NYCPlaywrights July 19, 2025
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NYCPlaywrights
Jul 19, 2025, 5:07:19 PMJul 19
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Greetings NYCPlaywrights
*** FREE THEATER IN NYC ***
TWELFTH NIGHT
August 07, 2025 - September 14, 2025
Join us to revel in the midsummer madness as twins Sebastian and Viola survive shipwreck, revenge plots, and the trick doors of love. The Public’s Associate Artistic Director and Resident Director, Tony Award nominee Saheem Ali directs this joyful romp welcoming all of New York back to the magic of Central Park’s beloved theater.
After 62 years as the home of Free Shakespeare in the Park, The Delacorte Theater was due for a major makeover. When the theater makes its triumphant return this summer with TWELFTH NIGHT, it will be more welcoming, more accessible, and more sustainable than ever before. Learn more about the revitalization here!
Free Shakespeare in the Park is part of The Public’s annual summer celebration of Shakespeare for the City. Free. For All. Forever.
https://publictheater.org/productions/season/2425/fsitp/twelfth-night/
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
The 5th Annual Patchwork Play Festival
We are currently accepting submissions of New One-Act Plays that embody this years theme of: Hope
Nine finalists will have their play produced in our festival.
A $250 Award will be presented for best production as adjudicated by a panel of Chicago Theater professionals.
A $250 Audience Award will also be presented to the festival favorite as determined by our audiences.
***
The Shrew Series seeks short works by women
We focus on the themes of womanhood & gender roles. Be that an emotive spoken word piece, witty & hilarious monologue or incredibly relatable poetry piece. The focus is on self expression and highlighting themes or experiences. Monologues, poems, spoken word, comedy sketches (to name a few for inspo!)
***
The Garden State New Play Festival (GSNPF), a partnership between Jersey City Theatre Center and The New Jersey Play Lab, is an innovative new play development festival celebrating the unique way in which art can impact, unite, and inspire.
The mission of the Festival is to marry community engagement around issues relating to social justice with a rigorous dramaturgical process, resulting in the presentation of a slate of new plays by a diverse group of writers that have the clarity of intention necessary to spark rich conversation and an open exchange of ideas and perspectives.
This Festival is open to playwrights of all career levels residing in the state of New Jersey or the Metropolitan Areas of New York City or Philadelphia.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site at https://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
*** STEPHEN COLBERT ***
On Thursday, Stephen Colbert announced that CBS has canceled “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” The Hollywood Reporter aptly described the decision to sunset the popular program in May 2026 as a “shocker.”
CBS, for its part, says that the decision to terminate the entire “Late Show” franchise — inaugurated 33 years ago by the iconic David Letterman — was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.” And indeed, though Colbert’s “Late Show” is the highest-rated late-night show, such shows are struggling to maintain revenue and market share. We live in a social media age in which people, especially “The Youth,” consume comedy (and reality) differently. The format perfected and popularized by old heads like Johnny Carson and Letterman just doesn’t attract mass audiences who buy stuff anymore.
But although CBS insists the cancellation “is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters,” many viewers (and even some lawmakers) have a different theory of the case.
Many are wondering if the sudden dismissal of Colbert isn’t just about the bottom line.
On Monday, a mustachioed Colbert roasted CBS’ parent company Paramount over its $16 million settlement with the Trump administration about the way the program “60 Minutes” edited an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. The host described this capitulation to what he termed a “nuisance lawsuit” as “a big fat bribe.” Why a “bribe?” Because Paramount is seeking FCC approval for its megamerger with the movie studio Skydance. That would be the same FCC beholden to the whims of one Donald J. Trump.
More...
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/stephen-colbert-late-show-cancelled-trump-rcna219591
***
There may be no tougher — and sought-after — gig than hosting a network late-night TV show. Stephen Colbert joined that rarefied list of late-night hosts in 2015, when he took over CBS’s “The Late Show” from David Letterman.
Ten years later, on Thursday night, Colbert announced that not only would he be departing the show, but CBS was canceling the entire “Late Show” enterprise, in a stunning move that some have speculated may have political motives (CBS strongly denied this, saying it was ending the popular program for financial reasons).
Colbert’s legacy will surely be parsed and debated — including by his most frequent detractor, Donald Trump.
For Colbert, a uniquely acerbic and incisive comedian, the jovial and apolitical world of late night seemed like an odd fit at the start of his tenure.
But he managed to break through the trappings of the genre, too, charming and surprising the “Late Show” audience with moments of empathy, blunt political sentiment and unalloyed nerdery. Here are a few of the interviews and bits that made him special.
His political, and moral, compass
Before beginning his late-night tenure in September 2015, Colbert was already recognized as one of his generation’s greatest satirists, in large part because of his work on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” on which he lampooned a blowhard conservative pundit.
More...
https://archive.ph/oVmhx
***
Naturally Trump, who owes his political career to playing the part of a successful businessman on reality TV, was gracious about the whole thing.
Yeah, right. Nothing like a sore winner. He responded with his trademark combination of condescending gloating and whining.
"I absolutely love that Colbert got fired," Trump posted on Truth Social. "His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert! Greg Gutfeld [who hosts a late-night show on Fox News and is a diehard Trump supporter] is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show.”
More...
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/articles/trump-gloats-over-colbert-cancellation-172824161.html
***
To hear Stephen Colbert tell it, his famous “Stephen Colbert” character is dead and never coming back. Now please give a warm welcome to his new TV persona, “Stephen Colbert.”
Mr. Colbert, the comedian and host of “The Late Show” on CBS, made the head-spinning announcement early Thursday morning during a live broadcast of the program that followed the third night of the Democratic National Convention.
Now let’s try to unpack what he meant.
For more than a decade, during the 10-season run of his Comedy Central program “The Colbert Report” and on “The Daily Show,” Mr. Colbert had played the role of a character called Stephen Colbert, a fatuous, self-obsessed conservative political commentator.
Last year, when Mr. Colbert became the new host of “The Late Show” (succeeding David Letterman), he dropped the facade and has been hosting this program as himself, an all-around entertainer who still enjoys a good political wisecrack.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/29/arts/television/stephen-colbert-retires-stephen-colbert.html
***
On this weekend in 2006, Stephen Colbert, who was still not STEPHEN COLBERT yet, came to D.C. to deliver the keynote speech at Washington's biggest night: The White House Correspondents Dinner.
Mark Smith of the Associated Press introduced Colbert by warning "tonight, no one is safe." Little did he know how right he was.
Colbert's speech, which spanned just under a half hour, was done in the comedian's conservative Republican character and amounted to an extended tongue-in-cheek defense of George W. Bush's presidency and the media's lack of scrutiny of his claims regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Here's how the New York Times reported on it:
At issue was a heavily nuanced, often ironic performance by Mr. Colbert, who got in many licks at the president — on the invasion of Iraq, on the administration's penchant for secrecy, on domestic eavesdropping — with lines that sounded supportive of Mr. Bush but were quickly revealed to be anything but. And all this after Mr. Colbert tried, at the outset, to soften up the president by mocking his intelligence, saying that he and Mr. Bush were "not so different," by which he meant, he explained, "we're not brainiacs on the nerd patrol."
Soon, the liberal left -- particularly on the web -- seized on the speech as a perfect encapsulation of everything wrong with Washington, politicians and the media. Colbert told the truth about Bush and the press; Bush and the media gave him the silent treatment.
More...
https://archive.ph/bWpYl#selection-4687.0-4735.265
***
Stephen Colbert has run for president. He's testified before Congress, created a political action committee and assisted the U.S. Olympic speedskating team in the role of assistant sports psychologist. He has a spider named after him (the Aptostichus stephencolberti) as well as a Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor (the Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream) and a NASA treadmill (the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, or COLBERT).
And now, the political satirist and award-winning host of The Colbert Report can add a new line to his resume: Broadway star.
The comedian and television host recently grabbed a straw hat and cane and performed as Harry in the 2011 New York Philharmonic production of Stephen Sondheim's Company. The revival, which also starred Neil Patrick Harris, Patti LuPone, Christina Hendricks and Martha Plimpton, has been made into a film that plays this week in limited showings.
Colbert tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that he didn't fake "a single smile" during the show's entire run. "It's what I imagined I would be doing when I went to theater school," he says. "It was such a bungee into an old dream to go do something like that."
More...
https://www.npr.org/2011/12/30/144083514/stephen-colbert-a-company-man-on-broadway
***
Though Stephen Colbert did not initially aim to work in comedy, his time with improvisation troupes in Chicago changed his course. After performing with his Northwestern improv team No Fun Mud Piranhas around Chicago, a cash-strapped Colbert took a job at The Second City box office in 1987 answering phones and selling merchandise in exchange for free classes. He was good at both–in fact, Colbert held a longtime record for most t-shirts sold in a single day.
More...
https://www.secondcity.com/people/stephen-colbert
*** FREE THEATER IN NYC ***
TWELFTH NIGHT
August 07, 2025 - September 14, 2025
Join us to revel in the midsummer madness as twins Sebastian and Viola survive shipwreck, revenge plots, and the trick doors of love. The Public’s Associate Artistic Director and Resident Director, Tony Award nominee Saheem Ali directs this joyful romp welcoming all of New York back to the magic of Central Park’s beloved theater.
After 62 years as the home of Free Shakespeare in the Park, The Delacorte Theater was due for a major makeover. When the theater makes its triumphant return this summer with TWELFTH NIGHT, it will be more welcoming, more accessible, and more sustainable than ever before. Learn more about the revitalization here!
Free Shakespeare in the Park is part of The Public’s annual summer celebration of Shakespeare for the City. Free. For All. Forever.
https://publictheater.org/productions/season/2425/fsitp/twelfth-night/
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
The 5th Annual Patchwork Play Festival
We are currently accepting submissions of New One-Act Plays that embody this years theme of: Hope
Nine finalists will have their play produced in our festival.
A $250 Award will be presented for best production as adjudicated by a panel of Chicago Theater professionals.
A $250 Audience Award will also be presented to the festival favorite as determined by our audiences.
***
The Shrew Series seeks short works by women
We focus on the themes of womanhood & gender roles. Be that an emotive spoken word piece, witty & hilarious monologue or incredibly relatable poetry piece. The focus is on self expression and highlighting themes or experiences. Monologues, poems, spoken word, comedy sketches (to name a few for inspo!)
***
The Garden State New Play Festival (GSNPF), a partnership between Jersey City Theatre Center and The New Jersey Play Lab, is an innovative new play development festival celebrating the unique way in which art can impact, unite, and inspire.
The mission of the Festival is to marry community engagement around issues relating to social justice with a rigorous dramaturgical process, resulting in the presentation of a slate of new plays by a diverse group of writers that have the clarity of intention necessary to spark rich conversation and an open exchange of ideas and perspectives.
This Festival is open to playwrights of all career levels residing in the state of New Jersey or the Metropolitan Areas of New York City or Philadelphia.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site at https://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
*** STEPHEN COLBERT ***
On Thursday, Stephen Colbert announced that CBS has canceled “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” The Hollywood Reporter aptly described the decision to sunset the popular program in May 2026 as a “shocker.”
CBS, for its part, says that the decision to terminate the entire “Late Show” franchise — inaugurated 33 years ago by the iconic David Letterman — was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.” And indeed, though Colbert’s “Late Show” is the highest-rated late-night show, such shows are struggling to maintain revenue and market share. We live in a social media age in which people, especially “The Youth,” consume comedy (and reality) differently. The format perfected and popularized by old heads like Johnny Carson and Letterman just doesn’t attract mass audiences who buy stuff anymore.
But although CBS insists the cancellation “is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters,” many viewers (and even some lawmakers) have a different theory of the case.
Many are wondering if the sudden dismissal of Colbert isn’t just about the bottom line.
On Monday, a mustachioed Colbert roasted CBS’ parent company Paramount over its $16 million settlement with the Trump administration about the way the program “60 Minutes” edited an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. The host described this capitulation to what he termed a “nuisance lawsuit” as “a big fat bribe.” Why a “bribe?” Because Paramount is seeking FCC approval for its megamerger with the movie studio Skydance. That would be the same FCC beholden to the whims of one Donald J. Trump.
More...
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/stephen-colbert-late-show-cancelled-trump-rcna219591
***
There may be no tougher — and sought-after — gig than hosting a network late-night TV show. Stephen Colbert joined that rarefied list of late-night hosts in 2015, when he took over CBS’s “The Late Show” from David Letterman.
Ten years later, on Thursday night, Colbert announced that not only would he be departing the show, but CBS was canceling the entire “Late Show” enterprise, in a stunning move that some have speculated may have political motives (CBS strongly denied this, saying it was ending the popular program for financial reasons).
Colbert’s legacy will surely be parsed and debated — including by his most frequent detractor, Donald Trump.
For Colbert, a uniquely acerbic and incisive comedian, the jovial and apolitical world of late night seemed like an odd fit at the start of his tenure.
But he managed to break through the trappings of the genre, too, charming and surprising the “Late Show” audience with moments of empathy, blunt political sentiment and unalloyed nerdery. Here are a few of the interviews and bits that made him special.
His political, and moral, compass
Before beginning his late-night tenure in September 2015, Colbert was already recognized as one of his generation’s greatest satirists, in large part because of his work on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” on which he lampooned a blowhard conservative pundit.
More...
https://archive.ph/oVmhx
***
Naturally Trump, who owes his political career to playing the part of a successful businessman on reality TV, was gracious about the whole thing.
Yeah, right. Nothing like a sore winner. He responded with his trademark combination of condescending gloating and whining.
"I absolutely love that Colbert got fired," Trump posted on Truth Social. "His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert! Greg Gutfeld [who hosts a late-night show on Fox News and is a diehard Trump supporter] is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show.”
More...
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/articles/trump-gloats-over-colbert-cancellation-172824161.html
***
To hear Stephen Colbert tell it, his famous “Stephen Colbert” character is dead and never coming back. Now please give a warm welcome to his new TV persona, “Stephen Colbert.”
Mr. Colbert, the comedian and host of “The Late Show” on CBS, made the head-spinning announcement early Thursday morning during a live broadcast of the program that followed the third night of the Democratic National Convention.
Now let’s try to unpack what he meant.
For more than a decade, during the 10-season run of his Comedy Central program “The Colbert Report” and on “The Daily Show,” Mr. Colbert had played the role of a character called Stephen Colbert, a fatuous, self-obsessed conservative political commentator.
Last year, when Mr. Colbert became the new host of “The Late Show” (succeeding David Letterman), he dropped the facade and has been hosting this program as himself, an all-around entertainer who still enjoys a good political wisecrack.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/29/arts/television/stephen-colbert-retires-stephen-colbert.html
***
On this weekend in 2006, Stephen Colbert, who was still not STEPHEN COLBERT yet, came to D.C. to deliver the keynote speech at Washington's biggest night: The White House Correspondents Dinner.
Mark Smith of the Associated Press introduced Colbert by warning "tonight, no one is safe." Little did he know how right he was.
Colbert's speech, which spanned just under a half hour, was done in the comedian's conservative Republican character and amounted to an extended tongue-in-cheek defense of George W. Bush's presidency and the media's lack of scrutiny of his claims regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Here's how the New York Times reported on it:
At issue was a heavily nuanced, often ironic performance by Mr. Colbert, who got in many licks at the president — on the invasion of Iraq, on the administration's penchant for secrecy, on domestic eavesdropping — with lines that sounded supportive of Mr. Bush but were quickly revealed to be anything but. And all this after Mr. Colbert tried, at the outset, to soften up the president by mocking his intelligence, saying that he and Mr. Bush were "not so different," by which he meant, he explained, "we're not brainiacs on the nerd patrol."
Soon, the liberal left -- particularly on the web -- seized on the speech as a perfect encapsulation of everything wrong with Washington, politicians and the media. Colbert told the truth about Bush and the press; Bush and the media gave him the silent treatment.
More...
https://archive.ph/bWpYl#selection-4687.0-4735.265
***
Stephen Colbert has run for president. He's testified before Congress, created a political action committee and assisted the U.S. Olympic speedskating team in the role of assistant sports psychologist. He has a spider named after him (the Aptostichus stephencolberti) as well as a Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor (the Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream) and a NASA treadmill (the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, or COLBERT).
And now, the political satirist and award-winning host of The Colbert Report can add a new line to his resume: Broadway star.
The comedian and television host recently grabbed a straw hat and cane and performed as Harry in the 2011 New York Philharmonic production of Stephen Sondheim's Company. The revival, which also starred Neil Patrick Harris, Patti LuPone, Christina Hendricks and Martha Plimpton, has been made into a film that plays this week in limited showings.
Colbert tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that he didn't fake "a single smile" during the show's entire run. "It's what I imagined I would be doing when I went to theater school," he says. "It was such a bungee into an old dream to go do something like that."
More...
https://www.npr.org/2011/12/30/144083514/stephen-colbert-a-company-man-on-broadway
***
Though Stephen Colbert did not initially aim to work in comedy, his time with improvisation troupes in Chicago changed his course. After performing with his Northwestern improv team No Fun Mud Piranhas around Chicago, a cash-strapped Colbert took a job at The Second City box office in 1987 answering phones and selling merchandise in exchange for free classes. He was good at both–in fact, Colbert held a longtime record for most t-shirts sold in a single day.
More...
https://www.secondcity.com/people/stephen-colbert
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