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rating Seventy Y representing the american by eleb ears publishing and licensing the works C of new and established 70th Anniversary Issue D ram 06 ati – 20 sts Play Service, Inc. 1936

Issue 12, Spring/Summer 2006

AN INTERVIEW WITH Austin Pendleton

Director of Professional Rights Robert Lewis Vaughan and Director of Publications Michael Q. Fellmeth talk with Austin Pendleton about his hit, Orson’s Shadow, and his life as a consummate man of the theatre.

ROBERT. Orson’s Shadow had an amazing run here in New York at The following ’ fantastic (also represented by DPS). Tracy was in your play, in the role of Kenneth Tynan. Two hits in a row — two actor/playwrights in a row — one theatre. What do you have to say about that?

AUSTIN. There’s more to it than that. Tracy Letts caused this to happen. He told our producers (Scott Morfee, Chip Meyrelles, Tom Wirtshafter) about Orson’s Shadow. He put together a reading with the cast, directed by the Chicago director, in Chicago, for Scott, Chip and Tom to come and see and hear …

Continued on page 3 NEWPLAYS Serving the American Theatre Since 1936: A Brief History of , Inc. Rob Ackerman DISCONNECT. Goaded by the women they love “The Dramatists Play Service came into being at exactly the right moment and haunted by memories they can no longer for the contemporary and the American theatre at large.” suppress, two men at a dinner party confront the —Audrey Wood, renowned agent to lies of their lives.

Jon Robin Baitz n 1936 a committee of leading members grow, the Play Service was well poised to grow THE PARIS LETTER. Wall Street powerhouse Sandy Sonenberg fi nds his personal and professional life Iof the Dramatists Guild and a representa- with it and to provide it with plays of the very threatened when the secret that he has been hiding tive group of play agents met in Manhattan highest caliber. for the past forty years fi nally starts to unravel. to discuss the founding of Dramatists Play Stephen Belber Service, Inc. Their goal for the After Barrett Clark’s passing in 1953, the McREELE. An exposé article leads to Darius was to provide increased competition in the Play Service was headed by the esteemed McReele’s exoneration from a sixteen-year murder growing fi eld of amateur theatrical licensing. Margaret Sherman, a long-time employee of conviction. He is transformed into a media darling, The committee negotiating this diffi cult the Play Service. Ms. Sherman was succeeded but the journalist who told his story seeks to matter was headed by the playwright Howard determine which way he’ll ultimately fall. in 1969 by the playwright F. Andrew Leslie, Lindsay and Harold Freedman, agent to under whose stewardship in 1983, in a move John Belluso Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, among consistent with the objectives of its founding, HENRY FLAMETHROWA. The sick are fl ocking to other fi ne authors. These two men of great the Play Service began to acquire professional Henry’s comatose sister’s bedside, praying to be integrity and intelligence were devoted to healed and claiming their prayers have been an- licensing rights, further enhancing competition swered in this drama about faith, spirituality and the interests of dramatists. Mr. Lindsay and for desirable plays to the benefi t of dramatists. the intrinsic value of human life. Mr. Freedman realized that the establish- In 1983 the Play Service was presented with a ment of a new amateur licensing agency A NERVOUS SMILE. Three parents explore the special for sustained commitment to consequences and emotions they face after aban- would create and stimulate better competi- new work. After thirty extraordinarily productive doning their children with cerebral palsy. tion. With their hard work and the help of years with the Play Service, Mr. Leslie retired in the committee, Dramatists Play Service was 1990 and was followed by Bradley Kalos, for- PYRETOWN. In a hospital emergency room a middle- formed. aged single mother and a twenty-two-year-old merly of International Creative Management, paraplegic fi nd love in the age of HMOs. Inc. (ICM). In 1994, Stephen Sultan, also for- Nearly every established playwright of the merly of ICM and a member of the Play Service THE RULES OF CHARITY. Love and hate, cruelty time turned their plays over without any and goodness are the everyday contradictions in board since 1982, assumed the helm. Under Mr. the life of Monty, a disabled gay man. advance or guarantee whatsoever, authors Sultan’s tenure the Play Service has acquired over such as , , Jesse Berger 600 new titles, including nine Tony Award win- , Rachel Crothers, Rus- ners and nine Pulitzer Prize winners, doubled its THE REVENGER’S TRAGEDY. Part black comedy, sel Crouse, Philip Dunning, Edna Ferber, part social satire, a gleefully macabre plot-twisting business and cemented its reputation as the fi nest blender full of Shakespeare’s greatest hits. , Lillian Hellman, John Cecil play-licensing agency in the English–speaking Holm, , George S. Kaufman, Lee Blessing theatre. Today Dramatists Play Service is known , Kenyon Nicholson, Clif- throughout the world and works with thousands THE WINNING STREAK. Can America’s favorite ford Odets, Eugene O’Neill, , of professional and nonprofessional , pastime provide solid-enough common ground for Samson Raphaelson, , Robert the sensitive Ry to establish a relationship with supporting the theatre’s vital position in contem- the absentee father he never knew? E. Sherwood, Bella and Sam Spewack, and porary life. ■ many others. Bock THE SHAKER CHAIR. An examination of the con- It was planned that the committee should “In every town, in every school, in every organization, strictions and possibilities of middle age as one in every church there are people who are eager … It woman is forced to redefi ne her view of the world raise $80,000 to launch the Play Service in and her place within it. business. $18,000 was raised, and the Play is astonishing how much time and work they will be willing to give to the performance of a play. It is an Eric Bogosian Service went into business anyway. Barrett H. Clark, writer and lecturer on the theatre, exciting venture, gratifying in its achievement, and HUMPTY DUMPTY. Four friends gather for a holiday one that leaves deep satisfactions in the memory.” at a mountain getaway where unforeseen events and a man well acquainted with the amateur bring them to the brink of the end of the world. theatre, came aboard as executive director. The —Howard Lindsay, famous dramatists that the Play Service repre- one of the founders of DPS, WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE. A medita- in his booklet “How to Start a Theatre” tion on making it to the top of the ladder, on falling sented aroused the immediate attention of the off the ladder and on the exhilarating thrill of the public, and business began to expand beyond ultimate crash and burn. the resources of the Play Service’s capital. More “In those days, it was all about Broadway. I was money was raised but not nearly enough. seeing Broadway shows several times a week. Then Deborah Brevoort Off-Broadway started to develop, in the beginning in WOMEN OF LOCKERBIE. While roaming the Scot- These were precarious years, but always ready tish countryside looking for her son’s remains that to sign notes at the banks were George S. the coffee houses, and we were really the fi rst to pay at- were lost in the crash of Pan Am 103, a mother Kaufman, Moss Hart, Harold Freedman and tention to those plays and playwrights — for example, from New Jersey meets the women of Lockerbie others. There were many dark days in the John Guare, , . I who are determined to convert an act of hatred went to Café Cino to see a new piece by Guare, and into an act of love. 1930s and ’40s before the Play Service turned the corner. Lanford Wilson was our waiter. But we recognized Laurie Brooks these were immensely talented authors, and we sup- FRANKLIN’S APPRENTICE. Blending historical It was never the purpose of the Play Service ported them early on. So many of those plays would fi ction with contemporary resonance, this thrill- ing play for families culminates on a stormy night to supplant rival amateur agencies. What was never otherwise have been offered throughout the with the crack of thunder, a blinding light and an desired was more and better competition, country. And as a result the Play Service did and experiment that changed the world. because this would benefi t dramatists, and continues to do so much to make new American plays John Cariani the Play Service achieved this effect. Where widely available. The impact has been enormous. ALMOST, MAINE. An eccentric cast of Mainers (or previously advances on royalties usually ran The Play Service has enriched the American theatre Mainiacs, if you prefer) fall in and out of love in from one to fi ve thousand dollars, after the considerably, all the while being scrupulous about ways that only people who live in close proximity formation of the Play Service advances on publishing plays we could be proud of.” to wild moose can do in this sweetly enchanted highly desirable plays grew substantially —F. Andrew Leslie, evening. larger throughout the industry. Additionally, former president of DPS, as the amateur theatrical fi eld continued to from his home in Massachusetts 2 ATPLAY An Interview with Austin Pendleton NEWPLAYS (Continued from cover) Jean-Claude Carrière AUSTIN. … and though I knew him, somehow manages with all that to THE CONTROVERSY OF VALLADOLID. English because he and I are both ensemble possess the soul of an artist. That she’s version by Richard Nelson. In a sixteenth-century members at Steppenwolf, I didn’t know Orson’s Shadow Logo cheerful and sad, clear-headed and Spanish monastery, the fate of millions of Ameri- him that well. And then when we couldn’t get passionate, angry and patient. The Little Foxes: can natives from an ocean away hangs precari- our original Tynan to come from Chicago to Elizabeth Taylor is as sweet-natured a celebrity ously in the balance as a papal tribunal debates over whether or not they are human. Based on a do the part, he played it when we asked him as I’ve ever worked with. Possibly because true story. to. Dazzlingly. I don’t believe the play would she started acting prominently as a child, she ever have been done in New York if it hadn’t will do whatever you ask her to do, with full Julia Cho been for Tracy. Playwrights are sometimes very commitment. She’s extraordinarily thoughtful BFE. Thanks to a fortuitous misdial, fourteen-year- generous people, but this is incredible. I keep of people she works with, and everybody old Panny strikes up a phone friendship that seems to be the connection she’s been longing thinking I haven’t thanked him enough. connected with that revival visibly relaxed for. However, she soon fi nds that out in BFE, ROBERT. directed you, when they were with her, either acting with a.k.a. “the middle of nowhere,” anything can hap- Streisand and Ryan O’Neill in the classic her or just dealing with her. I hope she’s happy pen — and usually does. comedy What’s Up, Doc? Bogdanovich and in what appears to be her retirement. She gave Eric Coble Orson Welles were quite close, weren’t they? a lot of people a lovely time. Lillian Hellman THE DEAD GUY. The pitch: Give a good-looking What was your relationship to Orson, and can could be impossible. She was also one of the loser $1,000,000 to spend in seven days. The you tell our readers what the Orson’s Shadow funniest, most stimulating people I ever met. catch: It will be his fi nal week on earth. : post-performance talkback with Bogdanovich I miss her terribly. I still have conversations Everything — including his death — is broadcast was like? with her in my head, almost twenty-two years on national TV. The best part: Viewers gets to vote on how he dies! Does America have the stomach AUSTIN. Peter and Orson were great friends. after her death. We had the worst fi ghts I’ve for this much reality? Orson lived at Peter’s house in Beverly Hills for ever had with a colleague in my professional quite awhile at one point, a thing Peter made life. We also had some of the best laughs. But Gregg Coffi n hilarious and touching references to at the two whether laughing with her or fi ghting with FIVE COURSE LOVE. Five dates. Five restaurants. Innumerable sidesplitting laughs. A hilarious musi- talkbacks he did, which were brilliant, by the her, or just ruminating with her, I always cal salute to the deliciousness of dating. way, two of the best we had. Something else felt, strangely, relaxed. She’s also one of the he talked about at those was his conviction, most fl irtatious women I ever met, sort of a Steven Dietz which he backed up, that much of Orson’s cross between Emma Goldman and Scarlett SHERLCOK HOLMES: THE FINAL ADVENTURES. post-Kane work was at least the equal of Kane, O’Hara. But with a subtler mode of behavior In this pulse-quickening play, and intel- lect collide, and the most insignifi cant can despite the prevailing view to the contrary going than either one of them. Mike Nichols unlock the deepest secrets of the mind and that Orson struggled against all his life. The told me to listen to her very carefully, because heart. deep attachment between Orson and Peter is as he put it she “almost always sounds wrong all over the book Peter published of the many and is almost always right.” This is absolutely Christopher Durang MISS WITHERSPOON. A chronic malcontent interviews he did with Orson over the years. correct. She managed to be dogmatic and — and why shouldn’t she be given the state of The book is called This is Orson Welles. It’s over inquisitive, hot-tempered and full of reason, the world, Miss Witherspoon is determined to 400 pages long, and it’s effectively a biography all at the same time. I want to add that she’s a commit suicide, but it turns out that the Bud- of Orson, and a brilliant one, a revelation of curiously underrated writer. She wrote a lot of dhists had it more or less right, even though many sides of Orson’s sensibility. I worked wonderful plays, and they’re all different from reincarnation proves a lot less pleasant than advertised. with Orson for two weeks in Guaymas, Mexico each other. I’d love to direct them all. But I in 1969 on Catch-22. I was in every scene he wish she could be around when I’d be directing David Edgar was in; he was in every scene I was in. It was, them. CONTINENTAL DIVIDE: DAUGHTERS OF THE how shall I say, a trip. He had so wanted to ROBERT. Which of Lillian’s plays would you REVOLUTION. When former sixties activist Michael Bern fi nds that one of an eight- direct the movie of that book. He assuaged love to get your hands on right away if the strong group of activists was an FBI informer, his these feelings by effectively directing several opportunity presented itself? quest to uncover the truth forces him to confront of his key scenes, having not been invited to AUSTIN. The Children’s Hour. I directed it at his former friends and, more profoundly, what has do so by Mike Nichols. This did not work out Smith in 2001, while my daughter was there happened to his former self. A companion piece for the better. On the other hand he gave a (she had nothing to do with the production; to MOTHER’S AGAINST. wonderful performance and was unforgettable I just wanted to be up there while she was CONTINENTAL DIVIDE: MOTHER’S AGAINST. to be around. He gave his opinions on every there). I picked the play because it had lots of With fi ve weeks to election day and the polls on movie director of any note, living or dead good parts for women. It proceeded to knock a knife edge, Republican candidate for governor Sheldon Vine gathers his key advisors at the fam- ( did not top the list), was me out. Since then I’ve been trying to get a big ily home where it soon becomes clear that the virtually balletic verbally with a charming sort theatre to put it on, and no luck. Some have most dangerous divisions are within the campaign of self-deprecation that he did, and through indicated that it’s a homophobic play. This is itself. A companion piece to DAUGHTERS OF it all was very kind somehow. It was complex fl atly absurd. Some have said it’s old-fashioned. THE REVOLUTION. and unforgettable. Just as he was and is. And It’s not, really, properly played. It’s a beautiful, Gina Gionfriddo inspiring and heartbreaking and gallant. subtle, urgently necessary play, and it’s a great AFTER ASHLEY. In this blisteringly funny and ROBERT. Inspiring, heartbreaking and gallant. evening. heartbreakingly truthful satire, a teenager is un- That’s the play. What haunted me when the MICHAEL. What so amazes me is how willingly thrust into the national spotlight when a lights went down and still does is what might completely a man of the theatre you are. family tragedy becomes talk-show fodder. have been, for all of them. Regret and hope are You’ve acted in some terrifi c fi lms and turned Daniel Goldfarb themes throughout Orson’s Shadow. You and I in performances that were just absolute gems. MODERN ORTHODOX. When, at Ben’s urging, had a conversation over dinner not long ago In fact, I recently rewatched Two Days in the the orthodox Hershel takes off his yarmulke, about Vivian and Joan. Can you say anything Valley, and I couldn’t help thinking that in his life begins to fall apart. Now Ben and his about Joan? If not, we could talk about Lillian your brilliant time onscreen you stole the fiancée, Hannah, are determined to solve his problems by fi nding him a wife — on the Hellman — you, Lillian and Elizabeth Taylor whole movie! But as a man of the theatre, Internet. on Broadway. You directed Elizabeth Taylor in you have acted in and directed some of the her Broadway debut in The Little Foxes. More great plays of our time; you are considered Paul Grellong than one question, but you can handle it. one of the nation’s leading teachers of acting; MANUSCRIPT. In the bedroom of a Brooklyn Heights brownstone, three ambitious college AUSTIN. All I can think of to say about you have served as artistic director of a major freshmen confront the discovery of an unpub- Joan I’ve tried to say in the play. That she’s theatre; and now you’re an extraordinarily lished manuscript that can guarantee success. an honest, loving, forthright woman who accomplished playwright. The critics have Continued on page 4 3 ATPLAY justly praised Orson’s Shadow to the skies, and slowly rolling stone that became harder and Robert Simonson even wrote, “It is the best harder to stop working at. But it was tough not NEWPLAYS play about the dark midnight of the artistic only because I went up so many blind alleys David Grimm soul in a generation.” I know you are modest but because each time, while I was struggling THE LEARNED LADIES OF PARK AVENUE. Dicky to a fault, but I have to ask: How did you get to fi nd my way out of them, I kept thinking, wants to marry Betty, but her mother’s plan is so good at so many things? “Not only is this uncastable — which proved for Betty to wed a most pompous man. Molière AUSTIN. I started out wanting to be a writer. completely untrue — but who will give a fl ying meets ’s Age in this tale that I wrote the for a couple of musicals in f— about any of these people or this story!” I asks whether reason, greed or true love will win think the Vivien Leigh thing anchored it, the day. college. This was the great age of the American musical, so it was an inspiring time to do that; somehow, and, as I said before, she was a late Rinne Groff and I still have that hankering. But then I addition to the idea that I came to after I kept THE RUBY SUNRISE. The story of the birth and started to get work as an actor in New York, running up against the fact that it was during promise of television through the life of Ruby, who and then one summer at Williamstown, where the Rhinoceros rehearsals that Olivier, fi nally, in 1927 struggles to realize her dream of inventing and perfecting the fi rst all-electrical television sys- I’d apprenticed and been an Equity actor for after years of hesitations, made the break with tem. Twenty-fi ve years later, her daughter faces a while, Nikos Psacharopoulos, who ran the her. I kept thinking that that and his fear similar battles of will and crises of faith as she place, following a hunch, suggested I direct of Orson’s mysterious instability somehow works to get Ruby’s story told on network TV. something. The fi rst two shows I directed there connected in him, in a way he maybe didn’t were well received; had they not been, I’d have even fully understand. And people’s responses THE LAST DAYS OF JUDAS ISCARIOT. Set in a stopped directing then and there. Many since, to her character and her involvement in the time-bending, darkly comic world between heaven there and other places, have not been, but, you play seemed to indicate that she grounded and hell, this play reexamines the plight and fate know, once you get started … Then Herbert the story for them, which is strange because of the New Testament’s most infamous and unex- Berghof, with whom I’d studied at HB, asked she was by no means part of the original idea, plained sinner. me to teach there. I had no idea what to do, necessarily. Maybe another writer could have Noah Haidle so I just started copying what Uta [Hagen], grounded without her. But she did it for me. MR. MARMALADE. Unfortunately four-year-old with whom I’d also studied, did when she And, signifi cantly I think, her two long scenes Lucy’s imaginary friend, Mr. Marmalade, doesn’t taught, added in some Robert Lewis teaching were the only ones that barely changed over have much time for her — not to mention he beats up her personal assistant, has a cocaine techniques (I’d also studied with him), and the rewrites and productions since the fi rst addiction and a penchant for pornography. A gradually found my way into it. I didn’t get time the play was done in 2000 in the Garage savage black comedy about growing up in these back to writing ’til I was fi fty. Space at Steppenwolf. I never heard a response, diffi cult times. MICHAEL. The French have a saying, pro or con, in the talkbacks that surprised me. Jeffrey Hatcher something like, “Twenty is young for a poet, I did hear, however, some wonderful stories COMPLEAT FEMALE STAGE BEAUTY. The career thirty for a novelist and forty for a playwright.” from some of the guests at those talkbacks. of the greatest female impersonator on the sev- Of course, in French this is much more From Chris Feder, for example, Orson’s enteenth-century stage is imperiled when the ban profound; but I want to make the point that in daughter, from Peter Bogdanovich, from against women appearing onstage is lifted. France you’re still a young playwright. In your Jonathan Lynn, from Buck Henry, from Lynn MURDER BY POE. A dark and dreadful night, a introduction to Orson’s Shadow, you describe Redgrave. Wonderful things. Things I wished woman in white lost within a wood, and the only how the play was inspired by a conversation I’d heard while I was writing it, but then I shelter is a house full of murderers in this theatri- with a friend, and then I know you worked suppose that sort of thing will go on for the cal reimagining of some of Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous tales of terror. on the text for fi ve or six years. How did the rest of my life with these characters, these writing of it evolve after that meeting? Did you wonderful people that this play tries to bring A PICASSO. Set during the German occupation of begin with research or did you write scenes and alive, in however inevitably limited a way. Paris, this riveting drama imagines a confrontation then research? Tell us how it came into being. ROBERT. What young playwrights and actors between Picasso and a mysterious interrogator concerning several confi scated works that the AUSTIN. Judith Auberjonois had the basic do you have your eye on, and why do you great artist might have painted. idea for this play: Orson directed Olivier in admire them? Rhinoceros in 1960, and it didn’t work out, AUSTIN. The playwright John Kolvenbach. Ron Hutchinson big-time. She asked me to write it for her I’m directing his play Love Song at Steppenwolf MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS. Over the course of fi ve days three men cloister themselves deep husband, René, and for Alfred Molina, two right now. The actor Tobias Segal. I acted in the inner Hollywood sanctum, sustained only brilliant actors. And as I began to learn as I in a two-hander, The Lives of Bosie by John by bananas and peanuts as they work tirelessly worked on it, it was a brilliant idea. At fi rst I Wolfson, with Tobias and directed him in a to reshape a screenplay that’s just not working was hesitant and just started researching it to workshop of a new play by Dana Zeller-Alexis. — Gone with the Wind. see what I would fi nd. Then one day I began There are others, but they’re better known, Arlene Hutton writing scenes; none of these scenes are in the and others that are not well known. But these SEE ROCK CITY. A newly wed couple in rural play as it is now. Gradually I added in Vivien come to mind. They’re young; they’re original; Kentucky struggles with newfound marital expec- Leigh, who seemed more and more important their craft is in place; and they’re ready to go. tations and challenges on the home front during to these people, and then Kenneth Tynan, As they will. I could make a longer list, but The Last Great War. and then my fi ctional creation, Sean. I wrote then it would get to be dicey about who to Dave Johnson lots and lots of scenes. I thought an overall include and who to leave off. It would get to BAPTIZED TO THE BONE. Ottis is hustling the structure would never present itself. Finally be hopelessly confusing and misleading. preacher’s wife and the preacher. All three will it did. This took three years. Ironically, René ROBERT. Since you’re entirely devoted to the learn the hard way that sometimes deception gets and Alfred have never done the play; one day theatre and always have been, what words of you exactly what you want. I hope they do, separately or together, but advice would you offer to young writers and Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, Jamie Wooten meantime I’ve been brilliantly served. actors? DEARLY BELOVED. When the Futrelle Sisters of MICHAEL. During the writing and the AUSTIN. If they’re interested in a life in the Fayro, TX come together to throw a wedding readings and the various productions, while theatre, they’re out of their minds. Which will for one of their own, it’s grist for the rumor mill and high jinks for all in this zany down-home you were continuing to work on the play, what be of help to them. Just keep the faith, that’s comedy. surprised you, both in terms of the play itself and all. Everything is arrayed against you, more audience reactions? And at the various talkback than I can ever remember. But you are needed. Rolin Jones sessions too. What about those? Just get to be very good, that’s all, even if it THE INTELLIGENT DESIGN OF JENNY CHOW. This irreverent “techno-comedy” chronicles one AUSTIN. What surprised me from the fi rst breaks your heart. brilliant woman’s quest to determine her heritage production on, and through all the subsequent MICHAEL. But is there any other profession and face her fears with the help of a Mormon mis- productions and rewrites, was that it connected that offers so many opportunities for delight sionary, a pizza delivery guy and her astounding to an audience. I never really expected it to. I and joy? creation called Jenny Chow. just got started on it, once Judith had proposed AUSTIN. There probably are other professions the idea, and then it became a sort of very that offer as many opportunities for delight 4 ATPLAY Continued on back cover NEWPLAYS by Michael Q. Fellmeth Jonathan Lichtenstein n January of this year the Play Service and the THE PULL OF NEGATIVE GRAVITY. Wounded theatre world lost one of its most beloved authors, in the war in Iraq, a farmer’s boy turned soldier I returns home with injuries that have extraordinary Wendy Wasserstein. Wendy, who, in the words of consequences for his fi ancée and his family. , “spoke for a generation of smart, driven but sometimes unsatisfi ed women” in such plays as David Lindsay-Abaire , The Sisters Rosensweig and An . Becca and Howie Corbett have everything a family could want, until a life-shat- American Daughter, succumbed to cancer at only fi fty- tering accident turns their world upside down and fi ve. Although we will miss the pleasure of looking leaves the couple drifting perilously apart. forward to a new play by Wendy opening on Broadway, she has left us with a rich legacy, a collection of plays Angus MacLachlan THE RADIANT ABYSS. Nothing is as it seems as in a voice that could belong to no other author, whose the unfathomable mysteries of religion, love, archetypal characters fi nd themselves wrestling with bigotry and sexual rapture constellate three trials and choices in life that are both distinctly of our strivers to investigate a storefront church whose time and familiar to us all. practices appear to be far removed from God. Photo by Brigitte Lacombe That Wendy’s plays have provided splendid roles to actresses of all ages is well known. It is FAUSTUS. An ingenious and eerily moving version equally well known that some of our fi nest actresses cut their teeth on Wendy’s characters. But of the tragedy of Dr. Faustus fashioned by the while the rare excellence of her female characterizations has from the beginning been acclaimed, bold and acerbic pen of a theatrical master. Wendy wrote full-bodied men too, whose behavior may have provoked consternation among ROMANCE. An uproarious, take-no-prisoners court- her intelligent, capable women but who remain nevertheless three-dimensional creatures, room comedy that gleefully lampoons everyone fl awed perhaps, indecisive, even capricious, but always believable. Such was the compassion of from lawyers and judges, to Arabs and , to Wendy’s vision that even her antagonists at their most antagonistic moments were allowed full gays and chiropractors. humanity. But this should come as no surprise. As the words of just a few of Wendy’s friends Martin McDonagh attest below, she was above all a good, kind and generous person, an uncommon woman and a . In an unnamed totalitarian state, gentle soul; and in her plays and in her characters, that could not help but show through. an author of horrifi c children’s stories discovers that someone has been making his stories come I can think of no better way to commemorate Wendy’s life than that her plays, her life’s work, be true. seen and celebrated. Read the plays you have not read, revisit the plays you have. If you are new Jean Baptiste Molière to Wendy’s work, I envy you. You are in for an exquisite journey fi lled with laughter, sparkling THE IMAGINARY INVALID. Adapted by James and heartache. If you know her work, share it with your audiences. Let them learn what we Magruder. A dedicated hypochondriac, Argan already know, that though this remarkable woman may no longer be with us, her voice is still takes all manner of cures for his imaginary ills; but with a disingenuous wife, a rebellious daughter ■ present, and it is positively worth listening to. and an insubordinate servant, how’s a man sup- posed to enjoy his illness? Wendy’s Plays Published by the Play Service: Charles Morey LAUGHING STOCK. When The Playhouse, a rustic An American Daughter Seven One-Act Plays New England summer theatre, schedules a rep- The Heidi Chronicles The Sisters Rosensweig ertory season of Dracula, Hamlet and Charley’s Aunt, comic mayhem ensues. Isn’t It Romantic Uncommon Women and Others Michael Murphy SIN (A CARDINAL DEPOSED). A look at the scan- “Uncommon Women and Others changed forever what I expect from the theatre. Although I had dalous trial of Cardinal Bernard F. Law that led the been reviewing plays for years, I sat there, stunned, realizing that I had never before seen women “prince of the church” to a Shakespearean–like fall from grace. onstage talking about things my friends and I talked about, in a language and style we knew only as real life … Her Uncommon Women asked, ‘Why didn’t someone tell us that being exceptional David Nehls and Betsy Kelso would have repercussions?’ … How wise she was, this girl-woman barely out of college, already able THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSI- to observe social upheavals while living them.” —Linda Winer CAL. This hilarious new musical takes place at Armadillo Acres, where Pippi, a stripper on the run, has just moved in, wreaking havoc among the other tenants. “By the time any of us had seen The Heidi Chronicles we felt she was an old friend … the smartest one at the pajama party … the girl who was nice to everyone. You didn’t even feel intimidated by FABULATION OR, THE RE-EDUCATION OF her brilliance because hadn’t she written exactly what we were all thinking? Wendy had a way of UNDINE. When her husband disappears after letting us hear our own thoughts and laugh while we listened.” —Jill Krementz embezzling all her money, leaving her pregnant and on the brink of social and fi nancial ruin, Undine retreats to her childhood home in Brook- “Wendy had a great talent for friendship. Besides me, she was also friends with at least one half of lyn’s Walt Whitman projects, only to discover that she must cope with a crude new reality. Manhattan.” —Billy Kimball Carey Perloff LUMINESCENCE DATING. A maverick archaeolo- “Wendy was a charter member of the company of nice women, a river of accommodating humanity gist attempts to reassemble an ancient statue of Aphrodite while the goddess herself wreaks that fl ows through Manhattan just as it fl ows through Des Moines and Oneonta, NY, organizing library havoc with her heart. fund-raisers, running day-care centers, ordering prescriptions for elderly parents, buying all the birthday presents and giving career counseling to the nephew of a very remote acquaintance who Christopher Piehler and Scott Alan Evans is trying to decide between making it big on Broadway and dentistry … [Wendy once noted in an THE TRIANGLE FACTORY FIRE PROJECT. Using real words spoken by real people, from Ukrainian essay] that niceness had become unfashionable and promised to be crankier in the future. It was seamstresses to millionaire Fifth Avenue social- just a literary device. Wendy understood that being considerate in a society of self-involved strivers ites, THE TRIANGLE FACTORY FIRE PROJECT was not for wimps. It required a steely inner toughness that was the hallmark of many of her heroines. paints a heartbreakingly clear picture of a disas- She also knew her own nature. ‘Frankly, I never want to leave a room and be thought of as a horrible trous day in American history and explores the person,’ she admitted. But Wendy never explained what the rest of us were supposed to do when she human toll such a tragedy takes on us all. left the room before us.” —Gail Collins 5 5AT ATPLAYPLAY NEWPLAYS The New Diary of Anne Frank An Interview with Wendy Kesselman by Michael Q. Fellmeth Craig Pospisil LIFE IS SHORT. This collection of short plays takes a hilarious look at relationships from childhood to MICHAEL. Wendy, your ad- last transport of cattle cars old age, gleefully portraying people at their worst aptation of The Diary of Anne deported to Auschwitz. The — and sometimes their best. Frank has been received with railroad tracks are all that’s left phenomenal enthusiasm. We in Westerbork. I was deeply Lucy Prebble published the acting edition affected by the Amsterdam THE SUGAR SYNDROME. Seventeen-year-old in 2001, and ever since the trip, and much of what I Dani surfs Internet chat rooms searching for someone who is honest and direct, but what she play has been steadily climbing felt during that experience fi nds is a man twice her age who thinks she is an the charts. This year it regu- found its way into the new eleven-year-old boy. larly appears among our top-25 adaptation. most-popular acting editions MICHAEL. It was your Heather Raffo and is now poised to overtake first Broadway production. 9 PARTS OF DESIRE. A portrait of the extraordi- in popularity one of the most What was that like for nary (and ordinary) lives of a cross-section of famous plays in the American you? How about working Iraqi women that delves into the many confl icting aspects of what it means to be a woman in the theatre, the original Diary of with your young star, now age-old war zone. Anne Frank. This, it seems to a global celebrity, Natalie me, merits some talking about. I Portman? Lanie Robertson know you have a deep interest in WENDY. People warned WOMAN BEFORE A GLASS. Rebelling against the Holocaust, but I’m wondering what specifi - me about the pressure, pressure, pressure of her wealthy New York upbringing, indulging cally led to your adaptation of the play. working on Broadway, but it seemed no more her uncanny eye for great and artists, and becoming the enfant terrible of the modern art WENDY. The director Jim Lapine and I had pressured than any other theatre situation, scene, Peggy Guggenheim lived a life almost too been friends for years but had never worked and I loved all the moments, joyous and amazing to be believed. together. He was the one who suggested me diffi cult. Natalie was wonderful to work with for the new adaptation. The moment he told — although she couldn’t believe how I kept J.T. Rogers me, I was elated. Rereading Anne’s diary was a revising. After our run at the Colonial Theatre MADAGASCAR. A tapestry of interwoven narratives revelation. Anne was a real writer, something in Boston, I wanted many of Anne’s voiceovers that contradict, clarify and deepen the haunting I’d never realized when I fi rst read the diary. spoken aloud, and Natalie was not too thrilled story of a mysterious and unsolved disappear- ance that changed three lives forever. The diary was crucial for Anne — it sustained about that. Gradually, however, she came to her throughout the years of hiding. I wanted enjoy doing them onstage, and eventually her Burt V. Royal to make her words shine. That decision favorite moment became Anne’s voiceover: DOG SEES GOD. What happens when America’s especially involved the phrase that has come “When I write I shake off all my cares. But I favorite blockhead discovers that his beloved to be totally identifi ed with Anne: “I still want to achieve more than that. I want to be beagle has terminal rabies? A missing pen pal, believe, in spite of everything, that people useful and bring enjoyment to all people, even an abused pianist, a pyromaniac ex-girlfriend, two are really good at heart.” Yes, Anne, spirited, those I’ve never met. I want to go on living even drunk cheerleaders, a burnt-out Buddhist and a drama queen sister are all contributing factors to optimistic Anne, wrote these words, but they after my death!” the teen-angst of America’s most hapless kid. are part of a far darker, more pessimistic entry: MICHAEL. What do you think Anne “I see the world slowly being transformed into would make of her story being told to a new Sam Shepard a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder generation, a generation whose parents, even THE GOD OF HELL. After Frank and Emma agree which will destroy us too, I feel the suffering whose grandparents, did not live through the to put up a friend on the lam from a secret gov- of millions.” Anne did not know how her Second World War, a generation for whom the ernment project, they are visited by an unctuous story was going to end, but we know, and Holocaust may seem like just another distant government bureaucrat who transforms their heartland American household into a scene of to make the horror more evident to today’s historical event? torture. audiences, I juxtaposed Anne’s generosity of WENDY. I believe that Anne would absolutely spirit with the Nazi breaking into the attic, have wanted her story told — she told it herself, Stephen Temperley his gun held high, with the reverberating revised it painstakingly, wanted it published after SOUVENIR. A musical fantasia on the life of Flor- scream of “RAUS!!!” the war. But I believe for Anne that would have ence Foster Jenkins, a wealthy society eccentric MICHAEL. Yes, that moment in particular been just the beginning. She felt the suffering of of the 1930s and ’40s who suffered under the seems emblematic of your version. The others deeply. She would have wanted all the illusion that she was a great coloratura soprano. original was very much a product of its time, other stories told too. Freyda Thomas the 1950s, when the Second World War was MICHAEL. There has been a disturbing THE GAMESTER. Based on Le Joueur by Jean- still palpable, the Cold War at its apex, and resurgence of Holocaust deniers in recent François Regnard. A world-class farce set in there was a real and understandable desire years. One would like simply to dismiss them eighteenth-century Paris, fl avored with turn-of- for hope. Not that your adaptation abandons as cranks and loons, but unfortunately some of the-century optimism and dark undertones remi- hope, but I think The Times said it well: them are well-spoken and manage to fi nd their niscent of post-millennium Vegas. “Undeniably moving. It shatters the heart. way into print and the media. What would you Matthew Todd The evening never lets us forget the inhuman say to them? BLOWING WHISTLES. A wry and heartfelt look at darkness waiting to claim its incandescently WENDY. There will always be those who deny love and gay pride in the age of the Internet. human heroine.” You have read just about the truth, no matter how much evidence is everything there is to read on Anne, and before them. Hopefully, the play says much to Laura Wade you have talked with people who knew her. counteract that. Anne always spoke the truth, COLDER THAN HERE. Myra is slowly dying of What during your research was especially even when most painful for her. Her words will bone cancer and as they help her plan her fu- illuminating? live on. neral, her husband and daughters are forced to confront the unspoken realities of their lives. WENDY. The trip to Amsterdam made a MICHAEL. Your adaptation has helped ensure profound impression on me. The night I arrived, that, Wendy. Thank you. ■ Paul Weitz I stayed up ’til three talking passionately with PRIVILEGE. When their father is arrested for insider two Dutch historians as obsessed with Anne as In addition to her version of The Diary of trading, a pair of New York rich kids suddenly fi nd I. A few hours later we drove to Westerbork, the Anne Frank, Wendy Kesselman’s remarkable and themselves coming of age far from the cocoon of transit camp. As Mr. Dussel says, “From there, affecting portrait of young literary and romantic Park Avenue. like clockwork, every Tuesday a train leaves awakening, The Notebook, is available from the for … the East.” The Frank family was in the Play Service at www.dramatists.com. 6 ATPLAY Dramatists Play Service licenses hundreds of professional productions each year. For your convenience, here’s a schedule of some of them. You can access an even more comprehensive list of professional and page to stage select nonprofessional productions by visiting www.dramatists.com and viewing PAGE TO STAGE. May – August 2006

ALABAMA ILLINOIS NEW HAMPSHIRE DEARLY DEPARTED by David Bottrell and BAT BOY: THE MUSICAL story and book by CRUMBS FROM THE TABLE OF JOY by Lynn BREAKING LEGS by Tom Dulack. Jessie Jones. Tennessee Repertory Theatre. Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming, music Nottage. . Chicago. May. Barnstormers Theatre. Tamworth. July. Nashville. May. and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe. Birmingham THE RETREAT FROM MOSCOW by William POLISH JOKE by David Ives. Winnipesaukee DEATHTRAP by Ira Levin. Chaffi n’s Barn. Summer Fest. Birmingham. June. Nicholson. Northlight Theatre. Skokie. May. Playhouse. Laconia. August. Nashville. August. PROOF by . Barnstormers ARKANSAS INDIANA FROZEN by Bryony Lavery. Playhouse on the Theatre. Tamworth. August. Square. . June. PROOF by David Auburn. Valley Performing THE FOREIGNER by Larry Shue. Shawnee SYLVIA by A.R. Gurney. Winnipesaukee THE MISS FIRECRACKER CONTEST by Arts. Wasilla. June. Theatre of Greene County. Bloomfi eld. June. Playhouse. Laconia. July. THE PILLOWMAN by Martin McDonagh. . Gaslight Dinner Theatre Phoenix Theatre. Indianapolis. May. NEW JERSEY (Renaissance Center). Dickson. June. by . PCPA STEEL MAGNOLIAS by Robert Harling. Beef and DEAD CERTAIN by Marcus Lloyd. Bickford THE STORY by Tracey Scott Wilson. Playhouse Theaterfest. Santa Maria. June Boards Dinner Theatre. Indianapolis. July. Theatre. Morristown. May. on the Square. Memphis. July. PCPA Theaterfest. Solvang. July. Derby Dinner Playhouse. Clarkesville. May. EPIC PROPORTIONS by Larry Coen and David ‘ART’ by Yasmina Reza, translated by Wagon Wheel Theatre. Warsaw. August. Crane. Bickford Theatre. Morristown. May. TEXAS . Shakespeare Santa EXITS AND ENTRANCES by . ‘ART’ by Yasmina Reza, translated by Cruz. Santa Cruz. July. IOWA New Jersey Repertory. Long Branch. May. Christopher Hampton. FMPA Theatre. Flower BROOKLYN BOY by . MASS APPEAL by Bill C. Davis. Old Creamery GOING TO ST. IVES by Lee Blessing. Cape Mound. June. TheatreWorks. Palo Alto. July. Theatre Company. Amana. August. May Stage. Cape May. August. HANK WILLIAMS: LOST HIGHWAY by THE GOD OF HELL by Sam Shepard. Geffen STRING FEVER by Jacquelyn Reingold. New K2 by Patrick Meyers. Cape May Stage. Cape Randal Myler and Mark Harelik. Galveston Playhouse. . June. Ground Theatre. Bettendorf. May. May. June. THE GOOD THIEF by Conor McPherson. PROOF by David Auburn. Arts Trust. Island Musicals. Texas City. June. Rubicon Theatre Company. Ventura. August. KANSAS Succasunna. May. by . Zachary THE LONG CHRISTMAS RIDE HOME by Paula FIFTH OF JULY by Lanford Wilson. Kansas City WITH AND WITHOUT by Jeffrey Sweet. Scott Theatre Center. Austin. July. Vogel. Magic Theatre. San Francisco. May. Actors Theatre. Kansas City. June. Blueberry Pond Theatre Ensemble. NICKEL AND DIMED by Joan Holden, based M. BUTTERFLY by David Henry Hwang. OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE Weehawken. June. on Nickel and Dimed, on (Not) Getting by TheatreWorks. Palo Alto. August. WOODS by Joe DiPietro. New Theatre in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. Stages A NERVOUS SMILE by John Belluso. Restaurant. Overland Park. August. NEW YORK Repertory Theatre. Houston. August. International City Theatre. Long Beach. June. TALLEY’S FOLLY by Lanford Wilson. Kansas ‘ART’ by Yasmina Reza, translated by STEEL MAGNOLIAS by Robert Harling. Marmac TAKE ME OUT by . City Actors Theatre. Kansas City. June. Christopher Hampton. Hangar Theatre. Watertower Theatre. Addison. May. Repertory Theater Company. Azusa. June. TALLEY & SON by Lanford Wilson. Kansas City Ithaca. July. VALHALLA by Paul Rudnick. New Actors Theatre. Kansas City. July. I AM MY OWN WIFE by Doug Wright. THOM PAIN (BASED ON NOTHING) by Will Conservatory Theatre. San Francisco. May. StageWorks. Hudson. August. Eno. Theatre Center. Dallas. June. LOUISIANA COLORADO MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS by Ron KIMBERLY AKIMBO by David Lindsay-Abaire. Hutchinson. Cortland Repertory Theatre. VERMONT CROWNS by Regina Taylor. Denver Center Southern Repertory Theatre. . May. Cortland. August. MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS by Ron Theatre Company. Denver. May. THRILL ME: THE LEOPOLD AND LOEB Hutchinson. Dorset Theatre Festival. Dorset. DINNER WITH FRIENDS by Donald Margulies. MAINE STORY by Stephen Dolginoff. Kavinoky Theatre Aspen. Aspen. July. June. SYLVIA by A.R. Gurney. Acadia Repertory. Mt. Theatre. Buffalo. June. STEEL MAGNOLIAS by Robert Harling. Saint ENCHANTED APRIL by Matthew Barber, from Desert. August. the novel by Elizabeth von Arnim. Creede NORTH CAROLINA Michael’s Playhouse. Colchester. July. THREE DAYS OF RAIN by Richard Greenberg. Repertory Theatre. Creede. June. MARYLAND DRIVING MISS DAISY by . THE FOREIGNER by Larry Shue. Theatre CRUMBS FROM THE TABLE OF JOY by Lynn Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre. Oldcastle Theatre Company. Bennington. Aspen. Aspen. August. Nottage. Center Stage. Baltimore. May. Mars Hill. June. August. HEDDA GABLER by , adapted by GOD’S MAN IN TEXAS by David Rambo. Jon Robin Baitz. Olney Theatre. Olney. June. Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre. VIRGINIA THE ARCHBISHOP’S CEILING by Arthur HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH text by Mars Hill. August. ENCHANTED APRIL by Matthew Barber, from Miller. Westport Country Playhouse. , music and lyrics HANK WILLIAMS: LOST HIGHWAY by Randal the novel by Elizabeth von Arnim. Heritage Westport. August. by Stephen Trask. Factory. Myler and Mark Harelik. Southern Appalachian FRANKIE AND JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE Repertory Theatre. Charlottesville. July. Frederick. July. LUNE by Terrence McNally. Hartford Stage Repertory Theatre. Mars Hill. May. STEEL MAGNOLIAS by Robert Harling. Swift Company. Hartford. May. JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL & THE LAST NIGHT OF BALLYHOO by Alfred Creek Mill Theatre. Colonial Heights. June. HOWIE THE ROOKIE by Mark O’Rowe. Irish LIVING IN PARIS production conception, Uhry. Hot Summer Nights at the Kennedy. Arts Centre. Fairfi eld. June. English lyrics, additional material by Eric Raleigh. July. WASHINGTON Blau and Mort Shuman, based on Jacques THE LONESOME WEST by Martin McDonagh. TAKE ME OUT by Richard Greenberg. THE MISS FIRECRACKER CONTEST by Beth Theatreworks. Hartford. August. Brel’s lyrics and commentary, music by Temple Theatre Company. Sanford. May. Jacques Brel. Olney Theatre. Olney. June. THE MUSICAL COMEDY MURDERS OF Henley. Spokane Interplayers Ensemble. WASHINGTON, D.C. 1940 by John Bishop. Central Piedmont Spokane. June. MASSACHUSETTS THE FOREIGNER by Larry Shue. Taproot FROZEN by Bryony Lavery. Studio Theatre. Community College Summer Theatre. Washington. July. ENCHANTED APRIL by Matthew Barber, Charlotte. July. Theatre. Seattle. May. MOJO by Jez Butterworth. Studio Theatre. from the novel by Elizabeth von Arnim. OLEANNA by David Mamet. Hot Summer THE INTELLIGENT DESIGN OF JENNY Washington. July. Shakespeare & Company. Lenox. May. Nights at the Kennedy. Raleigh. August. CHOW by Rolin Jones. Seattle Public PAUL ROBESON by Phillip Hayes Dean. THE HEIDI CHRONICLES by Wendy SHAKESPEARE’S R & J by Joe Calarco. North Theater. Seattle. May. African Continuum Theatre Company. Wasserstein. Berkshire Theatre Festival. Carolina Stage Company. Asheville. May. SYLVIA by A.R. Gurney. Merc Playhouse. Washington. May. Stockbridge. August. THOM PAIN (BASED ON NOTHING) by Will LOVE LETTERS by A.R. Gurney. Payomet Eno. Man Bites Dog Theater Company. Twisp. June. DELAWARE Performing Arts Center. North Truro. July. Durham. June. WEST VIRGINIA MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS by Ron EXITS AND ENTRANCES by Athol Fugard. MR. MARMALADE by Noah Haidle. Contemporary Stage Company. Wilmington. Hutchinson. Cape Playhouse. Dennis. July. June. A NERVOUS SMILE by John Belluso. STEEL MAGNOLIAS by Robert Harling. Contemporary American Theater Festival. Williamstown Theatre Festival. Williamstown. American Theatre Company. Tulsa. May. Shepherdstown. July. FLORIDA July. CROWNS by Regina Taylor. Asolo Theatre SYLVIA by A.R. Gurney. Cape Playhouse. OREGON WISCONSIN Company. Sarasota. May. Dennis. August. FROZEN by Bryony Lavery. Artists Repertory THE FOURTH WALL by A.R. Gurney. Seaside Music Theater. Daytona Beach. June. TWO ROOMS by Lee Blessing. Miniature Theatre. Portland. May. Milwaukee Chamber Theatre. Milwaukee. DINNER WITH FRIENDS by Donald Margulies. Theatre. Chester. August. HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH text by August. John Cameron Mitchell, music and lyrics American Stage Company. St. Petersburg. WONDER OF THE WORLD by David by Terrence McNally. Lindsay-Abaire. Barrington Stage Company. by Stephen Trask. Triangle Productions. July. Peninsula Players Theatre Foundation. Fish FIVE COURSE LOVE by Gregg Coffi n. ACT Sheffi eld. July. Portland. July. Creek. June. Playhouse. Coral Gables. May. MICHIGAN PENNSYLVANIA HANK WILLIAMS: LOST HIGHWAY by Randal CANADA Myler and Mark Harelik. Maltz Jupiter I AM MY OWN WIFE by Doug Wright. BOSTON MARRIAGE by David Mamet. Theatre. Jupiter. June. Performance Network. Ann Arbor. July. Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre. ‘ART’ by Yasmina Reza, translated by HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH text by ZOMBIES FROM THE BEYOND by James Pittsburgh. June. Christopher Hampton. Act Productions. John Cameron Mitchell, music and lyrics Valcq. Tibbits Opera House. Coldwater. THE FOREIGNER by Larry Shue. People’s Brampton, Ontario. June. by Stephen Trask. Florida Studio Theatre. August. Light and Theatre Company. Malvern. June. AS BEES IN HONEY DROWN by Douglas Sarasota. May. INCORRUPTIBLE by Michael Hollinger. Totem MINNESOTA Carter Beane. Theatre Muskoka. Toronto, LIFE X 3 by Yasmina Reza, translated by Pole Playhouse. Fayetteville. July. Ontario. July. I AM MY OWN WIFE by Doug Wright. Jungle MAN FROM NEBRASKA by Tracy Letts. Christopher Hampton. Banyan Theatre LIFE X 3 by Yasmina Reza, translated by Company. Sarasota. August. Theatre. Minneapolis. June. People’s Light and Theatre Company. OLEANNA by David Mamet. Mosaic Theatre. LOOKING FOR NORMAL by Jane Anderson. Malvern. May. Christopher Hampton. Great Canadian Plantation. May. Loose Cannon Productions. Minneapolis. May. MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS by Ron Theatre Company. Ottawa, Ontario. May. THE RETREAT FROM MOSCOW by William PROOF by David Auburn. MSUM Straw Hat Hutchinson. St. Vincent’s Summer Theatre. LOVE LETTERS by A.R. Gurney. Victoria Nicholson. Banyan Theatre Company. Players. Moorhead. June. La Trobe. July. Playhouse. Prince Edward Island. August. Sarasota. June. TO FOOL THE EYE by Jean Anouilh, OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! by Terrence adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher, translated by WOODS by Joe DiPietro. Northeast Theatre. GEORGIA McNally. Atchoum Production. Montreal, Stephanie L. Debner. Commonweal Theatre. La Plume. July. Quebec. July. THE LAST SUNDAY IN JUNE by Jonathan Lanesboro. June. THE PILLOWMAN by Martin McDonagh. THE MAGIC FIRE by Lillian Groag. Shaw Tolins. ACT Express. Atlanta. May. A WALK IN THE WOODS by Lee Blessing. Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre. A NERVOUS SMILE by John Belluso. Escena Productions. Minneapolis. July. Pittsburgh. May. Festival. Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. June. Synchronicity Performance Group. Atlanta. PROOF by David Auburn. Millbrook Playhouse. THE PAVILION by Craig Wright. Renaissant August. MISSISSIPPI Mill Hall. July. Arts. Toronto, Ontario. May. PROOF by David Auburn. Springer Opera CROWNS by Regina Taylor. New Stage THE SANTALAND DIARIES by David QUILTERS by Molly Newman and Barbara House. Columbus. May. Theatre. Jackson. May. Sedaris, adapted by . Millbrook Damashek. Aha! Communications. New THE STORY by Tracey Scott Wilson. Theatre in Playhouse. Mill Hall. July. Hamburg, Ontario. May. the Square. Marietta. May. MISSOURI SYLVIA by A.R. Gurney. Totem Pole Playhouse. ROMANCE by David Mamet. Pilot Project THE MUSICAL COMEDY MURDERS OF Fayetteville. August. HAWAII Theatre Company. Toronto, Ontario. May. 1940 by John Bishop. Ozark Actors Theatre. THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES by Ensler. THE SYRINGA TREE by Pamela Gien. THE FOREIGNER by Larry Shue. Manoa Rolla. July. Open Stage PA. Harrisburg. June. Valley Theatre. Honolulu. May. Thousand Islands Playhouse. Gananoque, MONTANA TENNESSEE Ontario. August. IDAHO OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE COLLECTED STORIES by Donald Margulies. THE WEIR by Conor McPherson. Theatre THOM PAIN (BASED ON NOTHING) by . WOODS by Joe DiPietro. Opera House Tennessee Women’s Theater Project. Newfoundland Labrador. Corner Brook, Boise Contemporary Theatre. Boise. May. Theatre. Philipsburg. July. Nashville. May. Newfoundland. July.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS: William Craver Donald Margulies Peter Franklin Polly Pen Peter Hagan Paul Rudnick Mary Harden Stephen Sultan TAMRA FEIFER, Operations MICHAEL Q. FELLMETH, Publications plays at Williamstown, two of my favorites, beat, Arthur said, “You denied it, I hope.” DAVID MOORE, Accounting CRAIG POSPISIL, Nonprofessional Rights and , and Stuff like that. His sense of humor was very RAFAEL J. RIVERA, Finance and Administration acted twice in a musical he wrote with off-center and funny, much like the humor ROBERT VAUGHAN, Professional Rights called Up from Paradise, in his plays — for which he is, I think, too adapted from his play of the rarely given credit. Also, when you worked World and Other Business, itself adapted on one of his productions, his aesthetic was, from the . (Arthur didn’t well, quirkier than people seemed to think. and joy. I’m just not in them. I can’t imagine fool around.) The musical is very beautiful He was structurally very daring. People just my life without this one. I mean, I can, but and touching. And very funny. Arthur was take for granted now how daring Death of a I’d rather not. very funny. We insulted each other cheerfully Salesman is, and the two plays I mentioned MICHAEL. You have so many wonderful many times. After a preview of earlier are downright radical that way. And stories. You had, for instance, such a unique at the Roundabout a few years ago (okay, he was restless, always trying to get deeper relationship with the great . sixteen years ago), I found him surrounded and more revealingly into the things that Please share a little about it with our readers, in the lobby afterwards and announced that obsessed him in his life and work. I think and I beg you to tell the story of when you I thought he had “real promise.” Once, that it’s an amazing body of work, and I loved went to see The Crucible. wonderful wife of his, Inge, told me that knowing him. AUSTIN. I loved Arthur Miller. I love his she had met someone who said to her, “You ROBERT. Thank you, Austin. work, and I loved him. I directed two of his know Austin Pendleton!” Without missing a MICHAEL. It’s been a pleasure. ■

Special Acting Edition Collections The Play Service is pleased to announce our new ■ The Arthur Miller Collection ■ The Tennessee Williams Collection Special Acting Edition Collections. These must- Every DPS acting edition by Arthur Miller. Every DPS acting edition by Tennessee Williams. have collections make a great gift for yourself or someone else. They consist of DPS acting editions ■ The Collection ■ The Tony Award Winners Collection currently in print and are available for purchase Every DPS acting edition by Edward Albee. Every Tony Award–winning DPS acting edition. at a 15% discount off the regular price. Visit our ■ The George S. Kaufman Collection ■ The Pulitzer Prize Winners Collection web site at www.dramatists.com to order and be Every DPS acting edition by George S. Kaufman. Every Pulitzer Prize–winning DPS acting edition. sure to check back frequently as we make more special collections available.

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