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59E59 Theaters  announces that the final show of the 2018 Subscription Series will be the world premiere of the musical THE HELLO GIRLS, with music and lyrics by Peter Mills, book by Peter Mills and Cara Reichel, directed by Cara Reichel with choreography by Christine O’Grady. Produced by Prospect Theater Company as they celebrate their 20th anniversary, THE HELLO GIRLS begins previews on Tuesday, November 13 for a limited engagement through Saturday, December 22, with an opening night scheduled for Sunday, December 2 at 6 PM. The ticket price is $25 – $70 ($25 – $49 for 59E59 Members). Tickets go on sale to 59E59 Members on Wednesday, May 23 and to the general public onWednesday, May 30. Tickets are available by calling Ticket Central at 212-279-4200 or by visiting www.59e59.org.

From New York to Paris, from ragtime to jazz, an ensemble of triple-threat actor-musicians chronicles the story of America’s first women soldiers. These intrepid heroines served as bilingual telephone operators on the front lines, helping turn the tide of World War I. Celebrate the centennial of these groundbreaking women with an original musical created by Prospect Theater Company’s critically-acclaimed founding artists.

Visit Broadway World for the full article. 

 

Tammy Ryan, the widely produced Pittsburgh playwright and educator, has been named a New Dramatists resident playwright for the class of 2025.

Each of the more than 60 residents in the program “becomes the artistic director of his or her own seven-year long new play laboratory.” The names were revealed Tuesday at a New York luncheon honoring actor Denzel Washington.

Ms. Ryan will maintain her home in Pittsburgh, where she is an instructor at Point Park University, but travel often to New Dramatists in New York, where writers are empowered to select what to work on, as well as their collaborators. The building includes two theaters, a private writing studio and residence rooms for out-of-town writers. From September through July, New Dramatists hosts new play and musical readings and presentations of works from writer-driven Creativity Fund projects.

“I’m honored of course and encouraged by this gift and promise of support, which comes at a time in my career and life that I can really benefit from it,” Ms. Ryan said from New Dramatists’ August Wilson Room. “I’m beyond grateful and excited for the future and ready to get to work but also thrilled to be part of this amazing community of writers, so many of them whose work I’ve long admired.

“Also the history!” she added. “Staying in the August Wilson Room is a particular thrill. Remembering when I met him as a young writer and he told me to always write from your center of joy! Well I’m feeling that now!”

Ms. Ryan was awarded the Francesca Primus Prize by the American Theater Critics Association for her play “Lost Boy Found in Whole Foods.” Other plays include “Molly’s Hammer” (Repertory Theater of St. Louis), “Tar Beach” (Luna Stage, Kilroy’s List), “Soldier’s Heart,” “Baby’s Blues” and “FBI Girl: How I Learned to Crack My Father’s Code” (Pittsburgh Playhouse) and “The Music Lesson” (Florida Stage), which received the American Alliance of Theater in Education Distinguished New Play Award. “A New Kind of Fallout,” written with composer Gilda Lyons, premiered at Opera Theater of Pittsburgh in 2015.

To view the article, please visit Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 

Patricia Cotter’s play 1980 (OR WHY I’M VOTING FOR JOHN ANDERSON) has been nominated for a 2018 Non-Equity Jeff Award in the New Play category.

Read the full article here.

Each time slam poetry performer Kit Yan used the phrase, “Something is broken” on Monday night, the mantra boomed from the speaker like a cry of pain while he explored the different types of heartbreak he has encountered.

Cal State Fullerton’s Association for Inter-Cultural Awareness invited Yan to CSUF as the kick off performance for its three-day event, Culture Week.

Yan performed at the Underground Pub in the Titan Student Union where he read a few of the poems he had written for his book, “Queer Heartache” and spoke about his experience as a queer, transgender, Asian-American growing up in Hawaii.

“I strung (the poems) together to create this show to go on a journey, like a character does, of discovering identity and to grapple with the issues of being queer,” Yan said.

Beginning with his childhood in Hawaii, Yan spoke of financial struggles his family endured. He opened with a memory of his mother: though she was willing to make the sacrifice to get him braces, Yan declined the offer because he knew his family could not afford to fix his crooked teeth.

Because his family did not believe in wasting anything, everything was given a new purpose, like an old peanut butter jar acting as a thermos or Tupperware container. Yan said he still reuses empty containers as a way to remember the love his parents gave him.

While other families sought financial aid from the government, Yan said agencies that were supposed to help his family did little to support them.

After a brief summary of his childhood, he reflected on his self-discovery as a queer-transgender male. Excited to express himself when he first moved to Boston, he covered his Jeep in stickers to display all of his interests.

When talking about his first sexual experiences with men, Yan said that after experiencing heartbreak, he tried to give up on being queer. However, he realized being straight would not heal the pain caused by the heartbreak he was feeling.

He said his story is not only about his personal heartache and growth, but a way to inspire others to explore their own identity.

“I hope that people come away from watching the show feeling like they also have stories to tell,” Yan said. “There’s a colorful story within all of us.”

 

View the article on Daily Titan, The Student Voice of CSUF.