Negro Ensemble Company News

One of the first and most time-honored FREE Summer Festivals in NYC each year - the LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL -- will take place this year, the FEST's 21st annual event  -- Memorial Day Weekend May 27 to 29 at Theater for the New City (155 First Ave. at 10th St.), it has been announced by Crystal Field, co-founder and Artistic Director of Theater for the New City. 

Signature Theatre's Annual Gala celebration -- set for tonight, April 18, 2016 -- will celebrate Signature's 25th Anniversary and honor Founding Artistic Director James Houghton's leadership of the company, on the occasion of his final season as Artistic Director.

The annual Playwrights for a Cause benefit will be Sunday, July 24th at 7:30 pm at the Atlantic Theatre (Linda Gross Theater), 336 West 20th Street, NYC 10011. The special performance will include six original plays. This year the playwrights for the benefit will include: Israel Horovitz, Dominique Morisseau, Antoinette Nwandu, John Patrick Shanley, Regina Taylor as well as an award-winning writer from the Planet Connections community that will be announced later.

During the week of May 4th through 8th, Out of the Box, a Manhattan Equity theater company, will meet the topic of race relations head on with the production of Deep Are the Roots, a play highlighting segregation in the Deep South, post-World War II.

Signature Theatre has announced that Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks will be the Residency One Playwright for the 2016-2017 season.

Broadwayworld.com interviewed Ricardo Kahn about his career and the play, 'Fly' that will be performed at Crossroads Theatre from April 7th to April 17th. 'Fly' is the soaring tale of the first African American Army Air Corps known as the Tuskegee Airmen. It is co-written by Ricardo Kahn and Trey Ellis and the Crossroads production is also directed by Kahn.

PlayPenn, Philadelphia's nationally recognized professional new play development organization, will hold its 12th annual New Play Development Conference from July 5 - July 24 in Philadelphia at The Drake, a new home for new plays. The Conference, including three weeks of intensive work on six works-in-progress, will offer staged readings open to the public. The six selected plays and playwrights are:

Signature Theatre's Annual Gala celebration -- set for Monday, April 18, 2016 -- will celebrate Signature's 25th Anniversary and honor Founding Artistic Director James Houghton's leadership of the company, on the occasion of his final season as Artistic Director.

 The renowned Negro Ensemble Company, Inc will present a staged-reading at the Signature Theatre of Layon Gray's powerful new play Searching For Willie Lynch.

Full casting was announced today for In The Secret Sea, a new American play by Cate Ryan (The Picture Box) and directed by Tony Award© winner Martin Charnin (Annie). The cast will feature Shelly Burch (original company of Nine, 'One Life to Live'), Paul Carlin (Temporal Powers at the Mint), Malachy Cleary (The Field at Irish Repertory Theatre), Glynnis O'Connor (TV's Our Town, 'The Boy in the Plastic Bubble'), and Adam Petherbridge (Da at Irish Repertory Theatre).

From tonight, March 12, to April 2, August Strindberg Repertory will present Strindberg's DAMASCUS II, adapted by Edgar Chisholm, directed by Robert Greer.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company announced today the 2016/17 Season, the first to be curated by Artistic Director Anna D. Shapiro and the Steppenwolf artistic team. The new season brings many exciting changes that embrace expanded artistic offerings, flexibility and a diverse selection of experiences, featuring the ensemble in ways both familiar and new. In 2016/17, Steppenwolf will produce an expanded six-play Subscription Season, as opposed to the previous five-play season, in a new format that features four plays in the Downstairs Theatre with the opportunity for subscribers to choose between two productions in the Upstairs Theatre.

Veteran actress /comedian Angela Scott brings her funny friends William Stephenson ("Inside Amy Schumer') and Rhonda 'Passion' Hansome ('Saturday Night Live') to Manhattan's West Village for "Laughing At The Duplex,' a standup showcase at the legendary cabaret-piano bar today, March 3, 2016.  

Southern Rep Theatre is pleased to announce Dawn Renee Jones as the winner for the 2015 Ruby Prize for her play, A HEAP SEE.

 From March 12 to April 2, August Strindberg Repertory will present Strindberg's 'Damascus II,' adapted by Edgar Chisholm, directed by Robert Greer. This is the second installment of the three-part work in which Strindberg first introduced true surrealism to the stage in the theatrical representation of the dream. Strindberg's tale of life in decadent artists' circles of 1890s Sweden will be brought to life in 1960s California and its leading character, an alienated writer, has been re-envisioned as an author modeled on Amiri Baraka.

From March 12 to April 2, August Strindberg Repertory will present Strindberg's DAMASCUS II, adapted by Edgar Chisholm, directed by Robert Greer.

Theatre enthusiasts packed the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts tonight to hear Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley and Managing Director Phil Santora of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley unveil the line-up for the company's 47th season.

Veteran actress /comedian Angela Scott brings her funny friends William Stephenson ("Inside Amy Schumer') and Rhonda 'Passion' Hansome ('Saturday Night Live') to Manhattan's West Village for "Laughing At The Duplex,' a standup showcase at the legendary cabaret-piano bar on Thursday, March 3, 2016.  

Signature Theatre has just announced Supplemental Programming for the upcoming productions of OLD HATS and ANGEL REAPERS. Scroll down for information about talkbacks, book club and more!

A former military man has a poignant message about the limits of human compassion.