'Windowmen' wins IRNE for Best New Play

Congratulations to all of last night's IRNE winners and nominees, but especially to Steven Barkhimer, whose Windowmen won Best New Play in the Small/Fringe Company category! (Photo: Christopher McKenzie via Instagram)

IRNE congrats to Melinda Lopez!

ML in the hat

Congratulations to Melinda Lopez – who won an IRNE award last night for her performance in SpeakEasy Stage’s The Motherf**ker With the Hat – and to all of this year’s winners and nominess!

Alumni news, in brief:

Lots of BPT love in the 2013 IRNE nominations last weekend: Jaclyn Villano’s The Company We Keep (Best New Play, Small Theatre); Molly Trainer (Best Costume Design, Small Theatre, for Deported/a dream play); Steven Barkhimer for his work onstage (Best Supporting Actor – Musical, Small/Mid-size Theatre) and off (Best Music Director, Small/Mid-size Theatre) in Stoneham Theatre’s Lumberjacks in Love; Melinda Lopez (Best Supporting Actress – Drama, Small/Mid-size Theatre) for The Motherf**ker With the Hat at Speakeasy Stage; and Rick Park (Best Supporting Actor – Drama, Small/Mid-size Theatre) for Company One’s Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo…

IRNE congrats to John Kuntz!

John Kuntz as The Stranger in The Hotel Nepenthe (Photo: Stratton McCrady)

Congratulations to John Kuntz, whose The Hotel Nepenthe won the 2012 IRNE Award for Best New Play, Small Theatre (Actors Shakespeare Project)...and to all of last night's winners and nominees!

Diamond's 'Stick Fly' Broadway-bound!

BPT alum (and CFA professor) Lydia Diamond's play Stick Fly will open on Broadway this fall! CONGRATULATIONS, Lydia! Wow!

From the press release:
Grammy Award-winner Alicia Keys with Reuben Cannon & Nelle Nugent are proud to announce the Broadway premiere of Stick Fly, the critically-acclaimed American play by Lydia R. Diamond and directed by Kenny Leon, opening on Broadway on Thursday, December 8, 2011 at the Lyceum Theatre (149 W. 45th Street). Performances begin Friday, November 18, 2011. Tickets are now on sale through Telecharge.com.

Stick Fly follows the LeVays, an affluent African American family who come together to spend a summer weekend at their Martha’s Vineyard home. The adult sons, aspiring novelist Kent and golden boy plastic surgeon Flip, have each brought their respective ladies (one Black and one White) to meet the parents. Food, drink and Trivial Pursuit tangle with class, race and identity politics in this contemporary comedy of manners.

Watch Lydia Diamond's fabulous IRNE acceptance speech!

IRNE congrats to Lopez, Diamond, everyone!

Congratulations to Melinda Lopez (From Orchids to Octopi, Best Play -- Small Theatre, Underground Railway Theatre), Lydia Diamond (Stick Fly, Best Play -- Large Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company), and all of last night’s IRNE Award winners and nominees!

David Fichter's amazing mural for From Orchids to Octopi

Alums and friends among 2011 IRNE nods

A number of BPT alums and friends appear on the list of IRNE nominations, announced earlier this week.

Lydia Diamond’s Stick Fly (produced last spring at the Huntington) is nominated in the Best Play (large theatre) and Best New Play categories. Lydia is also nominated in the Best Play (small theatre) category (along with fellow alums John Kuntz and Melinda Lopez) for her contribution to Company One’s Grimm. The Underground Railway production of Lydia’s Harriet Jacobs is also represented in some of the acting categories.

Melinda’s play From Orchids to Octopi (produced by Underground Railway Theatre last season) is nominated in the Best Play (small theatre) category, as is Brian Tuttle’s Her Red Umbrella (11:11 Theatre Company).

On stage, Alice Duffy was nominated for her performance in BPT’s production of Michael Towers’ Five Down, One Across; Steven Barkhimer’s performance in Gloucester Stage’s Table Manners is nominated in the Best Actor, Drama category.

And, of course, the nominees include so many of our favorite actors, technicians, designers, and other theatre artists that you really just need to review the whole stinkin’ list. Congratulations everyone!!!