Melinda Lopez News

The Huntington Theatre Company's annual Summer Workshop began rehearsals July 9 and will conclude in public readings of four new plays on July 20 and 21, 2019. The workshop allows selected members of the Huntington Playwriting Fellows program two weeks to focus on developing new plays. The workshop and public readings will take place in the South End at the Huntington's Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston. 

Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre, professional Theatre in Residence at Oakes Center in Summit presents the series Monologues at MONDO on Thursdays from July 11 through August 1 at 8 pm at MONDO, the cultural gathering place in downtown Summit (www.mondosummit.com).

YERMA, a play with music, adapted and translated by Melinda Lopez from Spanish poet/playwright Federico Garcia Lorca's 1934 work, is receiving its world premiere by the Huntington Theatre Company at the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts. On press night, in the age-old tradition of the show must go on, Lopez was pressed into service to perform in place of the ailing Jacqui Parker, one of the five women who surround the title character as her emotional support community, even as their multiple children are a stinging reminder of her infertility. It is a tragic tale, but one fueled by hope and infused with beautiful flamenco-inspired music and Spanish culture.

Portland Stage is proud to announce that New England's most prestigious playwriting contest, the Clauder Competition, is moving to a Biennial schedule. Submissions are open now, and will be accepted through March 31, 2020. For submission restrictions and guidelines, see below. The winning play will be announced in March 2021. The Clauder Grand Prize Winner will receive a cash award of $3,000, as well as a full production at Portland Stage with a professional director, designers, and actors.

Awards were presented to more than two dozen outstanding actors, directors, designers, and ensembles tonight by The Boston Theater Critics Association (BTCA) at The 37th Annual Elliot Norton Awards ceremony, held at the Huntington Avenue Theatre.

he Huntington Theatre Company premieres a timely and essential adaptation of Federico Garcia Lorca's 1934 play Yerma, a tragic tale of one woman's desperate yearning to start a family. Adapted and translated by the winner of the 2019 Elliot Norton Award for Sustained Excellence, Melinda Lopez transforms this classic work to resonate with modern audiences.

Two dozen nominations of outstanding actors, directors, designers and ensembles were announced today by The Boston Theater Critics Association (BTCA), with winners to be revealed at the 37th Annual Elliot Norton Awards on Monday, May 20, 2019 at 7 PM, at the Huntington Avenue Theatre.

The Huntington Theatre Company's 2019 Breaking Ground festival of new plays will be held April 12 - 14, 2019 at the Huntington's home for new work, the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. The festival is a vital part of the Huntington's new play development efforts and highlights the work of locally-based Huntington Playwriting Fellows and national writers in partnership with the Huntington. Over the last decade, Breaking Ground plays have gone on to appear at the Huntington as well as theatres in Boston, across the country, and internationally. 

With the original run and first extension completely sold out, Steep Theatre is extending the run of Ike Holter's Red Rex through March 30. Jack Miggins, who was nominated for a Jeff Award for his work in Steep's 2014 production of The Vandal, will join the cast in the role of Adam beginning on March 13. Tickets are on sale now at steeptheatre.com/redrex, and they're expected to sell very quickly. 

ArtsEmerson is honored to host the return of the award-winning American Moor written and performed by Keith Hamilton Cobb, an urgent solo work examining the experience and perspective of black men in America through the metaphor of William Shakespeare's character, Othello. The 2018 IRNE and Elliot Norton award-winning play received wide-spread acclaim from Boston audiences and critics - American Moor plays ArtsEmerson for two weeks of performances, April 10-21, at the Emerson Paramount Center Robert J. Orchard Stage.

The University of Washington has announced the complete roster of artists who have been selected as Creative Research Fellows as part of its first three-year Creative Fellowships Initiative. Funded by a $750,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the interdisciplinary initiative will advance the field of performing arts by supporting artists in the development of new works and by integrating the performing arts disciplines into a broader context academically, artistically, and socially.

With the original run completely sold out, Steep Theatre is extending the run of Ike Holter's Red Rex through March 16 and adding Wednesday evening performances to the schedule beginning February 6. Tickets are on sale now at steeptheatre.com/redrex, and they're expected to sell very quickly. 

In January, Steep Ensemble Member Jonathan Berry returns to Steep to direct the world premiere of Ike Holter's Red Rex, the sixth play in Holter's seven-play "Rightlynd Saga" about Chicago. Since the 2012 production of his Hit the Wall, Holter's work has gained increasing national and international attention. In describing the "Rightlynd Saga," Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune opined that it "might just be one of the most significant literary achievements in modern-day Chicago." Holter's play Rightlynd, part of the seven-play saga, is currently in production at Victory Gardens Theatre, and his Lottery Day, the final play in the saga, premieres in the Spring of 2019 at the Goodman Theatre. Director Jonathan Berry has been at the helm of many of Steep's most memorable shows, including the recent smash-hit production of Simon Stephens' Birdland.

David R. Jimenez, President of the Board of Directors of Hartford Stage, announces that OBIE Award-winning director Melia Bensussen has been named the next Artistic Director of the Tony Award-winning theatre. She will assume the role in June.

-A small theater company moves into an abandoned Chicago storefront. Led by their adventurously thirsty artistic director, they embark on an explosive new play with the hope of finally breaking it big. When the ensemble realizes their source material might not be as original as once assumed, they are thrust into an intense confrontation with residents of their new community, who not only want them out, but will take their story back by any means necessary. Red Rex is the sixth play in Ike Holter's seven part 'Rightlynd Saga," which also includes Exit Strategy, Prowess, and The Wolf at the End of the Block.

The Huntington is now accepting applications for the 2019-2021 Huntington Playwriting Fellow Cohort. To be eligible, writers must live at least nine months of each calendar year in the Greater Boston area. Applications can be submitted online and all materials must be submitted via email to submissions@huntingtontheatre.org no later than 11:59PM on Thursday, December 13, 2018. Early submissions are encouraged, and submissions are read roughly in the order they are received.

The Globe is happy to announce that the Globe for All Tour will continue to bring shows to the community in 2018, with support provided by Theatre Forward's Advancing Strong Theatre grant program. Following the Globe engagement of Karen Zacarias's hilarious comedy directed by Edward Torres, Native Gardens will travel June 28 through July 1 to four of our community partner venues for free performances in South Bay, Lemon Grove, Otay Mesa, and Oceanside. Developed in the 2017 Powers New Voices Festival, it runs through June 24 in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, and then hits the road!

With the original run and four-week extension completely sold out, Steep Theatre Company is adding three more performances of Simon Stephens' Birdland on June 10, 14, and 15. With the ensemble's next production (Penelope Skinner's Linda directed by Robin Witt) right around the corner, June 15 will be the last chance to catch this runaway hit at Steep.

Boston Playwrights' Theatre (BPT) presents Boston Theater Marathon XX, featuring 50 ten-minute plays, written by 51 New England playwrights, and produced by 50 New England theatres in ten hours.