(Lisa Birnbach’s article appeared in the New York Times, 12/30; via Pam Green.)
The Manhattan Theater Club, over which Lynne Meadow has presided for 43 years, has presented nine of Richard Greenberg’s plays, but “The Assembled Parties” in 2013 was the first she directed herself. In that time, Ms. Meadow directed Linda Lavin twice — in “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife,” in 2000, and 10 years later, in “Collected Stories,” with Ms. Lavin nominated for Tony Awards both times. (She’d won earlier, for “Broadway Bound.”)
Yet despite the prodigiousness of Mr. Greenberg’s output, and his uncanny ability to create strong female characters — roles for smart, often older actresses — he had never worked with Ms. Lavin, the go-to matriarch for playwrights as diverse as Neil Simon and Nicky Silver.