Tim Blake Nelson News

Good morning BroadwayWorld! Today's top stories: watch highlights from this year's Stars in the Alley concert and more!

Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham announced the line-up today for The Public's 2018-19 Season at their landmark home on 425 Lafayette Street. The iconic New York destination, which includes five theaters and Joe's Pub, as well as The Library restaurant, has been home to over 50 years of revolutionary theater, and continues this season with new work by Emerging Writers Group alum and 2017-18 Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence Patricia Ione Lloyd, Public Studio alumni Hansol Jung and Jordan E. Cooper, Master Writer Chair Suzan-Lori Parks, Conor McPherson, Simon Stephens, Nick Payne, Jane Anderson, Tim Blake Nelson, and Luis Alfaro, as well as the continuation of year-round and community engagement programming: Mobile Unit, Public Works, Under the Radar Festival, Public Studio, Public Forum, Public Shakespeare Initiative, Emerging Writers Group, and the beloved Free Shakespeare in the Park.

Soho Rep. (Sarah Benson, Artistic Director; Cynthia Flowers, Executive Director) today announced that actor Charles Browning will take over for Lance Coadie Williams in the world premiere of Jackie Sibblies Drury's Fairview, which Soho Rep. Artistic Director Sarah Benson directs, and which the downtown Manhattan theater presents in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Due to unforeseen personal circumstances, Williams is unable to continue.The production now runs at Soho Rep. June 2 - July 8, with opening now set for Sunday, June 17. 

Soho Rep. (Sarah Benson, Artistic Director; Cynthia Flowers, Executive Director), in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, presents the world premiere of Jackie Sibblies Drury's Fairview, directed by Soho Rep. Artistic Director Sarah Benson, May 29 - July 1. Following her "inventive," "pulse-pounding" We Are Proud to Present…(The New York Times, Time Out New York, and New York Magazine Critics' Picks), Sibblies Drury returns to Soho Rep. with Fairview, a play that shows us that nothing's funnier than "family drama."

MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) is pleased to announce the extension by popular demand of the World Premiere of Transfers. Inspired by young artists participating in the MCC Theater Youth Company, Transfers is written by MCC Theater's Youth Company Playwriting Lab Director and Obie Award winner Lucy Thurber, and directed by Jackson Gay. Previously scheduled through May 13, Transfers will now play through Sunday, May 20 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street).

Soho Rep.'s 2018 Spring Fete, emceed by Ghanaian-American writer and actor Jocelyn Bioh, and hosted by actress Jennifer Ehle (Pride & Prejudice) will honor philanthropists Janice Lee and Stuart Shapiro, Monday, April 16 at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers (Pier 61, Chelsea Piers) in Manhattan.

The 5X5 Drama Series was founded in 2016 to bring great new plays beyond the footlights and into nontraditional spaces like breweries, rooftops, and taverns to provide an immersive and unique audience experience. The 90-minute program consists of 5 short plays performed by 5 casts and is performed in all 5 boroughs. Fulfilling one of our core beliefs to make theatre more accessible to all, 5X5 brings the stage directly to the people in the spaces where they gather, learn and relax. Best of all, tickets are available on a suggested donation basis. Seating is very limited. For reservations and performance times, visit www.theatreeast.org.

MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) is thrilled to announce their critically acclaimed, sold out, extended production of School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play, written by 2017-18 Tow Playwright-in-Residence Jocelyn Bioh, and directed by Tony Award winner Rebecca Taichman, will return to New York, playing a strictly limited engagement this fall. Tickets are now on sale for School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play which will begin previews at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street) on Tuesday, October 16, with an official opening night set for Monday, October 22, 2018. The show is set to run through November 25, 2018. Additional information, including casting, will be announced shortly.

The 5X5 Drama Series was founded in 2016 to bring great new plays beyond the footlights and into nontraditional spaces like breweries, rooftops, and taverns to provide an immersive and unique audience experience. The 90-minute program consists of 5 short plays performed by 5 casts and is performed in all 5 boroughs.

MCC Theater is thrilled to announce four new productions for its 32nd Season in the Theater's new, permanent home. The season includes an exciting mix of world and New York premieres from artists both familiar and new to MCC audiences-each fulfilling MCC's longtime commitment to bold, risk-taking works from the most vital voices working in theater today.

MCC Theater (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey and William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) is thrilled to announce the additional performers to the all-star lineup set for their annual Miscast gala include: Tony Award® nominee Jeremy Jordan ('Supergirl,' Newsies); Caissie Levy (Frozen); Tony Award® winner Victoria Clark (The Light in the Piazza, Cinderella); and SpongeBob SquarePants' Ethan Slater, Wesley Taylor (The Addams Family, Rock of Ages) and Tony Award® nominee Gavin Lee (Mary Poppins).

Theatre East is pleased to announce the five playwrights selected for the 2017-2018 5x5 Drama Series. BOB'S BIRTHDAY by Lowell Bartholomee, JUMPING UP AND DOWN HAPPY TOWN by Lori Fischer, OH, DANNY BOY by Edward Allan Baker, WE THREE by Julia Rae Maldonado, and FAINT TASTE OF CAT FOOD AND SOUR MILK by Barbara Blumenthal-Ehrlich.

MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) announced the New York Premiere production of Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties, written by Jen Silverman, and directed by MCC alum Mike Donahue (The Legend of Georgia McBride).

Soho Rep.'s 2018 Spring Fete, emceed by Ghanaian-American writer and actor Jocelyn Bioh, will honor philanthropists Janice Lee and Stuart Shapiro, Monday, April 16 at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers (Pier 61, Chelsea Piers) in Manhattan.

MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) today announced the complete cast for the fourth show of its 2017-18 season: the World Premiere production of Transfers, written by MCC Theater's Youth Company Playwriting Lab Director and Obie Award winner Lucy Thurber, and directed by Jackson Gay.

MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) announced today that tickets are now on sale for the World Premiere production of Transfers, written by MCC Theater's Youth Company Playwriting Lab Director and Obie Award winner Lucy Thurber, and directed by Jackson Gay.

Soho Rep. (Sarah Benson, Artistic Director; Cynthia Flowers, Executive Director), has extended the world premiere of Aleshea Harris's Relentless Award-winning Is God Is, directed by Taibi Magar, a second time, through March 31.

MCC Theater just released the following statement concerning its playwright-in-residence, Neil LaBute:

In response to popular demand, Soho Rep. (Sarah Benson, Artistic Director; Cynthia Flowers, Executive Director) extends the world premiere of Aleshea Harris's Relentless Award-winning Is God Is, directed by Taibi Magar by two weeks, through March 25. In this play, which dauntlessly cracks jokes as it eviscerates, twin sisters Anaia (Alfie Fuller) and Racine (Dame-Jasmine Hughes) undertake a murderous journey from the Dirty South to the California desert, seeking payback for a horrendous act. Is God Is treats both morality and genre as notions to be exploded, drawing on the ancient, the modern, the tragic, the Spaghetti Western, hip-hop and Afropunk in its subversion of theatrical constructs.

MCC THEATER has announced an all-star lineup of performers for their annual Miscast gala. Performers will include: Grammy and Tony Award nominee Sara Bareilles; Tony Award winners Jayne Houdyshell and James Monroe Iglehart; Tony Award nominees Ra l Esparza, Robert Fairchild, and Keala Settle; plus Hamilton star and reigning Dancing With the Stars champion Jordan Fisher, The Band's Visit star Katrina Lenk, Once on This Island star Alex Newell, and the voice of Moana, Auli'I Cravalho. Additional names will be announced shortly.