Shariffa Ali News

The New Group has announced complete casting for the world premiere production of Black No More.  This new musical features Book by John Ridley, Music and Lyrics by Tariq Trotter, Music Supervision, Orchestrations and Vocal Arrangements by Daryl Waters, Choreography by Bill T. Jones and Direction by Scott Elliott. 

Oregon Shakespeare Festival, in partnership with Artizen and Museum of Other Realities, will present the first-ever Quills Fest, an annual two-day immersive digital festival at the intersection of live theatre and Extended Reality.

The New Group has announced two new appointments to its staff. Emily Bookwalter has been named as its Director of External Affairs starting October 25, 2021. Shariffa Ali has also been named as its Director of Artistic Projects starting November 2, 2021.

The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals, now in its 10th year, once again brought together an extraordinary group of young artists for a free professional intensive culminating in their own production of The 24 Hour Plays — available for streaming through Saturday, July 31.

The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals, now in their tenth year, kicks off their rigorous professional experience for artists 25 and under tonight with their own production of The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues, featuring the 43 program participants and 12 guest writers from previous years of the Nationals program.

Today, The 24 Hour Plays, creators of The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway, The 24 Hour Musicals and the Viral Monologues, announced this year’s company for The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals, which will be held as a virtual program.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis will bring an extraordinary production with a cast and crew from around the globe to St. Louis in the organization's return to live theatre with 'Mlima's Tale,' a moving, lyrical journey through the dark world of the international ivory trade from two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage. 

Bard SummerScape will celebrate the uplifting spirit of Black music with Black Roots Summer, presented in association with Electric Root and organized and led by the rousing vocalist, bandleader, cultural commentator, and anti-racism educator Michael Mwenso and his longtime collaborator Jono Gasparro, former curator of Ginny’s Supper Club in Harlem.

Today, The 24 Hour Plays announced that the 10th annual application for The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals will be available starting March 24, 2021 and will run through April 11, 2021. The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals will take place virtually (for the second year in a row) and applicants from everywhere are engaged to apply. 

The combination of multi-format programming is a celebration of OSF’s continued commitment to presenting world-class theatre on its stages and its recent foray into groundbreaking digital programming, introducing fans, supporters, and new audiences worldwide to the company’s award-winning artistry.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival announced today the premiere of the short film ASH LAND on its digital platform, O!.

The New Group in association with John Ridley's Nō Studios are joining forces through The New Group Off Stage division, and have announced an upcoming slate of projects. The New Group Off Stage will feature theatrical expressions in different media.

Marie Cisco is a powerhouse in the theater industry, having worked at The National Black Theatre, The New Black Fest, and was at the center of a national conversation this summer after creating the 'Theatres Not Speaking Out' spreadsheet after the death of George Floyd. We spoke with Marie Cisco about the creation of Cisco & Co. Productions & more.

Shows on O!, Oregon Shakespeare Festival's new streaming service, will launch July 2, bringing the first full-length video recordings of OSF plays to living rooms, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, and wherever patrons and supporters of live performance theatre are.

Classic Stage Company has announced its 2020-21 season. Bookending the season will be Doyle's new staging of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, in fall 2020, and the long-awaited New York premiere of Ten Cents a Dance, with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorzenz Hart, in spring 2021. In between, CSC presents the third annual edition of its winter repertory series, this time pairing landmark 1970s prison dramas: the Tony Award-winning, Apartheid-era play The Island and Kiss of the Spider Woman, which inspired the Tony Award-winning musical and Academy Award-winning film of the same name.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) will officially launch its 85th year and Nataki Garrett's first full season as artistic director on March 6. Preview performances of five plays begin on February 28, and the 2020 season will continue through Nov. 1, with six more plays opening in the spring and summer.

Classic Stage Company today announces the casts and designers for the thrilling repertory cycle of adaptations of two legendary Gothic nightmares-Kate Hamill's reimagining of Dracula, directed by Sarna Lapine (January 15-March 15, 2020) and Tristan Bernays' adaptation of Frankenstein, directed by Timothy Douglas (January 30-March 15, 2020).

Pittsburgh Public Theater continues its 45th anniversary season with the Pittsburgh premiere of School Girls; Or The African Mean Girls Play. A smash hit Off-Broadway last year, the play was written by Jocelyn Bioh, a first generation American whose parents emigrated from Ghana in West Africa. Directed by Kenyan native Shariffa Ali, School Girls runs November 7 - December 8, 2019 at the O'Reilly Theater, Pittsburgh Public Theater's home in the heart of Downtown's Cultural District. For tickets call 412.316.1600, go to ppt.org, or visit the Box Office.