Jason Dirden News

We're just three days into the New Year, and we can't wait for all the new shows set to open around the corner from Broadway! Below, BroadwayWorld brings you a look at some of the upcoming plays and musicals from The Public, Classic Stage, Atlantic Theater, Second Stage, Manhattan Theatre Club, Signature Theatre, Roundabout, the Encores! series and more, currently slated to open off-Broadway in 2016!

Atlantic Theater Company (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director) has confirmed complete casting for the world premiere of Dominique Morisseau's play Skeleton Crew, directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson and featuring Jason Dirden, Wendell B. Franklin, Lynda Gravatt,Nikiya Mathis and Adesola Osakalumi. Check out a first look at the cast in rehearsal below!

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: THE WIZ LIVE! eases on down the road tonight on NBC, and GIGANTIC opens off-Broadway!

Atlantic Theater Company (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director) just announced complete casting for the world premiere of Dominique Morisseau's playSkeleton Crew, directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson and featuring Jason Dirden, Wendell B. Franklin, Lynda Gravatt, Nikiya Mathis and Adesola Osakalumi.

Public radio show and podcast PLAYING ON AIR, which features live recordings of short American plays, returns to BRIC House (647 Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn) on December 7 at 7:30pm with three shorts by David Auburn, Max Baker and Jessica Dickey, all recorded live. And the show just announced the addition of award-winning actor Peter Gallagher ('American Beauty,' TV's 'The O.C.') to its impressive roster of talent performing at their annual benefit for the organization.

On Monday, November 30, playwright, novelist and songwriter Suzan-Lori Parks was awarded the 22nd annual Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prizeat The Public Theater in New York City.

Just last night, the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust hosted the 2015 Steinberg Playwright Awards honoring Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and Dominique Morisseau at Lincoln Center Theater's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 West 65th Street, New York, NY 10023). The event featured readings byJocelyn Bioh, Marc Damon Johnson, Jason Dirden, Austin Durant, Dominique Fishback, Lynda Gravatt, Nikiya Mathis, Chris Myers, Carra Patterson, Will Rogers, Michele Shay and Brian Tyree Henry.

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust will host the 2015 Steinberg Playwright Awards (the 8th Annual 'Mimi' Awards) honoring Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and Dominique Morisseau tonight, November 16, 2015 at Lincoln Center Theater's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 West 65th Street, New York, NY 10023).

Theatre luminaries will gather on Monday, November 16, 2015, to honor Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and Dominique Morisseau at the 2015 Steinberg Playwright Awards, presented by The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. Scenes highlighting their previous and new work will be presented at the 8th Annual 'Mimi' Awards, which will take place at Lincoln Center Theater's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. 

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust will host the 2015 Steinberg Playwright Awards honoring Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and Dominique Morisseau on Monday, November 16, 2015 at Lincoln Center Theater's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 West 65th Street, New York, NY 10023).

Public radio show and podcast PLAYING ON AIR, which features live recordings of short American plays, returns to BRIC House (647 Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn) on December 7 at 7:30pm with three shorts by David Auburn, Max Baker and Jessica Dickey, all recorded live! 

Project Protest: The Art of Revolution, presented by The Center for Arts & Culture at Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation (Restoration), takes an unflinching look at how people and communities of African descent have responded to issues of inequality and social injustice through protests. 

'Seven Guitars' written by August Wilson and directed by Brandon Dirden is now onstage at Two River Theater through October 4th. This exceptional production is entertaining and poignant.

Two River Theater presents August Wilson's SEVEN GUITARS, directed by Brandon J. Dirden. The press opening is Today, September 18 at 8pm and performances will continue through Sunday, October 4 in Two River's Rechnitz Theater, 21 Bridge Avenue, Red Bank, NJ. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast onstage below!

Two River Theater presents August Wilson's SEVEN GUITARS, directed by Brandon J. Dirden. The press opening is Friday, September 18 at 8pm and performances will continue through Sunday, October 4 in Two River's Rechnitz Theater, 21 Bridge Avenue, Red Bank, NJ. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast onstage below!

Broadwayworld.com interviewed Jason Dirden who will be playing the role of Canewell in the Two River Theater production of 'Seven Guitars.' Written by August Wilson and directed by Brandon Dirden, the show will be on the Red Bank stage from September 12th to October 4th.

Two River Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst, announces the full cast and creative team for its production of August Wilson's Seven Guitars, directed by Brandon J. Dirden, an award-winning actor who is making his directorial debut with this production. Seven Guitars is the third play in Wilson's American Century Cycle produced by Two River, following the theater's acclaimed mountings of Jitney and Two Trains Running. Performances will begin in Two River's Rechnitz Theater, 21 Bridge Avenue, on Saturday, September 12 and continue through Sunday, October 4. The opening night performance is Friday, September 18 at 8pm. Tickets are available from 732.345.1400 or tworivertheater.org. The lead production sponsor is Springpoint Senior Living Foundation at The Atrium at Navesink Harbor.

Two River Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst, announces the lineup of productions for its 2015/16 Season. The season will launch in September with August Wilson's Seven Guitars, directed by Brandon J. Dirden and will include the musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, directed by Jessica Stone; a new music-theater production of Shakespeare's Pericles created by Rinde Eckert and David Schweizer; and the Transport Group's critically acclaimed production of I Remember Mama, directed by Jack Cummings III.

Definition Theatre Company has announced the second show of its 2014/15 season, an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. Directed by Writers Theatre Artistic Director Michael Halberstam, A Doll's House runs April 3 - May 3, 2015; the press performance is on Thursday, April 9 at 7:30pm. Performances are scheduled Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 4:00pm at the Chopin Theatre (1543W Division Street). Tickets, $25, are on sale now at definitiontheatre.org.

Broadway's critically acclaimed production of Denzel Washington in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun closes tonight at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. It was directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon and originally opened on April 3 for a limited engagement.