Huntington Announces New Playwriting Fellows

The Huntington announces the 2010 class of Huntington Playwriting Fellows: Patrick Gabridge, Martha Jane Kaufman, and Ryan Landry. This artistically diverse group of writers will be in residence at the theatre for two years.

Through the Huntington Playwriting Fellows program, the Huntington fosters the talents of local playwrights at all stages of their careers, from emerging talents to established professionals, and encourages and facilitates conversations among Boston's playwriting community. Fellows are awarded two-year residencies during which they are provided a modest grant, participate in a bi-weekly writers' collective, and benefit from access to the artistic staff and to the resources of the Huntington. The three 2010 Fellows were selected from among 60 applicants. The Huntington Playwriting Fellows program is supported by the Stanford Calderwood Fund for New American Plays and the Harry Kondoleon Playwriting Fund.

Patrick Gabridge is the author of numerous plays including Constant State of Panic, Pieces of Whitey, Blinders, and Reading the Mind of God. His work has been staged in theatres across the country. His first novel, Tornado Siren, was published in 2006. He is the co-founder of Boston's Rhombus Playwrights' group, the Chameleon Stage theatre company in Denver, the publication Market InSight... for Playwrights, and the online Playwrights' Submission Binge. His plays are published by Playscripts, Brooklyn Publishers, Heuer, Smith & Kraus, and Original Works Publishers. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, on the board of StageSource, the Greater Boston theatre alliance, and a resident of Brookline, MA. The Denver Post called Blinders, "Bitingly clever. A challenging, imaginative piece."

Martha Jane Kaufman's plays include House and Junction and A Live Dress. She has received awards and commissions from the San Francisco Playwrights' Foundation, the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, Stark Raving Theater, and Young Playwrights Inc. Originally from Portland, OR, Kaufman attended Wesleyan University where she studied playwriting with Marsha Norman and Catherine Filloux. She has also choreographed four dances and created several performance pieces in non-traditional spaces including a stairwell and an elevator. She is a resident of Jamaica Plain, MA.

Ryan Landry is Ryan Landry, a working writer, director, and performer for over thirty years. His Boston-based troupe the Gold Dust Orphans produces satirical "mash-ups" of pop culture - comedic, dramatic, or musical - in both Provincetown and Boston. Past productions include Willy Wanker and the Hershey Highway, All About Christmas Eve, Death of a Saleslady, Medea, A T-Stop Named Denial, Christmas on the Pole, and Valet of the Dolls. He is currently in rehearsal for Phantom of the Oprah , writing his next musical, Peter Pansy, and at work on a surrealist adaptation of Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba. He is a resident of Dorchester, MA. The Boston Globe extols, "The brilliance of playwright/performer Ryan Landry lies in his unique ability to marry outrageous parody with the most serious topics."

"The Huntington is committed to being a well-rounded company that produces the best work by local, national, and International Artists," explains Director of New Work Lisa Timmel. "The Huntington Playwriting Fellows program allows us to create thriving working relationships with writers at all stages as they develop their work for production."

Past Huntington Playwriting Fellows are leaders of the local community whose plays have been produced on the Huntington's stages and throughout the country. They are:

· Class of 2003 - 2005: John Kuntz (Jasper Lake), Melinda Lopez (Sonia Flew), Ronan Noone (The Atheist, Brendan), and Sinan Ünel (The Cry of the Reed)

· Class of 2005 - 2007: Lydia R. Diamond (Stick Fly), Rebekah Maggor (Shakespeare's Actresses in America), John Shea (The Hill), and Kate Snodgrass (The Glider)

· Class of 2007 - 2009: Kirsten Greenidge (The Luck of the Irish), Jacqui Parker (Jeanie Don't Sing No Mo'), Ken Urban (The Happy Sad), and Joyce Van Dyke (The Oil Thief).

"Participating in the Huntington Playwriting Fellows program through the writers' collective, company support, and Breaking Ground series will be the perfect opportunity to help me to achieve many of my goals," says Kaufman. "Sharing with other writers encourages me to try new devices and make daring formal and genre choices. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with the Huntington's artistic staff and previous Fellows over the coming years."

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Here she is, boys! Alice Duffy Makes her Broadway Debut

Here's Alice Duffy on NBC's Today show. In addition to Present Laughter Alice has appeared at the Huntington in Dead End, Heartbreak House, A Month in the Country and Les Liaisons Dangereuses.


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Present Laughter opens on Broadway!

Just in case you haven't heard... tonight is opening night for the Broadway production of Present Laughter at the Roundabout's American Airlines Theatre. Here's a toast to Nicky, and the cast and crew! Break a leg!

It's pretty much the same bunch - Victor Garber, Brooks Ashmanskas, Lisa Banes, Holly Fain, and Boston locals Nancy E. Carroll and Alice Duffy, amongst others. We understand that octogenarian Alice Duffy will be featured on NBC's  Today (Wednesday, January 27 in the 8:30am half-hour) to celebrate her Broadway debut. I've got the DVR set.

You'll also see some of the original Huntington props onstage in Present Laughter, the scenery and costumes have been re-built.Congrats again!

If the Roundabout sounds familiar you may recall that David Rabe's Streamers directed by Scott Ellis played there following the Huntington's production, as did Carry Fisher in Wishful Drinking.

Our production of The 39 Steps also opened on Broadway at the American Airlines Theatre, and then moved to the Cort and then the Helen Hayes. It closed at the Cort on Jan 10, and after 771 performances it was the longest running play on Broadway in 7 years. A long rumored Off Broadway run at New World Stages has just been announced to open on March 25 for an open ended run. A US national tour kicked off in November, and regional productions are springing up across the country.

 On the run for their lives, Pamela (Jennifer Ferrin) and Hannay (Charles Edwards) discover the only way is up in the Huntington Theatre Company's pre-Broadway American premiere production of Alfred Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps." Photo: T. Charles Erickson

It's so exciting that our work continues to be represented in New York and across the country. We are so proud and thrilled! Happy Opening Present Laughter!

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All My Sons - Reviews

Audiences and critics alike seem to be impressed with our production of Arthur Miller's ALL MY SONS. Here are a few links - and please - feel free to leave your own thoughts and comments!

The Boston Globe  "Under the direction of David Esbjornson, a superb Huntington cast gives us Miller at his fiercest and most unflinching. During the climactic moments of “All My Sons,’’ everyone in the Boston University Theatre seemed to be holding their breath."

The Hub Review "I realized about half an hour into the show that I was going to need all my superlatives for All My Sons, the new production of Arthur Miller's 1947 classic that singlehandedly re-instates the Huntington as a great regional theatre. The Huntington is back, and it rules"

The Theater Mirror (Carl Rossi) "When the applause that ends Act One sounds like the applause heard at curtain call, you know you’re seeing a winner!"

Boston Herald "Productions like this remind you why classics became classics in the first place." "The palpitating heart of this production is Karen MacDonald, whose turn as Kate is virtuosic."

Blast Magazine "“All My Sons” is the fourth play in what the Huntington has called its “Season of American Stories.” In many ways, it echoes the season’s premier, August Wilson’s “Fences.” While very different in rhythm and tone, both plays feature a charismatic father holding court over his backyard, who ultimately tests your loyalty and trust. Both explore strained families, and the way a father’s past can shape his son’s future. Both are excellent."

The Fenway News "Secrets are always bound to come out sooner or later, and hope and faith do not always translate into a happy ending." "it resonates with the same tone as it did over 60 years ago."

Citrus Quark Blog "by the end the sh-- really hits the fan! The suspense was amazing, and I'm not sure that I blinked during the entire second and third acts."

Berkshire Fine Arts "Here is serious theatre at its best. The performances, the production and the play are simply superb. All My Sons is a must see!"

Boston Low Brow "Scott Bradley has built a barren, while mildly reflective of post-war American prosperity, set that gives the production a smart touch of Ibsen and Bergman. A plain backing is either lighted as a blank abstraction of a Midwestern horizon or used as a massive movie screen for Maya Ciarrocchi’s film montages – a device I liked"

The Boston Phoenix "this is enacted on the BU stage with a blistering believability that does not flinch from the play's near-operatic anguish." "a production that proves, however out of fashion the moral crusader who married Marilyn Monroe might have been, it's Miller time in America once again."

Theater Mirror (Larry Stark) "it is glorious to see a cast headed by half a dozen of Boston's best actors filling Boston's biggest local stage with landmark performances."

BroadwayWorld.com "Still Awesome after all these years"

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Karen MacDonald as Kate Keller and Will Lyman as Joe Keller in the Huntington Theatre Company's production of All My Sons by Arthur Miller is playing January 8 through February 7, 2010 at our Mainstage, the Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave Boston MA 02115. Online tickets and information available 24/7 or call our Box Office (click for hours this week) at 617 266-0800