Voting is now openfor BroadwayWorld’s NEXT ON STAGE Top 15 The nominees have submitted all new songs for you to listen to before casting your voteThen tune in for the results LIVE as the judges watch the performances and pick someone from the bottom three to be saved to compete for the top 10
Playwrights Kate Attwell, Mia Chung, Noah Diaz, Julia Izumi, Ife Olujobi, and Stacey Rose are the recipients of this year’s Sloan commissions from Manhattan Theatre Club and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Since 2001, MTC has partnered with the foundation to commission plays that feature science-based themes and characters, resulting in such productions as Bess Wohl’s Continuity, Nick Payne’s Constellations, and Nell Benjamin’s The Explorers Club.
“During these trying times, we are thrilled to be looking to the future with this exceptional lineup of newly commissioned writers,” said Scott Kaplan, MTC’s director of play development.
READ: How Lynne Meadow Has Kept Manhattan Theatre Club at the Forefront of Theatre for 46 Years
“We chose these writers based on their ability to marry their singular artistic perspectives with pressing and timely scientific themes. We are grateful to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for their support over the last 19 years in creating an invaluable opportunity for playwrights to bring vital topics to exhilarating theatrical life.”
Since 2001, MTC has awarded a total of 94 commissions through the Sloan Foundation Program. Previously commissioned writers include Charly Evon Simpson, Craig Lucas, Heidi Schreck, Anna Ziegler, Itamar Moses, Martyna Majok, Simon Stephens, and Christopher Chen.
The new streaming service Broadway on Demand launches May 17. The “30 Days of Opening Nights” series marks its official kickoff and includes filmed presentations of Broadway titles, classes, concerts, interviews, and more.
Among the filmed performances featured is Broadway’s Allegiance, which makes its online streaming premiere May 29 following various showings in movie theatres. Members of the original 2015 Broadway company, including George Takei and Telly Leung, will also take part in a virtual red carpet. Earlier, Bandstand will air as part of a Memorial Day celebration May 25.
Broadway on Demand will also be the home of New York City Ballet Principal Tiler Peck’s ongoing daily class Turn It Out With Tiler, as well as Frankie James Grande’s Dream Role series.
Original weekly programming created specifically for the service will include the designer-focused The Craftsmen with photographer Matthew Murphy, the YouTube spiral-inspired Broadway Fanatic with Laura Heywood, the cabaret series Acoustic Café (launching May 20 with special guest Adam Pascal), and First Look: New Musicals, offering sneak peeks at in-development titles.
Base membership is free, though the service will also include a Premium subscription option and occasionally feature ticketed pay-per-view events.
“Even before our current crisis, we’ve long dreamt of building a platform that would truly fulfill Broadway’s long-held promise of being ‘the longest street in the world,'” says Broadway on Demand President and CEO Sean Cercone, who is also president of Broadway Licensing. “This platform is our way of breaking down geographical and economic barriers so that the entire world can partake in all the wonders that Broadway has to offer.”
As previously announced, Broadway on Demand will host the one-night-only A Night of Covenant House Stars benefit May 18 with a lineup that includes host Audra McDonald, Meryl Streep, Dolly Parton, Stephanie J. Block, and Dionne Warwick.
For more information, visit BroadwayOnDemand.com.
Join the celebration of the 30th anniversary of Forever Plaid
On Monday, May 18th at 3pm EST, Disney on Broadway live is hosting conversation with special guests from hit Broadway musical Newsies
Theatre for a New Audience has partnered with the Fisher Center at Bard to present three free digital presentations of Caryl Churchill’s Mad Forest. Created by experimental theatre and opera director Ashley Tata, Churchill’s 1990 play will be broadcast live in a specially modified version of Zoom and brought to life by Bard actors performing remotely.
The Bard College Theater & Performance Program production will be streamed May 22 (7 PM ET), May 24 (5 PM ET), and Wednesday, May 27 (3 PM ET). Details for how to RSVP in advance and access the stream are available at tfana.org.
Developed on a visit to Bucharest with director Mark Wing-Davey, Churchill’s Mad Forest is set in Romania just before, amidst, and in the immediate aftermath of the fall of the Ceaușescu dictatorship.
“We found the material breathed differently in this space,” says Tata of the digital run of Mad Forest. “State-run, regularly televised addresses are the medium of choice for dictators. As it was for the Ceaușescus. Churchill’s play references the days when the television station was occupied by revolutionaries. They opened the doors so citizens—victims of the regime—could testify and bear witness to how governmental policies had affected them for decades…Transitioning to this format and incorporating it as a design and meta-theatrical element seems almost obvious.”
Tata’s Mad Forest features video design by Eamonn Farrell, video programming by Andy Carluccio, who has written customized Zoom code for the show, and scenic design by Afsoon Pajoufar, who has created 125 individually designed Zoom backgrounds.
The cast of Mad Forest is made up of Phil Carroll, Andrew Omar Crisol, Lily Goldman, Tim Halvorsen, Mica Hastings, Azalea Hudson, Ali Kane, Gavin McKenzie, Taty Rozetta, Violet Savage, Yibin (Bill) Wang, and Charlie Wood.
Rounding out the creative team are costume designer Ásta Bennie Hostetter, lighting designer Abigail Hoke-Brady, composer and sound designer Paul Pinto, movement director Daniel Safer, production stage manager Vanessa C. Hart, video engineer Sean B. Leo, properties master Shane Crittenden, assistant stage manager Anisha Hosangady, assistant stage manager and sound operator Maggie McFarland, and assistant directors Laila Perlman and Angela Woodack.
