Fall 2014 SPOTLIGHT by Huntington Theatre Company

FALL 2014-2015

SPOTLIGHT TERESA WOOD, COURTESY OF ARENA STAGE

GREAT THEATRE — PRODUCED BY YOU GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER P.4 ETHER DOME P.8 AWAKE AND SING! P.12 SPOTLIGHT SPECTACULAR P.16 EDUCATION P.20 HUNTINGTON NEWS P.22 PERFORMANCE CALENDARS P.23

Malcolm-Jamal Warner in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

PHOTOS: T. CHARLES ERICKSON

Zabryna Guevara and Will LeBow in Sonia Flew; The cast of She Loves Me; Michael Emerson and Kate Burton in Hedda Gabler; Nathan Lane in Butley.

REMEMBERING NICHOLAS MARTIN: 1938-2014 Former Artistic Director Nicholas Martin died on April 30, 2014 at age 75 in New York after battling a long illness.

“I take solace in knowing that his DNA remains on our stages and in our company.” – PETER DUBOIS

Martin directed 18 shows for the Huntington while serving as Artistic Director (2000-2008) and two after his departure (2009 and 2010). Among the most memorable were Dead End, his first, which featured a three-story set depicting a New York tenement onstage and a swimming pool standing in for the East River in the orchestra pit, and the joyous She Loves Me featuring Brooks Ashmanskas and Kate Baldwin, his last as Artistic Director. Other highlights include the acclaimed revivals of Hedda Gabler with Kate Burton, Butley with Nathan Lane, and Present Laughter with Victor Garber, all of which transferred to Broadway. In 2004, his world premiere production of Melinda Lopez’s Sonia Flew inaugurated the Wimberly Theatre in the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. The first new theatre to be built in Boston in more than 75 years, Martin championed the new venue as a home for the Huntington’s new plays initiatives. Martin also supported the development of local writers with the creation of the Huntington Playwriting Fellows program, one of the initiatives the Tony Awards Administration Committee cited last year when awarding the 2013 Regional Theatre Tony Award to the Huntington. The season after his tenure as artistic director ended, Martin returned to the Huntington to direct The Corn is Green with Kate Burton and her son Morgan Ritchie, Martin’s godson. In 2010 he returned once again to helm William Inge’s Bus Stop.

“I loved Nicky’s humor, laughter, and warmth,” recalls current Huntington Artistic Director Peter DuBois. “He will be so deeply missed. I take solace in knowing that his DNA remains on our stages and in our company. He will always be here, and he will always be a part of who we are.” “Partnering with Nicky was a great treat,” says Huntington Managing Director Michael Maso, who worked with Martin from 2000 to 2008. “He was a brilliant director of classics and new plays alike and was a wonderful collaborator. What I most remember is the joy with which Nicky infused a room, whether it was a rehearsal hall or a dinner table. And that laugh! Nicky Martin’s laugh will always be a life-affirming miracle, loud enough to rouse the angels from their heavenly sleep and wicked enough to make them question whether they were on the right side.” Martin’s last project was the world premiere of Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike which garnered the 2013 Tony Award for Best New Play and a Tony Award nomination for his direction. The Huntington will recreate his acclaimed production of the hit comedy here in January and will dedicate it in his honor.

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WELCOME TO OUR 2014-2015 SEASON COMPELLING FAMILY COMEDY

GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER SEPT. 5 – OCT. 5 PROVOCATIVE MEDICAL THRILLER

ETHER DOME OCT. 17 – NOV. 23 STIRRING AMERICAN CLASSIC

AWAKE AND SING! NOV. 7 – DEC. 7 SMASH-HIT BROADWAY COMEDY

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE JAN. 2 – FEB. 1 MOVING IRISH DRAMA

THE SECOND GIRL JAN. 16 – FEB. 21 SCATHING COMEDY

THE COLORED MUSEUM MAR. 6 – APR. 5 TIMELY NEW DRAMA

AFTER ALL THE TERRIBLE THINGS I DO MAY 22 – JUN. 20 PLUS A SPECIAL EVENT

THE CALDERWOOD TURNS 10! The Huntington’s Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts marks a milestone 10th birthday on Monday, September 29. For the past decade, the Calderwood Pavilion has been the Huntington’s artistic home for new play development and provider of first-class facilities and audience services to dozens of Boston’s most exciting small and mid-sized companies. When it opened in 2004 with the world premiere of Melinda Lopez’s Sonia Flew the Calderwood Pavilion was the first new theatre to be built in Boston in more than 75 years. Since opening in 2004 through the summer of 2014, the Calderwood Pavilion’s impact has been felt throughout the community as it has hosted: • An average of over 40 companies each year, including SpeakEasy Stage Company, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre’s Boston Theater Marathon, The Theater Offensive, Bad Habit Productions, and Company One Theatre. • More than 4,000 performances of more than 300 different productions produced by over 70 organizations. • An audience of nearly 750,000 theatregoers. • More than 300 organizations that have put on activities as diverse as theatrical productions, concerts, private parties, summer camps for teens, and business meetings. • 24 world, American, and New England premieres produced by the Huntington. Special thanks to Presenting Sponsor Bank of America and The Boston Foundation for their support of the Calderwood Pavilion 10th Anniversary Celebration.

COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA MAR. 27 – APR. 26 HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG

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“Malcolm-Jamal Warner has matured into a solid leading man.” – THE WASHINGTON POST

Malcolm-Jamal Warner (“The Cosby Show”) makes his Huntington debut in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner directed by Huntington favorite David Esbjornson (All My Sons). Joanna surprises her liberal, white parents when she brings home John, her African-American ﬁancé, to meet them. Both sets of parents must confront their own unexpected reactions and concerns for their children as their beliefs are put to the test. Set in the 1960s, this funny and poignant new stage adaptation offers a fresh interpretation of the beloved Academy Award winning ﬁlm and also features Julia Duffy (“Newhart”), Tony Award winner Adriane Lenox (Now or Later), and Boston favorite Will Lyman (All My Sons).

“TRULY UPLIFTING! A delightfully funny evening of theatre that should not be missed!” – MD THEATRE GUIDE

Bill de Blasio, son Dante, daughter Chiara, and wife Chirlane McCray

BILL CROUCH

– PETER DUBOIS

KATHY WILLENS/AP

“David Esbjornson brings a striking contemporary perspective to classics that allow us to experience them in new and unexpected ways. After his astonishing production of All My Sons, I can’t wait for him to reveal the emotional and social immediacy of the ideas raised by this landmark film.”

Margaret Rusk and Guy Smith on the cover of Time magazine (1967)

ROOM AT THE TABLE In adapting the iconic film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, playwright Todd Kreidler has created a portrait of race relations in America as intimate, provocative, and poignant today as the original was in 1967. In 1967, the movie revealed the hypocrisy of liberal minded intellectuals who accepted interracial marriage in theory but not in practice. Today, the play forges a connection between two conversations: the first tracks how far America has come in the last fifty years in its acceptance of interracial marriage, and the second focuses on recognizing the unspoken racial inequalities that still exist. As Kreidler says, “the question for me has always been how we keep it set in 1967 but not of 1967.” Upon their return to San Francisco to announce their engagement, John Prentice, Jr., an African-American doctor portrayed in the film version by Sidney Portier, and Joanna Drayton, a young white college student, face rejection from Joanna’s parents. To add pressure to the evening, Joanna has invited John’s parents to fly up from LA. When the Prentices arrive, they also express their firm opposition to the engagement. The families argue about the challenges and obstacles the couple will face as they consider whether to support or interfere in John and Joanna’s relationship, all within the hours before dinner is served. “Don’t fool yourselves. Whatever you talk out in this house on a hill tonight won’t change the hearts in homes across the country,” says John Prentice, Sr., criticizing the naïve hopes of the young couple and their mothers. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was released in a decade that was defined by racial tensions, and the depiction of John and Joanna’s relationship pushed a private conversation into the public sphere. It joined highly publicized and controversial events such as the landmark Supreme Court case of Loving vs. Virginia or Time magazine’s decision to make the marriage of Peggy Rusk, daughter of Secretary of State Dean Rusk, and Guy Smith the cover of their September issue.

People who opposed interracial marriage saw the Secretary of State’s participation as tacit approval from Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration. Ebony magazine wrote that “Secretary Rusk reportedly advised the White House of the forthcoming wedding, and his decision to escort his only daughter down the aisle even if political repercussions forced a resignation.” Interracial marriage no longer poses the same challenges for couples like Peggy Rusk and Guy Smith. It is now legal to enter an interracial marriage everywhere in the United States, with South Carolina and Alabama being the last states to overturn their prohibitions in 1998 and 2000. A 2010 Pew Research study found that 8.4% of all current US marriages are interracial, up from the less than 1 percent in 1961. Kreidler’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner encourages us to return to a shared past and to reflect on the reality of race relations in the present day. Even in a nation with a biracial president, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s multi-racial family still causes waves in the media. According to the Huffington Post, “he is apparently the first white politician in US history elected to a major office with a black spouse by his side,” and according to the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center, “black-white marriage remains the most unlikely racial combination in the US.” This country where the personal is political, the choices of men and women like John and Joanna shift the perspective on race. The film was released to critical acclaim and placed the debate of interracial marriage at the forefront. This touching adaptation of an American classic brings forth an honest discussion about the challenges of interracial marriage, but more importantly, it serves as a powerful reminder that these conversations still have a place at our dinner tables. – SEBASTIÁN BRAVO MONTENEGRO

LEARN MORE ONLINE Watch the trailer of the 1967 film, listen to an interview with Malcolm-Jamal Warner, read an interview with director David Esbjornson, and more. HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG

TERESA WOOD COURTESY OF ARENA STAGE

Katharine Houghton and Sidney Poitier in the film version of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)

Malcolm-Jamal Warner in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

BRINGING THE STORY ONSTAGE:

AN INTERVIEW WITH PLAYWRIGHT TODD KREIDLER LINDA LOMBARDI, LITERARY MANAGER AT ARENA STAGE, SAT DOWN WITH TODD KREIDLER, PLAYWRIGHT AND ADAPTER FOR GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER, TO FIND OUT HOW HE ADAPTED THE CLASSIC FILM FOR THE STAGE.

How did you get started as a playwright? That question’s hard to answer. I’ve done everything on some level. I stretched flats, I was a master electrician (until I got electrocuted), I worked in a box office, directed, did sound design, stage managed, everything, but writing has always been a constant in my life.

Todd Kreidler

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I had some early success writing plays when I was young in Pittsburgh, and that scared me. I turned my focus to directing, and by the time I started working with August Wilson and became his dramaturg, I was directing a lot — I was a director who really wanted to be a writer but was scared. Not that directing isn’t incredibly difficult and rewarding, but what I really wanted to do was write. Around November of 2000, August said, “If you’re gonna write, man, be a writer. Don’t stand out there hesitating. Man, you gotta stand up and claim it.” Which is what I did.

What attracted you to Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? Why adapt this story today? First of all, it’s a cultural touchstone. Whatever your feelings about the piece are, whatever community you’re from, it literally brought the issue of race into the home, both in the storytelling and thematically. Approaching it today, I wanted to take the opportunity to talk about and engage in the attitudes of 1967 but in a way that was for the 21st century. These attitudes and ideas are still very much alive. People have tried to make linguistic adjustments so racism today has become more covert. The systemic racism and the endemic attitudes are cloaked, but they’re still very much alive. Just look at the disproportionate amount of blacks living in poverty or the criminalization of young black men. That’s not an opinion about society. Those are verifiable facts. You’re on one of two sides. You either say that young black men are somehow more criminally bent, that it’s built into them to be more violent or more criminal, or you believe — as I do — that this is our American legacy from slavery that we are still struggling to redress. The writing challenge was also exciting to me. From Holler if Ya Hear Me to Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, I’m writing character-driven American stories. I get to deal with a defining aspect of American life, which is race relations in America. There’s something about the access to characters on stage that’s particularly of interest to me. It’s something that you can’t get in film and television. I find theatre very supple for the exploration of character and the layered aspects of our lives — attitudes towards love, attitudes towards sex, towards food. There’s a way to evolve those things and really try to cover the individual humanities of the characters, and to make what I think is an argument and transformation about attitudes towards race. How did you go about adapting the screenplay of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner for the stage? It wasn’t just taking a screenplay to a play. It was taking an iconic screenplay to a play. So there was always a spirit of preserving the iconic moments of the film and then connecting them with a story that is familiar. The single setting and the compression of time made it ready-made for the stage. The challenge was going from iconic moment to iconic moment. The phrase ‘guess who’s coming to dinner’ has become part of the American vernacular. What does the saying mean to you? It’s exciting. There’s a surprise coming. It’ll either be an old friend or an acquaintance or someone exciting — but it’ll be an interesting dinner.

CURTAIN CALLS NAME Julia Duffy ROLE Christina Drayton HOMETOWN Minneapolis, Minnesota HOW ARE YOU LIKE YOUR CHARACTER? I am intensely concerned about my children as they enter the adult world. Like the daughter character in the play, mine have proven themselves more than ready to make life choices, but as a mother I understand how even the most level-headed child will not keep you from worrying. It’s something you never really get a break from. WHAT WOULD YOU BRING TO A TENSE FAMILY DINNER? I would bring lots of wine! After that, I think a sense of humor would be essential. But first, wine. DOES YOUR FAMILY HAVE ANY SPECIAL DINNER TRADITIONS? We are rarely all together as a family these days so we have no adult traditions for a family dinner. We’re just happy to get those times. NAME Adriane Lenox ROLE Mary Prentice HOMETOWN Memphis, Tennessee LAST HUNTINGTON ROLE Tracy in Now or Later HOW ARE YOU LIKE YOUR CHARACTER? I have a sense of balance like Mary Prentice. WHAT WOULD YOU BRING TO A TENSE FAMILY DINNER? A sense of humor mixed with reality. DOES YOUR FAMILY HAVE ANY SPECIAL DINNER TRADITIONS? Saying grace. NAME Will Lyman ROLE Matt Drayton HOMETOWN Boston, Massachusetts LAST HUNTINGTON ROLE Joe Keller in All My Sons HOW ARE YOU LIKE YOUR CHARACTER? Like my character I am thoughtful, analytical, and sensitive. Unlike my character I am not controlling, organized, or verbally influential. WHAT WOULD YOU BRING TO A TENSE FAMILY DINNER? Probably not much that would help ease the tension. Mostly silence, I imagine. NAME Malcolm-Jamal Warner ROLE Dr. John Prentice HOMETOWN Jersey City, New Jersey

Reprinted with permission from Arena Stage.

SEE PAGE 23 FOR SHOW PERFORMANCE CALENDAR AND EVENT LISTINGS

HOW ARE YOU LIKE YOUR CHARACTER? Um, well, he’s a doctor. I’m not. We’re both good people. We’re both accomplished in our fields. What I find fascinating about Dr. John Prentice is that despite all of his worldly accomplishments, parental approval is still very important to him. Though he’s 40 years old, this play is somewhat a coming of age piece for him where he has to let go of that need for approval. I can totally relate to that transformation. WHAT WOULD YOU BRING TO A TENSE FAMILY DINNER? Laughter. And as my mother will attest, a very long beforedinner prayer.

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A new treatment promising to end pain pits a doctor and his student in an epic battle between altruism and ambition. Based on the true story of the discovery of ether as an anesthetic in 1846 and set in Boston’s own Massachusetts General Hospital, this fascinating new play explores the ecstasy of pain, the sweetness of relief, and the hysteria that erupts when healthcare becomes big business. A co-production with Alley Theatre, Hartford Stage, and La Jolla Playhouse.

“MARVELOUS” – THE HUFFINGTON POST

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“Indisputably terrific! A fascinating story.” – HOUSTON CHRONICLE

“Elizabeth Egloff’s thrilling new exploration of a revolution in modern medicine unfolds in our own back yard, and our collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital will illuminate a lesser-known chapter of our city’s rich history. As our nation grapples with a healthcare overhaul, now is the perfect time for gifted director Michael Wilson to connect the ramifications of this fascinating event to the world in which we live.” – PETER DUBOIS A re-enactment of the first surgical operation with ether anesthesia at MGH’s Ether Dome on October 16, 1846. Painted by Warren and Lucia Prosperi.

A WORLD BEFORE ANESTHETICS Before anesthetics, “a surgeon would employ six burly men to hold a patient down as the chief surgeon pushed a saw past the sliced muscles, still twitching, and listened as the blade cut through the bone,” says Julie M. Fenster, author of the book Ether Day, detailing the brutal and painful past of modern surgery. “Some of the patients remember the sounds of their limbs dropping to the ground.” In the early 19th century, surgeons had limited options for reducing the intense pain surgery caused. On October 16, 1846, a group of surgeons would gather to witness the first public display of ether as an anesthetic in the operating theatre, now called the Ether Dome, at Massachusetts General Hospital. Located right along the Charles River, on the top floor of the Bullfinch Building, the operating room would become home to one of the most influential medical advancements in history and the setting for the epic battle between the men who developed it in Elizabeth Egloff’s historical drama, Ether Dome. Egloff presents us with an in-depth portrait of the surprising and extraordinary discovery of sulfuric ether’s analgesic properties and each of the eccentric men who made it possible. “It was the moment when Boston, and indeed the United States, first emerged as a world-class center of medical innovation,” writes Mike Jay in The Boston Globe. The monumental finding of ether’s medicinal properties “would transform medicine, dramatically expanding the scope of what doctors were able to accomplish,” he continues. Because a historic legacy awaited the inventor of the “mysterious compound,” a dispute unraveled between four men, each with their own claim to the invention. The chief participants in that battle were Hartford dentist Horace Wells, Boston doctor Charles T. Jackson,

chief of surgery and founder of MGH Dr. John Collins Warren, and young entrepreneur William T. G. Morton. Egloff pits student against teacher, ambition against altruism. Egloff takes us through the rise and fall of these men, each of them risking their life and reputation to come closer to the monumental discovery, beginning with Horace Wells and his chance encounter with ‘the laughing gas.’ “It was more the power of nitrous oxide to produce pleasure than suppress pain that caught the public imagination,” says Jay. The recreational drug “found a twilight existence in music hall entertainments and variety shows” where Wells breaks his nose and realizes the gas’ painkilling properties. Ether Dome jumps from laughing parties in Hartford, Connecticut to public tests of anesthesia at a surgeons’ meeting in Boston, to Morton’s fledgling home experiments on his pets. Egloff brings heated debates to life with witty and dynamic dialogue, creating a vibrant picture of the battles that took place in Boston. The showdowns continue past the original Ether Day since its discovery also marks the beginning of the commercialization of modern medicine. The concept of paying for treatment was unusual during the early 19th century, but Morton’s entrepreneurial instinct forces commerce and medicine into an uneasy partnership, one that sets the stage for divisive arguments in our own time over healthcare as a commodity. Egloff’s play bears a subtitle: “A Grand Exhibition Produced on the Dramatic Stage with No Expense Spared, Showing the Exhilarating Inventions of the Medical Mind,” and this elaborate description fits her larger-than-life play that takes us through both the thrill of discovery and the downfall of those creators. – SEBASTIÁN BRAVO MONTENEGRO

LEARN MORE ONLINE Read about the Ether Dome at Massachusetts General Hospital, watch an MGH presentation about technological innovations in anesthesia, and more. HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG

PHOTOS: KEVIN BERNE

The cast of Ether Dome

Hannah Tamminen, Michael Bakkensen, and Ken Cheesman in Ether Dome

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE PLAYWRIGHT:

ELIZABETH EGLOFF SHIRLEY FISHMAN, RESIDENT DRAMATURG AT LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE, SAT DOWN WITH ETHER DOME PLAYWRIGHT ELIZABETH EGLOFF TO DISCUSS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE PLAY AND WHY SHE WAS THE RIGHT PERSON TO TELL THIS STORY.

Elizabeth Egolff

What inspired you to write a play about the circumstances of the discovery of anesthesia? I got a phone call from Michael Wilson in the summer of 2005. He was the artistic director of Hartford Stage at the time, and the theatre received a grant from the state of Connecticut to commission a play inspired by local historical events. One day while he was walking in Hartford’s Bushnell Park he came upon a statue of Horace Wells. He asked a friend who he was. That’s when the idea for the play started. He talked to me about writing a play about Horace Wells, a dentist in Hartford who had something to do with the discovery of ether — that he was robbed of the credit by his student and that nobody knows what really happened. He thought that the story might be a great idea for a play. Why did Michael think you would be the right person to write this story? He knew that I had grown up in Farmington, Connecticut, where Morton’s wife lived before they married. I went to school in West Hartford and college in Hartford. And I was steeped in the Hartford view of the world and of itself. I was thrilled to take it on — I love plays about history and politics. As I researched, I became hypnotized by the story of the four men who were at the center of the ether controversy: Horace Wells, William Morton, and Dr. Charles T. Jackson and Dr. John C. Warren, esteemed surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital, one of a handful of respected medical schools in the country.

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Wells had been investigating ways to alleviate his patients’ suffering during dental surgery. He witnessed a man who injured himself after inhaling laughing gas. When he saw that the man felt no pain, he wondered if the gas could be used on his patients. He successfully experimented with the gas, and Morton suggested he demonstrate the procedure in Mass General’s operating theatre. The stakes for Wells’s demonstration in the hospital’s dome were very high. When it failed, it launched a medical competition that would change history and the destinies of those four men. Jackson claimed he had given Morton a vial of sulphuric ether so that he could painlessly extract his wife’s tooth. Morton took both Wells’ and Jackson’s ideas and climbed his way into Mass General’s dome and into the medical history books. Wells, a sensitive idealist, was irreparably wounded by Morton’s betrayal and descended into depression and addiction. Some believed Wells was the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. At a certain point, I realized that there were inconsistencies; the story was different depending on whose version I read. But the brutal fact remained that Morton deserved the credit — he was the one who picked up the ball when no one else did and took it

CURTAIN CALLS NAME Michael Bakkensen ROLE Horace Wells HOMETOWN Portland, Oregon. HOW ARE YOU LIKE YOUR CHARACTER? I share Horace’s idealism, but I don’t think I’m quite as naive as he was about the dangers posed by untrustworthy friends or chemicals. HOW HAS THIS PLAY CHANGED YOUR PERCEPTION ON MODERN MEDICINE? Until working on this play I didn’t comprehend the depth of pain and suffering and the hopelessness before the advent of anesthetics.

all the way into the end zone. Harvard Medical School and Mass General’s library accounts have always credited Morton, but no mention is made about his scandalous past. Jackson receives some credit for helping Morton with research. Their accounts don’t mention Wells. After the 2001 publication of Julie M. Fenster’s book, Ether Day, Harvard began to include small references to Wells, so he’s no longer invisible. It’s an epic story and incredibly dramatic. How did you create a play from this factual story? In order to put it on stage, I needed to decide whose story it was. After many drafts, it finally came to me that it’s Horace’s story; his struggle and downfall frames the play. There were so many people involved, I had to compress a number of Mass General doctors into Drs. Haywood, Bigelow, and Gould. These three men, along with Jackson, became the chorus of the play. The factual events occurred between 1845-1870, but I collapsed the story, into one year. The arc of the story hasn’t changed since my first draft. Reprinted with permission from La Jolla Playhouse.

NAME Tom Patterson ROLE William Morton HOMETOWN South Bend, Indiana HOW ARE YOU LIKE YOUR CHARACTER? I think William and I both want to prove ourselves, that there’s a need to belong, to be loved. I think I’m less ruthless! HOW HAS THIS PLAY CHANGED YOUR PERCEPTION ON MODERN MEDICINE? I think I’m extremely happy to NOT live in a pre-anesthesia world, and I’m grateful for the advances humanity has made. It also makes me hopeful we’ll find cures for cancer, AIDS, Parkinson’s, ALS, and every other debilitating disease and disorder. There’s a lot left to be discovered. NAME Amelia Pedlow

NAME Ken Cheesman

ROLE Elizabeth Wales Wells

ROLE Augustus Gould

HOMETOWN Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

HOMETOWN Born in Providence, Rhode Island; Lives in Newton, Massachusetts HOW ARE YOU LIKE YOUR CHARACTER? Like Augustus Gould, I have an interest both in medicine and the natural sciences, like marine biology. Unlike Dr. Gould who was an exceptional cataloguer, I am not a good record-keeper. I like details in the moment but am not particularly good at chronicling them. HOW HAS THIS PLAY CHANGED YOUR PERCEPTION ON MODERN MEDICINE? This play delves into how profoundly the art of surgery was changed by the introduction of consistently dependable anesthetics. Like most of us in the modern age, I have friends and family members whose lives have been saved by surgery. None of the major surgeries that this brings to mind could ever have been done without modern anesthetics. This play has made me hyperaware of and highly appreciative of the role of the anesthesiologist in modern surgery.

HOW ARE YOU LIKE YOUR CHARACTER? I, too, firmly believe that full credit for the discovery of anesthesia deserves to go to Horace Wells. Elizabeth Wells fought her whole life to get her husband the partial credit he was eventually rewarded, and I can only hope to be like such a brilliant, strong, loyal woman. WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT IN THE PLAY? The very brief scene between Elizabeth Wells and Elizabeth Morton. In a play and a time in history dominated by men, I find it so deeply satisfying that our playwright gives the audience a small window into the lives of women at that time. It’s a scene where two women from vastly different backgrounds and ways of life reach for advice and support from a stranger. I love it.

SEE PAGE 23 FOR SHOW PERFORMANCE CALENDAR AND EVENT LISTINGS

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“Feels so timely it might have been written yesterday.” – CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

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In a cramped Bronx apartment, a working-class Jewish family dreams of a brighter future. Matriarch Bessie Berger’s ﬁerce determination keeps her family aﬂoat, whatever the cost. Gritty, passionate, funny, and heartbreaking, Odets’ 1935 masterpiece beautifully captures both the hopes and the struggles of an unforgettable American family.

“Since her gorgeous, moving production of Luck of the Irish in 2011, I’ve wanted to bring director Melia Bensussen back to the Huntington to mount a classic. She has a great passion for Clifford Odets’ work — Awake and Sing! was Melia’s childhood, she once told me. Her talent for telling intimate family stories that play out on a broad social canvas makes now the perfect opportunity for her return.” – PETER DUBOIS Melia Bensussen

MELIA BENSUSSEN ON AWAKE AND SING! MELIA BENSUSSEN HAS DIRECTED KIRSTEN GREENIDGE’S LUCK OF THE IRISH AND CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION AT THE HUNTINGTON. SHE WILL DIRECT CLIFFORD ODETS’ AWAKE AND SING! THIS FALL. SHE CORRESPONDED WITH DIRECTOR OF NEW WORK LISA TIMMEL ABOUT HER PERSONAL CONNECTION TO THE PLAY AND WHAT THE PLAY MEANS TO US IN 2014.

Awake and Sing!, like much of Clifford Odets’ work, is steeped in a critique of capitalism, “Life shouldn’t be printed on dollar bills” is a refrain throughout the play. You bring a personal connection to the ideals of Jake Berger — would you mind telling me a little about it? Like Jake, my family was very committed to the visions of the left. They were socialists and communists, idolizers of Emma Goldman and others. My parents were “red diaper babies,” a phrase that has all but disappeared from our culture, but a term that spoke to a family’s commitment to Communist (“red”) ideals. Nowadays, does anyone even want to hear the word “communist” anymore? Odets’ gift for me, personally, in this work is that he places a Jewish family at the center of that very familiar struggle. There is a strong connection for me in their tones, their arguments: a fierceness about their existence and their struggle. We forget how marginalized Jews were in the 30s in this country, how radical it was to hear Yiddish on Broadway (most of which was excised from the Broadway production and some of which we hope to put back in to our production). What draws you into the play emotionally? Like Chekhov and Arthur Miller — I think Miller would not exist without Odets, and Odets would not have written these plays without Chekhov — Odets captures the complexities of intimacy and tension in a close-knit family. To find a balance between love, support, and selfinterest in any nuclear family has always been the stuff of great plays.

He is brutally honest about where generosity ends and self-interest begins: when is that a good thing, and when is that a wildly destructive impulse? I am struck by my empathy for these dragon moms — Bessie is a close relation to Amanda Wingfield from The Glass Menagerie — mothers who want, they say, what is best for their children but on some level are operating out of their own primal panics and fears. Their sons — Odets, Williams, and others — see clearly where these woman have led their families to survive, but have also led them to destruction. That is a hell of a balance for anyone to try and strike. What do you think the play has to say to us in 2014? I think the play portrays the emotional battlefields that ensue when economic pressures overwhelm. How can we love purely and generously when we are in constant danger of losing our homes, our savings? How do families today decide about college for their kids, if they are lucky enough to even have that as an option? Kids find they cannot leave their parents’ home for financial reasons, and so the claustrophobia and intensity of the nuclear family continues to exert its pressures. This against a more and more conservative society — the generations of this family sound so familiar to me: the grandfather hoping/wishing for the next generation to fight for equality and less economic disparity, for unions and the rights of the people. I find my son, who at 18 is now trying to fight against our generation’s lack of movement on the environment leads to some similar arguments in my household. Like all of us, these people have huge struggles — the magnification of their battles to stay connected and viable in the world reflects a piece of what we all must feel at different points in our life as we try to be ethical people while protecting each other. “Awake and Sing all ye who dwell in the dust!” It’s a call to action and to waking up in the deepest sense of the word — to be sure to be aware of one’s life choices and possible positive impact on the world.

LEARN MORE ONLINE Explore Playbill’s archives featuring items from the original production of Awake and Sing!, read more about the Group Theatre, listen to a story about Odets on his centennial, and more. HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG

Group Theatre’s world premiere production of Awake and Sing! (1935)

CRAMPED QUARTERS:

THE EARLY YEARS OF PLAYWRIGHT CLIFFORD ODETS Clifford Odets

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Group Theatre’s world premiere production of Clifford Odets’ Waiting for Lefty (1935)

“[Odets had] an appetite for the broken and run-down, together with a bursting love for the beauty immanent in people, a burning belief in the day when this beauty would actually shape the external world. These two apparently contradictory impulses kept him in a perpetual boil that to the indifferent eye might look like either a stiff passivity or a hectic fever.” – Harold Clurman, founder of the Group Theatre and director of the original production of Awake and Sing! In Clifford Odets’ work, one can see etchings of the hardscrabble life that inspired it. Born in Philadelphia in 1906, he spent his earliest years in a cramped apartment in a Jewish ghetto that his parents — recent immigrants named Louis and Pearl — shared with his mother’s sister Esther. His family was strongly religious, but his father was so keen to assimilate that he denied that his mother’s name in their home country had been Gorodetsky, even though it appeared on her tombstone. In 1912, eager to improve the family’s station, Louis moved the family to the Bronx. Moving to New York started a string of transfers, each to slightly “grander” tenements. Odets would later write in notes for an unfinished play (named after one of these homes 783 Beck Street) that their constant apartment switching symbolized “the American and dehumanizing myth of the steadily expanding economy […] Where does America stop? When does it begin to make homes and sink nourishing roots? […] Perhaps follow the rise and fall of the house by the Odets family moving in and then, several years later (now hating the place!) moving away. Oh the waste of it all.” Clifford’s father Louis worked as a printer, rising to the rank of foreman and then starting his own press. Much to Louis’ disappointment and anger, Clifford was a poor student, often failing multiple subjects and skipping assignments to spend more time at the movies or rehearsing with his amateur theatrical group. At 17, Odets dropped out of school to become an actor, a discipline where he met with mixed success. Though he found enough work, he was stuck in small parts, stringing

CURTAIN CALLS NAME Michael Goldsmith ROLE Ralph HOMETOWN Bloomfield Hills, Michigan LAST HUNTINGTON ROLE Matt in Now or Later

UNITED ARTISTS/PHOTOFEST

Barbara Nichols and Tony Curtis in the film version of The Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CLIFFORD ODETS FILM OR PLAY? Awake and Sing! is so, so brilliant, but I’d probably have to say Golden Boy. All of his work is a pretty irresistible combination of gorgeous language and a fierce moral conscience. DOES THIS PLAY RESONATE WITH YOU IN 2014? The play is about a family struggling to gain (and maintain) a foothold in New York City, a topic I know a little something about as a Brooklyn-based actor. NAME Will LeBow ROLE Jacob HOMETOWN Brooklyn, New York (a second generation Russian/Polish Jew)

together a meager existence through the Black Tuesday crash and the start of the Great Depression. After jobs ranging from Broadway understudy to camp counselor, he was invited in 1931 to join in the founding of director Lee Strasberg’s Group Theatre. Frustrated by his slight roles, Odets began to write. Casting about for inspiration, he penned a short story inspired by his surroundings: “I was holed up in a cheap hotel, in a kind of fit of depression, and I wrote about a young kid violinist who didn’t have his violin because the hotel owner had appropriated it for unpaid bills. He looked back and remembered his mother and his hard-working sister, and although I was not that kid and didn’t have that kind of mother or sister, I did fill the skin and the outline with my own personal feeling, and for the first time I realized what creative writing was.” A natural product of his time spent as an actor, Odets transitioned into plays, and in 1935, premiered four different works back-to-back that would launch his career. First, his famous agit-prop piece Waiting for Lefty dramatizes the unionization of a group of taxi drivers and famously ends on the cry of “Strike! Strike! Strike!” Waiting for Lefty subsequently played on a double bill with his play Till the Day I Die. The third play produced was the earliest begun, Awake and Sing!, which Odets had started roughly when he joined the Group Theatre. The fourth, Paradise Lost, was met with tepid reviews. Odets went on to a prolific career, authoring more than a dozen plays and six films, including The Sweet Smell of Success. But in those early years, his personal life was marked by loneliness and a longing for the kind of family he saw slipping away from American life. “When I was a boy, the whole promise of American life was contained for me in Christmas cards which showed a warm little house snuggled in a snow scene by night,” Odets wrote. “Often little boys and girls were walking up the path of the door and carrying bundles of good things. This represented protection, a home and hearth, goodness and comfort, all things which become increasingly more difficult to attain.” – CHARLES HAUGLAND

SEE PAGE 23 FOR SHOW PERFORMANCE CALENDAR AND EVENT LISTINGS

LAST HUNTINGTON ROLE Carl in Bus Stop HOW ARE YOU LIKE YOUR CHARACTER? I share a lot with Jacob. My parents were liberals/leftys, and they met in 1933 — the year Awake and Sing! takes place. YOUR FAVORITE CLIFFORD ODETS FILM OR PLAY? Awake and Sing! is my favorite. It is the New York City my extended family grew up in and it deals with the issues they had to navigate. NAME Annie Purcell ROLE Hennie HOMETOWN St. Louis, Missouri HOW ARE YOU LIKE YOUR CHARACTER? I’m like Hennie in that I can be tough as well as tender, though Hennie has a real way with words, even more than I do. We both have a lot of pride. Luckily I feel l have a little more happiness and balance in my life, whereas Hennie is balancing right on the edge. DOES THIS PLAY RESONATE WITH YOU IN 2014? Hennie’s story is so topical — you can see how her unexpected pregnancy changes the course of her life, and in the time that she lived, she was rendered relatively powerless by this turn of events. Just like Hennie, women are still fighting to be have control of their own reproductive health and choices, and ultimately, their own destiny. NAME Stephen Schnetzer ROLE Morty HOMETOWN Born in Roxbury, Massachusetts; Lives in New York, New York WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CLIFFORD ODETS FILM OR PLAY? Awake and Sing!, of course, is my favorite! But I also love Golden Boy. DOES THIS PLAY RESONATE WITH YOU IN 2014? The play speaks to families struggling economically. There’s not much left of the middle class. The job market is so depressed now that I feel bad for our young. So many 20-somethings are moving back in with their parents and that can put a strain on everyone. I have two sons, 28 and 24, and it’s hostile out there.

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“Transforming lives. That’s why we are here — to ensure another year of access to the Huntington’s programs for thousands of young people.” – MICHAEL MASO

SPOTL $1MILL

MANAGING DIRECTOR MICHAEL MASO’S WORDS WERE MET WITH THE OPEN HEARTS OF MORE THAN 400 GUESTS AND INCREDIBLE BROADWAY TALENT WHO GATHERED ON APRIL 28 AT THE BOSTON PARK PLAZA CASTLE TO PAY TRIBUTE TO WIMBERLY AWARD RECIPIENTS TRUSTEE JOHN D. SPOONER AND TONY AWARD-WINNING DIRECTOR MARY ZIMMERMAN (THE JUNGLE BOOK AND CANDIDE). THE EVENING RAISED MORE THAN $1 MILLION TO SUPPORT THE HUNTINGTON’S RENOWNED EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMS.

“I was really moved by this,” said Zimmerman as she accepted the Wimberly Award. “I had such glorious experiences here in this town and at the Huntington. I want to thank every human being that’s here. We cannot do it without this kind of support from you.” “A lot of this is a big surprise to me,” said John Spooner after being serenaded onstage by Lauren Molina and presented with the Wimberly Award. “This proves a lot of things — we can still be surprised, which is what the Huntington does, what theatre does. It can surprise us and make us think.” The event also included the inaugural presentation of the Gerard and Sherryl Cohen Award, a new recognition of excellence among the Huntington’s staff, to Properties Master Kristine Holmes and Associate Director of Marketing Meredith Mastroianni. Tony Award nominee André De Shields, Kevin Carolan, Lauren Molina, Geoff Packard, and a chorus of guest artists brought the audience to their feet paying musical tribute to Mary Zimmerman and John Spooner. Many thanks to Spotlight Spectacular Chair and Trustee Susan B. Kaplan for leading this event over the $1 million mark two years in a row! Huntington Overseer Bryan Rafanelli of Rafanelli Events designed the event, Trustee Neal Balkowitsch’s MAX Ultimate Foods catered, and Trustee John Cini’s High Output provided the lighting and sound.

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PAUL MAROTTA AND HUNTINGTON THEATRE COMPANY

More than 33,000 people participate in the Huntington’s education and community programs each year. To see an inspiring video about the Huntington’s programs, visit huntingtontheatre.org/education.

IGHT SPECTACULAR RAISES OVER ION FOR 2ND CONSECUTIVE YEAR

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FRED & JANE JAMIESON: “WE’RE WAY INTO IT!” “I am a big fan of the Huntington’s education department and its programs — what they do for the community is nothing short of compelling.” – FRED JAMIESON

Jane and Fred Jamieson

FRED AND JANE JAMIESON ARE MAINSTAYS OF THE HUNTINGTON COMMUNITY WHO HAVE SUBSCRIBED SINCE THE LATE 1980S. THEY FREQUENTLY ATTEND EVENTS AND DINNER AND JOIN OUR OCCASIONAL THEATRE TRIPS. FRED IS A TRUSTEE SERVING ON THE FINANCE AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEES, A MENTOR, AND A BIG ADVOCATE FOR THE HUNTINGTON’S EDUCATION PROGRAMS. MOST RECENTLY, THE JAMIESONS JOINS THE HUNTINGTON LEGACY SOCIETY, DOING THEIR PART TO HELP ENSURE THE FUTURE OF THE HUNTINGTON. DIRECTOR OF MAJOR GIFTS MEG WHITE SPOKE WITH FRED ABOUT HIS COMMITMENT TO THE HUNTINGTON.

How were you introduced to the Huntington? A colleague of mine, Tony Hutchins, was always talking the place up. He would arrange groups from our work to attend special evenings at the Huntington. Jane and I went to one, and then another, and in no time at all we were hooked! How did you become interested in theatre? Jane and I both grew up with theatre in our lives. For me it was a little sporadic, but Jane, who grew up in Southeastern Massachusetts, went to New York to see shows pretty regularly.

WELCOME NEW BOARD OVERSEERS On May 20, the Huntington’s Board of Trustees elected five new members to the Council of Overseers: Deborah Benson, Catherine Creighton, Charles Marz, Daniel Mullin, and Sally Reid. These new members join our longer standing Trustees and Overseers who through their efforts help to sustain the Huntington’s high artistic and operational standards, while building an even stronger organization. We extend our gratitude to the entire Huntington Board community for their commitment to the Huntington.

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Our boys were still in school and living at home, so from the beginning we brought our kids along — we thought it was a great way to have a family night. We were such regulars that one night when the Huntington was short ushers, the staff asked our kids (who were then in their teens) if they would help. The kids were thrilled and still remember it as a fun night.

You’re known as a strong advocate for the Huntington’s education programs. Why do you think they’re so important? There is no doubt that I am a big fan of the Huntington’s education department and its programs — what they do for the community is nothing short of compelling. I love seeing how the students respond in various situations — whether it’s a student matinee, where the kids are so well-prepared that they are exemplary audience members, or other programs such as the Poetry Out Loud or August Wilson Monologue Competition — the quality of these programs, coupled with the skills and talent of the Huntington’s teaching staff, create extraordinary experiences for the student participants. I know the Huntington reached 29,000 kids through their education programs this past season. That’s a daunting number, yet my wish is that we could reach even more because I know that these special experiences at the Huntington translate into better lives, better students, and better citizens. What have you learned through your Huntington experiences? Theatrical productions can make you aware of other people’s points of view and introduce you to topics not previously considered. It can be a character-building experience. While,

T. CHARLES ERICKSON

How did you become a board member? To begin with, it’s a terrific community — board and non-board, it doesn’t matter — we all share a love of theatre and an appreciation for the quality of productions that the Huntington creates. Over time, Jane and I got to know some of the folks involved with the Huntington and came to some of the events. It sort of evolved from there. In 2005, I was asked to join the Council of Overseers. It was easy to say yes.

David Wilson Barnes in The Power of Duff (2013).

in general, I thoroughly enjoy the Huntington’s productions, there are rare occasions when I don’t and, yet, I still know that I am better for having seen it. What inspired you to become founding members of the Huntington’s new Legacy Society? Oh, this was an easy decision and equally easy to put in place. Jane and I like the idea of being able to help to assure the future of the Huntington — we want to make certain it’s here for our kids and their kids too. What are your favorite Huntington experiences? There are many, but a recent one is this past season the Huntington created some videos for use in the production of The Power of Duff. They put a call out for “extras” to be in the videos and I signed up. My 20 seconds of fame did not end up on the proverbial cutting room floor but was actually used in the production. Since then, I’ve been recognized on the street and at the dog park by Huntington audience members who remember me from the clip. Amazing. Any closing thoughts about the Huntington? We’re way into it!

BUILDING A LEGACY OF GREAT THEATRE: HUNTINGTON LEGACY SOCIETY Members of the Huntington Legacy Society play a lasting role in securing the Huntington’s strong, successful future beyond their lifetime by making a bequest or other planned gift. No amount is too small. Members enjoy benefits and recognition today for their future gift, including: • Acknowledgment in Huntington program books

If you have already included the Huntington as part of your will or estate plan, or if you wish to discuss how you can participate in the Huntington Legacy Society, please contact: David Dalena, Senior Director of External Relations 617 273 1547 ddalena@huntingtontheatre.bu.edu

• Invitations to Huntington Legacy Society events • Private backstage tours upon request

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ANNOUNCING OUR 2014-2015 STUDENT MATINEE SEASON!

EDUCATION & COMMUNITY PROGRAMS BY THE NUMBERS

STUDENT MATINEE TICKETS ARE JUST $15! Performances start at 10am and are followed by lively Actors Forums with members of the cast. Student groups are also welcome at regularly scheduled performances. For more information and to reserve tickets, please contact Meg O’Brien at 617 273 1558 or mobrien@huntingtontheatre.bu.edu. Seats fill quickly, reserve today!

33,000 Students and community members are served through the Huntington’s nationally recognized Department of Education and Community Programs each year

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of Codman Academy graduates have been accepted to college

students from the Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing attend our student matinee series and receive theatre arts education and transportation, free of cost

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100%

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1ST PLACE Ashley Herbert is the 2014 August Wilson Monologue Competition national champion

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THE COLORED MUSEUM FRI., MAR. 13 THURS., APR. 2

COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA THURS., APR. 16 Our online Curriculum Guides are available for use in the classroom and include historical information, interesting facts about the production, lesson plans, and more. LEARN MORE ONLINE: Visit huntingtontheatre.org/studentmatinees

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POETRY OUT LOUD STUDENT PARTICIPATION BY YEAR 2008 7,538 2009 8,956 2010

12,320

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20,900

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TOP 5 Massachusetts’ Poetry Out Loud competition ranks in the top five nationally in school, student, and teacher participation

SUPPORT THE HUNTINGTON’S EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMS: Visit huntingtontheatre.org/donate

ASHLEY HERBERT NAMED 2014 AUGUST WILSON MONOLOGUE COMPETITION NATIONAL CHAMPION! Boston is proud to be the home of the 2014 August Wilson Monologue Competition National Champion, Ashley Herbert! “I saw how it connected with my life. That’s how I put my emotions into the monologue and made it my own,” says Ashley, a student at the Edward M. Kennedy Academy for Health Careers. In May, Ashley, along with Trinidad Ramkissoon of Boston Day & Evening Academy and Dinia Clairveaux of Snowden International School at Copley, traveled to New York City with Manager of Curriculum and Instruction Alexandra Truppi to join with contestants from seven other cities in a weekend of celebration and competition.

Ashley Herbert performs her monologue from Gem of the Ocean and Ashley and Denzel Washington at the National Competition in New York City

On the evening of the national finals, Ashley performed a monologue from Gem of the Ocean to win the top prize and more than $3,000 in scholarship money. Denzel Washington, having recently appeared on Broadway in Kenny Leon’s Tony Award-winning production of A Raisin in the Sun, made a surprise appearance at the competition and delivered an inspiring speech to the competitors. The evening also included a special performance from the Tupac Shakur Broadway musical Holler if Ya Hear Me, directed by Kenny Leon. This season marks the fifth year the Huntington will be facilitating the August Wilson Monologue Competition for Boston, which is also held regionally in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, Portland, and Seattle. The Boston regional finals, which are free and open to the public, will be held on the evening of Monday, February 2, 2015. The regional finals will be the culmination of the Huntington’s 8-10 week residency in eleven Boston high schools. Visit huntingtontheatre.org/education to learn more or contact Donna Glick, Director of Education and Community Programs, at djglick@huntingtontheatre.bu.edu or 617 273 1548 for more information on how your students can participate in 2015. Funded in part by the BPS Arts Expansion Initiative at EdVestors.

POETRY OUT LOUD CELEBRATES 10 YEARS! 2014 Massachusetts State Champion Courtney Stewart (Springfield Central High School) returned to Washington, DC to compete at nationals for the second year in a row where he gave moving recitations of “Monet Refuses the Operation” and “Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night” that earned him a spot in the top eight of his region (a step further than he advanced last year). Though he did not advance to the national finals, Courtney is an admired member of our community, and we are all very proud of his continued success.

DAVID MARSHALL

State champion Courtney Stewart at the Massachusetts Poetry Out Loud Competition.

Last year, Poetry Out Loud continued to see an increase in participation across Massachusetts, with 24,479 students participating from 85 schools. The Huntington’s Education Department has facilitated Poetry Out Loud since the program’s inception, and in 2014 the state ranks 4th in the nation for total number of schools participating, 3rd for number of students, and 3rd for total number of teachers participating. The program, run nationally by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, saw more than 375,000 students participate from more than 2,400 schools nationwide.

This fall marks the beginning of the 10th annual Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest and registration is now open. This free program is open to all high schools (grades 9-12) in Massachusetts. Please visit huntingtontheatre.org/pol for more information and to register your school today. Contact Donna Glick, Director of Education, with any questions at djglick@huntingtontheatre.bu.edu or 617 273 1548. Supported by The National Endowment for the Arts, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and Brookline Bank.

HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG

HUNTINGTON NEWS WELCOME THE NEW HPF CLASS The Huntington recently announced the 2014-2016 cohort of Huntington Playwriting Fellows: Mia Chung, John J King, Sam Marks, and Nina Louise Morrison. While in residence at the theatre for two years, these artists will participate in a writers’ collective with the Huntington’s artistic staff, are eligible for readings and workshops, and receive a modest grant. They follow in the footsteps of Lydia R. Diamond (Smart People and Stick Fly), Melinda Lopez (Becoming Cuba and Sonia Flew), Ronan Noone (The Atheist, Brendan, and this season’s The Second Girl), Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro (Before I Leave You), Kirsten Greenidge (Luck of the Irish), Ryan Landry (Ryan Landry’s “M”), and others. Mia Chung is the author of You for Me for You, This Exquisite Corpse, Skin in the Game (an adaptation of The Orphan of Zhao), Long Island Arpeggio, and We Spend Our Lives. You for Me for You received its world premiere at Woolly Mammoth Theatre and Boston premiere at Company One Theatre. Her work has been developed by the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, The Civilians’ R&D Group, Doorway Arts Ensemble, Hedgebrook, Icicle Creek Theater Festival, Inkwell Theatre, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Labyrinth Theater Company, Magic Theatre, Page Salon, Playwrights Realm, and the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. She received her BA from Yale, her Masters in Philosophy from the University of Dublin/Trinity College, and her MFA from Brown.

Sam Marks’ play The Delling Shore had a world premiere at the 2013 Humana Festival. Other productions include The Old Masters (Steppenwolf’s First Look Repertory of New Work), The Joke (Studio Dante), Brack’s Last Bachelor Party (59E59 Theaters), and Nelson and Bigger Man (Partial Comfort Productions). His plays have been workshopped and read at the Atlantic Theater Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, MCC, New York Theatre Workshop, Portland Center Stage, The Public Theater/ NYSF, Playwrights Horizons, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Sundance Institute Theatre, Vineyard Theatre, and many others. He is currently developing a project at HBO produced by Steve Buscemi and Stanley Tucci. Mr. Marks is the Briggs-Copeland Lecturer of playwriting in Harvard’s English department.

John J King is part Texan and part Tyrannosaur. He lives in Boston where he makes plays/art/music, and scares little children who thought dinosaurs were dead. He has a Bachelor of Arts from SUNY Boondocks and an accent from his mama. His plays include From Denmark with Love (IRNE Award nomination for Best New Play), Bear Patrol, and an adapted libretto for the German Gothic opera Der Vampyr. His work has been produced locally by Vaquero Playground, Mill 6 Collaborative, New Exhibition Room, and Whistler in the Dark. Goals include recording a great dance tune, making impossible things from cardboard, and singing in a girl group. J-RexPlays.com

Nina Louise Morrison is a playwright, director, and actor. She was a semi-finalist for the 2014 National Playwrights Conference and is the recipient of a Richard Rodgers Fellowship and a Shubert Foundation grant. Her plays have been read and produced by the One-Minute Play Festival, Company One Theatre, Fresh Ink Theatre, Wax Wings Productions, Bostonia Bohemia, and Interim Writers. She is a member of Project: Project and Accomplice Writers. She studied acting at the National Theatre Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, New Actors Workshop, and Oberlin College. She currently teaches at the University of New Hampshire, Mount Ida College, and GrubStreet. She received her MFA from Columbia University.

This program is supported by the Stanford Calderwood Fund for New American Plays and the Harry Kondoleon Playwriting Fund, with special thanks to The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.

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PERFORMANCE CALENDARS SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER 2014 GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER S

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your questions following the performance.

( f ) FIRST LOOK (h) HUMANITIES FORUM A post-performance talk on the (•) POST-SHOW CONVERSATIONS Dynamic post-show conversations with fellow audience members and Huntington staff held after most every performance (except select Saturday and Sunday evenings).

( * ) PRESS OPENING NIGHT ( s ) STUDENT MATINEE For groups of students in grades 6-12. Call 617 273 1558 for more information.

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TICKETS PRICES Start at $25 35 BELOW $25 for those 35 and under at every performance STUDENTS (25 AND UNDER) & MILITARY $15 GROUPS (10+) Discounts are available for Groups of 10 or more, plus groups have access to backstage tours, talks with artists, and space for receptions. Contact 617 273 1525 or groupsales@huntingtontheatre.org.

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SUBSCRIBERS Receive $10 off any additional tickets purchased.

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historical and literary context of the show featuring a leading local scholar.

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professionals aged 21 - 35 complete with a post-show party. Visit huntingtontheatre.org/35below for more information.

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NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION US POSTAGE PAID BOSTON, MA PERMIT # 52499

UPCOMING EVENTS STAGE & SCREEN AT THE COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE Stage & Screen is a collaboration between the Coolidge Corner Theatre and the Huntington that explores the depictions of shared themes in Huntington productions and acclaimed films. The fall lineup includes:

JUNGLE FEVER MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 AT 7PM Spike Lee explores interracial relationships against the urban backdrop of New York City in the 1990s. Starring Wesley Snipes, Annabella Sciorra, and Samuel L. Jackson. Join us for a conversation after the film with WGBH investigative reporter Phillip Martin and Todd Kreidler, adapter of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.

THE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17 AT 7PM Clifford Odets wrote the screenplay for this 1957 award-winning film about J.J. Hunsecker, a powerful newspaper columnist. Join us for a conversation after the film with Awake and Sing! director Melia Bensussen. Save the Dates for the Coolidge Corner Theatre and the Huntington 2015 events: January 5 & March 9. Tickets are $11 ($8 for Huntington subscribers) and may be purchased online at coolidge.org or at the Coolidge box office, located at 290 Harvard Street, Brookline.

INSIDERS EVENTS Join us for post-show talkbacks featuring guests from The Boston Globe. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 AT 7:30PM The Boston Globe’s Culture Desk reporter James Burnett will host a post-show talkback with members from the Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Meredith Forlenza. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5 AT 7:30PM The Boston Globe Ideas Editor Stephen Heuser will lead a post-show talkback after the evening performance of Ether Dome. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18 AT 7:30PM The Boston Globe’s theatre critic Don Aucoin lead a post-show talkback following the evening performance.