From the intuition of feelings I went to the outer image, for it flowed naturally from the inner image, and the body and soul of [the character]-Stanislavski became one organically. (MLIA)
Monthly Archives: January 2020
TOM STOPPARD INTERVIEW: ‘I ASPIRE TO WRITE FOR POSTERITY’ · Jan 28th
(Douglas Murray’s article appreared in The Spectator, 1/27.)
Tom Stoppard talks about inspiration, growing older and his new play, Leopoldstadt
Sir Tom Stoppard is Britain’s — perhaps the world’s — leading playwright. He was born Tomas Straussler in 1937 in Zlin, Czechoslovakia, which his family left as the German army moved in. The Strausslers were Jewish. In adulthood he learned that all four of his grandparents had been killed by the Nazis. His father was killed by the Japanese on a boat out of Singapore as he tried to rejoin his wife and two sons in Australia. In India his mother married again, to an English army officer who gave his stepchildren his last name.
Stoppard has lifted the lid on his early life only once before, in a 1999 piece for Talk magazine. He said there that in the 1990s, following his mother’s death, his stepfather asked him to stop using his name after feeling some imagined ingratitude in his famous stepson. ‘Don’t you realize I made you British?’ seemed to be his resentful message.
Today, at the age of 82, Stoppard lives in an old rectory in the south of England with his third wife, Sabrina Guinness, whom he married in 2014. After lunch together in the kitchen and a walk around the rectory gardens, the famously private author agrees to talk about his life and work, including his new play, Leopoldstadt, which opened in London at the end of January.
We talk in the drawing room with a log fire roaring beside us. In his still unmistakable Mitteleuropean drawl he explains that the right subject for a play ‘is not that easy to find’. Perhaps it is only now, towards the end, that Stoppard feels ready to go back to the world which produced him?
‘This one actually was hiding in plain sight. I’d been circling it for quite a long time without quite admitting that I was writing a play about it. It’s a Jewish family — 1900 to 1955 — and the main reason that they’re Viennese is that the latter part of the play impinges on my own experience, this mental experience, and I didn’t want it to be about me because it wasn’t supposed to be about me. But it was about… yes, it was about part of myself.’
Photo: The Spectator
CONSTANT STANISLAVSKI (68) · Jan 26th
From the intuition of feelings I passed naturally to the inner image with its peculiarities and details. (MLIA)
CURSING CORIOLANUS · Jan 24th
(Lauren Shook’s article appeared in Shakespeare and Beyond, 1/7; via Pam Green.)
In 1608, famine plagued England. Preachers responded with sermons begging the gentry to show compassion for the poor, King James I responded with royal proclamations against grain hoarding, and Shakespeare responded with Coriolanus, a Roman revenge-tragedy.
Likely composed in 1608 and staged c. 1609-1610, Coriolanus opens with starving citizens storming the stage with rakes, pikes, and clubs, demanding that the Roman government release corn (a catch-all term for grain) to them. Within the first 20 lines, the citizens plan to “kill” Caius Martius, the play’s hero, whom they deem the “chief enemy to the people.” They believe Martius has been hoarding corn and that killing him would secure “corn at [their] own price” (1.1.7-11). The citizens also target the Roman government. They believe that their “leanness,” “misery,” and “sufferance” benefits both Martius and the Roman elite. “Let us revenge this,” exclaims one citizen, “with our pikes ere we become rakes; for the gods know I speak this in hunger for bread, not in thirst for revenge” (1.1.19-24). The citizens are a dangerous bunch. For an early modern audience, revolt against the government and threatened murder of Rome’s famed warrior Martius are treasonous acts.
CONSTANT STANISLAVSKI (67) · Jan 23rd
I sincerely sympathized with Stockman (“The Enemy of the People”) and understood his feelings when his eyes saw the rotten souls of the men who had once been his friends. I feared in those moments—for Stockman or for myself—I don’t remember. I felt and understood that with each succeeding scene I became more and more lonely, and when, at the end of the performance I at last stood alone, the final sentence of the play “He is the strongest who stands alone” seemed to beg for utterance by its own power. (MLIA)
IN HAMLET AND IN LIFE, RUTH NEGGA DOES NOT HOLD BACK · Jan 20th
(Robert Ito’s article appeared in The New York Times, 1/17; via Pam Green.)
The Ethiopian-Irish actress returns to a “completely destroying” stage role. Next: a film adaptation of a 1920s novel about passing for white.
LOS ANGELES — What stage actor wouldn’t jump at the chance to play Hamlet? Ruth Negga, for one. When she was offered the role at Dublin’s Gate Theater in 2018, her first impulse was to say thanks, but no. Too tough, too daunting, “too much,” she said. In 2010, Negga had tackled Ophelia at the National Theater in London — surely that experience would give her a leg up?
“Nothing helps you play Hamlet,” she laughed.
Negga ultimately took the role, however, earning rave reviews. The Guardian praised her “priceless ability to savor the language,” while the Irish edition of The Times of London called her performance “a stunning gift for Irish theatergoers.”
If she made it all look easy, however, it was anything but. “It nearly killed me,” said Negga, who is perhaps best known for her Oscar-nominated turn in the 2016 biopic “Loving,” in which she played a woman who endures jail time and exile for the then-crime of being married to a white man in 1950s Virginia. “If you ask anyone who’s played Hamlet, it’s completely destroying,” she said. “It cracks you open, and you feel like you’re this mass of nerves and open skin.”
Credit…Chantal Anderson for The New York Times
CONSTANT STANISLAVSKI (66) · Jan 11th
In those days (1905) “The Enemy of the People” (Ibsen) had not only artistic but social meaning and was to a great extent the expression of the time. It is not remarkable that the play at once came under the surveillance of the censor and the police. Not a single performance took place without ovations that resembled demonstrations. (MLIA)
REVIEW: ARTHUR MILLER’S DYING ‘SALESMAN’ IS REBORN IN LONDON · Jan 5th
(Ben Brantley’s article appeared in The New York Times, 1/ 2; via Pam Green. Those who like Death of a Salesman may also enjoy End Zone, playing at Dixon Place, 2/25.)
An electrifying revival, starring a heartbreaking Wendell Pierce, reimagines Willy Loman as a black man in a white man’s world.
LONDON — The tired old man has had an unexpected transfusion. And he has seldom seemed more alive — or more doomed.
What’s most surprising about Marianne Elliott and Miranda Cromwell’s beautiful revival of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” which I mercifully caught near the end of its West End run here at the Piccadilly Theater, is how vital it is. As Willy Loman, the title character of this epochal 1949 drama, lives out his last, despondent days, what has often felt like a plodding walk to the grave in previous incarnations becomes a propulsive — and compulsively watchable — dance of death.
Portrayed by a splendid Wendell Pierce (“The Wire” and “Treme” on television), Willy lacks the stooped shoulders and slumped back with which he is traditionally associated. (It’s the posture immortalized in the book cover for the original script.)
This electrically alert and eager Willy nearly always stands ramrod tall in this production, which originated at the Young Vic Theater, though you sense it’s an effort. When we first see him, newly returned to his Brooklyn home from an aborted road trip, he bends to put down the sample case he holds in each hand. And for a painful second, he registers how much it hurts him to straighten up again.
Photo: Brinkhoff-Moegenburg
THEATER RESOURCES UNLIMITED JANUARY PANEL DISCUSSION NEW YEAR, NEW RULES: THE UPDATED EQUITY AGREEMENTS AND CONTRACTS THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020 · Jan 4th
| (via Michelle Tabnick)
BE A PRODUCER! Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) presents the January Panel, New Year, New Rules: The Updated Equity Agreements and Contracts, on Thursday, January 16, 2020 at 7:30pm at Polaris North Theater, 245 W. 29th Street, 4th floor, NYC. E-mail TRUStaff1@gmail.com or register online at https://truonline.org/events/new-year-new-rules/. Equity is constantly evolving in an effort to serve their members fairly, and also keep up with the realities of the business. There have been some recent new understandings that have come to light, as well as some new interpretations of existing rules, and all of it will impact the way we approach early development of new work. This panel will help us learn about the new Equity development contracts: Tier 1, 2 & 3. What do they mean? How do they replace the previous terms “Workshop,” “Laboratory,” and other developmental contracts? Equity is changing their rules, and every producer needs to be up to speed on what the new rules are.
Panelists to include general manager Evan Bernardin of Evan Bernardin Productions (National Tours of Million Dollar Quartet, Charlie Brown Christmas Live; Off Broadway Afterglow, Must, Diaspora, Counting Sheep); TRU literary manager Cate Cammarata, director, producer (My Life Is a Musical, The Assignment, My Father’s Daughter), Martin Platt of Perry Street Theatricals (Dames at Sea on Broadway, Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike; off-Broadway: Bedlam’s Hamlet/St. Joan, Sense & Sensibility, Georgie, an oak tree, In the Continuum; Lend Me a Tenor the musical in London); plus a representative from Equity.
Doors open at 7:00pm for networking and refreshments, roundtable introductions of everyone in the room will start at 7:30pm – come prepared with your best half-minute summary of who you are, and what you need. Free for TRU members; $13.00 for non-members ($16 at the door). Please reserve online at https://truonline.org/events/new-year-new-rules/, call at least a day in advance (or much sooner) for reservations: 833-506-5550, or email TRUStaff1@gmail.com.
Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is the leading network for developing theater professionals, a twenty-seven-year-old 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization created to help producers produce, emerging theater companies to emerge healthily and all theater professionals to understand and navigate the business of the arts. Membership includes self-producing artists as well as career producers and theater companies. TRU publishes an email community newsletter of services, goods and productions; offers a Producer Development & Mentorship Program taught by prominent producers and general managers in New York theater, and also presents Producer Boot Camp workshops to help aspirants develop business skills. TRU serves writers through a Writer-Producer Speed Date, a Practical Playwriting Workshop, How to Write a Musical That Works and a Director-Writer Communications Lab; programs for actors include the Annual Combined Audition. Programs of Theater Resources Unlimited are supported in part by public funds awarded through the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, as well as the Montage Foundation and the Leibowitz Greenway Foundation. For more information about TRU membership and programs, visit www.truonline.org. Photos (top to bottom): Evan Bernardin, Cate Cammarata, Martin Platt; photos via Tru site.
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DIXON PLACE ANNOUNCES 2020 SEASON AND CRIMINAL QUEERNESS FESTIVAL CO-PRODUCTION WITH NATIONAL QUEER THEATER · Jan 2nd
Dixon Place is thrilled to announce our 2020 season, featuring nine commissioned original productions and four puppetry productions, including Concrete Temple Theatre, Sara Juli, Eszter Balint & Stew, Shayna Strype, Rachel Klein, Nora Burns, Marga Gomez, Maria Camia, Andy Manjuck, Dorothy James and Arif Silverman.
Additionally, Dixon Place is proud to co-produce and present the Criminal Queerness Festival with National Queer Theater in June. Following the success of last year’s inaugural Criminal Queerness Festival—featured on “Best of Pride” lists in The New York Times, The Advocate, and Thrillist—the 2020 Festival will feature original works by four renowned queer playwrights from around the world. Dixon Place is located at 161A Chrystie Street in Manhattan, for tickets and further information please visit www.dixonplace.org
THEATER, PUPPETRY
January 31 – February 14, 2020
Concrete Temple Theatre
Packrat
Created by Carlo Adinolfi & Renee Philippi
Set deep in the Sagebrush Desert, this visually stunning puppet-forward play contemplates humanity’s relationship with the natural world. Puppetry, projections and an original score elegantly come together to create many layers of meaning and emotion, presented simply and elegantly with engaging and captivating puppets ranging from Bunraku to Pageant styles.
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DANCE, COMEDY, THEATER
February 21 – 28, 2020
New York City Premiere
Burnt-Out Wife
Created & performed by Sara Juli
With her comically idiosyncratic text-driven dance style, Juli takes on monogamy, intimacy, loneliness, sex deprivation, and other impossibilities of marriage. In a pepto-bismol pink bathroom, this dance-theater-comedy tackles the taboo and urgent social topic of the detritus of committed partnerships, sparking intimate conversations while blowing up the marital institution with humor, controversy, and explicit personal musing and disclosure. For mature audiences only.
MUSIC, THEATER
March 20 – 28, 2020
I Hate Memory
Written by Eszter Balint
Songs by Eszter Balint & StewFeaturing: The Musicians
Directed by Lucy Sexton
Media Design: Tal Yarden
Musical director: David Nagler
An anti-cabaret co-starring the Streets of New York and the Late 20th Century, the show features appearances by family, film, fame, immigration, joy, theater, shame, dance floors, open doors, papaya ice cream, and the Shah of Iran’s wife. This reluctant memoir is served on a bed of song and dirt, with a punk aperitif and Jimmy Carter for dessert.
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THEATER, PUPPETRY
April 10 – 25, 2020
MINE
Created & performed by Shayna Strype
Live Feed Camera/Dramaturgy by Desiree Mitton
MINE uses a variety of puppetry styles, live-feed projections, stop-motion animation, wearable sculptures, and humor to weave together themes of nostalgia, excess, and the destructive human urge to colonize land, bodies, and minds.
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DANCE,THEATER
May 1 – 16, 2020
Breaking Glass
Conceived & Directed by Rachel Klein
Choreography by Rachel Klein, Danielle Marie Fusco, & the ensemble
Aerial Choreography by Summer Lacy and Chloe Goolsby
Featuring: Danielle Marie Fusco, Summer Lacy, Chloe Goolsby, Federico Garcia, Shoko Fujita, Joey Kipp, Manuela Agudelo, Connor Dealy, Stephanie Nobel, Amy Mack, Ricardo Barrett, & Andrea Dusel-Foil
Breaking Glass follows the plight of the Furies, three tenacious heroines who enter a land of Kings, confronted with outrage from the ruling class as they fight to earn their place as respected leaders. Through an allegorical dreamscape, this deeply personal piece inspired by true events serves to break down the barriers of intolerance through profoundly inspiring performances.
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THEATER, DANCE, QUEER INTEREST
May 20 – 30, 2020
The Village, or A Fag*, A Hag*, a Drag*, a Hustler*, a John*, a Junkie* and a Jew* Walk into a Bar (*sorry, *I know, *wrong, *dated, *what, *stop, *really?!)
Written by Nora Burns
Directed by Mike Albo
Choreographed by Robin Carrigan
1979, New York City. Trade, a hustler living in “Old George’s” apartment, brings home his latest trick, Steve, an earnest NYU student, as friends, neighbors and addicts come by to drink, drug, flirt, dream and dish about love, life, death and taxis. A Village, or… is a dance-filled disco comedy with an ensemble cast of eight (plus gorgeous go-go boys!), a meta musical with high jinks, low kinks, softcore porn and rock hard abs very loosely based on Our Town, with apologies to Thornton Wilder.
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THEATER, QUEER INTREST
June 2020
Criminal Queerness Festival
Curated by National Queer Theater
Bringing together renowned queer playwrights from around the world, National Queer Theater and Dixon Place are providing a platform for artists facing censorship, shining a light on critical stories from across the globe. In order to build a truly global queer community, these writers are inspiring activism and shaping our culture towards the equitable treatment of LGBTQ people around the world. A Mayor’s Grant for Cultural Impact awardee, the festival is proud to partner with the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs for community engagement and outreach. Don’t miss The New York Times and The Advocate recommended theatrical event of the Pride season!
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THEATER, QUEER INTREST
July 16 – 25, 2020
Spanking Machine
Written & Performed by Marga Gomez
Directed by Adrian Alexander Alea
In Spanking Machine, GLAAD Award-winning writer/performer Marga Gomez shifts across gender, latitudes and generations in a darkly comic memoir about the first boy she ever sloppy-kissed and how it made them gay forever.
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THEATER, PUPPETRY
September 18 – 26, 2020
New Mony
Created by Maria Camia
Puppeteers: Leonie Bell, Maria Camia, Connie Fu, Marcella Murray, Leah Ogawa
Step into the colorful, comical, spiritual, sci-fi world of Aricama where we explore duality and ancestry with puppets, Toy Theater, body costumes, original live music, and projections in this full-length workshop production.
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THEATER, PUPPETRY
October 2020, dates to be announced
Bill’s 44th
Created & performed by Andy Manjuck & Dorothy James
Drawing from Bunraku and character driven object theatre, Bill’s 44th examines the loneliness of one man puppeteered by two people. He throws himself a party which isn’t well attended, and attempts to cheer himself up by creating some friends out of crudité and party balloons. Against all odds he succeeds and finds himself having a grand old time, but when a “real” guest arrives a wave of shame comes over him and he quickly destroys his newly created friends.
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THEATER,PLAY
November 6 – 21, 2020
World Premiere
Dream of Rays
Written by Arif Silverman
Directed by Lillian White
Featuring visuals by Julia Melfi
Not all is as it seems aboard Commander Viola Nightfire’s ship The Mad Wraith. Nightfire and her crew have been tasked by the Queen of the Silvercliffs to sail west and capture a school of singing Manta Rays, in hopes their ethereal, transcendent voices will restore the dying waters of their seaside kingdom. Grudges and deceptions run rampant, exacerbated by the presence of the Queen’s mysterious ambassador. With a cast of ten, Dream of Rays is a wild new play that explores the different ways humankind can react to the prospect of a crumbling world.
Dixon Place
An artistic incubator since 1986, Dixon Place is a Bessie and Obie Award-winning non-profit institution committed to supporting the creative process by presenting original works of theater, dance, music, puppetry, circus arts, literature and visual art at all stages of development. Presenting over 1000 creators a year, this local haven inspires and encourages diverse artists of all stripes and callings to take risks, generate new ideas and consummate new practices. Many artists, such as Blue Man Group, John Leguizamo, Lisa Kron, David Cale, David Drake, Deb Margolin and Reno, began their careers at DP. In addition to emerging artists, Dixon Place has been privileged to present established artists such as Mac Wellman, Holly Hughes, Justin Bond, Karen Finley, Kate Clinton and Martha Wainwright. After spawning a salon in her Paris apartment in 1985, founding Artistic Director Ellie Covan pioneered the institution in her NYC living room for 23 years. Covan was a recipient of a Bessie, a New York Dance and Performance Award and a Bax10 Award for her service to the community. Dixon Place received two Obie Awards, and an Edwin Booth Award for Excellence in Theater. Dixon Place has organically developed and expanded into a leading professional, state-of-the-art facility for artistic expression. www.dixonplace.org
Dixon Place’s 2020 season is made possible with public funds from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs with support from the City Council/Councilmember Margaret Chin/ Manhattan Borough President/NYC Dept for the Aging/Materials for the Arts with support from the NYC Depts of Sanitation & Education; NY State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo & the NY State Legislature; NY State Assemblymember Deborah Glick with funds from NYS Office of Children & Family Services; and the National Endowment for the Arts; and with private support from Axe-Houghton Foundation, Dramatists Guild Fund, Gerald J. & Dorothy R. Friedman Foundation, The Howard Gilman Foundation, The Greater New Orleans Foundation, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, The Jane Henson Foundation, The Jim Henson Foundation, The Jerome Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Poets & Writers, The Jerome Robbins Foundation, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation and The Shubert Foundation. New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.