Industry Theatre Newsroom Page 92

The Off-Broadway League today announced that it will offer a new series of seminars. Each will delve into the intricacies of Off-Broadway from professionals in the Non-Profit and Commercial arenas. Throughout all these informal sessions experts will share insight and be available to answer questions.

The Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellows program will close at midnight, Eastern time, on March 1.

Pulp Vérité, a new play by playwright Crystal Skillman will receive a 29-hour reading with the award-winning The Workshop Theater. The presentation will culminate in two readings on March 6th at 3 and 7 PM, at the A.R.T/NY studios (520 8th Avenue), in the Bruce Mitchell Room. The reading is free, and reservations can be made at www.workshoptheater.org.

Jay is trapped in a toxic home environment. Taking care of her drug-addicted mother and lonely and misunderstood younger brother, she dreams of escaping into a better world. She is presented with the chance-of-a-lifetime when winning a nation-wide essay contest to be the new writer of the final book in a beloved series left incomplete by the death of the author. However, Jay's 'dream ending' of the story is threatened when she has to collaborate with an additional, surprise contest winner. Set in the American Midwest, Jay and the Contest explores what it means to make it out of our hometown, no matter the consequences.

After two groundbreaking years, BroadwayEvolved returns in 2020 with three Summer Intensives. After just announcing the 2020 faculty sneak peek, Betsy Wolfe, Co-Founder, reflects on the evolution of the program and what excites her most about year three.

The acclaimed one woman show 'Bette Davis Ain't for Sissies' will be given a closed industry reading later this month, directed by Karen Carpenter (Harry Townsend's Last Stand, Love Loss and What I Wore) and starring Jessica Sherr, presented at Open Jar Studios.

Broadway Licensing has acquired the performance rights to Disenchanted!, by Dennis T. Giacino.

Actors' Equity Association is officially commemorating the 'Year of the Stage Manager' on Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020 - 100 years after a landmark decision that encoded the place of stage managers in the union. To mark the occasion, Equity is inviting members to share their stories working as or with a stage manager on social media.

The Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation has announced the NYC Public High School Student Playwriting Fellowship, created as an opportunity for young writers citywide to get unparalleled access to New York City professional artists for mentoring. The inaugural Lortel student Fellows and finalists - representing every Borough, as well as D75 and D79 school districts - submitted original 10-minute one-act plays and were selected by a panel of playwrights, directors, and literary managers including Kareem Fahmy, Seri Lawrence, Cori Thomas, Mark Wade, and Cary Wong. Fellows will meet with a playwright mentor to discuss their play and learn more about playwriting as a career. Playwright mentors for this group of teen playwrights are Joshua Harmon, Kait Kerrigan, Sylvia Khoury, and Rehana Lew Mirza. All plays will be presented in a special one-night-only performance at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street) on March 24, 2020. Kimille Howard will direct.

Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF), the not-for-profit foundation of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), today announced Director Arpita Mukherjee has been chosen as this season's SDCF Denham Fellow for her upcoming production of Raisins Not Virgins by Sharbari Zohra Ahmed.

Founded in 2019, Wendy C. Goldberg's TheFrontOffice is an entertainment development company that specializes in cross over content from live theater to new media.

Rochelle Torres is the new Director of Marketing, Communications & Engagement at Signature Theatre (Paige Evans, Artistic Director; Harold Wolpert, Executive Director), the company announced today. Torres comes to Signature from Playwrights Horizons, where she worked for more than seven years.

BESPOKE PLAYS - a bicoastal production company - will present an industry reading of SUPPER by Phinneas Kiyomura on Sunday, February 16th. Completing the cast are Josh Adam Ramos (Chicken and Biscuits), Alexander Sanders (Pip's Island), and Emily Gardner Xu Hall (I Am This For You). They join the previously announced Danny Johnson (Daredevil, Luke Cage) and C.K. Allen (Guiding Light, All My Children). Daryl Lathon (Steal The Stars) will direct; the Production Stage Manager is Allie York. Kelsey Sheppard will read stage directions.

The Masterwork Music and Art Foundation is pleased to announce a premiere award for an emerging vocal artist. $10,000 will be awarded to the winner of a vocal competition. The selected finalists for this award will also perform at the new Madison Cultural Center. This is the largest such award the organization has offered since the it was founded, over fifty years ago in Morristown, New Jersey.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre has announced the appointment of Erica Lauren Ortiz as its new director of marketing. Ortiz will be responsible for creating, implementing, and measuring the success of a comprehensive marketing plan that advances TCG's mission to strengthen, nurture, and promote professional theatre in the U.S. and globally. Working with a portfolio that includes individual membership, events, and publishing, Ortiz will raise the valuation of TCG's programs within the theatre field while championing the not-for-profit theatre to our broader culture.

ThreeTimesFast, a new musical by Teresa Lotz and Naomi Matlow, held industry readings on February 3rd and 4th, 2020 in New York City. ThreeTimesFast features music by Teresa Lotz, lyrics by Naomi Matlow, and book by Lotz and Matlow. The reading was directed by Michael Bello (Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, We Are The Tigers), with music direction by Elizabeth Doran (Mean Girls) and dramaturgy by Jessica Kahkoska (Agent 355). Stage Management was by Helen Irene Muller, with casting by Kate Lumpkin Casting.

The Commercial Theater Institute (CTI) and Executive Director Tom Viertel have announced speakers for the upcoming Three-Day Intensive, taking place on Friday, March 6 through Sunday, March 8, 2020 in NYC. 

Theatre Upstairs of Phoenix, AZ and Tyler Boettcher & Lauren Rohs will present an industry staged reading of The Red Wool, a new raucous comedy by Broadway's Jeremy Kareken (Lifespan of a Fact). The industry presentation will take place on Monday, February 10th at a private residence in New York City. Tony Award winning playwright & actor Greg Kotis (Urinetown) will star as King Ashurnasirpal II, leading a Phoenix based cast. Industry members may request reservations at rsvp@visceral-entertainment.com.

Māyā, a new musical by Cheeyang Ng (book/music) and Eric Sorrels (book/lyrics), will hold industry readings on February 9th and 10th, 2020 at The Growing Studio.

BESPOKE PLAYS - a bicoastal production company - is excited to announce that Danny Johnson (Daredevil, Luke Cage) and C.K. Allen (Guiding Light, All My Children) will lead the first New York industry reading of Phinneas Kiyomura's Supper. These two juggernauts will star as two warring brothers definitely not based on the elder Koch brothers in a play that resembles a cage match crossed with classic farce. Additional cast and production team members will be announced shortly.

The 30th Annual Kleban Prize For Musical Theatre reception was held on Monday, February 3.

'10 Days in a Madhouse' will be having an industry staged reading Monday, February 10th in preparation for its Off-Broadway premiere in January 2021.

On Saturday, January 25th, Alan Seales from The Theatre Podcast took the main stage at BroadwayCon 2020 to moderate a panel all about BEETLEJUICE.

On Monday, January 27th, producer Jonathan Demar (Hadestown) presented an industry reading of Before This New Year, a new play by Liana Sonenclar. This is the 23-year-old playwright's industry debut. The cast was led by Natalia Dyer, best known for her role as Nancy in Netflix's award-winning television series, Stranger Things. The reading was directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt (Eureka Day), recipient of the 2018 Lucille Lortel Visionary Director Award.