Erica Schmidt News

Seattle Center Festál—Seattle Cherry Blossom and Japanese Cultural Festival, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., April 9-11. The festival seeks to deepen understanding and highlight the cultural contributions and achievements of Japan and Japanese Americans. It includes online performances and martial arts, exhibits and demonstrations, documentaries and more. Seattlecenter.com/festal.  

Seattle Rep’s virtual Plays in Process series is underway, offering audiences guided and rare exposure to the raw, behind-the-scenes collaborative process of creating a play. Throughout the multi-part program, Seattle Rep is showcasing new plays in development that are on the horizon for the organization.

Hosted by Braden Abraham, Plays in Process will feature top playwrights, directors, actors, and musicians including Uma Thurman (Kill Bill), Cheryl L. West (Shout Sister Shout!), David Strathairn (Good Night and Good Luck), Taylor Schilling (“Orange is the New Black”), E. Faye Butler (Pullman Porter Blues), Erica Schmidt (MAC BETH), and more.

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage will lead MGM's Cyrano musical film adaptation, reprising a role he played off Broadway in 2019. Kelvin Harrison Jr. (The Photograph, Godfather of Harlem) has just joined the cast as Christian.

MGM has acquired Cyrano, a musical film adaptation. According to Deadline, Peter Dinklage will reprise title role that he played onstage at the Terris Theatre in 2018 and at the Daryl Roth Theatre in 2019. 

Tune in right here at 7:30pm to watch The 65th Annual Drama Desk Awards and check back for a full list of winners, updating live!

The New Group continues its newly-launched live online conversation series, 'Why We Do It,' announcing a new slate of guests including Zoe Kazan (June 17), Nico Santos (June 24), Natasha Lyonne (July 1), Nat Wolff (July 8), Suzanne Vega (July 15), Clint Ramos (July 22) and Maulik Pancholy (July 29).

May and June episodes will feature Tony Award-winning director Diane Paulus, choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and actor Elizabeth Stanley on their collaboration during Jagged Little Pill; Tony-winning director Michael Mayer with actors Jonathan Groff and Christian Borle on Little Shop of Horrors; directors Lileana Blain-Cruz, Sheryl Kaller, and Desdemona Chiang; director Gaye Taylor Upchurch and playwright Lauren Gunderson on The Half-Life of Marie Curie; and more.

Mario Cantone will host this year's Lucille Lortel Awards, which are being presented as a virtual broadcast and benefit for The Actors Fund on Sunday, May 3, at 7pm. The online event will bring together theatre performers, industry veterans, and fans worldwide in a celebration of Off-Broadway.

The New Group is launching a live online conversation series with the company's community of artists entitled, 'Why We Do It.' The series commences on Wednesday, May 6 at 4:00PM EST with a conversation between Founding Artistic Director of The New Group, Scott Elliott and award-winning actor and director Cynthia Nixon.

The 65th Annual Drama Desk Awards has partnered with 'Stars in the House' to live stream this year's Nominations. Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley, the hosts of the virtual daily series benefiting the Actors Fund, will announce the nominees.

Nominations for the 35th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway were announced today by theatre veterans Jeremy Jordan and Ashley Spencer. The Awards will be presented during a special online event on Sunday, May 3, broadcast on the official website - www.LortelAwards.org - beginning at 7:00pm ET. A virtual 'host' and presenters will be announced at a later date. As always, the Lortel Awards will be a benefit for The Actors Fund and fans are encouraged to make donations at actorsfund.org/Lortel. The Lucille Lortel Awards are produced by the Off-Broadway League and the Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation. Additional support is provided by TDF.

Jesse Berger - Red Bull Theater Founder and Artistic Director, Jim Bredeson - Red Bull Managing Director, and the Board of Trustees of Red Bull Theater today announced that the Twelfth Annual Running of the Red Bulls Gala Benefit scheduled for Monday March 30th would be cancelled.

Just last night, Off-Broadway's The New Group honored its Board President Abby Merrill and Erica Schmidt and Peter Dinklage (Cyrano) at the its Annual Gala, this year celebrating the company's 25th Anniversary.

The New Group will honor its Board President Abby Merrill and Erica Schmidt and Peter Dinklage (Cyrano) at the its Annual Gala, this year celebrating the company's 25th Anniversary, on Monday, March 9.

Red Bull Theater (Jesse Berger, Artistic Director | Jim Bredeson, Managing Director) today announced the New York premiere of All the Devils Are Here - How Shakespeare Invented the Villain, a dazzling exploration of Shakespeare's two decade-long investigation of evil with Tony Award nominee Patrick Page. This one night only special event will take place on Monday February 24th at 7:30 PM at the Cherry Lane Theater (38 Commerce Street, three blocks south of Christopher Street, just west of Seventh Avenue).

After playing downtown's Lucille Lortel Theater last as year as part of Red Bull's season, director Erica Schmidt's psychologically intriguing Shakespeare adaptation titled MAC BETH moves north for a remounting for the Hunter Theater Project.

Hunter Theater Project's production of MAC BETH, directed and adapted by Erica Schmidt, celebrated its opening night on January 16 with a party at French American bistro, Palais.

Red Bull Theater (Jesse Berger, Artistic Director | Jim Bredeson, Managing Director) today announced that submissions are now open for their 10th annual festival of 10-minute plays of heightened language and classic themes. Beginning today, six brand new plays, inspired by this year's theme: 'Private Lives,' will be selected through an open submission process to premiere alongside commissions from Jeremy O. Harris (Slave Play, Daddy) and Theresa Rebeck (Bernhardt/Hamlet, Seminar). Submissions are open through March 30th, 2020.

Red Bull Theater (Jesse Berger, Artistic Director | Jim Bredeson, Managing Director) today announced the cast for the next offering of their season of REVELATION READINGS, the OBIE Award-winning series: Thomas Middleton's Women Beware Women, adapted by Jesse Berger, directed by José Zayas, featuring Juliana Canfield, Kathleen Chalfant, Robert Cuccioli, Zachary Fine, Sam Lilja, Matthew Rauch, Julia McDermott, Diana Oh, Luis Quintero, Laila Robins, Derek Smith, and John Douglas Thompson. This one-night-only event will take place on Monday January 27th at 7:30pm at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, between Bleecker and Hudson Streets).