new musical by Dahlak Brathwaite and Khiyon Hursey, directed and choreographed by Ken-Matt Martin on November 21 at Pearl Studios.   

Acclaimed director, producer, and advocate Ken-Matt Martin will helm Baltimore Center Stage's Spring 2023 production of Tiny Beautiful Things. Martin replaces previously announced director Stori Ayers. Tiny Beautiful Things begins performances at BCS on March 9, 2023.

vivi rincon pulls no punches in “angela,” her newly released bitter breakup ballad. Reminiscent of the heady heartbreak of Olivia Rodrigo, “angela” channels “what happens when love is transformed into something ugly - anger and hurt.' The release comes with the announcement of the queer singer-songwriter’s debut EP, crash landing.

Philip Ridley writes an atomic bomb of a play and keeps his finger on the release button until Sasha explodes in an earth-shaking climax. Social niceties and typically British politeness masquerade a coarse, brash internal monologue whose quick quips are absolutely annihilating and, frankly, indecently amusing.

Following a tumultuous period for the Victory Gardens Theater, this week the board dismissed the remainder of its staff following the unionization effort. The staff was informed their positions were eliminated due to 'lack of business and operational needs.'

The industry is in a weird spot right now, and the stories in this week’s newsletter highlight the divergent paths different segments of the industry are going down. As the industry recovers and reforms, we’ll continue to see these kinds of divides on the regional level, and we’ll bring you coverage of those divides as they happen.

Staff at Chicago's stories Victory Gardens Theater, which has been engulfed in accusations of 'toxic behavior' and a 'lack of transparency' are seeking union representation. The remaining 16 employees, who remain in a standoff with the theatre's board of directors, have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board.

Our two Industry Trend stories this week take a look at a few of the different ways that people are trying to bring change to the theatre industry: reforming the work environment that has long been problematic, and the way Princeton is working on developing a new audition process to help bring more people into theatre in an educational environment.