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Home , Anne Kauffman, Dinner with Friends, Katori Hall, Pam MacKinnon, Steppenwolf (comics), Tracy Letts

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9 POP 9 POP 14 FILM Wayne Shorter, right, won’t Mr. James, right, enjoys Gil The Tavianis are brothers in stand still. BY NATE CHINEN Scott-Heron. BY JIM JAMES ambition. BY LARRY ROHTER

11 CLASSICAL 10 DANCE 22 TELEVISION Of drama and the string quar- Carla Körbes comes into her German mayhem, with tet. BY ANTHONY TOMMASINI own. BY GIA KOURLAS Denzel. BY NICHOLAS KULISH

THEATER MUSIC FILM DANCE SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2013 TELEVISION ART

PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHAD BATKA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

the female directors have cultivated col- Count away: Some of the laborations with playwrights and are numerous female direc- emerging as forces to be reckoned with. tors now having an impact “The more of us who have ongoing ties and success with writers, the more that on New York productions. Staging a Sisterhood producers have to pay attention to that, A to the above picture and it leads to opportunity,” said Pam is on Page 6. New York theaters are These directors are the new power play- MacKinnon, who has broken through as a By PATRICK HEALY ers of Off Broadway, staging some of the go-to director with her admired Broadway warming to female directors, The old boys’ club of New York theater, for most critically acclaimed productions in productions of “” last year and reputations are growing. decades defined by the chummy relation- recent years, and they are starting to get (which earned her a Tony Award nomina- ships of producers and directors, is chang- more shots at the better-paying, career- tion) and the current revival of “Who’s ing with the rise of female directors who making gigs on Broadway, where four out Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” are in demand by veteran playwrights as of five shows are usually directed by men. At Signature Theater on 42nd Street, all well as hot young writers. The change is unfolding largely because CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

ROBERTA SMITH Curator, Tear Down These Walls Acall to bridge the gap several major American wings on the East Winthrop Chandler’s rule and has, if anything, been freshly re- Coast — the isolation of folk from academic “Battle of Bunker Hill,” inforced. Over the past three years four between folk and academic art. prominent East Coast museums rich in is still the norm. Given that we live in a left, suggests how close time of eroding aesthetic boundaries and both folk and academic paintings have ren- some pre-20th-century A MODEST PROPOSAL for this country’s categories, when many curators are ex- ovated, expanded and reinstalled their gal- great repositories of pre-20th-century perimenting with integrative approaches American folk art is to leries of pre-20th-century American art: American art: Why don’t you, as Diana in international biennials and commercial the academic art of its the National Gallery of Art in Washington Vreeland might have asked, mix folk art in galleries, it seems past time for the folk- time. in 2009; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, with the more realistic, academically cor- academic division to soften. It undoubtedly a year later; the Metropolitan Museum of rect kind that has so dominated museums has at some institutions, especially those Art last January; and, in December, the since the 19th century? Despite rising in- with modest collections. entirely revamped Yale University Art terest in and scholarship about folk art — But at some of the country’s most influ- Gallery in New Haven. In each case the and even after the wholesale rethinking of ential museums separation remains the CONTINUED ON PAGE 23 MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON C M Y K Sxxx,2013-02-03,AR,006,Bs-4C,E1

6 AR THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2013

Theater

Snapshots of the New Leaders

er] Jennifer Tipton always finds a way to take our discussions away from the business of being a direc- tor and puts the focus back on be- ing an artist. ” CHANGING TIMES “If anything, I think of myself as a director who is a parent of a young child, which, May Adrales if you look at the statistics, is a PROJECTS Now, David Henry much smaller subgroup.” Hwang’s “Dance and the Rail- DREAM PROJECT Wedekind’s road” (Signature Theater); next, “Lulu,” with music by Patti Smith. Stefanie Zadravec’s “Electric Baby” (Two River Theater Com- pany in Red Bank, N.J.), BEGINNINGS “When I was 21, I wrote some pretty awful feminist diatribes. Some reviewer saw a show I wrote and directed and commented that ‘where Adrales lacks as a dramatist she makes up for as a director.’ I, at first, was Anne Kauffman crushed. But the critic was right.” PROJECTS Now, ’s CHANGING TIMES “The industry is “Belleville” (New York Theater changing because of the leader- Workshop); next, Noah Haidle’s ship of the Women’s Project, “Smokefall” (South Coast Rep in Paige Evans, Jenny Gersten, Ma- Costa Mesa, Calif.) . ria Goyanes — fearless producers AESTHETIC “Once a dear producer taking chances on women.” friend of mine said to me, ‘The SARA KRULWICH/THE NEW YORK TIMES DREAM PROJECT Wallace Shawn’s problem with downtown theater is “Luck of the Irish,” directed by , with, from left, Victor Williams, Dashiell Eaves, Amanda Quaid and Eisa Davis. “Hotel Play.” that there’s not enough money for spectacle, so you have to rely on the text to be the theatrical event.’ And I thought, ‘That’s exactly it.’ I mean, he framed it as a negative thing but I recognized it as the Staging a Sisterhood precise thing that attracts me.” DREAM PROJECT Wedekind’s CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 “Spring Awakening.” three plays now in rehearsal have female directors. A block away, at Playwrights Jo Bonney Horizons, women are staging three of its PROJECTS Recently, Eve Ensler’s six shows this season. And it is the winter “Emotional Creature” (Signa- of the woman too at Thea- ture); next, ’s ter, Manhattan Theater Club, Atlantic “Mound Builders” (Signature). Theater Company, New York Theater Workshop — and in Brooklyn to boot, at St. CHANGING TIMES “I’ve definitely Ann’s Warehouse — where plays are all seen a rise in the numbers of suc- under their helm. cessful female directors. It just Theater has always been a relationship seems obvious that when 50 per- Landau business, driven by money and status, cent of the population is female PROJECTS Recently, ’s chits and grudges, chemistry and sexual- that you would want their voices, “Civil War Christmas” (New York ity. But these ties have rarely yielded plum both as directors and playwrights, Theater Workshop); now, Bill Ir- jobs or perks for women. Only six have to be heard.” win and David Shiner’s “Old ever won the Tony, Broadway’s highest Hats” (Signature). honor, for directing plays and musicals. At the heavyweight Roundabout Theater BEGINNINGS “I was like that kid in Company, which has three Broadway ‘Annie Hall’ who says, ‘I’m into houses and two Off Broadway stages, only leather,’ except I’d walk around as 13 women have directed shows there in its a 6-year-old and say, ‘I’m into di- 48-year history. Women have long seen recting.’ ” sexism in the industry, despite theater be- AESTHETIC “I prefer giving voice ing the home of so many progressive- to the outsider, the minority, the minded artists. Even matters like materni- renegade, and I love texts with ty leave weren’t standard in some di- Carolyn Cantor recting contracts until recently. stage directions like, ‘And then PROJECTS Recently, Amy Herzog’s But at cocktail parties and dinners, they to the moon and have a “Great God Pan” (Playwrights through cat-sitting arrangements and con- with food that keeps chang- Horizons); next, Steven Leven- versations about theater, women have ing color.’” son’s “Core Values” (). been changing their lot by laying the CHANGING TIMES “I’ve always ex- groundwork with playwrights. In inter- AESTHETIC “I like to think of my- perienced Off Broadway and Off views these directors said this relationship self as a director who adapts to the Off Broadway as being hospitable building was hardly Machiavellian; many demands of the play. But more to me and other women I know. of the first encounters with writers were and more I do see commonalities. That said, I didn’t realize there random, and the rapport revolved mostly I am very interested in crafting around shared aesthetics that tend to favor were so many doing so much small, detailed moments with ac- language, mood and psychological nuance. great work in New York now.” Forging deep bonds ran contrary to advice SARA KRULWICH/THE NEW YORK TIMES tors, and I think really simple, and in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” directed by Pam MacKinnon. honest acting is a hallmark of my DREAM PROJECT “My own contem- that many of the directors had received. work.” porary adaptation (with many col- “What I was told, training at Carnegie laborators) of Dante’s ‘Divine Mellon and after, was to work with many city,” Mr. Letts said. (He is also an actor CHANGING TIMES “I am an optimist Comedy,’ with music by folks like different writers and get a broad under- ‘Writers respect us for and is now starring in the “Virginia Woolf” and like to think that the tides are John Zorn, Ratatat, Janelle standing of playwriting — to play the field, being straightforwardly revival directed by Ms. MacKinnon.) changing somewhat. But it does Monáe.” so to speak,” said Leigh Silverman, who honest.’ Ms. Shapiro, who won a Tony in 2008 for seem to take a lot longer for wom- has instead worked repeatedly with play- directing “August: Osage County,” echoed en, especially in the commercial wrights like the Tony winner David Henry rectors because they are less territorial in several other directors in saying that she arena.” Hwang, Lisa Kron and Liz Flahive, whose the rehearsal room and tend to accommo- emotionally invested in collaborators — in DREAM PROJECT An “edgy, sexy, play, “The Madrid,” is now under her di- date writers better than male directors her case Mr. Norris and Mr. Letts — which rection at Manhattan Theater Club, star- environmental production” of do,” said Bruce Norris, who won the 2011 makes it worthwhile to be away from her ring Edie Falco. Pulitzer for “Clybourne Park,” a satire family or, for a time, delay having children. “Little Shop of Horrors.” Or, as the director Rachel Chavkin put it, about race in a neighborhood. “I could say that Bruce and Tracy trust “The real truth that I’ve learned since He has exceptions among male direc- me with their writing, but for any rela- school is that the No. 1 way a director tors, Mr. Norris noted, but he has tended to tionship to continue, it’s because you love makes their career is by rising with a play- work with two women: Ms. MacKinnon each other in a certain way,” Ms. Shapiro Pam MacKinnon wright.” and Anna D. Shapiro, who plans to stage said. “I hate saying that because it sounds PROJECTS Now, ’s Not that any of the directors, who are his play “Domesticated” this fall at Lincoln so girly, but I don’t really care. It takes a “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” mostly in their 30s and 40s, want to be Center Theater. “The two of them are like lot for me to step away from my kids. (Broadway); next, ’s handmaidens to the playwrights. Ms. Sil- my sisters,” Mr. Norris added. Bruce’s writing is very intellectually “Lying Lesson” (Atlantic). verman recalled that early in her career a Another Pulitzer winner, Tracy Letts sharp, and Tracy is a luxurious writer emo- writer chose her to direct and then tried to (“August: Osage County”), has collaborat- BEGINNINGS “I was enrolled in the tionally, and that stimulates me. Bruce and Rachel Chavkin run the rehearsal room, seeing her as an ed with Ms. Shapiro for more than 20 I talk a lot about whether his satire might political science Ph.D. program at PROJECTS Recently, Dave Malloy’s easy mark. (“I swore I’d quit the business years, mostly in theaters in Chicago, and be so hard it hurts people, while with Tra- the University of California, San before it happened again, and it hasn’t,” “Natasha, Pierre & the Great said he liked working together because she cy, I sometimes want to shut down a bit of Diego; my dad was a professor, she said, declining to name names.) To had the best qualities of a director (“smart Comet of 1812” (Ars Nova); next, writing that feels indulgent.” and it was sort of like falling into that end several playwrights said they and funny and kind of bossy”). He has a revised version of “Mission Conversations like those can lead to the family business. But I felt like were not looking for patsies in their di- worked mostly with female directors sharp arguments, but the connective tis- Drift” by the TEAM (National the questions there were getting rectors but rather for partners who would around the country and said that New Theater in London). sue is usually strong enough that the part- smaller and smaller just as the push them to tell their stories with clearer York theater seems “a little late to the par- nership endures. dialogue, help them untie dramaturgical ty” in hiring them. AESTHETIC “I love mess, mistakes, questions I found myself asking For the Off Broadway play “Hurt Vil- knots and listen to their concerns. “I genuinely didn’t recognize it as a big the fragility of live performance. I were getting bigger and bigger.” lage” last winter Patricia McGregor tried try to build productions that feel “I’ve traditionally preferred female di- deal until I started bringing work to this AESTHETIC “I’m attracted to writ- persuading the playwright to on the edge of spiraling into chaos ers who really pay attention to the support her unusual idea of having the au- at any moment, though in fact my muscular potential of language — dience sitting on either side of a rectangu- lar stage to create a “three-dimensional” work is profoundly controlled.” not ‘people talking smart’ plays.” CHANGING TIMES “I take no issue effect. Ms. Hall went along, giving her DREAM PROJECT ’s young director a confidence boost, and with being called a woman direc- “Curse of the Starving Class.” tor. I am one. I would only take is- critics generally responded well. Even the director Anne Kauffman and sue if someone thought that indi- the playwright Jordan Harrison rebound- cated anything about my work.” ed from their spats during final rehearsals DREAM PROJECTS Susan Stanton’s for his technically ambitious play “Maple “Takarazuka!!!” and Andy Bra- and Vine” — including her late-night gen’s “Loop Tape.” e-mail, written in a , asking him not to

ONLINE: THE DIRECTORS Patricia McGregor Anatomy of a Scene videos narrated by Pam MacKinnon, Anne Kauffman and Jackson Gay, PROJECTS Recently, Katori Hall’s and mini-profiles of the directors mentioned in “Mountaintop” (Philadelphia this article: Theater Company) and “Hurt Vil- nytimes.com/theater lage” (Signature). Jackson Gay BEGINNINGS “I stage managed for On the cover, clockwise from top left: Pam PROJECTS Now, Rolin Jones’s at the O’Neill Cen- MacKinnon, Daniella Topol, Gaye Taylor “Jammer” (Atlantic Theater Com- ter, and I told him I was thinking Upchurch, Giovanna Sardelli, Patricia McGreg- or, Jackson Gay, Rebecca Taichman, Anne pany); next, Allison Moore’s “Col- of getting out of theater and mak- Kauffman, Rachel Chavkin, Jo Bonney, Leigh lapse” (Women’s Project). ing some money. And he said — BEN ARONS Silverman, May Adrales, Carolyn Cantor and MENTORS “ [The lighting design- remember, this is basically the “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812” at Ars Nova, directed by Rachel Chavkin. . C M Y K Sxxx,2013-02-03,AR,007,Bs-4C,E1

THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2013 AR 7

Theater

voice of God — he said: ‘Your thought of first and taken more se- mom doesn’t need you to buy her riously, but that too will eventual- a house. She needs you to do the ly change.” dreams she planted in you.’” DREAM PROJECT “My theatrical concert ‘Indomitable: James Brown’ as a full-fledged musical.”

Rebecca Taichman PROJECTS Now, Kirsten Green- idge’s “Luck of the Irish” (LCT3); next, “The Winter’s Tale” (Mc- Giovanna Sardelli Carter Theater in Princeton, N.J., and the Shakespeare Theater in PROJECTS Recently, Matthew Lo- Washington). pez’s “Somewhere” (Theater- AESTHETIC “I see a play like a tiny works in Palo Alto, Calif.); next, planet with its own ecosystem, its Rajiv Joseph’s “North Pool” own language, its own laws, cus- (Vineyard Theater ). toms, beliefs, time signature. ” CHANGING TIMES “I’ve always been aware of the statistics, and believe me, my friends and I are all acutely aware of the work we’re not getting. But at the same time, we’re all working.”

RUBY WASHINGTON/THE NEW YORK TIMES The New York production of “Detroit,” directed by Anne Kauffman with, from left, Sarah Sokolovic, Darren Pettie, David Schwimmer and Amy Ryan. Daniella Topol PROJECTS Now, Lloyd Suh’s “Je- attend rehearsal the next day. Both say hattan Theater Club and Sarah Benson at sus in India” (Theater at St. Clem- they expect to work together again. Soho Rep, while others, like Playwrights ent’s). Horizons, have leaders who now strive for “While some women directors can still BEGINNINGS “Being the artistic gender balance in directors and writers. get tagged with being a bitch just because Anna D. Shapiro program director at the Lark Play we’re as tough as men, I think writers re- “I don’t feel a boys’ club exists anymore, PROJECTS ’s Development Center was critical spect us for being straightforwardly hon- but statistics might disagree,” Mr. Haimes “_____ With the Hat” (which she est with them nowadays,” said Ms. Kauff- said. “There does seem to be a generation to developing my directorial eye man, who recalled how, early in her career of women coming up as directors who may originally directed on Broadway for new plays.” two decades ago, she used to wear men’s really change the landscape.” and, now, at Steppenwolf in Chi- AESTHETIC “There is nothing like pants and blazers to avoid seeming like “a Already several women have become cago); next, Bruce Norris’s “Par- directing the first and second pro- weak woman.” prominent directors in musical theater — allelogram” (Mark Taper Forum duction of a new play. ” in Los Angeles). “When I need playwrights to give me some who came up through the choreogra- DREAM PROJECT “ Sheila Callaghan space when I’m directing, I say to them, ‘I pher route, like Susan Stroman and Kath- AESTHETIC “Mere affection for a and I are now creating ’WATER didn’t sit there when you were writing leen Marshall, and some who are best piece isn’t enough. I interrogate (A Meditation On . . . ).’” your first draft and go, ‘You’re using that known for fusing avant-garde aesthetics my interest in a piece before I say word?’” added Ms. Kauffman, who di- with traditional shows, like Julie Taymor yes.” rected “Detroit” to acclaim Off Broadway and Diane Paulus. When it comes to plays, last fall and is remounting her much- however, many female directors are still CHANGING TIMES “Where I’m com- praised production of Amy Herzog’s on Broadway, which the director ing from, in the Midwest, there “Belleville” at New York Theater Work- Tina Landau described as “a male-dom- have always been a lot of women.” shop this month. “My regular playwrights inated tradition.” But women direct only 15 DREAM PROJECT John Steinbeck’s get it because they know me well.” to 20 percent of Broadway shows, where “Of Mice and Men.” For the “Virginia Woolf” revival now on the salaries and perks like housing and Broadway Ms. MacKinnon wanted two SARA KRULWICH/THE NEW YORK TIMES child care are far better. Those percent- stage actors from the Steppenwolf Theater Joaquina Kalukango, left, and Marsha Steph- ages are a slight improvement compared Gaye Taylor Upchurch anie Blake in Katori Hall’s “Hurt Village,” di- Company in Chicago, Mr. Letts and Amy with much of the 20th century, though PROJECTS Recently, Simon Ste- rected by Patricia McGregor at Signature. Morton. The playwright, Edward Albee, some see nothing to brag about. phens’s “Harper Regan” (Atlan- and Steppenwolf had never worked togeth- “Can we call it growth when we say the tic); now, Laura Marks’s “Betha- er, however, each unwilling to cede total cares most about the play.” 2011-12 season saw three women directing Ms. MacKinnon is in especially high de- ny” (Women’s Project); next, a pi- control to the other. But Ms. MacKinnon plays on Broadway as opposed to one mand these days. She recently replaced rate musical to be produced on a had the advantage of working with him on woman in 2001-02?” asked Laura Penn, ex- Ms. Shapiro as director of “The Lying Les- five other plays. ecutive director of the union representing sailboat in New York Harbor. son” at Atlantic Theater, and she is ex- stage directors and choreographers. Leigh Silverman MENTORS “Thanks to working as “I told Edward that Steppenwolf wanted pected to return to Broadway next season PROJECTS Now, Liz Flahive’s “Ma- me to do it there first,” Ms. MacKinnon re- with a revival of ’s Pul- Jeffrey Richards, one of the busiest pro- associate director to called, “and he asked, ‘There won’t be any itzer-winning “” for ducers on Broadway, with shows including drid” (Manhattan Theater Club); on the Bridge Project, he became compromises in casting?’ And I said no, Roundabout. Todd Haimes, the artistic di- “Virginia Woolf,” “August,” and, with Mr. next, Tanya Barfield’s “Call” my go-to mentor and a friend. He confidently.” rector of Roundabout, declined to confirm Hwang and Ms. Silverman, “Chinglish,” (). was the first person I heard from laughed when asked if he had a soft spot When Mr. Albee went to Chicago to see the production but said he has been eager AESTHETIC “I am drawn to writers when ‘Harper Regan’ got a good for hiring women for those plays and oth- rehearsal, he said, he felt no reason to to work with Ms. MacKinnon — as well as who write plays that feel ‘big,’ ei- review, even before I heard from brace himself because Ms. MacKinnon was ers. to improve Roundabout’s record of hiring ther thematically or stylistically. I my parents.” in charge. He gave only a few notes of ad- female directors, which is one of the worst “I’ve loved my directors,” he said, “but I don’t think I’ve ever directed a vice. “Some directors bring their approach in New York, compared with data from can’t take all the credit. These are di- DREAM PROJECT Tennessee Wil- rather than the playwright’s approach and other major theaters. rectors who the playwrights wanted to naturalistic family drama.” liams’s “Rose Tattoo” want to show off as themselves,” Mr. Albee A few theaters have women in charge, work with, and it’s always a good idea to CHANGING TIMES “I think for big Interviews, often by e-mail, by said. “You want the play to be there. Pam like the directors Lynne Meadow at Man- keep the playwright happy.” commercial projects, men are Eric Grode