Industry Theatre Newsroom Page 68

The Broadway League has announced Gennean Scott as Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. She will begin her tenure on July 6, 2021.

Theatrical licensor Music Theatre International (MTI) announced a partnership with resource developer KeyboardTEK that will make their entire state-of-the-art keyboard programming available to MTI customers.

Join Artist's Strategy for this one-night only conversation as they begin to unpack and unlearn the gender constructs in the entertainment industry. They'll be joined by performer Candice Marie Woods (Ain't too Proud, Book of Mormon), Casting Director Victor Vazquez of X Casting and drag artist and New York City Council Candidate Marti Cummings.

Morning technique classes in ballet, East Indian, Afro-Cuban, rhythm, and acting set up the critical foundational training for the quintessential 'Fosse dancer.' Afternoons will be spent studying longer excerpts from signature pieces of Fosse choreography in an intimate, constructive, and challenging class environment.

Moms: The Musical is a fast and furious ride through the uproarious and heartfelt journey of becoming a new mom. It follows two first-time mothers who, from an unlikely friendship, discover how strong they are as they take on their role as mothers while unapologetically preserving who they are as individual women.

The Dramatists Guild of America has announced that the co-recipients of the 2021 Lanford Wilson Award are Mariam Bazeed and Rhiana Yazzie. The award will be presented at the Guild's awards ceremony at a later date. The writers will also each receive a $20,000 cash prize.

It was a big week in New York theatre as Bruce Springsteen opened a Broadway show for the first time in 15 months to a fully vaccinated crowd. While theatre has continued in various forms throughout the pandemic, seeing the return of a show to one of the major commercial centers of the industry was an important step from an economic and emotional standpoint.

Lukens has also served as a Foreign Service Officer in the U.S. State Department with postings in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, a public sector Consultant at Deloitte, and a Business Representative at Actors' Equity Association.

Meli purported to use investor funds to purchase tickets to Broadway shows for resale on the secondary market, but instead misappropriated those funds for his personal use.

His work has been nominated for a Tony, an Emmy and a British Academy Award. His more than 35 plays have been seen in theatres around the world.

National New Play Network has announced the winner of the 2021 Smith Prize for Political Theater: Bernardo Cubría. His play The Giant Void in my Soul was nominated for Best Playwright at the 2018 Ovation Awards, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards, and The Stage Raw Awards.

The Clive & Valerie Barnes Foundation has announced their Innovation Awards in Dance and Theatre.  Unlike previous years, the Foundation chose to honor one  winner in each category that demonstrated outstanding innovation during the past year.  Each awardee will receive a $5,000 gift.   

Broadway’s Kimberly Dawn Neumann and Bonnie Comley will be on the judges’ panel for the 2021 National Distinguished Young Women Scholarship Program taking place virtually this year. Distinguished Young Women, formerly America’s Junior Miss, was founded in 1958 as a way to reward the accomplishments of high school senior girls seeking to pursue higher education. Both Neumann and Comley were scholarship recipients of the program.

Roshunda Jones of G.W. Carver Magnet High School in Houston and Holly Stanfield of Bradford High School in Kenosha, Wisconsin, are the dual recipients of the second annual Stephen Schwartz Musical Theatre Teacher of the Year Award presented by The ASCAP Foundation and the Educational Theatre Association (EdTA).

Chambers has been chosen as the next recipient of the 500 Hours Black Producer Initiative. This groundbreaking program donates 500 agency hours of creative, strategic, and marketing work to emerging, independent Black producers to help build the vital tools needed to bring their vision to life.

Stars of stage and screen participated in the week-long festival. Keynote presenters included Jeff Calhoun, Ken Davenport, Frank Galati, Kristofer Geddie, Philip Hernandez, Chilina Kennedy, Rob McClure, and Mandy Moore.

All YoungArts award winners will receive financial awards of up to $10,000, opportunities to work with leading artists and will become eligible for exclusive creative and professional development support throughout their careers.

While the UK has delayed their full reopening date by nearly a month, other regions across the globe continue to roll back many of the restrictions they had in place. However, the patchwork of rollbacks and differing approaches to live theatre has many arts administrators feeling stretched beyond reason.

In celebration of Pride month, Backstage Babble is releasing a series of episodes with LGBT artists that fulfill it's mission-painting a picture of what it has been like to be gay in the theater world from the 1950s up until the present day. It is hosted by 13-year old Charles Kirsch.

The Obie Award-winning Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC) released its 10th annual report today,”THE VISIBILITY REPORT: RACIAL REPRESENTATION ON NEW YORK CITY STAGES,” covering employment statistics by race for all shows that opened on Broadway and at the 18 largest non-profit theatre companies in the 2018-19 New York season.

National Alliance for Musical Theatre and its Board have announced Mark Blankenship as New Works Director, a role previously held by Ciera Iveson.

The first-of-its-kind NFT marketplace for the theatre community: Third Act, has just launched. Built by Eric Neal and Jesse Hornstein, who are Tony Award Nominated co-Producers of Burn This, Third Act provides a new form of monetization for theatre productions via Blockchain.

While audiences may still be waiting a bit for the rest of their family to get vaccinated (particularly families with children), they are starting to make plans to see shows later this year - making now a great time to start marketing your productions.

Tri-M Foundation has announced the recipients for the first two cycles of its Performing Arts Grant program. Launched in 2020, the Performing Arts Grant program supports the development and presentation of innovative, high-quality performing arts projects, events, and festivals by regional non-profit arts organizations.

Theatre Communications Group has announced the launch of THRIVE!, a regranting program to provide unrestricted funds and professional development and technical assistance for U.S.-based Black Theatres, Indigenous Theatres, and all Theatres of Color.