Charles Busch and Theresa Rebeck to Appear On THEATER: ALL THE MOVING PARTS, November 24

In this new episode of “THEATER: All the Moving Parts”, host Patrick Pacheco talks with two of the theater's most prolific and engaging writers. First, playwright Charles Busch takes us on a roller-coaster ride through his life and career, as recounted in his new memoir: “Leading Lady”. 

Then, joining Pacheco is Theresa Rebeck, who continues to provoke audiences with new entries to her extraordinarily prolific career: the Broadway comedy drama, “I Need That”, starring Danny DeVito, and the Off-Broadway play, “Dig”.  The program premieres on Friday, November 24 at 8:30PM on CUNY TV and streams at https://bit.ly/36hhnIu

 

These riveting interviews serve as a double-feature of comedy and pathos as Busch, with a candor and outrageousness reflected in his memoirs, opines on: the porous membrane between male and female sexuality among drag artists; perceiving his personal life as a long-running situation comedy (the “episode” as a go-go boy is among the funniest); and the way in which so many of his “mother roles” may well be a search for his own, who died when he was young. 

 

In conversation with Pacheco during the second half, Rebeck is open, honest and amusing as she, a book-lover, speaks about her “cluttered” life—although she clarifies that she is not a hoarder nor, for that matter, is Sam, the wise-cracking hero played by Danny DeVito in  “I Need That”. Rebeck confesses to her attraction for losers, such as the characters of “Dig”. They are the latest additions to her prodigious gallery of lost souls, which has made her the most-produced female playwright in America.  

 

Patrick Pacheco is an Emmy-winning commentator and journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, Esquire.com, and many other periodicals. He wrote the 2009 Disney documentary “Waking Sleeping Beauty,” and is the co-writer, with Maria Cassi, of the play, “My Life with Men…and other animals.” He is the writer and editor of the Amazon best seller “American Theatre Wing, An Oral History: 100 Years, 100 Voices, 100 Million Miracles”. He is the co-writer with Chita Rivera of “Chita, A Memoir”, published by HarperOne. He has also co-written with Erik Jackson, the new musical “Christmas in Connecticut” which premiered in November 2022 at Connecticut's Goodspeed Opera House and will be presented this November and December at the Pioneer Theatre in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

 

Charles Busch is the author The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, which ran nearly two years on Broadway and received a Tony nomination for Best Play, and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, one of the longest running plays in Off-Broadway history. He wrote and starred in the film versions of his plays, Psycho Beach Party and Die Mommie Die, the latter of which won him the Best Performance Award at the Sundance Film Festival.  Mr. Busch is the recipient of a special Drama Desk Award for career achievement as both performer and playwright. The Dramatist's Guild has honored him with the Flora Roberts Award for sustained commitment to the theatre.

 

Theresa Rebeck is an award-winning playwright whose work has been staged across the globe. Her Broadway credits include I Need That; Bernhardt/Hamlet; Dead Accounts; Seminar; Mauritius. Other notable work includes Dig; Mad House; Seared; Downstairs; The Scene; The Water's Edge; Loose Knit; The Family of Mann; Spike Heels; Bad Dates; The Butterfly Collection; Our House; The Understudy; View of the Dome; What We're Up Against; Omnium Gatherum (Pulitzer Prize finalist). As a director, her work has been seen at The Alley Theatre, the REP Company, Dorset Theatre Festival, the Orchard Project and the Folger Theatre. Rebeck is the recipient of the William Inge New Voices Playwriting Award, the PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Award, and a Lilly Award.

 

 

Independent New York television station CUNY TV has been educating and informing city viewers for more than three decades. CUNY TV airs on these channels: Spectrum/Optimum 75 | RCN 77 | Verizon FiOS 30 | Digital Antenna 25.3

 

Streaming on YouTube at https://bit.ly/36hhnIu.