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4 episodes with topdog underdog
2 episodes with topdog underdog
2 episodes with topdog underdog
2 episodes with topdog underdog
2 episodes with topdog underdog
2 episodes with topdog underdog
2 episodes with topdog underdog
Dans cette mini-série de deux épisodes, Lirëza et Agata ont invité Kathinka, autrice d'une thèse sur le travail de Suzan-Lori Parks, écrivaine de théâtre afro-américain. Durant cette thèse Kathinka a oeuvré pour traduire sa pièce la plus connue "Topdog Underdog" et cette traduction l'a menée dans des méandres de réflexions sur sa position de blanche et son passé au Rwanda. C'est surtout de ça qu'on parle lors de cet échange, même si on nerd out sur la littérature traduite et un peu sur la musique. Cet un épisode particulier pour Les Poissons. Habituellement dans une posture de personnes opprimées dans un système patriarcal, ici nous sommes dans une posture de dominantes dans un système blanc. Ça modifie évidemment la démarche. Cette dernière fut lourde d'importance pour nous et d'ailleurs ce n'est pas un hasard que nous diffusons le résultat la veille de la grève féministe suisse du 14 juin, qui se veut intersectionnelle. Dans ce premier épisode, nous abordons la question de l'appropriation culturelle, de ce que c'est d'aimer profondément une œuvre, une artiste, et comment aimer responsablement quand des liens de domination dont nous héritons et que nous risquons inévitablement de perpétuer se mêlent. Nous travaillons sur le devoir d'information en tant que blanches, la façon réflexive dont nous devons nous positionner, et enfin, la volonté de "rendre à César ce qui est à César" culturellement mais aussi économiquement.Merci pour votre écoute qui, nous espérons aura éveillé des réflexions et des remises en questions comme ça a été pour nous.Bonne grève à touxtes!Les poissonsAbonnez-vous ou suivez-nous sur :https://www.patreon.com/lespoissonssansbicycletteshttps://www.instagram.com/lespoissonssansbicycletteshttps://shows.acast.com/les-poissons-sans-bicycletteshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqd_tdQuItJJT0HQ_Tri5xg Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.
Director Eric J. Little discusses “Topdog/Underdog” on stage at Actor’s Express through April 19th. Plus, Gayle Lewis takes to the small stage for our series, “Speaking of Comedy.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This week on No Script, Jackson and Jacob discuss a play described as a "companion" to "Topdog/Underdog." Suzan-Lori Parks' "The Book of Grace" is about borders... both those on land and the ones we place, intentionally and fearfully, in our hearts. Listen in. ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For as low as $1/month, you can help to ensure the No Script Podcast can continue. https://www.patreon.com/noscriptpodcast ----------------------------- We want to keep the conversation going! Have you read this play? Have you seen it? Comment and tell us your favorite themes, characters, plot points, etc. Did we get something wrong? Let us know. We'd love to hear from you. Find us on social media at: Email: noscriptpodcast@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/No-Script-The-Podcast-1675491925872541/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/noscriptpodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/noscriptpodcast/ ------------------------------ Thanks so much for listening! We'll see you next week.
Named one of TIME magazine's “100 Innovators for the Next New Wave,” Suzan-Lori Parks is the first African American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Topdog/Underdog. She joins to discuss her long and illustrious career as a playwright, musician, and novelist. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Joining Jack & Eden is Loren Hunter and Giorgia Kennedy who are currently playing Jane Seymour and Catherine Parr in Six the Musical. They also touch on Frankenstein's Melbourne season, Melbourne Theatre Company's Topdog/Underdog and share a major musical announcement! THE LINKS Our website Our Instagram Our TikTok Loren's Instagram Giorgia's Instagram Go and see Six the Musical!
Joining John to answer the questions on this episode of The Saturday Quiz is the director Bert LaBonté and one of the actors Ras-Samuel from the Pulitzer Prize winning play Topdog/Underdog, which is playing right now in the Lawler at Melbourne Theatre Company's Southbank Theatre. The Suzan-Lori Parks play tells the story of Lincoln and Booth, two down-on-their-luck brothers wrestling with the realities of the American Dream. The first play by an African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, it is playing right now until the 21st of September.Get your tickets to Topdog/Underdog here:https://www.mtc.com.au/plays-and-tickets/whats-on/season-2024/topdogunderdog/Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-saturday-quiz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The American playwright Suzan-Lori Parks started writing plays on the advice of a very famous mentor: the celebrated writer and civil rights activist, James Baldwin. Suzan-Lori won a Pulitzer Prize for her 2001 play Topdog/Underdog, a revival of which also won a Tony Award. It's now on stage in Australia for the first time.Also, Marina Prior and Michael Cormick, two superstars of Australian musical theatre, hit the highway with their Centrestage tour, and while many artists are sounding alarm bells about artificial intelligence, choreographer Alisdair Macindoe is embracing it. In Plagiary, Macindoe hands the role of choreographer to an algorithm.
Joining Jack & Eden is Brianna Bishop who has recently finished up with Grease as Marty, and has previously taken on the roles of Ella in Midnight: The Cinderella Musical and Amber Von Tussel in Hairspray. They also speak about Jemma Rix's return as Elphaba, the upcoming Melbourne tour of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, and the premieres of Shake and Stir's Frankenstein and Melbourne Theatre Company's Topdog/Underdog. THE LINKS Our website Our Instagram Our Tiktok Brianna's Instagram Midnight: The Cinderalla Musical cast album
In this episode, Lindsey is combining her passions for theater, hair and self-image in a conversation with 2024 Tony honoree Nikiya Mathis. The ultimate multi-hyphenate, Nikiya is a classically trained actress with an MFA in Acting from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts as well as a wig and hair designer who has lent her talents to shows like Chicken & Biscuits, Death of a Salesman, Topdog/Underdog, Once Upon a One More Time, The Heart of Rock and Roll, Home, Cats: The Jellicle Ball and of course, Jocelyn Bioh's 2024 Tony-nominated play, Jaja's African Hair Braiding. She opens up to Lindsey about what called her to performing, the experiences that inspired her to take on supporting her peers with their hair and ultimately, becoming an acclaimed Broadway wig and hair designer. Nikiya even shares some great tips and questions to consider when purchasing a wig.
Our friends at Celebrations Arts Sacramento's premier Black theater, is thrilled to present the third production in its 2024 Season "Black Girl Magic, which is a celebration of black women playwrights and directors. Dr. Melinda Wilson Ramey is one of Sacramento's most outstanding directors and educators. TopDog Underdog marks her directorial return to Celebration Arts and she and the cast are excited for you to see this production! Hear our conversation and then get your tickets. The show opens this Friday, June 7th and runs through June 30th. You do not want to miss this powerful show….it will sell out! *Show is for mature audiences only. Like, share, comment and Follow so that you never miss an episode. Get your tickets for TopDog Underdog http://celebrationarts.net/box-office Support our show Sponsors Urban Advocates & Achievers (UAA) UAA STOPS the school to prison pipeline and STARTS the PATHWAYS to educational opportunities by defending, protecting, and representing the rights of Urban Communities. Helping students discover how gifted and talented they truly are! Call them at (916) 644-2994 or visit their website at: https://www.theurbanadvocates.org/contact-us Tapping with Dr. Gigi Learn about the amazing benefits of Emotional Freedom Technique. Join Dr. Gigi's Tapping Into Recovery Program today. Learn more at https://tappingwithdrgigi.com/ Serendipity Innovation A woman-owned technology firm specializing in building technology products to keep your business in the forefront. Websites, mobile apps, landing pages, eCommerce and more. Learn more at: serendipityinnovation.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iammswanda/support
Named one of TIME magazine's “100 Innovators for the Next New Wave,” Suzan-Lori Parks is the first African American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Topdog/Underdog. She joins to discuss her long and illustrious career as a playwright, musician, and novelist.
MacArthur Fellow and 2002 Pulitzer-Prize Winner in Drama for “Topdog/Underdog, ” Suzan-Lori Parks tells us about her current play ”Sally and Tom”* now having its NY premier at the Public Theater. It's a play within a play about Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson and combines Parks' love of American history and theater. We discuss the play's exploration of fraught subjects such as enslavement, sexual coercion, Black and white families living under the same roof under very different circumstances, and the paradoxes within Jefferson's life as a figure of enlightenment who owned slaves. Parks discusses how "Sally & Tom" invites audiences to engage in tough yet essential conversations about America's history and its echoes in the present-- reflected in the meta-theatrical structure of "Sally & Tom", which allows for a layered examination of history, storytelling, and the act of creation itself. She shares that her writing is not just as a form of artistic expression but is also a spiritual practice which allows her to engage with historical figures and narratives in a way that transcends traditional storytelling, inviting both creators and audiences into a space of reflection and transformation that fosters both nuanced conversations and broader implications for understanding American history. Parks also discusses her relationship with music and its intersections with her theatrical work and her personal and professional journey, from her upbringing in a military family to her initial reluctance towards theater, and how encouragement from James Baldwin led her to embrace playwriting. She reflects on the evolution of theater over the past two decades, emphasizing the essential importance of inclusivity and diversity, and the continued need for spaces that offer both entertainment and nourishing content. And she discusses her residency at the Public Theater, her artistic home that supports her experimental and innovative approach to storytelling exemplified with her on-going project Watch Me Work. Finally, I also want to say that I have been privileged -- to use, with great sincerity, an overused word-- to speak with the people I do for this podcast—I have been moved, taught, had my heart expanded and my mind stimulated by these interviews. But I have never spoken with anyone as vital or present as Suzan-Lori Parks nor with anyone who made me feel so enlivened by the conversation. It's a pleasure to share this. *“Sally and Tom” has been extended and will run at Public Theater through May 5.
MacArthur Fellow and 2002 Pulitzer-Prize Winner in Drama for “Topdog/Underdog, ” Suzan-Lori Parks tells us about her current play ”Sally and Tom”* now having its NY premier at the Public Theater. It's a play within a play about Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson and combines Parks' love of American history and theater. We discuss the play's exploration of fraught subjects such as enslavement, sexual coercion, Black and white families living under the same roof under very different circumstances, and the paradoxes within Jefferson's life as a figure of enlightenment who owned slaves. Parks discusses how "Sally & Tom" invites audiences to engage in tough yet essential conversations about America's history and its echoes in the present-- reflected in the meta-theatrical structure of "Sally & Tom", which allows for a layered examination of history, storytelling, and the act of creation itself. She shares that her writing is not just as a form of artistic expression but is also a spiritual practice which allows her to engage with historical figures and narratives in a way that transcends traditional storytelling, inviting both creators and audiences into a space of reflection and transformation that fosters both nuanced conversations and broader implications for understanding American history. Parks also discusses her relationship with music and its intersections with her theatrical work and her personal and professional journey, from her upbringing in a military family to her initial reluctance towards theater, and how encouragement from James Baldwin led her to embrace playwriting. She reflects on the evolution of theater over the past two decades, emphasizing the essential importance of inclusivity and diversity, and the continued need for spaces that offer both entertainment and nourishing content. And she discusses her residency at the Public Theater, her artistic home that supports her experimental and innovative approach to storytelling exemplified with her on-going project Watch Me Work. Finally, I also want to say that I have been privileged -- to use, with great sincerity, an overused word-- to speak with the people I do for this podcast—I have been moved, taught, had my heart expanded and my mind stimulated by these interviews. But I have never spoken with anyone as vital or present as Suzan-Lori Parks nor with anyone who made me feel so enlivened by the conversation. It's a pleasure to share this. *“Sally and Tom” has been extended and will run at Public Theater through May 5.
Matthew talks with actor Mikha'el Amin. They talk about Mikha'el's production of Topdog/Underdog with Invictus Theatre Company, working with other actors, the journey in acting.
Harbinger Theatre's third season opener is "In the Blood" by the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright of “Topdog/Underdog,” Suzan-Lori Parks – the production will be the last play performed in the St. Rose Theatre. Harbinger Theatre presents “In the Blood” by Suzan-Lori Parks at The St. Rose Theatre Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this weekend and next. March 15-24.
Cecelia Sharpe speaks with Yolanda Jack, Director of the play TopDog/UnderDog running at the Detroit Repertory Theatre through December 17, 2023.
In this episode, Jennifer talks to casting director Erica Jensen who shares her personal journey of getting her MFA in Acting to finding her true calling in casting. They discuss the evolving landscape of auditions in this “post-pandemic” world, the technical aspects of self-tapes, and navigating one's social media presence. They also speak about the significance of cultivating relationships, the joy of discovering and launching careers, and also unpack deeper intricacies of casting. About Erica: Erica Jensen is a casting director at and co-owner of Calleri Jensen Davis. Her 20-year-plus career with partners James Calleri and Paul Davis spans film, television, regional, off-Broadway and Broadway theater. Casting credits include shows for Actors Theater of Louisville, Classic Stage Company, Rattlestick Theater, City Theater, McCarter Theatre, People's Light and Theatre, Hartford Stage, LaJolla Playhouse, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, and The Flea Theater. B'way credits include Thoughts of A Colored Man, For Colored Girls (2022), Topdog/Underdog and The Piano Lesson, Past B'way credits: Fool For Love, Hughie, A Raisin In The Sun, Of Mice and Men, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch. TV credits include Queens, Love Life, Dickinson, Lipstick Jungle, and The Path. In addition to casting, Erica is the Program Director of and Professor of Practice at the Tepper Semester, a study abroad professional theater program in New York City. She's the co-founder of She-Collective with partner and talent manager, Dani Super. And she's a proud and anxious mom to an awesome 11-year-old. Erica's IG: @ericamjensen Erica's Email: erica@callerijensendavis.com Erica's Websites: www.she-collective.com, www.callerijensendavis.com Want to coach with Jennifer? Schedule a session here! https://appt.link/jenniferapple Monologue Sourcing Promo Link! https://empoweredartistcollective.com/podcastpromo Learn more: https://www.empoweredartistcollective.com/podcast EAC IG: @EmpoweredArtistCollective EAC TikTok: @EmpowerArtistCollective EAC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/empoweredartistcollective/ Nominate a Podcast Guest! https://form.jotform.com/220608577638162 Sign up for our newsletter! https://mailchi.mp/8e72e8dcb662/stay-in-touch Check Out Our Merch! https://www.empoweredartistcollective.threadless.com/ Any thoughts you'd like to share? Email us at EmpoweredArtistCollective@gmail.com
Hosts Leticia Ridley and Jordan Ealey dig into the dramaturgies and theories of Suzan-Lori Parks and discuss Canadian Stage's production of Parks's Topdog/Underdog.
Heelllooooo Chickees! It's Australia's own Harold Zidler- Simon Burke, and fellow Bohemian, Bert LaBonté! This week, we hop on the bullet-train to Montmartre... but in Melbourne... for a catch-up with these two affable stars of Moulin Rouge! The Musical - currently playing a final Encore Season at the Regent Theatre, Melbourne (and worldwide!) - where we dive into the Underworld with Symphony X, before we find out if these Gentlemen Prefer Blondes!Plus we chat Moulin Rouge! the Musical!, Harold Zidler, Bert's interpretation of Toulouse Lautrec, Topdog/Underdog, Moulin Roast!, and we find out which normal, everyday thing do our superstar guests fail miserably at in one of our funniest moments yet- plus HEAPS more!TICKETS to Moulin Rouge! The Musical! (Melb) https://moulinrougemusical.com/australia/home/Bert on Socials: https://www.instagram.com/bertlabee/Simon on Socials: https://www.instagram.com/simon__burke/Regent Theatre, Melbourne: https://marrinergroup.com.au/regent-theatre*****Asabi on Socials: https://www.instagram.com/asabighttps://www.thetonastontales.com/listen -- https://www.patreon.com/bloomingtheatricals - https://twitter.com/thrashntreasurehttps://linktr.ee/thrashntreasure*****Help support Thrash 'n Treasure and keep us on-air, PLUS go on a fantastical adventure at the same time!Grab your copy of The Tonaston Tales by AW, and use the code TNT20 when you check out for 20% off eBooks and Paperbacks!https://www.thetonastontales.com/bookstore - TNT20 ***** ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Your favorite podcast hosts Jason A. Coombs and Samantha Tuozzolo are live on the red carpet of the Theatre World Awards from Monday, June 5! Featuring interviews from honorees and presenters including Myles Frost (MJ the Musical), Julie Benko (Funny Girl), Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Topdog/Underdog), Amir Arison (The Kite Runner), Callum Francis (Kinky Boots), Lucy Freyer (The Wanderers), Caroline Innerbichler (Shucked), Ashley D. Kelley (Shucked), Casey Likes (Almost Famous), Marilyn Caserta (Six), Lana Gordon (Chicago), Benjamin Pajak (The Music Man) and producer Dale Badway. The episode kicks off with the directors of the event, Michael and Tom D'Angora! First presented in 1945, the prestigious Theatre World Awards, founded by John Willis, the Editor-in-Chief of both Theatre World and its companion volume, Screen World, are the oldest awards given for Outstanding Broadway and Off-Broadway Debut Performances. The Theatre World Awards are presented annually at the end of the theatre season to six actors and six actresses for their significant, reviewable, debut performances in a Broadway or Off-Broadway production. The ceremony is a private, invitation-only event followed by a party to celebrate the new honorees and welcome them to the Theatre World "family." More info on the Theatre World Awards here! Broadway World Video and Article Here! You can support the podcast and the hosts at www.buymeacoffee.com/SurvivalJobsPod and on Instagram at @surivaljobspod | @SammyTutz | @JasonACoombs. Info on Your Hosts: Broadway World Article on our Season 2 Launch Party Follow Samantha: Instagram. | Samantha's Official Website here Follow Jason on Instagram | Twitter. Check out Jason's Official Website here Check out and support The Bridgeport Film Fest Important Links: Native Land Map US Interior Indian Affairs NPR: "How To Help Puerto Rico" Article How to Help the People of Florida Article Abortion Funds Website Plan C Pills Website National Write Your Congressman Link How to help Uvalde families NPR Article Where to Donate to Support Access to Abortions Right Now Support Us... Please! If you're feeling generous, Buy Us A Coffee HERE! Please don't become complacent: Support the Black Mamas Matter Alliance Support Families Detained and Separated at the Border. Support the AAPI Civic Engagement Fund. Support Black Trans Folx here Donate to the Community League of the Heights (CLOTH) Support the People of Palestine How to be an Ally to the AAPI Community 168 Ways to Donate in Support of Black Lives and Communities of Color The New York Times: On Mexico's Border With U.S., Desperation as Migrant Traffic Piles Up PBS: How to help India during its COVID surge — 12 places you can donate Covid quarantine didn't stop antisemitic attacks from rising to near-historic highs Opening and Closing Theme Music: "One Love" by Beats by Danny | Game Music: "Wake Up" by MBB. If you enjoy Survival Jobs: A Podcast be sure to subscribe and follow us on your preferred podcast listening app! Also, feel free to follow us on Instagram and Twitter! Thank you!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dylan and Connor present the sequel to our Twins Talkin' Tonys episode! Inspired by Michael Arden's triumphant Tony-winner speech, we're just Two F*ggots Talkin' Tonys! Broadway's Biggest Night might've kicked off wordless, but we've got plenty to go around! We're breaking down the glorious peformances, well-deserved wins, snubs, and even fashion moments on the 76th Annual Tony Awards. Listen to hear about Connor's night at the Kimberly Akimbo & Topdog/Underdog party, while Dylan live-tweeted from his comfy couch. We also get into listener-submitted DraxMoi, including Glee coded moments on the broadcast, the musical number choices by shows, and the history-making pair of non-binary winners. It's Tonys DRAMA, baby!Support the podcast by subscribing to DRAMA+, which also includes bonus episodes, Instagram Close Friends content, and more!Follow DRAMA. on Twitter & Instagram & TiktokFollow Connor MacDowell on Twitter & InstagramFollow Dylan MacDowell on Twitter & InstagramEdited by Dylan
The actor talks Tony nominations, “Topdog/Underdog,” a surprise dinner with Patti LuPone and an inspiration from Mark Rylance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week, Lilah speaks to Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, whose new show Plays for the Plague Year asks us to remember, process and grieve the pandemic. Suzan-Lori is best known for her 2001 play Topdog/Underdog, which was reprised on Broadway in the autumn. But her new show is different: she wrote one short play a day through the pandemic, and collected them into a lively, music-filled theatrical event. Suzan-Lori and Lilah talk through big questions: when is the right time to look back? What does ‘back to normal' mean? What can and should we do with our memories? And how do you create complex art about difficult things?--------------Want to say hi? We love hearing from you. Email us at ftweekendpodcast@ft.com. We're on Twitter @ftweekendpod, and Lilah is on Instagram and Twitter @lilahrap. --------------Links:– Plays for the Plague Year by Suzan-Lori Parks is running at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater until April 30 https://publictheater.org/productions/season/2223/plays-for-the-plague-year2/ – Suzan-Lori's Pulitzer-Prize winning play is Topdog/Underdog: https://bookshop.org/p/books/topdog-underdog-suzan-lori-parks/10486222?ean=9781559362016 – The FT interviewed Suzan-Lori and Cynthia Erivo on the alchemy of Aretha Franklin (2021): https://on.ft.com/3V120Jt–Suzan-Lori is the playwright in residence at the Public, and does a regular virtual ‘watch me work' session over zoom for people to get writing done together, and ask her questions: https://publictheater.org/productions/season/2122/watch-me-work/--------------Our US edition of the FTWeekend Festival is back! Join Jamie Lee Curtis, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Alice Waters, your favourite FT writers, and more on May 20 in Washington, DC, and online. Register now and save $20 using the promo code weekendpodcast at ft.com/festival-usSpecial offers for Weekend listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial are here: http://ft.com/weekendpodcast.--------------Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco. Clips in this episode courtesy of The Public TheaterRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is one of the busiest people in Hollywood. His recent films include “Aquaman,” “The Matrix Resurrections,” “Ambulance,” and “Candyman.” But most recently, he made his Broadway debut in "Topdog/Underdog." In this episode, Abdul-Mateen II gives a masterclass on his acting process. The graduate of the Yale School of Drama describes how he prepared for his critically acclaimed performance in Suzan-Lori Parks' Pulitzer Prize-winning play. He reveals the physical and mental challenges of this work, which are ultimately in service of his pursuit of “absolute truth.”
Today, on the Hudson Mohawk Magazine: We begin with Mark Dunlea's interview about the potential conflict of interest surrounding Coeymans Supervisor George McHugh and port development. Then, we will speak with Dr. David Hochfelder about his project 98 Acres, social history from the time of the building of the Empire Plaza. Later on, Andrea Cunliffe previews the current performance by Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY's “Topdog Underdog.” After that, to close out Black History Month, Marsha Lazarus brings us an interview from the NYS Writer's Institute. Author, political scientist and professor Terri Givens spoke at SUNY Albany's Feb 21st celebration honoring Dr Martin Luther King. Finally, we hear this week's Thom Francis “Talking with Poets” segment in which he interviews Cheryl Rice.
Jean-Remy Monnay of the Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY's (BTTUNY) is in conversation with Hudson Mohawk Magazines' Andrea Cunliffe. Their 2022-2023 season is at the Capital Repertory Theater, where the company is eager to share their stories from a new stage in their current production of “Topdog Underdog.” BTTUNY and Capital Rep are collaborating to keep their commitment to diversity onstage, and Jean-Remy Monnay hopes that this production will give the audience something to think about as they leave the theater. “Topdog Underdog" is at the Capital Rep's Main stage from March 2 through the 12th.
Listen to the Show Right Click to Save GuestsColdTowne TheaterWalking Shadow ShakespeareWhat We Talked About Here Lies Love Dark Disabled Stories A Strange Loop, Death of a Salesman, Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and the Pool, Ohio State Murders, The Music Man, and Topdog/ Underdog all closed Pics of the Grobes and Annaliegh Ashford in Sweeney Thelma and Louise A Strange Loop Closes Long Day's Journey Film Thank you to Dean Johanesen, lead singer of "The Human Condition" who gave us permission to use "Step Right Up" as our theme song, so please visit their website.. they're good! (that's an order)
[REBROADCAST FROM October 25, 2022] The Broadway revival of Suzan-Lori Parks' "Topdog/Underdog" stars Corey Hawkins and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as brothers Lincoln and Booth, engaged in constant conflict with each other and perform a strange and disturbing reenactment of Lincoln's assassination. The New York Times calls the revival "hilarious, harrowing, and superbly acted." Parks, Hawkins, and Abdul-Mateen II join us to discuss the show, running now at Golden Theatre through January 15.
It's a solo episode fellow daydreamers. This week Charlie talks about his appreciation for artists that dive into work that scares the hell out of them. He discusses Jonah Hill's documentary Stutz, the current Broadway production of Topdog/Underdog, Howard Stern's Springsteen interview, the actress Emma Corrin, and the playwright Adrienne Kennedy who at 91 is finally receiving her first Broadway production. You can follow CBP on Instagram @creatingbehavior, and Charlie's NYC acting conservatory, the Maggie Flanigan Studio @maggieflaniganstudio. Theme music by https://www.thelawrencetrailer.com. For written transcripts, to leave a voicemail on SpeakPipe, or contact Charlie for private coaching, check out https://www.creatingbehaviorpodcast.com
Protests following the death of Masha Amini continue to put pressure on Iran. Grant and Zoe talk with Sara Haghdoosti of Win Without War about the protests, what America can do to help, and how literature can cross boundaries. For our final segment Zoe talks about Topdog/Underdog, Sara gives a shout out to Bluey, and Grant talks about border clashes between China and India. If you are under 40 and interested in being featured on the podcast, be sure to fill out this form. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Protests following the death of Masha Amini continue to put pressure on Iran. Grant and Zoe talk with Sara Haghdoosti of Win Without War about the protests, what America can do to help, and how literature can cross boundaries. For our final segment Zoe talks about Topdog/Underdog, Sara gives a shout out to Bluey, and Grant talks about border clashes between China and India. If you are under 40 and interested in being featured on the podcast, be sure to fill out this form. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Protests following the death of Masha Amini continue to put pressure on Iran. Grant and Zoe talk with Sara Haghdoosti of Win Without War about the protests, what America can do to help, and how literature can cross boundaries. For our final segment Zoe talks about Topdog/Underdog, Sara gives a shout out to Bluey, and Grant talks about border clashes between China and India. If you are under 40 and interested in being featured on the podcast, be sure to fill out this form. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
There's nothing like the holidays for family drama. And in today's episode, Brittany Luse sits down with two actors who portray a classic brother-against-brother dynamic in the Pulitzer-winning play Topdog/Underdog, which recently returned to Broadway. Corey Hawkins and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II talk sibling rivalries, the American dream and why their two-man show is not just an exploration of race. Then Brittany goes fangirl on actor Randall Park, whose 2019 film Always Be My Maybe is a staple in her household. She and Park talk about his latest projects: the holiday-friendly Netflix sitcom Blockbuster and his forthcoming directorial debut. They also get into the challenges of making it big in Hollywood and his passion for all things creative. You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenaMin or email us at ibam@npr.org.
Oh how we've missed you, our little turkeys! We are here this week with actor and director LisaGay Hamilton.You Might Know Her From The Practice, Beloved, Winning Time, The Lincoln Lawyer, The Dropout, Vice, Nine Lives, House of Cards, Jackie Brown, and her Peabody-winning documentary Beah: A Black Woman Speaks. LisaGay gave us the skinny on network TV vs. the streamers, how Rebecca Washington's natural hair was revolutionary on The Practice, and how she formed a bond with legendary actress Beah Richards on the set of Beloved that later turned into a film. All that plus, we finally figured out the stories behind LisaGay's mystery roles in The L Word and Halloween: H20. This one was surprising at every turn. Both GoFundMe sites below have been verified by the Denver Post Support for the Club Q Families and Survivors Victims of Club Q Colorado Springs Mass Shooting Follow us on social media: @damianbellino || @rodemanne Discussed this week: “I'm going to howl at the moon now” Adam and Steve written and directed by Craig Chester who was best friends with Parker Posey 9th Street Video Columbia, MO The Anniversary Party written and directed by Alan Cumming and Jennifer Jason Leigh The Staircase on HBO a series based on the Netflix documentary Trini Alvarado coming out of retirement to star in The Staircase with Toni Collette, Juliette Binoche Barney documentary, I Love You, You Hate MeAnne watched Teletubbies and we both watched Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Lambchop (and Hushpuppy) are vaudeville (Intimate Nights mentioned Shari Lewis was allegedly horrible) Madame (and Wayland Flowers) is vaudeville Starred on The Dropout (HULU) and Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers (HBOMax) LisaGay Hamilton IMDB Starred as young Sethe in the film adaptation of Toni Morrison's novel, Beloved (1998, dir: Jonathan Demme) LisaGay worked with Beah Richards in Beloved and later created a documentary about her life, Beah: A Black Woman Speaks Worked with: Adam Mckay (Vice), Eastwood (True Crime), Quentin Tarantino (Jackie Brown), Terry Gilliam (12 Monkeys) Played Rebecca Hamilton in The Practice (David E Kelley) who eventually gets made partner Nine Lives, Mother & Child (dir: Rodrigo Garcia) Came into To Kill a Mockingbird on Broadway in November 2019, right before COVID hit Most of her scenes from The L Word were cut because of lack of sexual chemistry with Jennifer Beals (had played her mom in tv movie, (A House Divided) Cherry Street, South of Maine sitcom pilot with Salma Hayek (written by Tom Arnold and Roseanne Barr) Is “The Full Jaffrey” a real thing (reference YMKHF ep #25 with Sakina Jaffrey) LisaGay starred in an episode of Sex and the City (S5, Ep6) but never watched it OR the reboot Servy-n-Bernice 4Ever (play with Cynthia, her dear friend) Halloween: H20 voiceover with LL Cool J Worked with these legends: Pam Grier (Jackie Brown), Danny Glover (Honeydripper), Brad Pitt (Ad Astra), Cicely Tyson (House of Cards) Who was most prepared? Brad and Pam! Played Condoleeza Rice in Vice RuPaul's “Peanut Butter” Buy tickets to see Topdog/Underdog on Broadway Craig Chester interview with Illeana Douglas Jason Lee apparently no longer a Scientologist (whoops he left the church in 2016)
Peter Filichia, James Marino, and Michael Portantiere talk about A Raisin in the Sun, Parade @ City Center, Topdog / Underdog, You Will Get Sick @ Roundabout Theatre Company, Straight Line Crazy @ The Shed, Hedda Gabler @ Irondale Center, Everything’s Fine, performed by Douglas McGrath “This Week on Broadway” read more The post This Week on Broadway for November 6, 2022: A Raisin in the Sun appeared first on BroadwayRadio.
Topdog/Underdog, the first Broadway Revival of Suzan-Lori Parks' Pulitzer Prize-winning Drama has arrived on Broadway. In this episode, Jeff and Richie discuss how impactful this play was 20 years ago and how meaningful it is 20 years later as well. From discussions on the superb acting of Corey Hawkins and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, to how the text resonates with audiences, Jeff and Richie take you on a journey through the piece to discover how this play resonates with audiences of today.If you liked this episode don't forget to subscribe to this podcast and leave us a review. Share your thoughts with us on this episode below:On Instagram: @halfhourpodcastOn TikTok: @halfhourpodcastOn our website: www.twoworldsentertainmentllc.com
We discuss the news about Anthony Rapp's solo show returning to New York, and review the shows “Chester Bailey,” “A Man of No Importance,” “Straight Line Crazy,” and “Topdog/Underdog,” as well as the films “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Barbarian.”
Jena Tesse Fox, James Marino, and Michael Portantiere talk about Topdog / Underdog, Walking with Ghosts, A Raisin in the Sun @ Public Theater, A Man of No Importance @ Classic Stage Company, 1776, Carmen by MasterVoices, and Melissa Etheridge Off Broadway: My Window – A Journey Through Life. “This read more The post This Week on Broadway for October 30, 2022: Topdog / Underdog appeared first on BroadwayRadio.
Actors Corey Hawkins and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and director Kenny Leon from the Broadway revival, “Topdog/Underdog” tell Sherri about their new show!Then, lifestyle guru Evette Rios shows Sherri spooky and creative Halloween party ideas.Plus Jay Barnett stops by and talks mental health.
This year's New Yorker Festival featured two conversations with renowned playwrights: Suzan-Lori Parks and Martin McDonagh. Parks, the first African American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for drama, sat down with the staff writer Vinson Cunningham. “The marketplace is telling us that Black joy is what sells,” she said. “I'm very suspicious about what the marketplace wants me to create because I know in my experience where real Black joy resides—and sometimes that's in the place where there might be some traumatic thing that also happened.” A revival of Parks's groundbreaking play, “Topdog/Underdog,” just opened on Broadway. And McDonagh, who is out with a new film, “The Banshees of Inisherin,” spoke with Patrick Radden Keefe. “The Banshees of Inisherin” traces the story of a friendship breaking apart in the beautiful, remote hills of western Ireland. “I just wanted this [movie] to be sort of plotless in a way,” McDonagh said. “Just to have the unravelling of this breakup be what the whole story was about.”
The Broadway revival of Suzan-Lori Parks' "Topdog/Underdog" stars Corey Hawkins and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as brothers Lincoln and Booth, engaged in constant conflict with each other and perform a strange and disturbing reenactment of Lincoln's assassination. The New York Times calls the revival "hilarious, harrowing, and superbly acted." Parks, Hawkins, and Abdul-Mateen II join us to discuss the show, running now at Golden Theatre.
Reviews for “Topdog/Underdog,” Developers Want a Casino in Times Square, Drabinsky Sues AEA “Today on Broadway” is a daily, Monday through Friday, podcast hitting the top theatre headlines of the day. Any and all feedback is appreciated: Ashley Steves: ashley@broadwayradio.com | @NoThisIsAshleyGrace Aki: grace@broadwayradio.com | @ItsGraceAkiJames Marino: james@broadwayradio.com | @JamesMarinoJennifer read more The post Today on Broadway: Friday, October 21, 2022 appeared first on BroadwayRadio.
Lena Horne Theatre Dedication Date Announced, Reviews for “My Neighbour Totoro,” “Topdog/Underdog” Highlights Note: Ashley apologizes for her extremely bumpy-sounding audio— seems she needs to go buy a new mic cord! “Today on Broadway” is a daily, Monday through Friday, podcast hitting the top theatre headlines of the day. Any read more The post Today on Broadway: Thursday, October 20, 2022 appeared first on BroadwayRadio.
THIS WEEK we are BEYOND ecstatic to be able to be joined by none other than the cast and crew of Main Street Players production of Topdog Underdog! We get to talk about the casting process, the rehearsal process, what the actors have to do to prepare for some of the more emotionally demanding scenes, we talk about reviews, we talk about South Florida theatre and SO MUCH MORE! Truly an episode you DO NOT WANT TO MISS. All this and so much more on this week's episode of Midnight in Miami!
In this episode, Tamsen chats with Broadway power couple Orfeh and Andy Karl, as they prepare to bring their concert event Legally Bound to New York's Sony Hall. Plus, Paul Wontorek talks with the stars of the revival of Topdog/Underdog, Corey Hawkins and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
Kevin Craig West (Gil) Actor/Filmmaker Kevin Craig West has been seen on stage regionally with Capital Rep (Shakespeare in Love), Oldcastle Theatre (Judevine), WAM and Central Square Theatre (Pipeline). On screen Kevin portrayed Terrance Bryant on NBC's hit series Law & Order - Organized Crime, appeared in an episode of NBC's series, Newmore Regge Life [he / him] (Director) Regge Life recently directed Knock Me a Kiss for the W.E.B. DuBois celebration in the Tina Packer Playhouse. Last season debbie tucker green's hang, the 2019 multiple Berkie Award winning production of Topdog/Underdog, the wildly acclaimed Morning After Grace in 2018 and God of Carnage in 2017 and Kaufman's "ranney" (Benny) "ranney" has five decades in the performing arts as a multi-disciplinarian. Acting credits include Marc (Art, Shakespeare & Company) Polonius/Gravedigger, Toledo, Troy Maxson (Hamlet; Ma Rainey's Black Bottom; Fences. Cincinnati Shakespeare Company); Sterling, Hambone (Two Trains Running; Radio Golf. American Stage Company.); King Hedley, Chutes & Ladders (Seven Guitars;more by Lolita Chakrabarti Directed by Regge Life Featuring: "ranney" and Kevin Craig West July 22 – August 28, 2022 Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre 95 minutes without an intermission. BUY TICKETS DONATE HYMN “Rings true from the first note to the last” – BBC.com Two men meet at a funeral. One knew the deceased; one did not. Benny is a loner with a wife and children, while Gil longs to fulfill his potential. They form a deep bond, but cracks appear as they begin to realize that true courage comes in different forms. This soulful new play, filled with music, asks what it takes to be a good father, brother, or son. Generously sponsored by Deborah and Bill Ryan.
Interview: Boz talks to Heather Gilbert about training and working as a lighting designer, the privilege of training in the same place you want to work, Carnegie Mellon, John Bridges, John Culbert, Theatre Communications Group, the NEA, Topdog/Underdog, Stacy Caballero, Keith Parham, analytical geometry, the alchemy of passions that compose lighting design, Trinity University, Kendra Thulin, David Swayze, Manifest Arts Festival, The Big Funk, Steppenwolf, Suzan Lori Parks, Don Cheadle, Jeffrey Wright, Mos Def, storefront theatre, Buried Child, Everyman, The Libertine, Bar San Miguel, David Cromer, Miracle on 34th Street starring Tracy Letts, The Hypocrites, Sean Graney, The Adding Machine, Our Town, the magic of good artistic partnerships, Sam Rockwell, Sheldon Patinkin, Next to Normal at Writers Theatre, The Band's Visit on Broadway, Come Back Little Sheba at The Huntington, Michael Halberstam, Adam Rapp's The Sound Inside at Williamstown , Studio 54, Franco Colavecchia, Nan Cibula, Bug by Tracy Letts, not apologizing, being process-oriented vs. product-oriented, Macbeth at the NY Shakespeare Festival, Angela Bassett, Alec Baldwin, Zach Braff, Liev Schreiber, Michael C. Hall, and Carrie Coon.FULL TRANSCRIPT (unedited): Speaker 1 (0s): I'm Jen Bosworth and I'm Gina Polizzi. We went to theater school together. We survived it, but we didn't quite understand it. 20 years later, we're digging deep talking to our guests about their experiences and trying to make sense of it all. We survived theater school and you will too. Are we famous? Okay. Hello. Thank you so much for joining me. My Speaker 2 (32s): God. I'm so Speaker 1 (33s): Excited about it. So the first thing we always say is, congratulations, Heather Gilbert, you survived theater school. I did. I did. Okay. And you really survived it with, with a flourish. I would say you're kind of fancy and a big deal Speaker 2 (52s): Is a lighting designer ever really a big deal Speaker 1 (55s): In my view. So we have a lot, the thing that I love about reading about you, and also I know you teach and you're at, but is that there is a, I would say you're a master of your craft based on what I would say that based on what I've read about you and what I know about you and your successes, and also your trajectory during school. And post-school like, if there's a master of a lighting designer, crap, you've you're, you're it. So thank you. Yeah. It's amazing to lo to, to read about you. So one of the things and people also post what you can, for me, I can tell when someone is a bad-ass at what they do, because they don't actually have to promote themselves that other people around them will post till they'll say, oh my gosh, congratulations. So that is a sign that you're a bad ass is that other people are like, I'm shouting out your name without you having, you know what I mean? Like you don't do a lot of self-promotion, Speaker 2 (1m 60s): I'm terrible at it actually, Speaker 1 (2m 1s): Which is, which is amazing that you, that you're able to anyway, other people sing your praises, which I think is like really what we all want as artists, you know? So, yeah. So, okay. So why don't you tell me like how you ended up at the theater school, where you're from, like how that went down? Speaker 2 (2m 19s): So I I'm from I'm from Michigan. I'm also from Texas. I mostly grew up in Texas. Like the important years were there and I was working after, so I went to the theater school for grad school during this super brief period of time when there was a grad degree in design, I was the first lighting designer. I came in with someone else who only lasted the first quarter. He was like super unhappy. He kind of made me, I kind of glommed on to that. And I was like, oh, are we unhappy? I'll be unhappy. I, this Speaker 1 (2m 46s): Complained about everything. Speaker 2 (2m 48s): And then he, he left after first quarter and then it was awesome because they gave me all the things that he was supposed to do. But when I came in, I wasn't, I wasn't interested in the program. If I was going to be the very first person without a cohort, a word we did not use in 1994, there was no cohort. No, we just had classmates. Right. And yeah, he, so he, so, but I knew about him and then he ended up not finishing the program. So I was actually the first lighting master's lighting student since they had left the Goodman. Speaker 1 (3m 19s): Great. Speaker 2 (3m 20s): Yeah. And I had, so I'd been working in Houston doing an internship and Kevin Rigdon, who was the, at the time the resident designer at Steppenwolf had come down and did a show production of our town, which ultimately became a very important part of my life, my adult life in my own career. And so he came down and did our town with Jose Cantero directing. There was this huge thing. And I thought Kevin was great. I thought he was funny. And I loved his work and I was really interested in it. And he was adjunct at the theater school. And he actually told me not to, he was like, don't come I'm adjuncts. And they're just starting this master's program. You kind of want to find a place that's that's has more stuff going on. And then when I decided to apply to grad school the next year, for sure, I was looking at different places and somebody gave me the advice that you should really look at the people who design the team, the design work of the people that you're going to study with, because that's what they're going to teach you. Right. Great, Speaker 1 (4m 17s): Great advice. Speaker 2 (4m 18s): It was, it was really great advice. And the other was to look at the market, right? Like look for a market that you would want to be in. Like, you can get an amazing degree in Idaho. There's actually really good programs there, but the market's not there. And I'll tell ya. I did not realize until I was a college professor. This is so like blind of like the blindness to your privilege. Right. I did not understand the benefits I had in Chicago from going to school in Chicago until I watched my students graduating into it. That's when I realized what I could do for them. And I realized what my professors did for me. Speaker 1 (4m 54s): So interesting. I mean, I think, I think we don't, we don't ever, I don't know anyone that's really hipped. Maybe kids nowadays are young adults are really hip to it, but like, yeah. I mean, I didn't think of thinking of like, okay, well what, what is the sort of the place where I'm landing and who are my connections there? But I am learning now at 46 in Los Angeles that the people that I'm really connected to here in the industry are all from Chicago. Mostly a lot of them are from the theater school. It's crazy. Speaker 2 (5m 25s): It's so interesting. I, it's funny. I've been listening to your podcasts and what I love is like, I feel like it's the best Facebook ever. It's like, so, cause I'm like, oh, listen to all these hour long interviews with people, all due respect to someone who might forgotten existed. Right. You know, like I tumbled down the whole like conversation about the religion. And I was like, oh my God, I forgot all about that. I knew I knew those people. Right. It's just not my life anymore. Right. Speaker 1 (5m 49s): I mean, I I'm. Yeah. I'm also shocked. Like we have people on that, like remember us that I have no recollection of having with. And I think I always talked it up to excessive drinking and dirt back in my day. But like, I think it's just like, that's not our life anymore. Right. We're in a different time, different lifetimes. Speaker 2 (6m 10s): I took it. There's like three levels of people there's like from school. It's like the people that I still know and have to remind myself, I went to school with like, that's the connection. I there's the people that I, that I have no idea what happened to, so I love when they're on your podcast and then there's the people who are famous. So I think that I know what they're doing. Like I have a feeling, I feel like I know what Judy is up to, but I don't know what she's up to. I just know, Speaker 1 (6m 33s): Right. That she works all the time. Then we went to school with her. Right, right. It's so funny. It's, it's a such a wild thing. Okay. So you were like, I'm going to go, Speaker 2 (6m 42s): I'm going to go to grad school. And I looked at Chicago, I looked at DePaul because I really liked Kevin. And then I also looked, I was looking really heavily at Carnegie Mellon and, and he went to, I went to one of those. It's funny. I listen to you guys talk about it with the actors. But I went to one of those, like Roundup audition, interview things in Houston. And I interviewed with both schools at the same time. And Carnegie Mellon was like, well, we've been teaching this class for 20 years. It's a great class. And we've been doing this other thing for 20 years and it's awesome. And I was like, oh my God, you're so boring. And the program is actually massive and huge and revitalized now. But I think at that moment in time, it was just not, they were had a lot of faculty had been there. And then I went to the DePaul one and I talked to John Bridges. I was like, I offer you Chicago. Like I offer you the energy of John Bridges and Chicago. And I was like, oh, this is so much more interesting to me. Yeah. You know? And then I got lucky because what I didn't know is that John Colbert is like, I call him the Clark Kent of lighting design, because he seems super mild-mannered. And he's like Superman, that guy is a genius And a master teacher. And so the fact that I got to study with him for three years and the part of it was him creating curriculum that he felt I needed, even when, and I have these moments with my students now where I'm like, this is what you need to do. And they're like, I don't think that's what I think I would do better. I think this is what I need to study. And John would be like, yeah, you need that other thing. You know, I actually, years after school, a couple of years later, I applied for a, there was a, it's funny, it's funded by the NDA. So you can't call it a, it can't be a grant or fellowship. It just has to be like a program that you're on. But it was one where the theater communications group got money from the NDA and young, like early career designers and directors to observe, assist other artists because you can't make anything. If it's the NDA. Right. It's like the rules that came out of all this stuff in the nineties. Right. And John called me up and was like, you need to apply for that. And I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, totally applied for that. I was thinking next year. Right. Like you need to apply this year. And I was like, well, yeah, but see, here's the reason and this and that thing. And he was like this year and I was like, but really I was like, you know, this next year. And I was like, this year, this year I'll do it this year. And then I got it. Speaker 1 (9m 4s): Was it amazing? It Speaker 2 (9m 5s): Was, it's an interesting thing. It was amazing in some ways. And in some ways it like slows your career down because you have to do six months worth of work within two years and you for the money and you get paid as you go, but you don't get to make anything. So it can like become a thing where you're like getting to know these amazing people and working with these amazing people. But you also, can't Speaker 1 (9m 28s): Interesting Speaker 2 (9m 29s): And make it, you know, like it slows down like what you can do as your own artist. I will say though, that, as I'm saying these words, even I'm thinking about the people that I worked with and how they function in my life and how important they'd been, like how important some of them still are Speaker 1 (9m 43s): Still in your life. Wow. Yeah. Speaker 2 (9m 45s): They gave me an extension on it as well, because that was also the time that I, I was the associate designer on the first production of top dog underdog. And that was a show that they were actually TCG was trying to get somebody in that room. And they were being like, well, we don't really want somebody to observe us. And I got offered to work on it, but I had worked with the whole team before, so they wouldn't let me do it, but they let me extend it. So they were pretty generous about like, yeah, I'll be making things happen. Wow. Yeah. Okay. And I got into DePaul and so I came to DePaul, I came up and visited and it was, Speaker 1 (10m 16s): And you, you, did you work with, was there, were you working with someone, a lighting designer at DePaul named Keith? Speaker 2 (10m 26s): Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's funny when somebody talks about him, I don't know if it was you or Gina talking about him. We'll talk about seeing the scout, the Macbeth that we did that I did with Stacy Cabalero who I, who was my best friend from grad school. Oh yeah. When I think about grad school, like Shawna Flannigan and I were roommates for years after, but, but Stacy and I were super close. We did. So we did like so many of our shows together there and he was talking, it was it, you that he was telling that he commented on the costume. Gina was sitting next to him, but she was talking about it. She was like, and Keith param. And he was like, he was looking at it. He was like, oh my God. And I was like, I literally was listening to the podcast like, oh God, did he say something about my lights? What did he say? What did he say? Then? Then it was about Stacy. And I was like, oh, that's so funny. One of my close friends still. Speaker 1 (11m 14s): So yeah, he was the first person that made me really interested in lighting. And he, when we closed the show, the yellow boat together, he gave me a print of his drawing of the lighting, like, oh wow. With lighting. And I still got it framed. And it was, I was like, oh, well this kind, because I think personally that as actors, we're, we, we have this thing of like, our ego is like crossed all the time. So then we, we have, we have an inflated sense of ego really that we have to build. And we think that acting is the most important thing. And it was the first time it, my land that's garbage. And the first thing to person to really say, to show me like, oh my gosh, look, this is all part of a huge deal. Like I am not the huge deal that lighting is, everything has its place. And then we come together, but I was like, oh, this is, this is an art that really ties the whole show together. Like really? And it's like unsung magic. And I think a lot of actors anyway, just think that the lights up here and that nobody is behind them being the artist, creating that at least young actors, Speaker 2 (12m 30s): Young ones. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, I think you're right about that in school, it's often Speaker 1 (12m 35s): Lighting for you. Like, what is it, what was it about that? Speaker 2 (12m 39s): You know, it's funny, my mother at one point was like having this big guilt thing that she had never encouraged me into it when I was younger. But like all of the signs did, like, unless you knew this was a thing, it didn't make sense. I was, I loved theater. My grandmother studied theater in New York in the thirties and she taught college. Yeah. She'd studied with a bunch of amazing people. She didn't work professionally, but, but she would take us to theater. Right. So it was a huge influence for my mother then for me. And I loved being an audience member. I never wanted to be on stage. And I haven't been a couple of times. And also now that I'm like, in my fifties, it's so much easier. Like I'm much more willing to jump off the right off the cliff and try whatever. Cause why not? What is it gonna embarrass me right now, please, please. If I didn't embarrass myself to death in my twenties, I think we're good now. You're good. So, yeah, but I, I, I just always like things that related. So I, like, I was interested in photography at one point, but I loved reading. I loved going to the theater. I have this, I was terrible in high school. It trig. I like, oh, I got like, I barely got through trigonometry class. And the second semester of the math track I was on was like analytical or spacial geometry. And it was like, I was a savant. I was like, that's what that 3d grid looks like. I can see that thing in space and I could answer, am I my teacher? And I were both like, what is up? How do I know this really have a good sense of space? And so if you look at the combo of all those things, they all really go together into lighting design. If you, if you know that thing. So when I went to undergrad, I'm in San Antonio at this small college Trinity university, super liberal artsy, sort of the opposite of your, your, what do we call them? We call academic classes and academics. I feel like we did, but they definitely, yeah. Academics. I really was. I had a lot of intense like philosophy classes and religion classes, all super helpful for the career that I have. But I also, my first semester took a intro to theater class and I loved the lighting. And then the second semester we were, I had to register dead last, like first year, dead last, you can't get anything. And a friend of mine that was in my end theater class was like, well, I'm going to, she was going to be a high school drama teacher, her name's Emily Goodpasture. And she decided that she was going to end. So Gilbert and good pasture registering last. She was like, I'm taking this sledding class. Cause I know I have to take all of the design classes and the acting classes for my future career as a drama teacher. And I think she take this learning class with me and I did. And then throughout college I would do other things, but I kept coming back to lighting. I just, I love the magic of the way light reveals form. I love looking at tons of different kinds of light bulbs. You know, my friend wants me to come to become Tik TOK famous and support us by telling people how to light their homes. Speaker 1 (15m 32s): Well, here's the thing that I, I actually, when you just said that, I have to say like, I was like, oh, I wonder what she thinks about filters and add tic-tac and the way people use light and could do you look at photos and videos and things and say, oh, that would be so much better if you just lit it like this. Are you able to do do that? Speaker 2 (15m 53s): Oh, for sure. I mean, I definitely, yeah. Most things in my life revolve around, you know, I always laugh cause I still go in theaters and look up at the lights and people are like, oh, I saw you looking at the lights. And I'm like, do you look at the actors? Of course, I look at the lights, I'm trying to figure out like the craft of what they did or you know, or what the equipment that they got to work with was, and yeah, but I can't, even though I could probably find another career with lighting that is so much more lucrative and I'm sure that that is true, right? The best part of my job for me still is that everyday when I go to work in theater, actors tell stories in front of me on stage live. And that is my favorite thing. I love going to plays. I love seeing performance and I love it live. So the fact that I get to be connected to that in some way and another character in that for me is really awesome. Speaker 1 (16m 39s): That's fantastic. And I I've never thought about it that way, that like, I mean, obviously I've thought about that a little, that the lighting is another character, but again, it's like, there are, there is a human and maybe a team of humans behind that character and that it, that you enjoy hearing the live stories being told. And that's why the theater versus, you know, film and TV, right? Like it's not, I mean, I guess you could still, it could be live on set, but like, you wouldn't be like the designer of a show. I don't even know how it works in television and film. Like the lighting people. Is there a lighting designer behind film and TV? Speaker 2 (17m 21s): There are no. And because there's so many more people on a film, I, and or television, there's more people encompass the single jobs that we do in theater, the DP it'd be the DP and the gray and then the interest and then editing is also a part of what we do. So, so all of those things sort of come together in that way. It's funny, David Swayze, do you remember Dan Swayze? He, so he's in film now and he's doing super well. Yeah. He's an art director and film and, and we have not kept up. We keep up actually better than I do with a lot of people, but it's been a couple of years. Yeah. He, even with the pandemic, it's been a couple of years. Yeah. He, he was talking one time about what he loved about doing television or film, he specifically film. And the thing that he loves about it is that it's, it's so immediate and you can make changes. So like, you can say like, oh, we need to, we, instead of doing it this way, we think this would look better and you can actively do that thing, which in theater set designers can't do that. But the rest of us can, I was like, you're talking about lightening design. I can make the change in the instant. You know, sometimes I have to say, I have to hang a light for tomorrow, but sometimes I can do like, hang on. My moving light will do that for us. Right. This second, you know? So I get to, I get to, it's funny though, we were like super technical or technological. And then all of a sudden it was like projections and sound, which were, you know, a slide projector and a yes. And you know, MiniDisc jumped us and they can craft in the room and we still can't craft in the room in the same way that they can, which I'm actually kind of grateful for. I like that. We get to say like, we're going to think on that. We're gonna let us Speaker 1 (18m 60s): Oh, wait. And think on that. Yeah. You know, that's interesting. Cause I, I, yeah, I liked the idea too of you're you're like a problem solver. Oh Speaker 2 (19m 13s): Yes. Right. Speaker 1 (19m 14s): Yeah. I love problem solvers. I think that they're really great to have in a room because I think it teaches everybody that like there are mysteries to be solved in the theater. And there are people that are trained to solve them that aren't me and they, and that we can work together. But problem solvers, we need the problem-solvers in, in rooms, in the theater. Like it's fantastic. Speaker 2 (19m 46s): But you know, it's interesting. We solve different problems, problems. Like I was years ago, we have this event on the last day of the semester, second semester at Columbia called manifest, which is this massive arts festival. It spills onto the streets. We have puppet show puppet, parades down the street. And we have, it's really fantastic. Photography has like gallery exhibits, super fun. This school is crazy. And I love it. And years ago it poured down rain and they had had this thing that they were going to do. This is pretty so long ago that I think it was 2009, actually it poured down rain. And they'd had this event that they were going to do called manna text. And they were going to, people could submit their phone numbers and they would text and be like, go to this stage. And you'll, if you're the 10th person there you'll get a thing. And texting was still like, we, it, wasn't certainly not the, the way we lived our lives. Right, Speaker 1 (20m 39s): Right. Speaker 2 (20m 41s): Yes. It poured down. And as soon as it pours, like we had an outdoor stage and I always, I, I produced it for the department. I thank God. I don't have to anymore. But I, I had, I always kept the stage free inside so that if anything happened, we could move it in. So we moved everything in and we didn't have lights up in the theater. And I, so I walked downstairs and I started hanging some lights and doing some things and I was working with, oh, this is funny. I was working with Kendra Thulin oh yeah. He was working with me on that because Kendra and I worked together again, somebody, I almost forget I went to school with. And so I started hanging the lights and everything and she's just staring, like she can't do it. And my kids walked in, my students walked in and I was like, okay, here's what I need you to do to finish this up, do this, do this, do this, hang that, get these gels. These from the sides, this from the front, I'll see you guys. They were like, great. And Kendra and I walked out to do something. And she was like, that was amazing. And I was like, it's what we know how to do. And then five hours later Manitex has fallen apart. They can't figure out what to do. And I'm standing there. I've got these two seasoned subscriptions to the department, which I'm pretty sure were free anyway, back then. And I'm like, what am I supposed to do with these? And I turned there, we're doing a musical theater thing. And I turned to a couple of minutes, you'll theater students. And I was like, get these to an audience member. Somehow they went on stage and made this hilarious, adorable competition. That was like a trivia thing, like trivia about musical theater. Right. And they gave them to the winner. And I was like, we all, I, my students would have turned to the human next to them and been like, do you have these, you know, that's why we're all together. That's why Columbia administration is constantly like, you're you have too many majors in your department. It's so unwieldy. And it's like, because it takes a lot of people to create an entire world. Speaker 1 (22m 26s): It really does. That is really true. And everybody solves different problems. Like nobody that does it does. It does take a bunch of people. That's really interesting. And then when you graduated, what did you do? Like, were you like, I mean, really your career kind of took off. I mean, you're co you're pretty fancy lighting cider. So how did you, did you just like, love it and people loved you and you started getting jobs or like how did it work? Speaker 2 (22m 55s): Yeah. There was a couple of stages in it. I, you know, it's funny. I did the big funk and what's hilarious about that to me is that when we did it, I was like, where are we? We are in the front end of someone's apartment. It is bizarre. These people live here in the back of this place and they're letting us do a play in the front and like flash forward, I don't know, 15 years. And I, I am friends with those people. Amazing. I did some moment in conversation. I was like, that was your place that I did that weird shit show with the weird lights in the cans. Like, so I started doing storefront and I S I had started assisting at Steppenwolf while I was at school. So I had, I, at the time that I was in school, I had a foot in both bootcamps. And so it is, I definitely, yeah, I definitely was splitting my time. And so I started doing more assisting it's definite wall. And in the fall, he'll never hear this the fall, right after graduation, I assisted somebody who sort of well known to be difficult business of lighting side. And for whatever reason, we absolutely hit it off. And he is like my brother today. And so I started traveling with him. I started working on projects all over with him and because he was difficult, theater companies would bring me to projects that they wouldn't necessarily bring an assistant on normally, because he's really, he's like the best in the business, but they knew I could handle him. And they knew that I could handle him by saying, I need you to leave the theater right now. And I'll take care of things while you sit her down. And so we, I would go to, I went to New York with him starting in 1998. I assisted actually my second Broadway assisting job was with him. My first one was from Steppenwolf. So I simultaneously was with Steppenwolf and him. And so my assistant career was like really amping up. And I was in these important rooms like Suzan-Lori parks and George Wolfrey top dog underdog with at the time the first production was Don Cheadle and Jeffrey Wright. And then those staff replaced Jeffrey or repost on. And so I was getting to do a lot of those really awesome things. And simultaneously I was doing storefront, right. And, and honing my skills and building my skills and knowing how, like I could watch the people that assisted make these massive shows with so much stuff. And I would think about those ideas. It's exactly what they tell you to do in school. But yeah. And then I would go back to the storefront with 17 lights and some candles, and I could make something that was really interesting because I had a much stronger sense of how equipment worked. You know, Keith always says that his graduate school was assisting per the years that he did. And he particularly assisted this amazing designer named Jim Ingles. And he's like, that was my grad school because I learned how to use our tools and then how to pull back from them. Speaker 1 (25m 35s): And how did you get, I think for people listening, they're going to be, well, how, how did she get to assist at step it, well, how did she get in the room at Steppenwolf? Speaker 2 (25m 44s): It was that guy, Kevin, the one that was my, you know, he taught us, but he, I, he knew I came up here and I reached out and I was like, I really, I want to have, you know, I, I want to work with you. I want to learn from you. And he, it's funny because now he's in Houston. I met him, but he is, he was great. And my second year, because the guy I came in with dropped the program, my second and third year, I was all alone. Like my classes were by myself. And so what John would often do was put me in a class with someone else. So that, like, there was a, for some reason, the third year BFA lighting class in my second year only had one wedding student. So we paired for the class in the class time, we had somebody to sort of like riff on and talk to, and our levels were different. But a lot of the projects that we did, like we spent one full quarter just in the light lab, which we usually, most semester, most years we did just making projects. And like, here's a song like the song by next week, here's a musical theater song. You you're lighting it as if it's musical theater, somebody on there, like something has to represent the chorus, visually something has to represent, how do you, how do you actually change the song as if it's a stage? And we have like little blocks of wood and like little people and things that we would put up and make these vignettes. And so she and I were just sort of at different levels on that, but Kevin was the teacher and it was, I actually had a one-on-one with him. And he said at the beginning of the year, he was like, I just want your, your resume is going to look good when you finish this class. And that was crazily enough. It was the 20th anniversary of Stephan wall. So I was the second assistant on very child. Gosh, that to Gary Sinise director, I worked on every man that Frank Lottie directed, I worked on the Libertine, how much was in. I did, I was an assistant second assistant on all of those shows. And then by the fourth show of that season, I ended up the first assistant who, who stayed with him for a while, but was sort of grooming me to be the next step. And that's how that sort of works sometimes is like we, our assistants move up and become our full peers. And then we train somebody else up in that way. And I, by the fourth show, I was actually getting paid while I was doing it for credit and stuff at school. So I think in those days I wouldn't have gotten in trouble for it today. They would be like, what, what? Speaker 1 (27m 56s): Right. But then you were like, yeah. Speaker 2 (27m 58s): So they didn't know. Right. Speaker 1 (28m 0s): They weren't keeping track of that is so cool. Speaker 2 (28m 3s): So I got to do that. Speaker 1 (28m 4s): Yeah. And then, and then did you, did you, what was the journey like to, did you live in New York? Like, did you live in New York, ever full time? Speaker 2 (28m 13s): Not full time. I spent a lot of time crashing on David Swayze's spare, like his studio floor. I did a lot of that for many years and, and other friends, new Yorkers are particularly skilled in the art of letting you stay with them. And so now, I mean, I joke that I'm the Heather Gilbert school for wayward or Heather Gilbert home for wayward Chicagoans, because I there's so many people who move out of Chicago and come back to do a show and I let them, I let them live in my spare room. My friend, Samantha, who's this brilliant costume designer. I mean, for like two and a half years, we were like, she was like my, my roommate. She came and went, I have somebody coming on the Saturday after Thanksgiving while she does a show, you know? Cause I feel like I'm giving back for all those times that I crashed in New York. So I did a fair amount of assisting and stuff there. I've only, I guess I've only designed about three times there actually. One of them was pretty significant. So yes. Speaker 1 (29m 9s): Talk about that. Let's talk about that. How did that come about? What, what, yeah. That journey of life. Speaker 2 (29m 17s): Yeah. My other job in grad school was I was bartender. I, yeah. I used to bartend at a place called bar San Miguel up on Clark street. Oh yeah. Yeah. It was a non-equity bar. And I started bartending there after, I guess, had our second year. It's funny during that huge heat wave of 95, I went there for the first time with Chris Freeburg and Kate McKernan. Yes. Half a year later I was working there and, and Cromer used to come in there cause it was a theater bar and I met him there. And so our relationship started 26 years ago. Holy shit. Speaker 1 (29m 48s): As tender in a patron. Speaker 2 (29m 50s): Yeah. That's how we met. That's amazing. Yeah. He loves that. I think he loves it. That's part of our origin story because it's funny when we, when he tells it and writes it like in a letter of recommendation or whatever, and, and we didn't work together until 2003, but we've known each other. At one point we quit smoking at the same time. And at one point that was like the most significant thing. And then all of these things that we've done have happened since, but now I'm also still thinking that maybe the most significant thing that we ever did together was quit smoking. That's fantastic. Speaker 1 (30m 18s): It's very significant. And it also, you did it together and it's a real bonding experience when you quit. Something like that. Speaker 2 (30m 26s): Yeah. It was tough. It's been, it's been, it's been 19 years this year. Congratulations. So we started then, and that was the moment also that like I did a show with him finally, and we did this miracle on 34th street that we all were super in need of money at Christmas time. And he wrote this adaptation and it started Tracy Letts, which we think is like the funniest thing in the world now. And so we did that show and then when I started, and then I started teaching shortly thereafter and I started, I did, and I went to LSU for two years in Baton Rouge. And when I came back because I loved teaching students, they're the best thing in the world. Higher education can make you want to pull your hair out. And state schools are often really like that if you're in the arts. So it was a struggle, but I came back here to Columbia, which I had only vaguely known of when we were in school. And that's, I didn't know that everybody who got cut came here until I was teaching here. And then it was funny because when I would, I don't remember when the cuts system stopped, but whatever point it did was after I started here, because you would be doing like the summer sort of advising with incoming students, you do your, your couple of sessions in the summer and kids would come in and their credits would be this really weird number. And I was like, I don't understand why that's not three credits, but it was like two points, 1.3 threes and 2.3 twos. And it was sort of like thirds, but not even HOAs. And I, and I found out that was, that was the sign of somebody who was cut from the theater school because it was the theater school classes that were those year long things, trying to get them into semesters. Right, right. Yeah. I was like, oh yeah, that's what happened to everybody who quit. And so, so, but David talkier and so we, we start teaching a collaboration class together, all really. I didn't know, that's cool for directors and designers. And so then we were going to do a show here at school together, but he, and we started the process and we were like, live, we got to live what we teach them. We got to, we got it. We got to collaborate like that. And we had to pull out of the show because he took adding machine to New York instead. And then he came home from adding machine. And that's when he had been talking about our town that he was going to do with the hypocrites, which was, I worked a lot with the artistic director of the hypocrites I had. I had a long relationship. I, I mean, he's still my friend, he's just second grader, John grainy, Sean and I, Sean was simultaneously, the two of them were sort of like my biggest income and my income through them. And so I, so, but I wasn't a part of the hypocrites. I was eventually, I was not at that point. Right. And he, he kept talking to the show, but he had to ask the resonance designer, but the resident designer who's my sweet friend now said no. And they brought me on to our town and you know, it's sort of like, the rest is history. Like we, David and I have a long history at that point and we have a, we had a friendship, you know, but we now, you know, we had like the let's let's, you know, talk on the phone and watch Dexter in the middle of the night friendship a little bit before that. But we now have done, I think I, I counted when we opened bug last week and I think we've talked 16 shows together and, and some of them have been really life-changing for both of us. So yeah, Speaker 1 (33m 37s): That is fantastic. And I feel like if you find a collaborator that just I'm recently have, have started working with someone that I just, I work with Gina, and then I work with other people, but like when you find someone like that, where you, you just, it just works out. Like it just works. There's something about it. The only thing you can think of is like, you know, it is some sort of, it almost feels like some kind of cosmic thing that comes together that you are able to do. Great. You can facilitate each other's great work without ending the relationship and having crazy, you know, fights and things that don't lead to total destruction. That's magic. Speaker 2 (34m 24s): Yeah. Well, you know, it's interesting cause directors go, I think they probably do this to actors too. If they have a deep relationship more than anything, they go stuff's right there. Like they just stopped calling and you're like, come on. Right. And Cobra, at one point it was in New York and working with new people and our town had come to a close. Right. Which, cause that sort of kept us together for a long time. We did that show that was over over seven year period of time, all the venues. And so we, we had, you know, we'd, we'd, we'd had a connection and we had done other couple of other new shoot new shows within that time. Yeah, sure. It wasn't just our town. Right. And then we'd done our streetcar that was really successful. And the Sam Rockwell was in really isn't that crazy. I did a person who was Sam Rockwell, who was so lovely. I came up and was like, oh my God, the lighting is so beautiful. I was like, oh, so I will be heard in it. So how do you know? But, Speaker 1 (35m 17s): But he, but even to say it, you know, like what a sweetheart? Yeah. I was at a wedding with him cause he was in a movie with my boss and he was lovely, a lovely and like a pro like a real, Speaker 2 (35m 31s): So I get so excited for him now all the time. So, but we had healed David actually sort of like wasn't calling. And I was like, oh, are we not going to work together anymore? And it's funny because I think in the history of our lives, it will, it's actually a blip, but it felt like a long time. And I was like, okay, well I guess that's okay. Like relationships do shift and, and partnerships do add, nobody wants to somebody forever. Absolutely. But I was like, I actually, we are, I am, you know, I was not a Columbia kid. I'm like, I have a pocket in a thousand ways. But yeah, I did work. I do teach at Columbia and I am a Sheldon Patinkin person. I'm one of his people and Sheldon taught you, you see each other's shows. That is what we do for each other. Right. I was like, I'm going to still see your shows. Right. We have way too much of a history for our friendship to die because we're not, we're not doing right. Right. So I kept, I stayed around. Yeah. I was like, I'm not going to, I'm going to come to me. I'm going to see your things. I'm going to, you know, I'm going to go see the band's visit or I'm going to go also, I get to see the bands visit then come on. Right. Or I'm going to see your comeback, little Sheba with Derek in Boston because I love that. You know? And so when the time rolled around, I found out he was doing a production of next to normal at writers theater. And I loved that show and I had done a production of it that I kept texting him, being like, oh my God, I wish I were doing your production of this. Not that I didn't think that one was great, but it was much more of the sort of flash and trash version. Right. And I wanted to see David's version where there's like a dining room table and people around it. Right. You know? And I just, I was, so I texted him as soon as I heard from our friend Lilianne was like, I will do the show. And he woke up the next morning and he was like, he texted me back. I was like, it was kind of a non David text. I was like, this is very specific and kind, and I he's listing these things, but he was like, these are the, I woke up this morning and I saw your text. And I called Michael Halberstam, who was still the artistic director at the time. And so we have to hire Heather for the show and he said, okay, but we already hired Keith. And I was like, yeah, I fucking knew it. I knew I was going to be too late. I'm reading this text. And David's like, and I screwed up. And these are the reasons why, and he was like, writer's theaters are theater. It's our place. Which just so you know, he'd just done as many shows with Keith as he has with me. But he went through and he was like gave me their reasons that were really lovely. And then he said, Williamstown is going to reach out about a show, Adam rap's new play. And I was like, Williamstown really paid nothing. Why is that my constellation prize? I was totally annoyed. And then Williamston production was a struggle. Like we did this by the way, the play is the sound inside because we have not said the name of it if anybody's listening. And we, so we were, it was a struggle, you know, you have to do it very quickly. It's a big play for, for the, the lead actress in it and the actress in it. And, and it was a struggle for her. She, she definitely was acting out a little bit. Yeah, sure. And, and so, and you don't have much time and you're doing it with people who are, you know, these interns that I it's sort of famously a conversation in the industry right now about specifically how William sound carries those interns. So you're feeling guilty and also they don't know what they're doing as well. So there's a lot of pressure on that. Right. And I loved it. I loved that place so much. I read that play and I was like, oh my God, this is beautiful. It's this beautiful play about what we do when we were in need in our loneliness. And it's just, it's ju it just hit me. I don't know how Adam Rapp, who's this like hyper alpha masculine male actually has that insight into, I think, because it's insight into humanity and thus, he can change it into he's like, well, women feel the same thing men do. We're right. We're not different creatures. Right. So, yeah. Wow. And then, and then the show moved to New York a year later to Broadway to studio 54, which my God, I got to crawl around in studio 54. It took me crawl over that building. I was like, she'll be everything. Where did they keep the drugs? I'm so cute. Right. Right. Yeah. And we, I went up into the there's a dome and I got to go up into the dome and look down into the space and see where they store all the lights. And I got the full tour one day. It's great. The crew is the best crew in the entire world. And we did this beautiful play and people were, you know, it's funny. I, I actually was just, I submitted an application last night at 11:58 PM for full professorship. Like that's the highest level of, of teaching here. Yeah. And when you get tenure, you have to apply for that. But then once you've got it, you actually don't have to apply for anything, a promotion past that. Yeah. So I finally had committed to doing it. And so it's funny, I've been thinking so much about my philosophy of lighting and the way I approach it. But one of the things is that there's that old saw the best line design is lighting. The can't be seen, which is just a load of crap anywhere like Eddie in any scenario, like just say like you and I can't see the light where we are right now. Right. We see it. We know it's there. What they really mean is if I change, if I break the rules of the reality that I set up for you and notice that that's bad lighting design. Right, right. It's like, it's, I was compared to like, weirdly as a lighting professor, I had Meisner in this paper that I was writing yesterday. This document is writing. Cause it's like, it's that idea of living truthfully in imaginary circumstances. It's the same thing for us. We're creating those circumstances and we're trying to make it so that the actors can live in truth and everything has it. And if the rules are light comes out of the floor. Right. And it changes when I take a step, as long as I, as long as we create those rules for the audience. Right. And, and train them, they know what it is and then they follow it. Yeah. Speaker 1 (41m 6s): We'll go with you. It's consistency. It's authenticity. It's telling the truth in the moment and yeah. Staying true to what the vision is, whatever that vision is. But yeah, it also reminds me of like the good lighting is shouldn't be noticed or whatever is like, women should be seen and not heard. It's totally like fuck off. Speaker 2 (41m 28s): So I was talking about something about myself too, and I almost was talking about leadership and I almost said, you know, because I was called bossy as a child, and now we acknowledge that. That just meant I was a leader. Speaker 1 (41m 37s): Yeah. Right. It just meant that. And you know, it's interesting because my recollection of you in college was that you knew what the hell you were doing now. Granted, I mean, everyone has different, you know, I'm sure you didn't always know what you're doing. Cause you're a human being. But like my recollection of you is that you were like, I think maybe because also you were a grad student, right. So, but you definitely had vision. You were someone that I was like, oh, they know what they're doing and, and why they're doing it. So there was this thing about you that I really felt from the little, I knew that like you had motivation or like a, a direction and also a curiosity, but, and a, I just, I just think you were like very early on like a master of your craft, which meant that also masters in my view, like really study and take the shit seriously and have a lot of pride in their work. That was it. Like not a lot of people had a pro. I mean, I can speak for myself. Like it wasn't like, I, I felt like you could stand behind your work. I've always felt that like, when I read stuff about, about you or like when I follow your career, it's like you stand by your work. That's fucking phenomenal, you know? Speaker 2 (42m 55s): Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate that. I feel like a lot of that was also the training that we were getting in the, in the design program because we had, we had such good professors, particularly John, we, we, we had Franco Lovecchio was there for two years. Right. Who was the most wonderful, crazy human in the entire world. He would like, literally, like you'd be drawing in the studio and you'd be like drawing on something. And we all learned that you had to keep tracing paper over a culture, which is something called trace really. But we would, we would have trace taped to our drawing boards so that the minute he sat down, you could throw a trace over it. Or he would just start drawing all over you drawing. And, but he would like nudge you off your chair while he was like, fixing your time for you. And you'd tell him, be standing there watching him doing your work. And you were like, maybe, maybe not, maybe, maybe I'm in school. Maybe I want to learn how to do that. He was so funny though. So great. But then John Colbert has, is like really like taught us like the, that you have to be able to justify the work that you have to understand the rules of the piece that you and the rigor that goes behind that. And Nancy Beulah, who's the same. Who was just this amazing. She's the, she used to let, she used to let you do your project again, to get your grade up a little bit. And I would get like a B plus on something for her and I would do it again. And it wasn't even that I really needed. Like, I wasn't great. I wanted her to think I was working. Like I needed her to have that belief in Speaker 1 (44m 15s): G she, there was something. So she costumed me and said she just, she was so affirming. And also like you, there was something about she, she made me believe that she knew that I was going to be okay and that I was going to be a professional and that I could do it. Like there was, it was amazing. It was so much, there was like a strong confidence that she instilled in me as a costume person, which I, I just felt, again, she stood behind her work too. Like she was a bad-ass like, there was no like, ah, apologizing, there was no apologizing. And I feel like we just spent so much of our lives or at least I have apologizing that when I see someone like a career like yours, I'm like, oh, maybe this comes from not apologized. Like maybe not apologizing for, for us as women as in our work, you know, like this is badass work I'm doing and I'm going to continue to do it. I dunno. It's just a fierceness. Speaker 2 (45m 19s): Well, for me too, I feel like the thing that I'm proudest of in my, in my age and in my success is that I no longer feel like the pressure of having to be complete on the first day of tech. Like, I'm like, I'm going to put an incomplete, that thing up there, and I'm going to start to see how light is moving on these people and what that does. And I know it might not look good, but I'm not going to worry about that. It's going to be okay. You know, I'm going to be able to, I know I will make it look great. I know I can. I know that what I put up there for the first draft is going to be the right first draft, because I know what I'm doing and I know that it doesn't have to be complete. Right. And I'm fine with that. And like, David is really great for that because he has no expectations of that either. Speaker 1 (46m 3s): Yeah. That's fantastic. I mean, that's like really the difference between being product oriented and process oriented, right? Yeah. As an artist. And like, for me as a writer, like writing for TV, my first draft, if it's not, it's, it's terrible. And it's exactly where it's supposed to be. But if I have expectations or get in my own way and feel self-conscious about it, the whole thing is it doesn't work. So it's like, this is a shitty first draft. And by shitty, I mean, wonderful. You know what I mean? Speaker 2 (46m 32s): So wonderful first draft, right? It's never supposed to be the final thing. Totally. We were also taught at school that because we don't stick around for the product, right. We're not part of the product. We, I mean, we are, we're making a product, right. Because we're not ever, once the product goes, our AR is there, we're gone from it that we need to be really process-oriented. And that our process is what's going to get us hired aspect of working with us. Speaker 1 (46m 59s): I love that. And I feel like if we could, if we, I wish I would have learned that more and I'm not, I don't blame anyone for it. I just think it's the way the life is. But like, I'm, that's what I think I've spent my adult career as an artist becoming more process oriented and less product oriented and less and less judgy, right. About my and other people's process of, of like, it doesn't look the same. And so I think when you find a collaborator, which it sounds like David, what is for you that is also, and in the same sort of thought process in terms of how art is created, that's what works, because you're both sound like you're like no expectations for the first thing to be the thing. Like it changes it pivots, it moves, it's moving, it's breathing and moving. And I think that that's probably why your work together is so powerful and profound is that you both have this view life view right. Of art that works together really well. Right. So, and that sounds fine when I find those people. Those are the people I want to stay with and work with. Yeah. Speaker 2 (48m 7s): Yeah. And I think too, like one of the things getting back to sound inside and David, is that like, I, the thing that people often comment on is my use of darkness on stage that I actually commit fully to it, that I don't have a problem having actress speak from the dark. And I did the first time I ever had something that was really dark. I was like, oh God, like, you know, you're taught that, that can't be funny. Right. People actually laugh at things that here in the dark, it turns out. And so, but so being able to like be tiny and focused and just have a little bit of light, you know, and sound inside became that piece, which was like, we created the premise of the play is that this professor is telling the, talking to the audience and we don't really know what that's about. Like, I don't know. And I don't know the answer to that because I almost felt like knowing, like we don't want the audience to fully know. And I felt like if I know too much, then I, it may manifest. And so I never, even though Adam rap became, I tell him that he's the brother. I didn't get no offense to the brother. I did get, but I love Adam and I can ask him anything and talk to him about anything. But I have never asked him the truth of the play, which is, is it happening? Is it my meal? There's a character that we question is the character even real? Is she writing a book as she talks to the audience, this character, a Bella college professor, or is she, or there's a reference to a book at the end of the play that you like? Did she steal that book? And a lot of that was taken, there were a lot more concrete parts of the story when we did it Williamstown and they were taken out for the Broadway production to let the audience sort of float in their own uncertainty more. And so the idea is that Bella, this character who, who is this professor is actually the only fully fleshed out part of the play at the beginning. And that we slowly revealed the world as she creates it as she sort of illustrating it. And so that actually gave me the ability to have this production that was like using little amounts of light, a lot of darkness. Like I like, but also was in a way flashy, because we'd have like a big window on the side, on the wall of the sets. And then all of a sudden it would shift like instantly into a different time of day. And the shape of the window would change in the color of the window would change, but it was all very graphic. And then eventually within these like sequence of scenes in this office with this window, eventually the final one was this massive projection of a very real window. So, and so I got to work and I worked really closely with the production designer, who was the handsomest person in design. His name is Aaron Ryan. If you ever meet him, you're going to be like, I didn't know that designers looked like that. I thought only actors did. Wow. And he's the best dude in the land. I love him so much. Speaker 1 (50m 33s): So, so I guess yeah. Being mindful of your time, I just want to ask you if you, because we do have a lot of younger folks that listen to the show and that are interested in careers as designers, not just after, you know, now there's like such a, we're trying also to shine a light on designers. Cause it's awesome. Right. We don't, I mean, acting is not the only name of the game here. So what would you say if someone came to you and said, Hey, I'm interested in the theater. What does, what w what kind of person do I, it's kind of a hard question, but what kind of person do I need to be, to be a designer? I know if I'm a designer, Heather, Speaker 2 (51m 26s): I actually am really conscious of like the personality quirks of designers, because I watch it so much in my students. Right. And it's interesting because I am, I can't make a, I can not build a model. I cannot build a model. I, it was hated in school and it, but it's this really sort of detailed private work. And I'm a much, I'm super extroverted, which that doesn't mean all lighting designer extroverted, but like, I have to be able to work out here. Like I don't work here. I have to be able to work openly. I also have to work in public. Everybody is there when actors and designers have that rare thing in which actors and lighting designers, I should say, we, all of our work is done in front of other people. You cannot, like, you might have a smaller room and only a couple people at first, but like, it's still the same and we don't get to make it privately. And then somebody builds it and we go, oh, paint it that way. Or even like, listen to in our headphones. No, you have to be okay with that. You have to be really good with like a super high level of pressure. And you have to let it roll off of you. I worked, I love Sean Graney. This will not surprise anybody who knew Shawn grainy or losing his Shaun could be very difficult in a tech. I'm not the easiest dude, always in the world, but I love him to death. And there was an actor that we used to work with who just would Marvel. We worked with this person so many times and was a big part of the company. And with Marvel, it, me, because Sean would get tense and it'd be like really stressful and like pushing, pushing to get it done faster. And I would just let it all roll off. And it's because I have to be able to do that and know that this is my time. Right. Reclaiming my time. I was like, oh yeah, I do that all the time because I know that this is when I can do the thing. I also have to know when I can say, Hey, you know what? I can do this later. I can do this without people, or it's taking too long and it's slowing us down and it's, it's killing our process. It's not letting us all move forward as a group. And I'll deal with this thing later. Right. But I also know that I have to do it now. And that's the way this process works until somebody changes it, I'm going to do it in the room. And so I will take my time. I have to be able to work as quickly as I can in that. And I have to know that I have to deal with the pressures from other people. Speaker 1 (53m 27s): So it's got a little bit of, it's interesting. It's a it's human relationships that makes with time management mixed with reclaiming your time mixed with knowing when to, yeah. When you can let go and say, okay, I'm going to do, but like, I, I don't think people, at least I'll speak for myself. Younger people think that you need, well, the ones I encounter my students too, like, you need people skills as a designer. Oh, you need people skills. Like, just because you're not an actor doesn't mean you don't, you know, you got to work with people. And I think your, from your interview, it's really clear that like, there's all different kinds of people you're going to work with, and you're not going to get along with all of them, but you can also figure out a way, right. To still have the process, be one of where you get your work done, get rehired. If that's what you want and still be a kind human and work, you know, in the industry. And I think that's really interesting that you, the rolling off the back. Yeah. Because people in tech and in tech and intense situations get bonkers bomb, bonkers, bonkers Speaker 2 (54m 30s): Years ago, I was assisting on a production of the Scottish play in New York that George Wolf was directing that Angela Bassett and Alec Baldwin were starring in and the pressure and the pressure on it was super high. And then everybody who was a secondary person was like, we have Schreiber and Michael Hall and Zach brown. Speaker 1 (54m 48s): I mean, it was our secondary Speaker 2 (54m 50s): People. Cause they were babies that like Zach rabbit just finished school. Like let's start on it. And we, and the pressure was super high. And, and we were on the third floor of the building and the electric shop was in the basement. And my designer was like yelling at me and I would pass it on. I would pass that energy on. And the assistant lighting supervisor took me out for pizza and was like, you can't do that. And he was like, you have to be the wall. And if you can't be the wall, this might not be your job. He's like, you can still be a designer, but assisting might not be the way you got there. And this guy must've been, I mean, he was maybe my age. He was probably younger than me. His name was Todd greatest thing that ever happened to me. Yep. It changed me forever. I was like, you're right. That is my job. And actually, I'm very good at that. I am a cheerleader and I'm a person who cares about people and I have no problem. I mean, there will be times that I'm not trying to say, I'm never put pressure on the people around me. I get impatient too. I'm not a patient person, but, but I can, I can try to protect the people around me. And I, and I love my team that people who make the lighting thing happen, you know, I kept, I, we won the, I did this production bug with David right before the pandemic. And then we just did it again unless we could set them off. And we won the Jeff award for it. As I like to say, we won the Jeff award. Like my team won that award. I didn't do it by myself, but I actually took it into the first day of tech and we put it on the tech table for the second round. And I was like, everybody had my crew put a light on it and they would run the light up. And it was like, everybody may give me notes through the Jeff. The Jeff looks up notes for me. That's hilarious. I will speak to none of you. I will speak to Carrie Coon, Carrie Coon also want to Jeff that she may speak directly to me because what else do you do with an award? There's so weird there, Speaker 1 (56m 30s): Right there, weirdness. And they're weird and they're nice and they're in your effort. And it's the only way we have really, as human acknowledged this stuff, but in a, in a sort of ceremony kind of a way, but like, all right, well, I just thank you for talking Speaker 2 (56m 46s): Absolutely Speaker 1 (56m 47s): Pleasing. And I, I, you know, I just, I'm always left when I talk to someone like you I'm like left with this wish for young women to know that there are so many jobs and careers in the theater that you don't just have to be an actor or an actress or whatever you want to call yourself. There are so many things. And, and by, and for me also, it's like, oh my gosh, please find someone that's doing the thing you might want to do and ask them questions and see if you can get information, you know, like an informational interview, which is essentially what we do on this podcast is do an informational interview with people we went to school with and other people, but like get the information. So thank you for putting the information about your career and your journey out there for us. And we'll, we'll keep in touch and you'll get a copy to review before we air it. And, but just, thank you. Thank you so much. Speaker 2 (57m 45s): Totally. I'll send you guys some pictures I have to please. And, you know, they're printed. I actually had to go into a box and found Speaker 1 (57m 51s): Them. It's a whole thing. Speaker 2 (57m 53s): Yeah. Much like everybody else. I went through all of those during the pandemic. So I was trying to figure if I had one with me and Keith, cause that would be awesome. Speaker 1 (57m 60s): That would be fine. Speaker 2 (58m 3s): It's funny. I love telling people in the, in the lighting community that like I drove her, we've been friends for so long. I drove him home from college for Christmas, his first year of college, you know, and then, and now he's like, like he did his first runway show at studio 54. And then I did my first Broadway show in studio 54. And like, yeah, I really love getting to share all of that with him. And he's a true and great artist. And I just, S
Broadway Publicist and Tony Award Honoree Irene Gandy Takes Us Behind the Curtains of The Great White Way, along with Emilio Sosa, the newly appointed Chair of the American Theater Wing. Emilio is also a tony-nominated costume and fashion designer. The recent Tony Awards gave us all hope and a strong signal that Broadway is coming back after taking a hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. And we will see more diversity as actors and producers gave speeches about their yearning for more inclusive stories on Broadway stages. In this interview, these two Broadway leadership stars share a behind the scenes look at one of the best places on earth! Start buying tickets and support the theater now! Irene Gandy is the only Black female press agent member of ATPAM (Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers) for over 50 years. Working with Producer Jeffrey Richards for over three decades, she is a Tony Award-winning Broadway producer for The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, and was a producer for Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill starring Audra MacDonald. She was also co-producer with Voza Rivers of the National tour of South African musical Sarafina. In 2008, she became the first female press agent to be immortalized with a Sardi's caricature. A fashionista known for her furs, in 2015 she launched a signature collection featured in Vogue magazine and will debut a Lady Irene Fur line in 2022. Gandy's recent productions include The Great Society, American Son, China Doll, Fiddler on the Roof, and You Can't Take It With You. She began her career in 1968 as a publicist with Douglas Turner Ward and Robert Hooks' Negro Ensemble Company. Since then, she has worked on over 100 Broadway shows including August: Osage County, Glengarry Glen Ross, Radio Golf, Bubbling Brown Sugar, Smokey Joe's Cafe, Lena Horne: The Lady and her Music, and The Wiz. About Emilio Sosa: Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New York City, Emilio is one of Broadway's most unique talents. He began his theatre career at Grace Costumes, starting as a shopper, and eventually becoming its Creative Director. He credits this time as the foundation for his career. Emilio went on to tour the world with Celine Dion, The Alvin Ailey Dance Company, and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. Emilio made a name for himself styling music videos for Hip Hop pioneers, Salt-N- Pepa, MC Lyte, and Kid & Play to name a few. He has also designed for music icons Diana Ross, Mariah Carey and Gloria Estefan. Catching the eye of director Spike Lee, Emilio became his in-house stylist, working on national and international ad campaigns, before setting his sight on Broadway, where he was mentored by director George C. Wolfe, for whom he designed his first Broadway show, TOPDOG / UNDERDOG. His other Broadway credits include, ON YOUR FEET! The Emilio and Gloria Estefan Story, MOTOWN: The Musical, PORGY AND BESS (TONY Award nom) and LADY DAY at EMERSON'S BAR AND GRILL. He shares the unique distinction of being the first designer of color to design The Radio City Music Hall Spring Spectacular and a new permanent number for the legendary Christmas Show, both starring The Rockettes. He has received both Tony Award and Drama Desk Award nominations and has been the recipient a Lucille Lortell Award, NAACP Theatre Awards, and LA Ovation Award. Emilio's talent was also evident on season seven of Project Runway and Project Runway All Stars, where he showed his final collection on all models of color, a first for the popular franchise. A proud Trustee of the American Theatre Wing, Emilio shares his vast theatre knowledge with communities rarely represented, by sponsoring theatre trips, workshops and talk backs. “I believe theatre has the ability to build the bridges needed for all of us to better understand ourselves and the world we live in.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We return to our Playwright Series where we look at a single playwright and their large body of work. In this episode, we discuss the life and work of SUZAN-LORI PARKS. We read the three plays: Venus (1996), Topdog/Underdog (2002 Pulitzer Prize Winner), and Father Comes Home From The Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) (2015) to share our thoughts on Suzan-Lori Park's craft in playwriting. We hope you will check these plays out and listen to our conversation! SUZAN-LORI PARKS Venus (1996) Topdog / Underdog (2002 Pulitzer Prize Winner) Father Comes Home From The Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) (2015) GLISTENS: CHO - Chip and Joanna SAM - peaches _____________________________________________ Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode with your friend! Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies And as always, we would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it in our next episode. Email: contact@beckettsbabies.com For more info, visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com Theme Music: "Live Like the Kids" by Samuel Johnson, Laura Robertson, Luke O'Dea (APRA) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/beckettsbabies/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/beckettsbabies/support
In this episode READ MORE PLAYS hosts Ricardo Frederick Evans and Jennifer Sassaman the show Topdog/Underdog By Suzan-Lori Parks. Theme music by Kalyn Harewood, with additional music by Bob Sassaman.Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for updates and discussions you can participate in. Support us on Patreon to get bloopers, dramaturgy, and other bonus content. Please like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.Links to items referenced in this episode:1. A full plot summary of the play can be found on the Plot Synopses page of our website: https://www.readmoreplays.com/plot-synopsis2. Information about the analytic technique used in this and other episodes can be found in the Text Analysis page of our website: https://www.readmoreplays.com/analysis
It's the birthday of Suzan-Lori Parks (1963), the first African-American playwright to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama, for her play Topdog/Underdog in 2002.
Karen Rodriguez hosts this candid interview with esteemed actor, director and ensemble member Amy Morton. Morton shares her favorite (and least favorite) moments on stage, and dishes out advice for young actors eager to jumpstart their careers. Listen to hear Amy talk about her path, from growing up as a shy kid with a fantastical imagination, to seeing her first Steppenwolf production, and finally to performing in the theatre’s legendary production of August: Osage County thirty years later.Interview begins at 3:37. This episode of Half Hour is generously sponsored by Michele Kenner.Amy Morton is a director and actor at Steppenwolf. She has directed or performed in over 30 plays at Steppenwolf including Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Tony nomination), August: Osage County (Tony nomination), One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (also on Broadway), Hir, Cherry Orchard, The Berlin Circle, Three Days of Rain, The Unmentionables, Space, The Royal Family and many others. She has directed Guards at the Taj (both Atlantic Theatre and Steppenwolf), Glengary Glen Ross, Clybourne Park, America Buffalo, The Dresser, The Pillowman, Topdog/Underdog, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Alliance Theatre), Awake and Sing (Northlight Theatre), and many others. Film: Rookie of the Year, 8MM, Falling Down, Backdraft, Up in the Air, Bluebird. Television: Bluebloods, Girls, Homeland, currently on Chicago PD as Trudy Platt. Before joining Steppenwolf, Amy was a member of the Remains Theatre for 15 years.Learn more at Steppenwolf.orgWant to get in touch? Email halfhour@steppenwolf.orgA transcript of this episode can be found HERE
OnWriting presents three live-taped episodes of OnWriting celebrating Black History Month, presented by the WGAE Black Writers Salon. In each installment, two co-chairs of the WGAE Black Writers Salon—OnWriting’s own Geri Cole and Rashidi Hendrix—speak with Black screenwriters who have each written amazing films about Black icons in history. For the second installment in the series, Geri speaks to Suzan-Lori Parks — Pulitzer prize-winning playwright and screenwriter of the new Hulu feature film, THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY. Suzan-Lori Parks was encouraged to take up playwriting by her then-college professor, James Baldwin. In 2002, she became the first African-American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Topdog/Underdog. She also wrote the screenplays for the Spike Lee-directed 1996 film GIRL 6, the 2004 adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston’s THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD, and the 2019 film adaptation of Richard Wright’s NATIVE SON. She is also a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant. THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY is adapted from Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs by Johann Hari. It tells the story of the legendary Billie Holiday (Andra Day) as she's targeted by the federal department of narcotics with an undercover sting operation led by black federal agent Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes), with whom she has a tumultuous love affair. The film is directed by Lee Daniels and is currently available to stream on Hulu. -- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/ -- Follow the Guild on social media: Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast
Jaymi has been designing around the country for the past twenty years. Some production highlights include: four seasons at Utah Shakespeare Festival where she lit sixteen different productions, Two Trains Running, The Taming of the Shrew and the upcoming Great Expectations at The Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The Wiz and Rocky Horror at Dallas Theater Center, Peter and the Starcatcher and Topdog Underdog at South Coast Repertory, the world premier of The Who and the What at LaJolla Playhouse, Smart Cookie at The Alliance Theater, Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune at Hartford Stage, Orlando and Mary Stuart at The Court Theatre, Among the Thugs and Anna in the Tropics at The Goodman, No Place Like Home, Uncle Vanya, The Dazzle, Absolution and The Ordinary Yearnings of Miriam Buddwing at Steppenwolf, Tug of War at The Getty Villa and the national tour of John Astins Once Upon a Midnight. Some theatre companies she has designed for include Denver Theater Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, South Coast Repertory, Utah Shakespeare, LaJolla Playhouse, Dallas Theater Center, Pasadena Playhouse, The Alliance Theater, The Clarence Brown, The Pearl Theater, Victory Gardens, Steppenwolf, The Court Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Redmoon, Rivendell, Naked Eye, Lookingglass, Milwaukee Repertory, Milwaukee Shakespeare, Madison Repertory, San Jose Repertory, and Hartford Stage. She was a founding member of Naked Eye Theater Company and an ensemble member of The Next Theater and Rivendell Theater Ensemble, all of them Chicago based companies. Other design work has included the scenic and projection design on dozens on productions. She also acted as Architectural Lighting Consultant on over three hundred and fifty private residences and designed four different restaurants within Chicago. In addition, she has designed over fifty various special events for non-for-profits, red carpet events and private parties. As a production manager, she has held many positions. She acted as Senior Production Manager for KBA Marketing who produced more than 10,000 events a year for companies such as Coca-Cola, RJ Reynolds and Nike. She also managed and initiated the groundbreaking citywide theatre festival in Chicago known as Theatre Fever with more than 80 theatre companies leading free workshops and performances for a two-week period. She spent seven years as the Producer for The League of Chicago Theatres facilitating all galas, media events and community conferences. Other production management credits include Outfest Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and Mrs. Ts Triathlon. She received her training from the conservatory program of The Theatre School, DePaul University. In 2003 she was the recipient of the Michael Merrit/ Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award. She also received a 2010 Joseph Jefferson Award for Mary's Wedding with Rivendell Theater Ensemble and was nominated for a Jeff Award for Orlando at The Court Theater, The Incident with The Next Theatre, Terrible Girls with About Face, Yellowman with The Next Theatre and OffSpring of the Cold War with Walkabout Theatre. She was additionally a winner of a Column Award for Rocky Horror at Dallas Theater Center and was nominated for a Henry Award for her work on Animal Crackers at The Denver Center. Previous teaching credits include adjunct faculty at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Associated Colleges of the Midwest and The Theatre School, DePaul University. Her website is available at jaymismith.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/p3-theatre-company/support
Meet Emilio Sosa, a costume/fashion designer and writer. His costume designs were featured around the world and on Broadway hits like "Topdog/Underdog," "On Your Feet! The Emilio & Gloria Estefan Story," "Motown: The Musical" and many more. Emilio shares his journey of being a proud Dominican raised in the Bronx, how he got into styling, designing, and how the pandemic lockdown led him to nurture another gift he always loved to do which is writing. Instagram: @esosafashion Twitter: @esosafashion Facebook: Emilio Sosa
Thierry Lundy is an accomplished actor, comedic dramatist and neophyte author. He hails from Miami, Florida and currently lives in Philadelphia, where is pursuing a Bachelors Degree at the University of the Arts. Previously studying at Jacksonville Community College, he has appeared in film, television and been featured in major theatrical staged productions "TOPDOG UNDERDOG","MOMMA KNOWS BEST", "FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE", "SHAKING THE TRUTH LOOSE" and "NO GANG WAR IN 74," based upon the book by bestselling author Steve Satell. His first published book by New Arts Productions Publications entitled "LIKE WORDS INSIDE OF THE IMAGINATION" will be accompanied by a one man show to be featured on a United States tour through the National Black Arts Spoken Word Tour and the National Black Authors Tour. Presently Mr. Lundy is a Workshop Facilitator for Education Works, Philadelphia Youth Poetry Movement (PYPM) and the Pennsylvania Public Library Systems. He is also scheduled for upcoming touring features with "Mountain of Miracles" author Cleous Young. His work and career achievements is a distinguished highlight of his Haitian heritage and Caribbean creativity.
Whew! Ya girls are back after a brief hiatus, and they've got some things to say about their reads. Karson shares her thoughts on "Topdog/Underdog" by Suzan-Lori Parks, and Brindolyn takes us to church with her review of "The Amen Corner" by James Baldwin.Next month's reads will be celebrity memoirs! Karson is diving in to "Greenlights" by Matthew McConoughey, and Brindolyn is listening to "Becoming" by Michelle Obama. Read or listen along and let us know what you think on Twitter at @ThatsLitPodcast, on Instagram at @ThatsLitPodcast and on Facebook or email us at thatslitpodcast@gmail.com. You can find Brindolyn on Twitter at @Brindolyn and on Instagram at @Brindolyn. And you can find Karson on Twitter at @kgaylet.Shout out to SquadCast for allowing us to continue to create new content while maintaining a responsible social distance.
This Pulitzer Prize-winning play is about two brothers, Lincoln and Booth, and the elaborate con that is their shared history. Tune in for a conversation about Suzan-Lori Parks' place in American theater, some patter from the street game three-card monte, and the open question that haunts your hosts: who is top dog of Overdue?Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
This Pulitzer Prize-winning play is about two brothers, Lincoln and Booth, and the elaborate con that is their shared history. Tune in for a conversation about Suzan-Lori Parks' place in American theater, some patter from the street game three-card monte, and the open question that haunts your hosts: who is top dog of Overdue?Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
Keep the squares outta your circle, moisturize, hydrate, and enjoy our discussion of "Topdog/Underdog" by the one and only Suzan-Lori Parks! **NOTE: At the time that we recorded this episode, the good news about the stale cheeto having to pack his things after losing his job had not been announced...but TRUST that we will be READY to celebrate with yall during episode 14!**
On this month's full-length episode, Brindolyn and Karson discuss books by authors of a religious tradition that is different from their own. Brindolyn shares her thoughts on "Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi, and Karson takes us through "The City of Brass" by S.A. Chakraborty.For September, our hosts will each read a play – Karson will be reading "Topdog/Underdog" by Suzan-Lori Parks, and Brindolyn will be reading "The Amen Corner" by James Baldwin.Read along and let us know what you think on Twitter at @ThatsLitPodcast, on Instagram at @ThatsLitPodcast and on Facebook or email us at thatslitpodcast@gmail.com. You can find Brindolyn on Twitter at @Brindolyn and on Instagram at @Brindolyn. And you can find Karson on Twitter at @kgaylet.Shout out to SquadCast for allowing us to continue to create new content while maintaining a responsible social distance.
Q&A with Billy Porter on May 24, 2013. Moderated by Richard Ridge. Billy Porter currently stars on Broadway as Lola in the hit new musical Kinky Boots (Tony Award-nominee for Best Actor in a Musical). Other Broadway: Miss Saigon, Five Guys..., Grease, Smokey Joe's..., Dreamgirls. Off-Broadway/regional: Angels in America, The Merchant of Venice, Radiant Baby, Birdie Blue, Songs for a New World, Ghetto Superstar (one-man show),Topdog/Underdog, King Lear, The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler. Film/TV: The Broken Hearts Club, Noel, "Shake, Rattle and Roll," "Law & Order," "The Big C." Recording: Untitled, At the Corner of Broadway & Soul.
Announcements and links: Bay Area Book Festival Unbound: List of live May events. The Booksmith: List of live events. Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin, live from Italy. Berkeley Rep and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Mothers Day, May 10th, at 5 pm Pacific. Magic Theatre: Don't Eat The Mangos by Ricardo Perez Gonzalez. Video of the Magic Theatre production. Streaming through May 11. National Theatre Live: Antony and Cleopatra, through May 13. Theatre Rhino: on-line plays through Facebook live. New Conservatory Theatre Center: Off-stage to On-line. SF Batco: Youth workshops, live events. Shotgun Players: Beowulf, May events. Pianofight: May events. Bookwaves: Andrew Altschul discusses his latest novel, The Gringa, with host Richard Wolinsky. The Gringa tells the story of an American activist who goes to Peru in the early 1990s and becomes involved with a radical group who is eventually charged and incarcerated with terrorist crimes, based loosely on the real-life story of Lori Berenson. Paralleling that story is one of Andres, an American writer living in Peru years later, who must cope not only with his own feelings about politics and American influence around the world, but with the notion of American exceptionalism. Extended 50-minute podcast Arts-Waves Suzan-Lori Parks, 2003. An interview with the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for playwrighting (for Topdog/Underdog), also the winner of three Obie Awards for her work off-Broadway. While on tour for her only novel, Getting Mother's Body, she talks about her career as a playwright and about the role of politics and race in playwrighting. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky and recorded on May 20, 2003. Extended 35-minute podcast. Photos: Andrew Altschul, courtesy of the author; Suzan Lori Parks copyright 2018 Suzan-Lori Parks. The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – May 7, 2020: Andrew Altschul; Suzan-Lori Parks appeared first on KPFA.
This is the second in a series of playwright interviews. Suzan Lori-Parks was the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for playwrighting, for Topdog/Underdog in 2001. She won Obie Awards for her play, Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom, produced in 1989, and for Venus in 1998. Richard Wolinsky spoke with Suzan- Lori Parks when she was on tour for her only novel to date, Getting Mother's Body, On May 20th, 2003. Since that time, she has continued to work in theatre, adapting the book of Porgy & Bess for a 2012 Broadway production, writing Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts One, Two and Three) in 2014 and won an Obie Award in 2019 for her play White Noise. Both these plays have recently been produced in the San Francisco Bay Area. She also wrote the screenplay for the 2019 film Native Son. Photos copyrright 2018 Suzan-Lori Parks. The post Playwright Interview: Suzan-Lori Parks, 2003 appeared first on KPFA.
In this second episode of Half Hour, Audrey Francis meets up with fellow Steppenwolf Ensemble Member (and her former acting teacher) K. Todd Freeman. The conversation covers what is was like for Freeman when he joined the ensemble, how he prepares to play unsavory characters onstage, and why he will never perform in a two-man show again.Interview begins at 6:48.K. Todd Freeman has been a Steppenwolf ensemble member since 1993. At Steppenwolf, he has appeared in Downstate ( Jeff Award; National Theatre London, Evening Standard nomination), Airline Highway (Broadway: Drama Desk Award and Tony Nomination), The Brother/Sister Plays, The Tempest, Art, Topdog/Underdog, A Clockwork Orange, We All Went Down to Amsterdam, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (also Broadway) and The Song of Jacob Zulu (Broadway; Tony Nomination) and has directed The Christians, Good People (Jeff Award for Best Production starring the wonderful Mariann Mayberry) and Master Harold. . .and the Boys for Steppenwolf for Young Adults. Off-Broadway credits include Fetch Clay Make Man (NYTW: Obie Award); Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, Spunk (The Public Theatre); and Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Drama Department). Regional credits include Miss Evers’ Boys, Angels in America (Mark Taper Forum). Television and film credits include the upcoming Netflix exclusive A Series of Unfortunate Events, Blindspot, The OA, Anesthesia, Weightless, Believe, Law and Order: SVU, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, NYPD Blue, A Different World, A Gifted Man, The Dark Knight, The Cider House Rules, Gross Pointe Blank and for a very brief moment in Pirates of the Caribbean 5.Learn more at steppenwolf.org
In this Repisode we talk with Suzan-Lori Parks, the playwright of WHITE NOISE, about play’s four contrasting perspectives, and how it anchors difficult topics in love and laughter. Suzan-Lori Parks was named one of time magazine’s “100 Innovators for the Next New Wave,” and is the first African American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for her play Topdog/Underdog. She is a MacArthur “Genius Grant” prize recipient. Broadway credits include the Tony Award-winning Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess. Other plays include In the Blood (Pulitzer Prize finalist) and, more recently, Father Comes Home from the Wars (parts 1,2&3)(Pulitzer Prize finalist). Parks has authored a novel: Getting Mother’s Body. Her screenplays include Girl6 (directed by Spike Lee), Their Eyes Were Watching God (produced by Oprah Winfrey), Anemone Me, and an adaptation of Native Son. New work includes The United States vs Billie Holiday, a stage-musical adaptation of the film The Harder They Come, and she’s currently the show-runner for genius: Aretha Franklin for National Geographic. Parks is now The Public Theater’s Master Writer Chair. She also writes songs and fronts her band: Suzan-Lori Parks & The Band. WHITE NOISE runs September 26–November 10 and tickets are available at berkeleyrep.org. Follow Berkeley Rep on SoundCloud to keep up with the whole series. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher. Music credit to Peter Yonka.
Episode Notes Amber (Claire Renaud) and Tom (Tony Ofori), finding their way as freshmen at Princeton, spend a night together that alters the course of their lives. They agree on the drinking, they agree on the attraction, but consent is foggy, and if unspoken, can it be called consent? Anna Ziegler investigates gender and race politics, our crippling desire to fit in and the three sides to every story. Playwright ANNA ZIEGLER is an award-winning playwright whose widely produced play PHOTOGRAPH 51 (starring Nicole Kidman) won London’s 2016 WhatsOnStage award for Best New Play. It was selected as a “Best of the Year” by The Washington Post and the Telegraph. In 2017, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Manhattan Theatre Club and The Geffen Playhouse premiered her play ACTUALLY, and The Roundabout Theatre Company produced THE LAST MARCH. Her play THE WANDERERS won the 2018 San Diego Critic’s Circle Award for Outstanding New Play and BOY was nominated for the 2016 John Gassner Award by the Outer Critics Circle. Director PHILIP AKIN has been acting and directing for over 40 years. In 2000, he was a founding member of Obsidian Theatre, Canada’s leading black theatre company, and has served as its Artistic Director since 2006. Award include the Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts (2018), William Kilbourn Award for the Celebration of Toronto’s Cultural Life ( 2014) and the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts, Silver Ticket Award for Outstanding Contribution (2010). Dora Nominations for Best Director in the General Theatre Division 2008, 2011, 2012 (winning in 2012 – Topdog Underdog), two nominations in 2017 (winning in 2017 for Master Harold…and the Boys) www.obsidiantheatre.com Twitter: @obsidiantheatre Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Obsidian-Theatre-Company-214760735208818/www.hgjewishtheatre.com Twitter: @HGJewishTheatre Instagram: hgjewishtheatre Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HGJewishTheatre/Tickets: https://www.hgjewishtheatre.com/2019-2020-Actually.html
Rolando is a native of Chicago and has been performing for over 20 years. Multiple credits in Theater, TV & Film. Some theater productions include; Lobby Hero, Topdog/Underdog, Dreams of Sarah Breedlove, Fences, Jitney, Cops & Friends of Cops. Recent TV credits include Mom (CBS), Scandal (ABC), Chicago PD (NBC) and Recurring in season 2 of The Chi (Showtime). He was also in “A Dogs way Home” (Sony) at the beginning of the year. Mr. Boyce has also appeared in numerous commercials, currently AARP & Centrum. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/theactorslounge/support
Celebrated storyteller and Pulitzer-prize winning playwright Suzan Lori-Parks visited USC on October 6, 2016. Moderated by USC School of Dramatic Arts professor Luis Alfaro, they discussed how Parks uses foundational narratives to provide a fresh perspective on American history, race, and identity in her works. She is best known for her work on the Broadway revival of Porgy and Bess, which won a Tony for Best Revival of a Musical in 2012. Parks has received the MacArthur “Genius” Award, the Horton Foote Prize, and the Kennedy Prize. Parks was the first African American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 2002 for Topdog/Underdog.
"Topdog/Underdog" is Suzan-Lori Parks Pulitzer Prize winning play (2002). It tells the story of Lincoln and Booth, a pair of brothers whose names darkly forshadow the direction of their relationship. Join us this week as Jackson and Jacob unpack this gritty, hilarious play. They discuss three-card monte, sibling relationships, and destiny. ------------------------------ We had so much fun talking about this play, and we’d love to keep the conversation going! What were some of your thoughts if you’ve read or have seen the play? What are you favorite themes? Characters? Plot Points? Or do you disagree with us on any of our thoughts? We’d love to hear from you. Check us out on social media or email at: Email: noscriptpodcast@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/No-Script-The-Podcast-1675491925872541/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/noscriptpodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/noscriptpodcast ------------------------------ Our theme song is “Blessed” by Purple Planet Music. Credit as follows: Music: http://www.purple-planet.com ------------------------------ Logo Design: Jacob Mann Christiansen Logo Text: Paralines designed by Lewis Latham of http://lewislatham.co/ ------------------------------ Thanks so much for listening! We’ll see you next week. ------------------------------
After a couple of weeks trying to coordinate with Katrinah Carol Lewis, we finally caught up with the celebrated star of many an award-winning production and got her talking about her Richmond directorial debut, TOPDOG/UNDERDOG, now running at TheatreLAB. That's after Tyler Stevens ruminates on the challenges of stepping into another actor's role, and that role is only one of the most iconic in theater history: Romeo in Quill's ROMEO & JULIET. Summer is here and Firehouse Forum is going to be talking about all the hot shows coming up!
National News: Syrian missile strikes, Gorsuch confirmation, Devin Nunes and Steve Bannon step down Local News: Green line extension, controversy over State Treasure's role in cannabis control commission Science/Tech: BU professor and cybersecurity expert Andrei Lapets talks Internet privacy rules Sports: Playoff chances for Celtics and Bruins, Red Sox start their season Arts/Leisure: 1st Friday at the ICA, John Williams concert, Student Travel Show, Topdog/Underdog play
Louisville comedian Keith McGill has been one of our favorite people since he was first on the show last year to talk about his work in a local production of TopDog/Underdog. That play explored themes of black masculinity through the fractured relationship of two brothers struggling with instability and poverty. Now McGill is working on another local production, this time as the director, vastly different in tone.Sex Again is a comedy by Louisville playwright Heidi Saunders that looks at sexuality during middle age. We spoke to Keith this week, in part, because we wondered how a gay black man approaches work about the waning marriages of straight white folks, and what made him want to direct the piece. "I really think it has a lot to say to everyone," he explains. "There's a lot of truth in the play." Sex Again plays through January 18 at The Vault 1031, one of Louisville's newest performance spaces, on South 6th Street in Old Louisville. Reservations can be made at frogpumproductions@gmail.com or (502) 592-4218. Keith also sat in on our Juicy Fruit segment this week, in which we just had to take on the Katie Couric segment that's been making the rounds this week. Trans activists LaVerne Cox and Carmen Carrera appeared on a segment of Katie, to talk about their work, but the conversation got a little awkward when Couric turned the conversation toward which surgeries Carrera has had. Carrera declined to discuss it, saying she'd rather talk about her career. "I want to focus on that rather than what's 'down here,' because I think that that's been spoken about so many times, you know? Like in other interviews with other trans people, they always focus on either the transition or the genitalia. And I feel like there are more to trans people than just that." After a commercial break the show returned, and LaVerne Cox joined the discussion. Couric asked her about Carrera's response to the surgery question, leading to this amazing response that's been echoing around the internet ever since.
Trena interviews actor and filmmaker Chike Johnson on his career and current projects. Chiké Johnson most recently appeared in the Broadway production of A Time To Kill. He spent most of 2013 in the Midwest where he was part of The Goodman Theatre’s production of Meet Vera Stark and Milwaukee Rep’s production of Raisin in the Sun. His New York credits include; Manhattan Theatre Club’s Wit on Broadway and Off Broadway’s Lost In The Stars in New York City Center’s Encores! He also appeared in the Off Broadway production of Ruined co-produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club and The Goodman Theatre. Some of his other Chicago credits include: Sizwe Banzi is Dead at the Court Theatre and The Crucible, The Unmentionables and Huck Finn at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Regional credits include a revival of The Unmentionables at Yale Repertory Theatre; Lincoln in Topdog/Underdog at Renaissance Theaterworks; Duke of Cornwall in King Lear at Milwaukee Repertory Theater; Cephus Miles in Home at In Tandem Theatre; Willie in Master Harold and the boys at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre; and Martin Luther King, Jr. in Smoldering Fires at First Stage Children’s Theater. Some of Mr. Johnson’s film credits include Friends with Benefits, Sleepwalk with Me, The Machinist and his television credits include Law & Order, Girls, Veep and Prison Break.
Bob Wilcox and Gerry Kowarsky review TOPDOG/UNDERDOG, by Suzan-Lori Parks, at St. Louis Actors' Studio, LONESOME HOLLOW, by Lee Blessing, at West End Players Guild, LES MISERABLES, by Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schonberg, et al., at The Alpha Players of Florissant, OLD HEARTS FRESH, by Nancy Bell, at Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, by Joseph Stein, Jerry Bock, & SheldonHarnick, at Christ Memorial Productions, and CHICAGO, by Bob Fosse and John Kander & Fred Ebb, at the Fox Theatre.
Candi and Randy welcome Billy Porter, Tony Award winner for Best Actor in a Musical for Kinky Boots, to talk about his many careers - as actor, director, writer, recording artist - with the emphasis on artist. Billy stars in the hit Broadway show, Kinky Boots (music by Tony Award winner Cyndi Lauper, written by Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein, directed by Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell), and is working on his upcoming new CD, "The Standard." Early in his career, Billy appeared in several successful Broadway shows (MISS SAIGON, GREASE, FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE and SMOKEY JOE'S CAFE) and wrote his own one-man shows GHETTO SUPERSTAR and AT THE CORNER OF BROADWAY AND SOUL. Other plays he has appeared: TOPDOG/UNDERDOG, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR and DREAMGIRLS, and the song cycles MYTHS AND HYMNS and SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD. His song, "Time" became an overnight hit after being featured on the TV show "So You Think You Can Dance." Billy appeared as "Belize" in the Signature Theatre Company's 20th Anniversary off-Broadway production of Tony Kushner's ANGELS IN AMERICA.
We are broadcasting at 1 PM to accomodate special guests: Biko Eisen-Martin and Bowman Wright as Booth and Lincoln respectively in Suzan-Lori Parks's Topdog/Underdog directed by Timothy Douglas at the Marin Theatre Company which has been extended to October 28. Biko Eisen-Martin (Booth) makes his MTC debut with Topdog/Underdog. Originally from San Francisco, he has appeared in the Bay Area in Fuku Americanus at Intersection for the Arts, Radio Golf at TheatreWorks, 365 Plays/365 Days at Z Space, Patricide Revisited at SF Theatre Fest, Clockwork Orange at Renegade Theatre, All God Chillun Got Wings at the Eugene O'Neill Festival and Basha at Brookside Repertory Theatre. He has also appeared in the film Poetic License. Eisen-Martin is a graduate of the National Theatre Conservatory (MFA) and Brown University (BA/MAT). Bowman Wright (Lincoln) makes his MTC debut in Topdog/Underdog. He was last seen in A Raisin in the Sun at the Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, New York. His other regional credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream at La Jolla Playhouse, The Dreamer Examines His Pillow at Shakespeare & Company in Massachusetts, The Piano Lesson at Virginia Stage Company, Since Africa and A House With No Walls at InterAct Theatre Company in Philadelphia and Fences at Actors Theatre of Louisville. He is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego, (MFA) and the University of the Arts (BFA). We have two prerecored interviews one withPeter Nicks, an Emmy Award winning documentary filmmaker about his film, The Waiting Room, opening Friday, Oct. 19, 7 PM at the Grand Lake Theatre followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker moderated by N'Jeri Eaton (ITVS). We are looking to close with Grace Stanislaus, Executive Director, MoAD about Desert Jewels: North African Jewelry and Photography from the Xavier Guerrand-Hermès Collection.
Candi and Randy welcome the fantasticly talented Billy Porter to talk about his many careers - as actor, director, writer, recording artist - with the emphasis on artist. Early in his career, Billy won the national talent show Star Search, appeared in several successful Broadway shows (MISS SAIGON, GREASE, FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE and SMOKEY JOE'S CAFE) and wrote his own one-man shows GHETTO SUPERSTAR and AT THE CORNER OF BROADWAY AND SOUL. Other plays he has appeared: in TOPDOG/UNDERDOG at City Theatre, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR and DREAMGIRLS at Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, and the song cycles MYTHS AND HYMNS and SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD. His song, "Time" became an overnight hit after being featured on the TV show "So You Think You Can Dance." In September 2010, Billy appeared as "Belize" in the Signature Theatre Company's 20th Anniversary off-Broadway production of Tony Kushner's ANGELS IN AMERICA. Billy will be starring in a new Broadway show this coming season, KINKY BOOTS (music by Cyndi Lauper, written by Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein, directed by Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell), and is working on his upcoming new CD, "The Standard."
Sarah celebrates Bethenny's Housewives pod premiere the best way she knows how: by not listening and forming an opinion regardless (Bethenny would approve!). She Zooms up one of her fave Bethenny translators - who also hasn't listened to B's pod, because #BStrong starts from within - Tracie Morrissey (writer, producer, host of the pod Pot Psychology, and owner of pipedreams.fun). They discuss the resentment that has been long-simmering underneath Bethenny's post-Housewives projects, including in her critiques of her former cast, the curse of the third season friendship fracture (which now includes the entirety of the Salt Lake City cast), and the ways Heather is playing opposing roles in her battles with Lisa and Whitney, with mixed results. Angie Harrington may have selective memory, but this convo is one you won't forget - it's Andy's Girls, Episode 360!JOIN/LEVEL UP TO THE ANDY'S GIRLS PATREON, AND ENJOY BONUS EPS, INVITES TO SPECIAL ZOOM EVENTS, AND MORE: https://www.patreon.com/AndysGirlsFollow Sarah on social: https://www.instagram.com/damegalli/Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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