14 December 2007

Fountain Theatre's co-artistic director Stephen Sachs will direct the U.S. premiere of Athol Fugard's play Victory opening the theatre's 19th Season on January 25th, starring Morlan Higgins, Lovensky Jean-Baptiste and Tinashe Kajese stars. Read the full press release here...

12 December 2007

Peter Mills has been honored with the 2007 Fred Ebb Award! Read the Playbill.com article here...

30 October 2007

Seth Rozin, Artistic Director of InterAct Theatre in Philadelphia, is the winner of the 2007 Smith Prize for BLACK GOLD, which will premiere in InterAct's 2007/2008 season. A second theatre in the National New Play Network, the Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis, will produce the play later in 2008.

18 October 2007

Susan DiLallo has written the libretto to accompany popular musical theatre songs in HEAR OUR SONG, an original review to benefit for local charities. Read more at Playbill.com.

SILVER DOLLAR, with book and lyrics by Mary Bracken Phillips and music by Jack Murphy, will play at Surflight Theatre (Beach Haven, NJ) through Nov. 4.

17 October 2007

DUSTEATERS, Julie Jensen’s epic drama, has been nominated for the Steinberg Award for the best new play produced outside New York. Catch it at the Borderlands Theater in Tucson, AZ, October 4-21.

Congratulations to Danny Larson on his NYMF Excellence in Music Award for his work on THE YELLOW WOOD.

THE BREAKUP NOTEBOOK continues to generate amazing buzz - check out Variety for details!

10 October 2007

Seth Rozin's play, BLACK GOLD, has been awarded the 2007 Smith Prize by the National New Play Network. Congratulations, Seth!

27 August 2007

SILVER DOLLAR, with music by Jack Murphy and book and lyrics by Mary Bracken Phillips, will receive a production this October at the Surflight Theatre in New Jersey, directed by Scott Schwartz... Visit their website for details!

24 July 2007

Congratulations to Prospect Theater Company, recipient of 12 nominations for New York's IT (Innovative Theatre) Awards, recognizing excellence off-off Broadway. The nominations include:

The Flood, Outstanding Production of a Musical
Matt DeAngelis, Outstanding Actor in a Leading Role (The Flood)
Peter Mills & Cara Reichel, Outstanding Original Music (The Flood)

16 July 2007

"THE FUNKENTINE RAPTURE, Lee Summers' 'soulful '70s musical celebration of funk,' will be seen in a special benefit presentation July 16 at the Triad Theatre in Manhattan..."
Read the Playbill.com article here!

18 June 2007

Mia McCullough wrote in the Dramatists Guild newsletter on the topic of "Is new play development broken?"
Read her letter here.

16 June 2007

View the video promo for Anne Garcia Romero's upcoming play,
EARTHQUAKE CHICA, premiering at Borderlands Theatre June 7-17.

15 June 2007

JULIE JENSEN, Resident Playwright at Salt Lake Acting Company, was in residence at the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to develop her new play, BILLION DOLLAR BABY. The work there culminated in a reading at the Center, April 2, 2007, directed by Tracy Ward, award winning director from San Francisco, and dramaturged by Polly Carl, Artistic Director of the Playwrights’ Center.

In May, Jensen was in residence at the Playwrights’ Theatre of New Jersey for a reading of her children’s play about the Oregon Trail entitled ACROSS THE WIDE AND LONESOME PRAIRIE.

Cleveland Public Theatre and TITLEWave Theatre are co-producing Jensen’s play, TWO-HEADED, about two young Southern Utah women at the time of the Mountain Meadows Massacre and their life long relationship with each other and to the bloody events that haunt them both. The production was directed by Greg Vovos, Artistic Director of TITLEWave. It runs June 1 to June 16. Reviews have been unanimously enthusiastic.

That same play, TWO-HEADED, will also be produced this summer as a part of the Berkshire Theatre Festival, in Stockbridge, MA, running July 25 to August 18. The Berkshire Theatre Festival has a 77-year history and is one of the most prestigious theatres in the country.

20 May 2007

New York Theatre Wire names Stephen Sachs' New York production of "Exits and Entrances" by Athol Fugard as one of the Top Ten shows of 2006... Read the article here.

28 April 2007

From this week's Sunday NY Times:

BARBARA STANWYCK: Getting to Know Her

To the Editor:

In “The Infinite Variety of the Lady Stanwyck” [April 22], Terrence Rafferty writes that Barbara Stanwyck excelled at playing “a woman men just can’t seem to get a fix on.” Andrew Gerle and I spent the last five years trying to get a fix on Ann Mitchell, her reporter in “Meet John Doe.” Ann ruins lives, but Stanwyck somehow keeps you on her side. In adapting the film for a stage musical, we agonized over Ann’s likability until we realized it’s the moral ambiguity that makes Stanwyck’s characters worth spending several hours, or five years, getting to know.

Eddie Sugarman
Western Springs, Ill.

The writer is the lyricist and a book writer of “Meet John Doe.”

27 April 2007

SPARE CHANGE, by Mia McCullough, will have its premiere at Chicago's Stage Left Theatre in September, 2007.

20 April 2007

Stephen Sachs' New York production of "Exits and Entrances" by Athol Fugard has just been nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play. The production concludes its run at Primary Stages in NY on Sunday, April 29th. It is scheduled to open at the International Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland in August, with the original cast and director.

15 April 2007

THE BREACH, by Catherine Filloux, Tarrell McCraney, and Joe Sutton, weaves together three separate stories from people who survived Hurricane Katrina. It has received significant national attention, and readings and productions are scheduled around the country:

June 4 - Alliance Theatre, Atlanta, and Arena Stage, DC

June 16 or 20 - Long Wharf

Summer 2007 - Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Fall 2007 - McCarter Theatre

September 5 - 20, Southern Rep. Article here.

January 10 - February 9, Seattle Rep. Article here.

25 Mar 2007

Congrats to Susan DiLallo (libretto, lyrics) and Stephen Weiner (music) for RAVE reviews of ONCE UPON A TIME IN NEW JERSEY at Seattle's Village Theatre! Read the reviews here... the show plays through May 13th at Seattle's Village Theatre.

17 Mar 2007

Check out the article on MEET JOHN DOE in the Washington Post...

15 Mar 2007

Joe Sutton is a Featured Playwright on the Plays For Young Audiences website, and Seattle Rep has just selected the Hurricane Katrina collage THE BREACH (written by Joe, Catherine Filloux, and Tarell McCraney) for their next season, as reported in Variety.

24 Feb 2007

As MEET JOHN DOE by Andrew Gerle and Eddie Sugarman readies for production at Ford's Theatre, check out this NAMT press shot and updated show blog!

25 Jan 2007
Playbill News: Nolen to star in LBJ Musical THE WINNER in Texas

Dean Nolen — who originated the role of Harry Bright in Broadway's MAMMA MIA! — will star as Lyndon Johnson in Lyric Stage's world premiere of Lewis Flinn and Joe Sutton's musical THE WINNER Feb. 16-March 3 at the Irving Arts Center's Dupree Theater in Irving, TX.

20 Jan 2007
Lyric Stage to premiere Flinn and Sutton's THE WINNER

Lyric Stage, Dallas County’s only locally produced professional musical theater company, continues its 14th season with its 15th world premiere musical, THE WINNER, with music by Lewis Flinn, and book and lyrics by Joe Sutton, February 16-March 3, 2007. Performances of THE WINNER will be performed in the Irving Arts Center’s Dupree Theater, 3333 N. MacArthur Blvd. in Irving, Texas. For tickets call 972-252-2787.

08 Jan 2007
Playbill News: Primary Stages Replaces DEUCE with Fugard's EXITS AND ENTRANCES

This marks Stephen Sachs' NYC directing debut. Sachs, who staged both previous runs of the work, will direct the New York production at Primary Stages' home at 59E59 Theatres. Original stars Morlan Higgins and William Dennis Hurley reprise their turns as André and The Playwright, respectively.

05 Jan 2007
Playbill News: GILGAMESH and PARADISE LOST Musical Play in New 3-World-Premiere Season of Theatre @ Boston Court

GILGAMESH (opens Feb. 24, 2007)
Stephen Sachs adapts and directs the world premiere of Stephen Mitchell's new take on "the mythical journey of the warrior hero-king and his friend Enkidu, a naked wild man who has been civilized through the erotic arts of a sexual priestess."