American Theatre back issues from January 2008:
Editor's note.(Edward Albee)(Editorial)
Jan 01, 2008; ... It was 1966, I was 18 years old, and my new hero was a far-off, far-out playwright named Edward Albee. My infatuation had begun on a high school graduation trip to New York City the year before, when I witnessed John Gielgud's soaring performance in Tiny Alice on Broadway. Now there was a ...
Actors and money.(FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Jan 01, 2008; ... The late great director Garland Wright described theatre as "the shared act of imagining between actor and audience." In his principles of leadership as artistic director of Minneapolis's Guthrie Theater he wrote: "Theatre is not a place or a thing but an act--an interchange that has ...
Professional development: dual leadership.(NEWS FROM THEATRE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP AVAILABLE ONLINE)(Dual Leadership: Partnering from the Inside Out)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... Next month, Feb. 24-26, in conjunction with Dance/USA and the Institute for Cultural Policy and Practice at Virginia Tech, TCG will host a second convening aimed at arts-leader partnerships. Dual Leadership: Partnering from the Inside Out will take place in New ...
National Performing Arts Convention.(NEWS FROM THEATRE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP AVAILABLE ONLINE)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... TCG'S 2008 National Conference will be held in conjunction with the National Performing Arts Convention: Taking Action Together in Denver, Colo., June 10-14. This landmark event is being made possible by more than a dozen arts service organizations, which are coming together with ...
Grant recipients: Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellowships.(NEWS FROM THEATRE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP AVAILABLE ONLINE)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... A second round of fellowships for actors has been announced by TCG and the William & Eva Fox Foundation. The program supports an individual actor's professional and artistic development and aids actors in enriching their relationships with the not-for-profit theatre. Fellowships are given ...
American Theatre online.(NEWS FROM THEATRE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP AVAILABLE ONLINE)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... WWW.TCG.ORG/AMERICANTHEATRE FROM THIS ISSUE: Albee Sizes Up the Dark Vast An interview by Carol Rocamora Shaping the Independent Actor Interviews with eight master teachers by Ellen Orenstein Awards & Prizes ...
Hey Castellucci!(NEWS IN BRIEF)(Romeo Castellucci)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... CHICAGO; COLUMBUS, OHIO; MINNEAPOLIS; MONTCLAIR, N.J.; AND SEATTLE: Have Italian bad boy Romeo Castellucci and his controversial troupe Societas Raffaello Sanzio lost their disturbing edge? That's the question that comes to mind when one hears the seemingly innocuous title of their latest ...
Southwest globalism.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
Jan 01, 2008 ... ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.: Starting Jan. 15, Tricklock Company of New Mexico hosts a three-week international theatre festival that seeks to introduce the American Southwest to the latest cultural creations. This year's edition of Revolutions, co-sponsored by the University of New Mexico, takes on ...
Jerry Herman, show tune ace.(NEWS IN BRIEF)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... AROUND THE COUNTRY: Why the new documentary Words and Music by Jerry Herman isn't part of the series "American Masters" only the powers-that-be at PBS can answer. Airing nationwide Jan. 1 on public TV (check local listings), Amber Edwards's affectionate film biography certainly makes a ...
It's better with an encore.(NEWS IN BRIEF)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... NEW YORK CITY: The Tony-winning performer with the angelic voice, one of this country's undisputed interpreters of musical standards (especially by Stephen Sondheim), turned 80 years old in 2007. So how about an encore for birthday girl Barbara Cook? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...
Celebrating nate.(NEWS IN BRIEF)(Nathaniel Hawthorne)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... NEW YORK CITY: The East Village's Metropolitan Playhouse continues its seasonal survey of American lit (which began with festivals inspired by Edgar Allan Poe and Mark Twain in 2006 and 2007) by tipping its cap to Nathaniel Hawthorne. Two weeks of daily performances (Jan. 14-27) will ...
Sondheim in the heartland.(NEWS IN BRIEF)(Stephen Sondheim)
Jan 01, 2008 ... FAIRFIELD, IOWA: Stephen Sondheim's city of birth, New York, has been good to him. So how come the first American theatre to bear his name isn't on the Great White Way, but instead in ... Iowa? How the new 522-seat Stephen Sondheim Center for the Performing Arts scored the ...
All that glitters in song.(NEWS IN BRIEF)(American Songbook)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... NEW YORK CITY: The popular Lincoln Center series American Songbook has snagged theatre artists Christine Ebersole, Kelli O'Hara, Patti Smith, Deborah Voigt, David Yazbek and John Lloyd Young for its 10th genre-crossing concert season, starting Jan. 23. Soprano Voigt is interpreting ...
The little circus that could.(NEWS IN BRIEF)(Big Apple Circus' exhibit entitled Celebrate!)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... NEW YORK CITY: If it's winter and the little big top can be seen rising above the trees of Damrosch Park in New York, the Big Apple Circus has surely come to town. The twist this year, though, goes beyond the cotton candy wrapped around a stick. Not only does this one-ring circus have a ...
Banding together in Jersey.(NEWS IN BRIEF)(New Jersey Theatre Alliance)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... MORRISTOWN, N.J.: The New Jersey Theatre Alliance, the consortium of professional theatres throughout the state, has added five associate members to its roster. The first, Act Out Theatre of Woodstown, presents local shows, often educationally tinged, at the Clare Rostan Appel Theatre at ...
Voices from the world stage.(NEWS IN BRIEF)(2008 hotINK International Play Festival)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... NEW YORK CITY: Artists from Sweden, France, Belarus, Canada, Australia, U.K., Romania and Guadeloupe join 12 Americans in the 2008 hotINK International Play Festival, presented Jan. 26-Feb. 3 by Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. The series, led by assistant arts professor ...
Rising above the Radar.(NEWS IN BRIEF)(Under the Radar Festival 2008)
Jan 01, 2008; ... NEW YORK CITY: Something subtly political is afoot among the bevy of new theatrical efforts being tracked by Under the Radar Festival 2008, which takes place Jan. 9-20 at the Public Theater. Artists' points of view seem to have gotten testier, thornier, more painful, sometimes angrier, ...
3 daring women risk the wrath of Beckett's estate in NYC productions.(NEWS IN BRIEF)(Samuel Beckett)(New York City)(Deborah Warner, Fiona Shaw and JoAnne Akalaitis)
Jan 01, 2008; ... NEW YORK CITY: Three female theatre artists who famously had disputes with the Samuel Beckett estate are returning to his plays in New York this month. Director Deborah Warner and actor Fiona Shaw disgorge a torrent of Beckett's words in the National Theatre of Great Britain production of ...
Dream homes.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
Jan 01, 2008 ... AROUND THE COUNTRY: This past fall a striking number of companies raised curtains on new or renovated spaces--the key, for some, to controlling their destinies. In Washington, D.C., Shakespeare Theatre Company cut the ribbon for a second theatre at the Harman Center for the Arts in the ...
As it continues to emerge from its financial troubles, Paper Mill Playhouse, in Millburn, N.J., has named a new executive director.(ENTRANCES & EXITS)(Paper Mill Playhouse)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... As it continues to emerge from its financial troubles, Paper Mill Playhouse, in Millburn, N.J., has named a new executive director. Mark W. Jones joined the 74-year-old theatre in November. Jones spent the past four years as executive director of Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Mass., and ...
Another Jones took on the executive directorship of Crossroads Theatre Company in New Brunswick, N.J. Marshall Jones III is a professor at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and will continue in that position while assuming the leadership of Crossroads.(ENTRANCES & EXITS)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... Another Jones took on the executive directorship of Crossroads Theatre Company in New Brunswick, N.J. Marshall Jones III is a professor at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and will ...
Scott Phillips will officially assume the post of executive director at Utah Shakespearean Festival, having served in an interim capacity since the retirement of Fred C. Adams in 2005.(ENTRANCES & EXITS)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... Scott Phillips will officially assume the post of executive director at Utah Shakespearean Festival, having served in an interim capacity since the retirement of Fred C. Adams in 2005 ....
Nicholas Martin is the new artistic director of Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts, following Roger Rees, who is stepping down after three years to pursue other opportunities.(ENTRANCES & EXITS)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... Nicholas Martin is the new artistic director of Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts, following Roger Rees, who is stepping down after three years to pursue other opportunities. Martin will continue as ...
Kansas City Repertory Theatre, in Missouri, has tapped Eric Rosen to be its new artistic director, following the retirement of Peter Altman.(ENTRANCES & EXITS)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... Kansas City Repertory Theatre, in Missouri, has tapped Eric Rosen to be its new artistic director, following the ...
Northwestern University's Theatre and Interpretation Center in Chicago is getting its first artistic director.(ENTRANCES & EXITS)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... Northwestern University's Theatre and Interpretation Center in Chicago is getting its first artistic director. Henry Godinez, who teaches at ...
Michael Ross will step down as managing director of CENTERSTAGE in Baltimore, Md., at the close of the season.(ENTRANCES & EXITS)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... Michael Ross will step down as managing director of CENTERSTAGE in Baltimore, Md., at the close of the season. Ross, who has been at the theatre since 2002, made the decision based both on his ...
Cornerstone Theater Company's managing director of six years, Shay Wafer, has moved on to become the vice president of programming for the August Wilson Center for African American Culture in Pittsburgh, Pa.(ENTRANCES & EXITS)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... Cornerstone Theater Company's managing director of six years, Shay Wafer, has moved on to become the vice president of programming for the August Wilson Center for African American ...
Steve Richardson departed Minneapolis's Theatre de la Jeune Lune in October for the director of arts position at Minnesota's Carleton College, his alma mater.(ENTRANCES & EXITS)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... Steve Richardson departed Minneapolis's Theatre de la Jeune Lune in October for the director of arts position at Minnesota's Carleton College, his alma mater ....
Sam Sweet was slated to step down from the managing director role at Arlington, Va.'s Signature Theatre at the end of the year.(ENTRANCES & EXITS)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... Sam Sweet was slated to step down from the managing director role at Arlington, Va.'s Signature Theatre at the end of the year. Sweet spent the past six years at Signature and has been a ...
Craig Harris took on the new position of managing director at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis this past summer.(ENTRANCES & EXITS)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... Craig Harris took on the new position of managing director at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis this ...
Hedgerow Theatre of Rose Valley, Pa., has appointed Arin Sullivan to be its managing director.(ENTRANCES & EXITS)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... Hedgerow Theatre of Rose Valley, Pa., has appointed Arin Sullivan to be its managing director. Sullivan comes to the ...
New York City's Public Theater announced several staff changes at the opening of the season.(ENTRANCES & EXITS)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... New York City's Public Theater announced several staff changes at the opening of the season. Mandy Hackett, previously associate producer, has been named associate artistic director. Jenny Gersten, ...
Christopher Hibma has been promoted to associate director of the Sundance Institute Theatre Program--the first person to serve in this position.(ENTRANCES & EXITS)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... Christopher Hibma has been promoted to associate director of the Sundance Institute Theatre Program--the first person to serve in this ...
Playscripts, Inc., the new-play publisher, has a new CEO: Emily Lawson.(ENTRANCES & EXITS)(chief executive officer)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... Playscripts, Inc., the new-play publisher, has a new CEO: Emily Lawson. She takes over in this role for ...
R. Craig Noel was one of 10 recipients of the 2007 National Medal of Arts at the White House in November.(AWARDS & PRIZES)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... R. Craig Noel, the founding director of the Old Globe in San Diego, Calif., was one of 10 recipients ...
National Theatre Conference.(AWARDS & PRIZES)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... The National Theatre Conference named director Jack O'Brien its NTC Person of the Year and also singled ...
United States Artists awarded a second round of $50,000 prizes to 50 USA Fellows.(AWARDS & PRIZES)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... United States Artists awarded a second round of $50,000 prizes to 50 USA Fellows, including Pat Bowie, Rennie Harris, ...
Choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler and director Thomas Kail (In the Heights) are winners of Joseph A. Callaway Awards from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation.(AWARDS & PRIZES)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... Choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler and director Thomas Kail (In the Heights) are winners of Joseph A. Callaway Awards from the ...
Andy Bragen's proposal for a script called Ranch Home.(AWARDS & PRIZES)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... Andy Bragen's proposal for a script called Ranch Home was selected from some 250 ...
The National Arts Club pinned its Medal of Honor on Tony Walton.(AWARDS & PRIZES)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... The National Arts Club pinned its Medal of Honor on Tony Walton, whose career includes set and ...
The 2007-08 Kesselring Fellow is Jordan Harrison (Doris to Darlene, Act a Lady).(AWARDS & PRIZES)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... The 2007-08 Kesselring Fellow is Jordan Harrison (Doris to Darlene, Act a Lady). He receives an honorarium from the National Arts Club and a ...
John Surowiecki is the inaugural recipient of the $10,000 Verse Drama Prize from Chicago's Poetry Foundation.(AWARDS & PRIZES)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... John Surowiecki is the inaugural recipient of the $10,000 Verse Drama Prize from Chicago's Poetry Foundation ....
Thanks to a momentous group effort by the 11 designers of The Coast of Utopia at Lincoln Center Theater.(AWARDS & PRIZES)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... Thanks to a momentous group effort by the 11 designers of The Coast of Utopia at Lincoln Center Theater--Angelina Avallone, Mark Bennett, Bob Crowley, William Cusick, Paul Huntley, Natasha Katz, Brian MacDevitt, Scott Pask, Kenneth Posner, Tom Watson and Catherine ...
L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation Awards.(AWARDS & PRIZES)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... The L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation Awards proclaimed Film Chinois (by Damon Chua, directed by Kevin Cochran) at Grove Theatre Center and Sleeping Beauty Wakes (by Rachel Sheinkin, Brendan Milburn and Valerie Vigoda, directed by Jeff Calhoun) at Center Theatre Group/Deaf West Theatre the top ...
Chicago's Jeff Awards for Equity productions yielded six accolades for Steppenwolf Theatre Company's August: Osage County.(AWARDS & PRIZES)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... Chicago's Jeff Awards for Equity productions yielded six accolades for Steppenwolf Theatre Company's August: Osage County: for production, ensemble, writer Tracy Letts, director Anna D. Shapiro, actor Deanna Dunagan and set designer Todd Rosenthal. Porchlight Music Theatre took top musical ...
Three productions triumphed at New York City's AUDELCO Awards.(AWARDS & PRIZES)(Passing Strange, Black Man Rising and The Guest at Central Park West)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... Three productions triumphed at New York City's AUDELCO Awards: Passing Strange at the Public Theater (production, director Annie Dorsen, musical director Heidi Rodewald and actor Daniel Breaker); Black Man Rising, by Obsidian Media Group in ...
Arizona's AriZoni Awards.(AWARDS & PRIZES)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... Arizona's AriZoni Awards honored The Intellegent Design of Jenny Chow (Actors Theatre); Take Me Out (Nearly Naked Theatre); The ...
The New England Theatre Conference handed the Moss Hart Award (professional division) to A Christmas in Kerry at American Irish Repertory Ensemble in Portland, Maine.(AWARDS & PRIZES)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... The New England Theatre Conference handed the Moss Hart Award (professional division) to A Christmas in Kerry at American Irish Repertory Ensemble in Portland, Maine. NETC's John Gassner Memorial Playwriting Award went to Jeff Carter for Homeland Prayer and the Aurand Harris ...
Roxy Regional Theatre of Tennessee.(AWARDS & PRIZES)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... The Roxy Regional Theatre of Tennessee celebrated lifetime achievement awards for its managing and ...
Theatre Museum of New York.(AWARDS & PRIZES)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... The Theatre Museum of New York feted actor Ellen Burstyn and New York Times critic ...
Marcel Marceau: 1923-2007.(IN MEMORIAM)
Jan 01, 2008; ... IN 1969, when I was 19, I was invited by Marcel Marceau to attend the first school he directed, L'Ecole Internationale de Mime in Paris. For the next 40 years I would follow Marceau, often watching him perform from the backstage wings. As a teacher he was inspirational and kind. Although ...
Los Angeles: songs for a fake Confederate soldier.(FRONT & CENTER)
Jan 01, 2008; ... The Geffen Playhouse's first-ever original musical, Atlanta, was born over a sink full of dirty dishes. "About six or seven years ago I was down in Austin writing for the Dixie Chicks," says Grammy-winning composer Marcus Hummon. "I met Adrian Pasdar at a dinner party one evening." (Pasdar ...
Los Angeles: pop politics.(FRONT & CENTER)(Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson)
Jan 01, 2008; ... "Emo bands are essentially guys in their late twenties singing about the girl that broke their heart when they were 14," says writer-director Alex Timbers, whose upcoming "emo musical" depicts a rock-star-like celebrity seething with fragile ego and adolescent angst. But this protagonist ...
Pittsburgh, PA.: love, factually.(FRONT & CENTER)(The 13th of Paris)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008; ... Not all of Mat Smart's writing would top a list of "date plays" (the dysfunctional relationships in 2005's The Hopper Collection earned that play comparisons to a quintessential anti-Valentine, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?). "I used to shy away from telling straightforward love stories, ...
New Haven, Conn.: till evil do us part.(FRONT & CENTER)(The Evildoers)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008; ... PLAYWRIGHT DAVID ADJMI insists that The Evildoers, which premieres Jan. 18-Feb. 9 at Yale Repertory Theatre, is not a political play. "I don't know anything about politics!" he proclaims (before adding that of course he reads the news). Rather, Adjmi processes politics in a deeply personal ...
January: almanac.(FRONT & CENTER)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008 ... 105 YEARS AGO (1903) Laura Dainty Pelham reorganizes the dramatics club at Chicago's Hull House into the Hull House Players. The company of amateur actors takes on work by serious dramatists and will go on to be recognized internationally. 55 YEARS AGO (1953) ...
Philadelphia: Ladies' liberty; Krista Hoeppner and Eric Martin Brown in Age of Arousal.(FRONT & CENTER)(Brief article)
Jan 01, 2008; ... In late-19th-century England, an unusual population boom left women outnumbering men by more than half a million. The demise of Victorian sensibility loosened more than a few corsets as a swarm of New Women agitated society. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Linda Griffiths ...
Denver, Colo.: Texas holds him.(FRONT & CENTER)(El Paso, Texas)
Jan 01, 2008; ... IN HIS MIND, San Francisco-based playwright Octavio Solis is always in El Paso, Tex. No matter where he sets his plays, his native border town and the Southwest are the inspiration. That includes his latest, Lydia, commissioned by Denver Center Theatre Company, where it opens Jan. 18, ...
Albee sizes up the dark vast: older, wiser and as prolific as ever, the much-honored playwright still chooses his words with immaculate care.(Edward Albee)(Interview)
Jan 01, 2008; ... On March 12, 2008, playwright Edward Albee will mark his 80th birthday. With four major productions in New York City and environs during the current season, however, he doesn't have much time to focus on it. "Some people are going to believe that I thought this year up--that I tried to ...
Ready, set, act.(SPECIAL SECTION: APPROACHES TO THEATRE TRAINING)
Jan 01, 2008; ... After focusing last January on the seldom-explored landscape of theatre-management training, and the year before on the invaluable practice of mentoring in the field, American theatre returns in its annual special section, approaches to theatre training, to the broadest, most visible and ...
Shaping the independent actor: 8 master acting teachers investigate the crucial balance between classroom rigor and personal discovery.(Interview)
Jan 01, 2008; ... Over the course of the past year, I have had the unique opportunity of sitting down, my tape recorder in hand, and conducting a series of in-depth interviews with eight extraordinary teachers of acting. I was initially interested in simply recording each of their personal experiences with ...
For working actors, the readiness is all: actors in search of their distinctive voices create a new brew from ingredients they've gathered over time.(SPECIAL SECTION: APPROACHES TO THEATRE TRAINING)
Jan 01, 2008; ... There is no more exhilarating or powerful feeling than being in The Zone, where the actor's work pours perfectly, effortlessly onto the stage in a consummate alignment of moment, performer, role, craft, heart and audience. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION ...
Madness in the methods? Companies in New York and Texas take on a plethora of techniques in workshop productions about actor training.(SPECIAL SECTION: APPROACHES TO THEATRE TRAINING)(Theatre MITU and Rude Mechanicals of Austin)
Jan 01, 2008; ... IF YOU'VE EVER had to walk like a manatee or dance like a giraffe, chances are it was in acting class. Think back. Did your high school teacher, a misunderstood soul who wore all black, throw fits during tech rehearsals? Did you secretly admire your college professor even though you hated ...
Hamlet: Actors Guild of Lexington.(PRODUCTION NOTEBOOK)
Jan 01, 2008; ... Richard St. Peter, DIRECTOR: I consider myself a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to Shakespeare--I like bare stages and minimal sets, the kind of production that allows the audience and the actors to confront each other and focus on the words. Perhaps ironically, that's what we were ...
Jay Scheib: riding a different circuit; The experimental director is making a name for himself outside the traditional resident theatre network.(PEOPLE)
Jan 01, 2008; ... Important things to know about director Jay Scheib: Born: 1969, Shenandoah, Iowa. Occupation: associate professor in music and theatre arts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Number of productions slated for 2008: five, three of them world premieres, taking place in three countries ....