Paula Vogel News

Misogynoir, colorism, objectification, and body-shaming are a part of the Black woman's experience. Brown Sugar Bake-Off 2021 will focus on what it means to take ownership after an undeniable history of policing Black and Brown bodies. 

Douglas Williams has won the American Theatre Critics Association's 2021 M. Elizabeth Osborn Award for his play “SHIP.” Given by ATCA in memory of critic, director, educator and new play advocate M. Elizabeth “Betty” Osborn (1941-1993), the prize recognizes the work of a playwright who has not yet received a major production, such as a Broadway or Off-Broadway engagement, or received any other major national awards.

Pulitzer winners Paula Vogel, Katori Hall, Annie Baker & Sam Shepard are just 4 of the many celebrated playwrights whose work was developed in the Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF). Established in 1976 and currently led by Playwrights Foundation’s Executive Artistic Director Jessica Bird Beza, this year’s BAPF runs July 16-25, featuring 5 very different new works. Casts include acclaimed actors such as Emily Kuroda. BroadwayWorld recently caught up with Beza to talk about the festival.

The Vineyard has just announced its new season, which will include productions of Is This A Room, conceived and directed by Obie Award winner Tina Satter; and the Center Theatre Group, Goodman Theatre and Vineyard Theatre production of Dana H., by Obie Award winner Lucas Hnath and directed by Obie Award winner Les Waters. Both shows will come to Broadway's Lyceum Theatre (149 W 45th Street, New York, NY), playing on a rotating schedule.

Real Time remix is a new selection of short works in which four storytellers crisscross paths across dimensions as they seek to survive the weight of white words and thrive. Learn more about the performances and how to view them here!

The Wilma Theater's Co-Artistic Director Blanka Zizka has announced that on July 31, 2021, she will step back from the theater she co-founded. During her 40 years of work at the Wilma, she has become one of the most renowned theater artists in Philadelphia and in the country.

June marks the official start of Pride Month! This year, BroadwayWorld is celebrating pride with a series focused on some of our favorite LGBTQ-themed musicals, plays, characters, and songs! This week, check out our top 10 favorite plays featuring LGBTQ+ characters or themes!

Before we get to know this year's Jimmy Awards nominees, BroadwayWorld is catching up with some of the program's alumni! Below, get to know just a few, including: Kristen Brock, Casey Butler, Elleon Dobias, Harold Eric, Francesca Iacovacci, Kyra Leeds, Lucy Moon, Sam Primack, Justin Smusz, Taylor Varga, and Michael B. Williams.

Learn more about all of the additional archival footage added to the event, including Ariana Grande (at age 15 making her Broadway debut) and Brynn Williams in 13; Angela Lansbury in Blithe Spirit, Philip Seymour Hoffman in Death of a Salesman, Brian Stokes Mitchell in Ragtime, Sutton Foster in Thoroughly Modern Millie, and more!

Yale Repertory Theatre will welcome audiences back to its theaters beginning in January 2022 for a season of three plays! The season will begin with a new production of Today is My Birthday, a critically-acclaimed comedy about loneliness in the age of connectivity, written by Susan Soon He Stanton and directed by Mina Morita.

Portland Stage has announced that New England's most prestigious playwriting contest, the Clauder Competition, is accepting submissions for the 2022 Competition through March 31, 2022. 

New Conservatory Theatre Center will celebrate 40 years of serving the Bay Area LGBTQ+ community, and its long-awaited return to live performances with a captivating 21-22 Season of two World Premieres, one Rolling World Premiere, one Regional Premiere, two West Coast Premieres, and a special musical celebration waiting in the wings. 

Opening in the company's new smaller studio space, The Mixing Room, is the world première of Brian & Roger – A Highly Offensive Play inspired by their hit podcast Brian & Roger, written and performed by Harry Peacock and Dan Skinner. Artistic Director of the Menier David Babani directs the production opening in October.

It was just announced by the Pulitzer Prize organization that Katori Hall's The Hot Wing King has officially won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. This year's finalists included Circle Jerk by Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley and Stew by Zora Howard.

Michael Ritchie announced that he will retire as Artistic Director of Center Theatre Group on December 31, 2021. Having taken over the position from Founding Artistic Director Gordon Davidson in January, 2005, for more than 16 years, Ritchie has led one of the country’s largest nonprofit regional theatres, producing and presenting 266 productions.

Tony Award winner and five-time Emmy Award nominee Phylicia Rashad will return to Broadway this winter in Manhattan Theatre Club's Broadway premiere of Skeleton Crew, written by Tony Award nominee Dominique Morisseau and directed by Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced the national awardees of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, which was held virtually in convenings for each discipline that began on March 8, 2021 and continued through May 22, 2021.

Andrew Gall has always been a writer – and a multitalented actor, director, playwright and designer for 30-plus years. But in his new home of Richmond, Virginia, the formerly North Carolina-based theatre veteran’s newest project is a return to source material he couldn’t fully appreciate until this point in his career – and he shines it through a societal and political prism that’s never been more relevant as it is today.

Leading the slate on June 1st is Tony Award winner John Cameron Mitchell's vibrant rock odyssey film Hedwig and The Angry Inch and On the Town, starring Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin as three fun-loving sailors who have 24 hours of shore leave in New York City and want to make every second count.

EastLine Theatre will present their rollicking take on Shakespeare's classic romance under the summer sun at locations across Long Island. Romeo & Juliet will feature original live music in a family-friendly production. This is EastLine's first foray into touring after losing their Wantagh home in March of last year.