J Stephen Brantley News

In only it's second year, the Wet Paint - New Play Festival has managed to round up B'way veterans (Johanna Leister, Layan Elwazani), TV stars (Christopher Shyer, Rachel Handler), & Amazon Best-Selling authors (Edward Medina) to participate in a barebones development series of short-performances. This year's festival has a theme: Walls, and with that theme, Point-Blank Theatre Co. received a unique submission. William Hobbs, a member of Voices Inside, an inmate writing/theatre program at Northpoint Training Center in KY, submitted his play, A Spider's Web and was accepted among dozens of NYC playwright applicants.

Opera House Arts at the Stonington Opera House in Maine announced today the complete casts and creative teams for the company's 20th Anniversary Season, which includes Shakespeare in Love (July 18-28), based on the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, adapted for the stage by Lee Hall as well as Avalon (August 15-25), a world-premiere by Melody Bates.

FLUSHING MEADOWS CORONA PARK ? In a nondescript bar on Christopher Street a revolution was sparked 50 years ago when the LGBTQ patrons decided gathering as a community was not a crime.

On Friday, March 29, 2019, the Long Beach Playhouse kicks off its 29th annual New Works Festival in its Studio Theatre. Founded in 1990, it is a national competition for unproduced plays submitted by novice and veteran playwrights.

Ensemble Theatre Company's production of The Legend of Georgia McBride, directed by Jenny Sullivan, avoids the landmines. It's neither preachy nor offensive, and it tells a story of redemption that's timely, socially relevant, and charming. The show takes place over the period of a year, starting and ending around Christmas, an appropriate staging choice for a piece with such a clear connection to the general themes of the yuletide season. Georgia McBride is about family, forgiveness, celebration, and general joy to the world.

Elvis has indeed left the building! ENSEMBLE THEATRE COMPANY (ETC) has announced the second show of its 40th Anniversary Season, THE LEGEND OF GEORGIA McBRIDE, written by Matthew Lopez, directed by Jenny Sullivan with choreography by Jamie Torcellini. THE LEGEND OF GEORGIA McBRIDE begins previews on Thursday, December 6, opens on Saturday, December 8, and runs through Sunday, December 23, 2018 at The New Vic, 33 W. Victoria Street in Santa Barbara.

Pirira by J. Stephen Brantley opens Luna Stage's 2018-19 season with a bang. Under the new leadership of Ari Laura Kreith (who directed the production) Pirira continues and expands Luna's commitment to timely plays where social justice is an undercurrent.

Luna Stage's newest program, Short & Show, joins the screening of a short film with a MainStage Luna production. In a distinctive Luna move, the theater company is offering a double bill of two works of art in two different disciplines: the showing of a thrilling new short film, Midnights, directed by NJ-based Alvaro Donado, and Pirira on the MainStage. Midnights was filmed on location in nearby Paterson, and this screening will be its West Orange premiere. Both works of art deal with decent people in dangerous situations who, against the odds, attempt to do the right thing. Luna's Short & Show will be Friday, October 19 (Midnights at 7:15pm, Pirira at 8pm) and Sunday, October 21 (Midnights at 2:15pm, Pirira at 3pm).

Luna Stage will host a lively post-show conversation with Elizabeth Juliver, Co-founder and Political Director of NJ 11th For Change, a grassroots progressive activist group centered in New Jersey's 11th Congressional district, where Democrat Mikie Sherril and Republican Jay Webber are running for the seat vacated by Peter Frelinghuysen. Also participating in the conversation are Analilia Mejia, Director on NJ Working Families, and Mindy Fullilove, Professor of Urban Studies at The New School. The discussion will follow the Saturday, October 13 performance of Pirira. Pirira is a vibrant, political, big-hearted play and will serve as the perfect partner for an animated and informative conversation with three progressive political activists about the nature of activism today and how to get get involved.

Luna Stage will launch its 2018-19 Season with J.Stephen Brantley's award-winning play Pirira, directed by Luna's new Artistic Director Ari Laura Kreith. Opening Night is set for Friday, October 12 at 8pm.

Luna Stage recently announced its 2018-2019 Mainstage season, featuring four new plays: one world premiere and three regional premieres. The plays are set in locations around the world, each exploring the question of how we come together across cultural and social divides. Luna's season begins October 4 and runs through April 28, and the plays will be Pirira by J. Stephen Brantley, The Assignment by Camilo Almonacid, Roan @ the Gates by Christina Gorman, and Heartland by Gabriel Jason Dean. All performances will take place in Luna's Mainstage theater, at 555 Valley Road, West Orange, NJ. Season Passes are now on sale, and special discounts are available.

Who decides what art is and where it belongs, and what is the role of race, class, and pedigree? THIS IS MODERN ART, the acclaimed and controversial 2014 play by Idris Goodwin and Kevin Coval, based on the 2010 "bombing" of the Art Institute of Chicago by an underground graffiti crew, is making its New York debut. The production by Blessed Unrest is directed by Jessica Burr and performing as part of the inaugural season of Next Door at New York Theatre Workshop (79 East 4th Street between Bowery & 2nd Ave., New York, NY 10003.)

Goode Productions presents the World Premiere of AMP, a solo horror piece written and performed by Jody Christopherson, directed by Isaac Byrne (The Other Mozart; In Vestments) at HERE (145 Avenue of the Americas, entrance on Dominick Street, one block south of Spring Street), tonight, December 5, through December 19. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek below!

North Coast Repertory has extended its run OF MICE AND MEN through November 19th, adding five more performances due to demand. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

For its second play of Season 36, North Coast Rep is reviving John Steinbeck's classic drama novella-turned play, OF MICE AND MEN.

For its second play of Season 36, North Coast Rep is reviving John Steinbeck's classic drama novella-turned play, OF MICE AND MEN.

Goode Productions (with Associate Producer Meredith Packer) will present the World Premiere of AMP, a solo horror piece written and performed by Jody Christopherson, directed by Isaac Byrne (The Other Mozart; In Vestments) at HERE (145 Avenue of the Americas, entrance on Dominick Street, one block south of Spring Street), December 5-19. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek below!

For its second play of Season 36, North Coast Rep is reviving John Steinbeck's classic drama novella-turned play, OF MICE AND MEN.

ANNA CHRISTIE, Eugene O'Neill's celebrated Pulitzer Prize-winning drama and hit of the 2016 season, is returning to the Wharf House at the Provincetown Marina, opening July 13. 

The Broadway Bound Theatre Festival has announced the world premiere of Adam & Brian, written by Craig Donnelly.