News

Last night, Lincoln Center Theater kicked off Lear deBessonet’s programming as Kewsong Lee Artistic Director with a silent disco listening party of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis’s “Warriors,” as part of Lincoln Center’s “Summer for the City.” See photos here! The event began with a cocktail party in LCT3’s Claire Tow Theater followed by the dance party out on The Dance Floor at Josie Robertson Plaza. Commencing with the 2025-2026 season, Lear deBessonet will assume the role of Kewsong Lee Artistic Director, alongside Managing Director Mike Schleifer, Executive Producer Barlett Sher, Producer Nicole Kastrinos, Executive Director of Development and Planning Naomi Grabel, and LCT3 Artistic Director and Producer Maria Manuela Goyanes. This new era follows in the celebrated footsteps of André Bishop, who led the institution for...

Last night, the Dramatists Guild of America honored the recipients of their 2025 Awards with a ceremony at Green Fig at which playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists celebrated their fellow theatre writers. Amanda Green, President of the Dramatists Guild Council, hosted the event, which featured musical numbers, moving speeches, and many powerful moments of solidarity and community. The first award of the evening was the Horton Foote Award, presented by Dg Council Vice-President Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Sponsored by the Richenthal Foundation, the Horton Foote Award honors a dramatist or dramatists whose work seeks to plumb the ineffable nature of being human. This year’s co-recipients were Clarence Coo and C.A. Johnson. Next, Andre Bishop presented the Flora Roberts Award to playwright...

Lincoln Center Theater has tapped Maria Manuela Goyanes, currently Artistic Director of Washington D.C.’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, to serve as Artistic Director of LCT3 and Producer, and Mike Schleifer, currently Managing Director of Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre, as Lincoln Center Theater’s Managing Director.

The hirings were announced today by Lincoln Center Theater’s Board of Directors, incoming Lct Artistic Director Lear deBessonet and Executive Producer Bartlett Sher.

The announcement completes the appointments for the new executive leadership team that will begin their tenures to coincide with the upcoming 2025-2026 season. Goyanes and Schleifer join the newly appointed deBessonet, Sher and Nicole Kastrinos (Producer), alongside Naomi Grabel (Executive Director of Development & Planning) to complete the Lct executive leadership team.

According to today’s announcement, the appointment of Goyanes signals an expanded vision for LCT3 and the Claire Tow Theater. LCT3 is dedicated to producing...

Adam Siegel, currently Managing Director of Lincoln Center Theater, has been named the new Executive Director of New York’s Second Stage Theater, taking over from Interim Executive Director Lisa Lawer Post on April 1, 2025.

The announcement, made today by Second Stage’s Board of Trustees, puts Siegel in place to partner with Evan Cabnet, the recently announced Artistic Director of the nonprofit theater company who officially launches his first season of programming in Fall 2025.

Siegel joins the organization full-time April 1, 2025, following a month-long transition period.

“I am thrilled and honored to be joining Second Stage Theater,” said Siegel, “an organization whose mission, artistic integrity, and commitment to excellence and continued growth have made it one of the premiere theaters in the country. Plus, this opportunity to join forces with my good friend and colleague, Artistic Director Evan Cabnet – with whom I have worked for over 20 years, including the last eight...

Christopher Ashley, the longtime artistic director of La Jolla Playhouse, will take over as artistic director of Roundabout Theatre Company on Broadway.

He will begin his tenure in July 2026 for the 2027-2028 season. Scott Ellis, current interim artistic director, will continue in the role for the 2025-2026 season, and Ellis will work with Ashley on the 2026-2027 season, as Ashley fulfills prior commitments at La Jolla.

Ellis was named interim artistic director of the nonprofit theater company after Todd Haimes died in April 2023, after holding the position for close to 40 years and growing the theater company into one of the largest not-for-profit theaters in the U.S., with three Broadway theaters and two Off-Broadway.

Roundabout’s American Airlines Theater, its main Broadway house, was renamed after Haimes in 2024.

Ashley comes to the role after leading La Jolla Playhouse, another nonprofit giant based in San Diego, since 2007. While there, Ashley directed Come From Away,...

In the third major shake-up of leadership in New York’s non-profit theater world in recent months, the Roundabout Theatre Company has announced that Tony Award-winning director Christopher Ashley will become its Artistic Director in July 2026 for the 2027-28 season.

Ashley, the Artistic Director for 17 years in a celebrated run at La Jolla Playhouse in California, will collaborate with Scott Ellis, Roundabout’s Interim Artistic Director, for the 2026-27 season while Ashley honors his previous commitment with La Jolla. Ellis, who has filled the slot since the 2023 death of his colleague and friend Todd Haimes, will continue solo through the 2025-26 season.

The changes were announced today by the Roundabout’s Board of Directors. The news comes just 15 days after Lincoln Center Theater, another one of the city’s top major non-profit theatrical companies and producers, announced that director Lear deBessonet had been appointed Artistic Director, effective this coming June...

In a major development in the leadership of New York City’s non-profit theater scene, Lincoln Center Theater has named directors Lear deBessonet and Bartlett Sher to the roles of Artistic Director and Executive Producer, respectively.

The appointments take effect when longtime Lct artistic director André Bishop concludes his 33-year tenure this June, as previously announced. The transition comes in conjunction with the close of Lincoln Center Theater’s 40th anniversary season.

“It is the deepest honor of my professional life to serve as the next Artistic Director of Lincoln Center Theater, following the astonishing legacy of André Bishop,” said deBessonet, whose current tenure as Artistic Director of Encores! at New York City Center has included well-received productions of Once Upon a Mattress (currently on Broadway), Into the Woods, Oliver!, Jelly’s Last Jam and Titanic.

“I believe the theater is a space for the creation and restoration of community...

Lear deBessonet will be the new artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater, succeeding André Bishop after his 33-year tenure.

DeBessonet is currently the artistic director of Encores! at New York City Center, which produces revivals of musicals and has seen a number of its productions, including the recent revivals of Into the Woods and Once Upon a Mattress, move to Broadway. She will work with Bartlett Sher, a well-known Broadway director and Lincoln Center Theater’s resident director, who will assume the new role of executive producer.

As previously announced, Bishop will end his tenure in June 2025, and will oversee this season which includes Robert Downey Jr. in McNeal, opening this month, and the revival of Floyd Collins this spring. Bishop first joined Lct as artistic director in January 1992, and was appointed producing artistic director in July 2013. Under his leadership, Lct, which is known for its large-scale revivals of musicals...

Evan Cabnet will take over as artistic director of Second Stage Theater, one of Broadway’s major nonprofit theater companies.

Cabnet, currently artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater’s LCT3, will join the organization in September 2024 and will launch his first season of programming in fall 2025. He takes over from Carole Rothman, founder of Second Stage Theater, who will continue in her position through August 2024. Interim Artistic Director Bennett Leak will oversee the Company’s upcoming season.

Rothman, who founded the nonprofit theater company in 1979, had previously announced she would be stepping down. The upcoming season includes Leslye Headland’s Cult of Love and Donald Margulies’ play, Lunar Eclipse, which will premiere Off-Broadway and star Reed Birney and Lisa Emery.

Cabnet has served as the artistic director of LCT3, Lincoln Center Theater’s initiative to produce new works, since 2016. During his tenure, LCT3 produced 20 productions, including Antoinette Nwandu’s Pass Over,...

Evan Cabnet, currently Artistic Director of Lincoln Center Theater’s LCT3, will be Second Stage Theater’s new Artistic Director beginning in September, Second Stage trustees announced today. Cabnet will officially launch his first season of programming in fall 2025.

Carole Rothman, Second Stage’s current artistic director who in 1979 founded the renowned New York theater company that would eventually produce such acclaimed projects as Dear Evan Hansen, Next To Normal, This Is Our Youth and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, announced last September her plans to step down.

Rothman will continue in her position through August 2024. Interim Artistic Director Bennett Leak will oversee the Company’s upcoming 46th season.

“I think the audiences and creatives who make up the communities of Broadway, Off Broadway, and American theater at large have so much to celebrate in Evan’s appointment as the new leader of Second Stage,” said Jacobs-Jenkins, whose...

Floyd Collins, the 1994 musical that has built an enduring popularity due to an Off Broadway cast recording, will finally receive a Broadway staging: The Adam Guettel-Tina Landau musical will be part of the just-announced 2024-2025 40th Anniversary Lincoln Center Theater season.

The musical, based on the true and tragic story of a 1925 cave explorer in Kentucky that has long since passed into folklore, joins the previously announced play McNeal starring Robert Downey Jr. on the Lct season Broadway line-up. Floyd Collins will being previews on March 27, 2025 at Lct’s Vivian Beaumont Theater, with an opening night of Monday, April 21.

Lct also announced its Off Broadway season line-up, which will include The Blood Quilt by Katori Hall, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, and Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts, featuring a new version by Mark O’Rowe, directed by Jack O’Brien, both at Lct’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater.

At Lct’s smaller Clair Tow Theater,...

André Bishop will conclude his 33-year leadership tenure at Lincoln Center Theater in June 2025 at the conclusion of the non-profit theater company’s 40th anniversary 2024-25 season.

Bishop, whose celebrated tenure as Lct’s Artistic Director and more recently Producing Artistic Director included the premieres of such acclaimed new works as Tom Stoppard’s The Coast of Utopia and Arcadia, Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Wendy Wasserstein’s The Sisters Rosensweig, and The Light in the Piazza by Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel, to name a very few, announced his intended departure today.

“My years at Lincoln Center Theater have been happy ones,” he said in a statement, “and I will miss working with all my friends and colleagues. But the time has come, as it inevitably does, for the next generation to step in and step up. I look forward to that. Lct has...

André Bishop will step down from his role as producing artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater next year, after having worked at the nonprofit theater company for 33 years.

Bishop will depart at the end of the theater’s 2024-2025 season and the board of Lincoln Center Theater will launch a search for his successor “in due course.” The move from Bishop, who has held the position of producing artistic director at the Lincoln Center theater since July 2013, after serving as artistic director since January 1992, marks the latest shake-up in Broadway’s nonprofit realm, which consists of four theater companies.

On Wednesday, Second Stage founder Carole Rothman announced she would leave the company after 45 years. Longtime Roundabout Theatre Company CEO and Artistic Director Todd Haimes died in April, and Manhattan Theatre Club Executive Producer Barry Grove announced his departure in January after 48 years with the organization.

Chris Jennings, who had previously...

Christopher Durang, one of American theater’s most accomplished and acclaimed playwrights, has been diagnosed with logopenic primary progressive aphasia (Ppa), a rare disorder of language which, according to a newly published report, “has curbed the prolific author’s career.”

The disclosure of Durang’s condition was made by the playwright’s family and friends to the website Broadway News.

“This illness is a terrible illness,” said André Bishop, producing artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater and friend of the playwright. “For a writer, in particular, who deals in words, to not be able to find those words is a great sadness.”

The diagnosis marks the second high-profile case to be disclosed in recent months, following the announcement in March that Bruce Willis is stepping away from acting due to aphasia.

According to Broadway News, Durang began showing symptoms in 2012 and a neurologist diagnosed aphasia. A second opinion was sought...

Flying Over Sunset, Lincoln Center Theater’s James Lapine-Tom Kitt-Michael Korie musical interrupted by the pandemic, will return for preview performances in November, marking the nonprofit theater company’s reopening after the shutdown.

Starring Harry Hadden-Paton, Carmen Cusack and Tony Yazbeck, the 1950s-set musical about three real-life celebrities experimenting with LSD begins performances at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater on Thursday, November 4, with an opening set for Monday, December 6.

Also at Lincoln Center, the Off Broadway production of Intimate Apparel in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater begins previews Thursday, January 13, 2022, opening Thursday, January 27.

Both productions were in previews when New York’s theater shutdown hit in March 2020.

“Ecstatic excitement barely begins to describe the feelings we have about reopening,” said Lincoln Center Theater Producing Artistic Director André Bishop, who called the productions “two wildly different musical works whose lives were cut short well over a year ago.

The folks behind the daily online show Stars in the House, a series hosted by Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley that features stage and screen actors singing and performing live from home to benefit The Actors Fund’s Covid-19 efforts, are adding Plays in the House to its line-up, matching performers and plays for one-time-only livestream readings.

First up: a one-time only reunion of the original The Heidi Chronicles Broadway cast of the Wendy Wasserstein Tony- and Pulitzer-winning play: Joan Allen, Cynthia Nixon, Peter Friedman, Boyd Gaines, Ellen Parker, Joanne Camp, Anne Lange and Drew McVety.

The Heidi Chronicles will open the new Plays series today at 2 p.m. Et on the Stars in the House livestream channel.

Flying Over Sunset, the new Broadway musical by James Lapine, Tom Kitt and Michael Korie that suspended production March 12, will reopen this fall, Lincoln Center Theater announced today.

Lct also will reopen its new Off Broadway opera Intimate Apparel this fall.

More from DeadlineCoping With Covid-19 Crisis: A Conversation With Pulitzer Prize-Winning Composer Tom KittPatrick Stewart Engages 'Picard' Fans & More With Free Month Of CBS All Access During Coronavirus CrisisCoronavirus: U.S. Death Toll At 544 With Monday Total In Triple Digits For First Time; Global Deaths Pass 16,000 - Update

“We are proud of these shows and the many talented artists who made them,” said Lct artistic director André Bishop, “and we hope and pray that we will reopen them in the Fall. That is our plan. May better times come to us all.”

Both productions suspended performances when theaters were closed on March 12 by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in preparation for the coronavirus pandemic.

Lincoln Center Theater under the direction of Andre Bishop has announced that Lauren Ambrose will be Eliza Doolittle, Harry Hadden-Paton will be Henry Higgins, Norbert Leo Butz will be Alfred P. Doolittle, and Diana Rigg will be Mrs. Higgins in its upcoming production ofLerner amp Loewe's My Fair Lady, directed by Bartlett Sher.

Lincoln Center Theater under the direction of Andre Bishop has announced that Lena Hall, Brian Hutchison, David McElwee, Naian Gonzalez Norvind, Omar Metwally, Austin Smith, Marisa Tomei, and Robin Weigert will be featured in the cast of its upcoming production ofHOW To Transcend A Happy Marriage, a new play by Sarah Ruhl. The production, which will be directed by Rebecca Taichman, begins previewsThursday, February 23and opens onMonday, March 20at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater 150 West 65 Street.

Lincoln Center Theater under the direction of Producing Artistic Director Andre Bishop has announced that McKinley Belcher III, Khris Davis, Montego Glover, John Lavelle, and Clarke Peters will be featured in its upcoming production of The Royale, a new play by Marco Ramirez, directed by Rachel Chavkin, which begins performances Thursday, February 11 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater 150 West 65 Street. Opening night is Monday, March 7.

Lincoln Center Theaterunder the direction of Producing Artistic Director,Andre Bishop presentsTammy Blanchard,Patrick Breen,John Benjamin Hickey,Alex Hurt,Kellie Overbey,John Pankow, andStephen Plunkettin Dada Woof Papa Hot, a new play byPeter Parnell, and directed byScott Ellis. Dada Woof Papa Hot began performances Thursday, October 15 and opened last nightat the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater 150 West 65 Street. Check out photos from the big night below...

Lincoln Center Theater under the direction of Producing Artistic Director, Andre Bishop presents Tammy Blanchard, Patrick Breen, John Benjamin Hickey, Alex Hurt, Kellie Overbey, John Pankow, and Stephen Plunkett in Dada Woof Papa Hot, a new play by Peter Parnell, to be directed by Scott Ellis. Dada Woof Papa Hot began performances Thursday, October 15 and opens on Monday, November 9 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater 150 West 65 Street.Check out a first look at the cast in action below...

Lincoln Center Theater under the direction of Producing Artistic Director, Andre Bishop presents Tammy Blanchard, Patrick Breen, John Benjamin Hickey, Alex Hurt, Kellie Overbey, John Pankow, and Stephen Plunkett in Dada Woof Papa Hot, a new play by Peter Parnell, to be directed by Scott Ellis.Dada Woof Papa HOTbeganperformances Thursday, October 15 and opens onMonday, November 9at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater 150 West 65 Street.

Lincoln Center Theater under the direction of Producing Artistic Director, Andre Bishop has extended the run of its critically acclaimed production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King And I, directed by Bartlett Sher, indefinitely at the Vivian Beaumont Theater 150 West 65 Street. In addition, the Ambassador Theatre Group and NETworks Presentations LLC will launch a national tour of the Lincoln Center Theater production, which was recently nominated for 9 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical, in November 2016 in Providence, Ri. The National Tour will play multi-week and single week engagements throughout the 2016-17 touring season and beyond. Casting and additional engagements for the tour will be announced at a future date.

What are we going to do when Mad Men breaks up with all of us at the end of May? They say if you love something, you should let it go, and that seems to be what Elisabeth Moss has been trying to do ever since joining the cast of The Heidi Chronicles on Broadway. At a recent 92Y panel discussion with her Heidi Chronicles cast members Jason Biggs, Bryce Pinkham, producer André Bishop, and playwright Christopher Durang, Moss waxed poetic on what it was like to miss playing Mad Men's Peggy Olson.It’s funny because I was pretty sad when we ended. Mostly and only because I liked to play that character, and I didn’t want to not play her anymore. I did a few projects afterwards, and they were all very different. Having done [The Heidi Chronicles], this was the first time and first role that I’d...

Over the past month, we polled 116 culture creators, mavens, and movers and shakers about the year in movies, TV, books, music, memes, and more. The wide-ranging results showed that the respondents were just as bedazzled by their cohorts’ output as we were—and, sometimes, just as rankled, too.Respondents: Christopher Abbott, Jack Antonoff, Patricia Arquette, Michael Barker, Robert Battle, Leslie Bibb, Michael Bierut, Lisa Birnbach, André Bishop, Kate Bosworth, Katrina Bowden, Lorraine Boyle, Rachel Brosnahan, Amy Brownstein, Mika Brzezinski, Gemma Burgess, Jenna Busch, Robert Caro, Wyatt Cenac, Michael Chernus, Olivia Cheng, Anna Chlumsky, Ellar Coltrane, Ruth Connell, Brady Corbet, Katie Couric, Sloane Crosley, Tyne Daly, Adam David Thompson, Lea DeLaria, Jacopo Della Quercia, Laura Dern, Anna Deavere Smith, Eamon Dolan, Jane Dystel, Scott Eastwood, Mona Fastvold, Chaz Ebert, Louise Erdrich, Julia Fierro, Rupert Friend, Cary Fukunaga, Willie Geist, Betty Gilpin, Jon Glaser, Andy Grammer, Lev Grossman, Chin Han, Jon Hamm,...

Fully realizing its underdog appeal, the cheeky musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder slayed the competition this morning with a whopping 10 Tony nominations, including nods for both of its tireless leading men, Jefferson Mays and Bryce Pinkham. Neil Patrick Harris’ return to Broadway after a decade yielded him his first-ever Tony nomination for the celebrated revival of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which netted an impressive eight nods. (Had it been eligible as a new musical, Hedwig probably would have easily tied Guide, as score and book would have been slam dunks). Trailing these shows with seven...

The Lincoln Center Theater under the direction of Producing Artistic Director Andre Bishop production of Act One, a play written and directed by James Lapine from the autobiography by Moss Hart, just opened last night, April 17, at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. The cast features Bob Ari, Bill Army, Will Brill, Laurel Casillo, Chuck Cooper, Santino Fontana, Steven Kaplan, Will LeBow, Mimi Lieber,Charlotte Maier, Noah Marlowe, Andrea Martin, Greg McFadden, Deborah Offner, Lance Roberts,Matthew Saldivar, Matthew Schechter, Tony Shalhoub, Jonathan Spivey, Wendy Rich Stetson, Bob Stillman and Amy Warren. BroadwayWorld was there for the special night and you can check out photos from the after party below...

The Lincoln Center Theater under the direction of Producing Artistic Director Andre Bishop production of Act One, a play written and directed by James Lapine from the autobiography by Moss Hart, is currently in previews at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. The cast features Bob Ari, Bill Army, Will Brill, Laurel Casillo, Chuck Cooper, Santino Fontana, Steven Kaplan, Will LeBow, Mimi Lieber, Charlotte Maier, Noah Marlowe, Andrea Martin, Greg McFadden, Deborah Offner, Lance Roberts, Matthew Saldivar, Matthew Schechter, Tony Shalhoub, Jonathan Spivey, Wendy Rich Stetson, Bob Stillman and Amy Warren. Act One will open on Thursday, April 17. BroadwayWorld brings you highlights of the cast in action below...

The Lincoln Center Theater under the direction of Producing Artistic Director Andre Bishop production of Act One, a play written and directed by James Lapine from the autobiography by Moss Hart, is currently in previews at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. The cast features Bob Ari, Bill Army, Will Brill, Laurel Casillo, Chuck Cooper, Santino Fontana, Steven Kaplan, Will LeBow, Mimi Lieber, Charlotte Maier, Noah Marlowe, Andrea Martin, Greg McFadden, Deborah Offner, Lance Roberts, Matthew Saldivar, Matthew Schechter, Tony Shalhoub, Jonathan Spivey, Wendy Rich Stetson, Bob Stillman and Amy Warren. Act One will open on Thursday, April 17. BroadwayWorld brings you a first look at the cast in action below...

Feminist playwright Wendy Wasserstein, who wrote The Heidi Chronicles and The Sisters Rosensweig, has died of cancer. She was 55. Wasserstein had been battling the deadly disease for months and died of lymphoma early yesterday morning. The Heidi Chronicles won a Tony award for Best Play in 1989, as well as the Pulitzer Prize for drama in the same year. Andre Bishop, head of Lincoln Center Theater and a close friend of Wasserstein's says, "She was an extraordinary human being whose work and whose life were extremely intertwined. She was not unlike the heroines of most of her plays - a strong-minded, independent, seriously good person."...