Samuel D. Hunter News

Four award-winning playwrights and one acclaimed theatre collective will join the residency programs at Signature Theatre, the company announced today.

Victory Gardens Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director Chay Yew and Executive Director Erica Daniels, announces the lineup for its 2019-2020 Season. Victory Gardens' 45th Season will include the Chicago premiere of Tiny Beautiful Things by Nia Vardalos; the world premiere of The First Deep Breath by Lee Edward Colston II; the co-world premiere of How to Defend Yourself by Lily Padilla; and the world premiere of Dhaba on Devon Avenue by Madhuri Shekar; and the Chicago premiere of Right to Be Forgotten by Sharyn Rothstein.

Playwright Kara Lee Corthron is the recipient of the 2019 William Inge Theatre Festival's Otis Guernsey New Voices in the American Theatre Award, which recognizes substantial early contributions to the contemporary American stage.

With the original run and first extension completely sold out, Steep Theatre is extending the run of Ike Holter's Red Rex through March 30. Jack Miggins, who was nominated for a Jeff Award for his work in Steep's 2014 production of The Vandal, will join the cast in the role of Adam beginning on March 13. Tickets are on sale now at steeptheatre.com/redrex, and they're expected to sell very quickly. 

The ALASKA ONE-MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL (#1MPF) returns to for its sixth year, in partnership with Perseverance Theatre at the Alaska Center For The Performing Arts. The 6th Annual Alaska 1MPF runs two performances only; Sunday, March 17 & Monday, March 18 at 8pm.

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC) has added three performances to its highly anticipated upcoming production of Birdy, adapted by Naomi Wallace from the novel by William Wharton, and directed by Steven Maler. The production now runs February 27 through March 17 at the Carling-Sorenson Theater at Babson College in Wellesley.

The Clive Barnes Foundation, under the leadership of former Royal Ballet soloist Valerie Taylor-Barnes, awarded its prizes today for the 9th Annual Clive Barnes Awards, recognizing excellence in Theater and Dance, to Edmund Donovan (Theater, Lewiston/Clarkston) and Zoey Anderson (Dance, Parsons Dance). The awards were presented by Michael Novak, artistic director of Paul Taylor Dance Company and Tony-winner Beth Leavel, currently starring in Broadway's The Prom. The event, hosted by New York Post columnist and WOR radio personality Michael Riedel was held at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center.

With the original run completely sold out, Steep Theatre is extending the run of Ike Holter's Red Rex through March 16 and adding Wednesday evening performances to the schedule beginning February 6. Tickets are on sale now at steeptheatre.com/redrex, and they're expected to sell very quickly. 

PAGE 73 PRODUCTIONS has named Sanaz Toossi the 2019 Page 73 Playwriting Fellow. Selected from nearly 400 applicants, Toossi will receive a $10,000 award and an additional $10,000 budgeted for developing several new plays over the course of the year.

In January, Steep Ensemble Member Jonathan Berry returns to Steep to direct the world premiere of Ike Holter's Red Rex, the sixth play in Holter's seven-play "Rightlynd Saga" about Chicago. Since the 2012 production of his Hit the Wall, Holter's work has gained increasing national and international attention. In describing the "Rightlynd Saga," Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune opined that it "might just be one of the most significant literary achievements in modern-day Chicago." Holter's play Rightlynd, part of the seven-play saga, is currently in production at Victory Gardens Theatre, and his Lottery Day, the final play in the saga, premieres in the Spring of 2019 at the Goodman Theatre. Director Jonathan Berry has been at the helm of many of Steep's most memorable shows, including the recent smash-hit production of Simon Stephens' Birdland.

Previews begin tonight for the world premiere production of The Convent, a new play by critically acclaimed playwright Jessica Dickey (The Amish Project, Charles Ives Take Me Home), directed by Daniel Talbott.

I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into Friday night when I went and saw the opening night of A PERMANENT IMAGE (written by Samuel D. Hunter) at Skiptown Playhouse in Hollywood. I read the small synopsis I found online where it said, 'A PERMANENT IMAGE is a darkly comedic look at fraught family dynamics that dares to ask the question, 'Can death actually bring life together?'' Mind you, I had realized 12 hours prior to curtain it was the fifth anniversary of my grandmother's death. 'Was this the best thing sit through?' I asked myself. And you know what? The play may have started off a bit rocky but it blossomed into a beautiful representation of death.

Theatre Horizon, a professional, award-winning theatre company located in Norristown, Pennsylvania, is thrilled to present the regional premiere of Samuel D. Hunter's THE FEW. The crackling production, directed by Theatre Horizon Resident Director and Co-Founder Matthew Decker, runs for a limited engagement starting March 14, 2019. Opening night for press is Wednesday, March 20 at 7:30PM.

The 8th ANNUAL BOSTON ONE-MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL (#1MPF) returns for its eighth year, in partnership with Boston Playwrights' Theatre. The marathon evening of one-minute plays by 60 established and emerging Boston area playwrights and directors plays three performances only. Today, January 5th at 8pm, Sunday, January 6th at 8pm, & Monday, January 7th at 8pm.

Victory Gardens Theater announces Tanuja Jagernauth as the 2019 Marcelle McVay Management Fellow for 2019. Victory Gardens Next Generation Fellowships provide comprehensive mentorship, requisite training, and experience for these future leaders of color, preparing them to helm arts institutions or departments on the national and local level. The 2019 Macelle McVay Management Fellowship is made possible by support from the Weiss Grosshandler Charitable Fund.

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and Founding Artistic Director Steven Maler announced the cast of the second production of its 2018-19 Season: Birdy, adapted by Naomi Wallace from the novel by William Wharton, and directed by Steven Maler. The production runs February 27 through March 10 at the Carling-Sorenson Theater at Babson College in Wellesley.

The 8th ANNUAL BOSTON ONE-MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL (#1MPF) returns for its eighth year, in partnership with Boston Playwrights' Theatre. The marathon evening of one-minute plays by 60 established and emerging Boston area playwrights and directors plays three performances only. Saturday, January 5th at 8pm, Sunday, January 6th at 8pm, & Monday, January 7th at 8pm.

-A small theater company moves into an abandoned Chicago storefront. Led by their adventurously thirsty artistic director, they embark on an explosive new play with the hope of finally breaking it big. When the ensemble realizes their source material might not be as original as once assumed, they are thrust into an intense confrontation with residents of their new community, who not only want them out, but will take their story back by any means necessary. Red Rex is the sixth play in Ike Holter's seven part 'Rightlynd Saga," which also includes Exit Strategy, Prowess, and The Wolf at the End of the Block.

Victory Gardens Theater, with Actors Theatre of Louisville, to present the Co-World Premiere of How to Defend Yourself, written by Lily Padilla and directed by Marti Lyons. How to Defend Yourself will be presented at the 2019 Humana Festival of New American Plays (March 21 - April 7, 2019) and as part of the Victory Gardens Theater 2019/2020 Season (January 24 - February 23, 2020).

RATTLESTICK PLAYWRIGHTS THEATER announces the extension of the New York premieres of LEWISTON/CLARKSTON, two plays written by MacArthur Genius Grant Winner Samuel D. Hunter (The Whale, Bright New Boise, The Few) and directed by his long-term collaborator Davis McCallum