Podcasts about new play development

Rachel PeakeOriginally hailing from Saskatchewan, Rachel is a director and dramaturge of theatre and opera. She is currently the Artistic Director of the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario.​From 2021 to 2023 Rachel was the Associate Artistic Director of the Arts Club Theatre Company in Vancouver. There she oversaw the running of the Artistic Department from 2021-2022 during the Artistic Director's maternity leave. From 2017 to 2020 she was the Associate Artistic Director of the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, where she led the Citadel's New Play Development initiatives. In January 2023 she won the Ovation Award for Outstanding Direction for her work on Something Rotten!, produced by Theatre Under the Stars.​Rachel recently directed Macbeth for Calgary Opera (Betty Mitchell Award nominee - Outstanding Production of a Musical) , Sense and Sensibility for the Arts Club, 9 to 5: the Musical for the Citadel Theatre, Something Rotten! for Theatre Under the Stars, and The Pearl Fishers for Vancouver Opera. Rachel directed and dramaturged Hyperlink for the elbow, which was nominated for a Critic's Choice in Innovation. Recent directorial credits also include The Garneau Block for the Citadel, La Cenerentola for Vancouver Opera, and Phaedra/ Serenade for Pacific Opera Victoria.​Some additional career highlights include directing and dramaturging the world première opera, Stickboy, for Vancouver Opera; directing the première of The Contest of the Winds for Caravan Farm Theatre; helming SexyVoices, a community-based creation piece about love and sex in the disability community for Realwheels Theatre; directing Angels in America: Part One at Studio 58, and directing and co-conceiving the interactive project Sustainability in an Imaginary World at UBC.​Rachel was the co-Artistic Director of Solo Collective Theatre from 2008-2013 for whom she directed Cool Beans, Play With Monsters, After Jerusalem, The Project, and The Trolley Car.  She also spent four years as Resident Stage Director of Dark by Five at Gros Morne Summer Music where she directed and co-created fifteen new interdisciplinary works. ​Rachel interned at the Komische Oper in Berlin, at Stratford's Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Direction, and in the Shaw Festival's Neil Munro Directing Internship. She also studied extensively with her mentor, James Fagan Tait. Rachel is a graduate of the University of Alberta and Studio 58.Grand TheatreThe Grand Theatre is known for world-class theatre created and built in London, Ontario. As southwestern Ontario's premiere producing theatre and one of the most beautiful theatre spaces in Canada, the company has deep ties to the community and to its artists, artisans, and technicians. As a vibrant cultural hub and not-for-profit professional theatre, the Grand serves to gather, inspire, and entertain audiences in London and beyond. At our home in downtown London, we create productions on two stages: the Spriet Stage (839 seats) and the Auburn Developments Stage (144 seats). The Grand season of theatrical offerings runs from September to May, and we collaborate with companies and artists across the country through our co-productions that see London-made artistic and creative work travel to audiences nation-wide. Through our successful New Play Development Program, the Grand is committed to developing and premiering new, original works and supporting the growth and reach of theatre writers and creators. Our recently renovated venue offers a contemporary and welcoming environment that is also home to several successful music series', community arts rentals, and cultural and special events. 

Katie checks in with founder, and Executive Artistic Director, of the Jewish Plays Project, David Winitsky.

Hosts Marina Johnson and Nabra Nelson are joined by poets Fargo Tbakhi and George Abraham to explore the intersection of poetry and performance art. They discuss live expression, their collaborative process, and how performance can challenge norms and spark conversations about identity, diaspora, and revolution.Kunafa and Shay is a podcast produced for HowlRound Theatre Commons by co-hosts Nabra Nelson and Marina Johnson. Kunafa and Shay discusses and analyzes contemporary and historical Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) and Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) theatre from across the region. Kunafa and Shay highlights MENA/SWANA plays and theatremakers, spotlights community-engaged work in the region and diaspora, and analyzes the past, present, and future of MENA/SWANA theatre in the United States and beyond. Theatre artists and scholars Nabra Nelson and Marina Johnson bring their own perspectives, research, and special guests in order to start a dialogue and encourage further learning and discussion. The name, Kunafa and Shay, invites you into the discussion in the best way we know how: with complex and delicious sweets like kunafa, and perfectly warm tea (or, in Arabic, shay). Kunafa and Shay is a place to share experiences, discuss ideas, and sometimes engage with our differences. In each country in the region, you'll find kunafa made differently. In that way, we also lean into the diversity, complexity, and robust flavors of MENA/SWANA theatre. 

In the last episode of the fourth season of Kunafa and Shay—which was a historical and classical Middle Wastern and North African (MENA) and Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) theatre season—Marina Johnson and Nabra Nelson reflect on the season, give some additional insight, and provide a broader overview of their framework for historical and classical theatre.

Jewish Plays Project The Reservoir by Jake Brasch at Geffen PlayhouseCary GitterAri'el StachelZionista RisingJewFaceTeaching at Cornell

Dramaturgs serve productions in a variety of ways, which are often dictated by needs of the play and the playwright. Playwright and dramaturg Jacqueline Goldfinger, along with dramaturg and dean of the Theatre School at DePaul University Martine Kei Green-Rogers, join the conversation to discuss the role of the dramaturg in new play development, as well as how to incorporate dramaturgy in the classroom.

Charles Payne is a Madison transplant, a certified teacher, and self-taught social artist, originally from Michigan. Payne is a Shop One Educator/Artist Residency Finalist and a 2022 TMT New Play Development Playwright. Their play ‘Da Classroom Ain't Enuf' was an American Players Theatre New Voices: Creating the Classics of Tomorrow semi-finalist and a Wisconsin Wrights 2022 New Play Development project finalist. Payne is an Isthmus contributor, a Madison Magazine contributor and the Arts + Literature Lab's inaugural ALL Originals Prize winner.Charles Payne - One Water MadisonSRTN Podcast Website

Host Nicolas Shannon Savard and playwright Leanna Keyes discuss her play "Doctor Voynich and Her Children". What does it mean to stage trans stories about queer motherhood, abortion, intimacy, choice, and power in the wake of the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade and the ongoing legislative attacks on reproductive rights and the trans community?

Host, Nicolas Shannon Savard interviews playwright J.C. Pankratz about their play, "Seahorse", a poetic, stream-of-consciousness one-person show about a trans man's attempts at artificial insemination following his husband's unexpected death. The conversation will dive into the play's approach to the “messiness” of imagining futures you can't yet see and its use of magical realism to invite audiences to sit inside that mess as witnesses and confidants.

Amber and Addae talk openly about new play dramaturgs and creative practice, some of Addae's favorite development structures including the WTP Ethel Woolson Lab, creating and developing community around the work of playwrights and the need for a dramaturg in new development spaces. Tune in to learn about how new plays get made!

Charles Payne is a Madison transplant, a certified teacher, and self-taught social artist, originally from Michigan. Payne is a Shop One Educator/Artist Residency Finalist and a 2022 TMT New Play Development Playwright. Their play ‘Da Classroom Ain't Enuf' was an American Players Theatre New Voices: Creating the Classics of Tomorrow semi-finalist and a Wisconsin Wrights 2022 New Play Development project finalist.  Payne is an Isthmus contributor, a Madison Magazine contributor and the Arts + Literature Lab's inaugural ALL Originals Prize winner. In this episode of Black Oxygen Payne discusses their experience in Madison, mental health, body dysmorphia, and the beauty in storytelling. Near the end of our conversation, they remind us to take time to reflect on our lived experience. #BlackOxygenPodcast #BlackInWisconsin #Madison365 #DopeBlackPodcasts #CharlesEdwardPayne #BlackLeadership #BlackLeadershipInWisconsin #BeautifulWisconsin #WisconsinIsBeautiful #Storytelling #BlackStorytellers #BlackPoets #BlackTheatre #BodyDysmorphia #MentalHealthConversations #MentalHealthCare Links & Resources: Water mark - an essay: https://isthmus.com/news/community/water-mark/ Up went my hands: https://www.channel3000.com/guest-essay-up-went-my-hands/ Little Books of Wisconsin: https://www.littlebookwi.com/blog/artist-profile-charles-payne Arts + Literature Lab: https://artlitlab.org/artists/charles-payne For more information on suicide or to connect with someone regarding mental health concerns please check our the resources below National Suicide Prevention Hotline - 800-273-8255 - https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org Anesis Therapy Center - https://anesistherapycenter.com Journey Mental Health - https://journeymhc.org https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help    

We're talking everything PlayFest 2022, a celebration of new theater works hosted by Orlando Shakes in partnership with UCF. In this episode we chat with Roberta Emerson, Director of New Play Development at Orlando Shakes, about the work that goes on behind the scenes. We also connected with Greg Lam, the playwright behind “Repossessed,” which was featured during PlayFest. Special thanks to Michael Laderman from Orlando Shakes for his assistance with this episode. You can find out more about Orlando Shakes via their website https://www.orlandoshakes.org/. For more information about Greg Lam and his work as a playwright, check out his website at https://greglam.wixsite.com/home.

This week I talk with Robert Dorfman, the new Director of Wellsprings and New Play Development at Six Points Theater in St. Paul. We talk about his career journey from actor to director to this new role, what types of new plays he's seeing, and some of the big names he's worked with, on this week's Who The Folk?! Podcast.https://www.sixpointstheater.org/copy-of-employment

In this episode, Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley interview artist/scholar Lisa B. Thompson. They discuss navigating life as a Black feminist artist/scholar, putting some respect on Black theatre, and why Black theatre is an integral part of Black Studies.

Hello, listeners! In today's episode we get into a discussion about new play development! Sarah attended the Great Plains Theatre Conference this past year and had an incredible time! We share our thoughts about attending New Play Development and Conferences. We hope you enjoy this discussion! GLISTENS Sam: chili lime rolled tortilla chips Sarah: Cheeseburger Wrap from TJ's ____________________________________________ Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode with your friends or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies And as always, we would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it in our next episode. Email: contact@beckettsbabies.com For more info, visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com Theme Music: "Live Like the Kids" by Samuel Johnson, Laura Robertson, Luke O'Dea (APRA) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/beckettsbabies/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/beckettsbabies/support

Hana Sharif, the Augustin Family Artistic Director for The Rep, stopped by to speak with Nancy about her career and the upcoming season. HANA SHARIF (Augustin Family Artistic Director) has enjoyed a multi-faceted theatre career, including roles as an artistic leader, director, playwright and producer with a specialty in strategic and cross-functional leadership. She served for five years as Associate Artistic Director at Baltimore Center Stage, where she oversaw the day-to-day execution of all of the mainstage and studio productions, and was the architect of the innovative CS Digital program: a platform that pushes the boundaries of traditional theatre and looks at the nexus point between art and technology. Her other achievements at Baltimore Center Stage include prototyping the Mobile Unit, strengthening community engagement, producing multiple world and regional premieres and helping to guide the theatre through a multi-million dollar building renovation and rebranding effort. In 2012, Hana served as the inaugural Program Manager of the ArtsEmerson Ambassador Program and launched ArtsEmerson Artist-In-Residency program featuring playwright Daniel Beaty. In addition to her work at ArtsEmerson, Hana leveraged her regional theatre experience to freelance produce for smaller theatre companies, looking to expand and restructure their administrative teams. Hana served as developmental producer and program manager for Progress Theatre in Houston, where she consulted with the Artistic Director on redefining the artistic vision and subsequent recasting of the ensemble company and lead strategic organizational planning focused on LORT market entry. During her decade-long tenure at Hartford Stage, Hana served as the Associate Artistic Director, Director of New Play Development, and Artistic Producer. Hana launched the new play development program, expanded the community engagement and civic discourse initiatives, and developed and produced Tony, Grammy, Pulitzer and Obie Award-winning shows. From 1997–2003, Hana served as the co-founder and Artistic Director of Nasir Productions, a theatre dedicated to underrepresented voices to challenge traditional structures. Her guest lecturer credits include Spelman College, Sewanee University, UT Austin, UCSD, Prairie View A&M, Emerson College, Maggie Flanigan Studio, Towson University, UMD, UConn, UMass and University of Hartford, among others. Additionally, Hana has directed acclaimed productions of Porgy & Bess, The Who & The What, Fun Home, Sense and Sensibility, The Christians, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Pride and Prejudice (DCArts: Best Director/Best New Play), The Whipping Man, Gem of the Ocean (six CCC nominations), Gee's Bend (CCC Award Best Ensemble, two nominations), Next Stop Africa, Cassie, The Drum and IFdentity. Her plays include All the Women I Used to Be, The Rise and Fall of Day and The Sprott Cycle Trilogy. Hana holds a BA from Spelman College and an MFA from the University of Houston. She is the recipient of the 2009–10 Aetna New Voices Fellowship, EMC Arts Working Open Fellowship, Theatre Communications Group (TCG) New Generations Fellowship, and is a founding member of The Black Theatre Commons (BTC). She serves on the board of directors for the TCG, BTC, and the Sprott Foundation.

This episode is an interview with Addae Moon, the associate artistic director at Theatrical Outfit in Atlanta, Georgia. We discuss his journey as a theatre artist; his playwright development lab, Hush Harbor Lab; and his own artistry and creativity.

Show notes below:   Talking Shit with Tara Cheyenne is a Tara Cheyenne Performance Production www.taracheyenne.com Instagram: @TaraCheyenneTCP  /  FB: https://www.facebook.com/taracheyenneperformance Podcast produced, edited and music by Marc Stewart Music www.marcstewartmusic.com    © 2021 Tara Cheyenne Performance   Subscribe/follow share through Podbean and Google Podcasts and Apple Podcasts and Spotify.   Donate! To keep this podcast ad-free please go to:  https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/13386   Links:    http://carmenaguirre.ca/   https://www.electriccompanytheatre.com/electrics/   https://siminovitchprize.com/the-prize/past-prizes/2020-2/finalists/   About Carmen:   Carmen Aguirre, Core Artist at Vancouver's Electric Company Theatre and Artistic Associate of New Play Development at The Stratford Festival, is an award-winning theatre artist and author. She has written and co-written over twenty-five plays, the #1 international bestseller Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter (winner of CBC Canada Reads 2012), and its bestselling sequel, Mexican Hooker #1 and My Other Roles Since the Revolution. Currently, she is writing an adaptation of Euripides' Medea, Moliere's The Learned Ladies for Toronto's Factory Theatre, Fire Never Dies: The Tina Modotti Project for Electric Company, and an adaptation of Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker's The Many-Headed Hydra for The Stratford Festival's Seed Commission program. Her digital piece Floating Life, commissioned by Stratford, can be viewed on its website. Carmen has over eighty film, television and stage acting credits. Favourites include her award-winning work as Veronica in the Canadian premiere of Stephen Adly Guirgis's The Motherfucker with the Hat and playing the lead role of Daniela in Cecilia Araneda's stunning independent feature Intersection. Carmen is a 2020 Siminovitch Prize finalist, Canada's most prestigious theatre award. She is a graduate of Studio 58.   About Tara: Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg is an award winning creator, performer, choreographer, director and writer. Artistic Director of Tara Cheyenne Performance, she is renowned as a trailblazer in interdisciplinary performance and as a mighty performer "who defies categorization on any level" (The Georgia Straight). Tara is celebrated nationally and internationally for her unique and dynamic hybrid of dance, comedy and theatre. The string of celebrated full-length solo shows to her credit includes bANGER, Goggles, Porno Death Cult, and I can't remember the word for I can't remember, and she partners regularly on multidisciplinary collaborations, commissions and boundary-bending ensemble creations. When she isn't creating innovative movement for theatre, Tara performs around the world. Highlights include DanceBase/Edinburgh, South Bank Centre/London, On the Boards/Seattle USA, and High Performance Rodeo/Calgary. Recent works include The Body Project (premiering 2020/21 season), The River Project with dance artist Miriam Colvin and artist and activist Molly Wickham (premiering 2021 in Wet'suwet'en Territory), empty.swimming.pool with Italian dance/performance artist Silvia Gribaudi, (Castiglioncello and Bassano Italy, Victoria, B.C. and Vancouver, B.C.), how to be (Vancouver, B.C.) , and I can't remember the word for I can't remember (currently touring). Tara lives on the unceded and traditional territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), səlil̓wətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) / East Vancouver with her partner composer Marc Stewart.

Episode CreditsProduced by Nicholas PilapilEdited by Nicholas PilapilTheme song by Eloise Wong

Susan Coromel (artistic director) speaks with dramaturges, Deb Vaughn and Nora Douglass about the role of dramaturge in new play development. First they attempt to answer the question, what is dramaturgy? They go on to share how the role of dramaturge differs in new play development from regional theatre. Both Nora and Deb have written plays that have been developed at Theatre 33 and they speak to the ways in which dramaturges support the playwriting process. 

In Episode 4, Stephen Alexander (director) and Deb Vaughn (resident dramaturge) talk with playwright Rachael Carnes about her play Windberry Creek and the process of new play development. What are the given circumstances and how does Rachael use them to support the development of the play? What are given circumstances in theatre? They also discuss writing using childhood memories and building dialog in the collaborative structure of rehearsals.

This episode, Susan Coromel (founding Artistic Director), Deb Vaughn (Dramaturg), and Rachel Kinsman Steck (founding resident designer & production manager) talk with EM Lewis about her newest play, DOROTHY's DICTIONARY. Lewis describes the process of transforming a one act play into a full length play as well as what it's like to collaborate directly with performers, directors, dramaturges, and designers.

The second of two episodes featuring the work of Jacqueline E. Lawton: playwright, dramaturg, producer, and advocate for Access, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the American Theatre. … Read more "127: ARDEO: Narrative medicine and new play development with Jacqueline E. Lawton and Jules Odendahl-James" The post 127: ARDEO: Narrative medicine and new play development with Jacqueline E. Lawton and Jules Odendahl-James appeared first on Artist Soapbox.

The first of two episodes featuring the work of Jacqueline E. Lawton, playwright, dramaturg, producer, and advocate for Access, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the American Theatre. … Read more "126: XIX: New play development with Jacqueline E. Lawton, JaMeeka Holloway-Burrell, Jules Odendahl-James" The post 126: XIX: New play development with Jacqueline E. Lawton, JaMeeka Holloway-Burrell, Jules Odendahl-James appeared first on Artist Soapbox.

This week's episode of CitySpeaks features City Theatre's Director of New Play Development, Clare Drobot 's fascinating conversation with Illah R. Nourbahksh.   lllah Nourbakhsh is the K&L Gates Professor of Ethics and Computational Technologies at CMU, where he directs the Community Robotics, Education, and Technology Empowerment (CREATE) Lab. For more than 15 years, he has explored human-robot interaction with the aim of creating rich, effective, and satisfying interactions between the two. An area of his research focuses on human-robot collaboration for learning, centered on measurable information gains for humans. His CREATE Lab combines participatory design, design-based thinking, and robotic innovation to achieve positive social impact on specific problems throughout societies   Thanks for listening to Pittsburgh City Theatre's CitySpeaks podcast.    Get tickets here: https://citytheatrecompany.org/   Listen to more City Speaks here: https://postindustrial.com/

This week's CitySpeaks podcast features Pittsburgh City Theatre's Director of New Play Development, Clare Drobot, in conversation with director Michael John Garcés and playwright James McManus.   Michael John Garcés has been an ensemble member at Cornerstone since 2006, where he's written plays including Magic Fruit, the "bridge" project of the multi-year Hunger Cycle which brought together the many communities of the cycle; Consequence, out of story circles with students, teachers, administrators and parents in South Kern County; Los Illegals, created in residence with communities of day laborers and domestic workers; and The Forked Path, a collaboration with Stut Theatre and the Van der Hoeven Kliniek in the Netherlands, which was performed at the Net Even Anders Festival in Utrecht and The International Community Arts Festival in Rotterdam. Directing credits at other theaters include Wrestling Jerusalem by Aaron Davidman (premiere at Intersection for the Arts; other productions include The Guthrie Theatre, Cleveland Public Theatre and Mosaic Theatre), The Arsonists by Max Frisch (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company), District Merchants by Aaron Posner (The Folger Theatre), and Seven Spots on the Sun by Martín Zimmerman (The Theatre @ Boston Court). Michael is a recipient of the Rockwood Arts and Culture Fellowship, the Princess Grace Statue, the Alan Schneider Director Award, a TCG/New Generations Grant, the Non-Profit Excellence Award from the Center of Non-Profit Management, is a Southern California Leadership Network Fellow and a proud alumnus of New Dramatists. He serves as vice president of the executive board of SDC, the theatrical union for stage directors and choreographers.   James McManus is the author of ten plays, which have been developed and performed at La Jolla Playhouse, Cornerstone Theater Company, Labyrinth Theater Company, The Road Theatre, Dell’Arte International, Working Theater, Apothecary Theatre Company, The Clockwork Theatre, Glass Umbrella Creative (Sydney), Revolt Theatre (Melbourne), New Dramatists, The Kennedy Center, Round House Theatre, Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company, The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Barebones Productions, Irish Repertory Theatre, Son of Semele, The Side Project Theatre Company, The Lark Play Development Center and the August Wilson Center for African American Culture. James was the recipient of the Princess Grace Award in Playwriting for Cherry Smoke, which is published by Samuel French. He has also received the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award and is a proud alumnist of New Dramatists.   Thanks for listening to Pittsburgh City Theatre's CitySpeaks podcast.    Get tickets here: https://citytheatrecompany.org/   Listen to more City Speaks here: https://postindustrial.com/

Have you ever avoided calling someone by name for fear of mispronouncing it? Have you given students nicknames to make it easier for you and fellow students to address them? How can mispronouncing, altering, or altogether changing students’ names affect their personal, educational, and social trajectories? Why is it important to change the narrative around names that some might consider difficult to pronounce and what can we do to begin? We discuss these topics and much more with N’Jameh Camara. N'Jameh Camara is an actor and author currently residing in New York. She is a proud first generation American of Filipina and Gambian roots. Having recently wrapped up the post-Broadway run of JUNK by Ayad Akhtar, she is currently performing in Macbeth at Classic Stage Company directed by John Doyle. She also did a year long run in the principal role of Nettie in the Tony Winning Revival of The Color Purple Broadway Tour, directed by John Doyle. Other credits include the World Premier of X: or Betty Shabazz vs. The Nation by Marcus Gardley, the Off-Broadway run of Julius Caesar and a Bobby and Kristen Anderson Lopez World Premier of Up Here at the La Jolla Playhouse, directed by Alex Timbers. Her voice can be heard on Amazon’s Audible, narrating audiobooks for young adults from Penguin Random House Publishing. For more information, check out the books, “Harbor Me,” “We Rise, We Resist, We Raise our Voices,” “A Peoples’ Future of the United States,” “You Bring the Distant Near,” and Fumbled and Gravity. N'Jameh received her Master of Fine Art from UC San Diego and has taught acting and movement workshops at various universities including Loyola University- New Orleans, UC San Diego, SUNY Oswego, Northern Arizona University and University of Central Missouri. She is a current member of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association where she presented on Intersectional Arts Pedagogy in Singapore at the 2017 VASTA conference. As well as acting, N’Jameh enjoys writing and is currently working on her first book. She has also written and performed a one woman show about a young Maya Angelou, Marguerite to Maya. The show was developed with the Ubuntu Theater Project and was performed at Studio 67 in Oakland, CA, The Alameda Juvenile Detention Hall and the Eugene O'Neill Tao House for New Play Development. Other writing credits include The Monologue Project. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/highest-aspirations/message

Today on CitySpeaks, the podcast from Pittsburgh City Theatre, Director of New Play Development, Clare Drobot, interviews renowned set designer Tony Ferrieri.    Ferrieri has worked for nearly 40 years with City Theatre. He is recipient of the Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Award for Established Artist, New Works Festival Lifetime Achievement Award, “Designer of the Year” by Pittsburgh City Paper and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the “Frankel Award,” “Fred Kelly Award for Outstanding Achievement,” and the “Harry Schwalb Excellence in the Arts Award.” His recent designs include: One Night in Miami, The Roommate, Pipeline, Citizens Market, A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Gynecologic Oncology Unit, and Feeding the Dragon. A Pittsburgh native, Ferrieri has lived in the South Hills for more than six decades.    Get tickets for City Theatre shows here: https://citytheatrecompany.org/categories/2019-2020-season/ Listen to episodes of CitySpeaks here: https://postindustrial.com/cityspeaks/    

On this week’s City Speaks podcast, Pittsburgh City Theatre’s Director of New Play Development, Clare Drobot, speaks with Dwayne Washington and Avery Glyph, two of the actors from One Night in Miami, which runs at City Theatre on Pittsburgh’s Southside through Dec. 1.   DWAYNE WASHINGTON, who plays Sam Cooke in One Night in Miami, has acted iff-broadway in such classics as Fiagro 90210, Tanya and Nancy: The Rock Opera, National Tour: In The Mood, Ragtime, and Man of La Mancha. Read more about him at TheDwayneWashington.com.   AVERY GLYMPH, who plays Malcolm X in One Night in Miami, is proud to make his Pittsburgh debut with City Theatre, and has most recently appeared in Hamlet at The Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. Off-Broadway credits include Roundabout Theatre Company, New York Shakespeare Festival, The Drama Dept., and Lincoln Center Lab. Avery's film and television appearances include the upcoming Out and About, She's Gotta Have it, Against the Current, Last Ball, He Got Game, 13 Conversations About One Thing, I’m with Lucy, Madam Secretary, Forever, Ugly Betty, Oz, all Law & Orders, The Electric Company, among more. Awards include St. Louis Critics Circle Awards for Best Ensemble and Best Production for All the Way, as well as nominations for the San Diego Critics Circle Award and the NAACP Theatre Award for The Whipping Man. Avery holds a BFA from The North Carolina School of the Arts and an MFA from the STC Academy for Classical Acting at the George Washington University. Visit AveryGlymph.com for more details.   A play about four of the most important figures in Black Civil Rights history, One Night in Miami depicts the night of February 25, 1964, when Muhammed Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and NFL legend Jim Browne met to celebrate in a Miami hotel room.   Get tickets here: https://citytheatrecompany.org/play/one-night-in-miami/   Listen to more City Speaks here: https://postindustrial.com/

This week's CitySpeaks podcast highlights the EQT Young Playwrights Festival (https://citytheatrecompany.org/play/eqt-young-playwrights-festival/), a program staging professional productions of six winning, one-act plays chosen from nearly 400 Young Playwrights Contest submissions written by middle and high school students.    Today's podcast features interviews with Ava Weidensall, a a freshman at Baldwin High School who enjoys writing poetry, painting, and participating in the Baldwin High School German Club; and Spencer Whale, a Pittsburgh native and graduate of Cornell University, who acts as Director for the Young Playwrights Festival.   Today's podcast is hosted, as always, by Clare Drobot, City Theatre's Director of New Play Development. It is produced by Nikki Battestilli, City Theatre's Marketing Director. It is engineered by Tim Mulhern of Postindustrial Media.    Keep track of new episodes of CitySpeaks here: https://postindustrial.com/cityspeaks/

City Speaks Episode 4 - Senon Williams   On this week's CitySpeaks podcast, Pittsburgh City Theatre's Director of New Play Development, Clare Drobot, speaks with Senon Williams, bassist of the Cambodian surf rock band Dengue Fever, whose music helps to build the backdrop of Cambodian Rock Band.   Cambodian Rock Band is the thrilling new play — and part electrifying rock concert — that's an epic tale of family, love, and heritage, with live performances showing through October 6, at City Theatre on Pittsburgh's South Side.    Get your tickets today: https://citytheatrecompany.org/play/cambodian-rock-band/   Read a review of the show from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette here: https://www.post-gazette.com/ae/theater-dance/2019/09/10/Pittsburgh-City-Theatre-Cambodian-Rock-Band/stories/201909100126

It all began on a road-trip to Ashland, Oregon. The acclaimed playwright Lauren Gunderson was taking a theater-going excursion with Margot Melcon, then the Director of New Play Development for Marin Theatre Company, in Mill Valley. On the drive, the two began discussing the need for alternative Christmas-themed plays. And having confirmed a mutual appreciation for the works of Jane Austen, soon began imagining a holiday play featuring characters from Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” They started sketching out scenes on a series of napkins borrowed from Starbucks, and the result, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, is now gaining rave reviews and playing to sold out houses at Marin Theatre Company, where it continues through December 23. Deliciously funny, and boldly old-fashioned, “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley” is a sequel, of sorts. Pride and Prejudice, of course concluded with the marriage of Elizabeth Bennet (here played by Cindy Im) to the wealthy and charming Mr. Darcy (Joseph Patrick O’Malley). Elizabeth, of course, is one of five sisters. As Austen’s story now continues - under the skillfully knowing direction of Meredith McDonough – the happily married Darcy’s have invited three of Elizabeth’s sisters — Jane, Lydia, and Mary — to spend Christmas at Pemberley, their vast country estate, which Elizabeth has boldly adorned with a Christmas tree, a custom not yet common in England. That tree is almost a character unto itself. Sister Jane (played by Lauren Spencer), is now married to the affable Mr. Bingley (Thomas Gorrebeeck), and is, as they say, with child. Lydia (in a powerhouse performance by Erika Rankin) desperately tries to convince her sisters that her absent husband, Mr. Wickham, is not the scoundrel everyone knows him to be, and her duplicitous and hyperkinetic activities over course of the holiday cause at least one of the play’s many comic misunderstandings. The primary focus of the play, it turns out, is Mary Bennet, played with agreeably dry wit and plenty of simmering charm by Martha Brigham. Mary is the sister portrayed in the original novel as talentless and pointedly bookish, though not necessarily very bright. Well, thanks to Gunderson and Melcon, much has changed over the last two years. Mary, clearly, has evolved into a smart, observant and accomplished young woman, though no one seems to have noticed. The absence of the fifth sister, Kitty, by the way, is acknowledged in a funny, slightly “meta” reference toward the end of the play. The tale’s expected love story comes in the form of the painfully awkward bookworm Arthur de Bourgh, a magnificent Adam Magill, whose recently inherited the estate of Darcy’s aunt, the daughter of which, Anne, played by a hilarious Laura Odeh, suddenly appears to interrupt the growing love-at-nerd-sight romance between Arthur and Mary. The dialogue is sparkling and infectious, and the set by Erik Flatmo is a marvel, with snow constantly-falling behind the drawing room window, and even falling from the rafters onto the set itself. Fluffy and sweet as a Georgian Ice, Miss Bennet: Christmas in Pemberley is as captivating and delightful a holiday diversion as one is likely to find – with or without a Christmas tree. ‘Miss Benet: Christmas at Pemberley’ runs Tuesday–Sunday through December 23 at Marin Theatre Company. www.marintheatre.org

The King of DC Media, William Powell, welcomes playwright Rob Urbinati, who wrote the farcical British play Death By Design, which pays homage to both Noel Coward and Agatha Christie. William, who is producing the play at Greenbelt Arts Center, also welcomes various cast and crew members from the show, which runs until November 23rd. (Find out more at Greenbelt Arts Center. Read a review here.) Read more about Rob here (from http://queenstheatre.org/rob-urbinati): Rob is a freelance director and playwright based in New York City, and Director of New Play Development at Queens Theatre, where he curates the Immigrant Voices Project. He has directed at the Public Theatre, Culture Project, Abingdon Theatre, Classic Stage Company, Pearl Theatre, Queens Theatre, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, NYCFringe, New York Music Theatre Festival, New York University and theatres and universities across the country. Rob’s first play as a writer, Hazelwood Jr. High, was directed by Scott Elliott for the New Group. The play is published by Samuel French.  Miss Julie in Hollywood, his adaptation of the Strindberg play, was presented at the 78th Street Theatre Lab. His new play, Death by Design, opened in Houston in September 2011. His adaptation of Cole Porter’s Nymph Errant opens in New York City in July 2012. Rob has developed various projects for Disney Creative Entertainment, served on the Lark Theatre Playwrights Week Selection Committee, and contributed material for “Breaking the Silence, Beating the Drum,” the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery at the United Nations. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

A special episode featuring former CRY HAVOC Graduate Apprentice Chris Petty interviewing Artistic Director Kitt Lavoie about working with playwrights and developing new plays.

Our guests on this week's podcast are Tanya Palmer, Director of New Play Development at Goodman Theatre, and Rebecca Rugg, Artistic Producer at Steppenwolf Theatre. They join Anne Nicholson Weber to talk about the process of new play development and the new play festivals that each theatre will be mounting this fall: Goodman's New Stages Amplified and Steppenwolf's First Look Festival.

The Orlando Shakespeare Theater in partnership with UCF gets ready for Playfest - a ten-day theater event, this year featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman. We talk with Patrick Flick, the Shakespeare Theater's Director of New Play Development.

The panelists -- theatre critic Howard Kissel, Artistic Director of Manhattan Theatre Club Lynn Meadow (who steered the organization to Tony wins for Love! Valour! Compassion!, Proof and Doubt), actor/director Zakes Mokae (Tony winner for Mastor Harold… and the Boys), producer/general manager Dorothy Olim, producer/general manager Albert Poland, general manager Ben Sprecher, and playwright Wendy Wasserstein (The Sisters Rosensweig and Tony winner for The Heidi Chronicles) -- discuss how not-for-profit and regional theaters differ from commercial productions, developing plays out of town, escalating production costs, and viable stage careers compared to television and film.

The panelists - theatre critic Howard Kissel, Artistic Director of Manhattan Theatre Club Lynn Meadow, actor/director Zakes Mokae ("The Song Of Jacob Zulu"), producer/general manager Dorothy Olim, producer/general manager Albert Poland, general manager Ben Sprecher, and playwright Wendy Wasserstein ("The Sisters Rosensweig") - discuss how not-for-profit and regional theaters differ from commercial productions, developing plays out of town, escalating production costs, and viable stage careers compared to television and film.

The resident theatre panelists -- Randall Arney, Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre; Zelda Fichandler, Artistic Director of the Acting Company; Emily Mann, Artistic Director of McCarter Theater; Mac Pirkle, Artistic Director of Tennessee Repertory Theatre; Michael P. Price, Executive Director of Goodspeed Opera House; and Tony Award winner Lloyd Richards (for Fences), Artistic Director of Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center -- discuss the beginnings of regional theatre as a place to develop new plays and playwrights, relationships with commercial theatre, marketing and building a subscriber base, and diversity in playwrights and audiences.

The resident theatre panelists - Randall Arney, Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre; Zelda Fichandler, Artistic Director of the Acting Company; Emily Mann, Artistic Director of McCarter Theater; Mac Pirkle, Artistic Director of Tennessee Repertory Theatre; Michael P. Price, Executive Director of Goodspeed Opera House; and Lloyd Richards, Artistic Director of Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center - discuss the beginnings of regional theatre as a place to develop new plays and playwrights, relationships with commercial theatre, marketing and building a subscriber base, and diversity in playwrights and audiences.