Who's got two thumbs and just won a Tony Award? This Guy. Well, technically, this company, but companies don't really have collective thumbs or anything, so the joke doesn't really work as well.
Still, the point is: We have a Tony Award!
Desiree Pedrami, Thom Dunn,
Solange Garcia, and Catherine
Halpin, outside Radio City
Music Hall
This past Sunday night was an incredibly exciting evening for all of us, and not just because it's fun to wear a tux (although it is). A total of Eighty-Five Huntingtonians (including staff, Board, and guests) traveled to New York to see Michael Maso & Peter DuBois receive the 2013 Regional Theatre Tony Award live at Radio City Music Hall on our behalf. For a lot of us, the thrill of strolling down the streets of Midtown in our fancy dress felt like Theatre Prom, minus the curfew. The crowds of spectators had already gathered outside the police barricades around the venue by 5:30, and while admittedly they probably weren't trying to snap a photo of me (or any of the Huntington staff in attendance), parting the sea of people like a well-dressed Moses and having a friendly police officer take note of your fancy attire and help you through was still pretty cool.
Once inside Radio City, we began searching around for the rest of our Huntington family, all of whom were cleverly disguised in fabulous gowns and penguin costumes. We ran into former Artistic Director Nicholas Martin in the lobby, accompanied by Brooks Ashmanskas, who most recently appeared at the Huntington in God of Carnage. Everyone grabbed a drink, learned that drinks aren't allowed in the theatre, shrugged, and took our seats in the back of the orchestra (only Michael and Peter got to enjoy the real good seats down front for nominees).
One of the more interesting parts of the evening was experiencing the live filming and editing of the performance. Every now and then we'd hear the Production Stage Manager's voice booming over the God Mic, "2 minutes, ladies and gentlemen...and we're back in 10...9...8...a little applause everybody...and we're back live!", and as the night wore on he always found new ways to entertain us and keep the energy up while the folks back home enjoyed their obligatory commercial breaks (we don't normally have those in theatre). Although the broadcast began at 8pm, the awards themselves actually started around 7:15pm. This segment was hosted by Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family) and Jane Krakowski (30 Rock), who prepped the audience on the rules: hold your applause until the end, winners have 75 seconds to get to the stage and speak, et cetera. The awards presented during this segment were later aired as clips during the live broadcast; it was fun seeing which pull-quote or snippet from each acceptance speech actually made it onto television. We had originally expected Michael & Peter to accept the award during this time, but unfortunately the Lifetime Achievement speeches went a bit longer than anticipated (to be fair, it is an achievement of an entire lifetime, so...), and our fearless leaders were temporarily shunted off to a holding cell along with the children of Annie and Matilda to await their rescheduled on-stage appearance.
They eventually made it out alive, and here's their victory speech in its entirety (presented by my personal favorite time-traveling-plastic-Centurion-nurse-turned-Irish-pub-singer Rory Pond):
Michael won the backstage bet of getting his soundbite on the air ("And so together we celebrate our extraordinary audiences and with you tonight we celebrate the proud, passionate, and resilient people of the great city of Boston, Massachusetts"), meaning Peter paid for the first round of drinks. That being said, I must deny any rumors of a Maso-DuBois standup comedy duo act being added to our 2013-2014 Season.
Former Director of Public Relations John Michael Kennedy
with current staff members Lisa McColgan and Michael
Comey (with Christopher Durang photobombing in the
background)
Overall, it was a fantastic night for Boston on the Great White Way, with Diane Paulus of the A.R.T. winning "Best Director of a Musical" for production of Pippin, which itself won "Best Revival Of A Musical" (and of course begin its run in Cambridge). And while we were disappointed that Nicholas Martin did not win "Best Director" for Vanya & Sonya & Masha & Spike despite our wild howling (although the production itself won "Best Play"), we were very pleased to see the women sweep the awards for directing. If that's what we have to take, we'll happily live with it! Our friends at Chicago's Steppenwolf also won for "Best Revival of a Play" for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, making it a strong showing for non-profit regional theatres across the country.
After being wow'd by NPH's sick rhymes (does anyone else smell a Jay-Z musical coming next fall?), we celebrated the evening at the Renaissance Hotel overlooking Times Square, where we were joined by our extended family, including former Director of Public Relations John Michael Kennedy, Peter's former assistant Chris Carcione, director Daniel Goldstein (God of Carnage, next season's Venus in Fur), and many others (we even had a few party crashers! We're that cool!). Everyone at the after party had a chance to pose with the Tony Award, which is much heavier than it looks, and munch on special Huntington cupcakes, which were precisely as delicious as they look. It's my understanding that after the evening (morning?) came to an end, a small group continued the celebration at the Kinky Boots party down the street, but that story isn't mine to tell.
You can check out our complete photo album over on Facebook or Flickr, but here are a few selects from the evening (morning?).
Peter DuBois, Carol Deane (Chairman of the Board), Michael Maso, and Mitchell J. Roberts (President of the Board)
The Artistic & Literary Teams: Vicki Schairer, Peter DuBois, M. Bevin O'Gara, Charles Haugland, Lisa Timmel, Christopher Wigle, and Anna Fisher
The Box Office Squad! Featuring Noah C. Ingle, Hailey Fuqua, Catherine Halpin, Katie Catano, Derrick Martin, and Patrick Harris
Team Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA: Katie Most,
Rebecca Bradshaw, and Kat Alix
From Matt Chapuran, Institutional Giving Manager To recap from the last post, the Huntington Theatre Company was looking for a kid to appear in a small role in Ryan Landry's "M," a wild new play that riffs on the Fritz Lang German film of the same name that gave us Peter Lorre as an obsessed child killer.
Mr. Landry, on set
A parade of my co-workers exited the conference room where they had been auditioning Eva, my seven year old daughter. She had charmed them all with her seriousness. Like taking the page from the script that explained her role and circling the words she didn't know. When the director explained what she wanted her to do, she asked Eva if she wanted her to walk through it with her. "No, that's okay," Eva said. "I get it."
When the producer thanked her for coming, Eva was bold. "Am I going to get to be in the play?" she asked. When told that they'd love to have her, she silently nodded, as if to say, I'll think about it.
Later, I asked her if it was scary being in that room all by herself. "Oh, no," she said. "I mean, those were four beautiful and kind ladies."
The first weekend she was called, she had a ball. Her only complaint: When she arrived, there was a table with coffee mugs, one for each of the actors but none for her or the fourth grader with whom she was splitting the role.
"Probably, they just figured the two of you don't drink coffee," I explained.
"We could drink cocoa," she said. "I would bring cocoa." Along the way, Eva visited our costume shop for wardrobe fittings and took part in a photo shoot that yielded this image, which eventually found its way into the Boston Globe.
I asked her one day if she liked rehearsal.
"No," she said.
"I love it. I don't like it. I love it."
One night, we got an email saying that Eva wasn't needed for the next day's rehearsal. When I told her that after she woke the next morning, she went back to her room and cried.
Going into tech week, she'd say things like, "Today is the best day ever because today is three days until the day before the day I go on stage."
Then the morning of her first preview performance, we woke to find out, the show had been cancelled for the night. I was sure she'd break into pieces when she got the news...
From Matt Chapuran, Institutional Giving Manager At the Huntington Theatre Company, we're taking on a wild adaptation of "M," the old German Fritz Lang movie that launched Peter Lorre in the role of a child serial murderer. Although in the hands of its playwright, Ryan Landry (who once wrote a version of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof titled Pussy on the House), it may look a lot different once it arrives at the other end.
The folks in our artistic department were having trouble finding a little girl to show up at the end of the play. That's when I ran into Ryan at our office. He called me a Queen and asked what was new. I was telling him about my new twin babies when he cut me off. "Wait a minute. How old is your oldest daughter."
Seven, I said.
"She should totally be in 'M.'"
The idea of Eva, our seven year old, appearing in a Ryan Landry play was beyond funny to me. But I promised Ryan I'd pass along his interest to her.
I did that very night but I resolved to undersell it to Eva. You'll have to audition. You may have a rotten audition. You may have a great audition and still not get cast. I won't be in there for the audition. I won't see the show more than once. And so on. And then, I figured, if she asked about it more than a couple days later, she was interested in she'd audition.
She was interested.
When I first laid out the whole project for her, she asked, "What's it about?"
"Well," I said. "I haven't read the script so I really don't know. But I think it's about a guy who kills kids."
"Well, that sounds interesting," she said. "Who would I be?"
"You'd, uh...you'd be a kid."
"He'd kill me?"
"Again, I haven't read the script so I really don't know but, um...yeah."
"Then I'd just go....uggghhh." You'll have to imagine a comically drawn out death face.
Eva Jean Chapuran
The night before the audition, she was so excited. She made up what she called her 'Huntington "M" packet.' It contained what can only be referred to as a self-evaluation. It was a page with five columns, each of which had five boxes, four small and one big. She explained that if she got a check mark in each box, then she could draw in a smiley face in the big box.
The columns had categories like, 'Was I pulite?' and 'Did I mind my own bisness?' Categories by which we should all measure ourselves.
The day of the audition, I brought her in. I gave her only two pieces of advice. One was, Shake hands with as many people as possible. The other was, They're going to be looking for someone to be scared, not someone to be happy.
"But I've never been scared," she said.
I asked her what's the scariest movie she knew.
Raiders of the Lost Ark.
And what's the scariest part?
When their faces melt.
So, just think about that.
The audition was in a Huntington conference room. There were four women at one side of this table and Eva at the other, her hands folded like she was addressing her board of directors. I made introductions and then left . . .
by Lisa Timmel Last
spring, in a highly unusual artistic leap of faith, Peter DuBois made an offer
to Gold Dust Orphans mastermind and Huntington Playwriting Fellow Ryan Landry:
the Huntington would give Ryan a production slot to do whatever he wanted.With little time to waste, Ryan got to
work, handing in an early draft of the new project about six weeks later.
The
resulting play (though the word "play" hardly seems to contain the
exuberant clash of the ridiculous and the sublime happening on the page) is "M",
a fantastically funny and astonishingly challenging deconstructed adaptation
of the Fritz Lang movie of the same name.Since this is a new play, we've scheduled a series of developmental
readings and workshops where the artists working on the production read the play
together and discuss what works, what doesn't, what should change, and what
shouldn't. All last week, a cast and
crew of twenty (including a puppeteer) spent their days in a
workshop designed to help sketch out the free-wheeling, physical flow of the
show.
It was a crazy week.
Ryan's
aesthetic trades in highly theatrical mash-ups of cultural touchstones. In his
Gold Dust Orphans productions, the veddy, veddy highbrow meets the verrrry,
verrrry low.For five days, Ryan, director Caitlin Lowans, the cast, and a whole phalanx of dramaturgs
worked scenes, listened to read-throughs, incorporated rewrites,
and talked, talked, talked.True to Ryan's idea that "the lowest form of comedy and the highest form of
struggling with our existence can come together on stage," these
discussions have teased out the deep existential panic that underlies the more
farcical elements of the play.
Best of
all were the hours the actors were up on their feet, experimenting
with style, timing, and physicality. Ryan's dramaturgy has deep roots in the high camp style of The Theatre of the Ridiculous, rather than the staid psychological realism of most
new plays.This means that more than
with most rehearsal processes, the actors have been finding the play with their
bodies, transforming from one character to another via posture and voice.
Landry likes to remind us that the world of the play "...is not an essay;
it's music."
"M"plays at the Huntington's Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA March 29 - April 27, 2013. Get tickets and information or call our Box Office at 617 266 0800.
I woke up this morning and the first thing I thought to myself was "June? When did it suddenly become June?" Now, logic would dictate that it became June after the month of May was all said and done, but for those of us here at the Huntington, the entire month of May has been something of a blur. My internal clock still doesn't know if we closed Sons of the Prophet last week, last month, or last year. It's just been that crazy around here!
And so with that, I feel I should apologize for the apparent radio silence here on the blog. It's not that we've had nothing to talk about it; on the contrary, there's been a bit too much going on that our blogkeeping fell to the wayside. Fortunately, we're back now, and we brought t-shirts for everyone!
(Please note: we didn't actually bring t-shirts for everyone)
So what have we been doing, you ask? Well let's see...there was our annual gala, the 2011 Spotlight Spectacular!...the 2nd annual Emerging America Festival with A.R.T. and the ICA...then we welcomed Propeller Theatre Company to the B.U. Theatre, with performing Richard III and The Comedy of Errors in repertory with a fantastic all-male (all-British!) cast...the 18th annual Elliot Norton Awards...oh, I'll just show you!
Our 2011 Spotlight Spectacular! took place at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel on Monday, May 9. We're still awaiting the final fundraising numbers, but it looks like we raised a record-breaking amount of money to support our productions, as well as our award-winning youth, education, and community programming. During the evening, we presented former President of the Board of Trustees Bill McQuillan and Stick Fly playwright (you guys remember that show, right?) Lydia R. Diamond with the Wimberly Award, the Huntington's highest honor.
Also the event was hosted by some dude named Zach Braff (who, sidenote, would not armwrestle me when I presented the challenge) who thought it'd be a great idea to organize the Huntington staff into a flashmob performance of "One Day More" from Les Miséables (with a little help from Lauren Molina, who will appearing at the Huntington this fall as Cunegonde in Candide). Watch, and enjoy:
(Also, special thanks to that Zach Braff guy
for helping this video reach over 12,000 hits)
The following weekend was the 2nd annual Emerging America Festival, a joint collaboration with our friends at the American Repertory Theatre and the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston featuring groundbreaking performances by American artists. The Huntington presented the world premiere of Ryan Landry's Psyched, featuring Larry Coen and Jonathan Popp (as well as Intern Ben). The untold story of Alfred Hitchock's Psycho told from the point of view of Norman Bates' mother, Norma, Psyched played to two sold-out houses and entertained audiences with that trademark twisted wit that only Mr. Landry can provide.
On Sunday morning, the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA exploded with our "Join the Conversation!" brunch, featuring live performances throughout the Calderwood lobby, and food provided by Panera Breads (thanks!). The afternoon concluded with a breathtaking performance of CollaborationTown's self-help-parody-that-may-have-inadvertently-helped The Momentum. Anyone who was there can tell you that it was indeed a tough life for a poor little bunny rabbit.
Company One's ARTiculation troupe broke out into performance in
the Calderwood lobby during the "Join the Conversation!" Brunch
We also produced a series of site-specific audio plays for the festival, written by our Huntington Playwriting Fellows and featuring the voices of some of Boston's best local talent. The plays are completely free to download, and definitely an enjoyable experience (even if you aren't able to listen to them on site), so check those out when you have the chance.
Almost immediately after the festival ended, we went into tech for Richard III and The Comedy of Errors, presented by the Boston University School of Theatre. The shows are being performed in repertory through June 19 by the incredibly talented Propeller Theatre Company from the UK, under the leadership of one Edward Hall (whom you may remember as the director of Two Men of Florence in 2009).
Audiences have been absolutely raving about their intensely physical and highly creative approach to Shakespeare. Chainsaws? Check. Sombreros? Check. Nuns with nunchecks? Check. I'm not even going to mention the butt sparklers, because I still can't believe that my job has actually required to use that phrase in a completely professional context.
And that's just intermission, folks!
We also had our final 35 Below event of the season on Friday, May 20, following that evening's performance of The Comedy of Errors. We had an awesome turnout at the party, including some great entertainment by Boston's premiere all-male Lady Gaga cover band, Alejandro and the Fame, featuring international pop star Cody Grey, and, well, me (not that I'm biased or anything).
Oh yeah, and then President Obama stopped by the Calderwood Pavilion and the BCA for a brief visit (Pavilion General Manager Joey Riddle even has a nice little certificate of appreciation from the Secret Service. FROM THE SECRET SERVICE!). Last Monday night was a two-fold celebration. First, our annual end-of-the-season staff BBQ in the Huntington Avenue Scene Shop. While Richard III/The Comedy of Errors are both still running through June 19, we traditionally celebrate the end of the season after Opening Night. And this year, we totally had a bouncy castle (it was awesome).
Later that evening, members of the staff journeyed over to ArtsEmerson's newly redone Paramount Theatre for the 18th annual Elliot Norton Awards, where our production of Ruined was recognized with the award for Outstanding Production (Large Company). We would be remiss not to sing the praises of our good friends in Company One, whose production of The Aliens (part of this past fall's Shirley VT Plays Festival) was recognized for Outstanding Design for a midsize/small/fringe company (Cristina Todesco's sets, Bobby Frederick Tilley II's costumes, Aaron Mack's sound, and Benjamin Williams's lighting), Outstanding Director for a small/fringe company (Company One Artistic Director Shawn LaCount), Outstanding Actor for a small/fringe company (Alex Pollack), and Outstanding Production for a small theatre. In addition, the award for Outstanding New Script went to Huntington Playwriting Fellow John Kuntz for The Hotel Nepenthe, produced by Actors' Shakespeare Project. Congratulations to the casts and crews of Ruined and The Aliens, as well as all of the other winners that night! (and the nominees, too. You were all great!)
So what's next? Well, for starters, we just announced the final line-up of our 2011-2012 30th anniversary season. In addition to our previously announced shows, we'll be rounding out the season with the pre-New York production of Evan M. Weiner's Captors, directed by Peter DuBois, and Noël Coward's Private Lives, directed by Maria Aitken (Educating Rita and Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps). Captors is based on the true story of the capture of Adolf Eichmann, "the architect of the Holocaust," in Buenos Aires in 1960 by covert Israeli agents. Private Lives is a classic Noël Coward comedy about a divorced couple whose paths cross again — on both of their second honeymoons, with new spouses in tow. Private Lives replaces the previously announced Tartuffe, which is postponed to a later season.
I think that should just about catch us up with this crazy month of May. In the meantime, be sure to check out Richard III and The Comedy of Errors, if you haven't done so already. You can also catch a free performance of Know the Law at the Strand Theatre in Dorchester on Thursday, June 2 (that's tomorrow as of this writing) at 11am and 7pm. Know The Law is a 40-minute play of interwoven dramas about teenager in trouble, designed specifically for a young urban audience as part of a collaboration between the Huntington Theatre Company's Education Department and Youth and Police in Partnership (YPP), a community-based program of United Methodist Urban Services that seeks to improve relationships between young people and the police. A discussion between the actors, the audience, and a Boston Police Officer follows each performance.
While things tend to stay quiet around here during the summer months (at least as far as productions go), rest assured we'll be busy preparing for our big 30th anniversary party. Meanwhile, Peter DuBois will be directing the world premiere of All New People, a new play by that same Zach Braff guy, at New York's Second Stage Theatre. If you find yourself missing the skilled handiwork of our Scene Shop artisans, they'll be helping to build that set, as well as Commonwealth Shakespeare Company's All's Well That Ends Well on the Boston Common.
Cheers!
-Thom Dunn, Web & New Media Manager, signing off from the longest blog post EVER
