RUINED by Lynn Nottage: Coming Soon!

contributed by Todd Williams

Where did the fall go??? I can't believe the holidays are upon us and we're gearing up for production #4 of the season. Ruined is currently running at La Jolla Playhouse to great response. The Vengeance is the Lord's set has been cleared from the BU Theatre stage and we've been working with the LJP tech staff and Ruined designers to make all the arrangements to get the show here and up and running. The show will close in California on Sunday Dec 19, get packed up and on a truck and arrive here on Dec 27. The cast and creative teams will arrive for rehearsals starting January 4 and we begin previews on Jan 7 with our press opening on Jan 12. And most of us will squeeze in at least a five day holiday break. Yay!

Here's a video slide show - take a sneak peek at what you're in for.



This production of Ruined was just nominated for eleven 2010 Craig Noel Awards, awarded by the San Diego Theatre Critics: Outstanding Direction of a Play; Music for a Play; Choreography; Set Design, Lighting Design, Sound Design, Outstanding Ensemble, Featured Performance in a Play - Carla Duren, Featured Performance in a Play - Zainab Jah, Lead Performance in a Play - Tonye Patano, Dramatic Production. The awards will be presented on January 10. Playbill and TheaterMania announce.

And Variety reports that  "Oprah Winfrey may star in an HBO Films adaptation of Lynn Nottage's play "Ruined." HBO's developing the project as a potential TV movie starring vehicle for Winfrey that's a Harpo Films production, with Nottage adapting the script from her Pulitzer Prize-winning play." Cool.

I think it's a pretty exciting way to start off the New Year!

The Huntington Theatre Company production of Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer Prize-winning Ruined plays January 7 - February 6, 2011 at the Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115. For tickets and information click here or call our Box Office at 617 266-0800

How Richard Gave Me Back My Mojo

Tony Bell: Diary of A Gossip

Week One - Coventry

Actor Tony Bell plays Margaret in Richard III and Pinch in The Comedy of Errors, the two plays Propeller will perform in repertory when they visit the Huntington in the spring. Below, Tony writes about his experience working with Propeller again after time away. 

I’ve got a confession to make. After I left Propeller in 2007 following the Twelfth Night/The Taming of the Shrew Tour, I fell out of love with acting - which is weird coming from Mr. Method himself. I was obsessed for the first ten years of working with the company. I didn’t get round to doing the things normal people do when they grow up, like having a wife, or a husband, or a partner, maybe a kid or two, a car, a pension, a life. I just forgot about everything else when I was in a production, going to ludicrous lengths to get into character. When I played Bottom [in A Midsummer Night’s Dream], I broke into Mark Rylance’s office at the Globe to pilfer his custom-made donkey teeth, so my dentist could make a set for me. I appropriated an afgan rug from a Brick Lane skip after a photo of Brian Jones of the Stones in a mink had triggered an idea for Autolyclus [in The Winter’s Tale]. I shaved my hair off across the top of my head, giving myself a Care in the Community haircut for Feste [in Twelfth Night] (it took a year to grow normal again, during which time I never went without a seat on the bus). During rehearsals for “The Dream” I left a detailed answer-phone message for Michael, the designer, about how I thought we could make my donkey penis rise to attention using a pulley system, only I dialed another Michael, my football team captain, and left the message on his machine by mistake. His wife got to it first and never forgave her husband for not telling her about his secret love life. I copped the blame for their divorce six months later.

VENGEANCE IS THE LORD'S: Audience Comments

Have you seen Vengeance is the Lord's? Please share your thoughts with us.

Roberta Wallach, Lee Tergesen, Katie Kreisler, Larry Pine, and Karl Baker Olson, photo by T. Charles Erickson

Did the Horvaths display any family traits that you recognize in your own?

How did you think the play would end? What do you think happens to Donald after the curtain comes down?

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 were you thinking about on the way home from the theatre?

Leave your comments here

The Huntington Theatre Company production of Vengeance is the Lord's by Bob Glaudini plays now through December 12th, 2010 at the B.U. Theatre, 264 Huntington Avenue, Boston. Get tickets and information or call our Box Office at 617 266-0800