Odds & Ends: A Return for Dana H. Among Vineyard Theatre's Season Announcements

Here's a quick roundup of stories you might have missed recently.

Vineyard Theatre Announces 2020-2021 Season
The Vineyard Theatre has announced its upcoming season, which includes digital and outdoor productions, as well as the reopening of the downtown venue when safe to do so with the return of Dana H. by Lucas Hnath and the world premieres of This Land Was Made by Tori Sampson and Sandra by David Cale. The season will officially kick off on September 23 with Tony winner Bill Irwin's Busking Project, an in-person, outdoor, socially distanced live performance. The digital Lessons In Survival, conceived by Marin Ireland, Peter Mark Kendall, Tyler Thomas and Reggie D. White, will begin on October 6. The show features actors channeling historic conversations, interviews and speeches, listening to original broadcasts on an in-ear feed and speaking exactly what they hear to give old words new meaning. The Vineyard has also commissioned five artists—Ngozi Anyanwu, Kirsten Childs, Jared Mezzocchi, Polly Pen and Madeline Sayet—to create new digital or alternative theater works.

Get a Glimpse at Ashley Park in Emily in Paris
As previously announced, Tony nominee Ashley Park is set for Emily in Paris, the new Netflix series starring Lily Collins and created by Darren Star (Younger, Sex and the City). The Paris-set show arrives on on October 2. Check out the trailer below.

Diablo Cody Penning Madonna Biopic
Oscar winner and Jagged Little Pill scribe Diablo Cody is working alongside Madonna to create a screenplay for a biopic about the Material Girl. Deadline reports that Madonna will not act in the film, but she will lead a search for a young actress who will play her throughout her trailblazing music career. 

David Hyde Pierce Replaces Tom Hollander in Julia Pilot
Tony winner David Hyde Pierce will play Paul Child, Julia Childs' loving husband, in the previously announced HBO Max pilot Julia, written by Daniel Goldfarb and directed by Charles McDougall. Pierce replaces Tony and Olivier nominee Tom Hollander, according to Deadline. Heading the cast is Olivier nominee Sarah Lancashire as Julia Child joined by Tony winners Bebe Neuwirth and Jefferson Mays. No word yet on a production timeline.

New Comedy Starring Michael Urie & Tracie Bennett in Production
The Extinction of Fireflies, James Andrew Walsh’s new comedy starring stage and screen talent Michael Urie and Olivier winner Tracie Bennett, is now in production on location in the playwright/director’s Shelter Island home, where the play is set. The show takes place during Labor Day weekend in coastal New England when James (Drew Droege), a self-imagined playwright, invites longtime friend, legendary TV diva Charlotte Christian (Bennett) and occasionally working actor Jay (Urie) to read his latest dramatic effort, The Extinction of Fireflies. When Jay brings along his new (and younger) lover Callisto (Kario Marcel), the feedback is spectacular. Streaming dates and ticketing information will be announced later.

Kennedy Center Announces In-Person Performance with Renée Fleming & Vanessa Williams
The Kennedy Center has announced the first performance in front of a live audience in more than six months. Featuring Renée Fleming and Vanessa Williams, the concert launches the On Stage at the Opera House series, designed to safely bring back live performing arts. The configuration of the theater has been reimagined to place the artists on a 30 x 24-foot stage extension built over the orchestra-level seating area. An invited audience of 40 people will enter through the wide loading doors on the Center’s front plaza and sit in physically distanced pairs onstage. The event will also be livestreamed from the Kennedy Center’s website on September 26 at 8PM ET. Head here for more info.

P.S. Interested in applying for the Broadway Advocacy Coalition's Artivism Fellowship? Submission deadlines have been extended through September 29 at 11:59PM ET.