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.

1 comment:

Jazzdox said...

Can you tell me who are the musicians who recorded your music for Stick Fly? Really hip and nice