Zoe Sarnak News

The MITTEN Lab (A Michigan Incubator for Theatre Talent Emerging Now), led by co-founders Katherine M. Carter and Rachel Sussman, is proud to announce this year's artists for its third annual residency program in Northern Michigan, taking place September 9th through 16th.

Several years ago, I remember watching the Tony Awards and seeing Broadway power couple Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker presenting the award for Best Score and getting all giddy and nerdy over it because "NEW SONGS!" Well that's how I feel every summer at Village Theatre's Festival of New Musicals. I get to see what's out there up and coming and maybe get to walk away seeing a new gem. And this year was no exception with a couple of shows blowing me away. Now, of course, these are workshops and staged readings of shows, so we cannot really review them, but I can at least tell you what they offered us.

WP THEATER announces the 15 artists selected for the 2018-2020 WP Lab. The two-year residency begins in late August and culminates with the biennial WP Pipeline Festival.

With one week left until The 18th Annual Festival of New Musicals, Village Theatre is excited to announce this summer's casting and creative teams! Tony Award-winner Victoria Clark (The Light in the Piazza) will direct Hansel & Gretl & Heidi & Gu?nter, a hilarious family adventure of what happens after Hansel and Gretl escape. Village Theatre's new artistic director Jerry Dixon (If/Then, Once on this Island) will direct the kick-off show Elysium: An American Fable, the moving story of a family dying under the weight of their own secrets; and associate artistic director Brandon Ivie (Jasper in Deadland) will direct The Passage, a coming-of-age mystery about a boy battling a monster holding his father captive. Joining them will be music directors Jason Hart (American Psycho), Rona Siddiqui (Bella: An American Tall Tale), R.J. Tancioco (Here Lies Love), and resident music director Tim Symons (Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion), among others.

Prospect Theater Company (Cara Reichel, Producing Artistic Director / Melissa Huber, Managing DIrector) is pleased to announce additional songwriters contributing material to its next IGNITE Series concert event, The Rave Revue. 

The New York Musical Festival (NYMF) announces the performer and composer lineup for two of their concert events: Intersecting Chords and How The Light Gets In.

Williamstown Theatre Festival recently celebrated the playwright Martyna Majok. Majok's play Cost of Living won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2018 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play. Michael John LaChiusa will create a musical adaptation of Cost of Living under the auspices of Williamstown Theatre Festival's Andrew Martin-Weber New Play & Musical Commissioning Program, with special funding from The Ted & Mary Jo Shen Charitable Gift Fund.

The New York Musical Festival, which nurtures the creation, production, and public presentation of stylistically, thematically, and culturally diverse new musicals to ensure the future vitality of musical theatre, celebrated its opening night last night, July 9. 

Village Theatre is excited to announce the lineup for The 18th Annual Festival of New Musicals, a series of five staged readings of musicals currently in development. The Festival will take place in Issaquah on August 10-12, 2018.

Williamstown Theatre Festival has announced the artists in residency for the 2018 summer season. This year's artists include WTF Commissioned Artists Benjamin Scheuer (The Lion), Bess Wohl (Small Mouth Sounds), Sharyn Rothstein (By The Water), Max Posner (Judy), and more.

Williamstown Theatre Festival has announced casting and creative team additions to the 2018 season including Tony Award winners Natasha Katz and Clint Ramos, as well as details on additional programming and special events for the 2018 summer season.

Just last night, The Women of Achievement Awards Gala celebrated truly outstanding women who have taken risks, pushed limits, and broken ground in a wide variety of fields. This year honored leaders committed to advancing women's narratives and to sharing women's voices on stage, in film and on television: eleven-time Tony Award winning producer Daryl Roth (Kinky Boots, Indecent) and Goldman Sachs Treasurer Beth Hammack.

Broadway Veteran and Two-Time Tony Nominee Charlotte d'Amboise is featured in an original movie musical produced by New York Film Academy.  Have a first look at the trailer below!   

The Orchard Project is proud to announce the artists, teams, and ensembles participating in its twelfth summer theatre residency program. More than 30 artists and ensembles were selected for residencies this summer from nearly 600 theatre artists and companies who applied. The artists, teams, and companies will come to Saratoga Springs from across the United States and the world to accelerate projects at various stages of development. Throughout the program, the Orchard Project will also present a series of special events and cabarets for the public by OP residents and associated artists.

The 9th Annual Lilly Awards Ceremony, which honours the accomplishments of women working in the American theatre, just took place last night, May 21st, 2018, at the Minetta Lane Theatre.

Founding Executive Director Kathy Evans announced the 19 writers of 9 new musicals in this summer's Rhinebeck Writers Retreat. This year's writers include 2018 Jonathan Larson winners Andrew Farmer and Andrew Butler, 2018 Kleban winner Amanda Yasnowitz, Tony-winner Ken Davenport, 2018 Lucille Lortel winner for Outstanding Musical (KPOP) Max Vernon, Emmy winner Doug Katsaros, Obie winner Erin Courtney, and the writers of the podcast musical 36 questions who are developing their next musical, Chris Littler and Ellen Winter.

Rhinebeck Writers Retreat is presenting a private reading of the new musical, THE PROXY MARRIAGE, book and lyrics by Michele Lowe and music and lyrics by Adam Gwon, on May 7 in New York City, which includes actors Jason Tam (Jesus Christ Superstar Live on NBC, Broadway: A Chorus Line, If/Then), Whitney Bashor (The Bridges of Madison County), Anika Larsen (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Avenue Q), and Daniel Jenkins (Mary Poppins, Billy Elliot, Big River). The reading is directed by Lonny Price (Sunset Boulevard starring Glenn Close) and music directed by Vadim Feichtner (Falsettos Broadway revival).

WP Theater, under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty and Managing Director Michael Sag, is thrilled to announce WP THEATER'S 40th ANNIVERSARY SEASON GALA honoring game-changing women with the Women of Achievement Awards. The gala, chaired by WP Board Members Laura Beinner and Jenna Segal, will honor Goldman Sachs Treasurer Beth Hammack and Tony Award-winning producer Daryl Roth (Kinky Boots, Indecent, The Normal Heart).

Williamstown Theatre Festival (Mandy Greenfield, Artistic Director) has announced details about additional programming and events for the 2018 summer season.

Williamstown Theatre Festival (Mandy Greenfield, Artistic Director) has announced additional casting for the 2018 summer season, including Eden Espinosa, Samira Wiley, Krysta Rodriguez, Rachel Tucker, and many more.  It was also announced that two-time Tony Award® winner Chita Rivera will perform a one-night-only solo concert benefitting Williamstown Theatre Festival's New Play & Musical Development Initiative.