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NYCPlaywrights April 19, 2025
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NYCPlaywrights
Apr 19, 2025, 5:05:48 PMApr 19
to NYCPlaywrights
Greetings NYCPlaywrights
*** FREE THEATER IN NYC ***
Fine Line Theatre Company & AAS Present Anatomy of A Suicide by Alice Birch
Follows the simultaneous timelines of three women as they navigate a haunting tale of generational love and trauma.
Theatre Row
410 West 42nd Street New York, NY 10036
May 2 at 7:30 PM
May 3 at 3:30 PM and 7:30 PM
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fine-line-theatre-company-aas-present-anatomy-of-a-suicide-by-alice-birch-tickets-1264656795519?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
Rainy Day Artistic Collective "But Make It Gayer" Monologue Showcase
Submissions can only feature one speaker.
Each monologue must be approximately 1-5 minutes in length.
The piece(s) must be on the theme of "...But Make It Gayer," taking a familiar story/concept and adding and/or exploring a Queer element to the work.
***
The Ten-Minute Musicals Project 2025
SEEKING: Complete original stage musicals which play between seven and twenty minutes. Works which have been previously produced are acceptable, as are excerpts from full-length shows, if they can stand up on their own.
MUSICAL STYLE AND THEATRICAL FORMAT: Any musical style: pop, rock, show, opera, C&W, etc; or theatrical format: comedy, mystery, drama, etc.
CAST SIZE: Maximum of ten performers—five women and five men.
***
The Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre 2026
Edward Kleban, the lyricist of A Chorus Line and other extraordinary works, created the Kleban Prize in his Will, which is given annually to writers of extraordinary promise – to a librettist and a lyricist, respectively. Kleban designed the prize based on his personal experience as a promising writer. He was acutely aware that, though composers and musicians may often work within the theater, lyricists and librettists generally have to work outside the theater in order to support their writing. He wanted a prize of sufficient size to allow promising writers the time to simply write; his creation of the prize flowed from his desire to help other worthy artists like himself.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site at https://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
*** JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR ***
Taking one of the most widely referenced stories in history, that of Jesus Christ himself, and turning it on his head in what would become one of the most well-known musicals of all time is a high-stakes risk to take, but Andrew Lloyd Webber, along with Joseph collaborator Tim Rice, did exactly that. It may seem obvious to most where the idea came from but, like all good stories, there’s more to the origins of Jesus Christ Superstar than meets the eye.
In 1968, following the success of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, Tim Rice and Andrew toyed with the idea of writing a story about Moses. The idea stemmed from a tune that Andrew had written on a napkin whilst dining in a London restaurant. This melody would go on to become the tune of Superstar.
Initially the scribblings didn’t go anywhere until the duo began exploring the concept of dramatising Jesus’s final days from the perspective of Judas. The scribbled chords were resurrected, and Superstar was born!
At the time though, many traditional theatre producers didn’t have as much faith in a rock opera based on a bible story. However, Jesus and religion were experiencing a wave of popularity in pop culture, prompting Tim and Andrew to discuss whether their idea had mainstream potential.
Tim Rice had previously discussed the project with Mike Leander an established music producer and A&R at MCA Records. Leander saw the potential in the concept even if it was a bit bold and risky. In 1969, Tim and Andrew were given the chance to record a single of the title track “Jesus Christ Superstar.” The song was performed by Murray Head (who would later play Judas on the full album) and released by MCA Records. It was unconventional, blending different genres: symphony orchestra, soul, gospel, rock and blues, and it found an audience quickly. There was something for everyone.
More...
https://www.andrewlloydwebber.com/news/the-origins-of-jesus-christ-superstar
***
On April 24th, after a fire alarm went off during tech rehearsal and propelled the fully-costumed cast of Sarah Ruhl’s Passion Play out into the Fort Greene night, a Brooklyn fireman got his chance to thank Jesus personally for all he’d done for humankind. Forty-five minutes and some camera phone pictures later, the church’s facilities manager returned from dinner and turned off the alarm, and everyone went home. Fast-forward three days; it’s the opening night of previews, and two-thirds of the way through the show, the alarm goes off again—this time causing cast, crew, and the entire audience to exit the building.
The actors must have had a show must go on moment, because they bravely proceeded to improvise the play on the steps of the Lafayette Avenue Presybterian Church. Sarah Ruhl was among those present, held acutely by the cast’s powers of invention. “A stage manager used a flashlight to simulate a lighting cue, two actors hoisted up another actor to form a cross…I found it all very moving, because the actors were working with silent agreement with nothing to hide behind, no props, no scrims, no sound cues, no blocking…I will remember the evening for the rest of my life.”
More...
https://brooklynrail.org/2010/05/theater/our-passion-play/
***
And it came about that the faith of the devoted was sorely tested during the months of famine, and there was a great hunger to believe again. Thus on a hazy night in August, several score of them gathered, with their lower faces hidden as the times demanded, in a parking lot in a small city in the lap of the Berkshire Mountains. They were looking for signs of a resurrection.
It felt right that a tent — with socially distanced folding chairs set up inside — had been assembled behind the Colonial Theater here, as if for a revival meeting. The 1971 musical “Godspell,” which was being reincarnated by the Berkshire Theater Group, is based on parables from the New Testament, and its leading man is named Jesus.
But the creed being promulgated so poignantly here, in a mood that might be described as highly creative caution, wasn’t so much Christianity as the embattled religion of theater, the practice of which has all but disappeared in the age of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The very existence of this version of John-Michael Tebelak and Stephen Schwartz’s half-century-old slice of story-theater uplift qualifies as something of a miracle. As a general rule, summer stagings of “Godspell,” a favorite of church and school theaters, are as common as crab grass. But this “Godspell” has historic singularity on its side. It is the first professional musical, sanctioned by Actors Equity, to open in this country since the great pandemic lockdowns began.
More...
https://archive.ph/IAfeA
***
The York Mystery Plays are a theatrical spectacle performed by the communities of the City of York, the Plays will return to the city in June 2026 at various locations across the City.
Special midsummer performances will take place as the Mysteries return to the Market Place in Shambles with audiences able to experience several plays in this unique setting.
Originally a set of 48 plays performed by the medieval Guilds of York, they illustrate the Christian history of the world from the Creation to the Last Judgement. They contain stories of delight, humour, horror, temptation and resistance.
After several centuries lying dormant, the plays were resurrected in the 20th century with performances in the York Museum Gardens, performed by massive casts drawn from York’s community. Over time, many different groups and venues have hosted the tradition. In the 1990s, the Guilds of York reclaimed their heritage by producing a set of plays on waggons, as their medieval ancestors once did.
Whilst the plays belong to anyone in York who takes an interest in them, the Guilds and Companies are privileged to help bring the Plays to a new generation. We hope you will join us in 2026 as the waggons roll once more.
More...
https://www.yorkmysteryplays.co.uk
***
Playwrights Tony Kushner and Wallace Shawn were among perhaps 600 arts advocates marching silently outside the Oct. 13 opening of Terrence McNally’s controversial Corpus Christi, while the perhaps 1,500 of the play’s protestors shouted, prayed and sang 100 yards away.
The setting was Manhattan’s 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues and the atmosphere was sometimes surreal at the most crowded protest yet outside Off-Broadway’s Manhattan Theatre Club. Watched over by “about 200 police officers” (according to the New York City Police Department), the two groups were separated by a neutral zone in front of City Center, where MTC is located, and only occasional scuffles occurred between police and anti-MTC marchers, who sometimes wandered too close to the penned-in pro McNally area, shouting, “Blasphemy!”
The play, directed by Joe Mantello in a presentational theatrical style, retells the story of Christ refracted through the gay experience. The character “Joshua” (what Jesus is called here) grows up gay in a repressive Corpus Christi, TX. (as did McNally), and gathers 12 apostles (some gay, some not) when it become clear he is the son of God. This humanistic approach shows Joshua as sexually active (his lover is Judas), miracle-performing and contradictory (“Don’t take everything I say so seriously”). Eventually, he is crucified at the end by a narrow-minded community afraid of ideas and diversity.
More...
https://playbill.com/article/those-for-and-against-some-angrily-protest-corpus-christi-com-77849
***
The Promise features a cast of around 90 actors, a few sheep, a couple doves, three goats, a donkey named Odie, a horse named Rug and a camel named Moses. It attracts actors from Dallas and Fort Worth who come back year after year to be a part of the cast.
The play tells the story of Christ, from Nativity through Resurrection. It’s been a Glen Rose staple for 30 years, since the 32,000-seat amphitheater first opened here.
Around 1986, a group of investors wanted to bring a production about the life of Christ to Somervell County, and raised the original funds for the play. The county constructed the huge amphitheater with this and other productions in mind, but The Promise is the only thing that has stuck.
The production is a non-profit supported primarily by ticket sales. Proceeds go to keeping the lights on, small stipends for the cast and crew, and donations to a handful of religious and secular charities.
This is Twaddell’s fifth season with the show, but his first in the starring role.
Each Friday and Saturday night through the first weekend in November, Twaddell must sing and act in nearly every scene of the more than two-hour musical -- not to mention walk on water, heal the sick and battle with Satan in the desert.
But it’s the show’s final scene that makes Twaddell anxious.
"You wanna know the worst part of The Promise?" Twaddell said. "The Ascension and walking on the catwalk."
But each night, Twaddell says he faces his fears through faith. Each performance is prayer, an act of worship.
“It’s the best way I know how to praise God,” he said.
More...
https://archive.ph/goab5#selection-2605.0-2669.54
***
I Played the World’s First Jesus Christ Simulator and I Have Questions
In the past few weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of playing a demo version of the biblically-inspired title I Am Jesus Christ, soon to be released by developers SimulaM and PlayWay. The premise of the video game is to recap Jesus’s actual life events, spanning the time just before his baptism to his crucifixion and eventual resurrection.
Maksym Vysochanskiy, CEO of SimulaM, said the initial inspiration for the game goes way back. “Basically, over 20 years ago, I was so inspired by computer-animated movies like Shrek and Toy Story that I thought, ‘It would be great to make such a movie about Jesus Christ,’” he said. Over time, the idea began to take the shape of a video game. The project was later green-lit by the publisher PlayWay.
The demo version I played was about two hours long and still in its preliminary stages – or at least I hope so. However, it clearly shows what SimulaM is trying to do: a series of gamified scenes that adapt episodes of the life of Jesus to the video game format, linked together by visual representations of passages from the Gospels for context.
The game begins with the search for John the Baptist. As Jesus, I had to ask my fellow villagers where he was and then make my way to him without starving. That mostly meant picking fruits from the bushes along the way to keep my health bar full.
More...
https://www.vice.com/en/article/i-am-jesus-christ-video-game-simulator/
*** FREE THEATER IN NYC ***
Fine Line Theatre Company & AAS Present Anatomy of A Suicide by Alice Birch
Follows the simultaneous timelines of three women as they navigate a haunting tale of generational love and trauma.
Theatre Row
410 West 42nd Street New York, NY 10036
May 2 at 7:30 PM
May 3 at 3:30 PM and 7:30 PM
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fine-line-theatre-company-aas-present-anatomy-of-a-suicide-by-alice-birch-tickets-1264656795519?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
Rainy Day Artistic Collective "But Make It Gayer" Monologue Showcase
Submissions can only feature one speaker.
Each monologue must be approximately 1-5 minutes in length.
The piece(s) must be on the theme of "...But Make It Gayer," taking a familiar story/concept and adding and/or exploring a Queer element to the work.
***
The Ten-Minute Musicals Project 2025
SEEKING: Complete original stage musicals which play between seven and twenty minutes. Works which have been previously produced are acceptable, as are excerpts from full-length shows, if they can stand up on their own.
MUSICAL STYLE AND THEATRICAL FORMAT: Any musical style: pop, rock, show, opera, C&W, etc; or theatrical format: comedy, mystery, drama, etc.
CAST SIZE: Maximum of ten performers—five women and five men.
***
The Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre 2026
Edward Kleban, the lyricist of A Chorus Line and other extraordinary works, created the Kleban Prize in his Will, which is given annually to writers of extraordinary promise – to a librettist and a lyricist, respectively. Kleban designed the prize based on his personal experience as a promising writer. He was acutely aware that, though composers and musicians may often work within the theater, lyricists and librettists generally have to work outside the theater in order to support their writing. He wanted a prize of sufficient size to allow promising writers the time to simply write; his creation of the prize flowed from his desire to help other worthy artists like himself.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site at https://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
*** JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR ***
Taking one of the most widely referenced stories in history, that of Jesus Christ himself, and turning it on his head in what would become one of the most well-known musicals of all time is a high-stakes risk to take, but Andrew Lloyd Webber, along with Joseph collaborator Tim Rice, did exactly that. It may seem obvious to most where the idea came from but, like all good stories, there’s more to the origins of Jesus Christ Superstar than meets the eye.
In 1968, following the success of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, Tim Rice and Andrew toyed with the idea of writing a story about Moses. The idea stemmed from a tune that Andrew had written on a napkin whilst dining in a London restaurant. This melody would go on to become the tune of Superstar.
Initially the scribblings didn’t go anywhere until the duo began exploring the concept of dramatising Jesus’s final days from the perspective of Judas. The scribbled chords were resurrected, and Superstar was born!
At the time though, many traditional theatre producers didn’t have as much faith in a rock opera based on a bible story. However, Jesus and religion were experiencing a wave of popularity in pop culture, prompting Tim and Andrew to discuss whether their idea had mainstream potential.
Tim Rice had previously discussed the project with Mike Leander an established music producer and A&R at MCA Records. Leander saw the potential in the concept even if it was a bit bold and risky. In 1969, Tim and Andrew were given the chance to record a single of the title track “Jesus Christ Superstar.” The song was performed by Murray Head (who would later play Judas on the full album) and released by MCA Records. It was unconventional, blending different genres: symphony orchestra, soul, gospel, rock and blues, and it found an audience quickly. There was something for everyone.
More...
https://www.andrewlloydwebber.com/news/the-origins-of-jesus-christ-superstar
***
On April 24th, after a fire alarm went off during tech rehearsal and propelled the fully-costumed cast of Sarah Ruhl’s Passion Play out into the Fort Greene night, a Brooklyn fireman got his chance to thank Jesus personally for all he’d done for humankind. Forty-five minutes and some camera phone pictures later, the church’s facilities manager returned from dinner and turned off the alarm, and everyone went home. Fast-forward three days; it’s the opening night of previews, and two-thirds of the way through the show, the alarm goes off again—this time causing cast, crew, and the entire audience to exit the building.
The actors must have had a show must go on moment, because they bravely proceeded to improvise the play on the steps of the Lafayette Avenue Presybterian Church. Sarah Ruhl was among those present, held acutely by the cast’s powers of invention. “A stage manager used a flashlight to simulate a lighting cue, two actors hoisted up another actor to form a cross…I found it all very moving, because the actors were working with silent agreement with nothing to hide behind, no props, no scrims, no sound cues, no blocking…I will remember the evening for the rest of my life.”
More...
https://brooklynrail.org/2010/05/theater/our-passion-play/
***
And it came about that the faith of the devoted was sorely tested during the months of famine, and there was a great hunger to believe again. Thus on a hazy night in August, several score of them gathered, with their lower faces hidden as the times demanded, in a parking lot in a small city in the lap of the Berkshire Mountains. They were looking for signs of a resurrection.
It felt right that a tent — with socially distanced folding chairs set up inside — had been assembled behind the Colonial Theater here, as if for a revival meeting. The 1971 musical “Godspell,” which was being reincarnated by the Berkshire Theater Group, is based on parables from the New Testament, and its leading man is named Jesus.
But the creed being promulgated so poignantly here, in a mood that might be described as highly creative caution, wasn’t so much Christianity as the embattled religion of theater, the practice of which has all but disappeared in the age of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The very existence of this version of John-Michael Tebelak and Stephen Schwartz’s half-century-old slice of story-theater uplift qualifies as something of a miracle. As a general rule, summer stagings of “Godspell,” a favorite of church and school theaters, are as common as crab grass. But this “Godspell” has historic singularity on its side. It is the first professional musical, sanctioned by Actors Equity, to open in this country since the great pandemic lockdowns began.
More...
https://archive.ph/IAfeA
***
The York Mystery Plays are a theatrical spectacle performed by the communities of the City of York, the Plays will return to the city in June 2026 at various locations across the City.
Special midsummer performances will take place as the Mysteries return to the Market Place in Shambles with audiences able to experience several plays in this unique setting.
Originally a set of 48 plays performed by the medieval Guilds of York, they illustrate the Christian history of the world from the Creation to the Last Judgement. They contain stories of delight, humour, horror, temptation and resistance.
After several centuries lying dormant, the plays were resurrected in the 20th century with performances in the York Museum Gardens, performed by massive casts drawn from York’s community. Over time, many different groups and venues have hosted the tradition. In the 1990s, the Guilds of York reclaimed their heritage by producing a set of plays on waggons, as their medieval ancestors once did.
Whilst the plays belong to anyone in York who takes an interest in them, the Guilds and Companies are privileged to help bring the Plays to a new generation. We hope you will join us in 2026 as the waggons roll once more.
More...
https://www.yorkmysteryplays.co.uk
***
Playwrights Tony Kushner and Wallace Shawn were among perhaps 600 arts advocates marching silently outside the Oct. 13 opening of Terrence McNally’s controversial Corpus Christi, while the perhaps 1,500 of the play’s protestors shouted, prayed and sang 100 yards away.
The setting was Manhattan’s 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues and the atmosphere was sometimes surreal at the most crowded protest yet outside Off-Broadway’s Manhattan Theatre Club. Watched over by “about 200 police officers” (according to the New York City Police Department), the two groups were separated by a neutral zone in front of City Center, where MTC is located, and only occasional scuffles occurred between police and anti-MTC marchers, who sometimes wandered too close to the penned-in pro McNally area, shouting, “Blasphemy!”
The play, directed by Joe Mantello in a presentational theatrical style, retells the story of Christ refracted through the gay experience. The character “Joshua” (what Jesus is called here) grows up gay in a repressive Corpus Christi, TX. (as did McNally), and gathers 12 apostles (some gay, some not) when it become clear he is the son of God. This humanistic approach shows Joshua as sexually active (his lover is Judas), miracle-performing and contradictory (“Don’t take everything I say so seriously”). Eventually, he is crucified at the end by a narrow-minded community afraid of ideas and diversity.
More...
https://playbill.com/article/those-for-and-against-some-angrily-protest-corpus-christi-com-77849
***
The Promise features a cast of around 90 actors, a few sheep, a couple doves, three goats, a donkey named Odie, a horse named Rug and a camel named Moses. It attracts actors from Dallas and Fort Worth who come back year after year to be a part of the cast.
The play tells the story of Christ, from Nativity through Resurrection. It’s been a Glen Rose staple for 30 years, since the 32,000-seat amphitheater first opened here.
Around 1986, a group of investors wanted to bring a production about the life of Christ to Somervell County, and raised the original funds for the play. The county constructed the huge amphitheater with this and other productions in mind, but The Promise is the only thing that has stuck.
The production is a non-profit supported primarily by ticket sales. Proceeds go to keeping the lights on, small stipends for the cast and crew, and donations to a handful of religious and secular charities.
This is Twaddell’s fifth season with the show, but his first in the starring role.
Each Friday and Saturday night through the first weekend in November, Twaddell must sing and act in nearly every scene of the more than two-hour musical -- not to mention walk on water, heal the sick and battle with Satan in the desert.
But it’s the show’s final scene that makes Twaddell anxious.
"You wanna know the worst part of The Promise?" Twaddell said. "The Ascension and walking on the catwalk."
But each night, Twaddell says he faces his fears through faith. Each performance is prayer, an act of worship.
“It’s the best way I know how to praise God,” he said.
More...
https://archive.ph/goab5#selection-2605.0-2669.54
***
I Played the World’s First Jesus Christ Simulator and I Have Questions
In the past few weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of playing a demo version of the biblically-inspired title I Am Jesus Christ, soon to be released by developers SimulaM and PlayWay. The premise of the video game is to recap Jesus’s actual life events, spanning the time just before his baptism to his crucifixion and eventual resurrection.
Maksym Vysochanskiy, CEO of SimulaM, said the initial inspiration for the game goes way back. “Basically, over 20 years ago, I was so inspired by computer-animated movies like Shrek and Toy Story that I thought, ‘It would be great to make such a movie about Jesus Christ,’” he said. Over time, the idea began to take the shape of a video game. The project was later green-lit by the publisher PlayWay.
The demo version I played was about two hours long and still in its preliminary stages – or at least I hope so. However, it clearly shows what SimulaM is trying to do: a series of gamified scenes that adapt episodes of the life of Jesus to the video game format, linked together by visual representations of passages from the Gospels for context.
The game begins with the search for John the Baptist. As Jesus, I had to ask my fellow villagers where he was and then make my way to him without starving. That mostly meant picking fruits from the bushes along the way to keep my health bar full.
More...
https://www.vice.com/en/article/i-am-jesus-christ-video-game-simulator/
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