Temperature Rising: Lauren Kennedy & Alan Campbell

The temperature is rising on Hot Summer Nights at the Kennedy as Broadway stars and off-stage couple Alan Campbell (Contact, Sunset Boulevard) and Lauren Kennedy (Spamalot, Les Miserables, Sunset Boulevard) have taken the creative reigns for the up-coming 2007 season.  Campbell steps in as the Artistic Producer while his wife, Kennedy directs Romance/Romance.

Hot Summer Nights is a professional theatre company whose mission is to serve the citizens of Raleigh, Wake County and Eastern Carolina by "keeping the lights on" and producing professional theatrical performances in the Kennedy Theatre at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts during the summer months.  Let's take a moment to talk with this talented (and loving) team...

Eugene Lovendusky: Good morning and thanks very much for taking the time out of your busy summer schedules to chat with BroadwayWorld.com! For those theatre fans who don't know, what is Hot Summer Nights all about and what can audiences expect to find this season?

Lauren Kennedy: Audiences can expect an intimate night of theatre! The six shows are picked for their variety as well as their merit.  This summer the offerings include a Pulitzer Prize-winning play, a daring musical about romance, a revue celebrating the music of Fats Waller, a little Noel Coward…What else could you want? If you are a season ticket holder, you are assured that every other week during the summer, you are going to have a wonderful night out and see great theatre.

Alan Campbell: Our mission is to do six great shows; both small musicals and plays, with a varied cast and crew of local professionals as well as bring actors and directors from NY and beyond.  We try to entertain as well as present thought provoking pieces that Raleigh audiences rarely have a chance to see.

Eugene: What about Hot Summer Nights sparked your interest to work with the company this summer?

Lauren: I have been talking for a long time about my desire to try my hand at directing.  But hadn't had the time, and as it always seems to work in show business, this just sort o f seemed to fall into place.  The original director had to withdraw from the project because he got another job, and since I know the guys how run the company down here (my dad and brother), they were willing to give a novice a chance!

Alan: It's kind of a family affair with Lauren's brother and father having gotten the ball rolling a couple of years ago. Both Lauren and I have done shows with the series and have had wonderful experiences. I have had the desire for some time to learn my craft from the "other side" and this seemed the perfect opportunity.

Eugene: I understand Alan last appeared on the Raleigh stage in their 2006 production of Oleanna.  What was that experience like and did it influence your decision to come back this year?

Alan: Absolutely! Doing Mamet's Oleanna in this intimate space was a real thrill. It also caused a bit of a stir, with audiences remaining to discuss and even argue the plays points. It made me appreciate Raleigh audiences and made me newly aware of the power of theater.

Eugene: What is required of an Artistic Producer? How involved are you in the creative vis ion of each show?

Alan: I have to laugh. We have some wonderful directors this year and so I feel my job is more to facilitate their visions the best way I can. But I have also moved a lot of furniture, set up risers and kept the rehearsal bathroom clean.

Eugene: What are the benefits of working in regional theatre versus Broadway?

Lauren: Well, I feel like it is same.  No matter where you are working, you are still a group of creative people telling a story.  The joy is exactly the same.  

Alan: When you are a small company you can be more nimble and even take a few more chances.  You have to really rely on the text and the actors and directors because you are so limited in the staging and sets.

Eugene: Lauren is directing a 10-day run of Tony-nominated Romance/Romance.  Is this the first time you've taken the Director's Wheel?

Lauren: As I mentioned before this is my first production as director!  But I am also spending the latter part of the summer directing Les Miserables for the Wake County Public Schools.  It is a double dose of directing. I am going from a 4 person show with Romance/Romance to a cast of 75 high school students!   I am sure to get a real education!

Eugene: What attracts you to Romance/Romance?

Lauren: I've been interested in Romance/Romance since I was in college.  I sang "How Did I End Up Here" for one of my boards.  But beyond that, as I am rediscovering the show, I am interested in the way the show tells two completely different stories in the two acts, and both stories end with completely different sentiment, but they are actually quite similar.  In both of the stories, whether it is in turn of the century Vienna, or the summer of 2007, people are still looking to make human contact.  

Eugene: What sort of approach are you taking to directing Romance/Romance and how is it different from anything else you've done? How it is the same?

Lauren: It is different in the fact that you have to look at the big picture.  When you are a n actor you only have to think about what you bring to the table, but as director you have to make sure all those individual pieces come together.  

Eugene: Have you had any colleagues, directors or producers in the past that have influenced the way you work today, especially with Hot Summer Nights?

Alan: They all do in one way or another. As a producer I try really hard to treat everyone that works our shows in the way that I would want to be treated.  Trevor Nunn's gentleman-like handling of everyone and Susan Stroman's trusting spirit come to mind.

Lauren: I am constantly learning from everyone!  There is no doubt that you are influenced by those you work with.  For me it isn't just directors, but other actors as well. My husband Alan has really been a great guide for me; he is incredibly supportive and helpful. I have been so fortunate to have worked with some amazing people, and absolutely directors like Mike Nichols and Trevor Nunn have been a big influence, but almost more importantly I feel my experience in North Carolina growing up around a professional regional theatre (NCT) where I had the opportunity at a formative age to work with great actors – like Terrence Mann and Beth Leavel – that really set me on my path!

Eugene: Tell us a little about the making of your duet album "Beyond Broadway: A Celebration of Love in Song."

Lauren: That is something we are very excited about, but have barely begun to really work on it.  What can I say? We have been side-tracked by other projects!  But it is forthcoming!

Alan: We have been promising ourselves this for a long time. We have been fortunate enough to do several shows together as well as a cabaret piece. We figured that we would love to go in a studio, mix it all up and see what we could come up with. Play to our strengths and have some fun.

Eugene: What other theatrical projects have you undertaken, working closely alongside your spouse?

Lauren: Anything we could!  I love working with Alan. Right after our daughter was born we were offered a number of things together. We did Breakfast at Tiffany's at The MUNY and Beauty and the Beast.  We developed our little cabaret show… It works great for us, obviously as a way to keep our family together, but also because we really trust and respect each others' talent. 

Alan: Since our daughter was born we have tried to stay as close together as a family as possible. We are always looking for ways to work together and have been fortunate to find some opportunities. I know some couples have trouble with this but since that is the way we met (in Sunset Boulevard), we trust each other's talent and instincts so much.  It just seems natural.

Eugene: For all the hopeless romantics reading, take us back a few years and tell the story of how you two met!

Alan: Well, I looked back in a journal I kept during the Sunset years and in it I wrote about the night Lauren, as the Betty Schaefer 2nd-cover was thrust on the stage without even a put-in rehearsal. She was 20 and in her first Broadway show. And a BIG show! She handled herself so beautifully and confidently that I just marveled at the job she did. She also kissed me like she meant it. I came home and wrote of her, later that night: "This girl has got it." I just knew she would do well and we became good friends and…

Lauren: Well, on the first day of rehearsal for Sunset Boulevard, he bounded into the room and I thought to myself, "That's it!" Over the next year and a half we became great friends, and I shamelessly threw myself at him… eventually he noticed!  Almost six years to the day we first met, we got married.

Eugene: What can audiences hope/plan to see you undertaking next?

Lauren: I am really excited about finishing up my second album which features incredible writers of this generation!  We are looking to release it this fall, so I will be out doing concerts and promoting it! 

Alan: I am going to do Noel Coward's Hayfever at the Old Globe in San Diego this summer and I will be e-mailing like crazy with everyone at Hot Summer Nights!

Eugene: Thank you very much for this chat and congratulations on your great creative undertakings this summer! Break a leg with your projects and have a great season!

For more information on Hot Summer Nights, visit www.hotsummernightsatthekennedy.org

Alan Campbell and Lauren Kennedy, photo by Linda Lenzi (2007)
Alan Campbell with Meredith Jones in Hot Summer Night's Oleanna, (2006)
Alan Campbell and Lauren Kennedy, photo by Craig Brockman (2006)
Lauren Kennedy and Alan Campbell in Beyond Broadway concert, (2005)
Alan Campbell and Lauren Kennedy with Glenn Close of Sunset Boulevard, photo by Linda Lenzi (2004)