Read on for some recent theatre headlines you may have missed.
New York Theatre Barn Will Present Excerpts From Willow in Free Live Stream
New York Theatre Barn will host a free live stream of excerpts from the musical concept album Willow October 10 at 7 PM ET on YouTube and Broadway on Demand. The presentation will also feature a conversation with the writers, creatives, and representatives from the record label. Willow has music and lyrics by Abigail (August) Greenwood and a book by Morgan Smith, with additional arrangements by Nalah Palmer. Greenwood and Smith, along with Rachael Chau and Emma Freeman, will perform songs from the musical. The album dropped September 25, featuring “How to Let Go” sung by Anastasia star Christy Altomare.
Composer Tidtaya Sinutoke Named Recipient of Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award
Thailand born, New York City-based composer Tidtaya Sinutoke is the recipient of the sixth annual Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award, the Ziegfeld Club's award for a female musical theatre presented in partnership with New York Stage and Film. The award includes a $10,000 grant and a year of artistic and professional mentorship from a prominent Broadway composer or producer. This year’s selection committee included Ella Rose Chary, Kirsten Childs, Nikka Graff Lanzarone, Clara Luthas, Alexa Spiegel, Mary Sedarat, Nadav Wiesel, John Margulis, Laurie Sanderson, Natasha Sinha, Shea Sullivan, and Rachel Sussman. "To receive the Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award is an honor almost beyond my imagination,” said Sinutoke. “From my childhood in Thailand, listening to my mother's rendition of show tunes, to studying music, to pursuing my dream in New York, has been a long, serendipitous journey.” Sinutoke's composition credits include Half the Sky, Sunwatcher, Clouds are Pillows for the Moon, Hart Island Requiem, and Water is Life. She was awarded a 2017 Jonathan Larson Grant and the 2020 Weston-Ghostlight New Musical Award.
Black Theatre Caucus to Present By Us, With Us, For Us
The Black Theatre Caucus will hold its inaugural virtual awareness event, titled By Us, With Us, For Us, October 15–18. The four-day event aims to create a space for Black artists to gather, celebrate, and devise ways to strengthen the connection between Black theatre and the Black community at large. Among those taking part are hosts Jess Ellison, John F. Thomas, and Davon Williams, interviewers Shanaé Burch (a BTC co-founder) and Troy D. Wallace (BTC president), and panelists T. Oliver Reid (Hadestown), composer Elizabeth Addison, Wydetta Carter, Gethsemane Herron-Coward, Playbill Principal Photographer Marc J. Franklin, Ann C. James, composer Joriah Kwamé (Little Miss Perfect), and Hana Sharif. Register for the free event at BlackTheatreCaucus.org.
La Jolla Playhouse Announces More WOW Digital Programming
Three world premiere commissions by local artists and two productions already presented by NYC-based companies are coming to La Jolla Playhouse’s digital Without Walls series. Kicking off in October is Listen With The Lights Off, a collection of new radio horror plays, produced by So Say We All. In November, Oye Group’s Modesto ‘Flako’ Jimenez’s Taxilandia will offer a site-specific play-within-a-tour of San Diego. The piece premiered in Brooklyn and is now being developed for cities around the country. Also in November is Towards Belonging, a dance film with original spoken-word poetry and music by Anjanette Maraya-Ramey/Maraya Performing Arts with Khalil Bleux. Rounding out the slate of works, with dates to be announced, are A Thousand Ways by 600 Highwaymen (which premiered virtually October 7 at NYU Abu Dhabi’s The Arts Center) and Light Leaping: Spittin’ Truth to Power for the People, a griot-inspired piece by Alyce Smith-Cooper and Shammy Dee. For more information, visit LaJollaPlayhouse.org.
