The Broadway Education Alliance has announced the 2020 roster of Greater New York City high schools participating in the 10th annual presentation of The Roger Rees Awards for Excellence in Student Performance, www.rogerreesawards.com. The fifty-three (53) high schools represent Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, as well as Long Island, Orange County, Rockland County, and Westchester County.
Today's top stories: Audra McDonald and Bobby Cannavale will lead A Streetcar Named Desire at Williamstown Theatre Festival this summer, and more!
After an acclaimed premiere in Chicago, Dutch Kills Theater (In Quietness, The Sister, The Providence of Neighboring Bodies) will present the New York Premiere of 2018 Weissberger Award for Playwrighting nominee THE ANTELOPE PARTY by Eric John Meyer. It is directed by 2017 Lucille Lortel Award winner Jess Chayes (HOME/SICK, Half Moon Bay) with dramaturgy by Sarah Lunnie (What the Constitution Means to Me, Grand Horizons, Hillary and Clinton, A Doll's House Part 2). Previews begin March 19 at The Wild Project in Manhattan with opening slated for March 25.
Primal Forces will present an outrageous new comedy A Funny Thing Happened...on the Way to the Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center of New York City, written by Halley Feiffer, runs February 7 through March 1 at The Sol Theater in Boca Raton. Tickets are $40-$45; Friday and Saturday evening performances begin at 8pm and Sunday matinees are at 2pm. For more information www.primalforces.com or call 866-811-4111.
Baruch Performing Arts Center will present a work-in-process presentation of Siachen from April 30-May 2, 2020 at Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (25th Street between Third and Lexington Avenues), NYC. Tickets are $11-$26 and can be purchased online at https://ci.ovationtix.com/1091/production/1014637.
Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) will present the workshop How to Write a Musical That Works Part Two: Conflicts & Obstacles on Sunday February 23, 2020 from 10am to 6pm at Studios 150, 150 W. 46th Street, 7th floor, NYC. Submission deadline is Wednesday 2/12. E-mail TRUStaff1@gmail.com or register online at https://truonline.org/events/feedback-workshop2-2020/.
Primal Forces will present an outrageous new comedy. A Funny Thing Happened...on the Way to the Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center of New York City, written by Halley Feiffer, runs February 7 through March 1 at The Sol Theater in Boca Raton.
In what has become an annual ritual, a total of 40 established and emerging composers, lyricists, and librettists will converge on the Goodspeed campus from mid-January through mid-February 2020 to participate in the Johnny Mercer Foundation Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals. The writing teams, representing 15 new musicals, will populate the campus, creating a truly exciting environment for discovery and inspiration.
New Ohio Theatre's annual New York Indie Theatre Film Festival (NYITFF) a?" a unique presentation of film works by New York theatre makers a?" returns in 2020 with a stellar lineup, including a special screening of a feature directed by downtown legend Charles Busch, with a talkback with the artist, and a reading of a new screenplay written and directed by playwright, filmmaker, and author Brooke Berman (Hunting and Gathering). The festival events, including screenings, panel discussions, and social gatherings, will be held at New Ohio Theatre (154 Christopher Street) in NYC's West Village from February 6 to 9, 2020. Tickets (reading, $5; any single screening, $10; Friday pass, $15; Saturday pass, $20; all-event pass, $30) can be purchased online at https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/1004347 or by calling 866-811-4111.
Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director/CEO) has announced the ninth annual Roundabout Underground Reading Series, a five-night event that includes nightly readings of new works written and directed by emerging artists, as well as post-show receptions. The Reading Series will feature new works by Benjamin Benne, Majkin Holmquist, Shayan Lotfi, Nick Mecikalski and Harrison David Rivers.
Joe's Pub, a program and venue of The Public Theater, has announced the new class of Joe's Pub Working Group (JPWG), the venue's artist development program dedicated to enhancing the career sustainability and growth of performing artists. Entering its sixth year, JPWG welcomes five artists - cabaret artist Salty Brine, vocalist and composer Sarah Elizabeth Charles, musician and musical theater composer Jaime Lozano, Indian classical and crossover vocalist Roopa Mahadevan, and singer-songwriter Kirsten Maxwell - into the group, which represents the diversity and scope of the nightly programming at Joe's Pub.
Rob Lake has dazzled and entertained millions with his mind-blowing illusions across network television, including as a finalist on America's Got Talent, and in front of sold-out audiences in arenas and theatres worldwide. As part of his 2020 marketing roll-out, Dana (Vokolek) Cobb, president of The Vokol Group, will be joining his team at the Association of Performing Arts Presenters in New York City in January.
Normal Ave will launch its 2nd Annual NAPSeries (Normal Ave Playwrights Series) with 29-hour readings of four brand new plays. This year's festival will include Men Accumulate by Peter Kim George, On Trash Monsters by Gillian Beth Durkee, Sarah Sits Shiva for Herself by Megan Pope, and Seven Letter Names by Kristian O'Hare. All readings will take place January 10-12 at Normal Ave's Medicine Show Theatre, located at 549 W 52nd Street, and are free and open to the public.
Hochman makes his Bradoway debut opposite Mary-Louise Parker in Adam Rapp's thought provoking play about writing and longing.
The Actors Fund, the national human services organization for everyone in performing arts and entertainment, will hold its Annual Gala on Monday, April 6, 2020. The evening will celebrate Tony Award-winning actor Matthew Broderick and Emmy Award-winning actor, producer and designer Sarah Jessica Parker; Tony Award-winning actor and Chairman of The Actors Fund Brian Stokes Mitchell; Academy Award-winning producer, co-owner of the New York Football Giants, and philanthropist Steve Tisch; and American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) President Richard L. Trumka as they receive The Actors Fund's Medal of Honor.
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces the company for A Thousand Splendid Suns, adapted for the stage by Ursula Rani Sarma and based on the 2007 New York Times bestselling novel by Khaled Hosseini (Kite Runner). Set in 1992 in war-torn Afghanistan, this gripping story centers around a friendship that develops between two Afghan women following a tragedy. While facing insurmountable odds of a brutal and oppressive way of life, the two form an unlikely bond in a heart-rending fight for survival. Directed by Carey Perloff, A Thousand Splendid Suns runs January 17 - March 1, 2020 in the Kreeger Theater.
Broadway favorite Krysta Rodriguez made her long-awaited Feinstein's/54 Below solo debut this fall, and we're getting a look at one of the concert's standout songs: the 'Beyvita' medley. Krysta makes lemonade out of lemons after getting some unexpected feedback from audition for an international production of Evita. The medley mashes up various Beyoncé and Destiny's Child songs with songs from the musical Evita. Check out the video to see the unique mashup!
Trinity Rep continues its 2019-20 Season with the behind-the-scenes dramatic comedy Fade by Tanya Saracho. Directed by Tatyana-Marie Carlo, the show features guest artist Elia Saldana as Lucia, a Mexican-born novelist who just accepted her first job writing for television, where her ambition might make her betray everything she thought she valued. Opposite Saldana is resident acting company member Daniel Duque-Estrada as Abel, an ex-Marine working as a janitor at the station who has more to his story than meets the eye. Fade runs December 5, 2019 a?" January 5, 2020, with press opening on Monday, December 9 at 7:30 pm. Tickets start at $27. More information can be found at www.TrinityRep.com/fade.
Take Me Out has found its full Broadway cast! Second Stage Theater has announced full casting for the Broadway production of Richard Greenberg's Tony Award-winning play, Take Me Out. Julian Cihi, Hiram Delgado, Brandon J. Dirden, Will Harrison, Carl Lundstedt, Ken Marks, Michael Oberholtzer, and Joél Pérez will join previously announced stars Patrick J. Adams, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Jesse Williams. Directed by Scott Ellis, Take Me Out will begin previews April 2, 2020 and officially open on April 23, 2020 at Second Stage's Hayes Theater (240 West 44th Street).
Midtown Direct and Triple Birch Media present an exclusive preview reading of NOVEL: An Audio Drama Series, created by Aimee Parrott and William Bienes.
