Nataki Garrett News

StateraArts is calling for a fundamental shift in the American Theater: we need to transform the work-week. Statera posits that this call-to-action isn't about needing larger budgets or more time, but is centered on how we choose to treat each other. The theatre work force, like all work forces, must be treated with dignity and compassion. Odd hours, long hours, short breaks, and zero flexibility upholds an industry-wide ethos of expendability and maintains supremacy structures. Statera's call to action is an invitation to interrogate and disrupt outdated scheduling practices and implement humane work week processes that support everyone in the theatre work force.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which is entering its 85th year, today announced the casts for the 2020 season, featuring some of the most beloved performers from OSF's history alongside newcomers from around the country. OSF is one of the most prominent theatre companies across the nation that have joined the Jubilee, a yearlong nationwide commitment by theatres to feature work generated by those who have traditionally been excluded from or marginalized by the theatre industry. Five Shakespeare plays staged as four productions, alongside two new plays inspired by him, take the Festival's stages in 2020. Two more commissions from OSF's multi-decade commissioning program American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle will also premiere.

With college theatre program auditions just around the corner, we're highlighting some of the most prestigious theatre programs from all across the United States to give you insight into what to expect from their programs, from audition advice to real world experience and more. Today we're chatting with faculty from the California Institute of the Arts' School of Theater about its professional performance opportunities and support of original student plays.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival wrapped up its 2019 season October 26-27 with the final performances of Mother Road, How to Catch Creation, As You Like It, La Comedia of Errors, Indecent, Between Two Knees, Hairspray a?" The Broadway Musical, and Cambodian Rock Band. Preparations for the 2020 season and this month's 2020 Member Presale are already underway. The 2020 opening weekend is March 6-March 8; preview performances begin February 28.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival today announced it has entered into a 25-year lease on a new housing development two blocks from its main theatre campus in downtown Ashland. Plaza East, to be built and owned by Adroit Construction and Mahar Homes, located at 189 &199 Lithia Way, will include 34 residential units, with more than 6,000 square feet of commercial space suitable for offices or other uses. A groundbreaking ceremony takes place on Thursday, October 10 at 12:30 p.m.

Arena Stage's Jitney celebrated opening night on September 19, 2019. Check out the photos from the evening!

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater will present the inaugural Andrew R. Ammerman Directing Award to Oregon Shakespeare Festival's newly named Artistic Director, Nataki Garrett, on Thursday, September 19, 2019.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival today announced six new commissions as part of American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle, OSF's multi-decade program of commissioning and developing 37 new plays about moments of change in United States history. The commissioned artists are Zakiyyah Alexander, Jaclyn Backhaus, E. M. Lewis, Mary Katheryn Nagle, Sara Nović, and Sanaz Toossi.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival will open How To Catch Creation, helmed by Incoming Artistic Director Nataki Garrett in her OSF directorial debut, on July 27 in the Thomas Theatre. Preview performances are July 23, 25 and 26, and the play runs through Oct. 26, 2019.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, welcomes six new members to its board of directors: May Adrales, associate artistic director, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Milwaukee, WI; John Fontillas, planner, architect, partner, H3, New York, NY; Angela Gieras, executive director, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Kansas City, MO; Mara Isaacs, founder and executivecreative producer, Octopus Theatricals, New York, NY; Anthony Rodriguez, producing artistic director and co-founder, Aurora Theatre, Lawrenceville, GA; and Hana S. Sharif, artistic director, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, St. Louis, MO. 

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival will open two new plays in early July with origins at the festival: La Comedia of Errors and Indecent.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Artistic Director Nataki Garrett today announced the appointment of Evren Odcikin as interim associate artistic director. Odcikin joins Christopher Acebo, OSF's associate artistic director since 2007, and others on the artistic leadership team. Along with producorial and programming responsibilities, Odcikin will also act as the artistic department liaison for resident company and other departments at OSF.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival invites audiences to enjoy two plays by William Shakespeare-plus one about a young girl with a crucial superpower, curiosity, and the beloved fantastical dream adventure in which she tries to figure out how to stay true to who she is-under the stars when its flagship outdoor theatre opens the weekend of June 7-9, 2019. The Allen Elizabethan Theatre will feature Macbeth, directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela; Alice in Wonderland, adapted from Lewis Carroll by Eve Le Gallienne and Florida Friebus, directed by Sara Bruner; and All's Well That Ends Well, directed by Tracy Young. Previews begin May 28, and all three shows will run through the weekend of October 11-13.

Baltimore Center Stage is pleased to announce the cast and artistic team for How to Catch Creation. This is bittersweet story of finding and following one's passions will wrap up our Mainstage programming of the 2018/19 season.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) Incoming Artistic Director Nataki Garrett and Artistic Director Bill Rauch announced the Festival's 2020 playbill today. The season celebrates OSF's ongoing commitment to the work of Shakespeare, imaginative adaptations of beloved classics and illuminating new plays in a Jubilee year that includes two world-premiere American Revolutions commissions for only the second time in the Festival's history.

Philadelphia Theatre Company follows The Bridges of Madison County with the Philadelphia premiere of a new work from Christina Anderson. In a co-production with Baltimore Center Stage, PTC introduces local audiences to the talents of rising star Christina Anderson and her stunning new play How To Catch Creation, Philadelphia Theatre Company's pick from the 2017 Kilroys List. The "List" was created to give theatre producers a choice of underproduced works by women, with a recent focus on trans, and non-binary writers.  Producing Artistic Director Paige Price has tapped Nataki Garrett, former Associate Artistic Director of Denver Center for the Performing Arts Theater Company (DCPA), to direct this production. How To Catch Creation features a cast of local talent and actors with an impressive range of Netflix, television, and regional theatre credits.  The play runs March 22-April 14, with Opening Night on Wednesday, March 27 at 7 p.m. Single tickets and subscriptions are on sale now and available at the box office, online at philatheatreco.org or by phone at 215-985-0420. Tickets cost $10-$69.

Atlanta's nationally acclaimed Alliance Theatre and Jennings Hertz Artistic Director Susan V. Booth are pleased to announce the productions of the Theater's 51st season.  Since opening in 1968 the Alliance has been dedicated to expanding hearts and minds on stage and off with diverse programming for all ages.  The 2019/20 season marks the Alliance's first full season back in its transformed performance space, the newly opened Coca-Cola Stage.

BroadwayWorld has learned the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta has announced their 2019/2020 season including three world premieres, including the new musical BECOMING NANCY directed by two-time Tony Award® winner Jerry Mitchell, two musicals, including MAYBE HAPPY ENDING directed by two-time Tony Award® nominee Michael Arden, and three productions for youth and families including the world premiere of  MAX MAKES A MILLION based on the book by Maira Kalman and adapted & directed by Liz Diamond.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) announces today that Nataki Garrett will become its sixth artistic director in August 2019, succeeding Bill Rauch. The announcement by OSF Emeritus Board Chair and Search Committee Chair Gail Lopes ends a nearly yearlong search.

Philadelphia Theatre Company follows The Bridges of Madison County with the Philadelphia premiere of a new work from Christina Anderson. In a co-production with Baltimore Center Stage, PTC introduces local audiences to the talents of rising star Christina Anderson and her stunning new play How To Catch Creation, Philadelphia Theatre Company's pick from the 2017 Kilroys List. The 'List' was created to give theatre producers a choice of underproduced works by women, with a recent focus on trans, and non-binary writers. Producing Artistic Director Paige Price has tapped Nataki Garrett, former Associate Artistic Director of Denver Center for the Performing Arts Theater Company (DCPA), to direct this production. How To Catch Creation features a cast of local talent and actors with an impressive range of Netflix, television, and regional theatre credits. The play runs March 22-April 14, with Opening Night on Wednesday, March 27 at 7 p.m. Single tickets and subscriptions are on sale now and available at the box office, online at philatheatreco.org or by phone at 215-985-0420. Tickets cost $10-$69.