Arts Week

Next Long Wharf Season Offers Two Premieres

Long Wharf Theatre has announced the slate of shows for its 49th season.

The season will begin with a farce, The Underpants, by Steve Martin, directed by Long Whar's Artistic Director Gordon Edelstein in co-production with Hartford Stage. Martin’s play is based on Carl Sternheim’s play Die Hose, which was banned in Germany in 1911 for its risqué content. Then, Phylicia Rashad will make her Long Wharf Theatre directorial debut with Fences, the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic by August Wilson

Heidi Schreck, known for her brilliant career as both an actor and a playwright, will debut her newest work, The Consultant, on Stage II in January. The Consultant deals with the financial meltdown, the absurd world of the modern workplace and the unlikely relationships formed there. Kip Fagan, who recently directed Jesse Eisenberg and Vanessa Redgrave in The Revisionist at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in NewYorl.

Amy Herzog's 4000 Miles plays the Mainstage in late February. It's a very honest look at the unsteady relationship between a grandmother and grandson who are worlds apart generationally

Athol Fugard makes his first appearance on stage in over a decade in the world premiere of his most recent work The Shadow of the Hummingbird. This sensitive portrayal of an 80-year-old man giving advice to his young grandson will take place on Stage II in April. “This is a great work by a late master about living and dying, and how to live one’s life” Edelstein said. “It is written by and starring one of the most important voices in the world theatre in the last fifty years. We are honored that Athol has chosen to give us his newest play.”


The season will conclude with the musical The Last Five Years, taking place in May on the Mainstage.The heartbreaking romance from Jason Robert Brown is  a portrait of a marriage.


Subscriptions are currently on sale. Single tickets for the 2013-14 Season will go on sale Thursday, Aug. 1. For more information about the 2013-14 season, or to purchase tickets, visit www.longwharf.org or call 203-787-4282. 

Theater Review: Looped -- The Bushnell

Stefanie Powers. Photo: Ian Ibbetson

It’s a Recording Session from Hell When the Star Gets Looped
By Lauren Yarger
A single line of dialogue is the catalyst for Matthew Lombardo’s multi-layered and laugh-filled play Looped making a tour stop this week at The Bushnell in Hartford.

It seems the sound is garbled on one important line of dialogue in the 1965 film “Die, Die My Darling,” so star Tallulah Bankhead (Stefanie Powers), who has returned to films after a 12-year hiatus, is summoned to re-record (or “loop”) the line in sync with the film. Sounds uncomplicated, but when the larger-than-life actress known for her outrageous language and behavior gets a little looped herself on alcohol and cocaine, the recording session is anything but simple for film’s editor Danny (Brian Hutchison, who played the role on Broadway) and sound engineer Steve (Matthew Montelongo).

Throwing off her fur coat and strutting about in a dark-blue evening dress (William Ivey Long, design), Tallulah makes repeated attempts to record the line “And so Patricia, as I was telling you, that deluded rector has, in literal effect, closed the church to me.”

Danny’s frustration grows with each unsuccessful attempt. Steve keeps his distance up in the second-story booth, offering only a few words while a growing battle of words and will ensues between Tallulah and Danny. (Adrian W. Jones designs the set; Michael Gilliam designs the lighting to include the look of the film being shown).

At one point Steve leaves to get another film reel and the conversation turns personal. Tallulah intuitively senses that Danny’s angst about the recording session really is a manifestation of a deeper frustration in his personal life. He hides behind his work, she tells him.

He counters with an accusation that Tallulah’s outrageous behavior is a cover for inability to deal with reality. Her reality, it turns out, is a bit harder to deal with than he might have imagined. Dark secrets are shared and the two form a bond of tentative friendship.

It’s funny and poignant, as directed by Rob Ruggiero, with complexities for the stage that keep that “And so Patricia” line from sounding repetitive. Montelongo manages to turn a few one-word responses into a developed character. Powers simply becomes Tallulah Bankhead. The perky jet-setting, mystery-solving character from the TV series Hart to Hart is nowhere to be found.

There are some drawbacks, however. The intimate show is ill-placed in the cavernous Mortensen Hall (which had a small house on opening night) and the sound (Michael Hooker, design) has an echo quality, as though the voices are muffled in a large space.

As it turns out, this tour is poignant in real life as well as on stage. The recording session is based on a true incident. “Die, Die My Darling” turned out to be Tallulah’s last film, and the part of “Patricia” was played by none other than Stefanie Powers. In addition, Powers stepped into the role of Tallulah for Valerie Harper, who had starred on Broadway, but who had to drop out of the tour when she was diagnosed with cancer. (The tour had been scheduled to launch here earlier this year, but with the cast change, the Hartford run was rescheduled to this week).

Looped runs through Sunday at the Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford. Performances:
Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 pm; Friday at 8 pm; Saturday at 2 and 8 pm; Sunday at 1 and 6:30 pm. Tickets $35-$60: (860) 987-5900; www.bushnell.org.

Theater Review: In a Year With 13 Moons

Mickey Solis and Bill Camp. Photo © Richard Termine

Yale Rep’s In a Year With 13 Moons Puzzles Audience – and Critic
By Lauren Yarger
As a critic, my first obligation is to be honest, so my readers will trust me when reporting on my experiences in the theater. After seeing the world premiere of In a Year With 13 Moons at Yale Rep, I have to tell you the truth. I didn’t get it. 

I have no idea what is about, really, even with the aid of the script, so if you are looking for expert analysis on this one, I need to refer you to another source who appreciates absurdist, existential theater. This play might be great for those of you who love this type of theater, but it’s completely lost on me.

In an effort to shed some light on the experience, however, I will tell you what I can and offer, in italics, what I was thinking at various points during the presentation. Then I’ll bring you a report of what the ladies in line in the restroom had to say after the show. These comments really are more insightful than any attempt at analysis I could provide.

Commissioned by Yale Rep In a Year With 13 Moons is adapted for the stage by its star, Bill Camp, and Director Robert Woodruff, who previously teamed on Notes From Underground at Yale Rep (the film and screenplay are by Rainer Werner Fassbinder; the literal translation is by Louisa Proske). Set in 1978 Frankfurt, it tells the story of Erwin (Camp) who had an operation in Casablanca and who is now Elvira. “Now, adrift and alone, Elvira resists the people and places of the past, desperately searching for the identity and love she’s never known.” That synopsis is thanks to Yale’s Senior Associate Director of Communications Steven Padia, which I never would have been able to come up with myself. I’ll add that the whole of the action is leading up to Elvira’s suicide and is very depressing.  

Lauren’s thoughts: They paid for this?

My brain, you see, had started to shut down (self defense, you know) after the opening scenes in which a man making out with Elvira discovers her breasts and is disgusted. He and a bunch of people beat her up and with her pants down, Elvira crawls around the stage while reciting prose that makes no sense. Meanwhile another woman appears on a platform with her legs up and open for another man’s sexual pleasure. Elvira chokes herself while masturbating. Her abusive lover Christoph (Babs Olusanmokun) beats her and tells her she is repulsive and ugly as a pig. He tells her he is leaving her.

“I’m getting out,” he says.

Lauren’s thoughts: Please take me with you.

There’s a reason why they don’t put intermissions in existential shows like this: given a chance to flee, most of the audience will. The ploy wasn’t enough to stop a number of people from getting up and walking out during the play, however.

Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse, the absurd story started to strike me funny. Elvira used to be a slaughterer, by trade, and hopes to find a job in that field. Suddenly we’re in the slaughterhouse and a man covered in blood walks slowly across the stage carrying a dead pig person (a human in an oversized pig head). As dialogue continues, other blood-covered people carry or drag pig persons across the stage until a blood-covered man carries out a bloody dead man, rather than a pigman (with some sort of great significance, I’m sure).

Lauren’s thoughts: Holding in this burst of laughter is really starting to hurt my sides. If I start, I won’t be able to stop.

All of this action takes place on David Zinn’s dim set (Jennifer Tipton designs the lighting) enhanced by video projections (Peter Nigrini, design) and musical notes, noises and bursts played by composer Michael Attias, who also designs the show’s sound, and one other musician in the pit.

There are a number of people Elvira encounters along the way: Irene and Marie-Ann, his former wife, and their daughter (Jacqueline Kim, who provides a much-needed dose of beauty, and Mariko Nakasone), Anton Saitz (Christopher Innvar), a former lover/Mafioso type for whom Elvira originally had her radical surgery, and Sister Gundrun (Joan MacIntosh), a nun at the orphanage where Erwin was raised. He seeks her out to fill in the blanks from the childhood he can’t remember. She starts with his birth and tells the long story while walking very, very, very very slowly around the perimeter of the stage….

Lauren’s thoughts: My watch must have stopped. There’s no way that we’re only just an hour in (the show is two hours and 10 minutes).

I’ll leave the plot description at that, except to say that there is a suicide (not even Elvira’s), a gruesome bedtime story, a shootout, and a concentration camp theme. And let’s not forget the chorus line (David Neumann, choreography).

Lauren’s thoughts: Please make it stop! Here’s two hours of my life I’m never going to get back.
When the play finally concluded to the softest applause I’ve ever heard, the woman in front of me, with a very troubled expression, turned to her companion and said, “We need to find a place where I can get a drink.” A man behind me asked his companion whether she would like to stay for the talkback taking place.

“Yes. Maybe I’ll find out what it was about.” 

As I closed my notebook, I noticed that it was almost completely full of notes, but I still didn’t have a clue what to say in this review. I headed to the restroom. There, conversation centered on the play and I whipped my notebook back out, identifying myself as a critic interested in their thoughts, asking for insight into what I had missed. Women gave up their place in line eager for an opportunity to vent.

“I’m university educated,” said one woman, but I have no idea what that was about.”

“Maybe if we watch the film it will clear things up,” another suggested.

“It made no sense.”

“Very unpleasant to watch.”

“That poor girl under the guy for so long much have been uncomfortable.”

Another woman, a theater educator, praised the efforts of the actors. Another gave Yale kudos for being willing to take risk, “but you have to give the audience something to work with,” she added.

Our favorite: a woman joining the queue who heard us discussing the play who asked, “Was this written by him before he died?”

There was a lot of laughter in the bathroom.

“This is probably better than the talkback taking place upstairs,” said one woman wiping away tears.

Lauren’s thoughts: Marie Antoinette, Dear Elizabeth and Hamlet (presented earlier this season at Yale) were so good, I’ll forgive them for this one.

In a Year With 13 Moons runs at Yale Rep, 1120 Chapel St., New Haven, through May 18. Showtimes vary. Tickets $20-$96 :(203) 432-1234; www.yalerep.org.

Note: Yale warns that the show is for mature audiences and that is contains strong language, sexual situations, nudity and violence. For production footage and a three-part series of short interviews with the cast, visit: http://www.youtube.com/user/YaleRepertoryTheatre.

Apologies. . . We're Back!

A series of glitches prevented us from being able to post this week. News and Reviews of Connecticut's art and theater news is now back up and running!

Theater Review: Good News -- Goodspeed

Ross Lekites and coeds. Photo by Diane Sobolewski.

Rah! Rah! An Old-Fashioned Musical for Team Goodspeed
By Lauren Yarger
Goodspeed Musicals kicks off its 50th Anniversary Season on the football field with an old-fashioned musical comedy, Good News, which premiered on Broadway back in 1927.

With music by Ray Henderson, B.G. DeSylva and Lew Brown, and book by Laurence Schwab, Frank Mandel and B.G. DeSylva, the story follows love on the Tait Unversity campus and angst about this weekend’s big football game told with songs like “Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries” “Button Up Your Overcoat,” “Lucky in Love” and “The Best Things in Life Are Free.” Director and Choreographer adds his touch to the newly adapted story (Jeremy Desmond) by moving the large ensemble around the Opera House stage through tap dances and a fun game-day encounter between the two football teams.

When football star Tom Marlowe (Ross LeKites) might not be able to play in the big game because he is flunking an astronomy class, the campus is thrown into a tizzy. His girlfriend, Pat (Lindsay O’Neill) needs him to win so he can propose to her the at the post-game victory ball, just like her father had done with her mother. Third-string geeky player Bobby Randall (Barry Shafrin) might actually have to play!

Assistant Coach Pooch (Max Pearlman) wants Coach Bill Johnson (Mark Zimmerman) to appeal to the astronomy professor, Charlotte Kenyon (Beth Glover), but he is reluctant since their romantic relationship back when they were students at Tait didn’t end well. Sparks still fly between them, however, and Kenyon decides to allow Tom to take a make-up exam. Pat’s cousin, mousy astronomy student Connie Lane (Chelsea Morgan Stock) is recruited to tutor him. Something happens when they are star gazing, however, and Tom must decide whether the future Pat has planned for him is really what he wants. Meanwhile party girl Babe O’Day (Tessa Faye) has her eye set on reluctant Bobby, which isn’t setting well with her former conquest, Beef Saunders (Myles J. NcHale) who is large in physical size, if not in intelligence.

It’s a simple tale, mostly predictable, but somehow perfect for the Goodspeed stage. It’s light, fun and lends itself to big dance numbers and colorful costumes (Tracy Christensen, design), though nothing just smacks of the ‘20s, interestingly.

Lekites has a dreamy singing voice that sounds like it was made for an old-fashioned musical. It blends beautifully with Stock’s lovely soprano. Court Watson has fun with the sets, giving them an almost cartoon quality that doesn’t take things too seriously. Some other solos among the cast are much weaker, however, and Faye comes off looking way too old to be a college coed, perhaps because of makeup and hair selections. Some of the “funny” bits aren’t all that funny and there’s an attempt to try too hard.

Good News runs through June 22 at the Goodspeed Opera House, 6 Main St., East Haddam. Performances are Wednesday at 2 and 7:30 pm; Thursday at 7:30 pm and select matinees at 2 pm; Friday at 8 pm; Saturdays at 3 and 8 pm; Sunday at 2 pm with select performances at 6:30 pm. Tickets $27-$76.50 (860) 873-8668; www.goodspeed.org.

Music Rocks the Waterbury Palace for Next Broadway Series

Jersey Boys.Photo: Joan Marcus

The Palace Theater in Waterbury's 2013-2014 Broadway season features some of the most iconic songs and biggest names in Rock and Roll history.

The season kicks off Oct. 9-13 with eight performances of Jersey Boys, the Tony Award-winning blockbuster musical about the rise of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. 

Rock of Ages takes center stage March 21-22, featuring 28 classic '80s songs by artists like Bon Jovi, Twisted Sister, Journey and more. Then, May 2-4, Hair, the chart-topping journey through the tumultuous 1960s plays, followed by Million Dollar Quartet, the musical that features four of the world’s greatest rock and roll icons Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash which closes out the season June 6-8.

In addition, the season incudes a holiday treat, Elf the Musical, Nov. 19-21. More info: www.palacetheaterct.org..

HartBeat Ensemble Explores the Word of Sex Trafficking

Herbert Newsome and Cindy Martinez. Photo: Courtesy of HartBeat Ensemble 

HartBeat Ensemble continues the tradition of bringing original investigative theater works to the stage with the premiere of Riding the Turnpike. A visionary theater work, Riding the Turnpike
explores the variations and definitions of trafficked women, survival sex workers, and voluntary sex workers.

The play is HartBeat’s first at its new home theater, the Carriage House Theater at 360 Farmington Ave., Hartford. The production runs through May 18 with performances scheduled Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 pm. www.hartbeatensemble.orgrt;  860-548-9144.

Set in a strip club on the Connecticut Berlin Turnpike,  Riding the Turnpike introduces four women involved in prostitution in different ways and for different reasons. The lines between who is trafficked, who is there of their own free will and who is there for survival, are blurred as we watch the women navigate their own disparate situation, each more complex than the next. The play looks at what makes certain women and girls targets and examines all that one person can and will do to survive and secure their needs.

The work is inspired by the book, "The Berlin Turnpike: A True Story of Human Trafficking in America" by Raymond Bechard.

HartBeat ensemble members Cindy Martinez and Debra Walsh are lead playwrights, Co-Artistic Director Steven Raider-Ginsburg directs, and Co-Artistic Director Julia B. Rosenblatt is dramaturg. The cast is Herbert Newsome, Bryan Swormstedt, Michelle Mount, Caitlin McInerney, Cindy Martinez and Taneisha Duggan.

Founded in 2001 by Raider-Ginsburg, Rosenblatt and Gregory R. Tate (1952-2012), HartBeat Ensemble is a Hartford-based performance company that creates theater productions
based on stories drawn from contemporary life in Connecticut. Through Mainstage Plays and Education Programs.

Theater Review: Hairspray -- CT Repertory

Tina Fabrique (center) leads the cast. Photo by Gerry Goodstein.

 Hello, Baltimore! Great Casting, Great Choreography Push CT Rep’s Hairspray
By Lauren Yarger
Another production of Hairspray. It seems every theater from high school to professional has presented the Marc Shaiman/ Scott Wittman musical more than once over the years, so do we really need to see another production so soon?

If the show is the one closing out the 2013 season at CT Repertory up at UConn, the answer is a resounding yes!

Director Paul Mullins has teased together a terrific cast (the ensemble at 45+ is huge) starring comedian Kevin Meaney as Edna Turnblad, Tina Fabrique (Ella) as Motormouth Mabel and Lena Mary Amato as Tracy, reprising this role for the fifth time (she won the 2012 Syracuse Area Live Theatre Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Tracy at The Merry-Go-Round Playhouse.) Broadway-quality choreography by Gerry McIntyre is executed with enthusiasm and precision by the cast to add to the fun (as do costumes by Maureen Freedman).

And fun it is. The bubbly Tracy is head over heels in love with dashing Link Larkin (Will Haden), the featured dancer on Baltimore’s American Bandstand-like TV show hosted by Corny Collins (a terrific James Jelkin). While teasing her hair to new heights (Bailey Rosenberg provides the laugh-inspiring hair and makeup design for the show), she hopes that one day she and Link might end up together (“I Can Hear the Bells”). Those hopes are dashed like a perm meeting water, however, when Amber Von Tussie (Andrianna Prast), Link’s dance partner and daughter of the show’s producer, Velma (Sarah Wintermeyer), starts flashing his ring. 

Undaunted, Tracy cuts school with best friend Penny Pingleton (Kate Zulauf) to audition for the show. Tracy’s cool dance moves, honed during some improv movement sessions with black students like Seaweed J. Stubbs (Colby Lewis) who are doing some different, very hip moves during their frequent detentions after school, earn her a place on the show despite her plump figure. She gets extra hold with sprays of loving support along the way from mother Edna (Meaney) and father Wilbur (Scott Ripley).

Racial relations aren’t all that they should be in 1960s Baltimore, however, and controversy arises when Tracy wants her black friends to be able to dance on the show with her. Currently, they are seen only on “Negro Day” hosted once a month by Stubbs’ mother, Motormouth Mable (Fabrique). Love (Penny and Seaweed discover the heart doesn’t care about race), taking a stand for what’s right and arrests all play out against a contest for the title of Miss Teenage Hairspray.

Meaney does a great job portraying the conflicted mother who is protective of her child while wanting to help her achieve her dreams. In fact, Meaney is the only actor playing the role I have seen who doesn’t appear just to be a guy in drag (why the role always is played by a man instead of a talented actress of size is a mystery). He simply becomes Edna. Kudos! And he’s funny. During a touching ballad with Wilbur ("Timeless to Me"), Meaney suddenly improvised some dialogue the night I attended. Watching talented Ripley trying to keep up without losing it was a treat.

Fabrique is lovely to hear and Amato simply is the quintessential big girl with the big hair and big dreams, bringing a terrific singing voice and contagious excitement to the stage. Also giving stellar performances are Zulauf, Lewis and Haden. Standing out in three minor roles is Hannah Kaplan as Penny’s mother, Prudy and as the school gym teacher and the prison matron. She is a hoot and develops three distinct characters.

You Can’t Stop the Beat. Get over to the Harriet S. Jorgenson Theater and see this funny and delightfully fresh “do.” It runs through May 5. Performances are Wednesday, Thursday at 7:30 pm; Friday and Saturday at 8 pm; Sunday at 2 pm. Tickets $6-$36 (860) 486-2113; www.crt.uconn.edu.

Playwrights Theresa Rebeck, David Lindsay-Abaire and Nikkole Salter Share Thoughts on Mark Twain House Panel

Theresa Rebeck, Nikkole Salter, Frank Rizzo and David Lindsay-Abaire

By Lauren Yarger
I enjoyed attending part of the annual Writers' Weekend and Bookfair at the Mark Twain House in Hartford yesterday. The big draw of Saturday's events was the Playwrights Panel, featuring Theresa Rebeck (Seminar, Dead Accounts, The Understudy), Nikkole Salter (In the Continuum, Carnaval) and David Lindsay-Abaire (Pulitzer Prize winner Rabbit Hole, Good People, Fuddy Meers).

Moderated by Hartford Courant arts columnist and theater reviewer Frank Rizzo, the panelists discussed everything from their process for writing to reacting to reviews of their work. The event was informative and lively with Rebeck even taking Rizzo to task for a review of her work.

Here are highlights of what they had to say:

What's the methodology for your writing process; do you focus on one idea or have a bunch going on at once?

Rebeck: She works in different media, so she'll have an idea for a novel working alongside a play and a film or TV show (Rebeck's most recent TV show is "Smash."
Salter: She is more in the beginning of her career, so she doesn't have to juggle projects yet, but kidded that "broke" playwrights can make themselves sound busier by saying "Oh, I am focusing on one thing."
Lindsay-Abaire: 20 ideas might be in his head for many years, then he'll "smoosh" some of them together and see whether they form a play.

What's the process for collaboration?

Salter: Much of the award-winning In the Continuum (co-authored with Danai Gurira) was birthed through improvisation. As a writer, she needs to bounce ideas off other people and to hear the play. She has had the creative team for her plays on board about half way through the process of writing them.
Rebeck: She wrote Bad Dates for Julie White. Sometimes collaboration involves writing for people you have worked with. You know they know how to do it. You won't have to explain. Novels are more lonely.
Lindsay-Abaire: When one of his earlier plays, Fuddy Meers, was being produced, the director and actors spent a lot of time studying and discussing the characters and their actions, but what he was seeing in rehearsal made him wonder why they wouldn't "just do it the way it is in my head." When an audience came in previews, everything clicked. There's a "fine line between giving people their process and knowing what you want," he said. And in the movies, you have less control over the process. It's like being an extra in a film, watching it for yourself and saying, "Oh, there I go."

Are dramaturgs helpful to the process?

Rebeck -- No, if they seem to have their own agenda; yes if you find over time that you trust them. It's "dicey" if they don't know your taste.
Lindsay-Abaire: for historical pieces, a dramaturg can keep you accurate and honest. Who does he trust to read his work? The student writers group that formed when he was a Julliard and which continues. Dan Sullivan "has given me the best dramaturg advice I ever have received" though he has the title director rather than dramaturg. (In case you're wondering, a dramaturg is someone who helps research and shape the story).

Do you care what the critics say?

Salter: Yes and no. She reads reviews, but with a grain of salt. It is, after all, just one opinion. That opinion can make or stop opportunities for the show, though.
Rebeck: Tries not to read them. Sometimes they seem to focus on calling her a man hater, a feminist, a sexist. She seems always to be told that she has some secret agenda when her only agenda was to write a good play. She can't always figure out what triggered anger from the reviewer and feels they sometimes hide behind the excuse that their opinions are justified because their readers want to know.
Lindsay-Abaire: His ideas about critics have changed over the years. Early on, he embraced good reviews and joking that he "slept with them under my pillow." He bristled, however, when critics panned his early, more absurdest works and said, "I could write one of those naturalistic plays if I wanted to. So I wrote Rabbit Hole."
"You're welcome," Rizzo quipped.
Inevitably, criticism continued despite the Pulitzer, with critics saying he sold out by writing a couch play. Ultimately the process caused him to grow.

Do they ever feel they are being categorized?

Rebeck: She gets called a chick playwright. She gets tired of the "woman playwright" category. Being a woman who writes comedy is even more rare and creates a "nervousness."
Salter: They expect black stories and black characters.
Lindsay-Abaire: People want you to re-create the type of thing you wrote before, only you change as a person over time and so does your writing. He can't go back to creating silly plays written by a young man who didn't know what he was doing because he isn't the same person any more.

Can people make a living these days as a playwright? How does one get produced?

Lindsay-Abaire: Hollywood work helps. There's pressure for playwrights to write works that can be produced commercially, rather than to create brilliant plays that might be more expensive to stage or which won't appeal to a larger audience. Submit everywhere you can (his first resource was "The Dramatist's Source Book"). "You never know what line is going to catch a fish."
Salter: "It's like dating." You check meet up with many different producing houses to find the right match.

What have you seen recently that really knocked your socks off?

Rebeck: Once
Salter: Enjoyed being in an appreciative audience for Motown.
Lindsay-Abaire: Was excited to see Clifford Odets' The Big Knife, which he had not seen before and was blown away by some of the performances.