Sam French News

PUFFS or: Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic & Magic - presented by TILTED WINDMILLS THEATRICALS - opens tonight, October 20, Off-Broadway. PUFFS takes a second look at everyone's favorite world of wizards through the eyes of the Puffs, a lovable group of magical misfits.

PUFFS or: Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic & Magic - presented by TILTED WINDMILLS THEATRICALS - begins tonight Off-Broadway. PUFFS takes a second look at everyone's favorite world of wizards through the eyes of the Puffs, a lovable group of magical misfits.

FRIGID New York @ Horse Trade will present the October installment of New York Madness on Sunday, October 30 at 8pm with guest playwrights Dennis A. Allen II (Won the 2010 Sam French Festival for The Mud is Thicker in Mississippi; Recipient of Atlantic Theater Company's inaugural 2014-15 Launch Commission), Maggie Bofill (Drawn and Quartered at INTAR, NY Times Critics Pick; Winners at EST, 2015), Nat Cassidy (2009 NYIT Award forThe Reckoning of Kit & Little Boots; 2011 NYIT Award for Outstanding Solo Performance), Shaun B. Fauntleroy (#SPEAKUP: The Street Harassment Plays with Flux Theatre Ensemble), Gina Femia (semi-finalist The O'Neill and The Princess Grace Award for Super, or, How Clark Graves Learned to Fly; Mahogany Brown and the Case of the Disappearing Kid at The Brick; Five-Sided Triangle at Dixon Place), Julienne Hairston (Ababuo and#Hashtag with Project Y; Coal Run Road in The 2015 Fire This Time Festival), Judith Leora (The Cookie Fight with Bristol Valley Theatre; Gideon with Ego Actus), Nilsa Reyna (founding Artistic Director of Chicago's Fusion Theatre; Legends of Texas with Lonestar Theatre), and Deborah Yarchun(Honorable Mention on The Kilroy's List for The Aleph Complex; EST/Sloan Commission for Tectonic Melange).

Dr. Barbara Ann Teer's National Black Theatre (NBT) kicks off its 48th season with "The Alchemy of Black Joy," an exhibition of original works by renowned photographer Peter Cooper on Wednesday, September 7, and the world premiere of Harrison David Rivers' play "Sweet" on Wednesday, October 19. The events and productions reflect the theater company's theme this season: "In Pursuit of Black Joy."

PUFFS or: Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic & Magic - presented by TILTED WINDMILLS THEATRICALS - has announced the complete cast for its upcoming Off-Broadway run.

The new hour-long show, The Beatles Present "The Lord of the Rings: The Musical" will be performing from Thursday, October 6, 2016 to Saturday, October 10, 2016 at THE BRICK (579 Metropolitan Avenue) in Brooklyn for four shows only!

National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, is pleased to co-present the 11th annual MFA Playwright's Workshop (MFAPW) in association with the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and Stanford University's National Center for New Plays.

To-By-For Productions is proud to present the New York Premiere of Dipika Guha's MECHANICS OF LOVE, directed by Elena Araoz at The Paradise Factory (64 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery) September 8-24.

The New York Musical Festival and Camp Rolling Hills Musical, LLC/ Center Stage Theatre Company's have announced that Sophia Gennusa (Doctor Zhivago, Matilda - Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre), James Ignacio (The King And I), Mitchell Sink (Elf, Matilda, A Christmas Story), and Beatrice Tulchin (Matilda, A Christmas Story) will lead the company of CAMP ROLLING HILLS, a new musical with book and lyrics by Stacy Davidowitz and David Spiegel and music and lyrics by Adam Spiegel and directed by Jill Jaysen.

This summer, relive the days of lanyards, bunk beds and bug juice with The New York Musical Festival and Camp Rolling Hills Musical, LLC/ Center Stage Theatre Company's production of CAMP ROLLING HILLS, a new musical with book and lyrics by Stacy Davidowitz and David Spiegel and music and lyrics by Adam Spiegel and directed by Jill Jaysen.

San Francisco Playhouse has announced The Rules by Dipika Guha as the final world premiere show of the seventh season of the award-winning Sandbox Series. The play will be performed at The Creativity Theater in Yerba Buena Gardens.

Paul Roseby, Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain (NYT) has today announced a new season of work for the company in celebration of their 60th anniversary year. Founded in 1956 the NYT is the pioneering force for youth theatre around the world and is recognised as the leading provider of free alternatives to formal theatre training, with alumni including Dame Helen Mirren, Daniel Craig, Chiwetel Ejiofor CBE and Sir Daniel Day Lewis. Since being founded the world's leading youth arts charity has nurtured the talent of over 100,000 young people.  

I am currently in the final stages of presenting a one weekend performance of Peter Shaffer's award winning play, "Amadeus". Researching the Sam French website, I notice yet again that few high schools attempt to take on this intricate and thought-provoking piece of art. And in this instance, although this is my second time directing this play for high school, this is now a new, revised script, due to the author's constant amendments.  I've spent the last six months designing and the last three months directing this award winning classic for our school community here in North Adams. With three dress rehearsals next week, we open April 28th at Drury High School for a three-night run. 

!?:New Works -- the spiritual successor to The Exponential Festival -- is a month long festival of New York's best experimental artists and theatre companies presenting brand new work.

32 Actors, 8 Writers, and 8 Directors will gather at Abingdon Theatre Company for an entire weekend of pure creativity to produce FETE 24.

32 Actors, 8 Writers, and 8 Directors will gather at Abingdon Theatre Company for an entire weekend of pure creativity to produce FETE 24.

This January, Pipeline Theatre Company presents seven never before seen plays written by its PlayLab Class of 2016 in this year's Matchstick Series: Strange Tongues at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe (236 E. 3rd St, New York, NY). This year's PlayLab includes: Matthew Barbot, Jen Browne, Gina Femia, Reina Hardy, Jacob Marx Rice, Callan Stout, and Amy E. Witting. Performances will be January 13-15th at 7PM. Early bird tickets ($15) are now on sale and regular tickets ($18) go on sale on January 1st. Tickets are available for purchase online at www.pipelinetheatre.org/tickets. The show runs approximately 75 minutes, with no intermission.  

?Marin Theatre Company and The San Francisco Foundation are thrilled to announce that Rachel Bonds, is being honored with the 2015 Rella Lossy Award for her play Swimmers, which will get its World Premiere on the MTC mainstage in March, 2016.