News

The 39th annual Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Short Play Festival has announced it’s six winners. Thirty plays—selected out of an original submission pool of 1,385—were performed at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Playwrights Horizons from Aug. 5 to Aug. 10. Winners were selected by a panel of judges that included Keith Josef Adkins, Rick Burkhardt, Neena Beber, Alex Kilgore, Christian Parker, Emily Morse, and others. The winners were “Taisetsu Na Hito” by Leah Nanako Winkler; “et·y·mol·o·gy” by Jennifer Jasper; “The Logic” by Will Arbery; “A Wake for David’s Fucked-Up Face” by Skylar Fox; “John, who’s here from Cambridge” by Martyna Majok; and “Mandate” by Kelly Younger. “This year’s collection of winners offers a range of playwriting styles and voices, and is perhaps more varied play-by-play than ever before,” said Oob Festival co-Artistic Director and Samuel French Literary Manager Amy Rose Marsh in a press release.

New Dramatists,Tony Honor recipient and the nation's premiere playwright development workshop, announces that Emily Morse will assume the position of Artistic Director beginning in July. Morse, on staff at New Dramatists since 2001 and currently serving as Director of Artistic Development, assumes the position from Todd London who leaves New Dramatists after eighteen years to become the Executive DirectorProfessor of Drama at the University of Washington where he'll oversee undergraduate, Mfa and PhD programs, training and productions. London's appointment is awaiting final approval by the university Board of Regent's.

Tune in alert for Miss-Advised on Bravo, a docu-series about three single relationship experts who make a living dispensing dating advice, but struggle to make their own love connections, on Monday, June 18 at 10pm Et/Pt. From Bravo The series follows Julia Allison in Los Angeles, Amy Laurent in New York City and Emily Morse in San Francisco, as they maneuver through the dating world disregarding their own advice. In the premiere episode, dating columnist Julia Allison makes a big move to Los Angeles on a quest to find Mr. Right. With a 73-point checklist to guide her, Julia is ready to settle into the storybook romance of her dreams. Matchmaking maven Amy Laurent has built...

Rising Star is a romantic comedy that is written, directed and produced by Marty Lang, an independent filmmaker who is interestingly also a university professor of Film. One of the appeals of this film, at least for me, is therefore to see how Lang puts theories into practice. Pleasingly, Rising Star does not disappoint. It is light-hearted and unpretentious, unlike many of the romantic comedies coming out of Hollywood these days. Most of the film takes place on one Saturday. When the two lead characters, Chris (Gary Ploski) and Alyza (Emily Morse) travel from place to place after meeting each other and starting to fall in love, audiences get treated to a mini-tour around Connecticut, which includes both the attractions such as the famous Mark Twain...

Looks like Bravo can has cheezburger. The network has greenlit 11 new shows, including the tentatively titled "Huh?" about LOLcat (and apparently LOLchickens) king Ben Huh and the inner workings of his icanhascheezburger.com office.

The new lineup also includes two new "Real Housewives" spinoffs, "Sur" (working title) -- featuring "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" alum Lisa Vanderpump's new restaurant and lounge -- and "The Kandi Factory," with "Real Housewives of Atlanta" star Kandi Buruss as she turns her proteges into pop stars.

Additionally, Bravo has plans for "Life After Top Chef," which will follow former cheftestants Jen Carroll in Philadelphia, Richard Blais in Atlanta, Fabio Viviani in Los Angeles and Spike Mendelsohn in D.C.

The network is also working on its first scripted premieres for 2013, "22 Birthdays," which has a "Sweet 16" feel to it, and "Blowing Sunshine" about patients at a fictional rehab facility.

The rest of the newbies...

With their upfronts happening tonight, Bravo announced that it has greenlit 11 new unscripted series, including spin-offs for Top Chef and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, as well as season orders for eight of their returning favorites. Viewers can expect to see another season of Flipping Out, Tabatha Takes Over, Million Dollar Decorators, Million Dollar Listing Lost Angeles, Top Chef Masters, Chef Roble & Co., Pregnant in Heels, and Inside the Actors Studio.

Click below for a description of Bravo’s new shows.

New Series Greenlights:

Silicon Valley (working title)

Produced by Den of Thieves with Jesse Ignjatovic and Evan Prager...

Bravo announced its newly greenlighted series today, so mark your calendar for a year from today, which is when they will announce the franchise/spinoffs of said new shows. Joining the illustrious ranks of Flipping Out and Million Dollar Listing: Los Angeles are Silicon Valley, starring "internet entrepreneur" Randi Zuckerberg; Huh?, starring Ben Huh, the founder of I Can Has Cheezburger; Below Deck, which follows the "upstairs and downstairs" worlds on luxury yachts; Gallery Girls, about young women who work in New York galleries; Decades, set within a vintage boutique; La Shrinks, which is about, true story, L.A. shrinks, Newlyweds: The First Year, which follows couples through their first year of marriage; and Miss Advised, about "relationship experts" Amy Laurent, Emily Morse, and Julia Allison. Also, Kandi Burress from Rhoa is getting her own show called The Kandi Factory (eesh). Bravo's trying to get into the scripted game, too,...

Eleven new shows, including a spinoff for "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Lisa Vanderpump and a new "Top Chef" series with Jen Carroll, Richard Blais, Fabio Viviani and Spike Mendelsohn, are heading to Bravo. The network has also renewed eight shows, including "Tabatha Takes Over."

"Sur" goes inside "Housewives" star Vanderpump's La hotspot restaurant. "Life After Top Chef" follows the personal and professional lives of the four former "Top Chef" cheftestants. There are also new shows set on yachts, in the offices of icanhascheezburger.com and in art galleries and the network also announced seven new unscripted projects in development.

Two scripted shows are in the works at Bravo, but the subject matter is familiar to the established audience. "22 Birthdays" follows the lives of a group of parents at a private school, with each episode centered around a lavish birthday party. "Blowing Sunshine" hails from "90210's" Jason Ning and...

Eleven new shows, including a spinoff for "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Lisa Vanderpump and a new "Top Chef" series with Jen Carroll, Richard Blais, Fabio Viviani and Spike Mendelsohn, are heading to Bravo. The network has also renewed eight shows, including "Tabatha Takes Over."

"Sur" goes inside "Housewives" star Vanderpump's La hotspot restaurant. "Life After Top Chef" follows the personal and professional lives of the four former "Top Chef" cheftestants. There are also new shows set on yachts, in the offices of icanhascheezburger.com and in art galleries and the network also announced seven new unscripted projects in development.

Two scripted shows are in the works at Bravo, but the subject matter is familiar to the established audience. "22 Birthdays" follows the lives of a group of parents at a private school, with each episode centered around a lavish birthday party. "Blowing Sunshine" hails from "90210's" Jason Ning and...

The Style Network is about to embark on an adventure in constructive self-loathing as the Comcast-owned cable channel gets ready to launch "What I Hate About Me."

Hosted by Style personality Lisa Arch ("Clean House"), "What I Hate About Me" is an unconventional makeover show that challenges women to address the 10 aspects of their lives they dislike the most. Along with the obligatory complaints about cellulite and relationships, the women who appear on the show will look to get a handle on everything from intra-family dynamics to the way they manage their financial affairs.

After each guest lays bare the things she can't abide in herself, Arch and a rotating panel of experts (including boxer Laila Ali, nutritionist Rachel Beller and radio host Emily Morse) will attempt to devise pragmatic solutions to some of the more vexing problems.

Style has ordered 10 one-hour episodes, the first of which debuts at 9 p.