________..sAm I BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC Sadler's oya Ballet A Royal Opera House Company Ne111JJort ~ Lonllard, Inc , US A , 1986 Lights ~ Alive with pleasure! liilf ~ ~: ~ ;:: j' Kings: 8 mg. "tar·: 0.7 mg. mcotine av. per cigarene, FTC Report February 1985. lirt?ui~ SUR GE 0 N GENE RA L' S WARN IN G: Smoking By Pregnant Women May Result in Fetal Injury, Premature Birth, And Low Birth Weight. DESIGN AMERICA SEMI-ANNUAL HOME SHOW AND SALE Design America: country to formal, classic to contem­ porary, ease and elegance combined. Make Macy's your source, and your personal style a reality. let our professionals help you plan living places as stunning as they are functional. Whether your plans involve one room or your entire home, we'll guide you every step of the way. Call our Interior Design Studio for more details: 212-560-4154. INTERIOR DESIGN ~---------------------------------------*mocys MEADOW&MTC Lynne Meadow, Manhattan Theatre Club's artistic director Pictured here: Lynne Meadow (top left), The Manhattan Theatre Club's artistic director, and scenes from some distinguished MTC productions: Digby (top center); Crimes of the Heart (fop right); Artichoke (bottom left); Sally and Marsha (bottom right) Carolyn Meadow began making a name Milan Stitt; Ashes by David Rudkin; Ain't for herself at the age of eight. In a fit of Misbehavin', which won three Tony artistic frenzy, the stage-struck little girl Awards after moving to Broadway; Bill lopped off the C-a-r-o and after careful Davis's Mass Appeal, which alSo was suc­ consideration added an "n," then an "e" cessfully transplanted to Broadway; and to the remaining letters. the Pulitzer Prize-winning Crimes of the For the last 13 years, Lynne Meadow Heart by Beth Henley. Under Meadow's has been making another kind of name for stewardship and that of managing director herself as artistic director of The Manhat­ Barry Grove, MTC has picked up a The­ tan Theatre Club. She has been respon­ atre World Award and a fistful of Obie sible for the New York productions of and Drama Desk awards, and attracted Geography of a Horse Dreamer (1975- performers like Meryl Streep, Glenn 76 season) by a then unhonored, unsung Close, Sam Waterston, James Whitmore, Sam Shepard; The Runner Stumbles by Nancy Marchand and Barnard Hughes. by Joanne Kaufman 4 R E S T A l J R A N T & L () l J N Ci E A front row seat to the best view in town. The View: Manhattan's only revolving rooftop restaurant and lounge. With the finest cuisine. Your favorite cocktails. And the most breathtaking, panoramic views of the New York skyline. A perfect pre or post theater experience. And no one else has it but the New York Marriott Marquis. For reservations call 398-1900 Durln& the montb of February, briq tbJJ ad and rec:elve a complimentary bottle of BeanJolals Jadot Wine wltb dinner All of New York Revolves Around Us. NEW YORK~Qffiott. MARQUIS 1535 Broadway at 45th, New York, New York 10036-4017 Meadow took over MTC when she was a 25-year-old Yale grad But when the actress manquee Meadow little theatre like ours has trouble carrying. took over the job of running MTC as a 25- It hasn't been this bad, I think, since the year-old graduate of Yale Drama School beginning." The cumulative deficit for with exactly two New York directing cred­ MTC as of June 30, 1986 is projected at its to her name (one was a production of $150,000-250,000. Ubu Roi at St. Clement's Church starring Money and real estate are not the only a Yale colleague named Henry Winkler), problems. There is also the difficulty of ·•ashes" was not the name of a play. It was planning a season that will fall in line with more the condition of the building where Meadow's vision for MTC and yet satisfy the theatre was billeted. an audience which this season includes "It was a dump," Meadow says of the 5,000 new subscribers. "There is always Club which had been established in 1970 the challenge of finding good work, and by a cadre of businessmen as an alterna­ you never learn how to do it so that you tive to commercial theatre. "Mass appeal" don't have to think about it," says Mead­ was not the name of a play but a way of ow. "Each time you start a new produc­ trying to discharge the $75,000 deficit tion you're entering uncharted territory. MTC had gathered in its first two years of The only thing you know is that you got operation. through the last one. I have doubts every "I think I am naive now, and I think I week, every day, at least every half hour. was really naive then," says Meadow, 38. But you do learn certain things to avoid, "I believe you have to be naive to begin a as a producer you learn to move quickly. venture of any kind. You can't have a I have developed a style of being extreme­ clue of how impossible it is or else you ly direct and not mincing words, being just wouldn't do it. I think there was a gift blunt but hopefully not undiplomatic, un­ in being just 25 and full of ignorance and caring or unloving. But I think, in terms optimism and belief. I plunged in as they of the way I deal with the staff and say, rolled up my sleeves and got to work." the directors whom we employ, I say ex­ During Meadow's first six weeks, she actly what I mean and I don't waste time got 23 productions off the ground; during getting there anymore. That's a great gift her first season, she sponsored 63 events. that the theatre has given me." "Initially, I let almost anyone who seemed "Lynne has very strong ideas of what interesting perform here," she recalls. "My she wants, and she starts telling you very artistic policy at the time was 'why not?' early on," says actress Christine Baranski, I think there's still a little bit of a 'let's try who appeared with Bernadette Peters in it' spirit in me but it's become more re­ MTC's production of Sally and Marsha fined. I'm more aware of the risks." (1981-82 season), and who starred in this There is no question that the stakes season's It's Only a Play. "She's a very have gotten higher. So has the rent. Last strong director, very much under control. year MTC had to abandon the comfort­ She knew the role of Marsha was a stretch able, raffish quarters leased from the Bo­ for me and that I wasn't ideal casting, but hemian Benevolent and Literary Society she was willing to take a chance and she for a theatre at City Center and cheaper kept pushing me to grow." office space on 16th Street. "We're talking about a smart lady. "We are under tremendous financial That's the thing that comes to mind first," pressure. Things are not stable by any says se,t designer John Lee Beatty, whose means," she says. "We're in a real transi­ productions at MTC include Ashes and tion moving to City Center. Moving our Catsplay and who will be designing this office meant enormous expenses that a spring's Principia Scriptoriae by Richard 6 Nelson, a production that will be di­ I can meet with my staff and listen and rected by Meadow. "There wouldn't be an say, 'You know, you're right and I was MTC without her. But sometimes her wrong.' I'm strongly opinionated but they brain works overtime. She's still thinking have turned my mind around." even after you've put up the set. Working "One of the gratifications about work­ with Lynne means a lot of intense meet­ ing here is that there is a lot of give and ings. There's a withdrawal after working take," says MTC's general manager Vic­ a show because you're not having a pan­ toria Bailey. "I can discuss things with icked discussion about the upholstery on Lynne that are in my own domain, but I the footstool." would also feel comfortable in giving my The upholstery on the footstool is not opinions about a script I've read. There always the color Meadow had in mind on isn't a rigid compartmentalization. Every­ first swatch consideration, nor is a bit of one is encouraged to speak." stage business nor some aspect of MTC Lynne Meadow is determined that policy. "I think I can take a position and MTC's new address, its new proximity to small until you tum it on. This AM/FM stereo weighs only 2.1 ounces, but you won't take its ound lightly. Because it has the dynamic power output of much larger models. Yet it fits in your palm, your pocket or clips onto your belt. Even the headphones are tiny. So turn on the RP-33 or the even smaller, FM stereo only, RP-30. lnTouchwithTomo<row There's nothing small about TOSHIBA the way they SOUnd. To>h•b.lAmefo.lnc.&2Totow•RO>d.W..,...NJ014?0 At Manhattan Theatre Club commercial productions such as Ain't Misbehavin', Mass Appeal are a by-product not a goal Broadway, will have no effect on the sea­ Sachs, Sally and Marsha and Artichoke, son's offerings.