Young Jean Lee News

Lincoln Center Theater presents an LCT3 Special Event - Freestyle Love Supreme, the popular live improvised show, will return for an encore engagement at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65th Street). Freestyle Love Supreme will play 4 performances only, May 1st and 2nd at 7pm and 9pm.

Soho Rep presents the world premiere of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's An Octoroon, directed by Soho Rep. Artistic Director Sarah Benson. The production, tonight, April 23, through May 18, concludes a banner New York season for the celebrated playwright, whose Appropriate made its New York premiere February 25-April 6 at Signature Theatre.

'The Public's commitment to make theater that matters is brilliantly reflected in the power and diversity of the 2014-15 season,' said Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. 'Starting with the return of the thrilling Public Works Shakespeare at the Delacorte, and proceeding through three explosive new musicals and major new work by Suzan-Lori Parks and Young Jean Lee, this season is truly of, by and for the people. This is work that we have developed and nurtured, and the artists have responded with astounding bravery and creativity.'

The Foundry Theatre presents a play that exemplifies the company's work: Marcus Gardley's The Box: A Black Comedy. The play, directed by Seth Bockley (writer of February House, director of Philip Dawkins' Failure: A Love Story at Victory Gardens), is a hilarious satire that delivers a punch to the gut of U.S. policing and imprisonment. Written for five actors who perform over a dozen characters spanning generations of captivity and freedom dreams, The Box: A Black Comedy is currently making its world premiere, through May 11 at the Irondale Center (85 South Oxford St., Brooklyn).

Two years ago, The New Ohio Theatre and IRT Theater (new neighbors in the historic Archive Building on Christopher Street) kicked-off their exciting new developing and presenting initiative: the Archive Residency. The Archive Residency offers select independent theatre companies a two-year commitment of space, artistic support, and institutional continuity for the development and presentation of a new work. Now in their second-year of the Archive Residency the companies are ready to show the fruits of this process. Scroll down for a first look at the cast in action!

Acclaimed playwright/director Young Jean Lee returns to the Wexner Center for the Arts, today, April 10-13 for the world premiere of STRAIGHT WHITE MEN, a provocative new work presented with an all-star cast (Austin Pendleton, Scott Shepherd, Pete Simpson, and James Stanley) and finalized through the support of the Wexner Center Residency Award program.

Following a 2013 world premiere at Theater Basel in Switzerland, New York City Players presents the U.S. premiere of Isolde. Returning to a core group of collaborators, Isolde, written and directed by Maxwell, features an ensemble of New York City Players veterans including Jim Fletcher, Brian Mendes, Tory Vazquez and Gary Wilmes. Maxwell's choice to not use any music in Isolde further supports a desire to excavate his own characteristically distilled approach to story telling. Isolde was inspired by the legend of Tristan and Isolde.

New Georges will present World Premiere productions by Kate Benson (2014 Clubbed Thumb Biennial Commission winner), Krista Knight (Salamander Leviathan at Joe's Pub; Clementine and the Cyber Ducks at Incubator Arts Project), and Caroline V. McGraw (2013 Page 73 Playwriting Fellow) as part of The New Georges Jam On Toast, a brand-new festival featuring work by The New Georges Jam, a 'performance gym' for early-career female playwrights and directors founded in 2010 by Lucy Alibar, Jess Chayes, and Portia Krieger.

HERE presents Keep Your Electric Eye On Me, by HERE Resident Artists Shaun Irons and Lauren Petty, as part of its 2013-2014 producing season. This multimedia dance-theatre performance features Madeline Best and Carlton Ward, Choreography by Tara O'Con and Original Music by Brian Rogers. This premiere engagement plays 8 performances, April 30 - May 10, at HERE (145 Sixth Avenue, just below Spring Street).

Two years ago, The New Ohio Theatre and IRT Theater (new neighbors in the historic Archive Building on Christopher Street) kicked-off their exciting new developing and presenting initiative: the Archive Residency. The Archive Residency offers select independent theatre companies a two-year commitment of space, artistic support, and institutional continuity for the development and presentation of a new work.

BAY STREET THEATRE NEW WORKS FESTIVAL will take place on April 25-27 at the Bay Street Theatre on the Long Wharf in Sag Harbor, NY. The Festival is produced in Association with SPACE on Ryder Farm. The media sponsor for the festival is Dan's Papers Literary Prize Contest.

Off-Broadway's Soho Repertory Theatre was forced to evacuate and cancel its Spring 2014 gala last night, March 31, after a support beam of the second floor balcony at the Angel Orensanz Center cracked around 7:15 p.m. According to New York Magazine, the floor began to sag on the left side of the balcony at the Lower East Side synagogue.

New Georges will present The New Georges Jam On Toast, a brand-new festival featuring work by The New Georges Jam, a 'performance gym' for early-career playwrights and directors founded in 2010 by Lucy Alibar, Jess Chayes, and Portia Krieger. New Georges will take over the legendary downtown performance space Dixon Place (161 Chrystie Street between Rivington and Delancey) from May 14-31 with World Premiere productions running in rep, works-in-progress presentations and cabaret-style shows, for a total of 47 performances over two and a half weeks.

Lincoln Center Theater presents an LCT3 Special Event - Freestyle Love Supreme, the popular live, improvised show featuring Lin-Manuel Miranda, writer and star of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical IN THE HEIGHTS. Freestyle Love Supreme will play 4 performances only, today and tomorrow, March 21 and 22 at 7pm and 9pm, at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65 Street).

BAY STREET THEATRE NEW WORKS FESTIVAL will take place on April 25-27 at the Bay Street Theatre on the Long Wharf in Sag Harbor, NY. The Festival is produced in Association with SPACE on Ryder Farm.

Asia Society, PEN World Voices Festival and Performance Space 122 present the New York City premiere of 33 RPM and a Few Seconds, a brave new work by Lebanese theater artists Rabih Mroue and Lina Saneh, as part of the 10th Annual PEN World Voices Festival. A multi-media theater performance devoid of actors, 33 RPM and a Few Seconds reconstructs the final moments of a life after the suicide of a young Lebanese man.

Hosted by Gretchen Mol and Tim Blake Nelson, Spring Fete, Soho Rep.'s Spring 2014 Gala, will honor Jon Dembrow, Soho Rep. Board Chair since 1999, at the Angel Orensanz Foundation on March 31. The event will feature presentations by two-time Academy award-winner Sally Field, Academy award-winner Marisa Tomei, Emmy award-winner Bobby Cannavale, comedian Richard Lewis, and Tony nominated actress Marin Ireland along with performances by three-time Grammy award-winner Steve Earle, Tony award-winner Bill Irwin, composer Todd Almond (Tempest), playwright and OBIE award-winning actress Eisa Davis (Passing Strange) and actress Amber Gray (Natasha Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812).

Lincoln Center Theater presents an LCT3 Special Event - Freestyle Love Supreme, the popular live, improvised show featuring Lin-Manuel Miranda, writer and star of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical IN THE HEIGHTS. Freestyle Love Supreme will play 4 performances only, March 21 and 22 at 7pm and 9pm, at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65 Street).

Acclaimed playwright/director Young Jean Lee returns to the Wexner Center for the Arts, April 10-13 for the world premiere of STRAIGHT WHITE MEN, a provocative new work presented with an all-star cast (Austin Pendleton, Scott Shepherd, Pete Simpson, and James Stanley) and finalized through the support of the Wexner Center Residency Award program.

SPACE on Ryder Farm is now accepting submissions for artistic residencies for its 2014 nonprofit season, which will take place June through September in Brewster, NY.