Broadway’s Best Shows continues its Spotlight On Plays series with Adrienne Kennedy’s Ohio State Murders, starring Tony winner Audra McDonald. The live stream reading premieres 8 PM ET June 3 on Stellar and will be available on demand through June 7.
The story centers on Suzanne Alexander, a fictional African-American writer who returns to her alma mater to talk about the violence in her writing, exposing a dark mystery. Warner Miller (A Soldier’s Play), Lizan Mitchell (Electra), and Ben Rappaport (Picnic) also star, under the direction of Tony winner Kenny Leon (A Raisin in the Sun).
Originally commissioned by Great Lakes Theater Festival and published in 1992, the play made its New York premiere in 2007 at Theater for a New Audience starring LisaGay Hamilton (Gem of the Ocean). The work is one in a cycle of plays centering on the character Suzanne Alexander. Other titles from the “Alexander Plays” are She Talks to Beethoven, The Film Club, and The Dramatic Circle.
Kennedy is a two-time Obie Award winner, and in 2008 was honored with an Obie Lifetime Achievement Award. She was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2018.
The spring series from Broadway’s Best Shows, highlighting female playwrights, concludes with Dear Elizabeth by Sarah Ruhl June 17. The series also recently announced a star-studded benefit concert Show of Titles, featuring 20 title tunes from Broadway musicals, streaming June 13.
Proceeds benefiting The Actors Fund. Click here for tickets.
Read on for more theatre news you may have missed in today’s headlines.
Will Swenson and Aubin Wise Join Ensemble of Netflix’s First Kill Full casting has been announced for First Kill, the upcoming YA vampire drama series from Netflix. The series is based on a short story by best-selling author Victoria “V. E.” Schwab and is written by Schwab and Felicia D. Henderson. The story pits a teen vampire (Sarah Catherine Hook) from a powerful vampire family, the Fairmonts, against teen vampire hunter (Imani Lewis), from a family of celebrated vampire killers, the Burns. Tony nominee Will Swenson (Hair, Waitress) will sink his teeth into the role of Sebastian Fairmont, as Aubin Wise (Hamilton) will no doubt slay as Talia Burns.
Rachel Bay Jones Will Recur on The United States of Al Tony winner Rachel Bay Jones (Dear Evan Hansen) has landed a recurring role on CBS comedy The United States of Al, Deadline reports. The series centers on Riley, a Marine combat veteran, and Al, his unit’s interpreter from Afghanistan, as they restart their lives in Ohio, played by Parker Young and Adhir Kalyan respectively. Jones will play a divorcee who catches the eye of Riley’s father Art, played by Dean Norris. The series is written and created by David Goetsch and Maria Ferrari. Jones makes her first appearance in the June 3 episode.
Classical Theatre of Harlem’s Seize The King Finds Its Cast Carson Elrod (Peter and the Starcatcher), RJ Foster, Ro Boddie, Andrea Patterson, and Alisha Espinosa will star in Classical Theatre of Harlem’s outdoor premiere of Seize The King beginning July 6 at the Richard Rodgers Amphitheater in NYC’s Marcus Garvey Park. Carl Cofield directs the Will Power play, a modern reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s Richard III. Performances run through July 29. Tickets are free, but reservations are required. Click here for more information.
Blindness Continues an International Run With Canadian Premiere The Donmar Warehouse production of Blindness, a socially distanced sound installation, will make its previously reported Canadian premiere at Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre beginning August 4. Inspired by José Saramago’s dystopian novel and adapted by Simon Stephens, the piece charts perhaps familiar territory—a sudden global pandemic—that leaves its victims without sight. Audiences experience the story, as narrated by Olivier winner Juliet Stevenson, through binaural headphone technology while immersed in an atmospheric design. Walter Meierjohann directs with immersive binaural sound design by Ben and Max Ringham. David Mirvish produces the Canadian production.
Bonnie Comley Named Drama League Board President Three-time Tony Award-winning producer and CEO and founder of BroadwayHD Bonnie Comley has been elected the new board president of The Drama League. Comley has served on the board since 2009 and has served three terms as vice president. This move marks the first time in over 50 years that a theatre industry leader will take the presidential seat, as the position is usually held by a person outside of the industry. Comley succeeds Stan Ponte, who will remain on the board. Additional officers of the board for this term will be Vice Presidents Joseph Pizza and Arthur Pober, Secretary Donna Daniels, and Treasurer Tony Benten. The Drama League was founded in 1916 and is the country’s oldest theatre non-profit organization, dedicated to advancing American theatre through initiatives to promote artistic development and audience engagement.
Actors Equity Association has released a statement in response toPresident Joe Biden proposing a new National Endowment for the Arts budget of201 million. Theproposedincrease of33.5 millionisarecord-highfor the agencyand an important step towards fully funding the NEA at 1 per capita, or 331 million.