Read on for some recent theatre headlines and videos you may have missed.
NYSAF Announces 2020 Artists/Projects-in-Residence
New York Stage and Film, continuing its commitment to developing new work and the artists who create it, has announced the 2020 Artists/Projects-in-Residence. Due to the ongoing pandemic, NYSAF is offering more opportunities for more artists; this year's cohort includes Shairi Engle, Morgan Green, Khiyon Hursey, Monet Hurst-Mendoza, Jian Jung, Ilya Khodosh, Sandra Tsing Loh, Molly Beach Murphy, Phanésia Pharel, Brian Quijada, Christina Quintana (CQ), Nygel D. Robinson, Keenan Scott II, Susan Tenney, Lucie Tiberghien, and Lily Wolff. NYSAF will provide residencies and mentorships for these artists to support them in a range of ways, from readings and one-on-one notes sessions to rehearsals and creative networking.
Projects include Hurst-Mendoza's El Otro Lado, Murphy's Ike, directed by Green with design consultation by Jung and dramaturgy by Wolff; Pharel's Lucky; Loh's The Madwoman and the Roomba: My Year of Domestic Mayhem; Khodosh's McCourt, directed by Tenney; Quijada and Robinson's Mexodus; Scott II's The Migration LP, with music direction by Hursey; Quintana's Mr. San Man; and Engle's Tampons, Dead Dogs & Other Disposable Things (A story about tampons, dead dogs, and what it means to survive), directed by Tiberghien.
Kristin Chenoweth to Host Food Network’s Candy Land Competition
Tony and Emmy winner Kristin Chenoweth will emcee a new cooking and baking competition on Food Network, based on the Hasbro board game Candy Land. Competitors—arranged in five groups of cake and sugar artists—will make their way through the sweet realm, encountering secrent ingredients as more as they make their way toward King Kandy’s Castle. Initial production has begun.
Check Out "Oh, Amelia" From the Musical Row
A video from the upcoming musical Row, about Tori Murden McClure, the first woman to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean, dropped today. “Oh, Amelia” takes place several weeks into the journey; having had no human contact for almost a month, McClure hallucinates a visit with Amelia Earhart. Check it out below, featuring the show’s composer-lyricist Dawn Landes with guest vocals by Will Oldham and Brigid Kaelin. Inspired by the adventurer’s autobiography A Pearl in the Storm, the musical (with a book by Daniel Goldstein) was set to have its world premiere this summer at the Williamstown Theatre Festival but was canceled due to the pandemic. Instead, the musical will be released on Audible with casting to be announced shortly.
Off-Broadway Haunting Returns in 2020 With a Digital Twist
John Kevin Jones will return to the Merchant’s House Museum in NYC this fall with Killing an Evening with Edgar Allan Poe—albeit with the audience watching from home. Directed by Rhonda Dodd, the solo show brings four of Poe’s best-known works to life: The Tell-Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, The Raven, and Annabelle Lee. Performances begin October 31. Immediately following each show, Jones will host "Death and Mourning in the Merchant's House," a virtual tour through some of the museum's space and exhibits.
A Birmingham Partnership
The U.K.'s Birmingham Royal Ballet and Birmingham Repertory Theatre have formed a new partnership with the mission to stage new dance pieces in the heart of the city. The triple bill, including the world premiere of the Will Tuckett-choreographed Lazuli Sky, will play four performances running October 22–24 at The REP. The show will be filmed for on-demand streaming the following month.
