Zoe Kazan News

Firestone Theatre's new season of plays and musicals sets the bar pretty high with a variety of student opportunities and outstanding guest directors.

Gold Globe winner Michael C. Hall (a?oeDexter,a?? Broadway's Hedwig & The Angry Inch) and Emmy winner Martha Plimpton (a?oeThe Real O'Neals,a?? a?oeThe Good Wifea??) star alongside playwright and actor Hamish Linklater (FX's a?oeLegion, The Big Short) in the world premiere production of Linklater's audio play NUDITY RIDER. Helmed by Tony-nominated director Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Hand to God, Bernhardt/Hamlet), the showbiz comedy is available now on the Playing on Air podcast.  

Emmy winner Carol Kane (Netflix's "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," Wicked, The Princess Bride) and Tony nominee Jeremy Shamos (Clybourne Park, Meteor Shower) star in Lily Akerman's mischievous and heartbreaking short play, HEDGEHOG YEARS, the second place winner of Playing on Air's 2018 James Stevenson Prize. Directed by Tony winner Judith Ivey, the episode will debut on the Playing on Air podcast this Sunday, May 26th.

"Stranger Things" star David Harbour (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Coast of Utopia) meets his match in Tony nominee Steven Boyer (Hand to God, NBC's "Trial & Error"). Their live recording of David Auburn's AN UPSET, directed by Michael Wilson, celebrates Playing on Air's 100th podcast episode.

Playing on Air today announced the return of the James Stevenson Prize for Comedic Short Plays. Founded last year, the Stevenson Prize honors bold, original comedies that embody the spirit and wit of the late New Yorker cartoonist James Stevenson. The competition, sponsored by Stevenson's wife Josie Merck, offers one of the nation's largest prizes specifically for short plays: first prize of $7,500 and a full audio production, second prize of $2,000, and third prize of $1,000.

Soho Rep., which provides a platform for vastly diverse artists to realize their boldest visions, in productions that are regularly among the most ambitious and acclaimed offerings of the theater season, will convene many of its collaborators and supporters at its 2019 Spring Fete, Monday, April 8, at Tribeca Rooftop (2 Desbrosses Street, New York, NY 10013).

Ars Nova, "one of the most adventurous Off-Broadway companies" (New York Times), under the leadership of Founding Artistic Director Jason Eagan and Managing Director Renee Blinkwolt, is proud to kick-off Ars Nova at Greenwich House with the world premiere commission of Mrs. Murray's Menagerie, created by The Mad Ones and Phillip James Brannon, Brad Heberlee, Carmen M. Herlihy and January LaVoy. Directed by Lila Neugebauer, Mrs. Murray's Menagerie marks The Mad Ones' first production since their critically acclaimed play Miles For Mary and celebrates 10 years of "triumphantly original" and "skillfully acted" (New York Times) theater that is saturated with "precision, invention, and richness" (Time Out New York). The Mad Ones has been Ars Nova's Company-in-Residence since 2015, developing Mrs. Murray's Menagerie and Miles For Mary.

Announced today, Playing on Air's Winter/Spring 2019 season will include work by playwrights Gracie Gardner and Chiara Atik. The season will also include the April release of the highly-anticipated live recording of David Auburn's AN UPSET, starring David Harbour (Netflix's "Stranger Things," Hellboy) and Steven Boyer (Hand To God, NBC's "Trial & Error") and the re-release of Lynn Nottage's POOF! with Audra McDonald, Tonya Pinkins, and Keith Randolph Smith.  

Building on 40 years of producing powerful contemporary theatre, Studio Theatre is pleased to announce a new class of commissioned playwrights and directors to Studio R&D, its incubator to support the creation of new work from inception to first production. Incoming Studio R&D artists are playwrights James Fritz, James Ijames, Steph Del Rosso, and Emily Schwend, as well as directors Carl Cofield, Lila Neugebauer, and Eric Ruffin. These exciting talents from the US and UK will have Studio's full support in creating aesthetically diverse new work to be presented in future seasons and introduced into the international repertoire. As they create Studio-specific works, commissioned artists will visit Studio to get to know its theatres, programming, and audiences in person.

Professional tennis players at war and mothers on the verge of a breakdown will come alive at Playing on Air's annual live recording and benefit on Monday, December 3, 2018 at 6:30pm at The 52nd Street Project's Five Angels Theater.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a six-part Western anthology film, a series of tales about the American frontier told through the unique and incomparable voice of Joel and Ethan Coen. Each chapter tells a distinct story about the American West.

Austin Film Festival & Writers Conference (AFF), the premier film festival recognizing the writers' contributions to film, television, and new media, announced today the full schedule of films and panels for the 25th Anniversary festival, this October 25-November 1. AFF's feature film slate includes 23 World, North American, and US Premieres, a robust retrospective series, and highly anticipated marquee titles, including Steve McQueen's and Gillian Flynn's modern-day thriller Widows, Peter Farrelly's dramedy period piece Green Book starring Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen, Mike Leigh's period piece Peterloo,  Mickey Rourke-starring boxing drama Tiger, Paul Dano's Wildlife starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Carey Mulligan, and Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges family drama Ben is Back bowing as AFF's Centerpiece selection, with writer/director Peter Hedges in attendance.

Melbourne Theatre Company will present three events as part of MPavilion's 2018/9 program, including one of New York's most eminent young theatre directors, Lila Neugebauer, in conversation with MTC Literary Director Chris Mead on Thursday 6 December. 

Golden Globe winner Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea, My Week with Marilyn, Blue Valentine) and Emmy nominee Rupert Friend (Pride and Prejudice, 'Homeland,' The Young Victoria) are the latest film & stage stars to perform on the Playing on Air podcast. Released this weekend, John Patrick Shanley's LAST NIGHT IN THE GARDEN I SAW YOU features Williams and Friend in an explosive audio play, directed by Shanley.

Netflix has released the trailer for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, a film from Joel and Ethan Coen, launching in select theaters and on Netflix on November 16, 2018.

The 62nd BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express® today announces its full programme, featuring a diverse selection of 225 feature films from both established and emerging talent. This 12-day celebration of cinema illustrates the richness of international filmmaking, with films to delight and entertain audiences, and also films that probe and interrogate issues of significance.

Chronicling the rise of pornography and the multibillion-dollar industry's transformation of American culture, the critically acclaimed drama series THE DEUCE, created by George Pelecanos and David Simon, returns for its nine-episode second season SUNDAY, SEPT. 9 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO. Resuming five years after the culmination of the first season, THE DEUCE returns to the world of 1977, capturing the Times Square area of midtown New York at its most garish and volatile.

Chronicling the rise of pornography and the multibillion-dollar industry's transformation of American culture, the critically acclaimed drama series THE DEUCE, created by George Pelecanos and David Simon, returns for its nine-episode second season SUNDAY, SEPT. 9 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO. Resuming five years after the culmination of the first season, THE DEUCE returns to the world of 1977, capturing the Times Square area of midtown New York at its most garish and volatile.

Chronicling the rise of pornography and the multibillion-dollar industry's transformation of American culture, the critically acclaimed drama series THE DEUCE, created by George Pelecanos and David Simon, returns for its nine-episode second season SUNDAY, SEPT. 9 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO. Resuming five years after the culmination of the first season, THE DEUCE returns to the world of 1977, capturing the Times Square area of midtown New York at its most garish and volatile.

Alysha Umphress is one of Broadway's most sparkling talents, currently starring in Smokey Joe's Cafe Off-Broadway. Despite Umphress's talents and a general positive reaction to the show, New York Times critic Laura Collins-Hughes made a comment in her review about the actress's weight, and the Twitter-verse is calling it out as body shaming. The review reads: