Neil LaBute News

As part of the kick-off event for the 2016 Kennedy Center (KC) American College Theater Festival, a special preview of the EVERY 28 HOURS PLAYS will be performed and livestreamed as part of KC's Millennium Stage Series. The preview consists of an excerpt of the collection with more than 30 one-minute plays inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, with participation by theater makers and institutions across the nation and showcases the creative outcome of a community outreach residency in Ferguson and St. Louis County, Missouri in the fall of 2015.

Celebration Theatre at the Lex in association with Nicholas Caprio, Michael C. Kricfalusi, Todd Milliner and Jack Morrissey presents, under the artistic direction of Michael Matthews & Michael A. Shepperd, the West Coast premiere of THE BOY FROM OZ, music and lyrics by Peter Allen, book by Martin Sherman, original book by Nick Enright, choreography by Janet Roston, musical direction by Bryan Blaskie, produced by Andrew Carlberg and directed by Celebration Theatre co-artistic director Michael A. Shepperd. THE BOY FROM OZ will begin previews on Friday, April 22 at 8pm; will open on Friday, April 29 at 8pm and perform through Sunday, June 19 at the Celebration Theatre's new home, Celebration at the Lex Theatre, 6760 Lexington Ave. in Los Angeles.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts hosts more than 150 outstanding theater students from colleges and universities across the nation as part of the 48th annual Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF), which runs April 12-16, 2016 in multiple locations throughout the Center. Thousands of student artists from eight regions across the country presented their work at regional festivals from January 5 through February 27, 2016 and more than 150 were selected to travel to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., for an all-expenses-paid trip to participate in the national festival.

Black Lab Theatre announced today that Crude, a new dark comedy by Jordan Jaffe, will play a strictly limited world premiere engagement at Theater 511 at Ars Nova (511 West 54th Street) for an Ars Nova Fling, as part of Black Lab Theatre's new play development program, 'The Pipeline."

Hampstead Theatre presents the UK premiere of Neil LaBute's romantic comedy REASONS TO BE HAPPY, directed by Michael Attenborough and a companion piece to REASONS TO BE PRETTY. The production officially opens tonight 24 March 2016. BroadwayWorld has a look at the cast in action below!

The One-Minute Play Festival (1MPF) (Dominic D'Andrea, Producing Artistic Director & Caitlin Wees, Associate Producer) and Perseverance Theatre (Art Rotch, Artistic Director & Joshua Lowman, Anchorage General Manager) continue their dynamic partnership for The 3rd Annual Alaska One-minute Play Festival with part of the proceeds to benefit The Alaska Native Voices Project, dedicated to serving and uplifting native Alaskan artists.

Hanging Cow Productions will present AN ARRANGEMENT OF EUPHORIC ILLUSIONS, a new play by Elise Maurine Milner, May 9th-15th, 2016 (Mon-Fri 8pm curtain and Sat/Sun 2p and 7pm) at The American Theatre for Actors, 314 West 54th Street, 4th Fl Sargent Theatre, NYC.

Hampstead Theatre presents the UK premiere of Neil LaBute's romantic comedy REASONS TO BE HAPPY, directed by Michael Attenborough and a companion piece to REASONS TO BE PRETTY. The production is currently in previews, with press night set for 24 March 2016. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: Laura Benanti, Jane Krakowski and Phylicia Rashad return to the stage -- plus, it's St. Patrick's Day!

Hampstead Theatre presents the UK premiere of Neil LaBute's romantic comedy REASONS TO BE HAPPY, which previews from tonight 17 March and opens 24 March for a run through 16 April 2016. Directed by Michael Attenborough, the full cast features Tom Burke, Warren Brown, Robyn Addison, and Lauren O'Neil.

Rattlestick Playwright's Theater and Women's Project Theater welcome Tony Award nominee Marin Ireland (Reasons to be Pretty) to star in the New York premiere of IRONBOUND by Martyna Majok (Petty Harbor). One of the Top Ten Plays on the 2014 Kilroys' List, IRONBOUND is directed by Daniella Topol (When January Feels Like Summer, Row After Row) and opens tonight, March 16, 2016, at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater.

The 15th annual Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), presented by AT&T, today announced its lineup of 72 selected short films, 45 are world premieres and 53 are in competition at the Festival.

Judith Leora's SHOWPONY will receive it's first staged reading tonight for Lone Star Theatre Co as part of their on-going Texas Reads series. When a diverse group of women are randomly thrown together, they quickly realize that their cultural training has put them directly in opposition to each other, whether as workhorses, show-ponies or race-horses. Will they figure out how to get past their assigned roles and see each other as people? 

Heather Provost has been named The Blank Theatre's new Producing Director, it was announced today by Daniel Henning, Founding Artistic Director and Noah Wyle, Artistic Producer.

The 15th annual Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), presented by AT&T, today announced its lineup of 72 selected short films, 45 are world premieres and 53 are in competition at the Festival.

MCC Theater announced today that it will break ground on its first permanent home on March 22, 2016. Set to open in 2018, the space will unite MCC's diverse roster of programs under one roof for the first time in the company's three-decade history. The new facility will also allow MCC to expand its programming and establish it as a cultural anchor within the Clinton neighborhood. One of New York's leading nonprofit Off-Broadway companies, the institution fosters the dynamic exchange of ideas between artists, audiences, and young people through its productions of world, American, and New York premiere plays and musicals, a robust playwright development initiative, and one of the nation's leading arts education programs.

This Tuesday in New York City, Circus Road Films and Theatricals & Big Head Productions will present an invite-only reading of a new play The Poets of Amityville by Eugene Pack.

Off-Broadway's The New Group will honor Ed Harris & Amy Madigan and Ellen Roth at the company's Annual Gala tonight, March 7 at Tribeca Rooftop (2 Desbrosses Street between Hudson & Greenwich).

Off-Broadway's The New Group will honor Ed Harris & Amy Madigan and Ellen Roth at the company's Annual Gala on Monday, March 7 at Tribeca Rooftop (2 Desbrosses Street between Hudson & Greenwich). Hosted by Mario Cantone, the event will feature performances by Jerry Dixon and Nat and Alex Wolff, and an appearance by playwright Beth Henley, author of Crimes of the Heart and The Jacksonian. Music Director is Sinai Tabak. The evening, 6:00-10:00pm, includes cocktails, dinner, and silent and live auctions.

Brooke Muriel Ferguson is the latest wunderkind from the Lipscomb University Department of Theatre to make her directorial debut at Towne Centre Theatre, helming the production of the murder mystery Murder's in the Heir that opens tonight in Brentwood.