Fall Newsletter
October 29, 2010
- A Letter from Artistic Director Kate Warner
- Cherry Docs: An Insider's Look
- New Rep On Tour: An Exciting Eleventh Season
- Getting Ready for Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
- aftlerlife: a ghost story: Advancing a New Work
- Spotlight on a New Rep Volunteer
- A Summer Success Story
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A Letter from Artistic Director, Kate Warner |
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Dear Friend:
What an exciting start to our 27th Season! In September, we received an increase in funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for our New Rep On Tour programming, which is entering its 11th season of brining professional productions of relevant plays to area schools. This funding will allow us to continue the high quality productions the Tour produces and to expand upon them. In fact, this year we are pleased to announce we have grown New Rep On Tour’s productions from two to three: Hawthorne’s classic The Scarlet Letter is touring this fall, Dickens’ timeless story of redemption A Christmas Carol will be on tour this winter, and Shakespeare’s masterpiece Hamlet hits schools in the spring.
We are also thrilled to be celebrating our 5th anniversary at the Arsenal Center for the Arts. It is remarkable to think how the move to the Arsenal Center for the Arts has allowed New Rep to develop its programming. The 340-seat Charles Mosesian Theater and the 90-seat Black Box Theater, provides us with two versatile spaces where we can present both intimate and large scale works.
I am also excited so many of you have decided to renew your subscription, become a New Rep Subscriber, or join us as a Member this season. Whether you are a new or returning member of New Rep’s family, we are extremely glad you will be joining us for our 27th season, and I would like to thank all of you for your investment and advance commitment to New Rep. It ensures our ability to confidently plan and execute our season.
As the weather gets colder outside, things at New Rep are heating up with all the wonderful programming we are offering. This fall, we are producing the New England Premiere of David Gow’s provocative play Cherry Docs, and Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally’s romantic comedy Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; from December 16 through December 24th, we are celebrating the holidays with New Rep’s Darling Divas Deck the Holidays a cabaret in the Charles Mosesian Theater; and in January, we begin the New Year with the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of afterlife: a ghost story by Steve Yockey. This e-newsletter gives you an insider’s look at these three plays and other exciting New Rep news.
I hope you enjoy the read, and I look forward to seeing you all at the theatre!
Sincerely,
Kate Warner
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Cherry Docs: An Insider’s Look |
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Following the success of the season opener Boston Marriage, New Rep is proud to present the New England Premiere of David Gow’s Cherry Docs. The show features Tim Eliot, who is making his New Rep debut, and New Rep favorite Benjamin Evett. Read our interview to discover Tim and Benjamin’s thoughts on the journey and evolution of these complex characters.
New Repertory Theatre (NRT): Mike and Danny could easily be portrayed as simple stereotypes but Gow has given them many facets. Is there an aspect of your character that you find particularly fascinating, and what are you most excited about with this character?
Tim Eliot (TE): It’s exciting to approach a character like Mike; on the surface he’s a smartass and a bully, but there’s an underlying openness and vulnerability to him. His tenderness with loved ones, which we only get a glimpse of in the play, is very important to me as well. Of course, being a Skinhead is a big part of who Mike is, but it’s not all he is. It’s easy to define someone by an espoused ideology -- even a sympathetic stance makes it easy for us to miss the human beings behind it. Mike’s ideology is frightening to understand, let alone sympathize with, but his struggle as a human being is incredibly compelling.
It takes great courage to own up to mistakes that have caused others harm, and Mike has made a lot of mistakes that are hard for most of us to even fathom. When we meet him, he’s caught between a marginalized ideology that has been his standard for years, and the impossibly reasonable demands of a man who is either his greatest enemy or his only friend. His success or failure at navigating the darkness he finds himself in matters a great deal to me.
Benjamin Evett (BE): I’m particularly fascinated by Danny’s complex relationship to his Judaism. It’s not straightforward – there are really delicately planted questions about his relationship to his father, and a fascination with the spiritual aspects of religion – a search for deeper meaning – that I find really interesting.
NRT: The characters, although opposites in many ways, are simultaneously on the same journey to self discovery. How do these characters use one another to further their own journey?
TE: Given Mike’s worldview, his interest in having Danny represent him is extraordinarily loaded. There’s a lot of cynicism and loathing in his decision, but there’s also a bit of surrender. He knows he can justify his actions according to Skinhead rhetoric, but I think that’s not enough for him anymore. My instincts tell me that the anger that overwhelmed Mike and landed him in jail actually stemmed from that very disconnect. For years, he’s surrounded himself with a lot of hatred and fear in return for the love and loyalty of a select group, but what he really needs and what he’s searching for is much bigger than that. That Danny is capable of reaching out to Mike and breaking through years of alienation speaks to a profound connection between them that I’m excited to explore with Ben.
BE: Mike does seem to be a polar opposite to Danny. But Danny sees that Mike is shut down emotionally to his crime – and for all his bluster Danny seems a little shut down, too. I think he hopes that by opening Mike to the truth about himself and what he’s done, Danny can maybe find the same thing.
NRT: Do you feel the characters would evolve in the same way without one another?
TE: There’s no way, at least for Mike. He finds an advocate in Danny – someone willing to fight and challenge him in order to redeem him. There are only so many people in the world who become our advocates. Mike could have gone to trial with another lawyer, but he is extremely lucky to find Danny when he does.
BE: Absolutely not. At the start of the play, Danny is fairly complacent in his belief about his own worldview and his own “tolerance.” Mike forces him to re-evaluate that on a fundamental level.
NRT: What do you think this play’s potential impact will be on its audiences?
TE: Obviously questions of race, ideology, religion, law, justice, tolerance, forgiveness, and repentance will all be immediately apparent. I personally hope that audiences will take the struggle that Mike and Danny go through home with them. Becoming more alive to that struggle, and what people are capable of when it reaches a critical mass, will impact people in ways that go beyond our ability to imagine. It’s a struggle that we aren’t always aware of, but which touches all our lives at one time or another.
BE: Well, they will have to tell us that. I hope they will be surprised and provoked.
Photo Credit: f. to b. Tim Eliot as Mike and Benjamin Evett as Danny in Cherry Docs. Photo by Andrew Brilliant/ Brilliant Pictures.
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New Rep On Tour: An Exciting Eleventh Season |
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We at New Rep are excited about New Rep On Tour. Celebrating its 11th Season, the Tour received an increase in funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and has expanded from two to three shows. This fall, the Tour starts its season with The Scarlet Letter; during the winter, the Tour will bring Dickens’ timeless classic A Christmas Carol to local schools; and in the spring, the Tour will conclude with Shakespeare’s masterpiece Hamlet.
This week, our production of The Scarlet Letter hit the road. Over the course of a month, The Scarlet Letter will travel to over a dozen Boston area schools and reach over 8,000 students. Adapted by Paul Stacey and directed by Bridget Kathleen O’Leary, The Scarlet Letter features New Rep favorites Edward M. Barker (Hot Mikado, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Dessa Rose, and New Rep On Tour’s Othello) as Chillingworth and Ross MacDonald (Mister Roberts, Exits and Entrances, and The Lieutenant of Inishmore) as Arthur Dimmesdale. Making her New Rep debut is Eve Kagan as Hester Prynee.
MacDonald, a native of the United Kingdom, speaks about how growing up outside of the United States he wasn’t exposed to The Scarlet Letter, how he prepared to play the iconic character of Arthur Dimmesdale, and his thoughts on the role.
Having grown up in the UK, I never read The Scarlet Letter in school; and even when I went to University and read a lot of American literature, I still did not read the book. So the journey in how I was going to approach the character of Arthur Dimmesdale began with reading and studying the novel and Nathaniel Hawthorne. I felt the only way I was going to lay the foundation of preparation was to know what Hawthorne was trying to portray and tell his story.
For me as an active Christian, the character of Arthur Dimmesdale is everything that is both good and bad about the ways in which ministers of the Christian faith are perceived and portrayed. He is fundamentally flawed, haunted by his own guilt, fearful of the judgment of his own community and of God. He has enormous capacity for love, a fantastic theological mind, a deep love for his vocation and his God. In his own way he is kind and courageous, yet he also is a hypocrite and a coward. He is a romantic character in priest's clothing. He loves Hester and in doing so he is damned for it; and when I say damned I mean damned by the social laws of his day as well as his perception of how God will treat him.
Dimmesdale is incredibly complex; Hawthorne created him that way. Of course, let's face it: Hawthorn was inspired to write the book as a form of criticism of his own ancestors. What strikes me is how at the very end of the book Hawthorne has to comment, as the narrator, in order to try and lessen the heroic exit of this haunted priest.
In approaching this character, I go to rehearsals every day willing to push the boundaries of the war within Dimmesdale. I haven't had this much fun since playing Faust.
New Rep On Tour is pleased to offer a public performance of The Scarlet Letter on Monday, November 1, 2010 at 7:30pm in the Charles Mosesian Theater. A $20 suggestion is suggested. All proceeds will go to support the Tour. For more information on the Tour, please contact the Box Office at tickets@newrep.org or call them at 617-923-8487.
Photo Credit: l. to r. Ross MacDonald, Eve Kagan, Dakota Shepard, Edward M. Barker in New Rep On Tour's The Scarlet Letter.
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Getting Ready for Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune |
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New Rep’s Black Box Theater opens with Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally’s Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. In this romantic comedy, a fated duo, Frankie and Johnny, a guarded waitress and a passionate short-order cook, discover through the course of a night that the world is smaller than they expected, there is no such thing as a mere coincidence, and love can be as simple as deciding to embrace it. Anne Gottlieb, who plays Frankie, and Robert Pemberton, who plays Johnny, discuss their preparation for the show and the characters they will represent:
NRT: What initially drew you to the script?
AG: I fell in love with the writing. There is so much humor and poignancy. Two people who work in a diner. They both have experienced a great deal of disappointment in their lives and reach beyond what they believe is possible.
Robert Pemberton (RP): It's a love story. Everybody loves a loves story and this is one about two imperfect human beings. She more than he! He embraces the flaws and she, I think, is more terrified about being flawed. I think he tries to teach her that it’s okay. I like that he is curious. I like that he says, "I'm alive. I've survived AND I want more."
New Rep (NRT): Both Johnny and Frankie have distinct personalities, one a dreamer and lover, and the other more cautious and no nonsense. Do you feel a certain connection to the characters or see yourself in them in anyway?
Anne Gottlieb (AG): I try to enter into rehearsal without any preconceptions of the character. I find that if I decide who the character is before I have explored her in rehearsal, then I end up playing an idea and not a human being. People are complex and what I can say is that Terrance McNally has written profoundly nuanced characters that surprise themselves and one another during the course of the play. I do feel a certain connection to Frankie; but then again, I won't take a role unless I do feel a certain connection emotionally. On another level, we are nothing alike. I tried waiting tables when I was just out of college. It was a disaster. I spilled everything on everyone.
NRT: The script only consists of these two characters. They never leave the stage and have a fast paced banter throughout almost the entire script. Do you find this daunting at all and how are you preparing yourself for this show?
AG: I have played a number of roles lately where I rarely, if ever, leave the stage. I enjoy that kind of challenge. It requires the actor to be very present and sensitive to each moment; not only with the other actor, but with the audience as well. We are all on this very intense first date together. My preparation at this stage is simply to listen and not to reject any possibility. I need to work with a great deal of freedom in rehearsal. It's very tempting to arrive at conclusions quickly because it can give one a sense of security in the process, but then you run the risk of shortchanging your imagination, the play, and eventually the audience. The practice of remaining open despite all the voices that tell you otherwise is challenging for most actors. I also have a hunch that this might be one of Frankie's challenges as well!
RP: If you are into the story and you trust the other actor, then this kind of play is exciting more than daunting. I'm also looking forward to working with Antonio Ocampo-Guzman because he loves the script; and so with a good team, we should be okay
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afterlife: a ghost story: Advancing a New Work |
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This January, New Rep will participate in the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of afterlife: a ghost story by Steve Yockey. The Rolling World Premiere allows the playwright, Steve Yockey, to further develop his play, as well as gain critical acclaim and momentum for both himself and the play in three distinctive markets—New Orleans, LA (Southern Repertory Theatre); Boston, MA (New Repertory Theatre); and Santa Monica, CA (Edgemar Theatre Group).
New Rep has been an integral part in the development of this play. Last year, afterlife: a ghost story was a part of New Voices @ New Rep, a series of free staged readings dedicated to introducing our audiences to emerging playwrights and bringing their attention to new works by established writers. The feedback Yockey received from New Rep’s live audience was instrumental in the development of this work.
afterlife: a ghost story is a poetic play, which follows a young couple in the process of grieving, who tumble into an alternate reality, confront the ghosts that haunt them, and ultimately must decide what their afterlife will be.
Yockey explains, “I was very much inspired to write a play that explored the idea of grief in an unexpected way and didn’t feel too easy or too clean. So often in our culture there is societal expectations on how long or intense a grieving process should be, on what that process entails. But in my experiences, this process is different for everyone and societal norms can really create a false sense of failure if a person isn’t moving through their grief in the timely manner that the intimidating hardcover book on the “grieving” shelf at Borders suggests.”
He continues, “I was very excited to try my hand at a ghost story. Not a horror play, per se, but a real slow-burn genre story that peels back everyday events to uncover a tone of menace and wonder. Love it or hate it, these interests blended (along with some gigantic birds) in a pretty unique way to feed this play.”
afterlife: a ghost story isn’t the first time Kate Warner will work with Steve Yockey. Yockey states, “Without question, Kate has been a zealous champion of my work. She commissioned and directed my first three professional short plays and first two full-length plays (Sleepy and Skin) at Dad’s Garage in Atlanta, GA and then directed the East & West Coast Premieres of my play Octopus at Actor’s Express and The Magic respectively. So we have a shorthand now that is priceless in rehearsal. She also just has this keen understanding of how to visually translate theatrical worlds and, even more importantly, can communicate this clearly to actors and designers. Beyond that, Kate is the kind of friend and mentor emerging playwrights in the American Theatre dream about. She’s a cool customer, but I know she’s as excited as I am to bring our ongoing collaboration to New Rep with afterlife: a ghost story.”
afterlife: a ghost story will be directed by Kate Warner and features New Rep veterans Marianna Bassham (Picasso at the Lapin Agile, A Streetcar Named Desire, Silence, Tartuffe and Quills), Thomas Piper (Mister Roberts), and Adrienne Krstansky (2.5 Minute Ride and Frozen). It will be running in the Charles Mosesian Theater from January 16 through February 6, 2010.
Read a review of Southern Repertory Theatre’s production of afterlife: a ghost story.
Photo Creidt: Soutern Repertory Theatre's production of the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of afterlife: a ghost story.
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Spotlight on a New Rep Volunteer |
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Meet Scotty Hart. Scotty joined New Rep as a volunteer five years ago and has been an integral part of our volunteer base ever since. Our Volunteer and Ambassador programs not only help make New Rep a success, they showcase a loyal and integral part of New Rep’s family. We spent some time chatting with Scotty to find out why New Rep is special to her, and why she devotes so much of her time helping us do what we do.
New Repertory Theatre (NRT): What first inspired you to volunteer for New Rep?
Scotty Hart (SH): I have always been very involved in theatre, dating back to my childhood in Washington, DC. When life brought me to Boston, I set out to explore the area’s rich theatre community. What I found at New Rep was a theatre that not only produced brilliant classics, but powerful, provocative works: plays that make you think. And I was welcomed as a volunteer. I have been volunteering for five years now and feel fully embraced by the New Rep family.
NRT: What separates New Rep, for you, from other theatres or arts organizations?
SH: The family aspect stands out largely in my mind. Although New Rep has over 300 volunteers, I am always made to feel wanted and appreciated for everything I do. Though I began my volunteering through ushering and other tasks, I quickly realized I wanted to do more. I became one of the Community Ambassadors and do everything I can to reach out and spread the word about New Rep. Though I volunteer for many other organizations, New Rep is somewhere that I have grown to feel at home. It does not feel like an obligation – it’s simply somewhere I enjoy being and like to spend my time. If I can somehow help along the way, that brings me satisfaction.
NRT: Why is theatre important to you?
SH: Theatre is a way to bring people together. It’s about collectively watching a performance, taking it in, talking about it afterwards, and letting it affect your life. Some see it as an escape, but for me, it’s a way to connect to each other. I used to have dinner parties where we would sit around afterward and read scripts together. I can remember reading through Wilder’s Our Town and having some of my friends brought to tears. It’s moments like this, where art reflects life and life reflects art, where theatre becomes tangible. It provides collective memories and experiences and I find that magical.
NRT: What New Rep production has touched you the most? And what would you say to those unfamiliar with New Rep?
SH: A memorable experience volunteering at New Rep came during the production of Frozen, a play produced on a landscape of sand. Frozen is a difficult play about a long-missing child and how her mother ultimately confronts her child’s killer. When the play was over and the house lights went up, it took a few minutes for the audience to gather their thoughts. When I looked, thinking the house was empty, I saw a woman sitting alone. When I approached her, I saw she had tears in her eyes. She told me the play had been meaningful for her and asked if she could have some sand as that would help her stay connected to the play. Perhaps I might have asked someone, but I thought, who would miss a small handful of sand?
NRT: What are you currently working on at New Rep
SH: New Rep has started giving Behind-the-Scenes Tours. I have been helping out by sharing my experiences as a volunteer and how volunteers contribute. These Behind-the-Scene Tours are a great way to see the hidden stories behind the magic of the stage.
If you would be interested in attending a Behind-the-Scenes Tour, please contact Renee Sisti, Development Stewardship Manager, at reneesisti@newrep.org for more information.
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A Summer Success Story |
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Write! Produce! Act! The fifteen high-school students enrolled in New Rep’s 2010 Summer Studio were kept busy for four weeks this summer doing just that. Under the guidance of Bridget Kathleen O’Leary, New Rep’s Artistic and Education Associate, New Rep’s Summer Studio took on a new direction, in which students worked and learned the craft of acting in a professional environment. The program was split into two parts. In the morning, students learned acting, voice and speech, movement, and Shakespeare. In the afternoon, they switched gears and worked on directing, stage combat, improvisation, and technical theater. In the end, all fifteen students collaborated to write, produce, and act in a production, Now Arriving: Stories in Transit, short and poignant vignettes of individuals interacting on the MBTA.
Anna, a 17- year-old from Concord Academy who participated in this year’s Summer Studio states, “Summer Studio taught me about all the different elements that go into creating a show, from the actual writing of the show, to the publicity, to the costumes, to the set design.”
Another Summer Studio student, John, a 17-year-old from Newton North, comments “being a part of the process and watching everything come together in the end was exciting. I was extremely pleased with how Now Arriving: A Story in Transit came out and would recommend the program to all students interested in theater, regardless of their prior experience.”
This summer, New Rep is expanding its Summer Studio to a five week long program, which will run from July 11 – August 14, 2010. The theme for this year’s Summer Studio is Ensemble Playmaking and Performances. Summer Studio students will once again participate in acting classes, an assortment of technique classes, and workshops. Space is limited to 25 students to ensure individual attention is given to all enrolled.
To learn more about New Rep’s 2011 Summer Studio and the other New Rep studio classes we offer throughout the year, please visit http://newrep.org/studio.php.
Photo Credit: New Rep's 2010 Summer Studio: Now Arriving: Stories in Transit.