BWW Interview: Lynne Kaufman of DIVINE MADNESS at MarshStream Explores the Boundaries Between Creativity and Insanity
If your former spouse wrote a book describing how they left you to take up with someone else, even quoting your personal letters during the breakup – what would you do? That is the tantalizing question explored by Lynne Kaufman in her newest play, 'Divine Madness,' debuting January 30th and 31st on MarshStream. Local stage favorites Julia McNeal and Charles Shaw Robinson will play the roles of celebrated writer Elizabeth Hardwick and poet Robert Lowell, who had a long and intensely complicated marriage. Lowell went on the win the Pulitzer for this work, while Hardwick was left destroyed. What are the chances you would reunite after that kind of public betrayal?
BroadwayWorld spoke with Kaufman from her home in San Francisco to learn more about what prompted her to write about Hardwick and Lowell, and also to talk about her long and productive partnership with The Marsh, where her play Who Killed Sylvia Plath? recently won top honors at the The MarshStream International Solo Fest. Kaufman is a terrific conversationalist, at once uncommonly erudite and naturally chatty. It is also clear that she is a born storyteller. Even the simplest question can lead her to unexpected places, like a fascinating tale of meeting spiritual guru Ram Dass in Hawaii.
Stephen Hamilton Joins Friends Of Bay Street
Friends of Bay Street, the group formed to build Bay Street Theater a new home, have hired Stephen Hamilton as the new Director of External Affairs. He comes to this position with many years as a successful arts administrator, as well as being one of the original co-founders of Bay Street Theater itself. Most recently, he served as the Acting Executive Director of the Sag Harbor Cinema.
92Y's Unterberg Poetry Center Celebrates Poetry Month with Neruda, Nabokov And Much More
92Y's Unterberg Poetry Center continues its celebration of National Poetry Month with archival recordings of readings by many of the best-known poets, including Maya Angelou, W.H. Auden (pictured above), e.e. cummings, T.S. Eliot, Robert Frost, Pablo Neruda (his first U.S. reading), Kay Ryan, U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, Adrienne Rich, Mary Oliver , Tracy K. Smith and Seamus Heaney, among many others. All of the poets mentioned have appeared at 92Y as part of the Poetry Center's main reading series; the Poetry Center began in 1939.
Bay Street Theater Announces TITLE WAVE: The 5th Annual New Works Festival
Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts is pleased to announce Title Wave at Bay Street: The 5th Annual New Works Festival, May 4 - 6, 2018. All readings are free, but tickets are required, as these events typically sell out. Tickets are available now at baystreet.org or by calling the Bay Street Theater Box Office at 631-725-9500, open Tuesday through Saturday 11 am to 5 pm.
BWW Interviews: A Chat with Bay Street's Artistic Director Scott Schwartz
The Hamptons theatre scene will be getting the Summer started early this year as Sag Harbor's Bay Street Theatre will be holding their Second Annual New Works Festival. Being held this weekend, April 24th through 26th, preparations are in full swing for some exciting new works to be displayed in a theme of 'Rediscovery'. Artistic Director Scott Schwartz took time to speak with me today about the festival.
Richard Topol Stars as Yogi Berra in Primary Stages' BRONX BOMBERS, Beg. Tonight
Primary Stages has announced that Richard Topol (Broadway's The Normal Heart, The Merchant of Venice) will assume the role of Yogi Berra in their World Premiere production of Bronx Bombers, written and directed by Tony Award nominee Eric Simonson (Broadway's Lombardi). Due to artistic differences, Joe Pantoliano, initially announced to play the role of Yogi Berra, will not continue with the production. The production has delayed its first performance to tonight, September 20. Opening night remains scheduled for October 8 at 7pm. Bronx Bombers runs through October 19 at Primary Stages at The Duke on 42nd Street.
Richard Topol to Star as Yogi Berra in Primary Stages' BRONX BOMBERS
Primary Stages has announced that Richard Topol (Broadway's The Normal Heart, The Merchant of Venice) will assume the role of Yogi Berra in their World Premiere production of Bronx Bombers, written and directed by Tony Award nominee Eric Simonson (Broadway's Lombardi). Due to artistic differences, Joe Pantoliano, initially announced to play the role of Yogi Berra, will not continue with the production. The production has delayed its first performance to Friday, September 20. Opening night remains scheduled for October 8 at 7pm. Bronx Bombers runs through October 19 at Primary Stages at The Duke on 42nd Street.
Scott Schwartz Named New Artistic Director of Bay Street Theatre
Bay Street Theatre is pleased to announce that Scott Schwartz, a leading voice of the next generation of American theater, has joined Bay Street as its new Artistic Director. His tenure at Bay Street will inaugurate a new vision for the theater beginning with the 2014 season, to ensure an exciting and sustainable future for our cultural community. Schwartz is an internationally acclaimed artist whose work has been seen on and off Broadway, across the United States, in Great Britain, and Asia. Over the past twenty years, he has built a reputation for pursuing and embracing a wide range of works for the stage, from new plays to classics to musicals and opera.
ACT Presents THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL As Well As Dance, Theatre, Visual Art Events
Basic Monthly Members of ACT - A Contemporary Theatre have plenty to see in the month of May, featuring the debut of new works from KT Niehoff / Lingo Dance, New Century Theatre Company, SOIL Artist-Run Gallery, RAWSTOCK, and Hedgebrook's Women Playwrights Festival, as well as the 2010 Mainstage season opener, Horton Foote's enduring American classic The Trip to Bountiful.
ACT Presents THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL As Well As Dance, Theatre, Visual Art Events
Basic Monthly Members of ACT - A Contemporary Theatre have plenty to see in the month of May, featuring the debut of new works from KT Niehoff / Lingo Dance, New Century Theatre Company, SOIL Artist-Run Gallery, RAWSTOCK, and Hedgebrook's Women Playwrights Festival, as well as the 2010 Mainstage season opener, Horton Foote's enduring American classic The Trip to Bountiful.