Paula Vogel News

A Russian American girl returns to her native land to find herself, only to encounter a landscape more sinister and disorienting than the fairytales she grew up with. Will she succeed in battling wits with the villains in her story or be gobbled alive?

The Playwrights' Center today announced the recipients of the 2018-19 McKnight National Residency and Commission and 2018-19 McKnight Fellowships in Playwriting.

Vineyard Theatre's Artistic Directors, Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern, announce that the world-premiere of THE BEAST IN THE JUNGLE will extend until Sunday, June 17. This original dance play by legendary composer and four-time Tony Award winner John Kander (CABARET, CHICAGO), Tony-nominated playwright David Thompson (STEEL PIER; FLORA, THE RED MENACE), and five-time Tony Award-winning director and choreographer Susan Stroman (THE PRODUCERS, CONTACT) will begin performances May 4, 2018 with an opening night set for May 23.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) announced complete casting today for the 2018 Free Shakespeare in the Park production of OTHELLO beginning Tuesday, May 29 at the Delacorte Theater, continuing a 56-year tradition of free theater in Central Park. Directed by Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson, OTHELLO will officially open on Monday, June 18 and will run through Sunday, June 24.

The winners of the 2018 New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards will be announced Thursday, May 3, 2018 at approximately 5:30pm. The selections will be made at the organization's 83rd annual voting meeting.

Drama of Works and Dixon Place are proud to present PUNCH Kamikaze: UBU ROI at Dixon Place on Wednesday, May 9th at 7:30pm. Artists taking on the re-imagining of this absurdist masterpiece are Judith Barnes & Isidore Elias, Megan Barbour, CTW OP Allstars, Heather Denyer, Ali Dineen & Tom Cunningham, Jumping Jackalope Collective, Drama of Works, and Trade Wind Theatre. All artists will present scenes based on the original play by Alfred Jarry. The evening is hosted and curated by Drama of Works.

Actors Co-op Theatre Company (Ovation Award-Winner 2017 Best Play, Intimate Theatre for 33 Variations) is proud to present the Tony nominated musical VIOLET, with music by Jeanine Tesori, book and lyrics by Brian Crawley, based on the short story 'The Ugliest Pilgrim' by Doris Betts, directed by Richard Israel, produced by Thomas Chavira. Violet opens Friday, May 11 at 8:00 pm, and will run through Sunday, June 17 at the Actors Co-op Crossley Theatre, 1760 N. Gower Street, 90028 (on the campus of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood) in Hollywood.

Due to popular demand, Steppenwolf Theatre Company has extended the world premiere comedy, The Doppelganger (an international farce) written by Matthew-Lee Erlbach (Showtime's Masters of Sex, Off-Broadway's Handbook for an American Revolutionary), through June 2 with the original cast.

Vineyard Theatre's Artistic Directors Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern and Managing Director Suzanne Appel announce an initial line-up of stars set for the 2018 Gala Fundraiser celebrating Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer and the award-winning theatre company's 35th Anniversary. The annual Gala Fundraiser will take place on Monday, May 14, 2018, beginning at 6:30pm at Edison Ballroom (240 West 47th Street). Cody Lassen is the 35th Anniversary Gala Chair and Audible, Inc. is the lead corporate sponsor of the event.

Court Theatre, under the continuing leadership of Charles Newell, Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director, concludes its 2017/18 season with the Asolo Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage, Pasadena Playhouse production of The Originalist by John Strand, directed by Molly Smith with Associate Director Seema Sueko, and featuring Edward Gero as Antonin Scalia. The Originalist runs May 10 - June 10, 2018 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave. The press opening is Saturday, May 19, 2018 at 8:00pm.

Christmas. A time of family togetherness - that's the tradition anyway. But Paula Vogel knows that the holidays are also a time in which long-simmering conflicts rise to the surface. In The Long Christmas Ride Home, she presents one family's yuletide journey from home after a confrontational visit with one set of grandparents that leaves a very permanent residue.

The Artistic Home's production of HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE, featuring Elizabeth Birnkrant and John Mossman, has been extended an additional two weeks due to audience demand and will now close on Sunday, May 20 rather than the originally announced closing of May 6. Artistic Director Kathy Scambiatterra made the announcement today. The production opened to raves on March 25. NEW CITY said "this strong production of an important play … has the delicate combination of intimacy, directness and imagination that gives live theater its magic..." The CHICAGO READER called the production "intense and devastating, shocking, and human."

Kansas City Repertory Theatre wraps up its 2017/18 season with its OriginKC: NEW WORKS FESTIVAL. Entering its third season, the OriginKC: NEW WORKS FESTIVAL, running April 27 through May 27, 2018, positions Kansas City as a major player and national center for the cultivation and production of new works, while offering theatre artists from across the country the financial, creative and artistic resources required to develop vital, diverse works of theatre.

The Obie-award winning The Fire This Time Festival (http://www.firethistimefestival.com/), in association with Frigid New York @ Horse Trade, is presenting readings of three plays and a screenplay that were developed in its New Works Lab, and they will be held over two days: Thursday May 3, and May 4, 2018, at the Sheen Center in Studio B, located at 18 Bleecker St (between Mott St. and Elizabeth St.) in New York City.  

TheatreSouth is proud to bring the compelling legal drama, A Class Act, to the Pompano Beach Cultural Center. Written by Norman Shabel, this play focuses on a trio of lawyers who accuse General Chemical Corporation of polluting water across the country through cancer-causing factory runoff. These attorneys are hoping for a big payoff from the deep pockets of the corporation, while the 'suits' at the latter plan to use blackmail as leverage to pay as little as possible.

It was just announced by Pulitzer Prize Administrator Dana Canedy that Martyna Majok's COST OF LIVING has officially won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

In celebration of Immigrant Heritage Week, the Immigrant Arts Coalition and Dramatists Guild of America, in collaboration with the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF) will present Staging Our Stories, an interactive panel discussion with playwrights, composers, and lyricists on heritage and diversity in theatre. An official partner with the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, this free event will take place on Friday, April 20th, 1pm in the Dramatists Guild of America's Mary Rodgers Room.

Victory Gardens Theater continues its 43rd season with the World Premiere of Lettie, written by Boo Killebrew and directed by Artistic Director Chay Yew. Lettie runs April 6 - May 6, 2018, with the press performance on Friday, April 13, 2018 at 7:30pm at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

Second Stage Theater (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director; Casey Reitz, Executive Director) has announced additional casting for the New York Premiere of TRACY LETTS' acclaimed play, MARY PAGE MARLOWE.

The Segal Centre for Performing Arts announced today an exquisite lineup of programming for its 2018-2019 season and a new name for its mainstage theatre.