Theatre Development Fund News

The Broadway community mourns the loss of accomplished author, screenwriter and composer, Mary Rodgers Guettel, who passed away on Thursday at age 83. The marquees of Broadway theatres in New York will be dimmed in her memory Saturday, June 28th, at exactly 7:45pm for one minute.

Mary Rodgers Guettel died at her home in Manhattan this morning after a long illness, according to her son Alec Guettel. She was 83 years old.

The 35th Anniversary Dora Mavor Moore Awards for the 2013/2014 season were handed out in a star-studded ceremony in Toronto on the evening of Monday, June 23 at Harbourfront Centre's WestJet Stage, hosted by the hilarious Matt Baram and Naomi Snieckus, Second City alumni and founding members of the National Theatre of the World.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) launches its first ever autism friendly series, in consultation with the Theatre Development Fund's Autism Theatre Initiative, the first of its kind for a festival.

The Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) announced the VIP presenters for the 35th Anniversary Dora Mavor Moore Awards, to be held on Monday, June 23 at at Harbourfront Centre for the very first time.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) in association with Chinese Mother Jewish Daughter, LLC present Rescue Rue, a new musical fairytale with puppets; Concept, Book and Additional Lyrics by Stacey Weingarten, and Music and Lyrics by Kate Steinberg & Joshua Zecher-Ross. Stacey Weingarten directs a cast of seven including Jennifer Barnhart* (Bway: Avenue Q), Nate Begle(Off Bway: John Tartaglia's ImaginOcean), Sarah Liz Haines* (Off Bway: Freckle Face Strawberry), Jason Jacoby* (Off Bway: Avenue Q), Lisa Helmi Johanson* (Off Bway: Avenue Q), Brendan Malafronte (Nat. Tour: John Tartaglia's ImaginOcean), and Gretchen Wylder* (Off Bway: 'Til Divorce Do Us Part). Rescue Rue will be staged at the Ford Foundation Studio Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street (bet. 9th and 10th Avenues) in NYC for five performances from July 8-20, 2014. A special TDF Autism-Friendly performance will be held at July 20th at 11am. The Pershing Square Signature Center is the official hub of The New York Musical Theatre Festival. *Appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.

Theatre Development Fund (TDF), one of the country's foremost not-for-profit service organizations for the performing arts, has announced that Anne Trites will assume the post of Director of Development. The announcement was made by TDF's Executive Director, Victoria Bailey. Ms. Trites, who will begin her duties on June 30, has held the positions of Director of Marketing and Communications/Professor (adjunct) of Theatre Management, Yale School of Drama/Yale Repertory Theatre and Director of Development and Communications at The Canadian Stage Company.

The Leonard McHardy and John Harvey Award (LMJH Award) was inaugurated in 2008 and recognizes the important work of theatre, dance and opera administrators. Recipients of the LMJH Award have at least 10 years of demonstrated commitment to the performing arts, in addition to having made an impact on the industry in Toronto. The award is named after Leonard McHardy and John Harvey, the celebrated owners of Toronto's Theatrebooks, which they co-founded in 1975, and which now stands as one of the longest surviving independent bookstores in the country.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) has announced the full lineup of productions, concerts, readings and special events for its 11th annual festival. This year's Festival will begin July 7th and continue through July 27th.

Experience the passion and seduction in this elegant masterpiece, Tony Award-winning musical EVITA, presented as part of the Fifth Third Bank Broadway in Atlanta 2013/2014 season at the Fox Theatre.

The Barbara Hamilton Memorial Award was inaugurated in 1996 and is given to a Canadian artist who demonstrates excellence in the performing arts and is dedicated to advocating and being an ambassador for the arts in Canada. The Barbara Hamilton Memorial Award is presented every two years and is sponsored by the City of Toronto. The recipient is awarded with an official scroll from the City and this year the City has increased the cash prize from $1,000 to $ 1,750.

Ramin Karimloo has been nominated for a Dora Award for his triumphant turn in the Toronto production of LES MISERABLES presented by Mirvish Productions with Cameron Mackintosh. Karimloo is nominated in the category for Ourstanding Male Performance in a Musical.

Over 400 guests including current and past New York City high school students, and the performing arts professional mentors who have participated in TDF's Open Doors, the theatre arts mentoring program that TDF founded in 1998 with playwright Wendy Wasserstein, will attend this year's graduation at 5:30pm on Monday, June 2 at The Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College (524 West 59th Street, NYC). In 2012, TDF's Open Doors was the first arts education program to receive a special Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre. This year, Open Doors had 27 mentors working with 24 groups of students from New York City high schools.

Scenic designer, writer and professor, MARJORIE BRADLEY KELLOGG, and costume designer DEBORAH M. DRYDEN are among the 2014 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards recipients. The awards will be presented at a ceremony tonight, May 2, at 6:30pm, at the Hudson Theatre (145 West 44th Street).

Longtime Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) costume designer Deborah M. Dryden has been selected by the Theatre Development Fund (TDF) as the 2014 recipient of the TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for costume design. The award will be presented by designer David Woolard at tonight's May 2 ceremony at the Hudson Theatre in New York City.

Longtime Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) costume designer Deborah M. Dryden has been selected by the Theatre Development Fund (TDF) as the 2014 recipient of the TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for costume design. The award will be presented by designer David Woolard at a May 2 ceremony at the Hudson Theatre in New York City.

Todd London - writer, scholar, and current artistic director of New Dramatists in New York - has been named the new Executive Director of the School of Drama at the University of Washington. Dr. London will also serve as a professor in the School. He will be relocating to Seattle from New York this summer and will officially assume his role as Executive Director on August 1, 2014. This appointment is pending formal approval by the University of Washington Board of Regents.

Broadway In Chicago has announced additional principal casting for the world premiere of AMAZING GRACE, the new musical with music and lyrics by Christopher Smith and a book by Christopher Smith and Arthur Giron, directed by Gabriel Barre (Andrew Lippas' The Wild Party) and choreographed by Tony Award winner Christopher Gattelli (Newsies).

As part of the second annual Live Ideas festival, James Baldwin, This Time!, New York Live Artspresents Baldwin Through Dance: Charles O. Anderson and Dianne McIntyre. The shared program features the world premiere of Time is Time created and performed by acclaimed dancer and choreographer Dianne McIntyre, and the New York City premiere of Charles O. Anderson's Restless Natives.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre continues the second half of its season with Tribes, a sophisticated and moving family drama by celebrated British playwright Nina Raine. Her profound and powerful new play became an award-winning hit in London and New York. Now renowned director Jonathan Moscone brings it to Berkeley Rep this April for its Bay Area premiere. Tribes follows Billy, a young man who was born deaf into a loquacious and highly opinionated academic family who raised him to lip-read and integrate into the hearing world. When he meets Sylvia - raised by Deaf parents and going deaf herself - Billy decides it's time to speak on his own terms and to be heard. Playing out in words, sign language, and sometimes mesmerizing silence, this penetrating drama examines familial love, notions of belonging, and the intersections of communication. Tribes began previews Friday, April 11, opens tonight, April 16, and closes on Sunday, May 11, 2014.