Sue Ellen Beryl News

​​​​​​​Dust off your cowboy boots, pull on your favorite pair of jeans, entertain visions of the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, and high step it over to the West Palm Beach Marriott for a “Downtown Hoedown,” Palm Beach Dramaworks' first Gala since 2020. The Gala takes place on Saturday, March 18, beginning at 6:30pm. Penny Bank is the Chair.

On the strength of rave reviews and nightly standing ovations, Palm Beach Dramaworks is extending the run of Reginald Rose's classic Twelve Angry Men. Three performances have been added, with the possibility of more.

Palm Beach Dramaworks has announced that Carlton Moody is the new Board Chair and that Susan Ellerin, Lisa Koza, and Cynthia Nalley have joined the Board of Directors, effective this season. 

Palm Beach Dramaworks Producing Artistic Director William Hayes and Managing Director Sue Ellen Beryl has announced that the Maurer Family Foundation will underwrite the New Year/New Plays Festival for the next three years, with a gift of $90,000. The fifth annual festival is set for January 5-8, 2023. 

Out of an abundance of caution and a commitment to the safety and health of its patrons, artists, and staff, Palm Beach Dramaworks is postponing the start of its 2021-2022 season. Originally set to begin performances in October, PBD will now open the season on December 3. The company will perform its full schedule of five plays.

Contemporary Voices, Palm Beach Dramaworks’ free, online series featuring live readings and discussions of plays by a cross-section of some of the finest American playwrights working in theatre today, will resume on April 12 with the spotlight on Pulitzer Prize-winner Nilo Cruz.

For the first time in over a year, Palm Beach Dramaworks is in rehearsal for a production on its mainstage. The play is William Luce’s The Belle of Amherst, a one-woman show based on the life of poet Emily Dickinson, which PBD is co-producing with Actors’ Playhouse.

A who’s who in the history of Palm Beach Dramaworks is set to participate in a live reading of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol on Monday evening, December 21 at 7:30pm. In the tradition of Dickens reading his own work, this presentation will showcase PBD luminaries reading the 1843 novella, with each artist separately performing a portion of the book before handing off to the next actor.

Palm Beach Dramaworks will welcome philanthropist and former concert pianist Edith Hall Friedheim to its Board of Directors. Edith is the executive director of the Eric Friedheim Foundation, and a founding member of the Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute at the University of Florida.

Palm Beach Dramaworks Producing Artistic Director William Hayes and Managing Director Sue Ellen Beryl announced today that the 2020/21 season, which was scheduled to begin next month, has been postponed.

Palm Beach Dramaworks has announced that Carla S. Bryant, whose distinguished career spans business, government, education, and the arts, is the companya??s new Director of Development. She joined PBD in early May.     

The adage a?oethe show must go ona?? has been a theatre credo since at least the mid-nineteenth century. But at this moment in time when shows, quite rightly, cannot go on, Palm Beach Dramaworks is ramping up its efforts to connect with its audience.

It was a starry night at the Kravis Center's Cohen Pavilion on January 25, with starbursts of lights on the walls, centerpieces of flowers with jutting stars and framed photos of famous child stars, and most important, starry-eyed burgeoning artists showcasing their talent before enthralled guests. That was the scene at Palm Beach Dramaworks' 2020 Gala: a?oeA Star is Born,a?? which celebrated an up-and-coming generation of gifted artists and highlighted the company's many education initiatives that nurture creativity and ignite the imagination. Marilyn Meyerhoff and Sam Feldman were the Gala Chairs. 

Darius J. Manuel dazzled the judges at the NSAL Florida East Coast Drama Competition held recently at The Crest Theatre at Old School Square. Darius won the $2,000 first prize and an all-expense paid trip to compete at the NSAL National Drama Competition in Washington, D.C. Manuel lives in Lauderhill and is the Teaching Artist/Director of the Florida Children's Theatre in Fort Lauderdale.

The sounds infusing the lobby of the Kravis Center's Cohen Pavilion on March 16 were voices from a bygone era, those that filled the airwaves when radio reigned and families gathered 'round to listen to all kinds of programs - not just music but mysteries, comedies, adventure stories, and police procedurals.

The National Society of Arts and Letters has discovered an array of stars including actress Shirley MacLaine, opera singer Jessye Norman, Broadway great Megan Hilty. Now, the Florida East Coast Chapter, (including the Keys to Orlando) is seeking dramatic actors and operatic singers to compete for their moment in the spotlight! Applications for The National Drama Competition and the Dorothy Lincoln-Smith Competition are now open at www.nsalfloridaeast.org.

Palm Beach Dramaworks is pleased to announce that educator, director, and actor Bruce Linser has joined the staff as Manager of The Dramaworkshop, the company's lab for developing new plays.

'Oh, it's very pretty, isn't it! We're going to have fun,' Truman Capote said as he walked into his Black & White Ball on November 28, 1966, according to The New York Times. He might have said the same thing on March 11, had he walked into the Kravis Center's Cohen Pavilion for Palm Beach Dramaworks 

Thanks to a very generous donation from a member of its Board of Directors, Palm Beach Dramaworks is establishing an education department with the goal of introducing young people to the joys of theatre and encouraging and inspiring their participation in the art form. Gary Cadwallader has been named Director of Education and Community Engagement, and joined the staff on May 2.

The ribbon cutting ceremony for Palm Beach Dramaworks' Diane & Mark Perlberg Studio Theatre took place on Tuesday, April 5. Talking part were Producing Artistic Director William Hayes, Managing Director Sue Ellen Beryl, West Palm Beach Mayor Jeri Muoio, Diane Perlberg, and Mark Perlberg. The studio theatre is the home of The Dramaworkshop, PBD's lab for developing new plays. Jennifer Fawcett's Buried Cities, the lab's first developmental production, opens on Friday, April 8. Scroll down for photos from the ribbon-cutting!