Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow

By: May. 10, 2011
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The New Group honored Wallace Shawn and Fred Wistow with the fifth annual Michael Mendelson Award. Founded in 2005, this award recognizes individuals who show outstanding commitment to the theatrical community. Past recipients include Robyn Goodman, Ethan Hawke, Ruth and Stephen Hendel, Wendy Ettinger and Derek McLane. BroadwayWorld was on hand and brings you photo coverage below.

Wallace Shawn's first play, Our Late Night, was honored with an Obie Award (1975). Other plays include A Thought in Three Parts, Aunt Dan and Lemon, The Fever (1990-91 Obie Award), The Designated Mourner and Grasses of a Thousand Colors. Other works: the 1977 translation of Machiavelli's The Mandrake and a translation of Brecht's The Threepenny Opera (Broadway 2006, directed by Scott Elliott). With André Gregory, he wrote the film My Dinner With André, and with Tom Cairns wrote the screenplay for Marie and Bruce. As an actor, he has appeared in film and on stage with credits including Manhattan, Radio Days, Vanya on 42nd Street, Clueless, The Wife, The Moderns and many others. Shawn's Essays (Haymarket Books) was just released in paperback. This season's Marie and Bruce marks Shawn's fifth collaboration with The New Group. In 2005, he appeared there in a revival of David Rabe's Hurlyburly directed by Scott Elliott. His play Aunt Dan and Lemon was presented by the company in 2003, and in 2007, he appeared in The Fever (both under Elliott's direction). The Music Teacher, a play with music written with brother AlLen Shawn and directed by Tom Cairns, was presented at The New Group in 2006.

A former member of the Board of The New Group and a graduate of P.S. 91 in the Bronx, Fred Wistow currently serves as Chairman of a non-profit organization serving the mental health field, the Psychotherapy Network, Inc., writing periodically for its bi-monthly magazine, the Psychotherapy Networker. He is also a trustee of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. Since 1999, when he retired as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Time Warner's Warner Music Group, he has worked as a consultant to a variety of individuals and businesses.

The New Group continues to produce award winning, critically acclaimed work after 15 triumphant seasons. This artist-driven, non-profit company maintains an ensemble approach to developing adventurous and relevant contemporary theater. Earlier this season, The New Group presented the world premiere of Tommy Nohilly's Blood From A Stone. The company is currently represented Off-Broadway by Wallace Shawn's Marie and Bruce, directed by Scott Elliott and starring Marisa Tomei and Frank Whaley in the title roles. Last season, The New Group presented the extended run of Kenneth Lonergan's The Starry Messenger featuring Matthew Broderick, the sold-out revival of Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind directed by Ethan Hawke, and the world premiere of the new musical The Kid, directed by Scott Elliott. Past productions include Ayub Khan-Din's Rafta, Rafta..., Jonathan Marc Sherman's Things We Want, Jay Presson Allen's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and David Rabe's Hurlyburly, among many others. Additionally, Mike Leigh's Two Thousand Years, Abigail's Party, Smelling a Rat, Goose-Pimples and Ecstasy, as well as Wallace Shawn's The Fever and Aunt Dan and Lemon. The New Group is a recipient of the 2004 Tony® Award for Best Musical (Avenue Q). Most recently, The New Group was honored with several nominations for The Kid, including Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Award nominations (Outstanding Musical) and recognized with Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for The Kid (Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical) and Blood From A Stone (Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play). Additionally, the company and Artistic Director Scott Elliott have been cited by Drama Desk 2010-2011 with a Special Award for presenting contemporary new voices, and for uncompromisingly raw and powerful productions.

Photo Credit: Kevin Thomas Garcia

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Scott Elliott

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Wallace Shawn

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Fred Wistow

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Kristen Johnston

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Kristen Johnston and Frank Whaley

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Frank Whaley

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Matthew Broderick

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Christopher Sieber

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Lucas Steele and Christopher Sieber

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Lucas Steele

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Kathryn Erbe

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Matthew Modine

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Bobby Cannavale

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Natasha Lyonne

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
James Ransone and Natasha Lyonne

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Claybourne Elder

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Grant Shaud

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Devin Ratray

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Katie Finneran

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Darren Goldstein

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Darren Goldstein and Katie Finneran

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Karen Young

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Marin Ireland

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Allison Wright

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Reshma Shetty

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
Michael Zam and Jack Lechner

Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
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Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
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Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
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Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow
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Photo Coverage: The New Group Honors Shawn & Wistow



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