Read on for more theatre headlines you may have missed in today's news.
George C. Wolfe and Daniel Alexander Jones Win PEN Literary Awards
The annual PEN America Literary Awards Program has announced its 2021 career achievement award winners. Tony Award-winning playwright and director George C. Wolfe is the recipient of the PEN/Mike Nichols Writing for Performance Award, given to a "writer whose transformative work enlightens and inspires audiences." The judges' citation notes that Wolfe's vast body of work has "played a key role in expanding the stories told and heard within American culture." Writer-performer Daniel Alexander Jones is honored with the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award, given to "an American playwright with an outstanding voice." The judges commend Jones' concert works as his alter ego, Jomama Jones, and his three-part memoir production Duat, as well as his contributions to the field of theatre pedagogy in his role as teaching artist of solo performance. Past winners for the PEN/Mike Nichols award include Tom Stoppard and Kenneth Lonergan, and for the PEN/Laura Pels award, Tanya Barfield and Larissa FastHorse.
Pafko at the Wall Audio Performance Gets Audiobook Release
The 92Y performance of Don DeLillo’s baseball novella, starring Billy Crudup, Zachary Levi and Tony winner Tony Shalhoub, will be released as an audiobook by Simon and Schuster Audio March 30. The story re-imagines the 1951 New York Giants-Brooklyn Dodgers pennant game and the famous "shot heard around the world" homerun. To celebrate the start of the 2021 baseball season and the release of the audiobook, 92Y is streaming a video of the October 2019 reading of Pafko at the Wall (with Crudup, Levi, and Shalhoub), available for 48-hours only March 28–30. For ticketing, visit 92y.org.
Sydney Theatre Company Will Present Australian Premiere of Fun Home
Originally slated for the 2020 season, the Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning musical Fun Home will finally make its Australian premiere at the Sydney Theatre Company beginning April 27 for a five-week run. Dean Bryant directs the musical, written by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori, based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel. The cast includes Australian favorites Marina Prior (The Phantom of the Opera) and Maggie McKenna (Muriel's Wedding), along with Ryan Gonzalez, Emily Havea, Lucy Maunder, and Adam Murphy. For more information, visit SydneyTheatre.com.au.
