Theater
NYC Mayor’s Office Reveals Details of $5M Fund for Women in Film and Theater
The New York City Mayor’s Office and the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) have disclosed the details for their $5 million MOME Women’s Fund, a grant program for filmmakers,...
Uzo Aduba and Janet McTeer to Star in New Plays by Lydia R. Diamond and Theresa Rebeck
Uzo Aduba and Janet McTeer are returning to the stage. The respective “Orange Is the New Black” and “Jessica Jones” actresses are set to topline new plays by Lydia R. Diamond and Theresa...
“Frozen” Breaks Record on Broadway
Anna and Elsa’s story took in over $1.2 billion on the big screen, and now the “Frozen” sisters are making a major mark on Broadway. Disney Theatricals’ adaptation of the pic “shattered...
Leah Nanako Winkler Wins Yale Drama Series Prize
Playwright Leah Nanako Winkler is adding yet another honor to her résumé. The New York Times reports that Nanako Winkler has won this year’s Yale Drama Series Prize for her latest play, “God...
Equity’s Safe Space Program and Start-Up Callisto Fight Sexual Harassment in Theater
Trade union Equity has introduced a new campaign to fight sexual harassment in the theater industry. Per The Stage, Equity unveiled Safe Space with the help of singer-actress Billie Piper, who is...
Alice Birch Named Winner of 2018 Blackburn Prize
Alice Birch is this year’s recipient of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, American Theatre reports. She’s being honored for “Anatomy of a Suicide,” a play about three generations of women...
Trailer Watch: Rebecca Miller Explores Her Father’s Life and Work in “Arthur Miller: Writer”
An award-winning filmmaker offers a nuanced portrait of one of the most celebrated playwrights of all-time — who also happens to be her father — in “Arthur Miller: Writer.” Directed...
Eve Ensler on Her New One-Woman Show “In the Body of the World”
Ensler in “In the Body of the World”: Joan Marcus/bodyoftheworldplay.com Eve Ensler is a Tony Award-winning playwright, performer, author, and social activist. Twenty years ago her name became...
Diane Paulus on Directing the Raw, Personal One-Woman Show “In the Body of the World”
Diane Paulus is a name most theatergoers are familiar with. She has directed productions of “Waitress,” “Finding Neverland,” “Pippin,” and “Porgy and Bess,” and serves as the Terrie...
Bette Midler & Sharon Stone to Star in Film Adaptation of “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife”
Bette Midler and Sharon Stone are taking “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife” to the big screen. Variety reports that the pair will star in a film adaptation of the award-winning play, which...
All-Women Group Plans to Buy London Theater, Make It Venue for Female-Driven Shows
The West End’s Theatre Royal Haymarket might become the London’s next feminist drama venue, thanks to Accalia Arts. The Guardian confirms that the all-women collective have started a...
Phylicia Rashad to Receive League of Prof Theatre Women’s Lifetime Achievement Award
Tony winner Phylicia Rashad will soon have another award to add to her mantle. A press release has announced that the “Empire” actress will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at...
Pam MacKinnon Will Head San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater
Broadway director Pam MacKinnon will soon be making her way to the West Coast. The New York Times confirms that the “Parisian Woman” helmer will succeed Carey Perloff as American Conservatory...
Sundance 2018 Women Directors: Meet Josephine Decker — “Madeline’s Madeline”
Josephine Decker is part of Time Warner’s 150 incubator, Sundance Institute’s New Frontier Lab, and one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film.” Her previous works have...
Royal Court Artistic Director Vicky Featherstone Named Most Influential Person in British Theater
Vicky Featherstone has taken the top spot in The Stage 100 Power List, The Guardian confirms. The industry newspaper releases the influential list annually. Featherstone serves as Artistic Director...
Playwright Susan Miller On Her New Play “20th Century Blues” and Hit Web Series “Anyone But Me”
Miller Susan Miller is certainly not new to the New York stage scene. She’s a two-time OBIE Award-winner and Guggenheim Playwriting Fellow. She’s known for her solo show “My Left Breast,”...
“The Parisian Woman’s” Blair Brown on Being an Actress Over 40 and #MeToo
Brown In “The Parisian Woman,” which is now playing on Broadway, actress Blair Brown plays the newly-appointed head of the Federal Reserve Bank. Her conservative character is embroiled in a...
Phillipa Soo on Playing a Young Activist in “The Parisian Woman” and Her Thoughts on #MeToo
Soo: Boneau/Bryan-Brown Phillipa Soo is no stranger to the Broadway stage. In the last few years, she has had leading roles in “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812,” “Hamilton,” and...
Theater Director Leigh Silverman Talks “Harry Clarke,” Helming One-Person Shows, and #MeToo
Silverman: Goodman Theatre One of the most prominent theater directors in the landscape today, Leigh Silverman made her Broadway directorial debut in 2006 with Lisa Kron’s “Well.” She brought...
Director Pam MacKinnon on “The Parisian Woman” and the Glass Ceiling that Still Exists on Broadway
Pam MacKinnon is one of most renowned directors on Broadway today. She won a Tony Award for Best Director of a Play in 2013 for “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” making her one of only a...
“The Girl on the Train” Is Coming to the Stage
“The Girl on the Train” has already sold over 15 million copies and been adapted into a film starring Emily Blunt. Broadway World reports that Paula Hawkins’ literary sensation is now heading...
Allison Janney Named Honorary Chair of 2018 Women’s Voices Theater Festival
Allison Janney is adding another gig to her jam-packed résumé. The multiple Emmy award-winning actress will serve as the Honorary Chair of the 2018 Women’s Voices Theater Festival. According to...
Theresa Rebeck on Bringing “What We’re Up Against” Back, Literally and Figuratively
At the end of “What We’re Up Against,” a female character looks straight out into the audience and asks, “Why is it still like this?” The irony is that Theresa Rebeck wrote the play back...
Julie Taymor To Receive SDCF’s 2018 Mr. Abbott Award
Julie Taymor is set to add another award to her stacked résumé. The Tony-winning director of “The Lion King” will be honored with the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation’s (SDCF)...
Drama Critic Lyn Gardner to Be Honored at UK Theatre Awards
Drama critic Lyn Gardner will receive the outstanding contribution to British theater prize at the upcoming UK Theatre Awards. According to The Stage, Gardner, who serves as The Guardian’s theater...
“Pretty Woman” Coming to Broadway, Samantha Barks to Star
Vivian Ward made it to Rodeo Drive and now she’s going all the way to Broadway. “Pretty Woman” is headed to the stage. According to the BBC, “Les Misérables” actress Samantha Barks will...
Lauren Gunderson Tops American Theatre’s Most-Produced Playwrights List
“I and You” scribe Lauren Gunderson is the most-produced playwright in the United States, American Theatre confirms. The publication has put out the 2017–2018 edition of its annual ranking and...
Playwright Lauren Yee Wins the Kesselring Prize
Lauren Yee’s adding another highlight to her 2017 reel. Earlier this year the playwright debuted “In a Word” Off Broadway to rave reviews, and now she’s been named as the winner of the...
Trailer Watch: A Native American Woman Takes to the Stage to Tell Her Story in “Te Ata”
“Te Ata”: The Chickasaw Nation “What do you have to say?” a professor challenges college student Mary Thompson Fisher aka Te Ata (Q’orianka Kilcher, “The New World”). “What stories do...
Women to Direct Royal Shakespeare Company’s Entire Summer 2018 Season
On the heels of the announcement of London’s new, all-female acting company, Dangerous Space, and the Royal Court’s majority female season, we have some more positive theater news from the UK....
“Year by the Sea” Star Karen Allen on Joan Anderson’s Book, Directing, and Roles for Women Over 60
Probably best-known for her turns in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and the “Christmas Carol” retelling “Scrooged,” Karen Allen has been working regularly since her 1978 debut in “Animal...
Venice Film Fest 2017 Women Directors: Meet Katharina Wyss — “Sarah Plays A Werewolf”
Katharina Wyss is a Swiss filmmaker based in Berlin. She has previously written, directed, edited, and produced commercials and short films “Es war einmal ein König,” “1000 Meilen von...
All-Female Theater Company Established in London
Thirty-six actresses have come together to fight theater’s woman problem. According to The Stage, a new, all-female acting company, Dangerous Space, has been introduced in London. Voice coach and...
Tina Turner Stage Musical in the Works from Director Phyllida Lloyd and Writer Katori Hall
Tina Turner and “Tina” director Phyllida Lloyd: Turner’s Facebook account Tina Turner’s career has been nothing short of legendary. Over the past 60 years, she has dabbled in almost every...
Paula Vogel’s “Indecent” Ends Broadway Run with Highest Weekly Gross Yet
Paula Vogel’s Tony-winning play “Indecent” ended its Broadway run last night on a new high. After 128 performances and 15 previews at Cort Theatre, the show closed with its highest weekly...
Audra McDonald Joins “The Good Fight” as Series Regular
Audra McDonald will soon be fighting “The Good Fight.” Deadline confirms that McDonald is joining Season 2 of the CBS All Access show as a series regular. The Tony-winning actress will be...
Michelle Terry Named As Globe Theatre’s New Artistic Director
Michelle Terry is set to take over from departing artistic director Emma Rice at London’s Globe Theatre. The celebrated Shakespearean actor will start as artistic director designate at...
Sarah DeLappe’s “The Wolves” to Make Off-Broadway Return This Fall
Listen up, “Bend it Like Beckham” fans: If you’re in New York City this fall, you may be able to catch “The Wolves,” an all-too-rare story about female athletes. According to Playbill,...
“Wicked” Becomes the Second-Highest-Grossing Broadway Show of All Time
Elphaba and Glinda continue to make magic on Broadway. “Wizard of Oz” prequel “Wicked” crossed the $1 billion benchmark last March in record time, and after raking in just short of $2...
Emma Rice to Establish New Theater Company at London’s Old Vic
Emma Rice is wasting no time setting up her new theater company, Wise Children. According to BBC News, the Globe’s exiting artistic director has unveiled plans to launch Wise Children at...
Uzo Aduba to Star in “The Secret Life of Bees” Musical Workshop Production
Uzo Aduba is following in Jennifer Hudson’s footsteps. According to Entertainment Weekly, the “Orange Is the New Black” star will be playing Rosaleen in a musical workshop production of “The...
Uma Thurman to Make Broadway Debut in Pam MacKinnon-Directed “The Parisian Woman”
Uma Thurman is making her Broadway debut. A press release has announced that the “Kill Bill” actress will star in “The Parisian Woman,” a new play by “House of Cards” creator Beau...
Study: West End Musicals Are Overwhelmingly Written by Men
London’s West End just earned a dubious honor: it’s just as inhospitable to women as Broadway. A new study from The Stage examined the West End musical productions that ran for at least three...
Majority of Writers and Directors in The Royal Court Theatre’s New Season Are Women
Broadway is sorely lacking when it comes to women-penned plays, but the Royal Court’s new season is a bright spot amid lots of bad news about women in theater. “Two thirds of the writers and...
Study: Nonprofit Theaters Have a Woman Problem Too
Another day, another horror story for women in the theater world. Last week it was the Actors’ Equity study that found acting and stage management jobs are still being dominated by white men....
Exiting Globe Artistic Director Emma Rice to Start New Theater Company
Emma Rice won’t leave her post as artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe until 2018, but she has already lined up her next gig. Per The Stage, Rice has announced her plans to establish Wise...
Study: Women and People of Color Are Being Shut Out of Theater Jobs
Probably more than any other entertainment field, the theater prides itself on being a haven for everyone, for being progressive, and for continuously pushing the envelope. So it’s extra...
Cross-Post: A Collective Call Against Critical Bias
Paula Vogel’s “Indecent”: NewYorkTheater/YouTube This piece, “A Collective Call Against Critical Bias,” was originally published on HowlRound, a knowledge commons by and for the theatre...
The Kilroys Publishes List Spotlighting Women Playwrights of Color
The Kilroys, an independent collective in Los Angeles, has released its annual list of “new plays by women deemed worthy of production,” The New York Times reports. This year’s installment...
Cross-Post: Lillian Hellman’s Regina Giddens: The Theatre’s Original “Nasty Woman”
By Sarah Rebell The following has been reposted from The Interval with the author’s permission. When I set out to write a piece on “The Little Foxes,” I headed right to the Drama Book Shop in...
Jane Austen-Centric Musical Lab “Austen’s Pride” to Be Held in NYC
Everyone knows Jane Austen is a master of wit, but as a new musical suggests, she also has serious vocal chops. BroadwayWorld reports that an invitation-only musical lab called “Austen’s...