Richard Wesley News

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.

Shakespeare & Company has announce the launch of a November Reading Series held virtually, November 5 – November 22, 2020.

While the Covid-19 pandemic has shuttered many performing arts organizations around the world, Long Beach Opera (LBO) has been industriously devising live innovative performance opportunities for both its artists and audiences. 

Long-time theater producer/directors Marshall Jones, III and Ricardo Khan combined forces to create a unique theater experience via the internet, Stream ON! Broadwayworld had the opportunity to interview Jones about the production company.

Los Angeles Opera (LAO) has an array of 25 a?oeLiving Room Recitalsa?? available for the enjoyment of those who visit the LAO website. Among them are personal concerts by: Morris Robinson, Rod Gilfry, Amanda Woodbury, Christopher Maltman, and Angel Blue. Having made a monumental impression on the American public with her portrayal of Bess in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess at the Met, Blue shows her charismatic personality and her love for the music of Richard Strauss in her a?oeLiving Room Recital.a??

Woodie King Jr., founder of New Federal Theatre has penned an article exclusively for BroadwayWorld, discussing New Federal Theatre's past, present and more.

Broadway Black, the multimedia organization highlighting the achievements of Black theatre artists, will present the inaugural Antonyo Awards, a celebration of the Black Broadway and Off-Broadway community.

The AUDELCO and Obie Award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre announced today cast details for a special edition of its breakout 50in50 monologue showcase series - 50in50: Love in the Time of Corona - with title inspiration from the classic novel Love in the Time of Cholera by Nobel prize winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez.

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that Walter Dallas, director, playwright, musician, teacher, and leader in African-American theater, has died at age 73.

Composer Anthony Davis has won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his opera, The Central Park Five.

Today we're checking in with the Billie Holiday Theatre. We chatted with Dr. Indira Etwaroo, Executive Director of the theatre.

Stream ON! is a play festival that showcases short 10-minute plays written by playwrights from all over the world. The goal is to celebrate artists work during this time of current crisis.

The Billie Holiday Theatre will present the third reading under its new #StayAtHome Reading Series with a special reading of James's Sheldon's Reparations, the critically acclaimed play which had its world premiere at The Billie last November.

The AUDELCO and Obie-Award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre will present a special virtual edition of its popular 50in50 monologue showcase series with the highly anticipated 50in50:Letters to Our Sons as part of its new #StayAtHome Reading Series, an innovative online play reading series.

The Ensemble Theatre presents the regional premiere of Autumn, a political drama by award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and NYU Professor Richard Wesley, and directed by Ensemble Artistic Director Eileen J. Morris; Opening Night and Media Reception, Thursday, March 19, 2020, 6:30 p.m. 3535 Main Street, Houston, TX 77002.

The Ensemble Theatre will present political drama Autumn by award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and NYU professor Richard Wesley, and directed by Ensemble Theatre Artistic Director Eileen J. Morris.

OPERA America has awarded $220,000 in Repertoire Development Grants to The American Opera Project (New York, NY) in consortium with Seagle Music Colony (Schroon Lake, NY), Beth Morrison Projects (New York, NY), Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Diego Opera and The Dallas Opera. The grants provide technical and financial support to OPERA America Professional Company Members and their producing partners to enhance the quality, quantity and creativity of new American opera and music theater.

Forty-one years ago, two Rutgers University Theatre Arts students envisioned, embraced and captured the opportunity to create a space where the black experience would be shared through stories produced on stage for all to enjoy; and that was and is the story of Crossroads Theatre Company, a staple of the arts and cultural community in New Brunswick, NJ and across the region, state and nation.  

The Frank Silvera Writers Workshop kicks off its forty-seventh annual reading series this Monday September 9th at 7pm with David Davila's immigration drama, Aztec Pirates And The Insignificance Of Life On Mars. The reading, directed by Nilsa Reyna, features Ollie Corchado, Cory Alexander, Lillian Andrea De Leon, Julia Botero, Selina Michelle Fonseca, Gerard Lucero, Alexandra Castro, and Jatnna Marte.

Alicia Foxworth's period drama Ghost Writer will bring the curtain down on the 2018 -19 season of the Frank Silvera Writer's Workshop monthly play reading series in partnership with The Billie Holiday Theatre.