NYC. Very honored to be honored by the one-and-only Tank. They work like maniacs to give a huge array of theater artists opportunities. Very grateful.
"For 17 years, this nonprofit theater company has helped launch careers of Oscar and Pulitzer Prize nominees..." -Forbes NYC. I went to see SJP and Matthew Broderick in Neil Simon's Plaza Suite. Gotta say, I am really, really impressed with Parker's and Broderick's physical comedy skills. It's easy to overlook this kind of mastery on the screen; onstage, it's on obvious display. Broad comedy gets a bad rap in theater these dayz, and/but these two manage to play their slapstick with so much simultaneous zing and gentle charisma. They also have such delightful chemistry (and I hate the overused 'chemistry'...but they have such great chemistry). The play is definitely dated, but, also, who cares? It's fun, it's decadent, and they are supremely charming. It's also great to see seasoned performers - who are married - play with each other with the kind of verve, love, excitability, irritation, boredom, and fight that perhaps only longterm coupledom can grant. The audience is having the BEST TIME.
NYC. Woodshed reunites for some workshopping (pre Broadway shenanigans, before about half of the company invades Circle in the Square): a new piece, text by Jason Gray Platt, direction by Teddy Bergman... Been a loooong time since we were in space together. Great to see these faces NOT on Zoom.
NYC. Incredibly excited for Kara Young, who plays our Host in the podcast series, A Simple Herstory. Congrats on your Tony nomination for Clyde's, Kara!
So many of the actors from Season 1 of A Simple Herstory also have exciting projects happening now and on the horizon. Congrats to Dale Soules ("Buck" Claflin) for her role as Darby Steel in the Pixar flick, Lightyear. Congrats to Kate Burton (Elizabeth Cady Stanton) for her roles in The Dropout (Rochelle Gibbons) and The First Lady (Hillary Clinton!). Congrats to Tonya Pinkins ("Roxy" Claflin) for her role as Alma Spearman in Women of the Movement. Congrats to Rachel Crowl (Susan B. Anthony) for her role in Yale Rep's Between Two Knees. Congrats to Maria Dizzia (Lucy Stone) for her roles as Lady Macduff - and First Witch - in the "Scottish play" on the Broadway. Congrats to Donnetta Lavinia Grays (Frederick Douglass) for her role as Fitzpatrick in The Skin of Our Teeth on Broadway. Many more updates to come, I'm sure... Follow us on Instagram... NYC. I've known Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater for many, many years - I met them both, pre Spring Awakening success, at the O'Neill Theater Center, circa 20XX...? ;). They were working on another show altogether. At that moment, Spring Awakening was dead. They had been developing it for years and it wasn't going anywhere. Flash forward to 2005, Duncan and Steven (or someone!) invited me to the SA backers' reading at Lincoln Center. I remember attending and not really knowing or seeing what it was, what it could become. Then it got picked up by the Atlantic Theater Company. I went to a very early preview; it might have actually been an invited dress. And, after that, I knew it would be a hit (I didn't know how big a hit, but I knew it was special). I remember when SA really erupted and what a monumental shift it presented in musical theater culture and theater culture, at large. Years later, Duncan and I traveled to Atlanta to visit my high school. AIS was one of the first schools in the country to present the musical. It was really exciting to get a little glimpse into that process. What an incredible piece of performance.
Be sure to check out the HBO Max documentary about this amazing musical. NYC. I got to hang with one of the true greats - Jenny Turner Hall. I have a role in the new scripted audio series she's directing for Audible. She's pretty spectacular, and I am eternally grateful for our friendship and professional collaborations.
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