Industry Theatre Newsroom Page 91

The League of Professional Theatre Women (Shellen Lubin and Catherine Porter, Co-Presidents), an organization which has been championing women in the professional theatre for over three decades, responds to the recent Broadway shut down by offering full members of the League, in good standing, access to an emergency loan fund.

Read a statement from from the Chair of the Stage Managers' Association (TSq Station NYC and across US cities) regarding the Covid-19 outbreak:

Per Governor Cuomo's order effective today, Thursday, March 12, closing all Broadway theaters and public gatherings with a capacity of 500 or more, which includes New World Stages, all performances of the off-Broadway production of Drift at New World Stages through Sunday, April 12, 2020 are cancelled.

The directors of The Jerome Robbins Foundation today announced that Theodore S. Chapin, President and Chief Creative Officer of The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization: A Concord Company, will be honored with the Floria V. Lasky Award in recognition of his invaluable contributions to the cultural landscape of New York City.

The York Theatre Company as part of its Developmental Reading Series, in association with Que Sera Sera Productions, will present a private industry reading of the new musical Come the Darkness, with book, music, and lyrics by Don Nolan at The York Theatre Company at Saint Peter's. Admission to the Friday, March 13 reading of Come the Darkness is by invitation only.

The new musical Ranked (www.RankedMusical.com) with book by Kyle Holmes and music and lyrics by David Taylor Gomes will have industry workshops on Friday, March 20 at 12pm and 4pm at The Daryl Roth Theatre (101 E. 15th Street).

The top growing current Broadway musicals were Girl From The North Country (8.15%), Beetlejuice (0.92%), Ain't Too Proud (0.80%), Jagged Little Pill (0.76%) and Mean Girls (0.75%). The top growing current Broadway plays were The Inheritance (1.18%), To Kill A Mockingbird (0.37%), Cursed Child (0.10%), Lincoln Center Theatre (0.03%) and .

Nathen Lee Graham and producer Justin Weatherby have announced a private reading of the new play NAT QUEEN COLE by Stan Zimmerman & Christian McLaughlin to be presented on Thursday, March 12 at 7:00 PM and Friday, March 13 at 4:00 PM in at a Midtown New York location.

Williamstown Theatre Festival (Mandy Greenfield, Artistic Director) has announced that Sanaz Toossi is the 2020 L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award recipient for her play English. Sanaz receives the $10,000 award as well as the $10,000 Jay Harris Commission to write a new play.

Each year, the organizers of TEDxBroadway collectively spend thousands of hours curating the topics and speakers for the annual sold-old conference - all dedicated to asking, 'What's the BEST Broadway can be?' In the interest of sharing a vast array of narratives that really move the industry forward, organizers are now accepting online submissions for its New Voices program.

In partnership with Disney Theatrical Productions, Music Theatre International is now licensing Descendants: The Musical.

The York Theatre Company as part of its Developmental Reading Series, in association with MWG Productions, will present an industry reading of the new musical Rio Uphill, with book by Juliana Pedroso and Matthew Gurren (What Do Critics Know?), music by Nanny Assis and Matthew Gurren and lyrics by Matthew Gurren. ONE PERFORMANCE ONLY, Thursday, March 5, 2020 at 7:00PM at The York Theatre Company at Saint Peter's* (619 Lexington Avenue, entrance on East 54th Street, just east of Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022).

IATSE has reached a tentative agreement with the Broadway League and Disney Theatrical Productions regarding the a?oePink Contract.a??

In celebration of its 65-year legacy, the Drama Desk Awards debuts a new statuette, to be formally presented at the annual ceremony on Sunday, May 31, 2020, at The Town Hall in Manhattan.

Two presentations of the 29 hour reading for a brand new musical will be held at Open Jar Studios at 11am and 3:30pm. The reading is directed by Laurie Glodowski and produced by 35th Parallel Productions.

The Dramatists Guild of America has announced that the recipient of the 2020 Lanford Wilson Award is Madhuri Shekar. The award will be presented at the Guild's annual awards ceremony on Monday, July 27, 2020, at Joe's Pub in New York.

TDF (aka Theatre Development Fund) has announced that Whitney Estrin will assume the post of Director of Development. The announcement was made by TDF's Executive Director, Victoria Bailey. Ms. Estrin, who will assume her duties on April 1, is being promoted from the position of Deputy Director of Development she currently holds at TDF. She came to TDF in 2017 having been the Director of Development at Theatre for a New Audience in Brooklyn.

MAXA, The Maddest Woman in the World will be having a NY industry reading Thursday, March 12th at 2pm EST in preparation for its world stage premiere at University of Minnesota Duluth in November, 2020, with book and lyrics by Mika Kauffman and music by Thomas Jacobsen.

The Global Theater Initiative (GTI), a partnership between Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and The Laboratory for Performance and Politics (The Lab) at Georgetown University, invites all theatres, individual artists, institutions, and audiences to celebrate the 59th annual World Theatre Day on March 27, 2020. Each year, a renowned theatre artist of world stature is invited by the International Theatre Institute (ITI) Worldwide in Shanghai to craft an international message to mark the global occasion. This year the message has been written by Pakistani playwright Shahid Nadeem. The message has been translated into multiple languages. Read all the World Theatre Day Messages here.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has been announced as an official charity partner of this year's historic 50th anniversary edition of the New York City Marathon on November 1, 2020.

RWS Entertainment Group, a New York-based full-service production company that creates award-winning custom entertainment, live events and branded experiences worldwide, announced today that Abigail Buell has been named Senior Director of Marketing. In this newly created role, Buell will be driving the company's overall marketing and public relations efforts.

The United States Institute for Theatre Technology is pleased to announce our 2020 award winners. Each year USITT along with many generous sponsors present a wide array of awards to those who work, create, and excel in the theatre and live entertainment industry.

The top growing current Broadway musicals were West Side Story (11.77%), Girl From The North Country (5.36%), Beetlejuice (1.54%), Jagged Little Pill (1.54%) and Frozen (1.11%). The top growing current Broadway plays were The Inheritance (2.26%), To Kill A Mockingbird (0.47%), Cursed Child (0.10%), Lincoln Center Theatre (0.01%).