Posted on November 19th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
by American Theatre Wing
Arias to Showstoppers: The Worlds of Opera and Theatre
Composer Michael John LaChiusa, and directors Diane Paulus and Stephen Wadsworth have all worked in the once mutually-exclusive worlds of opera and theatre. They share their thoughts about the nature of each of these entertainment forms, how they differ and what they share; the use of amplification and how it affects productions in both opera and theatre; the so-called American Idol effect on musical performers; changes in training for opera singers; the differing scale - and manner - of pay; whether super-titles enhance or distract from opera performances; and the importance of the director’s role and how it differs in theatre and opera.
Original airdate - November 16, 2008.
Running time - 60 minutes.
For more information see Working in the Theatre’s Arias to Showstoppers: The Worlds of Opera and Theatre program page.
You can also download the Arias to Showstoppers: The Worlds of Opera and Theatre program (mp4).
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Posted on November 13th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
by American Theatre Wing
Playwright, Director and Choreographer
The panel - director Melvin Bernhardt (The Blues Are Running), playwright David Henry Hwang (Golden Child, M. Butterfly), composer Mary Rodgers (Once Upon A Mattress), playwright Nicky Silver (Fit To Be Tied), director David Warren (Fit To Be Tied), and choreographer Marlies Yearby (Rent) - discuss how directors collaborate with playwrights, how actors may influence how a role is written, the purpose of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers union and Dramatists’ Guild, and the panelists’ individual education and training.
Original airdate - September 1, 1996.
Running time - 90 minutes.
For more information see Working in the Theatre’s Playwright, Director and Choreographer program page.
You can also download the Playwright, Director and Choreographer program (mp4).
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Posted on November 10th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
by American Theatre Wing
Jan Maxwell
From To Be Or Not To Be.
Two-time Tony nominee Jan Maxwell talks about whether she’s been influenced by Carole Lombard and Anne Bancroft, her film predecessors as the leading ladies of To Be or Not To Be, as well as the difficulty of working in a new play when the author was on the other side of the ocean. She also relates a tale of how she managed her first visit to New York under the guise of a youth mission trip; her multiple experiences coming into shows with relatively little preparation, including A Doll’s House and The Dinner Party, and Neil Simon’s withering assessment of her work at an early preview of the latter; literally getting lost backstage at City Center while running between the theatre’s for Alan Ayckbourn’s House and Garden; why she thinks she’s being typecast as a child tormentor in such shows as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Coram Boy; her deep affinity for the work of playwright Howard Barker, and why we shouldn’t expect to see her collaborating with her brother, noted downtown theatre artist Richard Maxwell, anytime soon.
Original airdate - November 7, 2008.
Running time - 55:25.
For more information see Downstage Center’s Jan Maxwell program page.
You can also download the Jan Maxwell program (mp3).
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Posted on November 5th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
by American Theatre Wing
Actors Words, Writers Voice
Daniel Jenkins, Lisa Kron and David Pittu - who have appeared both on stage and written works for the stage - talk about how they balance these dual roles; what they learn about being playwrights from their acting; where they get inspiration for their plays; how audiences help them enhance their performance as both actors and writers; whether or not it’s more satisfying to act in a play they wrote; and their relationship with directors when they’re performing the role of both playwright and actor.
Original airdate - November 2, 2008.
Running time - 60 minutes.
For more information see Working in the Theatre’s Actors Words, Writers Voice program page.
You can also download the Actors Words, Writers Voice program (mp4).
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Posted on November 3rd, 2008 at 7:22 pm
by American Theatre Wing
Tom Viertel
Producer of Hairspray and Gypsy.
Prolific producer Tom Viertel, who with his partners Richard Frankel, Steve Baruch and Marc Routh have been responsible for such shows as The Producers, Hairspray, and the John Doyle-directed Company and Sweeney Todd, talks abut producing on Broadway and the pending closing of the long-running Hairspray. He relates his own theatrical heritage — his grandfather was a contractor who built the Mark Hellinger Theatre, among many others, and his father was a playwright — and how he began his own theatrical career as a hobby while working at the family real estate concern. Among the shows he discusses are his first theatrical foray with two magicians he first saw in a 50 seat theatre in Los Angeles — Penn and Teller; the extraordinary auditions of two now well-known actresses, Donna Murphy and Laura Benanti, for Song of Singapore and The Sound of Music respectively; the counterintuitive decisions that led him to produce Theatre de Complicite’s Mnemonic as a commercial production and to revive Gypsy with Patti LuPone on Broadway only five years after the prior production; the travails of producing Smokey Joe’s Cafe; and why in his spare time he’s so committed to his volunteer role as chairman of Connecticut’s Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.
Original airdate - October 31, 2008.
Running time - 58:59.
For more information see Downstage Center’s Tom Viertel program page.
You can also download the Tom Viertel program (mp3).
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