Rehana Lew Mirza News

The winners of the 2019 Richard Rodgers Awards for Musical Theater were announced today by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

WP Theater, in partnership with Colt Coeur, announces that Kavi Ladnier ( Just Add Magic, Heroes ) and Sendhil Ramamurthy ( Heroes, Covert Affairs ) will star in the World Premiere of the 2017 Kilroys List play Hatef**k by Rehana Lew Mirza. WP Lab Alum and 2018 Lucille Lortel Visionary Director Award winner Adrienne Campbell-Holt (WP's What We're Up Against) returns to WP Theater to direct this bracingly insightful new play, which begins Off-Broadway previews on Sunday, March 3, 2019. The four-week limited engagement through Sunday, March 31 will celebrate its official opening night on Wednesday March 13 at WP Theater (2162 Broadway).

Colt Coeur and WP Theater announce the programming for the annual Parity Plays Festival reading series, which celebrates the work of female and trans playwrights and directors. The festival will consist of four plays by Kate Cortesi, Obehi Janice, Lily Padilla, and WP Lab alum Sylvia Khoury. Parity Plays will take place from February 1-9, 2019 at HERE Arts Center, 145 6th Avenue. Tickets are free, and can be reserved at: https://wptheater.org/show/parity-plays-festival.

Kathy Evans, Founding Executive Director of Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, announced applications are open for this summer. Nine musical theatre writing teams will be awarded nine consecutive weeklong residencies in the Hudson Valley between June 30 and September 1. Each team gets a private retreat to focus solely on writing their new musical. All writers are eligible and their musical can be at any stage of development. All costs are covered including travel up to $750, and each writer gets a $500 stipend. Writers with children are welcomed to apply. There is no fee for applications received by February 6 and there is a fee of $20 for the final deadline of February 16.  More information and the online application can be found at https://www.rhinebeckwriters.org/2019-residencies.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director/CEO) is thrilled to announce the eighth annual Roundabout Underground Reading Series, a five-night event that includes nightly readings of new works written and directed by emerging artists, as well as post-show receptions. The Reading Series will feature new works by Aaron Carter, Emily Feldman, Dave Harris, Jonathan Spector and Sanaz Toossi.

NAMT has announced final casting for this year's Festival, along with programming details for the Songwriters Showcase and Midday Cabarets. The Festival of New Musicals will take place on Thursday, October 25 and Friday, October 26, 2018 at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues).

National Alliance for Musical Theatre (Betsy King Militello, Executive Director) is thrilled to announce final casting for the 30th Annual FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS along with The Songwriters Showcase and Midday Cabarets. The FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS takes place on Thursday, October 25 and Friday, October 26, 2018 at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues). Festival events kick off on Monday, October 22 with Thank You, 30! a gala event to celebrate the 30th Annual Festival.

Abingdon Theatre Company has announced the spring main stage production of their 26th season. Abingdon Theater Company teams up with WP Theater and Colt Coeur to present the world premiere of the 2017 Kilroys List play Hatef**k by Rehana Lew Mirza and directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt.

WP Theater (formerly known as Women's Project Theater), under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty and Managing Director Michael Sag, has announced their 2018-2019 Season at WP Theater

Now entering its third year, Project Springboard: Developing Dance Musicals is pleased to announce that letters of inquiry are now being accepted for 2019.  The deadline to apply is October 5, 2018.  

Ma-Yi Theater Company - which has had a breakout season with the award-winning success of the musical KPOP, and recently with Mike Lew's new play TEENAGE DICK (at The Public Theater) - announces its 2018-19 season of new works, according to the company's Producing Artistic Director, Ralph B. Peña.  Among the offerings will be world-premieres of plays that have been created and developed through Ma-Yi's celebrated Writers Lab, which has the distinction of being a primary incubator of new Asian American theater and the largest collective of Asian-American playwrights in the world. 

On Wednesday night, Ma-Yi Theater Company, in association with The Public Theater, celebrated the opening night performance of NY Times Critics Pick TEENAGE DICK at B Bar and Grill. The world premiere play by Mike Lew will now play through Sunday, July 29, 2018. (It was previously announced to close on Sunday, July 15).

Ma-Yi Theater Company, in association with The Public Theater, is pleased to announce a two-week extension of TEENAGE DICK. The world premiere play by Mike Lew will now play through Sunday, July 29, 2018. (It was previously announced to close on Sunday, July 15).

Mara Isaacs, Director of Project Springboard: Developing Dance Musicals, today announced the recipients of the second annual residency awards: Bhangin' It, led by Rehana Mirza (co-book writer), Mike Lew (co-book writer), Sam Wilmott (composer/lyricist), Rujuta Vaidya (choreographer), and Amy Anders Corcoran (director); and The Night Falls, led by Troy Schumacher (director/choreographer, New York City Ballet soloist), Ellis Ludwig-Leone (composer/co-lyricist), and Karen Russell (book writer/co-lyricist, MacArthur Award winner and Pulitzer finalist). Both projects will be in residence June 4-22, 2018 in New York City.

La Jolla Playhouse announces that married playwrights Mike Lew and Rehana Lew Mirza have been named the Playhouse's newest Artists-in-Residence beginning in April, 2018. During their residency, they plan to continue work on their Playhouse-commissioned trilogy: The Colonialism Project, as well as a new musical, Bhangin' It.

Local Theater Company will welcome three playwrights and an ensemble of 14 actors from across the country to Boulder for Local Lab 2018: New Play Festival. The 3-day festival of new plays and playwright panels will be held at Dairy Arts Center Friday-Sunday, April 20-22, 2018.

Local Theater Company will welcome three playwrights from across the country to Boulder for Local Lab 2018: New Play Festival. The 3-day festival of new plays, parties and playwright panels will be held at Dairy Arts Center Friday-Sunday, April 20-22, 2018.

Hot off the success of the critically acclaimed KPOP last fall, Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Ma-Yi Theater Company and The Public Theater announce TEENAGE DICK, a new play by Mike Lew (Tiger Style!), being given its world premiere Off-Broadway, June 12 - July 15, 2018, at The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St.

Is it enough just to be working on your sh*t ? Lauded playwright MJ Kaufman's skewering play SENSITIVE GUYS, presented by InterAct Theatre Company as the second show of their 30th Anniversary Season, uses the safe spaces of a small liberal arts college, and the passionate yet na ve students who inhabit them, to explore pitfalls that lurk on the path toward undoing institutionalized patriarchal norms. This prescient piece, though developed a few years ago through InterAct's Core Playwrights program, speaks directly to the current cultural moment with humor, biting insight, and hopeful compassion.

In what has become an annual ritual, a total of 36 established and emerging composers, lyricists, and librettists will converge on the Goodspeed campus from mid-January through mid-February 2018 to participate in the Johnny Mercer Foundation Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals. The writing teams, representing 18 new musicals, will populate the campus, creating a truly exciting environment for discovery and inspiration.