American Theatre Wing - Newsletter

September 2009

ATW Program Alumni Take Center Stage, on the Fringe

Springboard 2008 Alumna Camille Harris works on a song at Springboard 08 Laughing, crying, singing, and blending coffee, American Theatre Wing SpringboardNYC and Theatre Intern Group alumni took their place at the fringe - The New York International Fringe Festival, that is. Last month, more than 200 productions from all over the world were produced as part of the festival - and among the 1,500 people working to make Fringe happen were some pretty busy SpringboardNYC and Theatre Intern Group (TIG) Alumni. More than a dozen program alumni wrote, directed, produced or performed in the 2009 festival. Just as no two shows were alike, every experience for the alums was different. Every experience, however, immersed them further in the business of making theatre, bridging the gap between college and the professional arts world - exactly the goal of TIG and SpringboardNYC.

In fact, two productions produced by program alumni were selected for the FringeNYC Encores Series, a short extension showcase that provides audience members a second chance to see some of the Fringe Festival's favorite shows. Camille Harris (SpringboardNYC) and Justin Pifer (TIG) have both been in the city just one year, and have been part of The Wing family all along. Their shows, Muffin Man and The Boys Upstairs will be part of the FringeNYC Encores Series, running from Sept 10-27.

Springboard 2008 Alumna Camille Harris moved to the city last fall and wrote, directed, and produced, Muffin Man, a musical about a young, coffee-slinging, barista in love. Regarding the experience, Camille said, "...the initial stages were difficult...but the end was really validating. If I can produce, write and direct a successful show in the Fringe Festival virtually by myself, what can't I do?" Camille says her experiences with The Wing and her participation in SpringboardNYC made producing her own work possible, "I remember SpringboardNYC Mentor Sue Frost speaking about her start as a female producer in the business, I felt so inspired that I applied to both the BMI Workshop and the Ars Nova Theater ANT FEST that same day," she said.

TIG members also seized the opportunity to use their creative initiative to produce shows at the Fringe Festival. TIG member Justin Allen Pifer moved to the city last August and says"it's been a crazy, fun, exciting, trying, and fulfilling year." Justin, who became involved as a producer for The Boys Upstairs through old-fashioned networking, says he's gotten a lot more out of Fringe than he thought he might, "What I have learned the most on this project is how to organize a team, focus on the story and to sell it. As a producer, I consider myself an artist. I am an artist with people as my media and you'd be surprised how much of an art negotiating personalities can be."

Like many recent college graduates in the community, Justin started with an internship and found the Theatre Intern Group. "TIG provided me with a broad knowledge of how this industry works as a total unit. I've learned that doing what you want professionally in the theater community is totally possible, you just have to stay true to yourself, surround yourself with good people - and see a lot of theatre!!!"

For young artists in New York City, opportunities to be part of the theatrical community are essential. Nidia Medina, who wrote the moving and autobiographical Every Love Story Ends in Tears about her grandparents' love story featured in FringeNYC shared, "I remember a mentor at Springboard saying, 'There is a wall up around New York theater...but the wall is made of people.' I think about that every time I meet with someone I don't know or start a new project, SpringboardNYC at the American Theatre Wing gave me the confidence and the perspective to look at the theater world of New York and see possibilities instead of insurmountable obstacles."

The American Theatre Wing celebrates all the ATW Alumni involved in 2009 FringeNYC festival that included:

From TIG
Zack Baer (Producer), Lucas McMahon (Production Assistant) Cephalopod: a Play Below Sea Level

From SpringboardNYC
Lexie Pregosin (Director) John and Greg's High School Reunion
Ilana Becker (Director), Julie Goldin (Producer), Gregory Jacobs-Roseman (Sound Designer) Series 6.2 Paint on Canvas
Pat Marran (Production Assistant) Candide Americana
Paul Gregg (Actor) Breathe
Kyle Haggerty (Producer) Daily Sounds
Ashley Marinaccio (Director) Girl Power
Nidia Medina (Writer), Megan Jacoby (Producer) Every Love Story Ends in Tears.

Back To Broadway. . .Circa 1977

This Is Broadway with Isobel Robins and Richard Seff Because theatre is, by its nature, fleeting, the discovery of remnants of Broadway's past is always cause for celebration. That's why the American Theatre Wing is delighted to partner with The Broadway League (its longtime collaborator on The Tony Awards) to make available a time capsule of Broadway from the 1970s, coming later this month to both americantheatrewing.org and the League's IBDB.com.

This is Broadway was a promotional project of the League 32 years ago. It consisted of weekly three-and-a-half minute interviews with Broadway luminaries, hosted by Isobel Robins and Richard Seff, and syndicated to radio stations around the country. Filled with charm and wit, these short features haven't been heard since their original broadcast, and include among 70 programs some familiar, but now silenced, voices, such as Comden & Green, Cy Coleman, Yul Brynner, Jerry Orbach, Jack Gilford, Hermione Gingold and Richard Kiley.

But still going strong are the original hosts, Robins and Seff, who returned to the studio over the summer to add some latter-day material. They subsequently reminisced a bit with ATW about the original days of This is Broadway - though both admitted that even they hadn't heard the interviews in more than a quarter century.

"The project began with me, Lee Reynolds and Harvey Sabinson," explained Robins. "Lee and I were both members of the League - it was a much smaller group back then - and I was on the publicity committee. We were trying to figure out in our small way to bring Broadway around, before it became the big thing it is today - make it a more available spot."

Both Robins and Seff had been performers; Seff became an agent (and then returned to acting years later), while Robins became a producer as well.

So how did Seff get involved? "I was the one she called because we knew each other," said Seff. "We'd acted together in our early life, and I was doing a lot of voiceover work at the time."

Asked about the interviews they recall most fondly, both (in separate discussions) immediately agreed on one guest: a then-new actress on the scene. "I remember being amazed by the brightness and beauty of the very young Meryl Streep," said Seff. Robins concurred, saying, "She just knocked me out as a person."

Seff also recalled another actress, who had already risen to fame: "I was a little bit in love with Liv Ullman, and she came in, so that was thrilling." But he also remembered his most daunting interview: "I remember being terrified (though I don't sound it on the show) at interviewing the legendary Audrey Wood, agent to Tennessee Williams, William Inge and most other prominent playwrights. She'd been my first boss when I became an agent in the mid-fifties, and now here I was having her as a guest on 'This Is Broadway,' talking to her as though we were peers. All I know is, this 'peer' was a nervous wreck."

Part of the appeal of the program arises from spontaneity. "The most exciting part," said Robins, "was that it was ad-libbed and I'd been brought up in improvisational theatre. And it worked out, which is amazing." Seff echoed that thought, remembering, "I was mostly told, 'Tomorrow you're meeting Yul Brynner.' I was prepared only in that they were usually in something currently."

When asked about the most surprising experience among the dozens of interviews, Robins replied, "They were all surprising. Since we ad-libbed, we found things that even they hadn't said before."

Editions of This is Broadway will be released weekly via the League and Wing websites, as well as on iTunes beginning September 29 and will continue through into 2010.

What They Said

Brian d'Arcy James from Shrek on ATW's Downstage Center, August 2009

"That's what acting is to me: you're not yourself. You're creating something different and unique. Disappearing in this makeup (as Shrek) is extraordinary because, first of all, you learn so much about mask work and this tradition of being anonymous in this other being. It's an extraordinary and liberating thing."