Actors Theatre of Louisville Announces COLLEGE DAYS WEEKEND Itinerary
by Harmony Wheeler
- Feb 15, 2012
Artistic Director Les Waters and Managing Director Jennifer Bielstein have announced the line-up of events that comprise the annual College Days Weekend as part of the 36th annual Humana Festival of New American Plays. This year, College Days Weekend is slated for March 16 - 18, as part of the Humana Festival of New American Plays that runs February 26 -April 1, 2012.
BWW Reviews: West Coast Premiere EL NOGALAR Sizzles at the Fountain
by Don Grigware
- Jan 30, 2012
Tanya Saracho's El Nogalar means The Pecan Orchard in English, so its similarity to Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard rings a bell even before one sees the play. There are differences between the two, of course. Saracho has taken out most of Chekhov's male characters and leaves but one: Lopez (Justin Huen) - Lopakhin in Cherry Orchard - the grandson of servants who has risen to sudden power and wealth through Mexico's drug cartel. It's not the Russian aristocratic middle class who have lost out to the rising lower class as in Chekhov, where the bank forecloses on the Ranevsky estate, but the Mexican drug dynasty that has contaminated all Mexican citizens, allowing the poor to usurp control and money - Saracho calls it new money, Facebook money. Now in a splendidly directed and acted production at the Fountain Theatre, this West Coast premiere sizzles with earthy passion and sensuality.
In the Works Theater Lab Series Begins on Nov. 17 in Millennium Park
by BWW
News Desk
- Nov 16, 2011
Returning for a third season to Millennium Park is the theater lab series, In the Works, where audiences have a chance to sit on the stage of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in a climate controlled environment and experience works in development by local theater artists. The 2011-2012 season, supported by a grant from The Boeing Company, kicks off with a concert reading of Lifeline Theatre's world premiere adaptation of Hunger on November 17-19, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
Actors Theatre of Louisville Announces Lineup for the 36th Annual Humana Festival
by Lauren Wolman
- Nov 13, 2011
Actors Theatre of Louisville is thrilled to announce the lineup of the 36th Annual Humana Festival of New American Plays. This year's Festival will feature 10 world premieres that celebrate 14 vital voices in American theatre today. Described by Gordon Cox at Variety as "one of the most prominent showcases of fully staged new plays in the U.S." the Festival is a driving force of new play development in America and attracts a national and international audience of nearly 40,000 theatre professionals and enthusiasts each year. This season, the Humana Festival runs February 26 through April 1, 2012.
Managing Director Jennifer Bielstein states,"I am incredibly proud of our artistic team and the selections in the 2012 Humana Festival. The plays that we announce today will join a prestigious catalogue of work we have launched into the American theatre repertoire. The Humana Festival remains a standout event in the American theatre, drawing local, national and international attention and attracting arts professionals and theatre enthusiasts from across the country. Last year's Humana Festival boasted more than 100 performances and attracted visitors from 44 states and 9 countries. We are extremely grateful to the Humana Foundation, whose commitment to support the Festival's mission is unmatched.'
This year's Festival showcases seven full-length plays, including a play by five writers commissioned by Actors Theatre and featuring the Acting Apprentice Company, and an evening of three ten-minute plays (yet to be announced). The productions will run in rotating repertory in Actors Theatre's 633-seat Pamela Brown Auditorium, 318-seat Bingham Theatre and 159-seat Victor Jory Theatre.
"We are tremendously excited to support an array of remarkable voices in this festival lineup that brings together a diverse collection of aesthetics, cultural perspectives and original stories," remarked Amy Wegener, Actors Theatre's Literary Director."This constellation of amazing playwrights includes a mix of men and women, experiences that range from the suburban Midwest to the Middle East, veterans of Broadway and writers who'll see their work produced on this scale for the first time. The Humana Festival's commitment to production as a vital stage of new play development, with the writer's imagination as our compass, allows the creative teams to fully engage with the possibilities of the plays' rich theatrical worlds-and for audiences to share in that discovery."
Idris Goodwin, who will make his Humana Festival debut, said, "How We Got On launches my most recent theatrical endeavor: to pay homage to Hip Hop in the Midwest, the culture that shaped me as a writer. What greater affirmation than to participate in this country's most essential new play festival.'
'I'm tremendously grateful and thrilled that my odd play about a vampire with second thoughts will premiere at the Humana Festival," said playwright Greg Kotis on having his play selected. "I've had the honor to participate in the Festival twice before, first as a co-author of BRINK! (an anthology show written for and performed by Actor Theatre's Acting Apprentice Company), and then as a performer in and an author of one of the ten-minute plays. The Humana Festival continues to be one of the essential events of our national theatre season, and I'm very happy to be a part of it once again.'
Mona Mansour said, "I am thrilled to be invited to be in this year's festival, where so many plays I admire were launched. And I am equally thrilled to be there with Mark Wing-Davey, who directed the very first reading of The Hour of Feeling at the Public Theater."
This year's festival program will feature (in chronological order):
Seven full-length world premieres, including
The Veri**on Play by Lisa Kron
How We Got On by Idris Goodwin
The Hour of Feeling by Mona Mansour
Eat Your Heart Out by Courtney Baron
Death Tax by Lucas Hnath
Michael von Siebenburg Melts Through the Floorboards by Greg Kotis
Oh, Gastronomy! by Michael Golamco, Carson Kreitzer, Steve Moulds, Tanya Saracho and Matt Schatz, performed by the Actors Theatre Acting Apprentice Company.
An evening of three Ten-Minute Plays (to be announced)
The 2012 Humana Festival schedule also features special industry weekend packages, networking opportunities, discussions and soiree events, making Louisville the place to be in American theatre this spring. For more information on individual plays, see below.
Actors Theatre celebrates the 36th Annual Humana Festival with its underwriter The Humana Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Humana, Inc. Additional support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.
Editor: The involvement of The Humana Foundation in the Humana Festival of New American Plays is very important to us. We would greatly appreciate inclusion of its participation in your coverage. The Humana Festival represents the largest and longest-running active partnership between a corporation and a theatre in the United States.
Berg, Malik, Saracho Lead OUR HOLIDAY STORIES at 16th Street
by BWW
News Desk
- Nov 10, 2011
Thanksgiving, Ramadan and Christmas on the border. Changing old traditions with holiday stories you have never heard before from three of 16th Street's favorite female writers: novelist Elizabeth Berg (The Pull of the Moon), Rohina Malik (Unveiled) and Tanya Saracho (Kita y Fernanda and Our Lady of the Underpass).
NyLon Fusion Collective Presents YOU ARE HERE
by Gabrielle Sierra
- Nov 8, 2011
NyLon Fusion Collective presents the world premiere of You Are Here by members of its Writers Collective: Jack Karp, Kate Mulley, Alisha Silver and Joseph Samuel Wright.
Berg, Malik, Saracho Lead OUR HOLIDAY STORIES at 16th Street
by Gabrielle Sierra
- Oct 28, 2011
Thanksgiving, Ramadan and Christmas on the border. Changing old traditions with holiday stories you have never heard before from three of 16th Street's favorite female writers: novelist Elizabeth Berg (The Pull of the Moon), Rohina Malik (Unveiled) and Tanya Saracho (Kita y Fernanda and Our Lady of the Underpass).
In the Works Theater Lab Series Begins on Nov. 17 in Millennium Park
by Kelsey Denette
- Oct 7, 2011
Returning for a third season to Millennium Park is the theater lab series, In the Works, where audiences have a chance to sit on the stage of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in a climate controlled environment and experience works in development by local theater artists. The 2011-2012 season, supported by a grant from The Boeing Company, kicks off with a concert reading of Lifeline Theatre's world premiere adaptation of Hunger on November 17-19, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
Richard Thomas, S. Epatha Merkerson, et al. Set for Public Theatre's NEW WORKS NOW
by Nicole Rosky
- Sep 9, 2011
The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis, Interim Executive Director Joey Parnes) announces casting for the second week of the popular reading series, NEW WORK NOW!, running thru Sunday, September 18 in The Public's Martinson Theater (425 Lafayette Street). Casting for the free readings includes Donald Moffat, Richard Thomas, Michael Cristofer, Veanne Cox, Peter Francis James, Bill Heck, and S. Epatha Merkerson. All readings are free and open to the public and may be reserved by contacting the box office at (212) 967-7555.
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