Odds & Ends: Date Set for the 2019 Chita Rivera Awards, Rent Live Casting Is Complete & More

Here's a quick roundup of stories you might have missed today and this weekend.

Date Set for the 2019 Chita Rivera Awards
Prepare your best fan kick and start counting down! The 2019 Chita Rivera Awards, honoring the best in dance, has announced a ceremony date of May 19 at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. Carrying the namesake of one of the great dance icons of the American musical theater, the mission of the Chita Rivera Awards is to celebrate dance and choreographic excellence—past, present and future. Nominations will be announced on April 26. Look back at last year's winners here.

Matthew Saldivar, J. Elaine Marcos & More Complete the Cast of Rent Live
We're just a few weeks away from the debut of Fox's Rent Live, and the final round of casting is here. Comprising the ensemble will be a group of stage vets and newcomers, including Matthew Saldivar, J. Elaine Marcos, Bryce Ryness, Alton Fitzgerald White, Darius Crenshaw, Jessica Lee Keller, Khori Petinaud, Lenin Fernandez Jr., Mia DeWeese, Nicholas Lanzisera, Sasha Dominique Mallory, William (Ty) Wells, Benjamin Douglas Rivera, Robert Roldan, Morgan Marcell, Fredric "Fred" Odgaard, Alexis "Tilly" Evans-Krueger, Hannahlei Cabanilla, Emerson Collins, Jennifer Leigh Warren and Debra Cardona. They join the previously announced cast of principal stars. Rent Live will air on January 27 at 7:00pm ET.

Strike: Actors' Equity Puts All New Show Development on Hold
After nearly two years of attempts to negotiate a new contract to replace the Lab Agreement with the Broadway League, members of Actors’ Equity Association have declared a strike calling for a halt to all new show development work with members of the Broadway League. The Lab Agreement is a contract used for the development of new productions, often musicals. "It's unconscionable that Equity members who go to work developing some of the biggest hits on Broadway have gone more than a decade without a raise, especially when we regularly read about many of those same shows smashing box office records and generating billions of dollars in revenue," said Kate Shindle, president of Actors' Equity Association, the U.S. labor union that represents more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers.

Members: if you are offered work or auditions for Broadway show development, please contact our staff ASAP. More info is here: https://t.co/waZ1FPh20U #DoNotWork pic.twitter.com/Ibvfg0dzUM

— Kate Shindle (@AEAPresident) January 7, 2019

Kate Wetherhead & More to Lead Hurricane Diane at New York Theatre Workshop
Casting is here for Hurricane Diane, a new play by Pulitzer Prize finalist Madeleine George (The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence), arriving at off-Broadway's New York Theatre Workshop on February 6. Directed by Tony nominee Leigh Silverman (The Lifespan of a Fact), the co-production with WP Theater will officially open on February 24. The cast will include Kate Wetherhead (The Other Josh Cohen), Mia Barron (The Wolves), Michelle Beck (A Raisin in the Sun), Becca Blackwell (They, Themself and Schmerm) and Danielle Skraastad (All My Sons). The play centers on Diane, a permaculture gardener dripping with butch charm. She's got supernatural abilities owing to her true identity—the Greek god Dionysus—and she's returned to the modern world to gather mortal followers and restore the Earth to its natural state. Hurricane Diane will play a limited engagement through March 10.

Chaz Bono Visits His Mom's Bio-Show & a Longtime Friend at Pretty Woman: The Musical
Chaz Bono, the talented actor and son of Oscar-winning icon Cher, spent the weekend theatergoing in New York City. On the top of Bono's list was a visit to The Cher Show, the new musical based on his mom's life. He also paid a visit to his friend Orfeh at Pretty Woman: The Musical. Check out photos of Bono visiting the show's stars below.