Sam Hunter News

Festival producers Doug Nevin and Michael Urie, in partnership with Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and Festival Director Nick Mayo announce casting for the benefit closing night reading of Some Men, written by Terrence McNally

The penultimate award show leading up to the Tony Awards is the Drama Desk Awards. It is a celebration of both Broadway and Off Broadway theater. In addition to the standard performance prizes for acting, music, sets, writing, and costumes, there are other categories like, Fight Coordinating, Hair and Wigs, Projections, and more. I fortunately got a chance to work the Red Carpet and the Press Room. I love working the Drama Desk Awards, because I get the chance to meet some of the new voices that are making interesting and innovative theater.

Festival producers Doug Nevin and Michael Urie, in partnership with Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, are proud to announce an additional reading to the Festival line-up, as well as additional casting for Pride Plays, an upcoming festival of play readings to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising.  Nick Mayo serves as Festival Director.

California Shakespeare Theater continues its 2019 summer season with The Good Person of Szechwan by Bertolt Brecht, translated by Wendy Arons and adapted by Tony Kushner, playing July 3 through July 21, 2019 at the Bruns Amphitheater. A Pay What You Can performance will be held on Wednesday, July 3. Tickets will be available starting at 10am on the day of the show through TodayTix and the Cal Shakes Box Office at 510.548.9666.

Initial casting and remaining directors have been announced for Pride Plays, an upcoming festival of play readings to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. Nick Mayo serves as Festival Director.

The Signature Theatre production of Curse of the Starving Class, by Sam Shepard and directed by Tony Award nominee Terry Kinney, runs to June, 2 2019 in The Irene Diamond Stage at The Pershing SquareSignature Center (480 West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues).

Playwrights Foundation announces that Artistic Director Amy Mueller has decided to step down, after nearly two decades of leadership, following the annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival, July 19-28, 2019. A national search for her successor will begin in May.

A pair of mid-career Canadian artists visit an older, wealthy couple they met by chance at a holiday party.

Doug Nevin, Michael Urie, and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater present Pride Plays, an upcoming festival of play readings to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. Nick Mayo serves as Festival Director.

Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director) and Barry Grove (Executive Producer) are pleased to announce the complete casting for the world premiere of Continuity, the new play by Lortel and Drama Desk Award nominee Bess Wohl (Small Mouth Sounds, American Hero) and directed by Tony Award nominee Rachel Chavkin (Hadestown; Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812). The production will feature Max Baker (1984, The Explorers Club), Jasmine Batchelor (The River), Rosal Colon ('Orange is the New Black,' Between Riverside and Crazy), Curran Connor (Pidgeon, A Picture of Autumn), Garcia ('Tales of the City'), Darren Goldstein (Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes, The Madrid), Alex Hurt (Cardinal, The Whirligig) and Megan Ketch (The Big Wedding, 'American Gothic').

Blockchain Theater Project (BTP), founded by Sofia Alvarez and Nicola Korzenko, is a new theater company that empowers artists to produce the work they create, funded in part by cryptocurrency donations. Like Bitcoin and other blockchains, BTP eliminates the institutional gatekeeper, creating a peer-to-peer model of support where the next play to be produced will be nominated by the playwright of the current production. Alvarez's NYLON will start this chain.

California Shakespeare Theater announced today the return of its record-breaking hit play black odyssey for a special limited engagement, September 25 through October 7, 2018 at the Bruns Amphitheater. Marcus Gardley's music-filled journey through African-American folklore garnered box office records, critical acclaim, sold-out houses, and standing ovations during its initial August 2017 run.

Page 73 announces complete casting for the first production in its 20th Anniversary Season, Catch as Catch Can, written by Mia Chung (You For Me For You) and directed by Ken Rus Schmoll (Judy, Grounded).  Performances begin on Monday, October 22 at the New Ohio Theatre for a limited run through Saturday, November 17.

Achingly human, and surprisingly funny! TheFountain Theatre presents the West Coast premiere ofCost of Living, the 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Martyna Majok. John Vreeke directs for an Oct. 20 opening, with performances continuing through Dec.16.

California Shakespeare Theater (Cal Shakes) announced further details today for the Shakespearean centerpiece to the 2018 Epic Season, The War of the Roses. The War of the Roses is a monumental evening of theater spanning four history plays-the Henry VI trilogy and Richard III. Presented as an action-packed evening, The War of the Roses will deliver a fast-paced, far-ranging, vividly theatrical depiction of two powerful families-the Lancasters and the Yorks-and their decades-long fight for the English throne. Political unrest and power grabs collide with weak leadership and civil strife as the country fights against the threat of tyranny.

The Playwrights Foundation has hired a new managing director, Kathy Li. Kathy (Ruoran) Li is a bilingual theater manager with professional experience both in the United States and in China, Kathy has recently served as Associate Managing Director for Yale Repertory Theatre and for Yale Cabaret, and has produced five plays while in graduate school. Prior to coming to the US, Kathy worked for Shanghai Cultural Exchange Agency to present international theater and dance for Shanghai International Arts Festival, and for Modern Drama Valley to organize community engagement events and support theater productions in her hometown Shanghai, China. Kathy holds an MFA in Theater Management from Yale School of Drama, and a BA from Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

The Playwrights Foundation, a launchpad for exceptional plays and playwrights announces the lineup for the 2018 Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF) running July 20-29, 2018. The six Playwrights were selected from more than 700 submissions nationally, 85% from outside the bay area, from more than 2 dozen states and Canada - coast to coast a very North American cohort.

Playwrights Foundation announces the plays and playwrights of the 2018 Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF) running July 20-29, 2018 at Potrero Stage, 1895 18th St in San Francisco. The Artistic Teams for #BAPF2018 features Directors Erik Pearson, Christine Young, Margo Hall, Daniel Banks, Lauren English, and Ken Savage. Dramaturgs joining the teams include Alex Mallory, Maddie Gaw, Lisa Evans, Vidhu Singh, Roweena Mackay, and the Legendary Nakissa Etemad.

Page 73 announces its 20th Anniversary Season. The season will begin in October 2018 with the world premiere production of CATCH AS CATCH CAN, written by Mia Chung (You For Me For You) and directed by Ken Rus Schmoll (Judy, Grounded). Performances begin on Monday, October 22 at the New Ohio Theatre for a limited run through Saturday, November 17.

The Playwrights Foundation, a launchpad for exceptional plays and playwrights announces the lineup for the 2018 Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF) running July 20-29, 2018. The six Playwrights were selected from more than 700 submissions nationally, 85% from outside the bay area, from more than 2 dozen states and Canada - coast to coast a very North American cohort.