Welcome to the NYTW Blog—a resource for behind-the-scenes insights on our productions, share-outs from the classroom penned by teaching artists, community partner spotlights, and a peek behind the curtain to see how work gets made at NYTW.

“Another Hit” For A Visionary Director

Leigh Silverman is a busy director these days, but we are so glad she calls NYTW her home! In her chat with FORBES, Leigh talks everything from the creation of Merry Me and representation on stage, to walking into the workshop in 1996 as an intern during the original production of RENT.

November 3, 2023 by Jeryl Brunner for FORBES


Taking Orgasms Seriously

Director Leigh Silverman and Playwright Hansol Jung sit down with Merryn Johns from INTO to talk lesbians, orgasms, and why Leigh’s North Star for Merry Me was The Muppet Show.

“Trailblazing director Leigh Silverman ably guides Hansol Jung’s play, which forgoes victimization, trauma, and tropes we have perhaps come to expect from female-centered theater. There is, however, lots of arch wordplay, simulated sex, and — as with the mannered conventions of Restoration comedy — reality flies out the window.”

November 2, 2023 by Merryn Johns for INTO


THE REFUGE PLAYS Hits Close to Home

The Refuge Plays can only be described as an epic, but for it’s two matriarchs, it means so much more. Listen to Nicole Ari Parker (Early) and Jessica Frances Duke (Gail) discuss killing turkeys, playing elderly women, and channeling their ancestors in this world premiere production.

October 26, 2023 by Diep Tran for PLAYBILL


The Basketball Loving Poet

Flash back to 2020 when The Half-God of Rainfall was first released. Inua goes in-depth on his family history growing up in Nigeria, England and Ireland, as well as his research for The Half-God of Rainfall and how the play gets its title.

May 6, 2023 by Elizabeth Harris for THE NEW YORK TIMES


A New Perspective

“Centered in humor, brutal honesty and healing, How to Defend Yourself is a play that explores what we want and how we can ask for it.” Co-directors Liliana Padilla, Rachel Chavkin, and Steph Paul talk creating the play and how it speaks to survivors.

March 10, 2023 by Lizzie Hyman for PEOPLE


Meet the Black Women Reshaping American Theater

Shondaland talked to four pioneering artistic directors and producers, including our wonderful Artistic Director Patricia McGregor, who are striving to make the theatre field more inclusive. Check out the interview with Patricia, Nataki Garrett, Dominique Morisseau, and Hana Sharif.

February 23, 2023 by Mia Brabham for Shondaland


From the Director’s Chair of Lileana Blain-Cruz

I started my journey at New York Theatre Workshop doing a reading with Branden Jacobs-Jenkins—he was an artist in the fellowship program at the time. I remember walking into the third-floor studio with its skylight and feeling such a wonderful, positive energy. I applied for the fellowship myself. The first time—and second time—I didn’t get in! Ha! But something about NYTW drew me back—its warmth, its circle of artists, the deep questioning that seemed to reverberate through the space. So, I applied again after grad school. This time, I got in.

November 22, 2022


LOVE AT ALL COSTS

Elia Monte-Brown, our very own Maria Ximena, takes readers inside AMERICAN (TELE)VISIONS, and her transformation into Maria Ximena: how cues help her navigate the role’s emotional shifts, preparing for the emotional whiplash with heart-openers, and the repetition that helped it all become instinct.

October 4, 2022 by Leah Putnam for PLAYBILL


Bidding Farewell to His Theatrical Flock

“The Tony Awards ceremony had just wrapped up at Radio City Music Hall, and it was time for the parties. But for one honoree, James C. Nicola…there would be no stop-off for toasts at the Plaza Hotel or after-midnight carousing at Tavern on the Green.

Instead, he headed to a nearby parking garage, and settled behind the wheel of a rental van for the 40-minute ride back to the dorms at Adelphi University on Long Island, where he’d be sleeping that night. As far as he was concerned, there was no other choice: He had pickup duty at 10 a.m. for a group of young artists arriving by train for one of the summer workshops that have been a hallmark of his 34-year tenure at one of Off Broadway’s most beloved theaters.”

 

July 15, 2022 by Scott Heller for The New York Times


PATRICIA MCGREGOR FIRST INTERVIEW AS INCOMING NYTW AD

We are still over the moon after the announcement yesterday of Patricia McGregor as the new Artistic Director of New York Theatre Workshop. In her first interview as incoming AD, Patricia sits down with American Theatre to discuss the transition process, her relationship with Jim Nicola, and what she sees as the future of NYTW.

May 26, 2022 by Rob Weinert-Kendt for American Theatre