William Saroyan News

What does science have to tell us about love? Viola Davisand Julius Tennon's JuVee Productions and American Oasis present a moving, funny and thought-provoking drama about science, culture, religion and more. Vicangelo Bulluck directs the West Coast premiere of Paradise by Laura Maria Censabella, running Jan. 26 throughFeb. 17 in a visiting production at the Odyssey Theatre.

Co-Producers Tom Vitorino and Alice L. Walker (Thursday Night Theater Club), have signed acclaimed director/actor, Robyn Cohen for The Elephant Man by Bernard Pomerance at The El Portal Theatre MainStage.  Both Vitorino and Walker are thrilled to have Robyn Cohen at the helm directing their cast of twelve. This will be her second time to direct with Thursday Night Theater Club.

What does science have to tell us about love? Viola Davisand Julius Tennon's JuVee Productions and American Oasis present a moving, funny and thought-provoking drama about science, culture, religion and more. Vicangelo Bulluck directs the West Coast premiere of Paradise by Laura Maria Censabella, running Jan. 26 throughFeb. 17 in a visiting production at the Odyssey Theatre.

DOC LA - Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival, presented by the Parajanov-Vartanov Institute, opened this week submissions for its 2019 edition. After five successful editions, the film festival, which rapidly has positioned itself as one of the most coveted by documentary filmmakers in the USA and abroad, has launched its call for entries.

The 2018 Parajanov-Vartanov Award went to Academy-award winner Susan Sarandon and American Mirror - Intimations of Immortality directed by Arthur Balder and produced by David Shara, premiered at DOC LA, Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival, presented by the Parajanov-Vartanov Institute.

The Tank (Meghan Finn and Rosalind Grush, Artistic Directors) in association with Anna & Kitty, Inc. will present the World Premiere of The Russian & The Jew, a political fairy tale about anti-semitism and female friendship in the Soviet Union in 1968, co-written by Liba Vaynberg and Emily Louise Perkins and directed by Ines Braun at The Tank (312 West 36th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues), December 4-20.

Theater for the New City (Crystal Field, Executive Director) has announced that it will present THE OPEN GATE, a musical adaptation of Nobel Prize-winning author Isaac Bashevis Singer's novel The Manor, on Sunday October 14th atTheater for the New City (155 First Avenue at 10th Street).

Margalit Fox wrote more than 1,400 obituaries during her career at The New York Times, gaining a legion of fans with her exquisite prose and eye for quirky detail. Now she applies her meticulous research and superb storytelling to a long-forgotten 20th-century murder case-and to Oscar Slater, the Jewish immigrant who was framed for the crime. The sensational case both captivated the public and captured the attention of Arthur Conan Doyle, celebrity author of the wildly popular Sherlock Holmes detective novels. One century later, Ms. Fox shines a bright light on a cold case, revealing the twists and turns of Conan Doyle's real life murder investigation and uncovering question we still grapple with today. "Why isn't the Oscar Slater case better known?" Fox muses, "It's about racism, antisemitism, xenophobia. Not relevant to today? Think again." 

Theater for the New City (Crystal Field, Executive Director) has announced that it will present THE OPEN GATE, a musical adaptation of Nobel Prize-winning author Isaac Bashevis Singer's novel The Manor, on Sunday October 14th atTheater for the New City (155 First Avenue at 10th Street).

On Friday, August 31st (on what would have been his 110th birthday) Pulitzer Prize and Oscar-winning Armenian-American novelist, screenwriter, painter, poet and songwriter William Saroyan had his Fresno home turned into an interactive museum with a Grand Opening Celebration in Fresno, CA. 

Primary Stages (Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director; Shane D. Hudson, Executive Director; Casey Childs, Founder) is proud to announce complete casting today for the first two productions of their 2018/19 season: Final Follies, by A.R. Gurney (Love Letters, Sylvia, Black Tie at Primary Stages) and directed by David Saint (Clever Little Lies), and Downstairs by Theresa Rebeck ("Smash," Dead Accounts, Poor Behavior at Primary Stages), directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt (What We're Up Against). All performances will take place at the Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce St, New York, NY, 10014).

Atlantic Theater Company (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director) will present Middle Eastern MixFest, a series of free readings co-curated by playwrights Mona Mansour and Heather Raffothat will run Wednesday, August 8th through Thursday, August 16th at Atlantic Stage 2 (330 West 16th Street).

The guest list was impressive.

It was just announced by Pulitzer Prize Administrator Dana Canedy that Martyna Majok's COST OF LIVING has officially won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Actors Co-op Theatre Company (Ovation Award-Winner 2017 Best Play, Intimate Theatre for 33 Variations) is proud to present the 1962 Tony Award-winner for Best Play, Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons, directed by Thom Babbes, produced by Carly Lopez. This tragic historical drama offers a brilliant portrait of Sir Thomas More in his last years as Lord Chancellor of England during the reign of Henry VIII.  A Man for All Seasons opens tonight, Friday, March 2 at 8:00 pm, and will run through Sunday, April 15 at the Actors Co-op David Schall Theatre, 1760 N. Gower Street, 90028 (on the campus of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood) in Hollywood.

Thom Babbes credits at Actors Co-op include Summer and Smoke, Ah, Wilderness (Best Director/StageSceneLA), The Miracle Worker and Wait Until Dark.  He has directed workshop productions of new works, Dietrich (based on Dietrich Bonhoeffer) by John Martins III, The Real Real Thing by Frank Higgins and Washington Irvine's Sketchbook by Frank Higgins and Southhamton County (based on Nat Turner's slave rebellion) which Mr. Babbes wrote.  Other credits:  Sun City by Jim Geoghan at Stella Adler Theater, Hollywood.  A writer as well, Mr. Babbes recently adapted William Saroyan's novel The Human Comedy for the stage.  Screenplays include Deadly Dreams and Body Chemistry (Concorde New Horizons), The Audition - A Short Film (Co-Writer - Winner Best Screenplay & Best Comedy 2008 - 168 Hour Film Festival), X-treme Weekend - Short Film (Co-Writer, screened at multiple fests USA and Canada.)  Insurrection (Samuelson Prods.), Bleeding Writing and Arithmetic (Kings Road Ent.), The Substutute (Apollo Pictures), Island of Lonely Men (Sotela Pictures).

PlayFest Santa Barbara, in partnership with the Santa Barbara Public Library, and with the support of a Community Arts Grant from the City of Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture, presents the Sixth Annual Festival of New Plays. The staged reading of Steve Karp's Honoree Play, REUNION, will take place in the Santa Barbara Central Library on March 10 at 7p.m. REUNION was selected as the 2018 Honoree play following an international competition. E. Bonnie Lewis and Ken Gilbert of DramaDogs will perform the roles of He and She. Maggie Mixsell of Speaking of Stories, will narrate. Anna Jensen, former Ensemble Theatre dramaturge and current co-host of Theatrixsb podcast, will moderate a post reading talkback between the audience and the playwright. The reading is free.

“Romeo and Juliet,” Shakespeare's classic story of young star-crossed lovers, will be presented as a ballet by the Valley Performing Arts Council (VPAC) Saturday, March 3 at 6:30 p.m. at the William Saroyan Theatre in downtown Fresno. The performance will feature professional dancers from the renowned State Street Ballet of Santa Barbara alongside local dancers from Fresno Ballet Theatre.

Actors Co-op Theatre Company (Ovation Award-Winner 2017 Best Play, Intimate Theatre for 33 Variations) is proud to present the 1962 Tony Award-winner for Best Play, Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons, directed by Thom Babbes, produced by Carly Lopez. This tragic historical drama offers a brilliant portrait of Sir Thomas More in his last years as Lord Chancellor of England during the reign of Henry VIII.

Coming off the huge success of his Netflix special Live From Seattle, Comedian Jo Koy will be launching a new tour starting 2018, which will include brand new material.