Exclusive: The Broadway production company behind the upcoming Michael Jackson musical Mj and the stage adaptation of the hit 2000 film Almost Famous has hired The Old Globe Theater’s Travis LeMont Ballenger as producer to help oversee both high-profile projects.
Ballenger, most recently the Associate Artistic Director at the Globe in San Diego, also will work on the development of new shows in his job at Lia Vollack Productions. He brings the company substantial theater experience, particularly with regard to works by Black artists including Lynn Nottage, the two-time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright penning the book for Mj.
“Throughout his career, Travis has already distinguished himself as a true creative force,” Lia Vollack said. “He is a passionate theater maker and an outspoken advocate for artists. I am so thrilled that Travis is joining me and I know my company, our shows, and Broadway will be so much richer for...
Ballenger, most recently the Associate Artistic Director at the Globe in San Diego, also will work on the development of new shows in his job at Lia Vollack Productions. He brings the company substantial theater experience, particularly with regard to works by Black artists including Lynn Nottage, the two-time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright penning the book for Mj.
“Throughout his career, Travis has already distinguished himself as a true creative force,” Lia Vollack said. “He is a passionate theater maker and an outspoken advocate for artists. I am so thrilled that Travis is joining me and I know my company, our shows, and Broadway will be so much richer for...
- 8/13/2020
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Audra McDonald, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical and its star Adrienne Warren, Lachanze, Aziza Barnes’ play Blks and the Off Broadway revival of Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf were among the big winners at tonight’s inaugural Antonyo Awards for black theater artists on Broadway and Off Broadway.
McDonald took the award for Best Actor in a Play on Broadway for her performance in the Broadway revival of Terrence McNally’s Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune directed by Arin Arbus. Warren, who plays Tina Turner in Tina, was named Best Actor in a Musical on Broadway.
Blks was named Best Play, and Tina took Best Musical.
Created by Broadway Black, a multimedia organization that includes a website and podcast, the Antonyos’ Juneteenth inaugural ceremony included such presenters and performers as McDonald, Tituss Burgess, Alex Newell, Jordan E. Cooper,...
McDonald took the award for Best Actor in a Play on Broadway for her performance in the Broadway revival of Terrence McNally’s Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune directed by Arin Arbus. Warren, who plays Tina Turner in Tina, was named Best Actor in a Musical on Broadway.
Blks was named Best Play, and Tina took Best Musical.
Created by Broadway Black, a multimedia organization that includes a website and podcast, the Antonyos’ Juneteenth inaugural ceremony included such presenters and performers as McDonald, Tituss Burgess, Alex Newell, Jordan E. Cooper,...
- 6/20/2020
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
The first annual Antonyo Awards honoring black Broadway and Off Broadway theater artists is set for streaming on June 19.
Created by Broadway Black, a multimedia organization that includes a website and podcast, the new awards ceremony will feature presenters and performers including Audra McDonald, Tituss Burgess, Alex Newell, Jordan E. Cooper, Teyonah Parris, Ephraim Sykes, Lachanze, Derrick Baskin, Nicolette Robinson, Jelani Alladin, Christiani Pitts, James Monroe Iglehart, Amber Iman, Kalen Allen, Nzinga Williams, Jackson Alexander, Cody Renard Richard, Ashton Muñiz, Shereen Pimentel, Kirsten Childs, Aisha Jackson, Antoine L. Smith, Griffin Matthews, Michael McElroy, Jocelyn Bioh and L Morgan Lee.
Online voting is open to the public through midnight Friday, June 12. Four special “Kinfolk Awards” – the Lorraine Hansberry Award, the Langston Hughes Award, Welcome Award and The Doors of the Theatre are Open Award – will be presented to members of...
Created by Broadway Black, a multimedia organization that includes a website and podcast, the new awards ceremony will feature presenters and performers including Audra McDonald, Tituss Burgess, Alex Newell, Jordan E. Cooper, Teyonah Parris, Ephraim Sykes, Lachanze, Derrick Baskin, Nicolette Robinson, Jelani Alladin, Christiani Pitts, James Monroe Iglehart, Amber Iman, Kalen Allen, Nzinga Williams, Jackson Alexander, Cody Renard Richard, Ashton Muñiz, Shereen Pimentel, Kirsten Childs, Aisha Jackson, Antoine L. Smith, Griffin Matthews, Michael McElroy, Jocelyn Bioh and L Morgan Lee.
Online voting is open to the public through midnight Friday, June 12. Four special “Kinfolk Awards” – the Lorraine Hansberry Award, the Langston Hughes Award, Welcome Award and The Doors of the Theatre are Open Award – will be presented to members of...
- 6/10/2020
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
On Broadway and beyond, a curtain can rise as quickly as it can fall; a star can be swapped as easily as Bernie Telsey can say, “That’s enough.” Theater is the beating heart of New York show business and, if you want to make it here, it’s crucial you’re up to date on incoming projects, latest castings, and other industry news. Don’t worry, Broadway baby, Backstage has your back. Every week, we’re rounding up the can’t-miss stories no thespian should live without, so you can focus on important matters like hitting your high F. Curtain up and light those lights! An inmate returns to the New York theater.“Orange Is the New Black” Emmy Award winner Uzo Aduba has lined up her return to the New York stage, leading Roundabout Theatre Company’s “Toni Stone” Off-Broadway. Written by Lydia R. Diamond, the world premiere...
- 4/12/2018
- backstage.com
Uzo Aduba (“Orange is the New Black”) and Janet McTeer (“Jessica Jones,” “A Doll’s House”) have signed on to headline New York stage productions that will play as part of Roundabout Theater Company’s 2018-19 season slate.
Tony winner McTeer, last on Broadway in “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” in 2016, will lead the cast of “Bernhardt/Hamlet,” a new play written by Theresa Rebeck and directed Moritz von Stuelpnagel (“Hand to God,” “Present Laughter”). The world premiere comedy, a Roundabout commission, follows the actress Sarah Bernhardt as she sets out to play “Hamlet” in the famous 1899 production.
Aduba, last on Broadway in the 2011 revival of “Godspell” (and recently on stage in London in “The Maids”), will star in another Roundabout commission, “Toni Stone” by Lydia R. Diamond (“Stick Fly,” “Smart People”). Pam MacKinnon (“The Parisian Woman,” “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”) directs the Off Broadway production, in which Aduba will...
Tony winner McTeer, last on Broadway in “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” in 2016, will lead the cast of “Bernhardt/Hamlet,” a new play written by Theresa Rebeck and directed Moritz von Stuelpnagel (“Hand to God,” “Present Laughter”). The world premiere comedy, a Roundabout commission, follows the actress Sarah Bernhardt as she sets out to play “Hamlet” in the famous 1899 production.
Aduba, last on Broadway in the 2011 revival of “Godspell” (and recently on stage in London in “The Maids”), will star in another Roundabout commission, “Toni Stone” by Lydia R. Diamond (“Stick Fly,” “Smart People”). Pam MacKinnon (“The Parisian Woman,” “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”) directs the Off Broadway production, in which Aduba will...
- 4/9/2018
- by Gordon Cox
- Variety Film + TV
Featuring seven productions, New Rep's 2016-2017 season includes Regular Singing, the fourth and final play in Richard Nelson's Apple Family series, presented in collaboration with Stoneham Theatre Good, Cp Taylor's historical, political drama Fiddler on the Roof, a revival of the Tony award- winning musical, featuring Jeremiah Kissel as Tevye and directed by original Broadway cast member Austin Pendleton Thurgood, a one-man play featuring Johnny Lee Davenport as Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall Brecht on Brecht, a play with music based on the collective works of Bertolt Brecht Golda's Balcony, a one-woman play featuring Bobbie Steinbach as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and The Gift Horse, a sharp comedy by nationally-acclaimed local playwright Lydia R. Diamond in a Boston-area premiere.
- 3/10/2016
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Tony-winning resident theatre, Intiman Theatre in Seattle, Wa, has announced that its 2016 festival will focus specifically on black women playwrights. The 2016 lineup, co-curated by director Valerie Curtis-Newton and the theatre’s artistic director Andrew Russell, will feature work by Lydia R. Diamond, Alice Childress, and Adrienne Kennedy. “Intiman is one of my artistic homes so doing this work with them is a special joy,” Curtis-Newton said in a statement. “Together, we are going to create a moment worthy of national attention. One that says, ‘These writers are valued - even in the fifth whitest city in the country. Look at how rich the fabric of our...
- 3/3/2016
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Lydia R. Diamond’s characters are walking on egg shells in her new play, “Smart People,” which opened Thursday at Second Stage’s Tony Kiser Theatre Off Broadway. As it turns out, these people don’t want to leave any shell uncracked, if not smashed to smithereens. “Smart People” is about racism in the way that Jules Feiffer’s screenplay for “Carnal Knowledge” is about sexism. Nothing else is open for discussion. It’s why all those eggshells keep getting broken. There’s no talking about one subject when a character is thinking something else. In other words, where’s the subtext?...
- 2/12/2016
- by Robert Hofler
- The Wrap
Due to the blizzard over the weekend and the state of emergency declared in New York,Smart People was forced to halt rehearsals. As such, Second Stage Theatre has delayed its first preview of Lydia R. Diamond's play, Smart People, by one day. The first preview will now take place on Wednesday, January 27 at Second Stage Theatre's Tony Kiser Theatre 305 West 43rd street.
- 1/25/2016
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Second Stage Theatre will soon present the New York premiere production of Smart People, the new play by Lydia R. Diamond Stick Fly, directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon A Raisin in the Sun, The Wiz Live. Mahershala Ali House of Cards, Joshua Jackson The Affair, Anne Son My Generation, and Tessa Thompson Creed will co-star in the production.
- 1/24/2016
- by TV - Press Previews
- BroadwayWorld.com
Second StageTheatre will soon present the New York premiere production of Smart People, the new play by Lydia R. Diamond Stick Fly, directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon A Raisin in the Sun, The Wiz Live. Mahershala Ali House of Cards, Joshua Jackson The Affair, Anne Son My Generation, and Tessa Thompson Creed will co-star in the production.Performances for Smart People will begin on January 26, 2016 atSecond StageTheatre'sTony KiserTheatre 305 West 43rd street opening night is February 11, 2016. Season subscriptions are currently available through 2St.com or by calling the box office at212-246-4422. The cast just met the press and BroadwayWorld brings you photos from the special day below...
- 1/20/2016
- by Jennifer Broski
- BroadwayWorld.com
Kenny Leon is set to direct the upcoming off-Broadway production of "Smart People," written by Lydia R. Diamond ("Stick Fly"), with Mahershala Ali, Tessa Thompson, Joshua Jackson and Anne Son all starring. "Smart People" is described as follows: "The quest for love, achievement and identity is universal, but what role does race play in the story of our lives? On the eve of Obama's first election, four Harvard intellectuals find themselves entangled in a complex web of social and sexual politics in this provocative and funny new play by Lydia R. Diamond." The creative team includes scenic design by Riccardo...
- 11/2/2015
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Second Stage Theatre has announced two New York Premiere productions for its upcoming 37th season. The season will kick off in fall 2015 with the New York Premiere production of Matt Gould and Griffin Matthews' new musical, Invisible Thread previously titled Witness Uganda, in association with American Repertory Theater, directed by Tony Award winner Diane Paulus Finding Neverland, Pippin. The season will continue in early 2016 with the New York premiere of Lydia R. Diamond's Stick Fly critically acclaimed play, Smart People, directed by Tony Award Winner Kenny Leon Fences, A Raisin in the Sun, Stick Fly. Two additional productions remain to be announced.
- 5/7/2015
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Theatre Communications Group Tcg, the national organization for theatre, welcomes new officers and nine new members to its board of directors. Sarah Bellamy, co-artistic director of Penumbra Theatre Company, and Kevin Moriarty, artistic director of Dallas Theater Center, succeed Robert Hupp and Lydia R. Diamond as joint vice presidents. Jonathan Moscone, artistic director of California Shakespeare Theater, succeeds Ralph Bryan as secretary. Diane Rodriguez, associate artistic director of Center Theatre Group, and Tim Jennings, managing director of Children's Theatre Company, remain as president and treasurer, respectively.
- 10/24/2014
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
“If I’m going to a play, I want to see myself onstage,” said Lydia R. Diamond. “It’s not rocket science.” Diamond’s comment cut to the core of a question posed by National Public Radio’s Michel Martin at Wnyc’s Greene Space Sept. 19: Does Broadway reflect the vibrant, dynamic stories of its diverse city? The event, titled “A Broader Way,” kicked off Martin’s 10-city tour centered on having what she called “difficult discussions with dignity.” Diamond was joined by fellow award-winning NYC playwrights whose work explores racial issues—David Henry Hwang, Kristoffer Diaz, and Bruce Norris—to get to the bottom of whether the Great White Way is too white. Tony-nominated actor Stephen McKinley Henderson performed a monologue from August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” to set the evening’s thought-provoking tone. As Martin interviewed her panel of theater professionals, another conversation...
- 10/8/2014
- backstage.com
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