TheACTORS COMPANY THEATRE
this summer in Philadelphia. John has been
spreading TACT’s love affair between the text and
the actor with students all across America as he
conducts seminars at various Universities while on
tour.
Intelligent Life In The Universe. Later this summer
she will be directing the world premiere of Richard
Thompson’s (no relation) play Big Doolie at the 10th
Anniversary New York International Fringe Festival.
For more info visit www.bigdoolie.com
You can catch SCOTT SCHAFER in the Alan
Ayckbourn who-done-it It Could Be Any One Of Us at
the Depot Theatre in Westport, NY July 3 - 23. Take
the Amtrak “Montrealer” to Canada and jump off in
Westport. The theatre is in the Historic Landmark
train station!
And last, but far from least, ASHLEY WEST has
been spending a good deal of time down in at the
Florida Studio Theatre in Sarasota. This winter she
appeared in The Play About the Baby, and she just
recently returned from teaching a teen acting work shop there. This summer she’ll be playing
Adrianna in The Comedy Of Errors here in the city
with the New York Classical Theatre.
DAVID STALLER’s new theatre company, Gingold
Theatrical Group is continuing to produce the wild ly popular Project Shaw at the Players Club
(212/475-6116). Each reading thus far has been
sold-out. Articles about the series have appeared in
several papers including a feature article in the
Sunday Times. (Visit: Projectshaw.com) David
appeared in the hit Irish Rep production of Shaw’s
Mrs. Warren’s Profession with Dana Ivey, directed by
Charlotte Moore. He continues with his voice-overs,
writing, and travels. Coming up: trips to India and
Brazil.
JENN THOMPSON is in Indiana at the New
Harmony Theatre doing Search For Signs Of
Interested in Getting
Involved with TACT?
Volunteer and
internship positions
available.
Call 212/645-TACT (8228)
for more information or email us at
[email protected]
Scott Alan Evans, Cynthia Harris & Simon Jones
Co-Artistic Directors
C OMPANY
Sean Arbuckle, Mary Bacon, Jamie Bennett, Eve Bianco,
Nora Chester, Cynthia Darlow, Francesca Di Mauro,
Kyle Fabel, Richard Ferrone, Rachel Fowler,
Delphi Harrington, Kelly Hutchinson, Larry Keith,
Jack Koenig, Darrie Lawrence, Greg McFadden,
James Murtaugh, Margaret Nichols, John Plumpis,
James Prendergast, Gregory Salata, Scott Schafer,
David Staller, Jenn Thompson, Ashley West, Lynn Wright
ADJUNCT C OMPANY
Dawn Dunlop, Jonathan Faiman, Mary Louise Geiger,
David Macdonald, Colin McGrath, Jenny Noterman, Marcus
Paus, Yuzuru Sadashige, John Slover,
Jonathan Smith, David Toser, Joseph Trapasso
BOARD OF D IRECTORS
Stephen Lindenmuth, Chairman,
Darya Geetter, President
Holly Etlin, Treasurer
John Adams, George Bunn, Patricia Dugan,
Linda Greenberg, Gail Levenstein,
Susan Mindel, William Pinzler
GENERAL MANAGER
Cathy Bencivenga
E XECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Scott Alan Evans
D EVELOPMENT MANAGER
Jennifer Clarke
ATTORNEY
Jennifer Cowan
Debevoise & Plimpton
TACT is a non-profit 501(c)(3)
organization and a member of the Alliance of Resident
Theatres /New York
Administrative Offices
900 Broadway, Suite 905
New York, NY 10003
T. 212 645-TACT(8228)
F. 212 462-2678 (fax)
E. [email protected]
www.TACTnyc.org
TACTICS is published twice yearly
14
Season
TACTisonthemove!
tact
COMPANY NEWS continued from page 6
JONATHAN SMITH is busy conducting this year’s
Tony winner for Best Musical Jersey Boys. He
recently helped develop a new musical theatre
piece about modern motherhood with songwriter
Tina DeVaron, book writer Pam Lobley and director
(former TACT member) Nancy Opel, tentatively
titled Homework.
Summer Newsletter
2006/2007
th
8
TheACTORS COMPANY THEATRE
tact tactics
TheACTORS COMPANY THEATRE NEWSLETTER
Summer 2006/07
Vol. 14 No.1
2006/07 Season Features
2 Full Productions!
TACT Takes Up Residence at THEATRE ROW on West 42nd Street
TACT
is taking some exciting and ambitious steps forward
for our 2006/07 season, and we wanted you to be among the first
to know about them.
We will be mounting two fully realized productions in an OffBroadway Theatre for extended runs of up to 20 performances
each. Those of you who saw Long Island Sound and The Triangle
Factory Fire Project can appreciate how stimulating it can be to see
your favorite TACT actors put down their books and really let rip. As
much as we enjoy our unique Concert Performance format, it is
good to be occasionally released from its restraints. So, we’ve
entered into a special agreement with Theatre Row on West 42nd
Street to be one of its resident theatre companies next season. We
will no longer make use of the Florence Gould Hall (those audience
members who regard a visit there akin to mountaineering without
ropes will be relieved, we are sure). But fear not! We’re not abandoning all we hold dear.
In fact, we’re expanding our play reading series as well. Next
season we’ll be presenting six plays in our Salon Series (complete
with post-show Q and A, refreshments, and good conversation) all
at the TACT Studio. These private readings are only available to our
subscribers and TACT company member guests! And, of course,
all our productions feature original music composed especially for
TACT through our on-going creative partnership with the Manhattan
School of Music.
Because we intend these changes to provide unrivaled value
to our subscribers, the cost of a subscription to TACT will remain
the same. In addition to the two full productions, which at current
Off-Broadway prices would normally cost at least $50 a seat, you
will receive special access to our exclusive “Broadway” space. With
more opportunities than ever to see top-notch performers in excellent plays that, because of today’s prohibitive expenses, are very
unlikely ever to be seen elsewhere, we’re certain that this will be the
best TACT season yet.
We are thrilled with these developments and we hope you will
come along with us for what we believe will be a wonderfully enliven ing and enriching ride.
For details about our Early Bird
Subscription, see page 7.
Opening Production - HOME
TACT is proud to announce that the inaugural play of its first
full production season will be Home by David Storey. Many of our
loyal audience will remember TACT’s 2004 Concert Performance
production of the play, featuring company members Cynthia
Darlow, Cynthia Harris, Simon Jones, and Larry Keith. The work
was so strong we felt it needed a full viewing, and so did The New
York Times , who deemed our production “sublime” and “an excellent case for a full-scale revisiting.” TACT’s original cast will reunite
for this special production of Home in December 2006 at the
Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row.
HOME by David Storey
December 2006
at Theatre Row
Inside - page 7!
Early Bird Subscription
14th Seasoncontinues on page2
tact Company News
1. takt; 2. taet, n.
dedicated to presenting
infrequently-seen plays
of literary merit with an emphasis on creating theatre from its
essence: the text and the actor’s
ability to bring it to life.
Infrequently-seen: adj. phrase. unpro duced in a first-class production in NYC
within the last 15 years.
Literary merit: n. laudable language of
particular interest, uniqueness; or representative of a specific period or era.
Concert Performance: n. fully rehearsed,
minimally staged presentations that allow
you and your imagination to be a part of
the creative event. With original incidental
musical scores commissioned exclusively for
our production through a unique partnership with The Manhattan School of Music.
Our 2005/06 season is made possible with public funds from the New
York State Council on the Arts, a
State agency and is supported in part
by public funds from the New York
City Department of Cultural Affairs
The Board of Directors is please to announce the addition of
GEORGE R. BUNN, JR., Esq. to the company’s board. Mr. Bunn
is a self-employed attorney who is interested in the theater and
various sports, particularly golf.
I
t has been a busy and exciting Spring for many of our “TACTORS” ... engagements, new children, new shows, and plenty
of critical acclaim in theatres all across the country! Read on
to see who’s been up to what and pay attention to where you can
catch us in productions this summer!
MARY BACON spent Feb/March in Rochester at the Geva Theatre
doing a new play, Iron Kisses. She is currently performing in
Treason at the Perry Street Theatre from June 8th-July 22nd, and
then will play Julia in The Rivals at NJ Shakespeare Festival August
1-27th.
JAMIE BENNETT appeared in Horton Foote’s The Traveling Lady
at EST, which was nominated for a Drama Desk for Best Revival
this spring. Not one to rest on his laurels, Jamie then tackled
wake-surfing (proof - there is a picture floating around the internet!).
NORA CHESTER recently returned from Las Vegas where she performed her close-up magic act in the Lounge at Caesar’s Palace .
. . (NOT). But she did find time to make several personal appearances at the casino while working at the National Sales Meeting
for Daiichi-Sankyo pharmaceuticals at the Mandalay Bay Resort
and Casino. She is delighted to be able to join TACT for its outreach events in Lewisburg this July. Then it is off to play “Big
Mama” in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof at The Monomoy Theatre in
Chatham, MA on Cape Cod, August 15 - 19.
CYNTHIA DARLOW stood by for Tyne Daly in Rabbit Hole on
Broadway (5 Tony nominations!). Cynthia also narrated several
books, had a small part in an upcoming feature film with Laura
Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Phil Bosco, called The
Savages, and is currently playing 11 characters in Trouble In
Paradise for The Hourglass Group at the Hudson Guild Theatre
through the end of July. After that, she and husband, TACTor
Richard Ferrone, are looking forward to some summer vacation
time!
Board member PATRICIA DUGAN continues to toil in the scalding hot real estate market of New York City. As one of The
Corcoran Group Real Estate top producers she says her involvement with TACT helps keep her cool (and sane!).
DAWN DUNLOP recently stage managed Almost September (our
own Scott Schafer was in the premiere production at St. Louis
COMPANY NEWS continues on page 6
!
the move
TACT is on
14 Season
th
Summer News 2006/07
900 Broadway Suite 905 New York, NY 10003
The ACTORS COMPANY THEATRE
tact
NON-PROFIT ORG.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Woodbridge, VA
Permit No. 70
14
Season
TACTisonthemove!
th
( continued )
Arbuckle
Playwright David Storey, born in 1933 in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, did not have early aspirations towards writing; in fact, he wanted to be a painter. His father was a coal miner who spent
almost all of his working life at the coalface, laboring so that his three sons might have opportunities for higher education. When Storey informed his father of his more artistic sensibilities, his
response was that if he wished to pursue painting he must pay his own way. Storey was not discouraged; at age 18, he enrolled in the Slade School of Fine Art in London, and financed this edu cation by signing a 14-year contract to play professional league rugby for Leeds. He traveled back
and forth by train, devoting his commute to writing novels. He says, though, that this special permission he received to attend school while being an athlete “had a very poor effect on the other
players, who were all young coal miners – this artist swanning in for matches. At the Slade mean while I was seen as a bit of an oaf. I only really felt at home on the train, where the two different
parts of my life came together.”
His first published novel was the seventh one he wrote in his time on the train; This Sporting
Life (1960). Storey was 26 years old. Novelist Carey Phillips, who grew up in Leeds and also wrote
extensively on sports, praised the novel, saying of it, “it’s about working-class northern sport, the
concomitant class tension…and it spoke to me with force.” The novel was made into a film, directed by Lindsay Anderson, who would go on to direct many of Storey’s later plays (including Home).
Storey’s inspiration to write a play came more as a side-thought than a serious consideration. His novels were being rejected consistently for publication, and he was growing tired; he
thought to himself that perhaps writing a play would be a good change, as there is only need to
write dialogue and not description. His first play, The Restoration of Arnold Middleton, was produced
a half-dozen years later, and Storey says, “the exhilaration of seeing it come alive on stage prompted me to write another five plays in no time at all, feeling that I’d found a whole new venture.” The
Royal Court was an avid supporter of his works, and Lindsay Anderson eventually directed nine
Storey plays both there and at the National Theatre.
When it was first produced at the Morosco Theatre in 1970 with Sir John Gielgud and Sir
Ralph Richardson in the starring roles, Home was hailed as “quietly brilliant,” “transporting,” and
“extraordinarily pungent.” Storey was respectfully compared to Pinter in that “he, too, has a gift
for the dialogue of people speaking colloquially and trying to bridge a communication gap, and
making it deeply dramatic and revealing.” Comparisons to Beckett’s Waiting for Godot were also
plentiful in critics’ responses to the play. Storey’s writing was described by The New York Times as
“compressed, and somehow terse even at its most apparently garrulous. It is full of stops, hesitation and leaps, as irrational as tape-recorded speech and as formal as a string quartet. Its skill is
in capturing spontaneity and freezing it into art.” Of the performances by theatrical legends
Gielgud and Richardson, there was also nothing but praise; the two “act together with total
unawareness of acting, reflecting the other, pausing, listening (both are magnificent listeners), and
always suggesting words they never say, and expressing feelings they can never quite express.”
Storey’s work, at its best, is marked by an extraordinarily simple yet profound sense of
humanity. The New York Times understood Storey’s essence perfectly when, in their review ofHome,
the critic noted that “always, there is Mr. Storey’s compassion, straight-faced, unsentimental, and
yet warm.”
The Beckett Theatre
y Bacon
at Theatre Row 42nd Street
December 2 thru December 24, 2006
e Bennett
HOME
By David Storey
with
Bianco
Cynthia Darlow, Cynthia Harris, Simon Jones and Larry Keith*
Directed by Scott Alan Evans
A quiet conversation in a peaceful park leads to startling revelations.
Who are we? Where are we? What is home?
a Chester
ia Darlow
April 21 thru May 12, 2007
To Be Announced...
*Cast subject to availability
Summer Newsletter
2006/2007
Summer Newsletter
2006/2007
2006/07 TACT SALON SERIES
This season TACT’s 2006/07 Salon Series will include six offerings – and a varied and intriguing group of plays they are – none of
which have been seen in New York City for many a year. There will be
approximately one play a month beginning in September and continuing through May. The series will include some titles you may have heard
of and some that will, perhaps, be new to you; there are American plays,
such as Rain, by John Colton and Kind Lady by Edward Chodorov, and
British plays like The Chinese Prime Minister by End Bagnold and Man and
Boy by Terence Rattigan.
Like our Concert Performances, the plays in our Salon Series will
be presented three times: Saturday evening, Sunday matinee, and
Monday evening. They offer our company and our supporters the
chance to explore some great rarely seen plays in an intimate creative
atmosphere.
We are opening the series in September with The Late Christopher
Bean, by Sidney Howard. For more about Sidney Howard and The Late
Christopher Bean, see page 5.
September 2006
We strive to provide an incomparable value to our loyal subscribers. Our subscription package includes our two full productions at
Theatre Row and your choice of any four of our Salon readings. Six plays total, all for just $90.
In addition to discounted tickets and priority seating, subscibers enjoy the following benefits:
?
?
(From a play by Rene Fauchois)
Sun. 9/24 @ 2:00
Mon. 9/25 @ 7:30
October 2006
Kind
Lady
By Edward Chodorov
?
No good deed goes unpunished. An unsuspecting well-to-do older woman
is conned by a charming grifter and his cronies.
Sat. 10/ 14 @ 7:30
Sun. 10/15 @ 2:00
Mon. 10/16 @ 7:30
?
January 2007
The Chinese Prime Minister
By End Bagnol
A famous actress retires from the stage and, surrounded by her family,
faces the ghosts of her past and the uncertainty of her future.
Sat. 1/13@ 7:30
Sun. 1/14 @ 2:00
Mon. 1/15 @ 7:30
February 2007
Man
& Boy
By Terence Rattigan
An extraordinarily high-powered father, who faces scandal, disgrace, and
complete financial ruin, coldly exploits his estranged son to save himself.
Sat. 2/10@ 7:30
Sun.2/11 @ 2:00
?
March 2007
Rain
By John Colton & Clemence Randolph
Based on a story by W. Somerset Maugham
Sat. 3/10 @ 7:30
Sun.3/11 @ 2:00
?
Mon. 3/12 @ 7:30
May 2007
Dandy Dick
by Arthur Wing Pinero
The Very Reverend Augustin Jedd must raise much needed funds for the
new church steeple, but is gambling the best way to do this?
Sat. 5/19 @ 7:30
Sun. 5/20 @ 2:00
Mon. 5/21 @ 7:30
*ALL TITLES PENDING PERMISSION
BUY ADDITIONAL TICKETS. Only TACT subscribers wanting to add
seats to their current reservation may avoid pricey service charges by
purchasing single tickets through the TACT office. Simply call
212/645-8228 and we will do our best to make sure your party is seated together.
CHANGE YOUR DATES at THEATRE ROW. As TACT subscribers, you
will be assigned a performance date according to the day of preference
you specify on the subscription form. If you are not able to attend this
performance, you hold the exclusive right to change performance
dates. To reserve a seat for a different performance, simply return your
tickets to the TACT office, either by mail or in person, no less than 48
hours before your scheduled performance, accompanied by your name
and which performance you would like to attend instead. Your new ticket will be waiting at the Theatre Row box office. Exchanges may not be
made without your original ticket, less than 48 hours prior to the performance, or after a performance has been missed. Subject to availability of new date.
CHANGE YOUR SALON DATES. Subscribers must specify on the subscription form which salon performances you would like to attend. If
you need to change the day of a particular show or switch to a different show, you may do that by calling the TACT Office at 212/645-8228
no less than 24 hours prior to your scheduled performance. New dates
are subject to availability.
LOSE OR FORGET YOUR TICKETS? No Biggie! Just go to the Theatre
Row Box Office on the day of the show and give them your name they’ll reprint your ticket at no additional cost. OR don’t worry about
keeping track of your tickets at all! TACT subscribers may indicate on
the subscription form whether to have their Main Stage tickets mailed
to them or held at the Theatre Row Box Office for pick-up up to one
hour before curtain.
Here’s what everyone should
know…
Mon. 2/12@ 7:30
A young down and out good-time girl is trapped with a fundamentalist evangelical missionary on a remote Pacific isle during a monsoon.
Early Bird Subscriptions
Here’s what subscribers should know…
The Art World collides with a simple New England family, when it is discovered that the paintings a former lodger left with them have become enormously valuable.
Sat. 9/ 23 @ 7:30
7
Moving into our new production format is changing the way we do a few things.
The Late Christopher Bean
By Sidney Howard
TheACTORS COMPANY THEATRE
?
THEATRE ROW. TACT’s main stage productions will now be held in the
Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row. Theatre Row is located at 410 West 42
Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues. To reach Theatre Row by train ,
take the A/C/E to Times Square, 42nd Street. Exit the subway at 42nd
Street & 8th Avenue and walk 1 1/2 blocks west to Theatre Row. Note:
the 1, 2, 3, 7, 9, N, R, Q, W, and S stop at 42nd Street and Seventh
Avenue, 2 1/2 blocks east of Theatre Row. To reach Theatre Row by
bus: Take the M11 bus to 42nd Street or take the M42 bus to 9th
Avenue. Theatre Row is located across the street and one block north
of Port Authority Bus Terminal’s 9th Avenue exit.
PURCHASING TICKETS. Single tickets to our full productions at
Theatre Row will cost $20 plus a $1.25 facility fee. Tickets may be purchased online 24/7 at www.ticketcentral.com, by calling Ticket Central
at 212-279-4200 from noon until 8pm daily, or in person from the
Theatre Row Box Office at 410 West 42nd Street (between 9th & 10th ),
open from noon and 8pm daily. Phone and internet orders carry an
additional service charge of $3 per ticket, there are no service charges
for tickets purchased in person.
Please cut out form and mail to TACT at 900 Broadway, Suite 905, New York NY 10003
TheACTORSCompanyTheatre
Subscription
YOU GET 2 Full Productions at THEATRE ROW Plus
any 4 of our 6 Salon Readings at the TACT Studio - 6 Plays total!
1.
Name
Mailing Address
City
State
Day Phone
Evening Phone
Zip
Email
2. CHOOSE YOUR SHOWS
MAIN STAGE:
at Theatre Row
SALON:
at TACT Studio
Home
TBA
Dec.
Apr./May
}
Please select
the
readings you
would like to
attend.
4
3. CHOOSE YOUR PREFERRED DAY
?
?
Sept. Late Chris. Bean
Oct.
Kind Lady
Jan.
Chinese PM
Feb.
Man & Boy
Mar.
Rain
May
Dandy Dick
4. HOW MANY SUBSCRIPTIONS?
}
Please select the
day of the week
you would like to
attend. Indicate
your first choice
with a “1” and
your second
choice with a “2.”
Number
Indicate the number of subscriptions you
would like to purchase.
Price
Sun. (mat)
Mon.
Tues.
N/A
N/A
Wed.
N/A
Thur.
N/A
Fri.
N/A
Sat.(mat)
N/A
Sat. (Eve)
Total
@ $90
For additional Salon Reservations please add $10 each
Processing Charge (includes THEATRE ROW Facility Fee)
$4.50
Suggested Tax Deductible Contribution
$50.00
TOTAL AMOUNT ENCLOSED
5. PAYMENT METHOD
Check enclosed, payable to TACT
MasterCard
Card Number
Signature
Visa
American Express
Expiration Date
Verification Code
(MC/Visa Only)
Billing Zip Code
(required)
6. TICKETS AND SEATING
M A I L m y TICKETS to me.*
H O L D my TICKETS at the Box Office.
*Tickets will be mailed out in September
TACT SALON SERIES. The Salon Series will continue to take place in
the TACT Studio at 900 Broadway, Suite 905. Salon performances are
by reservation only and are subject to availability. To make a reservation, call the TACT Studio at 212/645-8228. Seats at the TACT Salon
Series are $15 (suggested donation).
Early Bird
SALON
TheACTORS COMPANY THEATRE
MAIN
STAGE
2
Please contact me regarding disability
and/or special seating needs.
(be sure to include your phone number or
email address above)
Attending with other subscribers? Let us know with whom you would like to sit and we’ll do
everything possible to accommodate you:
6
TheACTORS COMPANY THEATRE
Summer Newsletter
2006/2007
The
COMPANY NEWS
Rep) in Montauk for the Music in Montauk
Series. This July she’ll be with the Cape Cod
Theatre Project in Falmouth, MA. In the fall
Dawn will be Production Stage Managing
Forever Plaid and a new rock musical
Frankenstein in Rama, Ontario at Casino Rama.
KYLE FABEL announced his engagement to
British actress Katie Heap at the TACT year end
company meeting! It looks like Kyle will be
spending part of the summer in London making nuptial plans with Katie. He will also be
workshopping his own adaptation of a Douglas
Adams novel, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective
Agency, at NYU’s Studio Tisch. Next season
Kyle will be directing Secret Order (which
starred James Murtaugh in its New York premiere) at Merrimack Repertory Theatre.
On stage and off, TACTors are making a dramatic influence in our profession...RICHARD
FERRONE was recently elected to the AFTRA
National Board. Richard remains busy record ing audiobooks. His summer picks include
The Completed Autobiography By Benjamin
Franklin, edited by Mark Skousen, and for those
who want a murder mystery for the beach,
check out Dead Watch by John Sandford.
RACHEL FOWLER was back at the Denver
Center where she played Mariana in Measure
For Measure, then went straight off to St Louis
to play Rosie in Humble Boy. She is currently
running in Treason with fellow TACT member
MARY BACON at the Perry Street Theatre, and
is looking forward to a trip to Wales with hus band Karel this fall.
Our always busy lighting designer, MARY
LOUISE GEIGER lit The Soldier’s Tale at
Philadelphia Orchestra in January, Pillowman at
ACT Theatre in Seattle in March, and The Busy
World Is Hushed at Playwrights Horizons in May.
This summer will take her to Belgrade, Serbia
with Violet Fire, a new opera about Nicola Tesla
(which you can catch at BAM in October), and
to the Brisbane Festival in Australia with Mabou
Mines Dollhouse . She’ll be back home in NYC
lighting the Oslo Elsewhere Festival at 59E59 in
August. Way to chalk up those frequent flier
miles!
tt Schafer
id Staller
Thompson
hley West
n Wright
While not a professional performer anymore,
Board member LINDA GREENBERG did sing
five songs at her 65th birthday party in Key
West, which were very well received, according
to Board President STEPHEN LINDENMUTH,
who attended the party. Linda’s son Timothy
has become a producer for Jon Stewart’s The
Daily Show. And, best news of all, Fred and
Linda are the proud (first-time!) grandparents
of a beautiful baby girl, Emma. Can a future
TACTor be in our midst?
Hopefully you were able to catch DELPHI HARRINGTON singing at the Shooting Star Theatre
in an evening honoring Noel Coward on the
12th of June. This summer she will once again
be performing in Bloomsday, the annual celebration of James Joyce Ulysses at Symphony
Space and has been doing Food For Thought
often, performing the works of Henry James,
Dorothy Parker and the poems of E.E.
Cummings. This spring brought twins, a boy
and a girl, to proud grandparents Delphi and
husband Norman. Congratulations!
SIMON JONES has won yet another prestigious
award! Nominated for 9(!) 2006 Audio
continued from page 1
Publishers Awards, Simon won for Best Fiction,
Unabridged: A Slight Trick Of The Mind, and the
top prize, Audiobook of the Year, for The
Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy– The Tertiary
Phase, beating out Harry Potter and Al Franken.
He also opened the 15th season of the Bay
Street Theatre, Sag Harbor,in Quartet by Ronald
Harwood, co-starring with Kaye Ballard, Sian
Phillips, and TACT emeritus, PAUL HECHT.
TACTGala!
Other TACTors on Broadway this season
included GREG MCFADDEN in The Caine Mutiny
Court-Martial. Greg was also in an episode of
the new hit TV drama Conviction. He and wife,
Shannon, are expecting their first child this
July...more future TACTors!
You’ve seen JAMES MURTAUGH on a Law &
Order SVU episode which aired recently. Look
for him guest starring in a pilot this fall on Fox
called The Wedding Album. He also co-starred
with Judd Hersh and Scott Cohen in the film
Brother’s Shadow at the Tribeca Film Festival.
And then there was a reading of a new Charles
Strouse musical...so why does he look so rested? Jim and wife, Alice, have just returned
from a sun filled trip to the beautiful island of
Bermuda where they celebrated their 35th
wedding anniversary!
MARGARET NICHOLS is off to play Hope in
Urinetown at Weston Playhouse in Vermont this
summer. This spring she was busy as a founding member of a new theatre company in the
city named Dog Run Rep, run by Jeff Cohen,
the former artistic director of Worth Street.
Winner of “the most exotic summer vacation”
award, Margaret is traveling to an ashram in
India in August.
Composer of the music for our recent Hot L
Baltimore, MARCUS PAUS, will serve as composer-in-residence at Norway’s Festival for
Church, Music and Culture, where his first
symphony will be premiering this fall. He is
currently working on The Witches, a children’s
opera based on the novel by Roald Dahl. This
fall will also see the release of another project
for children, a piano and art book (in collabora tion with Swedish painter Christopher Radlund)
based on fairytales, myths and legends from
Gilgamesh to Brothers Grimm, entitled
Phantasia Musica.
JAMES PRENDERGAST spent May and June
performing a play called The Chief at Mountain
Playhouse in Jennerstown, PA. It’s a one man
show about Art Rooney, Steelers founder and
Pittsburgh icon.
The Lion King also continues to employ our
JOHN PLUMPIS as that wisecracking meerkat,
Timon, on the National Tour which will spend
COMPANY NEWS continues on page 8
Our 2005/2006 S e a s o n C o n t r i b u t o r s
Thank You!
G R A N T S
ABN AMRO
Arthur B. Greene Charitable Foundation
The Axe-Houghton Foundation
Bank Julius Baer
Edith C. Blum Foundation
The Degenstein Charitable Foundation
The Dorothy Strelsin Foundation
The Friars Charitable Foundation
IBM Corporation
JPMorganChase Regrant Fund,
The Leon Levy Foundation
Lucille Lortel Foundation
New York State Council on the Arts
New York City Dept. of Cultural Affairs
Penninsula Community Foundation
UBS
The Ungar Family Foundation
Unilever United States Foundation, Inc.
K E A N E
($10,000 AND UP)
Lore Degenstein
Holly Etlin & Ron Sussman
Anita Jaffe
Stephen Lindenmuth
Susan Weis Mindel &
Dr. Joel S. Mindel
Nancy Wender & Steven Rand
Michael Cerveris
The stars of the TACT Lounge!
Birdland Benefit
Brings In Big Bucks!
A special thanks to everyone who attended or contributed
towards the TACT Annual Benefit. This year’s event was a huge success, raising over $46,000 in crucial funds that will help launch
TACT into its exciting and ambitious fourteenth season!
Held at New York’s legendary jazz club Birdland, the evening
was hosted by celebrated comic Freddie Roman and featured
Sweeney Todd’s recent Tony nominee, Michael Cerveris. Also gracing the stage of the TACT Lounge were talented guest artists Chris
Bergson, Allison Blackwell, Laura Griffith and Janelle Anne
Robinson, and TACT favorites Jimmy Murtaugh, Larry Keith, and
Scott Schafer.
Attendees ate, drank, and partied the night away with old
friends, new friends, and familiar TACT faces; and at the end of the
night took home gift bags courtesy of Bigelow Apothecaries,
Cardinal Glass, CLAY, Equinox, Zabars, and Zagat Guide.
TACT is so thankful to everyone who helped to make this
year’s event the best ever!
TACTStudio
Premiere Event Space
900 Broadway (@ 20th St.) Suite 905 NYC
PRESENTATIONS, REHEARSALS, READINGS, LECTURES,
MEETINGS, WORKSHOPS, BACKERS AUDITIONS,
ACTING CLASSES, EXERCISE CLASSES, YOGA CLASSES
WEDDINGS, PARTIES, GATHERINGS
Call for rates and availability
212/645-TACT(8228)
TheACTORS COMPANY THEATRE
900 Broadway, Suite 905
New York, NY 10003
3
The following list represents TACT’s honored contributors from January 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006. We gratefully recognize their support which is
so vital to our success and take great pride in these generous people who have given at the levels listed below.
a project of A.R.T./New York
Broadway TACTor JACK KOENIG continues
standing by as a Scar on the theatrical visage
of The Lion King, now installed in the Minskoff
Theatre after 8 1/2 years at the historic New
Amsterdam. He reports that so far he’s enjoying his new theatrical home.
Anyone who was lucky enough to pass through
Kansas City this Spring had the opportunity to
see DARRIE LAWRENCE’S moving portrayal of
Carrie Watts in The Trip To Bountiful at Kansas
City Repertory Theatre (formerly Missouri Rep).
Now through July 2 you can catch her stirring
up trouble in Macbeth for Shakespeare on the
Sound in Rowayton, CT. shakespeareonthesound.org
TheACTORS COMPANY THEATRE
O L I V I E R
($5,000 TO $9,999)
Laurie & John Adams
Linda & Frederic Greenberg
Gail & Alan Levenstein
Michael Ross
Janet C. Weis
D U S E
($2,500 TO $4,999)
Jennie & Richard De Scherer
Patricia Dugan
Barbara Fleischman
Darya Geetter
Cynthia Harris
Frances & Matthew Harris
Larry Keith
Christine Millen & William Pinzler
Constance Poster
Ann & Leon Stone
C O R N E L L
($1,500 TO $2,499)
Diane Brandt & Martin Lewis
Denise Coultas
Virginia Darrow
Karen Falk & Michael Goldman
Sandra & George Garfunkel
Jean Gennaro
Dede & Bob Gronlund
Priscilla & Ronald Hoffman
Lydia & Bernie Kukoff
LaVonne Poteet
Nathan Silverstein
Irene & Norman Vale
Francis Williams
Elaine & Irving Wolbrom
B O O T H
($1,000 TO $1, 499)
Ann & Joel Berson
George Bunn
Carol & Geoffrey Chinn
Nancy & Sam Craig
Georgia & Michael de Havenon
Mary & John Hayes
Bette & Joseph Kessler
Barbara & Richard Lane
Amy & Tom Marano
Marie & James Marlas
Mr. &Mrs. Carl Menges
Carol Mitchell
Karen & Gerald Morganstern
Wendy & Nick Rubinstein
Susan Talbot
Michael Thomas
Shelby White
H A Y E S
($750 TO $999)
Christy & Michael Apfelbaum
?First time contributor
Mary Bacon & Andrew Leynse
Lisa & Joel Benenson
Betsy Ely
Emily & Bill Gottlieb
Constance & John Hartnett
Jeffrey Justin
Kay & Roger Lyons
Leola & Robert Macdonald
Susan & John Mathias
Joan Blackett Schlank
Louise & David Schraa
Robert Silver
David Smith
Linda Weingarten
Joanne & David Wilson
Toni Aronsohn Perlberg
Charlotte Rosenblatt
Lana & Jack Rosenfeld
Nola Joyce Safro
Arlene Semaya
Esther & Bob Silbey
Jane Susskind-Narins
Valerie & Armin Tehrany
Marilyn Ungar
Mary & Philip Van Orman
Lynn Wright & Scott Gordon
B E R N H A R D T
($500 TO $749)
Lisa & Robert Abramson
Celeste Alsgaard
Deirdre & Lawrence Bader
Bebe & Doug Broadwater
Shirley B. Dinitz
Barbara & Bill Evans
Betsy Fader
Linda Ferber & Joel Berson
Barbara & Clifford Grodd
Mary Jane & David Harris
Pamela Jarvis & Anthony Davis
Mildred & Paul John
Allyson Kay
William Leggio
Anne Meara & Jerry Stiller
Alice & James Murtaugh
Nancy Nugent
Patti & Donald Pearlstein
Pensis-Stolz, Inc.
Diana & Joseph Rowan
Susan & Frederic Rubinstein
Jo-Ann & Gregory Salata
Sandy & Gary Sojka
Frances Spangler & Alan Federman
Warren Spector
Wellington Tichenor
C. Alan Walker ?
Selma L. Wiener
Cynthia Zeger
B A R R Y M O R E
($250 TO $499)
Dee & Marshall Arisman
Mary & Robert Ascheim?
Nora Chester?
Fimi Zolas Cohen & Stanley Cohen
Douglas Craig
Carolyn D’Amboise
Leslie Darhansoff
Patrick Degraca
Marilyn Detels
Joseph Dixon
Joseph W. Eichenbaum
Diana Erbsen
Rachel Fowler & Karel Lansky
Rusty Fox
Alvin Friedman-Kien
Margaret Gates & Swan Stull
Morton Grosz
Deborah & Christopher Jones
Richard Kandel ?
Cecilly G. Keating
Jack Koenig
Veri Lee Krassner
Sharon Kern & Dan Taub ?
Bobbie Kroman & Jack Barney
Holly Kulka
Peggy Kuo
Darrie Lawrence
Lianne Lazetera
Ruth Lloyds & William Ehrlich
Judith & Edwin Deane Leonard
Jan Liva & Kevin Tubridy
Mr. & Mrs. Larry Loeb
Ilona Marsh
Susan & Jim Mathias
James McLaren
Ruth & Cliff Melberger
Stephen Menchini
Nancy Meng
Eric Mulkowsky
Betty & Greg Murphy
Betty & Henry Necarsulmer
Glen Pedersen
LUNT/FONTANNE
($100 TO $249)
Margaret Albert
Patricia & James Apple
Nancy & Charles Ashcroft
Page Ashley
Emory Bass
Michael Belfonti
Joyce & Louis Betz
Jackie & Neil Bianco
Mary Joyce &Robert Bochroch
Joan Boening
Beth Boily ?
Phyllis Brugnolotti
Paula Busch
Mary & Phil Cedar
Rona & Marc Cherno
Lisa Chess & Michael Pressman
Barbara Chester
Kay Chester
Zara Cohan
Carol & Ralph Colin, Jr.
Carolyn Curran
Catherine Curran
Jacques D’Amboise
Maia Danziger ?
Peggy Domow
Suzan Ehrman
Louise Espy
Brooke Evans &Michael O’Neill
Liza Gennaro & Scott Alan Evans
Lisa & Charles Feitel
Margaret Flynn
Jane & Charles Goldman
Marieanne & Tim Goldman
Carolyn Goodman
Nada & David Gray
Adele Green
Anita &Edward Greenbaum
Greenwich House, Inc. ?
David Greisen
Jo & Bruce Grellong
Faith & Tom Grill
Russel Hamilton
Delphi & Norman Harrington ?
Laurence R. Herman
Renee Hertz
Lee & Kirk Hollingsworth
Betty & Michael Howard
Ruth Jody
Marion & Irwin Kaplan
Irena Klepfisz
Lisa Knobel
Nadine Kolker
Seigfried Kra
Lynne Langlois
Norma Langworthy
Judith Leynse
David Lindsey & Stephan Kantor
Lorna Livingston
Edith & Stuart Marks
George Mayer
Peter Mayer
Elizabeth & James McClure, Jr.
John McGuire
Leslie McKinley
Lynn Mesuk
Jill Cordle Mont & Ira Mont
Brenda & Randy Morgan
Susan & Robert Morris
Margaret A. Nyhaus
Veronica & John Olivieri
Kristine &John Pankow
George Persaud ?
Hardy Phippen, Jr.
John Plumpis
Nancy & Martin Polevoy
David Rice
Sylvia & Harold Richman
Estelle & Louis Robbins
?New to 05/06 List
Barbara & Charles Rodin
Ann & William Roll
Susan Roschen
Sheldon Rothenberg
Stanley Rothenberg
Raven & Marvin Rudnitsky
Mary Russin
Margaret & Ronald Schafer
Anne Kaufman Schneider
Rose Marie Schluter
Charlene & Rich Schwarzkopf
Pat & Frederick Selch
Spencer Sherman
Judith Squire
Harry Stahl
Kenneth F. Starrett
Larua Stein & Eugene Wolsk
Frank Steindler
Charlene & Richard Stern
Margaret & John Stewart
Susan Stone & Tom Gavin
Alex Szogyi
Ellen G. Trokel
Uma & John Vlahoplus
Audrey & Alfred Wilner
Xana & Larry Winans
G I S H
(UP TO $99)
Margaret Abbott
Alan Altschuler
Fran Amicone
Monty Arnold
Martha K. Babcock
Andrea Barbieri
Marla Batchelder
Catherine Bernabeo
Philip Biondo
Frances & Robert Boehm
Betty Bowers
Faith Brown
Anthea Buchanan
Angelica Budabin
Martha Burke
Steven Calawa
Mary Caputi ?
Elinor Ceresney
Pam Chen & Amy Chester?
Helena Cohn
Cathy & Doug Cohen
Maureen Conneen
Karen Dahle & Sue Hessel
Christopher Deatherage
Jacqueline M. Didier
Leonard Diller
Eleanor H. Driscoll
Nanette & Daniel Eisenberg
Regina Elbirt
Patty Erlich
Lia Faiman
Susanne Ferris
Alma Flesch
Beth & Richard Flusser
Sally Forbes & Andrew Krawetz
Marcella Frank
Susan Fridie
Susan & Evan Friedman
Ilse W. Goldsmith
Peggy Goldsmith
Rhoda & Eliot Gordon
Irving Grad
Alexandra Grannis
Stephen S. Gurian
Elizabeth Hack
Rose & Cyrille Halkin
Judie Heap
Kathleen Heenan & Clary Olmstead
Nina Hennessey
Steven Holmes
Mary Beth Coudal & J. Chris Jones
Peter Judd
Beverly Katzman
Robert A. Katzman
Delia Keating
Annie Keefe
Patty Kettle
Elieen Klein & Elliott Schuman
Joan & Alan Kramer
Helga Krawany
Dorothy & Robert Lewis
Wendy & James Leynse
Eleanor Lupino
? Increased Contribution
We make every effort to maintain the accuracy of our contributor lists. We apologize for any misspelled or omitted names. Please contact the office regarding any error so
that corrections and updates can be made. Heartfelt thanks, too, to all our season subscribers!
Doris Marmorek
Ilene & Karl Marquardt
Pamela & Paul Mauger
Gregg Mayer
Eve & Sidney Mayer
Lucy McMichael & Don Brennan
William Milam
Beverly Miller & Michael Kassin
Peter Moore
Thelma Morris
Natalie Napierala & James Cappelletti
Marcia & Howard Ostwind
Margaret B. Parkes
Paul Napper & Tony Rao
Edith Ratshin
Melissa & James Rinzler
Corrine Rosenthal
Joan Rosner
Phillip Rubin
Joan Sanger
Irma & Hal Schechter
Suki Schorer
Leonard Schultz ?
Mina Seeman
Alex Sherman
Ilene Shifrin
Paul Stocks
Cora Tangney
Gabriella Thurston
Alice Timothy
Therese & Randy Ventgen
Jessie Walker
Brent Whitman
Max Wilk
Robert N. Williams
William B. Young
Aurora Zinder
2005/06
GUEST ARTISTS
Stacey Boggs, Designer
Bob Braswell, Actor
Russell Bonifede, Musician
Rupert Boyd, Musician
Suzanne Chesney, Designer
Anthony Crane, Actor
Curzon Dobell, Actor
Kathleen Doyle, Actor
Tara Falk, Actor
Seth Fruyterman, Musician
David Gale, Musician
Eli Ganias, Actor
Brian Henderson, Actor
Amir Khosrowpour, Composer
Chris Kipiniak, Actor
Francesca
Kamako Koyama, Musician
Terry Layman, Actor
Youn Joo Lee, Musician
Scott Alan Evans
Yoni Levyatov , Musician
Andrew Leynse, Director
Jessie Marino, Musician
Ron McClary, Actor
Kyle Fabel
Tuck Milligan, Actor
Victor Pappas, Director
Marcus Paus, Composer
Michael Pressman, Director
Elizabeth Meadows Rouse, Actor
Richard Ferrone
Abby Royle, Actor
Jamie Rose Thoma, PSM
Joseph Trapanese, Composer
Rachael Fowler
Adina Verson, Actor
Dan Urness, Musician
Mary Wing, Musician
Delphi Harrington
4
TheACTORS COMPANY THEATRE
2 0 0 5 / 2 0 0 6
January 2006
TACT Salon
Series
900 Broadway, NYC
Little Sheba
by William Inge
Doc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gregory Salata*?
Marie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Kelly Hutchinson*?
Lola . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nora Chester*?
Turk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Brian Henderson*
Postman . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Richard Ferrone*?
Mrs. Coffman . . . . . . . . . . . .Kathleen Doyle*
Milkman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ron McClary*
Western Union Man . . . . . . .Scott Schafer*?
Bruce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Chris Kipiniak*
Ed Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . .Scott Schafer*?
Elmo Huston . . . . . . . . . . .Richard Ferrone*?
January 2006
February 2006
Dear LIAR
by Jerome Kilty
Bernard Shaw . . . . . . . . . . . .Simon Jones*?
Mrs. Patrick Campbell . . . .Cynthia Harris*?
Directed by Scott Alan Evans?
Music by Jonathan Faiman?
Stage Managed by Dawn Dunlop*?
H
A
andsome
MAN
by Alexander Ostrovsky
adapted by Scott Alan Evans & Greg McFadden
translated by Erika Warmbrunn
Pierre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Scott Schafer*?
George . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Kyle Fabel*?
Lupachev . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gregory Salata*?
Apollinaria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nora Chester*?
Zoya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Margaret Nichols*?
Oleshunin . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sean Arbuckel*?
Lotokhin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Larry Keith*?
Sosipatra . . . . . . . . . . . .Delphi Harrington*?
Okoemov . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Anthony Crane*
Susanna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Abby Royal*
Directed by Scott Alan Evans?
Music by Joseph Trappanese
Stage Managed by Dawn Dunlop*?
on Jones
ry Keith
March 2006
Hutchinson
The
Cherry Sisters
Revisited
by Dan O’Brien
Addie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Margaret Nichols*?
Lizzie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ashley West*?
Jessie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nora Chester*?
Effie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Kelly Hutchinson*?
Ella . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Eve Bianco*?
Pops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gregory Salata *?
Directed by Andrew Leynse
Music by Amir Khosrowpour
Stage Managed by Dawn Dunlop*?
k Koenig
? TACT Company Member
* Member Actors Equity Association
e Lawrence
Pictured left from
The Hot L Baltimore: Elizabeth
Meadows Rouse, Scott Schafer
and Eli Ganias Below: Cynthia
Darlow. Middle: Ashley West.
Bottom of the Page: Bob
Braswell, Kelly Hutchinson,
James Prendergast, Cynthia
Darlow, Adina Verson, Delphi
Harrington, Elizabeth Rouse
Come Back,
Directed by Michael Pressman
Music by Colin McGrath?
Stage Managed by Dawn Dunlop*?
hia Harris
TheACTORS COMPANY THEATRE
Summer Newsletter2006/2007
Pictured above right: Sean Arbuckel, Margaret
Nichols, Nora Chester, Gregory Salata, Kyle Fabel
and Scott Schafer in A Handsome Man. Right:
Simon Jones and Cynthia Harris in Dear Liar.
Both
YOUR
Houses
By Maxwell Anderson
Pictured above
left from Both
Your Houses:
(standing) Tuck
Milligan, Tara
Falk, Jenn
Thompson (seated) Kyle Fabel,
James Murtaugh,
Terry Layman,
James
Prendergast,
Curzon Dobell,
Richard Ferrone
and Darrie
Lawrence Left:
Anthony Crane.
Marjorie Gray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Tara Falk*
Bus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jenn Thompson*?
Eddie Wister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Curzon Dobell*
Solomon Fitzmaurice . . . . . . .James Murtaugh*?
Simeon Gray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Terry Layman*
Levering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Tuck Milligan*
Merton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Scott Schafer*?
Sneden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .James Prendergast*?
Miss McMurtry . . . . . . . . . . . .Darrie Lawrence*?
Wingblatt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Kyle Fabel*?
Farnum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Richard Ferrone*?
Alan McClean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Anthony Crane*
Ebner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Scott Schafer*?
Directed by Michael Pressman
Music Composed by Marcus Paus
Lighting by Stacey Boggs
PSM Dawn Dunlop*?
Assistant Director Shelly Tseng
Critical Response:
The best play reading troupe in
America.”
Richmond Shepard, Lively Arts
TACT's staging is so brilliantly effective that it seems like a full-fledged
work, not a reading.
William Wolf, New York Calling
As usual, TACT delivers a vital and
engrossing production."
Harry Forbes, backstage.com
With no set, just actors with scripts in
hand and facing the audience rather than
each other, we get to concentrate on what
is best about this play: its incisive and
often ironically funny dialogue.
Elyse Sommer, CurtainUp.com
Bill Lewis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Scott Schafer*?
Girl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Adina Verson
Millie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Delphi Harrington*?
Mrs. Bellotti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cynthia Darlow*?
April Green . . . . . . . . .Elizabeth Meadows Rouse*
Mr. Morse . . . . . . . . . . . . .James Prendergast*?
Jackie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Kelly Hutchinson*?
Jamie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bob Braswell*
Mr. Katz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Eli Ganias*
Suzy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ashley West*?
Suzy’s John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Richard Ferrone*?
Paul Granger III . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jamie Bennett*?
Mrs. Oxenham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nora Chester*?
Cab Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Richard Ferrone*?
Pizza Delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . .Richard Ferrone*?
Directed by Victor Pappas
Music Composed by John Slover
Lighting by Mary Louise Geiger
Costumes by Suzanne Chesney
PSM Jamie Rose Thoma*
Assistant Director Shelly Tseng
HOT L
The
Baltimore
by Lanford Wilson
5
The Late Christopher Bean
by Sidney Howard
Opens Salon Series in September
As a writer, Sidney worked in several fields during his career (journalist, translator,
screenwriter, fiction writer), however, it was his work as a playwright he found to be the most
fulfilling. He saw 27 of his plays staged (13 original works – 14 adaptations and/or translations) and was awarded the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Howard considered a play to be primarily a vehicle for the actor, and the playwright’s job to provide actors
with raw material from which they might create vivid and memorable characters. This is why
we feel he is the perfect author to open the TACT Salon Series in September.
Howard was born June 26, 1891, in Oakland, California, to a musician and the owner
of a steamship line. He began writing at the age of nineteen when, forced into isolation at
a tuberculosis sanatorium, introspection led to self-expression through journal and letter
writing. He earned a BA from the University of California at Berkeley, where he wrote for the
literary periodical. It was also during his years there that he saw his very first play, The Son
of Spain, produced by an artist’s colony in nearby Carmel. He went on to Harvard to pursue
his interest in drama and playwriting. At the onset of World War I, Howard enlisted in the
American Ambulance Corps, and ultimately become a Captain in the US Army.
Howard began his professional writing career in 1919 as a journalist for Life magazine,
and eventually became its literary editor in 1922. He also wrote articles for Collier’s, New
Republic, and Hearst’s International. Though his later life would find him focusing much less
on journalism than on dramatic writing, he would sporadically write articles about Hollywood
and the motion picture industry for the New York Times.
Howard was originally attracted to Hollywood in 1927, after sound came to the
movies. As a screenwriter, Howard wrote more than a dozen scripts for Hollywood. He is
best known for his adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind, which won him his
only Academy Award (for which he was honored posthumously in 1940). Though many revisions were famously made to Howard’s script by other writers, the final version was close
enough to Howard’s original that he was billed as the sole author.
Despite the praise he received for all his work, Howard felt that his greatest passion
was in playwriting. Of the difference in the inspiration a writer of plays feels from that of a
writer of fiction, he said, “the novelist prefers writing to anything; the dramatist prefers acting to anything. The drama does not spring from a literary impulse but from a love of the
brave, ephemeral, beautiful art of acting.”
Howard’s first professional play, Swords, a melodrama set in medieval Italy, was produced in 1921; he wrote it as a vehicle for Clare Jenness Eames, the actress who would
become his wife in 1922. In 1925, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his play They Knew What They
Wanted; initially, however, the play itself wasn’t immediately successful. It was turned down
sixteen times by different producers before it was finally picked up by the Theatre Guild and
produced in 1924. It was this play and the accolades it received that really established
Howard as one of the preeminent playwrights of the early 20th century.
His proficiency in Spanish and French led to his translations of a series of European
plays for the American stage; The Late Christopher Bean is one of these. Adapted from René
Fauchois’s play Prenez garde à la peinture, Christopher Bean maintains the same general structure as the French play, but is thoroughly American – transporting the play from the French
countryside to the heart of Yankee New England. It was first produced in 1932, with Pauline
Lord playing the leading character of Abby, the family maid, and was an instant commercial
success. Lord, also the star of They Knew What They Wanted, was a central inspiration to
Howard in the writing of the play, which he dedicated to her. The production was widely
praised, and subsequent productions sprang up in theatres all over the country and across
the pond in London.
The Late Christopher Bean has been described as a “deceptive comedy…as changeable
as a chameleon,” with “interpretations as various as the style of the actresses playing Abby,
who sets the tone of the comedy.” Pauline Lord’s interpretation was seen as having a “vague
wistfulness” that “stressed the poignancy underlying the play,” drawing it away from farce.
Charlotte Greenwood, who played Abby in San Francisco, was described as being “less
mousey, more capable of defending herself,” and with her interpretation the play lost its serious and sentimental note and became a somewhat broader comedy. Other actors to take
on the role include: Shirley Booth, Edith Evans, Helen Menken, and Jean Stapleton.
Eventually, a film version was made as a vehicle for comedic star Marie Dressler; this
version was not adapted by Howard, and was not well-received. Her performance – and the
film itself – were described as “heavy handed,” so much so that it became merely “noisy
burlesque [and] caricature.”
Howard’s life came to an abrupt end in 1939 when he was killed in a tractor accident
on his farm in Tyringham, Massachusetts. His death came just before his newest comedy,
Madame, Will You Walk?, was to go into production; it eventually played forty-two shows on
Broadway. His legacy of straightforwardness of style is remembered as being “less of a
comment on contemporary life than a presentation of it.”
Greg McFadden
JamesMurtaugh
Margaret
John Plumpis
JamesPrendergast
Gregory Salata