True Colors Theatre News

The Educational Theatre Association (EdTA) has selected 12 two-member teams of high school theatre educators and teaching artists who will create a standards-based curriculum framework and instructional units in targeted areas of theatre. 

Updated this week! Check out upcoming Equity Auditions from Sunday, April 22, 2018 for both productions in your area and around the country including what/when/where and how to audition!

A collective of perspectives. A public outcry. The establishment of a movement. This month, two new plays- Until the Flood by Dael Orlandersmith, directed by Neel Keller and florissant & canfield by Kristiana Rae Colon, directed by Derrick Sanders-bring a national dialogue to the stage.

True Colors Theatre Company (Kenny Leon, Co-Founding Artistic Director) and Jujamcyn Theaters (Jordan Roth, President; Jack Viertel, Senior Vice President) are proud to announce the panel of celebrity judges for the 10th Annual August Wilson Monologue Competition, taking place on Monday, May 7th at 7:00 p.m. at the August Wilson Theatre (245 West 52nd Street).

The Actors Fund, the national human services organization for everyone in performing arts and entertainment, will hold its Annual Gala on Monday, May 14, 2018. The evening will celebrate Academy Award-winning actor and filmmaker Warren Beatty, Tony Award-winning Broadway and film director Kenny Leon, currently director of Children of a Lesser God on Broadway, two-time Tony Award-winning actress, singer and dancer Chita Rivera, and Golden Globe-winning, Academy Award and Emmy-nominated actress Uma Thurman. Mr. Beatty, Mr. Leon, Ms. Rivera and Ms. Thurman will be awarded The Actors Fund's Medal of Honor. The event begins with 6 pm cocktails followed by a 7 pm dinner and tribute at the New York Marriott Marquis. The evening will include special tribute performances by guests to be announced.

L.A. Theatre Works has announced the casting of stage, film and television stars Karen Malina White and Gilbert Glenn Brown for their upcoming tour of the Olivier Award-winning hit play, The Mountaintop. As the nation honors the 50th anniversary of his passing, the fictional tale of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s last night alive comes to the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts as a part of the Center's P.E.A.K. Series April 20 - 21, 2018.

Artistic Director Kenny Leon and True Colors Theatre Company are proud to announce the 2018-2019 season - 'Moments Make the Movement.'  The four productions of this 16th season are woven together by a thread of radical change at the societal, organizational and familial levels.  The season opens in September with Nina Simone: Four Women by Christina Ham.  

True Colors Theatre Company (Kenny Leon, Co-Founding Artistic Director) and Jujamcyn Theaters (Jordan Roth, President; Jack Viertel, Senior Vice President) are proud to announce the 10th Annual August Wilson Monologue Competition will take place on Monday, May 7th at 7:00 p.m. at the August Wilson Theatre (245 West 52nd Street).

Court Theatre, under the continuing leadership of Charles Newell, Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director, continues its 2017/18 season with Guess Who's Coming to Dinner by Todd Kreidler (based on the screenplay by William Rose), directed by Marti Lyons with Associate Director Wardell Julius Clark. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner runs March 15 - April 15, 2018 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave. The press opening is Saturday, March 24, 2018 at 8:00pm.

Children of a Lesser God begins previews tonight at Studio 54. Get to know the cast below as they begin Broadway performances!

Marking history with art, Park City Institute presents L.A. Theatre Works' Olivier Award-winning play, The Mountaintop, by Katori Hall. The powerful two-person play imagines the story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's last night on earth. "This year marks the 50th Anniversary of Dr. King's assassination," said PCI Executive Director, Teri Orr. "We wanted to honor his memory, his work, and his life, by presenting The Mountaintop. The play is filled with humor, political jabs, and offers a glimpse at the human side of this larger-than-life figure. And, it carries a message that is still relevant, today."

Q. Smith, featured cast member of Broadway's Come From Away, hosted the 10th annual New York City August Wilson Monologue Competition, sponsored by LEAP (Learning through an Expanded Arts Program, Inc.). Two winning students, first place Teslyne Junior of Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, and second place Victoria Lino, of Repertory Company High School for Theater Arts in Manhattan, will move on to the National August Wilson Monologue Competition on Broadway in May. Anthony Perez, also from Repertory Company High School, took third place and is the alternate. The presentation was held March 5 on Stage 2 of New World Stages, 340 W. 50th St., New York, N.Y.

Q. Smith, featured cast member of Broadway's Come From Away, is set to host the 10th annual New York City August Wilson Monologue Competition, sponsored by LEAP (Learning through an Expanded Arts Program, Inc.). A total of 16 LEAP students from eight New York City high schools in four boroughs will inhabit Wilson's extraordinary characters and provide their unique interpretations. Tony Chiroldes, original Broadway cast member of In the Heights, will be a featured singer as well. The exciting presentation begins at 7 pm on Monday, March 5, and will be held on Stage 2 of New World Stages, 340 W. 50th St., New York, N.Y., off 8th Avenue. The event is free to the public.

Bishop Edwards of Snowden International School at Copley took first place on Monday, January 29, 2018 with his performance as Troy from Fences at the Boston Regional Finals of the August Wilson Monologue Competition, held for the eighth year by the Education Department of the Huntington Theatre Company, the playwright's longtime artistic home. Beyonce Martinez of Margarita Muniz Academy was named first runner-up and portrayed Vera from Seven Guitars; Antoinette Webster (Tonya, King Hedley II) of Codman Academy Charter Public School was named second runner-up. The three will receive a total of $850 in prize money, and the top two winners will be awarded an all-expense-paid trip to New York City where they will perform their monologues at Broadway's August Wilson Theatre in the National Competition on May 7, 2018. Airfare, hotel accommodations, workshops, and tickets to attend a Broadway production will be provided in collaboration with Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre Company and Jujamcyn Theatres. The national competition is free and open to the public.

Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA; Jeffrey Horowitz, Founding Artistic Director) announces a free post-performance discussion moderated by Pulitzer Prize-winning theatre critic and Negroland: A Memoir author Margo Jefferson in connection with TFANA's world premiere production of Adrienne Kennedy's He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box. The talk, which begins at 8.30 PM is open to all and features director Charlotte Braithwaite and playwrights Lydia Diamond and Jackie Sibblies Drury, follows the January 20 performance of Kennedy's first new play in a decade, which begins at 7:30 that evening, at Polonsky Shakespeare Center (262 Ashland Place, Brooklyn, NY 11217). The discussion will also be streamed live on Theatre for a New Audience's Facebook page. He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box runs January 18-February 11. To reserve a seat to this panel, visit www.tfana.org/heartpanel.

Huntington Theatre Company's Department of Education presents the 8th annual Boston regional finals of the August Wilson Monologue Competition, celebrating the writing of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright. Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre Company (Atlanta, GA) inaugurated the competition in 2009, and this year marks the 8th year that the Huntington's education department has hosted the competition in Boston.

Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA; Jeffrey Horowitz, Founding Artistic Director) announces a free post-performance discussion moderated by Pulitzer Prize-winning theatre critic and Negroland: A Memoir author Margo Jefferson in connection with TFANA's world premiere production of Adrienne Kennedy's He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box. The talk, which begins at 8.30 PM is open to all and features director Charlotte Braithwaite and playwrights Lydia Diamond and Jackie Sibblies Drury, follows the January 20 performance of Kennedy's first new play in a decade, which begins at 7:30 that evening, at Polonsky Shakespeare Center (262 Ashland Place, Brooklyn, NY 11217). The discussion will also be streamed live on Theatre for a New Audience's Facebook page. He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box runs January 18-February 11. To reserve a seat to this panel, visit www.tfana.org/heartpanel.

The Snowy Day and Other Stories by Ezra Jack Keats has announced the cast for its NYC premiere Off-Broadway at St. Luke's Theatre this January 13, 2018.

January 13, 2018, with an added performance on MLK Day, January 15th. Adapted for the stage by Jerome Hairston, with music by Victor Zupanc, the show is inspired by four of Keats' most beloved stories, including the 1963 Caldecott Award-winning The Snowy Day. The show celebrates the wonder of childhood in the city - from making tracks in the freshly fallen snow, to learning how to whistle, to imagining new worlds with a best friend who lives across the hall - these small moments of delight and joy are captured beautifully. Incorporating shadow puppets, songs, mime and humor, the 45 minute show for children will appeal to all ages.

Windy City Playhouse announces an expansion in programming with a world-premiere immersive theatrical production, 'Southern Gothic,' premiering February 7, 2017 in an open-ended engagement.