February 26, 2010

Stick Fly adds performances!

Due to overwhelming ticket demand we have added an additional 10 performances of Stick Fly, March 7 and 21, and March 23 - 28. That's only about 3700 seats - so get them while they last.We are also taking stand by ticket reservations for performances that are currently sold out. Call the box office at 617 266-0800, Tuesday - Sunday 12-7p,  for more information. Buy online 24/7 here.

 
Left to right: Rosie Benton, Nikkole Salter, Lydia Diamond, and Tom Ashbrook. Photo WBUR

Today's on WBUR and NPR's ON POINT featured a conversation (above) with Lydia R. Diamond, Tom Ashbrook, Kenny Leon, and cast members Rosie Benton and Nikkole Salter. Listen in here.

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The Huntington Theatre Company's production of Stick Fly by Lydia Diamond is playing February 19 through March 28, 2010 at our second space, the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St Boston MA 02116. Online tickets and information available 24/7 or call our Box Office (click for hours this week) at 617 266-0800.

Stick Fly - Items for Sale

We have a few items in Stick Fly that we are trying to sell on behalf of Arena Stage. It would be great if we could save on shipping them back to DC.

The items are:
Viking range model# VGSC4866QSSSOLD

SubZero fridge:  paid $550, will sell for $300 (for built in use - not new - older model)


Leather sofa: SOLD


We cannot deliver. All items must be picked up at the Calderwood Pavilion the day after closing (March 29). First come first serve. Items sold as is.
Email or call Alexis Dearborn in the Huntington Production office at adearborn@huntingtontheatre.bu.edu  or 617 273-1602.

The Huntington Theatre Company's production of Stick Fly by Lydia Diamond is playing February 19 through March 28, 2010 at our second space, the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St Boston MA 02116. Online tickets and information available 24/7 or call our Box Office (click for hours this week) at 617 266-0800.

February 23, 2010

Stick Fly - Audience Comments

 
Wendell Wright as Joe LeVay, Nikkole Salter as Taylor, and Jason Dirden as Kent in the Huntington Theatre Company's production of Lydia R. Diamond's Stick Fly playing February 19 — March 21 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. 


Have you seen Stick Fly? We would love to hear your thoughts;
- What were you thinking about on the way home from the performance? Family dynamics? Racial issues? Secrets revealed? Your Dad? Something else?
- Did you attend a post show conversation? What comments surprised you or made you think differently about the play? Would you attend a post show conversation again?
- What elements of the play struck you as most  interesting? The story? The performances? The design?
- Which character did you indentify with Most? Least?

Click here to join the conversation

The Huntington Theatre Company's production of Stick Fly by Lydia Diamond is playing February 19 through March 28, 2010 at our second space, the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St Boston MA 02116. Online tickets and information available 24/7 or call our Box Office (click for hours this week) at 617 266-0800.

February 21, 2010

Lydia R Diamond on WGBH - Basic Black



(Originally broadcast on February 18, 2010 on WGBH Basic Black) A conversation on the relevance of Black History Month and a look at class divisions within the African American community. Regular panelists Callie Crossley (WGBH Radio's The Callie Crossley Show) and Latoyia Edwards (New England Cable News) are joined by guest panelists this week: Beverly Morgan Welch, Executive Director of the Museum of African American History, and playwright Lydia Diamond, whose play Stick Fly opens February 19th with the Huntington Theatre Company at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA.

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The Huntington Theatre Company's production of Stick Fly by Lydia Diamond is playing February 19 through March 28, 2010 at our second space, the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St Boston MA 02116. Online tickets and information available 24/7 or call our Box Office (click for hours this week) at 617 266-0800.

February 20, 2010

Stick Fly - Invited Dress Rehearsal

Today we welcome a new voice to the Huntington's blog - staffer Lisa McColgan, the Huntington's Annual fund Coordinator. Thanks Lisa!

This past Thursday, we invited a number of special guests (including Board members, donors, and community leaders) to the Calderwood Pavilion to witness the final dress rehearsal of Stick Fly.

This “Invited Dress” marks the end of one stage of the theatrical process (rehearsing) and signifies the beginning of another (preview performances in front of a live audience). It begins the process of really learning how a show comes to life with an audience, and to make final adjustments to the technical elements before opening night. For an invited audience member, it’s a unique opportunity to see a production before it opens to the general public. “Tech tables” are still up throughout the house, staff members are scribbling notes, and sometimes, the performance is stopped to make adjustments in lighting or blocking. It’s a fascinating glimpse into what goes into the productions here.

For the actors, having a small audience can be very helpful. Will people laugh at this line? How will they react to this scene? In a sense, it’s a “sneak preview” for our actors as well!

It’s valuable for the staff, too, to be able to speak with our supporters and hear about what they love and answer any questions. I had a great time speaking with a couple that have been donors and subscribers since our very first season, who told me that they make it a point to see as many Arthur Miller plays as they can, since their first date at a production of The Price. Our staging of All My Sons, they happily reported, was the best they’d ever seen.

Stick Fly’s final dress rehearsal was an exciting and intimate evening for everyone involved. Several guests remarked how much they appreciated feeling a part of the process.

Invitations to our “Invited Dress” are one of the many benefits of being an Annual Fund supporter. If you would like more information, or to make a gift, please contact me here in the Development Office at 617 273-1546.

-Lisa McColgan (photo above), Annual Fund Coordinator

(L to R) Jacie Wallace, John Turner, Linda Turner, Ron Watters, Linda Watters, Debbie Todd, Jonathan Todd, James Owens from the Omegas at Thursday's Invited Dress

Did you attend the invited dress rehearsal? Share your thoughts with us: Comment on this post

The Huntington Theatre Company's production of Stick Fly by Lydia Diamond is playing February 19 through March 28, 2010 at our second space, the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St Boston MA 02116. Online tickets and information available 24/7 or call our Box Office (click for hours this week) at 617 266-0800.

February 16, 2010

STICK FLY - Behind the Scenes Video

 

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The Huntington Theatre Company's production of Stick Fly by Lydia Diamond is playing February 19 through March 28, 2010 at our second space, the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St Boston MA 02116. Online tickets and information available 24/7 or call our Box Office (click for hours this week) at 617 266-0800.

IRNE Nominations

The Huntington garnered 29 IRNE nominations for plays produced in 2009, more than any other local theatre company.

The nominees are
"A Civil War Christmas: An American Musical Celebration"
- Best Supporting Actress, Jacqui Parker
- Best Supporting Actress, Uzo Aduba
- Best Child Actor: Alanna T. Logan

Maureen McGovern in "A Long and Winding Road"
- Best Solo Performance

"Fences"
- Best Lighting Design, Ann Wrightson
- Best Sound Design, Ben Emerson
- Best Supporting Actor, Warner Miller
- Best Supporting Actor, Bill Nunn
- Best Supporting Actor, Eugene Lee
- Best Actress, Crystal Fox
- Best Actor, John Beasley
- Best Director, Kenny Leon
- Best Production

"Pirates! (or, Gilbert and Sullivan Plunder'd)"
- Best Scenic Design, Rob Bissinger
- Best Ensemble
- Best Choreography, Denis Jones
- Best Supporting Actor (Musical), Ed Dixon
- Best Direction, Gordon Greenberg
- Best Production of a Musical

"The Miracle at Naples"
- Best New Play, David Grimm
- Best Costume Design, Anita Yavich
- Best Ensemble

"Two Men of Florence"
- Best New Play, Richard N. Goodwin
- Best Scenic Design, Francis O'Connor
- Best Lighting Design, Ben Ormerod
- Best Costume Design, Francis O'Connor

"The Corn Is Green"
- Best Lead Actress, Kate Burton
- Best Director, Nicholas Martin
- Best Production of a Play

Congrats also to staffers  M. Bevin O’Gara, Best Director, for THE PAIN AND THE ITCH (Company One), and Danny Bryck, Best Actor in a Musical,  for HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH (Blue Spruce Theatre)

The Awards will be presented on Monday, April 19 at the Boston Center for the Arts' Cyclorama at 7:30pm.
More info and the full list at Stagesource.

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February 11, 2010

Lydia Diamond interviews Kenny Leon

This season at the Huntington, we are telling seven distinct American stories. To tease out the connections between the shows, we’ve asked artists from different productions to interview each other about their work. Below, playwright Lydia R. Diamond (Stick Fly) talks with Stick Fly director Kenny Leon.

    Lydia Diamond: Kenny, I don’t think you remember how we met.
    Kenny Leon: I don’t remember exactly how we met, but it seems as though I’ve known you for a long time, like twenty years though I know that’s not true.
    L: I’m going to tell you how I met you. It was after Gem of the Ocean at the Goodman, and it was in that restaurant attached to the Goodman. I was with [director and producer] Woodie King, Jr. and [director] Chuck Smith, and you came in and joined us for the latter half of dinner. That’s how I met you.
    K: Oh wow.
    L: But, I was so young that you wouldn’t know it was me. I had just my first show produced at the Goodman. The Gift Horse opened in the Owen while Regina Taylor’s Drowning Crow was running, and then I think Gem was after Drowning Crow. Then, I met you [again] at the Huntington’s production of Gem, at the cast party.
    K: By that time I was directing the show.
    L: The first time I got to spend time with you was when True Colors had me up to do a reading of Stick Fly before you produced it.
    K: It’s like I’ve been knowing you all the while.
    L: Yeah, we’ve got it like that. . . . How did August Wilson influence your early career? Before you even got to work with him… 
Lydia and Kenny go on to talk about August Wilson, working with dramaturgs, finding truth onstage, working in Boston and much much more. Read the unabridged interview here

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The Huntington Theatre Company's production of Stick Fly by Lydia Diamond is playing February 19 through March 28, 2010 at our second space, the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St Boston MA 02116. Online tickets and information available 24/7 or call our Box Office (click for hours this week) at 617 266-0800.

February 4, 2010

Huntington Announces New Playwriting Fellows

The Huntington announces the 2010 class of Huntington Playwriting Fellows: Patrick Gabridge, Martha Jane Kaufman, and Ryan Landry. This artistically diverse group of writers will be in residence at the theatre for two years.

Through the Huntington Playwriting Fellows program, the Huntington fosters the talents of local playwrights at all stages of their careers, from emerging talents to established professionals, and encourages and facilitates conversations among Boston's playwriting community. Fellows are awarded two-year residencies during which they are provided a modest grant, participate in a bi-weekly writers' collective, and benefit from access to the artistic staff and to the resources of the Huntington. The three 2010 Fellows were selected from among 60 applicants. The Huntington Playwriting Fellows program is supported by the Stanford Calderwood Fund for New American Plays and the Harry Kondoleon Playwriting Fund.

Patrick Gabridge is the author of numerous plays including Constant State of Panic, Pieces of Whitey, Blinders, and Reading the Mind of God. His work has been staged in theatres across the country. His first novel, Tornado Siren, was published in 2006. He is the co-founder of Boston's Rhombus Playwrights' group, the Chameleon Stage theatre company in Denver, the publication Market InSight... for Playwrights, and the online Playwrights' Submission Binge. His plays are published by Playscripts, Brooklyn Publishers, Heuer, Smith & Kraus, and Original Works Publishers. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, on the board of StageSource, the Greater Boston theatre alliance, and a resident of Brookline, MA. The Denver Post called Blinders, "Bitingly clever. A challenging, imaginative piece."

Martha Jane Kaufman's plays include House and Junction and A Live Dress. She has received awards and commissions from the San Francisco Playwrights' Foundation, the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, Stark Raving Theater, and Young Playwrights Inc. Originally from Portland, OR, Kaufman attended Wesleyan University where she studied playwriting with Marsha Norman and Catherine Filloux. She has also choreographed four dances and created several performance pieces in non-traditional spaces including a stairwell and an elevator. She is a resident of Jamaica Plain, MA.

Ryan Landry is Ryan Landry, a working writer, director, and performer for over thirty years. His Boston-based troupe the Gold Dust Orphans produces satirical "mash-ups" of pop culture - comedic, dramatic, or musical - in both Provincetown and Boston. Past productions include Willy Wanker and the Hershey Highway, All About Christmas Eve, Death of a Saleslady, Medea, A T-Stop Named Denial, Christmas on the Pole, and Valet of the Dolls. He is currently in rehearsal for Phantom of the Oprah , writing his next musical, Peter Pansy, and at work on a surrealist adaptation of Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba. He is a resident of Dorchester, MA. The Boston Globe extols, "The brilliance of playwright/performer Ryan Landry lies in his unique ability to marry outrageous parody with the most serious topics."

"The Huntington is committed to being a well-rounded company that produces the best work by local, national, and International Artists," explains Director of New Work Lisa Timmel. "The Huntington Playwriting Fellows program allows us to create thriving working relationships with writers at all stages as they develop their work for production."

Past Huntington Playwriting Fellows are leaders of the local community whose plays have been produced on the Huntington's stages and throughout the country. They are:

· Class of 2003 - 2005: John Kuntz (Jasper Lake), Melinda Lopez (Sonia Flew), Ronan Noone (The Atheist, Brendan), and Sinan Ünel (The Cry of the Reed)

· Class of 2005 - 2007: Lydia R. Diamond (Stick Fly), Rebekah Maggor (Shakespeare's Actresses in America), John Shea (The Hill), and Kate Snodgrass (The Glider)

· Class of 2007 - 2009: Kirsten Greenidge (The Luck of the Irish), Jacqui Parker (Jeanie Don't Sing No Mo'), Ken Urban (The Happy Sad), and Joyce Van Dyke (The Oil Thief).

"Participating in the Huntington Playwriting Fellows program through the writers' collective, company support, and Breaking Ground series will be the perfect opportunity to help me to achieve many of my goals," says Kaufman. "Sharing with other writers encourages me to try new devices and make daring formal and genre choices. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with the Huntington's artistic staff and previous Fellows over the coming years."

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