Pirronne Yousefzadeh News

Actors Theatre of Louisville's current production of The Wolves has an embarrassment of riches, onstage and off. Sarah DeLappe's Pulitzer Prize nominated, soccer-centric play is an important script that features 10 girls and femmes who pass the Bechdel Test as easily as the ball. They probably only spent about five minutes of the hour and a half run time talking about boys, and even those five minutes were really more about girls, friendship, and betrayal. The Wolves also has a production staff that is 90% women. That offstage commitment to forwarding gender parity at the industry-wide level is even more rare than the onstage corollary, and includes director Pirronne Yousefzadeh, and movement director Rocia??o Mendez, both of whom are clearly functioning at the height of their game.

On the surface Geva Theatre Center's Fielding Studio series production of QUEEN examines the potential devastation caused by the dwindling honeybee population due to Colony Collapse Disorder. This first look seems to indicate that Madhuri Shekar's play will be another social drama about the capitalistic monolith and its insidious corruption in greedy pursuit of wealth. Monsanto stands as the corporate boogeyman that needs to be taken down to save the bees and thereby rescue the planet. The plot could be linear and predictable, clearly establishing villain and hero. Thankfully, Shekar's play delivers a much more complex and thoughtful dramatic work.

Geva Theatre Center's 2019-2020 Fielding Studio Series begins with Queen, written by Madhuri Shekar and directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh. The production begins performances on November 6 and runs in the Fielding Stage through November 24.

Geva Theatre Center's 2019-2020 Fielding Studio Series begins with Queen, written by Madhuri Shekar and directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh. The production begins performances on November 6 and runs in the Fielding Stage through November 24.

This rap-infused, woke update of Mark Twain's The Prince and The Pauper, a world premiere theater piece for young audiences commissioned by the Kennedy Center, has many charms and much humor, even if it goes more than a little heavy on the agitprop for audiences under the age of 10.

Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), the theatrical Union that represents over 4,000 professional stage directors and choreographers kicks off their 4th season of Screen-to-Screen, an exclusive program for SDC Associate Members working in academia on October 7th.

As Geva opens its 47th season, the organization looks outside of their four walls to focus firmly on education and community engagement and to be the leader in the area for connecting theatre directly and deeply to its constituents. Current programming occupies all available space in Geva's 150-year old historic home. Renovations completed in 2016 included the addition of a hospitality suite, and those rooms now host a full schedule of events for both Geva and, as an additional revenue stream, as rental venue to outside organizations.

Atlantic Theater Company will present Immigrant MixFest, a series of free readings co-produced by director Saheem Ali, writer/director Shadi Ghaheri, and actor/co-founder of Waterwell Arian Moayed, that will run Wednesday, August 14th through Tuesday, August 20th at Atlantic Stage 2 (330 West 16th Street).

Directors Gathering (DG), a Philadelphia-based membership organization that provides development, community, and process-based opportunities for regional theatre directors, is excited to announce their 2019 (DG) Jam, a day-long workshop, performance, and celebration of theatre directors and their original work. This special event, which is akin to a performing arts take of the popular television baking competition The Great British Bake-Off, will take place on May 11, 2019 at The Painted Bride Arts Center in Philadelphia. The public is invited to the event starting at 6PM.

The Drama League has announced the twelve stage directors who have been selected as the 2019 Directing Fellows of The Drama League Directors Project: NJ Agwuna, Sharifa Elkady, Raz Golden, Chika Ike, Rebecca Marzalek-Kelly, Ismael Lara, Jr., Amanda McRaven, Lindsey Hope Pearlman, Ben Randle, Tai Thompson, Gabriel Torres, and Sophia Watt. They will be publicly introduced to the professional theatre community during the 85th Annual Drama League Awards, which will be held on Friday, May 17, 2019 at the Marriott Marquis Times Square (1535 Broadway). More information can be found at www.dramaleague.org

Geva Theatre Center's 2018-2019 Fielding Studio Series concludes with The Royale, written by Marco Ramirez. This production comes to Geva from the Kitchen Theatre Company in Ithaca, N.Y., with the original cast and design team and is directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh. The production begins performances on April 11 and runs in the Fielding Stage through April 28.

Next up at the Kitchen Theatre Company is The Royale by Marco Ramirez, a play that will leave audiences breathless with its emotionally-charged fight scenes, lyrical dialogue, and poignant critique of American race relations. Performances of The Royale begin at the Kitchen Theatre Company in the Percy Browning Performance Space on March 10th and run through March 31st. Opening night is Thursday, March 14th.

Geva Theatre Center's Artistic Director Mark Cuddy and Executive Director Christopher Mannelli are proud to announce the 10 major productions and 2 festivals of the much anticipated 2019-2020 Season, the non-profit theatre's 47th year of making professional theatre of a national standard in Rochester.

Maia Directors was created as a consulting service for organizations and artists engaging with stories and cultures from the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia (MENASA). Services provided by Maia Directors include casting and personnel support, production cultural consulting, script and dramaturgical support, and outreach and communications advising. Founded by theatre artists Kareem Fahmy, Evren Odcikin, Megan Sandberg-Zakian, and Pirronne Yousefzadeh, Maia Directors is an advocate for the inclusion of MENASA artists and stories as a vital part of the American cultural conversation. maiadirectors.com

Next up at the Kitchen Theatre Company is The Royale by Marco Ramirez, a play that will leave audiences breathless with its emotionally-charged fight scenes, lyrical dialogue, and poignant critique of American race relations. Performances of The Royale begin at the Kitchen Theatre Company in the Percy Browning Performance Space on March 10th and run through March 31st. Opening night is Thursday, March 14th.

Next up at the Kitchen Theatre Company is The Royale by Marco Ramirez, a play that will leave audiences breathless with its emotionally-charged fight scenes, lyrical dialogue, and poignant critique of American race relations. Performances of The Royale begin at the Kitchen Theatre Company in the Percy Browning Performance Space on March 10th and run through March 31st. Opening night is Thursday, March 14th.

At Pioneer Theatre Company, ONCE is luminous. Working hand-in-glove, Director Pirronne Yousefzadeh and Music Director Tom Griffin have guided the full cast and production team to stage a heart-piercingly beautiful production of the Tony-winning Best Musical.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Pioneer Theatre Company presents the romantic, Tony Award-winning musical Once, with music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova and book by Enda Walsh. Based on the motion picture written and directed by John Carney, the Sundance film-turned-Broadway-hit won eight Tonys, including Best Musical. The touching love ballad, 'Falling Slowly,' also won the Oscar for Best Song. It runs February 15 through March 2, 2019.

After 15 years, Nora is back, and she's got a lot to say.

Get a first look below at Actors Theatre of Louisville's production of A Doll's House, Part 2, onstage from October 2 - November 4, presented as part of the Brown-Forman Series. Obie Award-winning playwright and Humana Festival alumnus Lucas Hnath's work takes the stage in Louisville once again with A Doll's House, Part 2, imagining protagonist Nora's return 15 years after the final, iconic moments of Henrik Ibsen's seminal masterpiece A Doll's House.