Spotlight Magazine, Fall 2015

GREAT THEATRE — PRODUCED BY YOU

FALL 2015-2016

SPOTLIGHT

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC P.4 CHOICE P.8 A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES P.12 SPOTLIGHT SPECTACULAR P.16 EDUCATION P.20 HUNTINGTON NEWS P.22 PERFORMANCE CALENDARS P.23

Nick Offerman will star as

Ignatius J. Reilly in A Confederacy

of Dunces.

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bel

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ANNOUNCING THE NICHOLAS MARTIN REHEARSAL HALL

To celebrate the artistic legacy of former artistic director Nicholas Martin, the Huntington has renamed Rehearsal Hall A in the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA the Nicholas Martin Rehearsal Hall. Martin, who served as artistic director from 2000 through 2008 and directed 20 shows for the Huntington, passed away in April 2014. He championed the creation of the Calderwood Pavilion as a home for the Huntington’s new play initiatives and was a staunch supporter of local playwrights and artists, so renaming this state-of-the-art space used for both rehearsal and performance seems a fitting tribute.

Actress Kate Burton, Martin’s longtime collaborator and friend, made the announcement at the Huntington’s gala last spring saying, “In the decade since the Calderwood Pavilion opening, Rehearsal Hall A has been in use non-stop. I think Nicky would have loved all that creative activity and energy taking place in that space he helped to bring to life.”

Nicholas Martin Rehearsal Hall will be officially dedicated on Wednesday, October 28.

Melinda Lopez and Mimi Lieber in the world premiere of Persephone by Noah Haidle, directed by Nicholas Martin (2007); Amelia Alvarez, Will LeBow, and Carmen Roman in the world premiere of Sonia Flew by Melinda Lopez, directed by Nicholas Martin (2004)

LOOK FOR THE HUNTINGTON AT THESE FREE EVENTS THIS SEPTEMBERBEANTOWN JAZZ FESTIVAL SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2015 12PM – 6PM Columbus Avenue between Massachusetts Avenue & Burke Street

The Beantown Jazz Festival is Boston’s biggest block party — a free, annual outdoor concert open to the public that has delighted hundreds of thousands of music lovers over the years with its host of jazz, Latin, blues,

funk, and groove performances, along with an array of food vendors and free activities.

Visit Berklee.edu/beantownjazz for more information.

GREATER BOSTON THEATRE EXPO TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2015 5PM – 8PM Cyclorama, BCA – 539 Tremont Street, Boston

Connect with over 60 Greater Boston theatre companies, and learn about their 2015-2016 season offerings.

From award-winning work on the stages of flagship companies to remarkable and innovative pieces by adventurous smaller ones — explore the breadth, variety, and vitality of our local theatre community, meet artists, and take advantage of Expo-only ticket offers and giveaways.

Visit StageSource.org/GBTE15 for more information.

GREATER BOSTON

THEATRE EXPO / 2015

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HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG 3

SUMPTUOUS TONY AWARD-WINNING MUSICAL

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC SEPT. 11 – OCT. 11THOUGHT-PROVOKING

NEW COMEDY

CHOICE OCT. 16 – NOV. 15

NICK OFFERMAN IN

A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES

NOV. 11 – DEC. 13RIVETING BROADWAY HIT

DISGRACED JAN. 8 – FEB. 7

POWERFUL MEMOIR FROM AN AMERICAN MASTER

AUGUST WILSON’S HOW I LEARNED

WHAT I LEARNED MAR. 5 – APR. 3BITING NEW COMEDY

CAN YOU FORGIVE HER? MAR. 25 – APR. 24

AMBITIOUS & MOVING NEW PLAY

I WAS MOST ALIVE WITH YOU

MAY 27 – JUNE 26PLUS A SPECIAL EVENT

PROVOCATIVE DRAMA

MILK LIKE SUGAR JAN. 29 – FEB. 28

BEST PLAYS.BEST SEATS.BEST PRICES.BEST VALUE: 7-Play packages start at just $150

Don’t miss a single production because you were too busy and it wasn’t already on your calendar.

Our subscribers tell us how much they appreciate knowing their dates in advance, sitting in their favorite seats, and being able to make plans to connect with friends or have a few scheduled “date nights” while enjoying a great show.

Join us for all 7 shows (our best deal — it’s like getting a show for FREE!), or select a smaller package — either way you get access to the BEST SEATS at the BEST PRICES, including guaranteed seats to Stephen Sondheim’s sumptuous musical A Little Night Music and the world premiere of A Confederacy of Dunces featuring Nick Offerman from TV’s “Parks and Recreation.” Plus, you’ll get all our other exclusive subscriber benefits: free & easy ticket exchanges, missed performance insurance, and much more.

WE’RE SAVING GREAT SEATS JUST FOR SUBSCRIBERS — SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG/SUBSCRIBE617 266 0800

JOIN US FOR OUR 2015-2016 SEASONjim co

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Martin Moran, Candy Buckley, Marcia DeBonis, and Tyler Lansing Weaks in the smash-hit comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (2015)

Braille

SUMPTUOUS TONY

AWARD-WINNING MUSICAL

A LITTLE

NIGHT MUSIC

SEPT.l l - OCT.l l

MUSIC & LY

RICS BY

STEPHEN

SONDHEIM ORCHESTRATIONS BY

JONATHAN TUNICK

SUGGESTED BY A FILM BY

INGMAR BERGMAN

ORIGIN

ALLY PRODUCED &

DIRECTED ON BROADWAY BY

HAROLD PRINCE

AVENUE OF THE ARTS

BU THEATRE

Lovers reunite, passions reignite, and new romances

blossom around famous actress Desiree Armfeldt (Tony and Olivier

Award nominee Haydn Gwynne) and an unforgettable cast of

characters during an eventful weekend in the country. Stephen

Sondheim’s most romantic and popular work features a gorgeous,

sweeping score infused with humor, warmth, and the flavor of

a waltz, including Sondheim’s best known song, “Send in the Clowns.” Directed by Artistic Director Peter

DuBois, this exquisite musical celebration of love is the must-see

event of the season!

“Sophisticated & enchanting. A triumph!”

– THE NEW YORK TIMES

DIRECTED BY

PETER

DUBOIS

BOOK BY

HUGH

WHEELER


LEARN MORE ONLINE watch behind-the-scenes videos featuring the creative team and actors from A Little Night Music, see backstage photos, and enjoy additional content about the show at huntingtontheatre.org.

“SEND IN THE CLOWNS,” SONDHEIM’S GREATEST HIT

“Steve needs to write some hits. If he doesn’t, those shows of his are not going to make it,” predicted Broadway composer Jule Styne. Though now a living legend, Stephen Sondheim was first met with dire warnings demanding he write more “hummable” hits and pop chart cross overs. “He never said, ‘I have a melody here’ or ‘Wouldn’t this be a cute idea for a song?’ Steve could never write a song without some dramatic situation to base it on,” described writer Burt Shevelove. Sondheim credits his famous mentor’s influence, explaining, “I was essentially trained by Oscar Hammerstein to think of songs as one-act plays...The character singing goes through a development process and comes out with a conclusion emotionally different from where he began, so the song has a sense of moving the story forward.” The very characteristic that forecasted his doom has become Sondheim’s signature, and ironically, no song better encapsulates Sondheim’s commitment to songwriting as storytelling than his greatest hit, “Send in the Clowns.”

Weeks into rehearsal for the original production of A Little Night Music, Sondheim was still working on a crucial second act scene between glamorous aging actress Desiree Armfeldt and her married paramour Fredrik Egerman. “I always felt it was the leading man’s scene, and I was outlining a song for him. And Hal [Prince, the director] said, ‘Let me show you the scene,’” remembered Sondheim, who rushed down to discover Prince had, “directed the scene in such a way that even though the dramatic thrust comes from the man’s monologue, and she just sits there and reacts, he directed it so you could feel the weight going to her reaction rather than his action.” Glynis Johns, who originated the leading lady, recalled, “Steve arrived around 4pm and watched it. Then he went off, came back at 10am the next morning, sat down and played ‘Send in the Clowns.’ Len [Cariou, who played Fredrik] and I were standing by the piano, and he played the first half a dozen notes, if that, and I had tears in my eyes.”

Sondheim’s famous penchant for adding new material throughout rehearsal and even during preview performances allowed him to tailor each song to its scene, staging, and character. “As a writer I think what I am is an actor,” Sondheim reflected. “I write conversational songs, so the actors find that the rise and fall of the tune, and the harmonies, and particularly the rhythms help them as singers to act the song; they don’t have to act against it.” As Tony and Olivier Award-nominated performer Haydn Gwynne prepares to put her stamp on ‘Send in the Clowns’ as Desiree Armfeldt at the Huntington this fall, she has found, ‘where the song really works is in the context of the scene as a piece of emotional storytelling. I’m not going to be approaching it as a singer as much as from an acting point of view.’ Barbara Streisand agreed that embracing the song’s meaning is as essential as hitting the right notes, admitting, “I thought it was the most gorgeous melody, but I didn’t understand that kind of irony yet…the kind of cynicism that is inherent in the lyric. I wasn’t mature enough to sing it. It’s like growing into a part like Medea or Hedda Gabler; it’s not good when you’re twenty. You need to be older.” For Streisand, the character’s specific and vivid point of view were as essential as the notes in Sondheim’s composition.

Streisand featured “Send in the Clowns,” alongside seven other Sondheim titles, on her 1985 Broadway Album. Skyrocketing to #1, the record cemented the song’s popularity, established a few years earlier by Judy Collins’ Grammy-winning rendition and Frank Sinatra’s performance on Ol’ Blue Eyes is Back. From its overnight inception to its now more than 900 recordings, “Send in the Clowns” tells a story — and that’s how you know Sondheim made it.

– MOLLY FITZMAURICE

“Stephen Sondheim is the great musical theatre genius of a generation. A Little Night Music is one of his masterworks.

I am thrilled with our incredible team of designers, the company of actors we’ve assembled, and the vision we are pursuing for some of the most beautiful music ever written for the stage. We promise to make this a gorgeous night —

one that pulsates with love, the complexities of human desire, and the mischief one finds on a weekend in the country.”

– ARTISTIC DIRECTOR PETER DuBOISDirector Peter DuBois Composer and Lyricist

Stephen Sondheim

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Costume sketches for A Little Night Music by costume designer Robert Morgan.

DURING THE SOLSTICE IN SCANDINAVIA, the sun does not set for days at a time. Dating back to pagan tradition, Midsummer festivities are notoriously raucous social more-thwarting revelry. Against this ripe backdrop in turn-of-the-century Sweden, A Little Night Music celebrates the romantic foibles of Desiree Armfeldt and friends over one eventful extended sunset.

Stephen Sondheim and the original director Harold Prince, “always wanted to do a musical that dealt with love and lovers and mismatched partners...love and foolishness.” While looking for material to adapt into a romantic operetta, they found their own perfect match in the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night. “Bergman achieves one of the few classics of carnal comedy,” wrote renowned film critic Pauline Kael, “a tragicomic chase and roundelay that raises boudoir farce to elegance and lyric poetry.” While Sondheim and book writer Hugh Wheeler retraced

MADAME ARMFELDT The grand and formidable matriarch at whose chateau we gather for a farcical weekend in the country… DESIREE ARMFELDT

The “One and Only Desiree Armfeldt,” a glamorous aging actress.

FREDRIKA ARMFELDT A precocious and self-possessed 13 year-old, watching to see the summer night smile.

ANNE EGERMAN Fredrik’s 18 year- old fairy-tale bride, “unfortunately still a virgin.”

COUNT CARL-MAGNUS MALCOLM A dragoon with “the vanity of a peacock” and “the brain of a pea.”

FREDRIK EGERMAN A lawyer fumbling after his lost youth.

the romantic runarounds of the film’s story, they sweetened Bergman’s cynicism, allowing “the darkness to peep through a whipped-cream surface. Whipped cream with knives.”

Both the danger and the comedy of A Little Night Music stem from the same source: a knotted web of mismatched attachments. Sondheim musicalized the love triangle — and emulated traditional comic operettas — by composing A Little Night Music in variants on three-quarter time, “an orgy of plaintively memorable waltzes, all talking of past loves and lost worlds,” as New York Times critic Clive Barnes admired. Not only are groups of three built into the heartbeat of the music, but many of the songs are performed by trios or as duets about a third, absent person. When Fredrik and Desiree reunite 14 years after their affair, they sing, “You Must Meet My Wife,” a duet devoted to the wife he is about to betray. “Liaisons” and “The Miller’s Son” further the theme, listing three

AH, LIAISONS!

KEY

Marriage

Parentage

Flirtation, Seduction, or Liaison…

The relationships & love triangles of A Little Night Music

?


SEE PAGE 23 FOR SHOW PERFORMANCE CALENDAR AND EVENT LISTINGS

CURTAIN CALLS NAME Stephen Bogardus

ROLE Fredrik Egerman

HOMETOWN Norfolk, VA, but I grew up in Riverside, CT.

IF YOU COULD GIVE YOUR CHARACTER ONE PIECE OF RELATIONSHIP ADVICE, WHAT

WOULD IT BE? Youth and beauty are no substitute for age and experience.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SONG FROM A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC? My favorite is “Send in the Clowns.” It’s a perfect pairing of music and lyric with the dramatic moment: ironic, bittersweet, heartbreaking, and breathtaking all in one, an achingly sublime “11th hour” number.

NAME Aimee Doherty

ROLE Mrs. Segstrom

HOMETOWN Bellingham, MA

WHAT DO YOU ADMIRE ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER? Ms. Segstrom listens and observes more than she speaks. I think that’s smart.

WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS MUSICAL TELLS US ABOUT LOVE AND ROMANCE? It tells me that love will find a way once you finally surrender to it. There is a hope at the base of the show that I find beautiful.

NAME Haydn Gwynne

ROLE Desiree Armfeldt

HOMETOWN A very large village in rural Sussex, England.

WHAT DO YOU ADMIRE ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER? I like that she is warm, witty

and fun. Spontaneous, self-aware, and despite her apparent selfishness, fundamentally a kind person.

WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS MUSICAL TELLS US ABOUT LOVE AND ROMANCE? Love is a wonderful thing. But it gets very messy if you’re not with the right person.

NAME Pablo Torres

ROLE Henrik Egerman

HOMETOWN Bogota, Colombia, but I grew up in South Florida.

IF YOU COULD GIVE YOUR CHARACTER ONE PIECE OF RELATIONSHIP ADVICE, WHAT

WOULD IT BE? I would tell Henrik to take a breath, relax, and remember that he is young; that with time, clarity arises. I would also encourage him to keep an open heart and an open mind.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SONG FROM A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC? It’s a tough choice, but I would have to say “Every Day a Little Death.” I love the way that it captures the exquisite pain that love can bring and the inexplicable power that that special someone has over us.

COUNTESS CHARLOTTE MALCOLM As devoted as she is miserable — but not without her own wiles.

PETRA The Egerman family servant “celebrates everything passing by,” her hips wiggling each step of the way.

Who will have “the good sense to grab the first pretty girl who comes along?”

lovers apiece for former courtesan Madame Armfeldt and Petra, the Egermans’ promiscuous maid. As orchestrator Jonathan Tunick described, “These songs of alienation and yearning for cohesion and balance all represent the unstable number three drawn to the stable two — the triangle yearning to be reconciled to the proper couple.”

Before its happy reconciliation, that romantic instability first explodes into the comic maze of frolicking and flings pictured above. “I want the whole show to have a perfumed quality, not just to bubble like champagne. It is about sex,” remarked Sondheim. “I want some sense of musk on the stage at all times.” As these interlocking love triangles untangle, delightful bubbles of champagne and sensual hints of perfume linger in their wake — like enchanting tunes to leave the theatre humming.

– MOLLY FITZMAURICE

HENRIK EGERMAN “Oh that lawyer’s son, the one who mumbles. Short and boring, yes, he’s hardly worth ignoring.”

THOUGHT-PROVOKING NEW COMEDY

CHOICE

OCT . 16 - NOV . 15

BY

WINNIE HOLZMAN

DIRECTED BY

SHERYL KALLER

SOUTH END

CALDERWOOD PAVILION AT THE BCA

“If it weren’t for Winnie Holzman, pop culture might

be a very different place” – TIME

When successful journalist Zipporah Zunder takes on

an assignment to investigate a new and polarizing social

phenomenon, she is unprepared for how deeply this story will impact her life, transforming her understanding of herself,

her past, and her future. Funny, smart, and deeply emotional, this

unpredictable new play looks at all the layers that live inside a

single choice.


How did you first choose to get into theatre?

WH: I started taking acting classes in New York City when I was 14 with a woman named Sonia Moore who was a disciple of Stanislavski. She was very old, was very Russian and had a stick like a ballet master would have that she would pound if the scene didn’t have the correct pacing.

In many ways I was a quiet, introverted person and suddenly I just decided I’m going to study acting with this Russian woman who studied with Stanislavski. I’m going to be the youngest person in the class and I’m going to go into New York by myself — yet somehow it seemed natural. When I look back at it, I’m touched actually by my willingness to follow my own inner direction.

SK: I grew up very middle class in suburban Long Island. My mother was involved in community theatre and once a month took me on a “mental health day” to a Broadway show. It was a good fit right from the beginning. It was the place that I always felt represented me in a way that felt honest and true. The first show I ever saw professionally was Pippin, so Bob Fosse became the guy that I followed.

How did you choose where to go to college?

WH: I went to Princeton. Interestingly, my high school guidance counselor said, “Oh, you’ll never get in there, don’t apply.” I think that’s what made me apply. On the surface my personality is kind of easygoing, but there is a little rebel inside. If somebody says you absolutely won’t be able to do that, part of me goes “Well, just wait. I will do that.” Princeton has a wonderful theatre tradition,

LEARN MORE ONLINE watch behind-the-scenes videos, see backstage photos, and enjoy additional content about the show at huntingtontheatre.org.

THE MANY MEANINGS OF CHOICEi

“Choice is Winnie Holzman’s first play since she wrote the book for the smash musical Wicked, and her newest play shows her uncommon grace, sensitivity, and humor. With this play, I love how Winnie asks all of us to explore how

our choices shape our lives and help define who we are.” – ARTISTIC DIRECTOR PETER DuBOIS

Director Sheryl Kaller

AS GIRLS GROWING UP IN THE POST-WAR SUBURBAN

PARADISE OF LONG ISLAND, THE MOST ACCEPTABLE

CAREERS FOR WOMEN WERE HOMEMAKER, TEACHER

OR NURSE. IT SEEMED UNLIKELY BACK THEN THAT THEY

WERE DESTINED FOR GROUNDBREAKING WORK ON

BROADWAY AND IN TELEVISION.

BUT AFTER MANY TWISTS AND TURNS, BOTH

PLAYWRIGHT WINNIE HOLZMAN AND DIRECTOR SHERYL

KALLER GARNERED TONY AWARD NOMINATIONS,

HOLZMAN FOR THE BOOK TO THE MUSICAL WICKED

AND KALLER FOR HER DIRECTION OF A PLAY, NEXT FALL.

HOLZMAN IS ALSO THE CREATOR OF “MY SO-CALLED

LIFE” AND A WRITER FOR MANY TELEVISION SHOWS.

DIRECTOR OF NEW WORK LISA TIMMEL SAT

DOWN WITH EACH OF THEM TO TALK ABOUT THE

CHOICES THAT LED THEM TO THIS MOMENT.

continued, next page

Playwright Winnie Holzman

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particularly a student-run theatre called Theatre Intime. When I was there they had no theatre department. What was thrilling was we did it all ourselves. It was just this thing that we were pursuing — although back then I was acting and not writing for theatre.

SK: When I was a senior in high school, I did Bye Bye Birdie. I remember the day of the first performance my classmates were really excited and I wasn’t. I wanted to rehearse more. This was at the time that I started looking at colleges. I went to a college fair and I wound up at the booth for Emerson College. They said, “You don’t have to be an acting major or a directing major or a design major.” At Emerson, you were a dramatic arts major. It all happened at the same time — I realized I didn’t like performing, I was more excited about the process.

You both started your careers in New York, but left before you found your greatest success. What lead to the choice to leave?

WH: I moved out to LA with my husband and my daughter. After she was born, my husband, who had always been turning down stuff that would bring him to LA, wanted to get a series and so he did. I had just had a musical produced Off Broadway that had not been well received and I was at loose ends.

A big blessing of that time was that I had my little daughter. I was very caught up in being the mother of a toddler so I didn’t have a huge amount of time to sit around feeling really bad about the musical. Whenever I could find the time, I did feel bad about the

The cast of the cult favorite TV show “My So-Called Life” created by Winnie Holzman Idina Menzel in the original Broadway production of Wicked, with book by Winnie Holzman

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musical. You have to keep learning this lesson over and over again that these things that you put out there you think you understand: “Oh, this was a quote-unquote success. This was a failure.” You even tend to live with a certain amount of shame about the quote-unquote failures, and you don’t even realize that in truth that is a meaningless, empty, unnecessary idea. At the time, I was struggling with whether I should stop writing. I made a choice without any job. I had a realization that writing was part of who I was even if I was going to be an unsuccessful writer by the world’s standards. I was not going to be able to stop writing. It’s the question of identity, who are you really? Eventually I wrote a spec script for “thirtysomething,” they bought it, and that started my career in television.

SK: After Emerson, I came to New York and did everything that I could possibly do from running spotlight to doing props. By my late 20s, I was getting some directing gigs, doing a lot of downtown theatre, and I was a member of the Circle Rep directors lab. My mother died when I was 29. I had a baby a year later and another baby two years later. My mom was 52 when she died, and I had this irrational belief that I was going to die young as well. If that was the case, then I needed to be home with my children. It worked for me because I had two friends who were similarly questioning career-family balance. One lives in Bermuda, and we started a not-for-profit arts and education program on the island. I lived in Bermuda part-time with my two friends and, collectively, our seven children. We did arts and education, and play development, so my creative

“We need to understand that there is no formula for how women should lead their lives. That is why we must respect the choices

that each woman makes for herself and her family. Every woman deserves the chance to fulfill her God-given potential.”

– HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON

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NAME Johanna Day

ROLE Zippy

HOMETOWN Sperryville, VA

WHAT WAS THE SMARTEST CHOICE YOU HAVE EVER MADE? To be an actress, although I feel by now that wasn’t a choice.

WHAT ARE SOME CHOICES YOU MAKE EVERY DAY? To wake up and get out of bed. You have to wake up and choose to live. Choose your own world, whatever it is, and try very hard to love yourself and yourself in it.

NAME Munson Hicks

ROLE Clark

HOMETOWN Brattleboro, VT

WHAT WAS THE SMARTEST CHOICE YOU HAVE EVER MADE? Marrying my wife

WHAT ARE SOME CHOICES YOU MAKE EVERY DAY? Breakfast, lunch, dinner, where to walk the dogs.

HOW ARE YOU LIKE/NOT LIKE YOUR CHARACTER? I am like him in that we’re both old and he loves his wife. We are different in that he is a smart, persistent no nonsense guy with no illusions about himself.

NAME Raviv Ullman

ROLE Hunter

HOMETOWN I was born on a kibbutz in the south of Israel, but the majority of my formative years took place in Fairfield, CT.

WHAT WAS THE SMARTEST CHOICE YOU HAVE EVER MADE? Moving to New York to pursue a theatre career.

WHAT ARE SOME CHOICES YOU MAKE EVERY DAY? To eat healthy; New York makes it so easy to get a slice of pizza...or three.

HOW ARE YOU LIKE/NOT LIKE YOUR CHARACTER? Hunter has more secrets than I do. I mean, I think I’m a pretty open book. There’s a real mystery to him, and only one direction to head in — up.

NAME Madeline Wise

ROLE Zoe, Leah or Lena

HOMETOWN McLean, VA; in the ‘burbs of Washington, DC.

WHAT ARE SOME CHOICES YOU MAKE EVERY DAY? I try to choose to take on things that will

challenge and edify me daily (and then I try to choose not to get stressed out when I take on too many of those things). I choose to be grateful for my health and the people I love and the life I’m able to have. I make boring choices about how I take my coffee and what to wear. I choose to be kind to others and to myself.

HOW ARE YOU LIKE/NOT LIKE YOUR CHARACTER? Zoe and I share ferociously intelligent and interesting parents, and we both have liberal arts degrees (mine is slightly more practical, but not by much). As for Leah/Lena, I’ve never worked in the depilation industry, but we both like to talk.

juices were going all that time. Then we developed a play that I believed in, so I called Joanna Pfaelzer at New York Stage & Film, I think, once a week for about six months until she took my phone call. They let me do a workshop, gave me some visibility, and eight years after that, I made my Broadway debut. Joanna helped me defy the odds and come back into a career.

What lead to the choice to work on Choice?

WH: I wanted to write something that people weren’t expecting me to write. I feel inspired by doing the unexpected, by allowing myself to go somewhere new. I got an idea that evolved and ended up being Choice. No pun intended, but there was no choice there. It clearly wasn’t an idea for a television show, or a movie or a musical. In truth I wanted to write a play, but I was also scared to death of this idea. Many people have said to me, “Oh, it’s not your first play because of Wicked,” but you know it kind of is. In some ways I was walking into virgin territory, or pushing myself into a place that was not my comfort zone.

SK: Winnie is a groundbreaker, one of the women that paved the way for me and for you. She was one of the first women, one of the most consistent women, in television. Then she created her first Broadway musical and it turns out to be Wicked. Who does that other than Winnie Holzman? What Winnie’s trying to say in this play is that we create our choices. Not only do we have choices but we create our choices. Winnie found me at a time in my life where my 50s and 60s are ahead of me, and what am I going to do in this act three of my life? Not a lot people write about women at this age where we start reflecting on our lives. How do we reflect and move forward at the same time? What are our responsibilities as women moving forward, our responsibility as mothers, our responsibilities as human beings on this planet? It’s not only that we recycle our bottles. What else can we do?

Women having choices at all is a relatively new thing in human history. How has it affected you and the choices you’ve made? Being a woman, have the choices been tougher in some way?

WH: There is no question that — and this doesn’t just apply to women — that if you don’t see something modeled for you, you have to make it up as you go along. You need a huge burst of courage and imagination, or you may not be able to do it. Our generation of women didn’t really see having choices modeled. We were flying blind. Most of us didn’t grow up with moms who were leading lives that had a core of feminism. When we took that on, we didn’t know what that would look like. I have a line in the play where Erica says, ‘We looked at our mothers and we thought, ‘I can’t live that life.’ But then how am I going to live? It left a big question mark. Any time society makes a big shift there are tremors and aftershocks. That’s inevitable. And there’s discomfort. Writing a play is not about having a lot of answers. Writing a play is about asking questions and wanting to talk about those questions out loud with a group.


CURTAIN CALLS

NICK OFFERMAN IN

A CONFEDERACY

OF DUNCES

NOV . 11 - DEC .1 3

Braille

“An epic comedy. A rumbling, roaring

avalanche of a book.” – THE WASHINGTON POST

Nick Offerman (“Parks and Recreation”) stars as

larger-than-life character Ignatius J. Reilly, the Don Quixote of the

French Quarter. He’s overweight, arrogant, eccentric, and still living

with his mother in New Orleans in the 1960s. Adapted from the

cult classic, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, A Confederacy of Dunces

is a hilarious wild ride, filled with colorful characters and comic

misadventures.

BY

JEFFREY

HATCHER

BASED ON THE PULITZER

PRIZE-WIN

NING NOVEL BY

JOHN KENNEDY

TOOLE

DIRECTED BY

DAVID

ESBJORNSON

AVENUE OF THE ARTS

BU THEATRE


TOTAL EXCESS: IGNATIUS J. REILLY, NICK OFFER-

Confronted by a suspicious and eager policeman, Ignatius J. Reilly — the central character of A Confederacy of Dunces — rattles off the list of New Orleans denizens more worthy of attention: “It is odd that in a city famous for its gamblers, prostitutes, exhibitionists, Antichrists, alcoholics, fetishists, onanists, frauds, jades, and litterbugs, the police would make it a point to harass the likes of me.” Readers of the classic novel — written by John Kennedy Toole in the 1960s and published posthumously in 1980 — know that the story of Dunces is driven by the epic, extravagant, terrifying brashness of Ignatius himself, somehow more sordid and distorted in his own way than any of the other outsiders in the Big Easy.

Excessive in all things, Ignatius J. Reilly is one of the most indelible characters created in the 20th century. Henry Kisor in a review for the Chicago Sun Times described him as “huge, obese, fractious, fastidious, a latter-day Gargantua, a Don Quixote of the French Quarter.” Adaptor and playwright Jeffrey Hatcher leapt at the opportunity to translate the challenging character for the stage, and as he began, quickly seized that his work would have to make a divisive, potentially alienating character into someone that audiences could connect with. The breakthrough was when Hatcher realized that behind Ignatius’ hideous behavior — his ranting at his mother, his leftist lectures to coworkers, his philosophical ravings on theology and geometry, his gross physical condition and lack of hygiene — was a classic archetype. “Inside this big blob was Clifton Webb in Laura, Claude Rains in Casablanca, and George Sanders in All About Eve,” Hatcher says. “Underneath his blancmange-like facade, Ignatius is precise, witty, and urbane. Once I understood that he was that kind of theatrical character, making the book into a play made sense to me.”

In casting the play, Hatcher and director David Esbjornson had to find someone who could inhabit the larger than life aspects of Ignatius’ persona, an ability they discovered in actor and humorist

Nick Offerman. “The book tells you he’s an egregiously fat guy, so a lot of roles are easier to cast than Ignatius,” Hatcher says. “Nick isn’t fat, but when his name came up, we saw what Ignatius could be. Ignatius has a Falstaffian persona: so has Nick. There’s a deadpan quality to his acting which I associate with characters in Oscar Wilde. Ignatius is a descendant of Wilde’s Lord Goring by way of Kaufman and Hart’s Sheridan Whiteside with some Alfred Jarry on the side.”

Much as the stage version has echoes of Shakespeare and Wilde, the plot of the original novel is a modern mash-up of the sensibility that drives the great comic novels of all time; echoes of Dickens, Cervantes, Swift, Fielding, and Rabelais all get swirled together in this postmodern 1960s landscape. In the play, after Ignatius’ badgering sends his mother careening her car into the side of a building, they have to pay exorbitant damages or risk poverty and imprisonment. Ignatius, who is a grown man but has never held down full time work, goes in search of a job, a quest that brings him into contact with a vast swath of an exploitative, corrupt society from factory floor protests to street corner shakedowns.

The title of the book comes from a famous Jonathan Swift quote: “When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.” The story of A Confederacy of Dunces crashes together some of the great social forces of 1960s America — counterculture, race relations, labor — and questions whether Ignatius can outwit the nitwits around him. “A lot of the people in this play are trapped,” Hatcher says. “The way out for them may be success, it may be freedom, it may be leaving New Orleans. Ignatius is frightened of leaving New Orleans, but he must leave New Orleans. Like the rest of them, he’s trapped and looking for a way out.”

– CHARLES HAUGLAND

LEARN MORE ONLINE watch behind-the-scenes videos, see backstage photos, and enjoy additional content about the show at huntingtontheatre.org.

“A Confederacy of Dunces is an iconic novel with an incredible cult following. It’s a privilege to work

with playwright Jeffrey Hatcher, the brilliant and profoundly funny Nick Offerman, and our friend

director David Esbjornson, and to be the first to share this exciting new play with Boston audiences.”

– ARTISTIC DIRECTOR PETER DuBOIS

AND A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES

Director David EsbjornsonPlaywright Jefferey Hatcher

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SOUND DESIGNER MARK BENNETT HAS BEEN A CONSISTENT

PRESENCE AT THE HUNTINGTON IN RECENT SEASONS. WHETHER

COMPOSING MUSIC FOR DEAD END AND THE SEAGULL, OR

COMPOSING AND DESIGNING SOUND FOR VANYA AND SONIA

AND MASHA AND SPIKE, HE WANTS HIS WORK TO EXPLORE,

DEVELOP, AND AMPLIFY THE THEMES OF THE PRODUCTION.

BEFORE REHEARSALS BEGAN, HE SPOKE TO DRAMATURG CHARLES

HAUGLAND ABOUT HIS APPROACH TO A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES.

What attracted you to designing for A Confederacy of Dunces?

First of all, any time [director] David Esbjornson calls, it is exciting to me. Our history spans from working with Edward Albee to Arthur Miller. We always clicked in terms of finding combinations of original music and source material to make soundscapes that tell a story. Then of course, there is the book itself, which I had not read before. The book is like a magic trick; suddenly at the end of the story I found myself rooting for this character who, in the first 75 to 100 pages, I just wanted to get away from. When you put the tapestry of New Orleans behind it, the project becomes irresistible.

How do sound and music figure into the production?

The challenge with any story that is structured episodically is that you have many transitions. One of the requirements of my work is figuring out how to use those transitions as ways to drive the story forward. There has to be a constant ebb and flow between music rising to the forefront to sweep you into the next location and then dropping underneath, sometimes as underscoring. The idea of keeping music going throughout is an important point to both David and me, because you experience that in New Orleans. Even when you shut your window, the music is going to bleed through.

How is the culture of New Orleans music inherent to or tied up in A Confederacy of Dunces for you?

The wonderful thing about the cast of characters from John Kennedy Toole’s story is that each has their own generational experience of New Orleans. When you talk about what is the culture of New Orleans

Kate Burton and Marc Vietor in The Seagull (2014)The cast of Dead End (2000)

AN INTERVIEW WITH COMPOSER & SOUND DESIGNER

MARK BENNETT

Mark Bennett

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music, you also have to ask yourself when. You have older characters whose experience of New Orleans is an older style of music. You have characters whose main experience may be Dixieland or even pop music. When you think of New Orleans, the mistake is to think only of Pete Fountain on clarinet with a back-up band that featured a banjo; even listening just through the anthology of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, you hear the change that occurred over time in that music. In both the novel and Jeffrey Hatcher’s magnificent adaptation, the world is a kaleidoscope. You refract one frame of light from the story, and it is one style of music. It is one set of characters. Refract another frame, and it is a whole other set.

What was your experience workshopping the play in New Orleans?

It was incredibly exciting to be able to walk the streets of New Orleans at any time of the day or night, because the city gives you a constantly shifting musical environment. The production team spent a fair amount of time down by Fisherman Street at clubs like the Spotted Cat. You go from one club to the next, and you quickly hear a swath of different kinds of New Orleans music. On top of that, all these clubs are within a 200-foot radius of each other. So the minute you go out into the street, you get the sense of different music coming at you at the same time, which I hope to recreate in some way on stage. You’re hearing blues, solo piano, and zydeco from three different clubs and it all ends up like a blender when you’re in the middle of the street. The style of music is so varied that you cannot help but get saturated in the magnificent collision of it all.

Tyler Lansing Weaks, Haneefah Wood, Candy Buckley, and Martin Moran in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (2015)

NICK OFFERMAN’S WIT & WISDOM

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Actor Nick Offerman is best known as the deadpan libertarian Ron Swanson from the hit comedy “Parks and Recreation,” but Offerman’s background is working on the stage. “I come from the theatre,” Offerman says. “I got into acting because I love transforming. I love nothing more than to be unrecognizable.” A modern Renaissance man, Offerman is also an accomplished woodworker and the author of two books: Gumption, a look at our nation through the lives of 25 famous Americans, and Paddle Your Own Canoe, a humorous advice manual. Here are a few highlights:

“ Jobs that require a suit upset me. They displease me much, as our world is rife with such superficial conformity.”

“ My life is always more delicious when I have whiskers on my face, but that might just be because those whiskers tend to accumulate bacon crumbs and scotch, rendering them literally delicious all day long.”

“ Choose your favorite spade and dig a small, deep hole, located deep in the forest or a desolate area of the desert or tundra. Bury your cell phone and then find a hobby.”

“ Learn to do something with your hands. Ladies and men alike find handcrafting to be really sexy. When I met [my wife] Megan [Mullally], I was building a set for the play we were doing, and she saw me with my tool belt for a month. I would be a fool to think that didn’t have some effect on her hormonal decision.”

“ Siddhartha said life is like a river, the thought of watching it pass me by causes me to shiver. So I grab life by the balls, I got some advice to deliver. Get off your caboose. Paddle your own canoe.”

– NICK OFFERMAN

“Parks and Recreation” cast, left to right, Aziz Ansari, Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, and Chris Pratt

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Jill Roberts said, “We stand here tonight as recipients of the Wimberly Award because, quite simply, we are passionate about this theatre.” Mitch Roberts added, “In the 20 years that I have been involved with the

Huntington, I have watched it grow from an impressive regional house to a theatre with national presence that was recognized with a Tony Award by the American Theatre Wing just two years ago.”

Nicholas Martin’s artistic legacy was celebrated by his friends and frequent collaborators, including the Huntington’s Playwright-in-Residence Melinda Lopez who said, “Nicky trusted his gut. He trusted us.

He trusted our talent. Many of us from the Boston community had that experience. Not just for one show. Many shows.” Victor Garber (Present Laughter at the Huntington) took the stage to say, “Nicholas loved

directing — new plays, classic plays, and big plays. He dazzled us with the wide variety of work that he put on stage here. From Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, to a delightful musical like She Loves Me, to Noël Coward’s

Present Laughter, he handled each show with the same loving care and skill that audiences came to expect and appreciate.” Kate Burton capped the evening with the announcement that the Huntington

will rename Rehearsal Hall A in the Calderwood Pavilion to be the Nicholas Martin Rehearsal Hall.

The evening’s entertainment included Capathia Jenkins (The Colored Museum), Broadway actress Kate Baldwin, who starred in the Huntington’s production of She Loves Me directed by Martin

in 2008, and Tony Award-nominated actor Jere Shea.

The evening also included the presentation of the Gerard and Sherryl Cohen Award for Excellence, which recognizes two Huntington staff members each year. This year’s recipients were Artistic Programs

and Dramaturgy Charles Haugland and Master Electrician Katherine T. Herzig.

The Spotlight Spectacular was co-chaired by Valerie & Mark Friedman and Linda & Bill McQuillan. Event design was by Rafanelli Events, lighting and sound design was by High Output, rentals were provided by Be Our Guest, floral arrangements were provided by Winston Flowers, event printing

was donated by Noble Ford Productions, and the event was catered by MAX Ultimate Food.

Watch a video about the Huntington’s student matinees and other education programs supported by proceeds from the Spotlight Spectacular at huntingtontheatre.org/education.

ON APRIL 27, NEARLY 450 GUESTS HONORED HUNTINGTON BOARD PRESIDENT MITCH ROBERTS AND

JILL ROBERTS AND CELEBRATED THE ARTISTIC LEGACY OF FORMER HUNTINGTON ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, THE LATE

NICHOLAS MARTIN, WHILE RAISING A RECORD-BREAKING $1,270,000 TO SUPPORT THE HUNTINGTON AND ITS

RENOWNED EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMS AT THE ANNUAL SPOTLIGHT SPECTACULAR.

HUNTINGTON SUPPORTERS RAISED A RECORD-BREAKING $1.27 MILLION

AT THE SPOTLIGHT SPECTACULAR

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THANK YOU!Because of wonderful supporters like you, last season:

• 29,000 MIDDLE SCHOOL & HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS engaged in education programs and live theatre experiences

• 5,400 LOW-INCOME AUDIENCE MEMBERS saw our productions at reduced price or no cost

• 30I PERFORMANCES of eight Huntington main stage productions came to life

• I20 ARTISTS performed on our stages and in workshops

• 7 NEW PLAYS were developed by Huntington Playwriting Fellows

• I NEW ANTI-BULLYING EDUCATION PROGRAM “Not Waiting on the World to Change” came to life as a collaboration between playwright Kirsten Greenidge and 10 local teens

Please consider continuing your impact by making a gift at huntingtontheatre.org/support.

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DONOR FAITH TIBERIO:

LEADING BY EXAMPLE Managing Director Michael Maso and Faith Tiberio

at the meet and greet for Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

“Having been so lucky and fortunate in

my life, I feel compelled to give back. I look to

see a need that fits my ability to help.”

– FAITH TIBERIO

WELCOME NEW OVERSEERS

Actress, harpist, mother, writer, volunteer, lecturer, fashionista, theatre lover, philanthropist, swimmer, Phi Beta Kappa key holder, CEO, nonagenarian, — and farmer — Faith Tiberio is clearly exceptional.

Among her many passions, Faith Tiberio is a notably enthusiastic fan and supporter of the Huntington. As a writer, she cherishes the Huntington’s commitment to new plays while admiring its fresh take on the classics. In fact, she can name scene-by-scene her favorite productions, and she has a special fondness for anything starring actress Kate Burton.

Faith first nurtured her love of the stage as a teen growing up in Florida during World War II, when she toured with a well-known theatre company until its short-sighted director declared that Faith would never be cast as the ingenue. Without a glance back, Faith turned her ambitions to perfecting her musicianship and became an accomplished harpist, a talent she continues to nurture and share.

Faith met her late husband, Joseph W. (Ty) Tiberio, at a USO Dance while he was serving in the Navy. Like Faith, Ty would go on to wear many hats, including serving as President, CEO, and Chairman of a

Huntington Board Chairman Carol G. Deane is pleased to announce the recent election of seven members to the Huntington’s Council of Overseers: Kitty Ames, Suzanne Capone, Bette Cohen, Sherry Lang, Nancy Lukitsh, Rumena Manolova-Senchak, and Juliet Turner. In welcoming them, Deane remarked that “these new Board members bring an array of talent, experience, and viewpoints to the Huntington and will play a vital leadership role as ambassadors and champions. I am enormously grateful for their commitment to the Huntington.”


multi-branched suburban bank. He was an entrepreneur in spirit and action, and founded Century Manufacturing Co., Inc. and Ty-Wood Corporation, which now, among other products, deal in precision sheet metals and fiber optics. After Ty’s death two years ago, Faith stepped into the role of president, keeping the companies thriving and, ever the farmer, also establishing a potato field lovingly nurtured by the companies’ employees.

Active in many organizations as a volunteer and philanthropist locally and in Florida and Pennsylvania, Faith has served on a number of boards. Among them, she has held the posts of President of the National Farm and Garden Association and Curator General of the DAR in Washington, DC. Together, the Tiberios became generous supporters of education and humanitarian endeavors, including the Huntington.

“Having been so lucky and fortunate in my life, I feel compelled to give back. I look to see a need that fits my ability to help,” says Faith about her support of so many organizations.

After raising their two children, and at an age when most people would have considered retirement, Faith returned to college to complete her undergraduate work in communications and

BUILDING A LEGACY OF GREAT THEATRE: HUNTINGTON LEGACY SOCIETYMembers of the Huntington Legacy Society play a lasting role in securing the Huntington’s strong, successful future beyond their lifetime by making a bequest or other planned gift. No amount is too small. Members enjoy benefits and recognition today for their future gift, including:

• Acknowledgment in Huntington program books

• Invitations to Huntington Legacy Society events

• Private backstage tours upon request

If you have already included the Huntington as part of your will or estate plan, or if you wish to discuss how you can participate in the Huntington Legacy Society, please contact:

David Dalena, Senior Director of External Relations 617 273 1547 [email protected]

deepen her writing talent. She went on to earn a MFA in creative writing at Boston University. That’s when she was introduced to the Huntington and attended her first production, Animal Crackers. She and Ty became subscribers and devoted friends of the Huntington, where Faith serves as a member of the Education Committee.

A recent visit to our backstage production areas left Faith in awe of the dedication and craft of the production team, and the Huntington’s costume shop staff equally in awe of Faith’s passionate commitment to the Huntington — not to mention her obvious sense of fashion and style.

Faith sums up her commitment to community service and the arts quite simply: “Look around and observe where you spend time and see if there is something you want to make better, more useful or more beautiful.”

Thank you, Faith, for being such a generous benefactor of the Huntington. We wish you a happy 90th birthday and many happy returns of the day!

Visit huntingtontheatre.org/support to join Faith Tibero in supporting the Huntington.

Peter Slutsker, Eric Hutson, Les Marsden, Justine Johnson, and Frank Ferrante in Animal Crackers (1988)

Harris Yulin and Kate Burton in Hedda Gabler (2001)

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ANNOUNCING OUR 2015-2016 STUDENT

MATINEE SEASON! STUDENT MATINEE TICKETS ARE JUST

$15! Performances start at 10am and are followed by lively Actors Forums with

members of the cast. Student groups are also welcome at regularly scheduled

performances and free pre-show classroom workshops. For more information, to book

your school group today, or request a brochure, contact Meg O’Brien, Manager

of Education Operations at [email protected] or 617 273 1558.

Seats fill quickly, reserve today!

Our online Curriculum Guides are available for use in the classroom

and include historical information, interesting facts about the production,

lesson plans, and more.

LEARN MORE ONLINE: Visit huntingtontheatre.org/studentmatinees

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC SEPTEMBER 24, 10AM

A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES NOVEMBER 20, 10AM

MILK LIKE SUGAR FEBRUARY 11, 10AM

AUGUST WILSON’S HOW I LEARNED

WHAT I LEARNED MARCH 11, 10AM

MARCH 31, 10AM

I WAS MOST ALIVE WITH YOU

JUNE 10, 10AM

POETRY OUT LOUD INSPIRES THOUSANDS OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS!2015 Massachusetts State Champion, Caroline Sprague (Monument Mountain Regional High School) had this to say about the National Finals in Washington, DC this past April:

“ My experience was one of condensed learning, discovery, and joy. The competition itself felt secondary to the overwhelming desire for the students to share and connect with one another.”

Poetry Out Loud in Massachusetts continues to grow: last year 85 schools participated, with 604 teachers, and more than 20,000 students were included in this incredible program. Nationally, Poetry Out Loud has reached close to 3 million students from more than 7,500 schools since its inception in 2006.

Last year, Poetry Out Loud continued to see an increase in participation across Massachusetts. Massachusetts is ranked 5th in the nation for total number of schools participating, 4th in the nation for number of students, and 5th in the nation for total number of teachers participating.

This fall marks the beginning of the 11th annual Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest, and registration is now open! This is a free program open to all high schools (grades 9-12) in Massachusetts.

Register your school today (grades 9-12 only): huntingtontheatre.org/pol.

Questions? Please contact Donna Glick, Director of Education, at [email protected] or 617 273 1548.

Supported by The National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

2015 Poetry Out Loud Massachusetts State Finalists

Caroline Sprague, 2015 Poetry Out Loud Massachusetts Champion

2015 Poetry Out Loud Top 6 Finalists for Massachusetts

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AUGUST WILSON MONOLOGUE COMPETITION IS EXPANDING!

The Huntington Theatre Company is thrilled to be the Boston home of the August Wilson Monologue Competition, and this year the competition is expanding to reach additional schools.

August Wilson’s Century Cycle is a singular achievement in American theatre. Each of his 10 plays is set in a different decade of the 20th century and depicts the American experience from the African American viewpoint, an important thread often missing from American history lessons. At the core of each play are soaring, lyrical monologues that take the song, laughter, pain, and

rich content of African-American life and place it in the mouths of a great and varied ensemble of characters.

The competition is open to students of all backgrounds and abilities in grades 9-12 at high schools in the Greater Boston area. Registration will open September 1, 2015. Teachers who register their schools will receive competition protocol and curricular materials created by the Huntington, based on our August Wilson residency program. This information will help integrate the competition into your curriculum, guide you in teaching a play by August Wilson, and coach students’ monologue preparation.

Register your school today (grades 9-12 only): huntingtingtontheatre.org/augustwilson.

Funded in part by the BPS Arts Expansion Initiative at EdVestors and the Ramsey McCluskey Foundation.

EXPANDED ACCESSIBLE PROGRAMMING FOR 2015-2016The Huntington is proud to expand our accessible programming for the 2015-2016 Season! As part of our 5-year plan to have each production be accessible, we are thrilled to announce one additional American Sign Language-Interpreted performance and one additional audio described performance for this season. Tickets are $20 for each patron and one additional guest. To reserve, contact Meg O’Brien at [email protected] or 617 273 1558.

AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE- INTERPRETED PERFORMANCES

A Little Night Music • September 24, 10am • October 2, 8pm

August Wilson’s How I Learned What I Learned • March 11 and 31, 10am • April 1, 8pm

I Was Most Alive With You • Dates TBD. Stay tuned!

This very exciting production will be accessible. More information to come soon.

AUDIO-DESCRIBED PERFORMANCES

A Little Night Music • September 24, 10am • October 3, 2pm

A Confederacy of Dunces • November 20, 10am • December 5, 2pm

August Wilson’s How I Learned What I Learned • March 11, 10am • April 2, 2pm

Boston Regional Finalist, Maria Gonzalez

Joshua Champagne, Maria Gonzalez, and Carla Velasquez, Boston’s National Finalists with Kenny Leon

Boston Regional Competition Participants

Wendy Watson, ASL Interpreter for The Jungle Book

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• Lila Rose Kaplan’s Home of the Brave will be seen in June 2016 at Merrimack Rep. Home of the Brave had a Breaking Ground reading at the Huntington last year. Her musical The Pirate Princess will also be produced at American Repertory Theater in December 2015.

• Eleanor Burgess’s Start Down has been awarded the 2015 Alliance/Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Award, and will be produced at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta in January 2016. Start Down was developed in the 2014 Summer Workshop series.

• MJ Kaufman’s Sagittarius Ponderosa will be staged in January 2016 at New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco. MJ is a two- time participant in the Summer Workshop series.

• And of course, we are thrilled that Kirsten Greenidge’s Obie Award-winning Milk Like Sugar will be seen here at the Huntington in January 2016.

In June, the Huntington’s Education Department held a reading and discussion of an important new play. For the past year, Huntington Playwriting Fellow Kirsten Greenidge (Luck of the Irish, Milk Like Sugar) worked with 10 Boston-area high school students to create a new play, The View from Here, that the Huntington hopes will contribute to building awareness and understanding of teenage bullying.

Recent statistics suggest that the majority of students will experience bullying at some point in their academic careers, and increasing attention has been given to the importance of students, teachers, and parents’ understanding and recognizing the signs of bullying (among both bullies and victims), and

being equipped with strategies and tools to address school bullying. We hope that The View From Here will become a useful tool for educators and students as they continue to address this problem in their schools.

This reading was an early step in the development of the the education department’s new program Not Waiting on the World to Change, and it was exciting to share Kirsten’s play with many members of the Huntington community. One major goal for this new education program is to raise awareness and funds with hopes of mounting a full production of The View from Here in the near future to share with school and community audiences.

For more information or to support this new program, visit huntingtontheatre.org/education.

HUNTINGTON PLAYWRITING FELLOWS — IN BOSTON & BEYOND

This program is supported by the Stanford Calderwood Fund for New American Plays and the Harry Kondoleon Playwriting Fund, with special thanks to The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.

Work by Huntington Playwriting Fellows is popping up all over the Boston area and beyond this season. Here’s an update on other Playwriting Fellows whose work is being staged in the coming year. We are proud to say that many of these plays were developed at the Huntington through readings and workshops:

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT LAUNCHES NEW ANTI-BULLYING PROGRAM

Cast of the staged reading of The View From Here


PERFORMANCE CALENDARS SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER 2015

CALENDAR KEY(o) 35 BELOW WRAP PARTY A special evening for young

professionals aged 21 – 35 complete with a post-show party. Visit huntingtontheatre.org/35below for more information.

(@) ASL-INTERPRETED For Deaf and hard-of-hearing audience members. Call 617 273 1558 for more information.

( ~ ) AUDIO-DESCRIBED For blind and low-visioned audience members. Call 617 273 1558 for more information.

(d) ACTORS FORUM Participating members of the cast answer your questions following the performance.

(c) COMMUNITY MEMBERSHIP A special reception for members of our Community Membership program.

( f ) FIRST LOOK

(h) HUMANITIES FORUM A post-performance talk on the historical and literary context of the show featuring a leading local scholar.

( • ) POST-SHOW CONVERSATIONS Dynamic post-show conversations with fellow audience members and Huntington staff held after most every performance (except select Saturday and Sunday evenings).

(*) PRESS OPENING NIGHT

(s) STUDENT MATINEE For groups of students in grades 6-12. Call 617 273 1558 for more information.

TICKETSPRICES Start at $25

35 BELOW $30 for those 35 and under at every performance

STUDENTS (25 AND UNDER) & MILITARY $20

GROUPS (10+) Discounts are available for Groups of 10 or more, plus groups have access to backstage tours, talks with artists, and space for receptions. Contact 617 273 1657 or [email protected].

SUBSCRIBERS Receive $10 off any additional tickets purchased.

Prices include a $3 per ticket Capital Enhancement fee.

HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG617 266 0800

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COMPANYVENUE OF THE ARTS

& SOUTH END

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STAGE & SCREEN AT THE COOLIDGE CORNER THEATREStage & Screen is a collaboration between the Coolidge Corner Theatre and the Huntington and explores the depictions of shared themes in Huntington productions and acclaimed films. Our fall lineup includes:

SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 AT 7PMIngmar Bergman explores the complexities of desire in late 19th century Sweden in this renowned comedy, the inspiration for A Little Night Music. Join us for a conversation after the film with Edgar B. Herwick III of WGBH’s Curiosity Desk and A Little Night Music Choreographer Daniel Pelzig.

DOWN BY LAW MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16 AT 7PMFate brings together three hapless men — an unemployed DJ (Tom Waits), a small-time pimp (John Lurie), and a strong-willed Italian tourist (Roberto Benigni) — in a Louisiana prison in Jim Jarmusch’s brilliant portrait of loners and misfits. Join us for a conversation after the film with Huntington staff and artists about the New Orleans loners and misfits of A Confederacy of Dunces.

Tickets are $12 ($9 for Huntington Subscribers) and may be purchased online at coolidge.org or at the Coolidge box office, located at 290 Harvard Street, Brookline.

SPECIAL EVENTSJoin us for post-show talkbacks featuring guests from The Boston Globe.

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC SUNDAY, SEPT. 27 FOLLOWING THE 2PM PERFORMANCEBoston Globe Associate Arts Editor Steve Smith will discuss the music of Stephen Sondheim with A Little Night Music Music Director Jonathan Mastro.

CHOICE DATE: TBAColumnist Robin Abrahams (aka Miss Conduct) from Boston Globe Magazine speaks with Playwright Winnie Holzman on women’s issues and themes from the play.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Spotlight Magazine, Fall 2015

Documents

Transcript of Spotlight Magazine, Fall 2015