Kate Whoriskey, Ken Rus Schmoll, Savion Glover Announced as Directors for Encores! Off-Center Season

Encores! Off-Center Co-Artistic Directors Anne Kauffman and Jeanine Tesori today announced the directors for the 2018 season, which begins June 27. The popular summer musical theater series at New York City Center will welcome directors Kate Whoriskey, Ken Rus Schmoll, and Savion Glover, all of whom are making their City Center directorial debuts.

The season opens with Jason Robert Brown's breakout musical Songs for a New World (June 27 - 30), directed by Kate Whoriskey (Sweat, The Miracle Worker) with music direction by Thomas Murray (Anastasia, Honeymoon in Vegas, The Bridges of Madison County). This powerful collection of songs examines life, love, and the choices ordinary people make when faced with extraordinary moments.

Ken Rus Schmoll (The Invisible Hand, Red Dog Howls, Middletown) will direct Steve Cosson and Michael Friedman's Gone Missing (July 11 & 12) in a special two-night only engagement honoring composer and 2017 Encores! Off-Center Artistic Director Michael Friedman.

Concluding the 2018 season, Savion Glover (Shuffle Along; Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk) will direct and choreograph Micki Grant and Vinnette Carroll's radical 1971 celebration of African-American culture and community, Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope (July 25 - 28).

Gone Missing and Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope will feature music direction by Chris Fenwick.

Encores! Off-Center was founded in 2013 with the mission of presenting Off?Broadway musicals that pushed creative boundaries when they were first produced. Filtered through the lens of today's artists, these shows are presented not as historical documents but as living, vital works that continue to resonate with audiences. The New York Times has called Encores! Off?Center "a summer theater highlight," with past productions including Violet with Sutton Foster; tick, tick...BOOM! with Lin?Manuel Miranda; A New Brain with Jonathan Groff; Little Shop of Horrors with Ellen Greene and Jake Gyllenhaal; Elizabeth Swados's Runaways; and The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin with Nikki M. James.

In keeping with City Center's founding mission to make the arts accessible to all, many Off-Center tickets are $25. Tickets can be purchased online at NYCityCenter.org, by calling 212.581.1212, or in person at the City Center Box Office. New York City Center is located at 131 W 55th St, between Sixth and Seventh avenues.

New York City Center gratefully acknowledges Series Sponsors Stacey and Eric Mindich, Luigi Caiola and Sean McGill, Elizabeth and Dean Kehler, and Andrew Martin-Weber, with additional support provided by The Frederick Loewe Foundation.

Major support for Songs for a New World is provided by Stacey and Eric Mindich.

In addition, City Center thanks Lisa and Richard Witten for their generous support of the Artistic Innovation Fund and The Jerome L. Greene Foundation for its generous support of the Arts Access Fund.

The Lobby Project is sponsored by The Frederick Loewe Foundation.

Songs for a New World
Jun 27 - 30, Wed & Thu at 7:30pm, Fri at 8pm, and Sat at 2 & 8pm
Music and Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown
Music Director Thomas Murray
Directed by Kate Whoriskey

Gone Missing
Jul 11 & 12, Wed & Thu at 7:30pm
Music and Lyrics by Michael Friedman
Book by Steve Cosson
Music Director Chris Fenwick
Directed by Ken Rus Schmoll

Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope
Jul 25 - 28, Wed & Thu at 7:30pm, Fri at 8pm, and Sat at 2 & 8pm
Music and Lyrics by Micki Grant
Conceived by Vinnette Caroll
Music Director Chris Fenwick
Directed and Choreographed by Savion Glover

NEW YORK City Center (Arlene Shuler, President & CEO) has played a defining role in the cultural life of the City since 1943 when it was founded by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia with the civic mission to make the best in the performing arts accessible to all. Today, the distinctive neo-Moorish theater welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors to experience internationally acclaimed artists. For 25 years, the Tony-honored Encores! series has given new life to the American musical theater canon, complimented by the Encores! Off-Center series, which features seminal Off-Broadway musicals filtered through the lens of today's innovative artists. Dance continues to be an integral part of the theater's mission through programs like the annual Fall for Dance Festival, which exposes a new audience to an international array of artists by offering highly subsidized tickets. City Center is also the home to a roster of renowned national and international companies including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (City Center's Principal Dance Company) and Manhattan Theatre Club. Through its education and community programs, City Center brings the performing arts to over 9,000 New York City students each year and activates all areas of the building with talks, master classes, art exhibitions, and intimate performances that provide audiences an up-close look at the work of the great theater and dance artists of our time.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos