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'Downstage Center' to Air Interviews with 30 Tony Winners

By: May. 09, 2006
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Marking the 60th annual presentation of the American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards, XM Satellite Radio will launch a four week series of encore episodes of "Downstage Center," featuring interviews with Tony Award-winners.

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"Downstage Center" is the acclaimed collaboration between XM and the American Theatre Wing, a weekly program featuring theatre artists in in-depth conversations about their craft and career, which celebrates its own milestone – its 100th interview – on May 5. The encore performances will begin May 13th; and will run nightly at 10 pm eastern, 7 pm Pacific concluding on June 10, the night before the Tony Awards.

Tony winning guests featured on "Downstage Center" in May and June are: Bernadette Peters (5/13), Victoria Clark (5/14), Gary Beach (5/15), John Lithgow (5/16), Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (5/17), Denis O'Hare (5/18), Kathleen Marshall (5/19), Audra McDonald(5/20), Sutton Foster (5/21), Joanna Gleason (5/22), Donna Murphy (5/23), Tonya Pinkins (5/24), Cherry Jones (5/25), Matthew Broderick (5/26), Carol Channing (5/27), Susan Stroman (5/28), Jerry Herman (5/29), Jonathan Pryce (5/30), Michael Blakemore (5/31), Leslie Uggams (6/1), Bebe Neuwirth (6/2), Patti LuPone (6/3), Joel Grey (6/4), Andrea Martin (6/5), Bill Irwin (6/6), Phylicia Rashad (6/7), Lea Salonga (6/8), Michael Cerveris (6/9), and Barbara Cook (6/10).

"Since we began Downstage Center, the subscription base at XM has quadrupled, in addition to those who have access through DirecTV, America Online and our many other partners," said John von Soosten, program director of XM 28 On Broadway. "This encore series will allow many XM listeners to hear these interviews for the very first time."

The American Theatre Wing is best known as the creator of the Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards®, which it presents annually with the League of American Theatres and Producers. The Wing's other activities, dedicated to recognizing excellence and supporting education in theatre, include its "Working in the Theater" Seminars, now in their 27th year of telecasts on CUNY TV in New York and on other national cable outlets; "Guides to Careers in the Theatre," a video series developed for schools and libraries; a grants and scholarship program to New York City schools and not-for-profit theatre companies, which has awarded more than $2.5 million since its inception; the Theatre Intern Group, a career development program for young professionals; and SpringboardNYC, a two-week college-to-career boot camp for young performers moving to NYC. Visitors to www.americantheatrewing.org can view an archive of the seminars; the career guides and listen to "Downstage Center", all as free, on-demand streaming audio. Sondra Gilman is Chairman of the Board of the American Theatre Wing; Doug Leeds is President of the Board and Howard Sherman is Executive Director.

XM (NASDAQ: XMSR) is America's number-one satellite radio company, with more than 6.5 million subscribers. Broadcasting live daily from studios in Washington, D.C., New York City, the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Toronto and Montreal, XM's 2006 lineup includes more than 170 digital channels of choice from coast to coast: the most commercial-free music, premier sports, talk, comedy, children's and entertainment programming; and the most advanced traffic and weather information. For more information about XM hardware, programming and partnerships, visit www.xmradio.com.

New "Downstage Center" programs will also be broadcast, along with the encores, at the regular time of 6 pm on Fridays, Saturdays at noon, Sundays at 7 and Wednesdays at 12 am (all times Eastern). Following the initial run on XM, each program is made available for free, on-demand, internationally on ATW's website, www.americantheatrewing.org.

 

 




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