The Public Theater News

One of the great opportunities afforded to playgoers at The Public Theater's annual Under The Radar Festival is the chance to see how theatre companies from other countries address the same issues being tackled by their American counterparts.

Celebrated performer and writer Justin Sayre will debut his new variety show 'Queer Revolution Live!' on Saturday, February 9 and Sunday, February 10 at 9:30 PM. It's the weekend of some kind of sporting event, but we don't care! We're here to create a party all our own! There'll be dance, music, comedy, and everything else you might need to get the year off to its rightful and righteous Queer Beginning. Each night will host a different line-up of Queer Artists from around New York, with Justin Elizabeth Sayre at the helm. That other thing only has a halftime show! This is a FULL-TIME SHOW! Special guests will be announced soon.

Make/Shift, in association with AKIN, expands upon last year's first-ever, electrifying SHE Creates festival: an annual, all-inclusive celebration of womanhood and gender nonconformity. This year's event, SHE Creates 2k19, will take place at New Ohio Theatre and will feature: the New York Premiere of The Clark Doll, written by Liz Morgan and directed by Tyler Thomas; a variety of Opening Acts by female and genderqueer artists; an Art Gallery featuring dozens of emerging, female and genderqueer visual artists; and a Party, hosted by AKIN.

THE GREEN ROOM 42 Broadway's newest intimate concert venue will present a special evening of original music from composer and lyricist Steven Jamail on Monday, January 28 at 7:00 PM.

Salty Brine proudly announces a year-long residency at downtown cabaret and music venue Joe's Pub at The Public Theater in 2019. Brine will perform four original shows as part of his long-running series, The Living Record Collection.

 5th Wall Theatre amps up its 2018-2019 season with Pulitzer-nominated Talk Radio starring Scott Wichmann. Written by American stage provocateur and bad-boy Eric Bogosian, Talk Radio gives us a glimpse into the night-life of talk radio host Barry Champlain. Not just a chronicle of radio life, this play weaves together juicy incites and observations on life, love, commercialism, and free speech in America.

The Public Theater and Onassis USA today announced the wide-ranging line-up for the ONASSIS FESTIVAL 2019: DEMOCRACY IS COMING running April 10-28, 2019 at The Public Theater and also La MaMa.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley presents the West Coast premiere of the roof-raising musical play Marie and Rosetta. Developed at TheatreWorks' 2015 New Works Festival by Lucille Lortel Award-winner George Brant, Marie and Rosetta shares the saga of a musical legend. From stirring up churchgoers in the morning to rocking the Cotton Club at night, Sister Rosetta Tharpe inspired Elvis, Ray Charles, and more on her way to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Growing competition on the 1940s Gospel Circuit finds Rosetta auditioning a new partner with a voice made from heaven. Will they break, blend, or find harmony at last?

Award winning actress Johnnie Mae, who played the role of housekeeper Louann Pratt in season one of the Martin Scorsese produced Boardwalk Empire on HBO, has joined the cast of the staged reading of Janice Liddell's drama The Talk, an installment in the Frank Silvera Writers Workshop monthly reading series in partnership with The Billie Holiday Theatre.

Artistic Director Chay Yew and Managing Director Erica Daniels announce an addition to the 2018-2019 Victory Gardens season the Chicago Premiere of If I Forget, written by Steven Levenson and directed by Devon de Mayo. If I Forget runs June 7 July 7, 2019, with the press performance on Friday, June 14, 2019 at 7:30pm at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

We are pleased to announce the winners for the 2018 BroadwayWorld San Antonio Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Nominations were reader-submitted and voted on by you - the local theatergoers!

The Donmar Warehouse today announces the extension, due to exceptional demand, for Lynette Linton's acclaimed production of Sweat by Lynn Nottage. The production will now be booking for performances until Saturday 2 February 2019.

Crowded Fire Theater (CFT) Lucy Thurber's TRANSFERS will open Crowded Fire's 21st home season of new and contemporary plays. A brilliantly written, gut-punch of a play that strips the veneer off of meritocracy and asks us if we are willing to sacrifice ourselves to embrace a way out, this new production of TRANSFERS will feature an impressive cast directed by Ken Savage.

Award-winning artists and activists are joining forces to bring the #MeToo movement to the stage. Inspired by the women who have come forward with personal accounts of President Donald Trump's sexual harassment and assaults, "The Pussy Grabber Plays" will premiere Monday, January 14 at 9:30 p.m. at Joe's Pub at The Public Theater. An acclaimed, all-female production team will make the play available royalty-free to theaters, community groups and colleges across the country, creating a new platform for survivors of sexual abuse.

TodayTix, the global ticketing platform connecting audiences to live performances around the world, has partnered with Theatre Philadelphia for the second year as the official ticketing partner for Philly Theatre Week to offer more than 60 shows for free, $15 or $30.

The League of Professional Theatre Women (Kelli Lynn Harrison & Catherine Porter, Co-Presidents), an organization which has been leading the gender parity conversation and championing women in the professional theatre for over 35 years, will present its first Oral History Project of 2019 with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage on Monday, February 4 starting at 6pm in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (111 Amsterdam Avenue at 65th Street).

The Kleban Foundation has announced the recipients of the 29th Annual Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre. The judges declared a tie in the most promising musical theatre lyricist category between Sarah Hammond and Shaina Taub. The Kleban Prize for the most promising musical theatre librettist has been awarded to Charlie Sohne. The 2019 prizes will be presented on Monday, February 4, 2018, in a private ceremony (by invitation only) hosted by ASCAP and BMI at ASCAP.

With the Young Vic's recent run of critical-success including The Convert currently running at Young Vic, The Inheritance at the Noel Coward Theatre and The Jungle now playing at St Ann's Warehouse in New York, Artistic Director of the Young Vic, Kwame Kwei-Armah, today announces the full cast for Stephen Adly Guirgis' Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train, directed by Kate Hewitt in the Main House, and April de Angelis' Wild East, directed by recipient of Genesis Future Directors Award, Lekan Lawal, in The Clare.

Long Wharf Theatre, under the leadership of Artistic Director Jacob G. Padron and Managing Director Joshua Borenstein, presents Miller, Mississippi, by Boo Killebrew, directed by Lee Sunday Evans, from January 9 through February 2, 2019.

Kathy Evans, Founding Executive Director of Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, announced applications are open for this summer. Nine musical theatre writing teams will be awarded nine consecutive weeklong residencies in the Hudson Valley between June 30 and September 1. Each team gets a private retreat to focus solely on writing their new musical. All writers are eligible and their musical can be at any stage of development. All costs are covered including travel up to $750, and each writer gets a $500 stipend. Writers with children are welcomed to apply. There is no fee for applications received by February 6 and there is a fee of $20 for the final deadline of February 16.  More information and the online application can be found at https://www.rhinebeckwriters.org/2019-residencies.