Read on for more theatre headlines you may have missed in today's news.
Ana Villafañe Joins the Final Season of Younger
Ana Villafañe, known to Broadway audiences for her turn as Gloria Estefan in 2015's On Your Feet!, will join the cast of the seventh and final season of Younger, Deadline reports. The series stars Tony Award winner Sutton Foster as Liza Miller, an editor who lied about her age to get a job in the competitive world of publishing. Villafañe will play KT, a "highly organized type-A music manager." The performer has most recently been seen on the small screen in recurring roles on the NBC series Sunnyside and New Amsterdam. The final season of Younger, created, executive produce and written by Darren Star, begins streaming on Paramount+ April 15.
Playwrights Realm's Annual INK’D Festival of New Plays Will Stream in April
The INK’D Festival of New Plays is the culminating event of the Writing Fellowship Program, presenting the new works of four early-career playwrights after their nine month fellowships with the Playwrights Realm. This year's streaming festival will launch on April 15 with Opening Panel: Playwriting in a Pandemic, an online discussion with the four fellows. New works to be presented are Lajasarriba by Omar Vélez Meléndez, ABCD by May Treuhaft-Ali, not-for-profit (or the equity, diversity and inclusion play) by Francisca Da Silveira, and We Can't Breathe by Phillip Christian Smith. For festival ticketing, visit PlaywrightsRealm.org.
ABT Will Stream Six New Short Works Weekly Beginning March 29
American Ballet Theatre will present six new short ballets from 2021 ABT Incubator, a lab for ABT dancers to explore choreography, under the directorship of ABT dancer Jose Sebastian, with mentorship by choreographer Jessica Lang. The works were created and filmed over Zoom and in isolated "ballet bubbles." The six new ballets to be presented from the 2021 cohort are: The Unforseen, choreographed by Zhong-Jing Fang, on March 29; She didn't, choreographed by Joseph Markey, on April 5; Death and Life, choreographed by Sung Woo Han, on April 12; Nunanu, choreographed by Luciana Paris, on April 19; Thread of Memories, choreographed by Luigi Crispino, on April 26; and Soirée Nocturne, choreographed by Melvin Lawovi, on May 3. Each program premieres at 12 PM ET on ABT's YouTube channel.
New Micro-Grant From Ma-Yi Theater Company
Ma-Yi Theater Company has created a new micro-grant program to benefit New York City-based BIPOC, transgender, and disabled artists and creatives in need as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The micro-grant fund was established through the support of Play-PerView and its streamed production of Carla Ching's Revenge Porn, presented specifically to benefit Ma-Yi, and through the support of Edward Bok Lee. Ten awards of $500 each are available for creatives across disciplines designers, actors, directors, playwrights, poets, musicians, choreographers, dancers, painters, sculptors, video artists, etc. Applications will open March 29 and must be submitted by April 9. For more information, visit Ma-YiTheatre.org.
