Zadie Smith News

For the first time since theatres closed on 16 March 2020, Kiln Theatre will re-open to share live performance with audiences with a season of work including three world premières.

Golden Globe winner and Oscar nominated recording artist and activist Jon Batiste today released his highly anticipated album WE ARE (Verve Records). WE ARE represents a completely new sonic chapter for Jon Batiste.

Alongside songwriter Autumn Rowe and producer Kizzo, Batiste wrote and planned much of the project in about a week from his dressing room at The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where he’s the musical director and bandleader. 

Following the success of the Southbank Centre's online autumn multi-arts series, Inside Out, the Southbank Centre today announces details about Inside Out, a second online season of music, spoken word and literature taking place from 24 January - 28 March 2021. 

Typically, during the school year, rows of school buses line up outside 92Y's Manhattan doors for thousands of children to attend concerts, dance performances, and talks as part of their arts education. With the pandemic, 92Y created a solution available to schools nationwide, not just near NYC, whether remote or in person: Young Leaders Series.

The 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center's fall season features critically-acclaimed novelists Marilynne Robinson and Zadie Smith, beloved American poet Billy Collins and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Ayad Akhtar, among others, in virtual events.

As educators and communities nationwide rush to figure out what learning will look like this fall, 92Y has a solution available to schools, whether remote or in person: Young Leaders Series.

The Lillys - in partnership with a broad coalition of theater artists - announced today that 3Views is shifting its mission: it will now serve as a digital archive, highlighting cancelled and waylaid productions, gathering reflections from theater makers, and spotlighting urgent and helpful initiatives.

Today's top stories: Broadway shutdown extends, the Hamilton film is coming to Disney+ in July, the cast of SMASH will reunite for stream of Bombshell concert, and more!

On May 13, the BAM Virtual Gala 2020 honors actor and director Cate Blanchett, author Zadie Smith, and philanthropist and producer Jeanne Donovan Fisher for their invaluable contributions to film, literature, theater, and cultural philanthropy.

PEN America, joining the ranks of cultural institutions and festivals changing their plans to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, has cancelled the 2020 PEN World Voices Festival: These Truths, this year's edition of the United States' foremost international literary festival, which was slated to take place May 4-9 in venues across New York City.

With her critically acclaimed production of Antoinette Nwandu's Pass Over now running until 4 April, Kiln Theatre Artistic Director Indhu Rubasingham today announces further programming for 2020 - Heart by Jade Anouka, and more information about The Wife of Willesden adapted by Zadie Smith from Chaucer's The Wife of Bath and NW Trilogy three short plays by Moira Buffini, Suhayla El-Bushra and Roy Williams.

Out of Joint, Cast, Doncaster and Kiln Theatre, London today announced the full cast for their national tour and London run of The Glee Club. Joining Bill Ward who plays Bant, will be Joshua Hayes (Breakneck Bronco a?" Soho Theatre, A Wondrous Place - Sheffield Theatres/Royal Exchange/Northern Spirit) as Walt Hemmings, Robert Jackson (She Ventures and He Wins a?" The Young Vic, Kiss Me Kate a?" The Watermill Theatre) as Scobie, Linford Johnson (The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe a?" Bridge Theatre, Much Ado About Nothing a?" Northern Broadsides) as Colin Shuttleworth, Kai Owen (Torchwood a?" BBC TV, The Full Monty a?" UK tour) as Jack Horsfall and Eamonn Riley (Martha, Josie and The Chinese Elvis a?" Stephen Joseph Theatre, Our Town a?" The Royal Exchange) as Phil Newsome. This new production of Richard Cameron's play is directed by Out Of Joint's artistic director Kate Wasserberg.

Kiln Theatre today announces their programme as part of Sadiq Khan's wider Brent London Borough of Culture 2020. The programme includes the world première of Zadie Smith's The Wife of Willesden directed by Artistic Director Indhu Rubasingham, renewing their collaboration following the acclaimed world première stage adaptation of Smith's White Teeth in 2018, Footholds: NW Stories; a trilogy of short plays by Moira Buffini, Suhayla El-Bushra and Roy Williams, and the fourth annual Mapping Brent project, supported by the Brent 2020 Culture Fund. Kiln Theatre will also lead The Agency, a programme for young people in Brent to workshop and pitch unique business and social enterprise ideas for funding and support.

This spring, Out of Joint joins forces with Cast, Doncaster and Kiln Theatre, London to present a major tour, followed by a London run of Richard Cameron's much-celebrated play The Glee Club.

Led by Artistic Director Robert Battle, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's 2019 Lincoln Center engagement continued last night with the star-studded Ailey Spirit Gala. The centerpiece of Ailey's engagement celebrated the 50th Anniversary of The Ailey School, the official school of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and a springboard for many notable artists - including more than 70% of the Company's dancers.

Led by Artistic Director Robert Battle, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will return to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts David H. Koch Theater for a seven-performance engagement from June 12-16. Highlights include the world premiere of Darrell Grand Moultrie's Ounce of Faith on Wednesday, June 12; The Ailey Spirit Gala benefit celebrating the 50th Anniversary of The Ailey School on Thursday, June 13; performances celebrating and commemorating Pride Month; and a culminating program on Sunday, June 16 honoring dance legend Carmen de Lavallade.

The Lillys - in partnership with a broad coalition of theater artists - is pleased to announce 3Views on Theater, a new online journal aimed to expand and deepen theater journalism, writing in many voices about our community. 3Views will generate original content in three categories: Reviews, Interviews, and Purviews (articles submitted by theater artists including responses to reviews, original reviews, opinion pieces, and features).

Ford Theatres presents an immersive experience: Last Whispers - Oratorio for Vanishing Voices, Collapsing Universes and a Falling Tree, on Friday, June 14 at 8:00pm. Last Whispers is simultaneously a spatially-designed sound composition and a film -- an invocation of languages that have gone extinct and an incantation of those that are endangered.

The International Center of Photography (ICP), the world's leading institution dedicated to photography and visual culture, today announced the 2019 honorees of its annual Infinity Awards, the leading honor for excellence in the field. The 35th annual ICP Infinity Awards will be held on the evening of Tuesday, April 2 at Ziegfeld Ballroom (141 West 54th Street, New York City). The event is ICP's largest fundraiser and benefits its education and exhibition programs.