Paula Vogel News

Portland Stage has been approved for a $20,000 Grants for Arts Projects award to support the Clauder Competition for New England Playwrights. This project will provide exposure, encouragement, and critical feedback to emerging playwrights who typically receive little more than a return postcard for material they send to theaters and producers.

'Slave Play' playwright Jeremy O. Harris appeared on 'The Daily Show With Trevor Noah' last night to talk about his Tony Award-nominated play, the ways he's trying to keep theatre alive, and what he's been up to in the pandemic.

The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has announced 10 Finalists for 2021 for its prestigious playwriting award, the oldest and largest prize awarded to women+ playwrights.

Portland Center Stage has commissioned four new plays from celebrated writers Brittany K. Allen, Christina Anderson, Christopher Chen, and Portland-based Anya Pearson. The commissions are part of the PCS Remix: Commissions program, which was launched to lift up some of the most exciting voices in American theater while stages are dark.

Theater Resources Unlimited will present the monthly Panel, Developing New Works in a Virtual New World: Different Countries, Different Challenges on Thursday, January 28, 2021 via Zoom. The panel will be led by Australian producer Neil Gooding, New York producer Cody Lassen, and London producer Katy Lipson.

The lights of Broadway have been dark for almost a year, and Jeremy O. Harris knows it. 'The theater industry – like most of the arts – is in a state of crisis,' the playwright writes in an opinion piece.

Ucross, an artist residency program and creative laboratory for the arts in northeast Wyoming, today announced playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins as its newest board member. Jacobs-Jenkins, whose work includes Everybody (Signature Theater), Neighbors (Public Theater), An Octoroon (Soho Rep, OBIE Award for Best New Play), and more.

It's no secret that the state of the world has had a major impact on the theatre industry over the past year. Broadway, which usually brings in $14 billion to New York City's yearly revenue, has been shuttered since last March, leaving the futures of many artists and shows in limbo. While many of those productions move forward with plans to reopen when Broadway officially returns, some have already announced that they will not open again.

Vineyard Theatre's original cast benefit reading of Gloria, the Pulitzer Prize finalist play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and directed by Evan Cabnet, will begin streaming on January 19 at 7:00pm EST and will be available through January 24, allowing for two additional days of viewing on demand.

Lynne Meadow and Barry Grove have announced plans to produce two additional shows for Manhattan Theatre Club’s 2021-2022 season. In the winter of 2022, MTC will present the Broadway premiere of Skeleton Crew. Also in Winter 2022, Off-Broadway at New York City Center Stage I, MTC plans to present the world premiere of Prayer For The French Republic.

Friends of Bay Street, the group formed to build Bay Street Theater a new home, have hired Stephen Hamilton as the new Director of External Affairs. He comes to this position with many years as a successful arts administrator, as well as being one of the original co-founders of Bay Street Theater itself. Most recently, he served as the Acting Executive Director of the Sag Harbor Cinema.

Tune in tonight as the Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF) gathers award-winning writers, directors and performers for a virtual benefit to support the playwrights, composers, lyricists and librettists who get the story started

If you're still nursing your blues over a lack of Broadway and cursing the coronavirus that took it from you, what better way to brighten up the celebration than with some theatrical flair?

Jeremy O. Harris has already taken over Broadway. Now he's making his mark in the fashion industry. According to Vogue, the playwright is launching a 20-piece, gender-neutral collection with SSENSE.

SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE – Basil Twist's now-legendary underwater puppet production set in a 1,000-gallon fish tank   – will be released as a film on VIDEO ON DEMAND December 18, it has been announced by Mr. Twist, who makes his full-length film directorial debut.  Created for the theater by Mr. Twist in 1998, SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE is set to the celebrated classic score of Hector Berlioz's 19th century composition. 

As 2020 comes to a close, The City Theatre Company presents AUSTIN ACTS! A Virtual Stage Talent Competition. The original performance contest brings local actors together in an end-of-year online event that, in these challenging moments, keeps Austin arts in motion.

Esteemed American playwrights Ed Bullins, Constance Congdon, and Philip Kan Gotanda have been announced as the inaugural recipients of the Legacy Playwrights Initiative Award(s). The winners will be recognized by their friends and peers at the Dramatists Guild Foundation “Write in the Dark” virtual benefit on December 21, 2020.

The fall season of “Spotlight on Plays” concludes with Robert O’Hara’s BARBECUE on Thursday, December 10 at 8PM EST/ 5PM PST. The company stars Carrie Coon, Colman Domingo, Kimberly Hébert Gregory, Annie McNamara, S. Epatha Merkerson, Tony award winner Laurie Metcalf, David Morse, Kristine Nielsen, Tamberla Perry and Heather Simms.

Playwright Jeremy O. Harris has announced the launch of The Golden Collection, composed of 15 plays by prominent Black playwrights including Slave Play, which has received a historic 12 Tony Award nominations more than any other play in Broadway history.

Jeremy O. Harris talks about Slave Play’s 12 Tony nominations, the future of theater after the coronavirus pandemic and asks a special favor of Seth.