Samuel D. Hunter News

Stray Cat Theatre unleashes its 2013-2014 Season. Stray Cat performs at the Tempe Performing Arts Center - 132 E 6th Street in Downtown Tempe. Details below!

LiveWire Chicago Theatre "gets technical" at VisionFest 5: Johnny 5 Is Alive, ten short plays inspired by technology's influence on society (or what happens when things short circuit). The fifth annual festival will be presented July 17 - August 2, 2013 at INTUIT - The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, 756 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago. Each play will be staged in a different area of the multi-room gallery, with drinking and mingling encouraged as audiences move from play to play.

Artistic Director Chay Yew and Board President Steve Miller announce the appointment of the theater's new Managing Director, Christopher Mannelli. Mannelli joined Victory Gardens as General Manager in 2010 and has been Interim Managing Director since November 2012.

Aurora Theatre Company opens its 22nd season with the Bay Area Premiere of Obie-winning playwright Amy Herzog's (4000 Miles, Belleville, The Great God Pan) family drama AFTER THE REVOLUTION. Joy Carlin (Body Awareness, Jack Goes Boating,Awake and Sing!) directs this drama about what we do with history and how we appropriate it for our own personal needs. Featuring Adrian Anchondo, Jessica Bates, Peter Kybart, Sarah Mitchell, Ellen Ratner, Rolf Saxon, Victor Talmadge, and Pamela Gaye Walker, AFTER THE REVOLUTION plays August 30 through September 29 at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. For tickets ($32-60) and information the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org.

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center presents the 2013 National Playwrights Conference. Under the leadership of Artistic DirectorWendy C. Goldberg, the Conference will run from today, July 3 to July 27 and develop eight new plays.

Critics and audiences agree that THIS IS HOW IT GOES shouldn't go anywhere anytime soon. Aurora Theatre Company announces that is will add an additional five performances of its current hit production of Neil LaBute's edgy comic drama THIS IS HOW IT GOES, directed by Aurora Theatre Company Artistic Director Tom Ross (A Delicate Balance). Featuring Aldo Billingslea (Collapse), Gabriel Marin (Collapse, Jack Goes Boating), and Carrie Paff (A Delicate Balance, Collapse, Betrayal), THIS IS HOW IT GOES presents a one-two punch after LaBute's Fat Pig (staged at Aurora in 2009). Tweaking perspectives of truth and interpretation to broach sharp questions about race, love, and manipulation, THIS IS HOW IT GOES plays at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeleynow through July 28 (added performances: Tuesday, July 23, 7pm, Thursday, July 25, 8pm, Friday, July 26, 8pm, Saturday, July 27, 8pm, Sunday, July 28, 2pm).

The Old Globe will give San Diegans a chance to hear their voices on stage when it holds open voiceover auditions for the World Premiere of Samuel D. Hunter's comedy The Few on Sunday, July 21 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center has announced full casting for the 2013 National Playwrights Conference. Under the leadership of Artistic DirectorWendy C. Goldberg, the Conference will run from July 3 to July 27 and develop eight new plays.

The Ojai Playwrights Conference (OPC), one of the most acclaimed new play developmental programs in the country, announces its 16th season with an extraordinary program of playwrights, new play workshops and special performance events from August 7 through 11, in Ojai, California. The OPC Summer New Works Festival will feature eleven events over five days with established and up-and-coming playwrights. Participating in this year's conference with new works are Luis Alfaro, Lucy Alibar, Richard Cabral, Samuel D. Hunter, Sean Lewis, Jiehae Park, Laura Schellhardt and David Wiener.

Ars Nova (Jason Eagan, Artistic Director; Jeremy Blocker, Managing Director) is now accepting applications for Play Group, a vibrant and eclectic group of emerging writers who gather twice a month at Ars Nova to share new work and get peer feedback. The group offers members the chance to develop their plays with peer support; to be inspired by each other's work; to form collaborative relationships; and to build a strong sense of community within Ars Nova. All emerging playwrights are eligible for membership. If selected, new members will be invited to join for a period of two years beginning in January of 2014.

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater Artistic Director David Van Asselt and Managing Director Brian Long have announced the company's 2013-14 season-its 19th-will include world premieres by Halley Feiffer, Charles Fuller, Samuel D. Hunter, Craig Lucas, Lucy Thurber, and Ken Urban.

Manhattan Theatre Club's American premiere of Tarell Alvin McCraney's CHOIR BOY, the new play featuring gospel music directed by Trip Cullman begins previews tonight at 7:30 PM in preparation for a Tuesday, July 2 opening at MTC's The Studio at Stage II - Harold and Mimi Steinberg New Play Series at New York City Center - Stage II (131 West 55th Street).

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center has announced cast members for the 2013 National Playwrights Conference. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Wendy C. Goldberg, the Conference will run from July 3 to July 27 and develop eight new plays.

Theater Breaking Through Barriers (TBTB), the renowned Off-Broadway company known for its productions that integrate artists with disabilities with able-bodied actors, presents its third annual short play festival, STILL MORE OF OUR PARTS - an evening of six ten-minute plays about disabilities -- with performances running through June 28 at Theatre Row's Clurman Theatre (410 West 42nd Street). BroadwayWorld has photos of the casts in action below!

Page 73 Productions - the Off-Broadway company dedicated to producing and developing works by early-career playwrights - will present a reading of their 2013 Interstate 73 member Peter Gil-Sheridan's play RITU COMES HOME on Monday, June 17 at 4pm at A.R.T./New York's Studios@520 (520 8th Avenue, 3rd Floor, Studio B) Davis McCallum (WATER BY THE SPOONFUL; ELLIOT, A SOLDIER'S FUGUE) will direct.

Victory Gardens and the One-Minute Play Festival (OMPF) present the Third Annual Chicago One-Minute Play Festival, an evening of micro-plays by sixty of Chicago's top playwrights, directed by ten Chicago directors. OMPF benefits the Miller Match campaign and will be presented for two performances only, today, June 17 and Tuesday, June 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln Park.

Closing Aurora Theatre Company's 21st season is the Bay Area Premiere of Neil LaBute's dark, edgy comic drama THIS IS HOW IT GOES, directed by Aurora Theatre Company Artistic Director Tom Ross (A Delicate Balance). Ross helmed LaBute's The Shape of Things, the first LaBute play produced in the Bay Area, in 2003. Featuring Aldo Billingslea (Collapse), Gabriel Marin (Collapse, Jack Goes Boating), and Carrie Paff (A Delicate Balance, Collapse, Betrayal), THIS IS HOW IT GOES presents a one-two punch after LaBute's Fat Pig (staged at Aurora in 2009).

McCarter Theatre Center has launched its 2013 Sallie B. Goodman Artists' Retreat, which is being held in Princeton through June 19. The ten participating artists are George Brant, Jade King Carroll, Samuel D. Hunter, Ken Ludwig, Emily Mann, Lynn Nottage, Nicole Ari Parker, Heather Raffo, David "Tom" Thompson, and Kathleen Tolan.

Theater Breaking Through Barriers (TBTB), the renowned Off-Broadway company known for its productions that integrate artists with disabilities with able-bodied actors, presents its third annual short play festival, STILL MORE OF OUR PARTS - an evening of six ten-minute plays about disabilities, featuring world premieres by Jerrod Bogard, Bekah Brunstetter, Bruce Graham, Samuel D. Hunter, Neil LaBute, and Lynn Manning, with performances to run tonight, June 13-28 at Theatre Row's Clurman Theatre (410 West 42nd Street). Christopher Burris, Nicholas Viselli, Christina Roussos, Russell Treyz, Karen Case Cook, and Roberto Cambeiro direct.

SPACE on Ryder Farm, a not-for-profit artist workshop space announces its 3nd season. Housed on an organic farm in picturesque Brewster, NY, SPACE will host over 100 artists as they develop 40 projects.