Michael Merritt News

Scenic designer, writer and professor, MARJORIE BRADLEY KELLOGG, and costume designer DEBORAH M. DRYDEN are among the 2014 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards recipients. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Friday, May 2, at 6:30pm, at the Hudson Theatre (145 West 44th Street). Ms. Kellogg will receive the Robert L.B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design and Ms. Dryden was selected to receive the 2014 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for costume design. Ms. Kellogg's award will be presented to her by director Kenny Leon and Ms. Dryden's award will be presented to her by designer David Woolard.

Pulitzer-Prize-winning author David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow premiered on Broadway in 1988 at the Royale Theatre, starring Madonna. This was the pop sensation's first theatrical role on the Great White Way. Below, watch interviews and more from opening night in 1988!

The 20th Annual Merritt Award for Excellence in Design and Collaboration program will take place on Monday, April 15, at Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier. 5pm-10pm

Yale Repertory Theatre, in a co-production with American Repertory Theater, presents the world premiere of Marie Antoinette by David Adjmi, directed by Rebecca Taichman. Marie Antoinette will be performed at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street) October 26 through November 17. Opening Night is Thursday, November 1. The cast includes Fred Arsenault, Hannah Cabell, David Greenspan, Marin Ireland, Vin Knight, Jo Lampert, Polly Lee, Steven Rattazzi, Jake Silbermann, Teale Sperling, Brian Wiles, and Ashton Woerz.

Yale Repertory Theatre, in a co-production with American Repertory Theater, presents the world premiere of Marie Antoinette by David Adjmi, directed by Rebecca Taichman. Marie Antoinette will be performed at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street) October 26 through November 17. Opening Night is Thursday, November 1. The cast includes Fred Arsenault, Hannah Cabell, David Greenspan, Marin Ireland, Vin Knight, Jo Lampert, Polly Lee, Steven Rattazzi, Jake Silbermann, Teale Sperling, Brian Wiles, and Ashton Woerz.

Merging local star power with nationally-recognized artists, the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County announced today the creative team collaborating on this summer's blockbuster - THE DONKEY SHOW.

Merging local star power with nationally-recognized artists, the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County announced today the creative team collaborating on this summer's blockbuster - THE DONKEY SHOW.

Jeffrey Richards and Jerry Frankel have just announced the design team for the upcoming Broadway revival of Gore Vidal's THE BEST MAN. Tony and Drama Desk Award winning scenic designer DEREK McLANE (33 Variations, Anything Goes), Tony and Drama Desk Award winning lighting designer KENNETH POSNER (The Coast of Utopia, Part 2 - Shipwreck) and five-time Tony Award nominated costume designer ANN ROTH (The Book of Mormon) will design the play about power, ambition, political secrets, ruthlessness and the race for the presidency.

The American Theatre Wing's 64th Annual Antoinette Perry 'Tony' Awards were held at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 13, 2011 and broadcast on the CBS Television Network. For more information visit tonyawards.com.

Nominations in 26 competitive categories for the American Theatre Wing's 65th Annual Antoinette Perry 'Tony' Awards were announced May 3, 2011 by Tony Award winning actor Matthew Broderick and Tony Award winning actress Anika Noni Rose, at the Tony Award Nominations Announcement sponsored by IBM.

The 18th Annual Merritt Award for Excellence in Design and Collaboration program, honoring and celebrating the work of scenic designer Walt Spangler (Desire Under the Elms, King Lear), will take place on Monday, May 2, at Goodman Theatre. Goodman Theatre's Artistic Director Robert Falls, a founding member of the Michael Merritt Endowment Fund Steering Committee, will present the award to Mr. Spangler. Sound designer, composer, musician and DJ, Mikhail Fiksel (Old Town, Last of the Dragons) will receive The Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award. There will also be a presentation of three student scholarship recipients representing The Theatre School at DePaul University (sound designer Jeff Gary), Northwestern University (scenic designer Scott Davis) and from Columbia College Chicago for The John Murbach Scholarship for Collaborative Design (lighting designer Claire Chrzan).

The 18th Annual Merritt Award for Excellence in Design and Collaboration program, honoring and celebrating the work of scenic designer Walt Spangler (Desire Under the Elms, King Lear), will take place on Monday, May 2, at Goodman Theatre. Goodman Theatre's Artistic Director Robert Falls, a founding member of the Michael Merritt Endowment Fund Steering Committee, will present the award to Mr. Spangler. Sound designer, composer, musician and DJ, Mikhail Fiksel (Old Town, Last of the Dragons) will receive The Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award. There will also be a presentation of three student scholarship recipients representing The Theatre School at DePaul University (sound designer Jeff Gary), Northwestern University (scenic designer Scott Davis) and from Columbia College Chicago for The John Murbach Scholarship for Collaborative Design (lighting designer Claire Chrzan).

Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Ma-Yi Theater Company's FLIPZOIDS - a play by Ma-Yi Artistic Director Ralph B. Pena and directed by Obie Award-winner Loy Arcenas, to be presented Off-Broadway at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre (416 West 42 St.) in Manhattan.

Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Ma-Yi Theater Company's FLIPZOIDS - a play by Ma-Yi Artistic Director Ralph B. Pena and directed by Obie Award-winner Loy Arcenas, to be presented Off-Broadway at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre (416 West 42 St.) in Manhattan.

The Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Ma-Yi Theater Company - one of the country's leading Asian-American theater companies and whose most recent production was Michael Lew's play MICROCRISIS directed by Ralph B. Pena - will continue its 2010-11 season with FLIPZOIDS, a play written by Mr. Pena, with previews set to begin January 11 prior to an official opening on January 18 at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre (416 W. 42 St.) in Manhattan.

The American Theatre Wing's 64th Annual Antoinette Perry 'Tony' Awards were held at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 13, 2010 and broadcast on the CBS Television Network. For more information visit tonyawards.com.

The 17th Annual Merritt Award for Excellence in Design and Collaboration program, posthumously honoring and celebrating the work of lighting and set designer Michael Philippi (Desire Under the Elms, Death of a Salesman), 'an esteemed longtime collaborator and friend', will take place on Monday, May 3, at the Goodman Theatre.

The 17th Annual Merritt Award for Excellence in Design and Collaboration program, posthumously honoring and celebrating the work of lighting and set designer Michael Philippi (Desire Under the Elms, Death of a Salesman), 'an esteemed longtime collaborator and friend', will take place on Monday, May 3, at the Goodman Theatre.

The world premiere of Rajiv Joseph's (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo) Gruesome Playground Injuries features Selma Blair (Hellboy, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, Storytelling, Legally Blonde, NBC's Kath & Kim) playing Kayleen and Brad Fleischer (Center Theatre Group's premiere of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Broadway's Coram Boy, Off Broadway's Streamers) playing Doug.

Yale School of Drama (James Bundy, Dean; Victoria Nolan, Deputy Dean) will offer a new concentration in Projection Design under Wendall Harrington, within the Design Department (Ming Cho Lee, Stephen Strawbridge, Co-Chairs) beginning in the fall of 2010, the first such course of graduate theatre training in the United States.