Taylor Mac News

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) begins accepting entries today, Wednesday, October 7, for the LIVEforFIVE online lottery for $5 tickets to their New York premiere of HIR, a new play by Obie Award-winning theater artist Taylor Mac (A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, The Lily's Revenge, The Walk Across America for Mother Earth, The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac, The Young Ladies Of).  Directed by theater director and performance artist Niegel Smith (Artistic Director of The Flea), the play is the second production of the theater company's 2015/2016 Season.   

Abingdon Theatre Company has appointed Tony Speciale as its next Artistic Director. Mr. Speciale, currently represented Off-Broadway as director of The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, succeeds Jan Buttram, who leaves her post after 22 years. Mr. Speciale begins October 1.

In response to participant feedback, the LIT Fund, the only charitable organization exclusively dedicated to the independent theatre sector of New York City, will be giving away five $1,000 grants this year to help companies and individuals pay artist fees.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival announced today the launch of a 39-play, three-year commissioning project, Play on! 36 playwrights translate Shakespeare.

Due to critical acclaim and popular demand, Playwrights Horizons and Center Theatre Group have announced an extension of their New York premiere co-production of THE CHRISTIANS, a new play by Lucas Hnath (A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney, Red Speedo, Isaac's Eye, Death Tax).  Directed by Obie Award winner Les Waters (Doris to Darlene at PH; 10 Out of 12; In the Next Room, or the vibrator play; Big Love; eurydice), the play is the opening production of the Playwrights Horizons 2015/2016 Season. 

Rehearsals have just begun for the Playwrights Horizons New York premiere production of HIR, a new play by Obie Award winner Taylor Mac, directed by Niegel Smith.  The play is the second production of Playwrights Horizons' 2015/2016 Season. Previews begin Friday, October 16 at Playwrights Horizons' Peter Jay Sharp Theater.  Opening Night is set for Sunday, November 8 with a limited engagement through Sunday, November 29. 

Carole Shorenstein Hays, the Tony® Award winning producer and San Francisco's leading theatrical presenter, has announced plans for the future of the Curran theatre.

As part of its 2015-2016 Producing Season, HERE proudly presents Chang(e), a HERE Resident Artist production devised by Soomi Kim and director Suzi Takahashi.  A limited engagement plays November 4 - 22 at HERE (145 Sixth Avenue, just below Spring Street).  This new work, developed through the HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP), marks the culmination of a residency for Soomi Kim with HARP.

Dixon Place's dance commission, Mark Dendy Project's WHISTLEBLOWER, written, choreographed and directed by Bessie and Obie award winner Mark Dendy, will have its world premiere tonight, September 11th at 7:30 PM. With his company of dancers and original music by Heather Christian, Dendy, explores the actions and sexual orientation of renowned dissident Bradley/Chelsea Manning.

Classical Greek theatre will take over Classic Stage Company when it begins its 2015/2016 season with the inaugural GREEK FESTIVAL!

Writer and actor Rhonda S. Musak brings the world premiere of Rhonda Badonda: The Adventures of a Girl with a Pain in Her Brain to the Vancouver Fringe Festival. This funny and moving piece takes the audience on a triumphant, auto-biographical journey through the trials and tribulations of being different, and ultimately to self-discovery and healing. This touchingly personal tale is directed by Gareth Hendee and runs as part of the Vancouver Fringe Festival, September 10-20, 2015 at the False Creek Gym.

Dixon Place's commission CHASE: WHAT MATTERS MOST?, by the Award-winning ANIMALS performance group, will have its world premiere on Friday, October 9th at 7:30 PM.

The New England Foundation for the Arts announces $630,000 in six new grants during the fifth year of the National Theater Project. NTP supports the development and touring of new theater works.

The Public Theater will kick off the 2015-16 season in September with a free Public Works musical adaptation of Homer's THE ODYSSEY, conceived and directed by Public Works Director Lear deBessonet, with music, lyrics and book by Todd Almond. THE ODYSSEY will once again feature over 200 actors and community members alongside five equity actors, including this year Brandon Victor Dixon as Odysseus and Karen Olivo as Penelope.

Playwrights Horizons begins accepting entries today, Wednesday, August 19, for the LIVEforFIVE online lottery for $5 tickets to their New York premiere of THE CHRISTIANS, a new play by Lucas Hnath (A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney, Isaac's Eye, Death Tax).  Directed by Obie Award winner Les Waters (Doris to Darlene at PH; the recent 10 Out of 12; In the Next Room, or the vibrator play; Big Love; eurydice), the play is the opening production of the theater company's 2015/2016 Season, and it's a co-production with L.A.'s Center Theatre Group (Michael Ritchie, Artistic Director; Stephen D. Rountree, Managing Director).

Dixon Place's dance commission, Mark Dendy Project's WHISTLEBLOWER, written, choreographed and directed by Bessie and Obie award winner Mark Dendy, will have its world premiere on Friday, September 11th at 7:30 PM. With his company of dancers and original music by Heather Christian, Dendy, explores the actions and sexual orientation of renowned dissident Bradley/Chelsea Manning.

Playwrights Horizons has announced additional casting for its upcoming 2015/2016 Season.

Writer and actor Rhonda S. Musak brings the world premiere of Rhonda Badonda: The Adventures of a Girl with a Pain in Her Brain to the Vancouver Fringe Festival. This funny and moving piece takes the audience on a triumphant, auto-biographical journey through the trials and tribulations of being different, and ultimately to self-discovery and healing. This touchingly personal tale is directed by Gareth Hendee and runs as part of the Vancouver Fringe Festival, September 10-20, 2015 at the False Creek Gym.

Winner of the 2014 NYMF Developmental Reading Series, this Latin infused American musical is inspired by the true story of a Princeton Undergrad who was an undocumented child immigrant from the Dominican Republic. When Manuel gets a scholarship to study at Oxford, he's faced with the realization that he can't leave the USA. He takes on The Statue of Liberty in the fight of a lifetime; the high-stakes boxing match that is immigration today. Is Manuel worthy? No one is spared in this political comedy that pulls no punches about immigration reform and the American Dream.

Playwrights Horizons and Center Theatre Group have announced casting for THE CHRISTIANS, the New York premiere of a new play by Lucas Hnath (A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney, Isaac's Eye, Death Tax).  Directed by Obie Award winner Les Waters (Doris to Darlene at PH; the recent 10 Out of 12; In the Next Room, or the vibrator play; Big Love; eurydice), the play is the opening production of the theater company's 2015/2016 Season.