Category: Interviews

By Robyn Roberts

Poland born Martyna Majok—her last name pronounced like “my oak”, which is perfect, really, because her path to get here is like that of a stunning and mighty tree that keeps growing upward—won the Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for her original play, Cost of Living. The play is a story about the relationships between the disabled and the abled, and the exploration into the parallels between the haves and the have-nots. Without even stopping to catch her breath as the curtain lifted on debut night, Majok graciously answered our most pressing questions we had for the playwright. 

Read on to learn how Majok draws on inspiration for her characters, her first peek at theatre (thanks, mom!), and how grief and financial instability led to a Pulitzer. 

1). Give us a brief synopsis of your background. What your hopes and dreams were as a child, and how you came to be the playwright you are today. 

I was born in Poland and came to America with my mom a few years after the fall of The Wall. We moved to working class North Jersey — right at the end of the PATH train — where my mom worked in factories and cleaned houses. I didn’t grow up with theatre. Then one day, while my mom was cleaning a house, she came across a pamphlet that had been set out for recycling. It was for “something called ‘Cabaret’.” And John Stamos was starring in it. So my mom brought it home for me, informing me that “Uncle Jessie was in NYC!”  Around that same time, I’d won $45 playing pool (at a pool hall ironically named ‘Guys & Dolls’), the most I’d ever won. And the cheapest tickets happened to be $45…

I knew nothing about the show going in. This, of course, turned out to be the iconic Sam Mendes’ production at Studio 54, originally starring Alan Cumming. I was shaken to be in a theatre, full of that much life. And I was moved to be experiencing a story that did not compromise the difficulties of the times — and that reality invited me into its world and storytelling. It communicated to me that both things could exist together — truth and generosity — that ultimately connected a group of strangers to each other and to their own lives. There were many steps and struggles along the way to becoming a playwright, but it was that experience that lit the fire in me. I wanted to devote my days to inspiring that much life in others. 

2). Tell us a little about your first successful piece of work, when you knew that life and work would be a bit different thereafter. 

The most personally meaningful moment at one of my own plays was at the opening night performance of Ironbound in Round House Theatre in DC. The play is largely inspired by my mother’s life. Like many working class immigrants, she spent much of her life doing the physically demanding, undersung work that keeps this country running. I was sitting next to my mother in the theatre. And as the final lights went down on the show, and the audience leapt to their feet for a standing ovation, I felt like they were applauding my mother. Standing up for and seeing her life and her struggles.

3) What inspires you to write a new play or story? Is it the world around you, perhaps? Or, experiences taken from moments and people throughout your life? 

A combination. There’s usually something churning in my life that I’m having trouble looking at. Then, something external will unexpectedly hit against that and get my imagination going — a moment I’ve observed, an anecdote I’ve heard, something I’ve read. I start writing once I can hear dialogue. And I learn who my characters are as I go.

Many, though not all, of my characters are composites of people I know or have been. The humor of one person, a particular experience of another, the speaking rhythms of this one or that one, etc — I mix bits of myself and others, and situate them in worlds I’ve lived in. I write to find out what I feel.

4) For Cost of Living, what inspired you to write this story? 

Grief. Financial instability. And my experiences as a caregiver.

5) Incredible to have won a Pulitzer. What was that recognition and winning that award like for you? 

Absolutely incredible. An amazing, amazing honor. And a complete surprise. When my agent called to tell me, I didn’t believe him for a full ten minutes. I hope most of all that the award, as well as the play being on Broadway, amplifies this story — and its performers — and encourages theatres to more widely produce stories like it. And not just on its small stages.

6) Any particular moments from seeing Cost of Living live that stick with you most? 

There is a moment in the play that I don’t want to spoil…but it has to do with the vulnerability of the human body. And every night, the audience has such a strong, collective reaction. At one point, an audience member even got out of her seat and started going toward the stage to try to help what she thought was happening. To me, those audience reactions show me how much we actually care for one another, as humans in the world. How connected we actually are.

7) What do you hope the audience learns, feels, or takes with them, after seeing Cost of Living? 

I hope they see themselves and others — and feel more connected, less alone. I hope they find a home with these characters. I hope they yearn with them. I hope they laugh and I hope they cry (I say this as someone who loves crying in the theatre.) I hope they feel every feeling. 

When I was preparing to start rehearsals, I worried whether I would be ‘over’ the play. But that first read hit me so deeply. It seemed to hit everyone in that room deeply. I think after having experienced these past two years, after all this collective loss and struggle, Cost of Living and its themes speak to us in a much more impactful way. The play’s been good for my soul. I hope it is for others’ as well.

8) How’s it going so far with The Great Gatsby? 

Wonderfully. Florence [Welch, of Florence + the Machine] and Thomas’ [Bartlett, a.k.a. Doveman] music is beautiful and transcendent. All the collaborators have been a joy to work with. I can’t wait to share this piece with the world.

[end]

And we cannot wait to see it. Our sincere thanks to Martyna Majok for indulging us so vivaciously. How fortunate we are, to have her unique perspectives unfold in diverse storytelling to better our own theatre experiences. Get your tickets to Cost of Living on Broadway now, and stay tuned for her upcoming adaptation of Broadway’s The Great Gatsby coming soon! 

By Robyn Roberts

Jayne Baron Sherman has produced a wealth of Broadway shows and her IBDB reads like a laundry list of the theatre’s best hits since the early aughts. From 2004’s A Raisin in the Sun to the long-running Kinky Boots ten years later, Sherman seems to know good storytelling and what might resonate with a wide audience. So we wondered—what inspires Jayne Baron Sherman to want to be a part of a new production? Luckily for us, Sherman obliged. Read on for the producer’s reflections on seeing more headscarves in the audience on Broadway, and the timely stage debut of a 91 year old author.

On the phone with Sherman, we dove right in. What inspires this producer to take on a new Broadway production? Sherman didn’t hesitate to answer, telling us that a story must touch her in a personal way, that she must feel compelled to share these stories and experiences with others. “It must touch my heart and soul, yes, but it also needs to have some impact on the world,” Sherman says. “Therefore, no fluff, but a chance to see everyday lives differently, through a new window.” Keeping her producer’s hat firmly on, Sherman adds that a new production must be commercially viable too, and that her instinct for this isn’t always right, but admits to having a pretty decent track record commercially, and we’d agree to that.

For the current production of American novelist Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, adapted for the stage by Matthew Spangler, Sherman tells us that two things have stuck with her most each time she sees it live (which is frequently): The sincere diversity, for starters, does her heart good. “Seeing more women in the audience with headscarves, it sticks with you,” she says. “Witnessing the way the audience is touched by the performances of the actors, and the actors themselves, feels new each time. Each production brings out a new reaction. The majority of times, they jump to their feet and cheer when the lights go on, which is unique for a play—usually reserved for musicals—but it’s a story of redemption that ends on an uplifting redemptive note, which is rewarding in storytelling.” 

Sherman goes on to explain that certain scenes from The Kite Runner still bring her to tears after so many times, and seeing the audience react similarly to that is special. “This is a fully authentic cast of fine actors that are so happy to be a part of this production. They are not out of central casting. They have been refugees themselves, or have immigrant family members. They’ve lived the life to truly share this window with you. It’s an experience.” 
The Kite Runner on Broadway is a must-see experience indeed, and one that will close soon, at the end of this month.

Speaking of current productions, we were curious about what Sherman thought was inspiring Broadway of late, so we asked her. We especially wanted to know if the producer thought there were any current parallels to the shows, whether that be nostalgia exacerbated by the pandemic, politics or pop culture or all of the above. Turns out, nostalgia will always play a leading role in audience demand, but quality content comes to mind too. “Showgoers are simply thrilled to be back”, Sherman tells us. “Nostalgia is always a big deal for viewers, and maybe more so right now. Into The Woods has a host of celebrity actors, which is a draw for out of towners especially. The Kite Runner is probably more timely now than during its London run. Especially with Afghanistan today, Ukraine, and Iran, most notably recent. The Kite Runner has adopted four different non-profits helping Helping refugees and women to resettle, and aiding women with diminished rights in Afghanistan, and other essential, timely and localized needs. We put inserts in Playbills with QR codes to get involved, and we have them on signage in the lobbies as well. These are vetted organizations and we’re finding that more and more people today want to help beyond their own backyards.”

As for what’s currently inspiring Sherman? We wanted to know where she goes for inspiration, and how she stays creatively motivated to keep going. It’s the old art of people watching for this producer. “I’m always looking for ways to expand people’s horizons and views, to help them see things a bit differently. As an activist in the LGBTQ+ community for years, I’m constantly inspired by storytelling that touches people in unfound ways and opens their eyes a bit wider. The ‘touching’ doesn’t need to be a hammer, it can be a nudge which can actually be more effective.” Sign us up for people watching with Jayne, stat. 

Finally, we wanted to know if Sherman could share any small tidbits about her upcoming production of Ohio State Murders, which debuts on Broadway in December. Giving us just a taste in order to entice us into the theatre for more, Sherman exudes excitement that’s a bit harder to contain. “It will be a very interesting evening of theatre! Audra McDonald plays a novelist, and she also plays herself as a younger college student. This is a cast of five actors and it unravels as a mystery—a whodunit—so the audience will be thoroughly engaged! There’s an exploration of race dynamics and how that’s unfolded over the years, which plays into the mystery of the story. Seeing this production live will be a riveting evening of 75 or 80 minutes total but it’s a big one. And, another absolutely thrilling main dish of this show—it’s the author, Adrienne Kennedy’s Broadway debut at 91 years old. Her debut will open the new James Earl Jones Theatre, a gorgeous spectacle to witness on its own.” 

Another noteworthy honor from the incredible playwright Adrienne Kennedy—in 2022 she became the sixteenth recipient of the Gold Medal award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for Drama. Only two awards in the rotating categories have been given each year since 1909, and the Drama list includes such talent as Eugene O’Neill, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, and Sam Shepard, to name a few. 

Many thanks to Jayne Baron Sherman for allowing us to pick her Broadway-loving brain. 

Be sure and see The Kite Runner before its New York close this month, and get your tickets for this December’s production of the must-see mystery, the Ohio State Murders.  

Michael Rupert won the 1986 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Oscar in the revival of Sweet Charity. He received his first Tony Award nomination in 1968 at the age of 16 for his Broadway debut in Kander and Ebb’s The Happy Time. Rupert originated the role of Marvin in the William Finn musicals March of the Falsettos (1981) and Falsettoland (1991), which would later be combined into the 1992 two-act Broadway musical that featured Rupert, Falsettos. His impressive resume also includes Pippin (1974), Mail (1988), City of Angels (1991), Ragtime, originating the role of Professor Callahan in Legally Blonde (2007), and Our Town (2014). 

In addition to acting, Rupert is an experienced director, writer, and composer. He directed The Lunch Anxieties Off-Broadway as well as the musical The Stars In Your Eyes. He composed the score to Strange Vacation, Mail, 3 Guys Naked from the Waist Down, and Streets of America, which he also co-wrote the lyrics and books. 

We were fortunate enough to speak with Michael and get Twenty questions with a Tony Award Winner. 

1. What were your first thoughts upon being nominated for a Tony Award?

I was thrilled. I had been nominated once before and had not gone on to win, so I thought whatever happens, at the very least, I’ll get to enjoy the next few weeks of parties and anticipation. 

2. What were your first thoughts upon winning?

I was pretty shocked. I didn’t think it was going to happen. I hadn’t even come up with any kind of “Thank You” speech, so I fumbled a few words and made my way backstage. Very surreal.

3. Do you have any fond memories from the night of the ceremony? 

The Tony ceremony that year happened in the theater where my show, Sweet Charity, was playing, so when I got backstage, I was greeted by all the crew people I was working with 8 times a week. That was quite special. I got to share the moment with my friends.

4. What was a great opportunity winning the Tony Award afforded?

Winning the Tony Award did not really change my life or my career considerably, other than whenever anyone wrote about me or mentioned me, I was referred to as “The Tony Award-winning Actor…etc.

5. Where do you keep your award now? 

I keep my Tony in a cabinet with other memorabilia.

6. Who is an artist/performer you admire?

Sam Gold.

7. What is the best advice you have received in your career?

“Just say the words. Don’t act. Trust that you’re interesting enough.”

8. What is the last book you read?

NEVER by Ken Follett.

9. What is a dream role of yours?

I have no dream role, per se. Though, Fagin in OLIVER! is cool.

10. What previous role of yours had your favorite costumes?

In LEGALLY BLONDE The Musical, I got to wear very expensive tailored suits. I enjoyed that.

11. What is a fond rehearsal memory of yours? 

I was in the very first workshop of William Finn’s A NEW BRIAN at The Public Theater. Jason Robert Brown was our musical director/vocal arranger. The first day of rehearsal I watched him attack the keyboard like no one I’d ever seen. Truly brilliant muscular musicianship. I was in awe.

12. Which of your previous roles did you feel most similar to? 

Marvin in FALSETTOS.

13. Which of your previous roles did you feel most different from? 

I once played a cranky, old elf in a workshop production of Harry Connick, Jr.’s THE HAPPY ELF directed by John Rando. I am not an elf.

14. What has been a challenge you’ve faced in your career?

Letting go and trusting myself. I’ve always been too self-critical.

15. What are you working on now?

I’m retired from acting/performing at this point. I spend my time now directing and working with students at various colleges and universities.

16. What is your favorite song?

“I’ve Never Said I Love You” from Jerry Herman’s DEAR WORLD. I can still listen to Pamela Hall’s performance of that song, and it gets to me every time. Brilliant.

17. What is a show or movie you are looking forward to seeing?

It doesn’t come out until next year, but I look forward to seeing the next part of DUNE.

18. What was your best subject in school?

English Lit.

19. What is your go to brunch order? 

The Avocado Burrito at Tajin in Lower Manhattan. Unbelievably brilliant!

20. What is your favorite part of theatre?

Sitting in the audience the moment the lights go down.

In 2000, Blair Brown won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her portrayal of Margrethe in Michael Frayn’s Copenhagen. Brown first appeared on a New York stage in the 1975 New York Shakespeare Festival’s production of The Comedy of Errors and boasts an impressive theatre resume including the 1989 Broadway production of Secret Rapture, the 1995 Lincoln Center Theater production of Arcadia, two runs as Frau Schneider in the 1998 and 2003 productions of Cabaret, and the 2006 production of The Clean House. She can currently be seen at Studio 54 as Ms. Innes in Tracy Letts’ The Minutes, playing through July 24^th only. 

On Screen, Brown appeared in the 1973 Oscar winning film, The Paper Chase, as well as in The Choirboy, Altered States, One Trick Pony, Stealing Home, and A Flash of Green. She received a Golden Globe nomination for her leading role opposite John Belushi in Continental Divide. She received a second Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of Jacqueline Kennedy in the TV miniseries Kennedy. She had a 5-year run on the television comedy-drama, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, where she received 5 consecutive Emmy Award nominations. In 2008, Brown appeared on the Fox television series The Fringe, and was featured as Judy King in 3 seasons of the Netflix comedy-drama series, Orange is the New Black. 

We were fortunate enough to speak with Blair and get Twenty questions with a Tony Award Winner. 

1. What were your first thoughts upon being nominated for a Tony Award?

Why wasn’t there an ensemble award?  There still isn’t. I was in a three-character play, Copenhagen, and Michael Cumpsty and Phil Bosco and I were totally dependent on each other for our performances. 

2. What were your first thoughts upon winning?

It’s just nice to win a prize even though we know it doesn’t really matter. 

3. Do you have any fond memories from the night of the ceremony? 

My son in a tux as my date. I got a chance to thank the brilliant wig maker, Paul Huntley, whose artistry in helping actors create characters was largely unrecognized, and I got to sing and dance Irish music on that huge Radio City stage in that gargantuan house. A nice night!

4. What is the biggest change you experienced after winning?

You get better billing. That’s it really. 

5. Where is your award now? 

In a cabinet mixed in with small ceramics my son made as a child. 

6. Who has been a mentor in your career?

I never had a mentor but there were two actors that I wanted to be like: Marian Seldes and Roger Rees. They both brought such genuine joy and enthusiasm to this work they loved. I try to remember that. 

7. What is the best advice you have received in your career?

One day in rehearsal at the Guthrie Theater playing Portia in The Merchant of Venice I was having a crisis of confidence. Michael Langham, the director, took me aside and basically said “You expect people to pay money to watch you think and feel so get on with it”. He said it in a slightly nicer way but that’s what he meant and it’s true, we do! 

8. Do you have any preperformance rituals?

I make up different rituals for every show. 

9. What is the last book you read?

I Just finished rereading A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders. A wonderful look at Russian short story writing that can inform what actors do creating characters. 

10. What is a dream role of yours?

I wish I’d done more Shakespeare, more Shaw, more Restoration comedies. I was in the wrong country. 

11. What previous role of yours had your favorite costumes?

My Favorite, most favorite costume was a gown designed for Camino Real by Michael Krass that was based on a 1950’s Dior petal dress. I shed sequins and petals wherever I walked. Divine!

12. Which of your previous roles did you feel most similar to?

I always felt Gretta in James Joyce’s The Dead was someone I could have been. 

13. Which of your previous roles did you feel most different from?

When I was in drama school I was cast as a termagant in John Osbourne’s Live Like Pigs because I’d been complaining about playing ingenues. I had to look up the word and I was ridiculous as this older hardened prostitute!

14. Is there a role that you would like to revisit?

I’d like to revisit playing Prospera in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. It was such a rich and interesting experience to switch that protagonist’s gender, fascinating to feel the story play out differently. I’d like another shot at it with Emily Mann directing again. 

15. What has been a challenge you’ve faced in your career?

The biggest challenge for me was trying to balance raising my son with the work I loved doing but also needed to do to support us. 

16. What is a song that always makes you smile?

“Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall in Love” by Cole Porter always gets me smiling. 

17. What is your favorite cocktail?

Danny Meyer’s Tabla on Madison Square used to make a Citrus Ginger Snap cocktail. Delish!

18. What is a place you would like to visit?

I want to see more of Scotland, those wild islands.  

19. What is your favorite show tune?

No single show tune stands out. It’s a crowded field. Anything from Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George.  Or The Threepenny Opera.  Or The Band’s Visit. 

20. What is your favorite part of theatre?

My favorite part of theater is rehearsal and tech when the play emerges.  Thrilling!  My 2nd favorite is the moment after the Sunday matinee when you’ve run the 8-show gauntlet and you breathe a sigh of relief and accomplishment. 

In 2014, Jessie Mueller won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for her portrayal of Carole King in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Along with her 2014 win, Jessie has been nominated for three additional Tony Awards for her Melinda Wells in the 2011 revival of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, originating the role of Jenna in the 2016 hit Waitress, and most recently, her Julie Jordan in the 2018 revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel. 

Jessie Mueller’s distinguished career has also included appearance on shows including The Family, Blue Bloods, Madam Secretary, Evil, and Candy. She can currently be seen in Tracy Letts’ Tony Nominated Best Play, The Minutes, playing at Studio 54 until July 23rd. 

We are very grateful that Jessie took some time between shows to answer Twenty Questions with a Tony Award Winner.

1. What were your first thoughts upon being nominated for a Tony Award?

When I was nominated for Beautiful, I was thrilled. I was so proud of all the amazing work everyone had done putting that show together.

2.   What were your first thoughts upon winning?

Honestly? Walk and talk fast and don’t fall down. It had been a long night!

3.   Do you have any fond memories from the night of the ceremony?

I remember seeing Nick Cordero perform from Bullets Over Broadway, and thinking who IS this cat? He’s amazing.

4.   What is the biggest change you experienced after winning?

It opened a window to professional opportunities I’d never had before.

5.   Where is your award now?

In a box still from a recent move!

6.   Who has been a mentor in your career?

Oh gosh…I try to pick up a little from all the wonderful people I meet. Steal what I admire and learn from what I don’t. Harry Connick Jr. was certainly a mentor for my early days in NY. He took me under his wing during Clear Day. He’s someone I know I can always come to if I need advice.

7.   What is the best advice you have received in your career?

“Do your thing and don’t worry about other people.” -HCJ

Not easy, but very sound advice.

8.   Do you have any pre-performance rituals?

Lately, a little yoga beforehand helps me get my head in the game and start breathing.

9.   What is the last book you read?

I don’t remember. But the last one that really made me laugh was Phoebe Robinson’s Don’t Sit On My Bed In Your Outside Clothes.

10.  What is a dream role of yours?

Being an animated Disney character…I will be a tree stump. I’m not particular.

11.  What previous role of yours had your favorite costumes?

My costumes as Melinda Wells in Clear Day were pretty fabulous. Cathy Zuber made me feel like a million bucks. There were hats and matching shoes. It was so fun.

12.  What is the best prop you’ve used?

Ok, I have to say the first thing that popped into my head was prop baby dolls. They’re always hilarious. They’re usually very scary looking, and you spend most of the scenes when they appear trying to look lovingly into their dead eyes while hiding their face from the audience at all costs.

13.  Which of your previous roles did you feel most similar to?

Probably each one as I was playing them. I think that’s where I start. I use what I have, so each role brings something out in me that is particular to that moment in time.

14.  Which of your previous roles did you feel most different from?

Maybe Adelaide in Guys and Dolls. I loved that. It was a fun departure.

15.  Is there a role that you would like to revisit?

Not a role really, but I think I’d like to do Into the Woods again at some point.

16.  What has been a challenge you’ve faced in your career?

Juggling life and work. It’s really hard. Live theatre work especially is extremely demanding. It seems like you only work a few hours a night, but it’s no joke.

17.  What is a song that always makes you smile?

Sunshine On My Shoulders by John Denver was the first thing I thought of!

18.  What is your favorite cocktail?

Oooooh. Spicy margarita or a vodka martini up with a twist, honey!

19.  What is a place you would like to visit?

Ireland.

20.  What is your favorite show tune?

I like the overtures.

In 1962 at the age of 22, Elizabeth Ashley won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her portrayal of Mollie Michaelson in Phoebe and Henry Ephron’s Take Her, She’s Mine. Along with her 1962 win, Elizabeth has also received two other Tony Award nominations for originating the role of Corie in Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park and for her Margaret in the 1974 revival of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. 

She has been featured in more than 30 movies, including the 1964 film The Carpetbaggers, as well as dozens of TV series, including the currently running Netflix original series, Russian Doll. 

We were fortunate enough to speak with Elizabeth and get Twenty questions with a Tony Award Winner. 

1. What were your first thoughts upon being nominated for a Tony Award? 

“To say it was a shock is to underestimate the effect it had on me. You have to remember that I was very young, and I gotten the part in this play because it was just – at the time when Art Carney had left The Honeymooners and the part was not originally that big, and George Abbot kept rewriting and rewriting to the point where my part got much bigger and showier. It became a play more centered on the relationship between Art and my character. It had never even occurred to me but being nominated was a big deal and I felt like the hottest little twinkie on Broadway… I was nominated again for Barefoot in the Park, which was surprising to me. I remember I was supposed to present but had some teenage drama, you know, so I wasn’t able to present… For Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Tennessee wanted his original version done, and that was directed by the brilliant Michael Kahn. It got a lot of national press and Roger Stevens brought it to Broadway and then the Opera House… Because it was such a huge success both critically and in every other way it could be, it was totally expected.”

2. What were your first thoughts upon winning?

“When they called my name, I mean, it was like a mental, emotional, and psychological explosion because I was so young and inexperienced. I couldn’t really grasp the meaning of it.”

3. Do you have any fond memories from that night?

“I remember Charles Nelson Reilly won also that night, and I remember he and I sort of walking out together and Charles grabbed my hand as we were trying to cross Park Avenue and he said, ‘Well look at us, we’re the newest stars around here’.”

4. What is the biggest change you experienced after winning? 

“I think I was being paid maybe $100 a week and I think I got a raise to $125. The thing I remember most clearly was being offered star billing, and my brilliant young agent, Stark Hesseltine, said ‘Absolutely not. In the Theatre, once you go above the title, you must never go below it again.’ And he was saying that to someone who was 22 years old, so of course I did what he said, and I took my $25 raise and was utterly happy with it. Because I was so young and it was considered unusual at the time for a young actress to be considered funny, so that got a lot of attention and press, and I think that opened many many doors to me. Overall, let me just say, no one that I know of was luckier than I was at the beginning of my career, and it all happened so fast. It was years before I could begin to start to look back and think what it meant…I remember it was the first time I was sent pages, and they were from Neil Simon and he wanted to write a play for me to be in, which would lead to Barefoot in the Park… I didn’t realize how unusual and remarkable it was.”

5. Who has been a Mentor in your career?

“The great Roger L Stevens, the man who built the Kennedy Center. He had the playwrights company that represented Tennessee Williams. When I was an understudy in a hit comedy called Mary, Mary, and I wasn’t even a standby, I was an understudy where I had to be there all the time and that’s where I met Roger Stevens. I suppose the next great mentor or the man who made me a ‘star’ was the great George Abbott in the play that won me the Tony, Take Her, She’s Mine.” 

6. What is the best advice you have received?

“There is a brilliant director named Michael Wilson that I owe a great deal too. Any actress goes through those times when no one wants to hire them for anything. For many years, Michael was the Artistic Director at Hartford Stage and put together an extraordinary company of actors and designers… On stage, because I was physical, I always tended to move around to much. I’ve never been known to underact. Because Michael and I clicked so well that he went right at all the bad habits I had. He went right for every psychological grab bar or comfort we had, which over all the years, has made me a better actress than I would have been.”

7. Who is one of your favorite playwrights you’ve worked with?

“Tennessee [Williams] and I had an immediate affinity. We became close. Tennessee loved actors. My God he loved actors. He was amazing and extraordinary… His plays are operatic. The soliloquies are like arias in a sense and his use of breaking the fourth wall was remarkable… If I ever became known for anything, it was Tennessee Williams plays. We became very close friends. If one wants to know about Tennessee, they should read the book by John Lahr who spent 13 years writing the biography. Tennessee has never written a play that when I read it or saw it, I didn’t immediately identify and understand the soul of it.”

8. What is a play you would like to re-read? 

“I look forward to re-reading The Visit. I haven’t read it in years and I would like to read it again to see if it still applies the way I have always thought. I’d like to re-read Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. I would also like to re-read some of his [Shakespeare] comedies. I can pull out my big, fat book of Shakespeare.”

9. What is a show you look forward to seeing?

“The play I am really looking forward to seeing after my knee heals is Tracy Letts’ The Minutes. I had the privilege of being in August: Osage County.”

10. What is the last book you read?

“I tend to read an awful lot of peculiar history and detective novels. Give me a good Michael Connelly book any day and I’ll go for it.”

11. What is a dream-role you want to play?

“The one Tennessee I never played was Streetcar Named Desire because by the time I could’ve done it, it had been done brilliantly by several actors… The one part that I lusted after and longed to play and have never had the opportunity is The Visit. It needs a great translation… I knew that woman. I knew that situation. I knew that was me.” 

12. What previous role of yours had the best costumes?

“I think when I played Isadora Duncan in a play called When She Danced at Playwrights Horizons. I’ve had brilliant costume designers, but Jess Goldstein, those were the most gorgeous costumes I’ve ever had. One of the first things I did after coming out of retirement and coming back to New York, there was the designer Peter Joseph for The Enchanted by Giraudoux at the Kennedy Center. Those costumes were ones that I kept and loved forever… This sounds very diva-ish, but one of the things I won’t work without is a Paul Huntley wig.”

13. Which role of yours did you feel most similar to?

“For Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, what can I say, this will sound like arrogance, but that’s not in the least in the way I mean it, but that part [Maggie] had my name on it. I knew Maggie. There was not one thing in that play that I hadn’t lived or known or experienced in my life of in the lives around me. In part she was my mother.” 

14. Which role of yours felt the most different from you?

“Well, this Netflix series, Russian Doll. That character was, in many ways, quite distant from me. Much more contained. I had to approach it in a totally different way. Also, Isadore Duncan in When She Danced, I had to really stretch out for that.”

15. What has been a creative challenge you have faced in your career?

“Probably Ceasar and Cleopatra. I didn’t know what I was going to do with that play, because it was Shaw, but the first famous scene you are kind of on your own in a sense. I had done so much research and I knew her age and that she was exiled because they wanted her dead. She was like a feral child that had grown up in the sewers, which led me to make a more radical choice in how she looked so you would see the story of a powerful man creating a queen. Developing it, towards the end, became a challenge because I had to age her and tame and teach her. It was challenging to find the truth and comfort zone of that without ‘acting’ it.”

16. What is one of your favorite theatrical experiences to have been a part of?

“I think my best work ever and the part I identified with the most was in Sweet Bird of Youth. I think that’s my favorite role I had the privilege to play. Again, under the direction of the wonderful Michael Kahn.”

17. What is a song that always makes you smile?

“Desperado by The Eagles.”

18. What is your favorite cocktail?

“Straight gold tequila in a shot glass.” 

19. What is a place you would like to visit?

“The most joyous and happy times of my life were when I was retired and became a sailor and lived in the Caribbean on an ocean raising sailboat. When I went, the islands were a secret. There were no roads, no electricity, no phones. The one thing I have done is travel all over the world and lived all over the world… I think where I’d like to go again is the Scandinavian countries. There are islands off Norway that I’d like to see what happening there.”

20. What is your favorite part of theatre? 

 “The theatre is my home, you know. A stage, it’s instinctive. There is something in my DNA that understands it, respects it, adores it, loves it, and damn well knows what to do on it. The thing I have always loved the most is the research. Basically, I’ve always said I’m a mechanic. I like to go under the hood and take it apart and put back together and make it go like a race car. Good directors have helped me when I need to make it into an old Plymouth and not Ferrari.” 

By: Larissa FastHorse

I’ve been fortunate to do a lot of press about The Thanksgiving Play over the past few years as it became one of the most produced plays in America. So, if you want to know the origin story of the play, please google it. There are many radio, TV and printed interviews where I have answered those questions. This production is different. 

I have barely done any theater since Covid shut down our field. I’m fortunate that I also have a career in film and TV that, although significantly slowed, kept me employed over the past year. As the theater field put things online, I happily gave permission for folks to do this play on zoom and other virtual venues. I showed up at a few rehearsals and the talk backs were supportive and enthusiastic. But the truth is, I didn’t watch any of those productions. Not one.  I have not admitted that before now. The truth is, I was too heartbroken to watch.  

Although I didn’t start in theater, I did start on stage. I love performing, I love watching  performances, I love being in a room with people working to touch hearts and change minds. I am a social introvert but put me on a stage, no matter how large or small, and it immediately feels like home. When I tried to do theater work on zoom, I would leave the session more  depressed than before I started. I deiced I just wasn’t going to do it. I would do my privileged  writing work and wait out the pandemic until my field returned. 

Then I got a call from Jeffrey Richards with the opportunity to support one of my favorite organizations, The Actors Fund. I said yes, but I planned to keep my distance and protect my broken heart. However, Jeffrey isn’t a guy who lets you sit on the sidelines. He was calling me for ideas of directors, actors, collaborators. We landed on Leigh Silverman, a director I had only met briefly but admired for a long time. I then tried to pass all decisions on to her, but Leigh is exactly my kind of director, collaborative and fun. Before I knew it I was sucked further in.  

Then a Covid miracle happened, Leigh and I zoomed with the delightful Keanu Reeves and he agreed to play Caden. (My teen self was more star struck than I knew I could be, while my  professional self tried desperately to keep it together.) Keanu asked me if I’d consider re-setting the entire play on zoom. He immediately started playing zoom ideas for Caden. I burst  out laughing and suddenly I was completely on board.  

Before I knew it my assistant and I were going word by word through the script, coming up  with small but significant changes to place these four familiar characters in a whole new world, so that the audience could be immersed with them instead of having to pretend we weren’t on screen.

The rest of the dream cast fell into place quickly and once again, I was in love. In love with the process, in love with the raw bravery of actors, in love with how designers make everything from nothing, in love with directors’ ability to see everything at once, in love with the awkwardness of zoom (When Heidi lost her internet I got to rehearse a scene with Keanu and  Bobby!), in love with theater and the way it can make us laugh and cry and rage and change all  in a few moments of time.  

I didn’t know it could happen so fast, but this process began to heal my broken heart. Like  always, when you watch this play I hope you laugh and enjoy yourself and question everything  you thought you knew. I also know that in the past year, lives were lost and changed and we will never be the same, but now that we are on the cusp of recovery for our field, I hope that  this wild zoom play at this moment in time will help you start to heal too. I’ll see you online,  and then, soon, I’ll see you back in the theater.  

By: Linda Armstrong

March is Women’s History Month and it is a time when women who paved the way are recognized for their accomplishments. Dessie Moynihan is the perfect person to recognize as she changed the face of senior management at the Shubert Organization in 2006 when she became the first woman to be named a vice president. “I’ve seen Shubert grow from a very private company that had been family run to a multifaceted corporate organization. As time went on there was another female vice president appointed–in Human Resources–and in the past 5 years a number of women have risen to the director level, which is really great. I see a change in the world and I see a change at the company. Leadership has embraced it, so it’s not as singular as it once was,” Moynihan explained. 

Reflecting on her responsibilities as Vice President of Creative Projects, Moynihan stated, “My department looks for material for Shubert to produce, invest in and book into our theatres. Part of that is putting money into plays and musicals that other people are producing. Part is thinking about what should go into our Broadway houses. Part of it—the really fun part—is being in a project from the very beginning and seeing it through to opening. Right now with Neil Meron we’re developing the new musical ‘Some Like It Hot’ by Matthew López, Amber Ruffin, Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman, directed & choregraphed by Casey Nicholaw. It’s been a delight. And I’m lucky enough to work with Bob Wankel, our Chairman and CEO, on both bookings and productions.”

Breaking down the booking process, Moynihan explained, “We keep up with what is going on in theatre in New York, across the country and around the world. We go to London to have meetings and see shows. Most of my interaction is with the producer. He or she will say, ‘I have this new musical, I’m doing a reading and I’d love for you to come see it and give us a theatre.’ There’s a long list of productions that want to play Broadway but the list of available theatres is short and has been for several years. It’s complicated by the fact that some shows have been quite successful and they take their theatre ‘off the market’ for a long time: ‘Phantom of the Opera’ has been playing for over 30 years, ‘Chicago’ over 20, and there are several other long-runners. In our smaller theatres we tend to book limited-engagement plays. If we know a show will run for 16 weeks, we can book a second show for the same season. Overall it’s a complicated puzzle with many factors, including making sure we have our houses lit, that we give new producers a chance and that we host a diverse range of material and voices.”

The Shubert Organization owns and operates 17 Broadway theatres, but its profits go the Shubert Foundation, a charitable organization. Since its establishment in 1977, the Foundation has awarded over $505 million to not-for-profit theatres, dance companies, educational institutions and arts-related organizations throughout the United States. Last year, $32 million was awarded to 560 performing arts organizations. “One of our priorities at the Shubert Organization is to ensure that we can contribute to the fantastic work the Foundation is doing, especially in this time when so many non-profit companies will be in such dire straits.” 

The pandemic has definitely affected Moynihan’s work. “Every company, every person in the industry has been impacted by this. Shubert’s income was drastically reduced. We own Telecharge, but for the past year very few people have been buying tickets. We had to make severe cuts. My routine is very different. Not being able to go to readings, workshops and productions has been difficult. I watch things online, but it’s just not the same experience. I check in with producers to see if their plans have changed and how their shows are progressing. With our own projects, like ‘Some Like It Hot,’ we are proceeding with the development process. 

The focus for everyone right now is the future,” Moynihan remarked. “Communication with our audience is going to be even more important. New Yorkers will be there right at the start, then domestic tourists and then international travelers. It’s impossible to predict exactly what people will want to see when this is over. But I think it will need to make a statement, to speak to the truth of being a human being or to be terrific entertainment. Hopefully there are shows that do all those things! I think that’s what people are craving–to be moved, to laugh, to be brought to tears.” 

“The thing that’s great about Broadway is that it really is a community. Even though there is competition among producers and creatives, there is a feeling, especially with the Broadway League, that we’re all in this together. I’m hoping that when we relaunch, there is going to be a burst of excitement and we can get back onto the regular Broadway season with the Tony Awards in June. Having been through this weird year, everyone is feeling, yes, there is a way forward,” Moynihan declared. 

Moynihan’s path to where she is today was an interesting one. While growing up in Manchester, New Hampshire she didn’t get bitten by the theatre bug until she was a member of the Drama Club in High School. Her theatre teacher told her if she wanted to do theatre, she needed to go to Hunter College in New York City. She only applied to Hunter, got in, headed for New York City without knowing anyone. “It was 1973. I got a room at a YWCA on the East Side,” she recalled. She left New York the next year, but came back for graduate school, receiving her M.A. in Drama and Dance and a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from NYU. “They were academic degrees, as opposed to acting and directing. But they gave me a knowledge of the history of the craft. I learned how the discipline evolved. If someone said ‘I want to do a Brecht play,’ I knew who Brecht was and his theories,” Moynihan explained. “I was also an Assistant Editor at ‘The Drama Review,’ a quarterly publication, and that trained me in the ways to think about performance and write about it.”

While at NYU she worked at Circle Repertory Company in the PR/Marketing department, headed by Richard Frankel, who would go on to be a Broadway producer and general manager. “PR is a very high pressure environment and I learned an incredible amount about the process. Because of that I was then able to get a job at Ensemble Studio Theatre, again in marketing. It was a smaller organization; there weren’t walls between departments. I was able to move from Marketing to Literary, where I felt most comfortable. As Literary Manager I worked with member artists who were creating projects and assisted Artistic Director Curt Dempster with developing shows for the main stage. That was one more piece of the puzzle that was helpful when I got to Shubert,” Moynihan said.

From 1988 to 1995 Moynihan worked at The Shubert Foundation, starting as the Program Assistant processing applications and eventually moving up to Program Director, where her responsibilities included meeting with applicants, seeing productions, and preparing material for Executive Director Vicki Reiss. Being a multi-tasker, Moynihan also taught theatre history and dramaturgy for the first five years of her time with the Shubert Foundation.

The Shubert Foundation proved to be vital groundwork for Moynihan to move forward. “It was from the Foundation, getting to know all of those theatres across the country and what they were doing, that made for a natural transition to the creative side. In 1988, the landscape of the American theatre was very different from what it is today. Non-profits usually didn’t take their work to Broadway themselves. If a show was successful, a commercial producer would come by and move it. ‘A Chorus Line’ changed all that. It originated at The Public Theatre; but instead of giving it to someone else, the Public raised the money and moved it to Broadway. It was a risk but it turned out to be a giant hit. And it demonstrated a theatre could produce a show commercially, retain artistic control and have money flow back to nurture the core mission. So suddenly there was a ton of new work being generated by theatres across the country. At Shubert, there wasn’t a department dedicated to tracking that or looking for material for us to produce ourselves. I was in the right place at the right time. Because I was at the Foundation, worked in non-profit theatre and had the educational background, I was the person who was selected to start Creative Projects department in 1996,” Moynihan recalled.

Moynihan commented, “I had no idea what my future would be. I didn’t have a strategy. I am amazed that my path has been such a wonderful journey. I’m just one of the luckiest people in the world. I am incredibly grateful to the people who helped me and pushed me and gave me opportunities: Richard, Vicki, Bob, Curt, Jerry Schoenfeld, Bernie Jacobs, Phil Smith. I owe them–and many more–a great deal.”

Speaking to young women who want to be a part of the theatre industry, she said, “There are places for you. The most important thing is to seize every single opportunity. Every networking event—do it. Contact someone and say, ‘I heard you speak on a panel, can we have coffee or can I talk to you for 10 minutes?’ Find a company, a production, a play that speaks to you and try to meet the people behind it. I’ve found that people are usually very generous about sharing their advice and experience because someone helped them. Be prepared. Put your best foot forward. Connect in any way you can. Because you never know where that connection is going to lead.” 

Linda Armstrong is a theatre critic with the New York Amsterdam News, Theatre Editor for Neworldreview.net, A&E Editor for Harlem News Group and has written for Playbill Online, had a Theatre column “On The Aisle” for Our Time Press, Network Journal Magazine, Show Business Weekly Newspaper, Headliner Magazine, Theatre Week Magazine, Black Masks Magazine, and The New York Daily News.

By Mark Blankenship

Before she became a costume designer, Dede Ayite studied behavioral neuroscience, and the two disciplines aren’t as different as they might sound. 

“Part of my training [in college] was focused on understanding psychology, and the process of research and uncovering gave me skill sets that come into costume design,” she says. “I’m trying to go past what you’re seeing on stage to add depth and layering to the character. What makes them come alive? What moves them? What breaks their heart? I love finding ways to express that, and to my mind, it all translates to costumes.”

The breadth of Ayite’s expressive power is reflected in the current race for the Tony Awards, where she has two nominations for Best Costume Design of a Play. On one end of the aesthetic spectrum, she’s been recognized for her work on Slave Play, Jeremy O. Harris’ formally audacious satire about interracial couples who enact plantation fantasies to work through their sexual and personal baggage. On the other, she’s also been nominated for the revival of A Soldier’s Play, Charles Fuller’s drama about the murder of a Black soldier in he 1940s. 

With Slave Play, she knew her clothes had to match the heightened world of the script. In the first scene, for instance, the audience doesn’t know that the characters are modern people pretending to live in the antebellum South. “I wanted to drop little hints, so that we didn’t get ahead of the satire,” Ayite says. 

That’s why, when the character Kaneisha entered wearing a slave costume, it read as “traditional” from the neck down: a dirty blouse, a cloth skirt, and a well-worn apron. “But I also threw a head scarf on her that was a bold blue color,” Ayite notes. “During that time, a slave wouldn’t be wearing such a vibrant head wrap, so that shifted it enough to make us aware that something was a little off.” Similarly, she added lacy black gloves to another character’s plantation mistress outfit, hinting at the sexual fetishes she would reveal later. 

With a more realistic show like A Soldier’s Play or David Mamet’s American Buffalo, which Ayite will design for its upcoming Broadway revival, the costumes have to do just as much storytelling, but it has to be almost invisible. “Those are the hardest kinds of shows!” Ayite says, laughing. “A pair of jeans is never just a pair of jeans. You’re sorting through potentially 50 pairs of jeans to find the one that moves the right away and has the right tone and color.”

In A Soldier’s Play, all the characters wore similar military uniforms, but Ayite was still able to reflect their individuality. “I personalized their uniforms through several distressing techniques:  sweat, wear and tear, the degree to which a uniform has been cared for,” she says. “Did a particular uniform have a crease because that soldier was adamant about always looking sharp? Or did it fit a tad looser based on that soldier’s relationship to their role in the military?” 

Currently her preparations for the American Buffalo revival have her thinking about how Donny, a junk shop owner in 1970s Chicago who will be played by Laurence Fishburne, might present himself. “I want to honor where he is and what survival means to him,” she says. “He might not be dressed in something from the time period of the play. He might be dressed in a garment from a slightly earlier time period — a time when he was at the height of who he thought he was. He might be dressing as the person he used to be.”

This deep thinking is crucial to Ayite’s work. She explains, “The first read of the script is the most important to me, because after I read a play for the first time, I give myself a moment to tap into my immediate emotional reactions. I make a point to hold that somewhere in my mental space. I’m always hearkening back to it to make sure I then can capture that for an audience member.”

In some ways, that first read of the play is the closest Ayite will ever come to being an audience member for the production herself. Acknowledging her own first reactions helps ensure that her designs keep the audience in mind. “I want to remind myself about what happened to me when I read it,” she says. “If there was wonder, how do I create wonder? I want to take audiences on that type of journey through specific choices with the clothes.” 

Mark Blankenship is the founder and editor of The Flashpaper and the co-host of Mark and Sarah Talk About Songs.