Curtain Call – meet the 2010 Helen Hayes nominees – Part 2

Welcome to part 2 of our series of interviews with this year’s Helen Hayes nominees.

The full list of nominees and details about the awards show, visit Helen Hayes Awards.

And now for the performers.

Nominated for Outstanding Actor
(Responding: David Benoit, Jim Brochu, Steve Cuiffo, Nate Dendy, Parker Drown, Will Gartshore, Irakli Kavsadze, Stacy Keach, Anthony Manough, Karl Miller, Alex Mills, Cody Nickell, Paul Vincent O’Connor, Laurence O’Dwyer, Seth Reichgott, Dito van Reigersberg, Ashley Robinson, David Turner)

David Benoit
Mr. Zero in Adding Machine: A Musical . The Studio Theatre

Creating the role…
Mr. Zero worked in a basement accounting firm, adding figures for years on end. An extremely unhappy man who contributed very little to life and expected much in return. On the 25th anniversary of his employment Mr. Zero, expecting a promotion, discovered he was to be replaced by an adding machine. As a result of a lifetime being passed over and under appreciated, he killed his boss.

Connecting to the character was made easier by using my father as a model. No, he is not a murderer, nor an angry racist, but he was a working man. He drove a bus for 40 years. He was one the cogs that made the machine work efficiently, without the glory. He absolutely facilitated my job of humanizing this character, and allowed me to see things from a working man’s perspective more clearly.

Biggest surprise…
How rewarding an hour and a half marathon could feel. The show never got easy. The music never got easy. It was never a breeze to do, but it always felt great, even when physically I felt I was ready to fall apart. I was very proud of what Stephen, Channez, Katie, Joe, Tom, Dan, Joanne, Kristen, and I shared at the corner of 14th and P.

Favorite moment…
That would be “Zero’s Confession” . This was the moment when Mr. Zero got his time in court to explain and or/defend his actions. It’s an eight and a half minute rant and nervous breakdown set to music. The quartet sang in counterpoint to Mr. Zero and it was a very exciting moment to perform.

This year’s favorite performances…
My schedule hasn’t allowed me to see very much, but of the more recent shows that affected me was Passing Strange. Daniel Breaker and Stew’s performances moved me as did the direction. Stephen Gregory Smith also cranked out a pretty wonderful performance in our show.

Next?
I start rehearsing The Great American Trailer Park Musical in April.

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Jim Brochu
Zero Mostel in Zero Hour . Theater J

Creating the role…
I call the character “The Artist” but the artist is Zero Mostel. Zero was a larger than life painter who most people knew as an actor and comedian but he always said, “I’m a painter who acts and not an actor who paints.” I knew Zero when I was first starting out in the business and he was an enormous influence on me. He was also a man who overcame so many obstacles with humor and grace. He was a very mercurial man who changed moods in a flash and that, for an actor, is always fun to play.

Biggest surprise…
I was surprised that so many young people didn’t know about the Hollywood blacklist and the effect it had on so many wonderful actors like Mostel, Anne Revere, Burgess Meredith and Jack Gilford. As Zero says in the play, it’s a time that was ruled by fear and that can never be forgotten. Another surprising moment was when I heard two people right behind the set talking. They had gotten lost and were about to join me on stage. I was trying to think of an ad lib about why two guys were in my “on-stage bathroom.”

Favorite moment…
I love recreating Zero’s House Un-American Activities Committee testimony because he was unafraid of them and held their own feet to the fire. When asked if he wanted to overthrow the American government, he replied: “As our fourth President James Madison once said, “I believe there more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of people by silent and gradual encroachments by those in power rather by violent or sudden usurpation.”

This year’s favorite performances…
I wish I could see all those wonderful performances out there. I heard that Emily Skinner was sensational in Dirty Blonde but I only have one night off a week and tend to stay home and recoup.

Next?
I’m doing Zero Hour in New York now and with the wonderful reviews we’ve gotten, hopefully we will be around for a while. We hit our 100th performance on March 23rd. But my partner, Steve Schalchlin, and I are working on a new musical review called Manhattan Clam Chowder.

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Steve Cuiffo
Hincz in Hell Meets Henry Halfway . Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Creating the role…
I played Hincz; a sickly, sneezing, coughing, “doctor” of questionable credentials. For me, the character was like a mask. It was a combination of the costume (especially the shoes), the make-up, the voice and a very tense physicality (the character has a stiff leg) that really helped me connect strongly to the character. I feel that a strong mask like that frees me up to really commit to playing and discovering and pretending.

Biggest surprise…
Whenever one goes to the theater, there is always the inevitable cell phone ring, candy wrapper crinkle, coughing, etc. One night, it seemed that the coughing and sneezing that my character, Hincz, was doing on stage was contagious to a member of the audience! Every time I would do a big hacking cough on stage, it was perfectly matched in the audience by this person! It happened several times to the point that I felt I was doing a “bit” with that audience member. It was a really fun, “live theater” moment.

Favorite moment…
There is a moment where my character zones out into an extremely long pause. It’s a showdown, of sorts, between my character, Hincz, and Mr. Kolavitsky, played by Dito Van Reigersberg. Sometimes it was really funny, sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes really awkward; but different every time! Every night this was a new frontier, riding that edge of “how long can we take this sucker!” It meant being totally present with Dito and, especially, the audience. This deceptively simple moment was such a rich and full moment to play.

This year’s favorite performances…
machines machines machines machines machines machines machines with Quinn Bauriedel, Geoff Sobelle and Trey Lyford at HERE Arts Center in New York City. A Rainpan 43 creation; three AMAZING performers in, probably, the FUNNIEST show I’ve ever seen!

Next?
At this very moment, I am performing in North Atlantic with The Wooster Group. It’s extremely rewarding to be working with a director like Elizabeth LeCompte and great performers like Ari Fliakos, Koosil-ja, Paul Lazar, Frances McDormand, Zachary Oberzan, Scott Shepherd, Jenny Seastone Stern, Maura Tierney, and Kate Valk. The piece will be presented at the new Jerome Robbins Theater at the Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) on West 37th Street in New York City.

Written for the Group in 1982 by James Strahs, North Atlantic is a satirical romp — sometimes musical — through our military imagination. Set on an aircraft carrier during the waning years of the Cold War, the piece has served as a touchstone for the Group. We’ve performed numerous iterations of it since its first showings at the Performing Garage in 1983, mostly recently a critically acclaimed run at REDCAT in Los Angeles in February 2010. Currently running through April 25 in NYC.

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Nate Dendy
The Mute in The Fantasticks . Arena Stage

Creating the role…
It’s hard to speak about The Mute…He is an old soul trapped in a young body. He’s a romantic, a clown, caring, open, and supportive; he has a bit of a mischievous side, loves to tell stories, and loves to listen to them as well. There are times when I think he knows more about life than I do. I wish I knew what he knows.

He was created from pretty much nothing. All I had was myself, so that is basically what you see. Me.

Biggest surprise…
In the first five minutes of the show I produce a live dove. Whenever you work with an animal, you’re never quite sure what they will do. They don’t have union rules. During one of our matinees, the dove decided to fly off of my finger and do its own little air show for everyone. It flew circles above the audience for what seemed like an hour, (probably 45 seconds) while the orchestra vamped. My heart is pounding because all I am thinking is, “please, please, don’t poop on anyone! “ It was simply trying to find a familiar place to perch. So I ran across the stage, stuck my arm high in the air, and it landed back on the same finger. The audience loved it! I just gave it a mean look.

Favorite moment…
I have three.

The first is the beginning of the play when El Gallo and The Mute come out, and we see the audience for the first time. It is a thrill, because I am not sure exactly what will happen over the next 2 ½ hours, but whatever happens, I know I won’t be alone during it.

My second favorite moment is when Matt and Luisa see each other for the first time. Due to the staging, I was lucky enough each night to be right next to them the second they laid eyes on each other. I got to see two people fall in love each night, and I had the best seat in the house. I’m such a romantic.

My third favorite moment is the end. I’m not very eloquent about describing the end, to be honest. It is more visceral for me than anything else. But it is definitely a favorite moment.

This year’s favorite performances…
I wish I had been able to go see more shows in DC during our run. I was able to see As You Like It at The Shakespeare Theatre Company. I really enjoyed Floyd King and Miriam Silverman’s performance in that. I also had the chance to see Geoffrey Rush in Exit The King on Broadway. All those performances were magnetic to me.

Next?
I am currently in New York City working on The Unknown Williams at Target Margin Theatre. It is a festival of lesser known Tennessee Williams plays. Great Fun!

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Parker Drown
Angel in Rent . The Keegan Theatre

Creating the role…
Angel is a lover. A lover of people, life, music, art, passion, and anything that gives purpose and vitality to his life. Because of this, his friendships and relationships last. He gives himself completely to other people and doesn’t apologize for any part of who he is. I felt scared at first to play the part, because he is so open and honest and I wanted to make sure to be truthful to that part of him and not make him a caricature. In the end, I fell in love with him and have appreciated how it’s made me more comfortable and confident to just be who I am (cheesy, I know…but true)

Biggest surprise…
SNOW MY GOD (snOwMG) 2010…I don’t know what the most surprising thing was for me. We all got along so well and never had any horrible mishaps… I mean the drumsticks did fly out of my hands while drumming once.

Favorite moment…
My favorite moment in the play was during Angel’s funeral, when I got to walk up the steps to the platform and stand above the rest of the cast and just look at them all together on stage. I became so close to all of the cast members and it was my time on stage (because at that point I was done) to soak them all in and appreciate all of them, as family. It’s what made that scene so precious and real to me and being able to look at them one by one is definitely the picture in my mind that sums up my Rent experience.

This year’s favorite performances…
Without a doubt, Marcia Gay Harden, Hope Davis, Jeff Daniels, and James Gandolfini in God of Carnage up in NYC. I went to visit friends and decided to see the play based on awards and reviews, after I lost the Hair and Avenue Q lotteries…it has to be the best show I have seen to date. I laughed, I cried (probably cause I was laughing so hard), it was so good. I even stood in the back to see it and didn’t mind one bit for the two hours Iwas at the theatre. I mean, I got to see them for $25. How could you complain?

Next?
I am now currently in Hairspray at Toby’s Dinner Theatre in Columbia, MD. I’ll be one of the nicest kids in town you’ve ever seen. We’re having a blast, the cast is swell, and we run for five months (March 4 – August 1)! Come See It!

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Will Gartshore
Gaylord Ravenal in Show Boat, Signature Theatre

Creating the role…
Gaylord Ravenal – A charming cad who’s not as bad as you remember him being. I like playing parts that people know too well (or think they do) and then revealing new layers of subtlety or sincerity in them – turning two dimensions into three (or more). You always have to look at your lines and ask yourself when your character is lying – lying to others, lying to himself. But regardless of what he says, the trajectory of his actions reveals the underlying truth.

This guy loved Magnolia – immediately, irrationally, uncontrollably. If not, I don’t know how you sing an operetta-tinged duet like “You Are Love” or fall in love at first sight during “Make Believe” without coming across as a total imposter – to yourself as well as the audience. It’s much more interesting and much more effective to go all-in and play it for true. It ups the stakes. It’s also what Kern and Hammerstein wrote.

Magnolia is the spine of Ravenal’s story. In the same way, Stephanie Waters was Show Boat for me. How did I connect to the character? Stephanie made it impossible not to. Her openness on stage, her intelligence, and her willingness to play are what allowed me to unlock the scenes and approach them fresh each night.

You need to have a deep empathy for the people you play. The best thing about doing a show like Show Boat is that it requires total commitment to the world you’re inhabiting, without contemporary cynicism and free from our condescension to the “old fashioned”. It’s less about playing naive than it is about accepting the characters on their own terms.

Biggest surprise…
I ended up in Denmark for a week.

Favorite moment…
Making out with Stephanie. Especially when her boyfriend was in the audience.

This year’s favorite performances…
My co-star’s. Plus Marisa Echeverría and Katie Thompson in Giant. Plus the cast of Arcadia.

Next?
A new cabaret – Strange Love: Familiar Songs of Bizarre Entanglements – playing May 3 at Round House Silver Spring.

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Irakli Kavsadze
Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream . Synetic Theater

Creating the role…
Bottom is a character that is full of himself. He believes that he is the best of the best. How I connected? It’s a long story.

Biggest surprise…
We had to change many scenes about 10 minutes before the beginning of the show because some of our actors got very sick.

Favorite moment…
Bottom becoming the donkey, and basically my every scene.

Next?
Music/sound design and assistant director for Othello.

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Stacy Keach
King Lear in King Lear . Shakespeare Theatre Company

Creating the role…
Lear is an aging tyrant consumed by hubris and the need for unconditional love, especially from his youngest daughter, Cordelia. When Cordelia does not patronize his wishes, Lear flies into a rage, which accelerates into a kind of childlike madness. I connected with Lear’s need to cover his true feelings by adopting a new persona, a different identity. In many ways, this is what actors do. In Lear’s case, the decision to enter into the world of madness liberated him from the painful realities before him.

Biggest surprise…
Being able to perform the role eight times a week.

Favorite moment…
The reconciliation scene with Cordelia.

This year’s favorite performances…
So far, Christopher Walken in A Behanding in Spokane on Broadway.

Next?
In between guest appearances on Two and a Half Men, I’m playing the Dad-trainer of two sons, played by Holt Macullay and Pablo Schreiber, in a new series for the FX network, entitled Lights Out.

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Anthony Manough
Uncle Birdie in Cool Papa’s Party, MetroStage

Creating the role…
My character, the notable “Uncle Birdie,” was actually William Mastin, the head of the Will Mastin Trio which also comprised Sammy Davis Jr. and Sammy’s father. Even though Sammy Davis Jr. would become the reason the Will Mastin Trio would continue on television and tours, it was out of love and respect that he never wanted to change the group’s name.

Biggest surprise…
The most surprising thing that happened during the run was one night during one the major dance sequences of the show our lead Jahi Kearse had danced the heel off of one of his tap shoes. And for a moment there I wasn’t sure exactly what he would do as this was a moment where he had to tap. Then, in grand fashion, he removed his other shoe and began to tap in his bare feet to a very delighted audience.

Favorite moment…
I really had such a good time thruout that it really would not be fair of me to say that I had any “favorite” moment.

This year’s favorite performances…
Ros White, Lori A Williams-Chisholm, Gia Mora, , William Hubbard, Ben Horen, Gary Vincent of Cool Papa’s Party.

Next?
I am currently in the Los Angeles area trying my hand at performing for the camera. This is quite a different scene indeed.

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Karl Miller
Prior Walter in Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Forum Theatre
and  Angels in America: Perestroika, Forum Theatre

Creating the role…
Prior Walter. His WASPy cheek, his performative nature, these came easily, I suppose. But I don’t get to play fabulous epic heroes that often, so the rest of him was very challenging. No neurotic hook to hang my heels on, no mania to power the heart. Kushner lavishes much wit and poetry on Prior, so it’s hard to pity him. Neurosis, mania, pity — these are the qualities I play too often in other parts. A huge challenge for me is to give that up.

Biggest surprise…
I tripped during a tender moment on opening night. It surprised me. And I beat myself up about it, not for tripping, but for getting back up to finish the illusion as it was choreographed, making it all the more choreographed. I’m sure there’s a Brechtian virtue in that, but still. Most surprising thing … we’d get to places discussing the play that exceeded our interpretive framework. In other words, we got to an ecstatic territory that was more exclamation than interpretation. Didn’t expect that.

Favorite moment…
Jennifer and Nanna close out Act II of Millennium with this scene in Salt Lake City. It’s a great scene on the face of it, but Jennifer and Nanna explored a whole history of friendship with these two characters and it came out in these precise inflections of tone and touch. Amazing, beautiful — the sort of z-axis that only sprouts from plays as rich as Angels.

This year’s favorite performances…
Stacy Keach. This was the first time I found myself watching King Lear and not wanting it to end. I’m not sure that’s what you’re supposed to want while watching King Lear, but I think you get the point. The whole Arcadia ensemble was tight, Mike Daisey was a trip as always, and 1001‘s cast made me double-proud to be a company member at Rorschach.

Next?
I’m sitting still to write and recollect after a busy two years on the road. Will probably leave the hermitage in the summer.

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Alex Mills
Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream . Synetic Theater

Creating the role…
In the play, Puck is about as much of a troublemaker as you can get. In our version he’s made to be more of Titania’s and Oberon’s son (combining the Indian boy along with the Puck we all know in the story). Rather than seeing him as a bound slave to Oberon, I think our version allowed him to be on a more equal level with the King and Queen fairies which gave him the freedom to take his given “tasks” and screw them up as much as possible. He’s pretty much Dennis the Menace. Except Blue. And being a bit of a jokester myself, it made it very easy to slip into this role and play pranks on my fellow castmates onstage.

Biggest surprise…
One thing that was surprising was definitely how much blue makeup got everywhere, it was always a bit of a game to see who got a little too close to Puck during any given show. And also, the way the audiences connected to the show was surprising. Not that I thought the show would be ill received but performing Midsummer without the text was a pretty daunting task. But I found throughout the run, and hearing people’s responses afterwards, that people connected to this production more than any other. There’s something about stripping away the language that gave the cast this unlimited freedom to bring all the humor and excitement in a totally new way.

Favorite moment…
My favorite moment would have to be the fight between the lovers. And specifically the exchange between Marisa Molnar (Helena) and Irina Koval (Hermia) when they think the other is playing games with them. I tried to catch that fight every night.

This year’s favorite performances…
Actually it’s a performance I saw very recently, Deidra LaWan-Starnes in In The Red and Brown Water. I never could get bored watching her and I thought she was hilarious, and poignant as well.

Next?
Right now I just finished performing in Antony and Cleopatra and am in a mad dash rehearsal process for Host and Guest which we will be taking to New York.

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Cody Nickell
Septimus Hodge in Arcadia . Folger Theatre

Creating the role…
Septimus Hodge is a young man who has been hired as the tutor for the daughter of the Coverlys. He is a Byronic figure, living a romantically complex life to the fullest. A bright young man, Septimus is soon confronted with the possibility that his student may in fact be a true genius. The ramifications of this discovery, coupled with finally realizing the responsibility he has for the actions he takes, led to a beautiful final scene.

Biggest surprise…
A run of a play is always full of surprises, from the simple discoveries made by the cast to little hiccups along the way, but the most surprising thing that happened during Arcadia’s run was one night, due to a technical malfunction, the lights went completely out during the middle of one of my scenes. Jared Michael Delaney (Capt. Brice), Cooper D’Ambrose (Chater) and myself were in the middle of a scene in which we reveal some relatively major plot points. I had my eyes closed in frustration at something one of the other characters said, and as I opened them, the world seemed to be going black. I was totally disoriented for a moment before realizing the lights were going out early. Had I been on top of my game, perhaps I could have come up with something clever to say until the lights could be restored, but in full panic mode, my fellow actors and I slinked off of the stage. The decision was made to send the next scene on and that we would start Act II with an announcement that due to a technical malfunction, the audience was deprived of the completion of one of the earlier scenes. So we marched out onto the stage and picked up where we left off. As with most circumstances where the audience realizes they are in for something unusual, they loved it.

Favorite moment…
Trying to find a particular part of the play that was my favorite is difficult. This was one of those magical situations where we had it all. The director, the crew, the actors, the designers, and Tom Stoppard’s magical script all meant that each night we had the true blessing of telling this story in such a fun and dynamic way.

This year’s favorite performances…
Having seen a number of shows all over the country, it is hard to name only one. Karl Miller’s performance in Angels In America was beautiful. In New York, David Greenspan’s one person show The Myopia was breathtakingly executed. But I think the most important thing I saw this last year was a workshop performance of a play called Middletown by Will Eno. It was at Portland Center Stage’s JAW/West festival and everyone in the audience knew we were watching something truly special. Keep an eye out for this play. Les Waters is directing it at Steppenwolf next season, but I guarantee you, it will find its way to DC soon.

Next?
I am currently lucky enough to be in Clybourne Park at Woolly Mammoth here in DC. This is an amazing piece and we have such a brilliant group of people working on it. We have started previews and so far audiences are eating it up. After that, back to NYC and the hustle. Quite a few irons in the fire for next season, but that remains to be seen…

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Paul Vincent O’Connor
Charlie Aiken in August: Osage County . The Kennedy Center

Creating the role…
The character of Charlie Aiken cuts across the grain of this play. He is the one who shows kindness and compassion throughout and finally is the voice that speaks out against “all this meanness.” I connected with him because of his kindness, and his awareness and compassion for others. And for his strength in standing up for compassion in his final scene.

Biggest surprise…
There were a couple of surprising things. I’m still so stunned that I can’t speak of them.

Favorite moment…
My favorite moment of the play is the end of the second act. At the second act curtain line of Barbara’s: “I’m running things now!”, the audience, as usual, applauds; but there is also a collective gasp/roar that audience releases. At the top of the third act, they are all eager to see what will happen.

This year’s favorite performances…
As we are on tour, I haven’t seen many other shows. While in Chicago, I saw American Buffalo at Steppenwolf. It was excellent. I also liked Brian Dennehy in Hughie and Krapp’s Last Tape at the Goodman.

Next?
I am currently on tour with August: Osage County.

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Laurence O’Dwyer
Henry in The Fantasticks . Arena Stage

Creating the role…
I played an older Shakespearean actor who is wandering around the country. I sort of saw him as somebody who appeared at Elks Lodges and Times Square. Silent comedians and John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson have always influenced me. They colored the English concept I was using. I was thinking of him as an American – one of the Barrymores. That’s where the affectation came in. It was really easy to connect to him because the comedy was very obvious to me somehow.

Biggest surprise…
I would hear something new in it, and it was interesting to play it with more and more nuance as it went on. I wanted it to be more real and believable. I was always surprised that the audiences responded as much as they did. I really appreciated the love that came across to me.

Favorite moment…
Just coming on because I had such a great connection with Jessie (Terrill) immediately. We were like an old vaudeville team. What was nice was coming on and establishing the moment that I was incoherent and taking another path. I loved listening to “Soon it’s Gonna Rain”.

This year’s favorite performances…
I haven’t seen any other theatre because I was so busy doing it. I don’t think I have seen a play this year. I have only seen movies.

Next?
I am appearing with E. Faye Butler in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at Center Stage, in Baltimore from April 7th to May 9th. I play Sturdyvant.

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Seth Reichgott
Dr. Faustus in Wittenberg . Rep Stage

Creating the role…
Dr. Faustus is a creation of playwright David Davalos that incorporates characteristics and ideas from the various fictional versions of the Doctor, as well as Davalos’s own imagination. He’s something of a rockstar personality, broad and loud and bombastic, but also capable of great tenderness and emotion. He’s a champion of thought, of exploring all possibilities, no matter how obscure or taboo. And he plays a mean lute.

I found myself connecting very strongly to Faustus’s skepticism about organized religion. I was attracted to his idea that we have to fully and truly explore the truth, no matter where that exploration takes us. If we let ourselves be ruled by superstition and mumbo-jumbo, we miss the really important things in our lives and the world. It was easy to make his arguments and say his words and live in his skin because I found myself agreeing with pretty much everything he had to say.

Biggest surprise…
Right near the end of the run I was doing the final monologue of the show, and at one point Faustus says, “This is going to be my last performance for a while.” An audience member let out an audible groan of disappointment. As my next line was, “It’s alright, your lives will go on,” it was a wonderful moment of reality, of true connection with the audience. And it got a great laugh.

Favorite moment…
Hard question. I really enjoyed doing this show, more than most other pieces I’ve done, because it has so many great moments. I’d have to say the final scene of Act 1. Faustus and his friend and antagonist, Martin Luther, have a long discussion about religion and indulgences and the usefulness of the church. It’s a beautifully constructed scene, full of humor as well as some very touching moments. It almost could stand on its own as a one-act. It was a great journey to go on every night, sort of a little play within the play. Of course, I also loved rocking out on the ukulele (our stand-in for a lute).

This year’s favorite performances…
Interact Theatre Company in Philadelphia did a production this season of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity. The show takes place in and around a professional wrestling ring, complete with full pro wrestling bouts. It was an awesome physical production, but all the spectacle and physicality served an incredibly well-told story of racial identity in America. An absolutely amazing show all around.

Next?
I’m about to go into rehearsals for The Foocy at Delaware Theatre Company. But mostly I’m staying home with my 8-week-old daughter Stella. She’s without doubt the best thing I’ve ever produced.

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Dito van Reigersberg
Henry Kholavitski in Hell Meets Henry Halfway . Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Creating the role…
Henry Kholavitski is a tightly-wound, controlling, humorless secretary. He wants everything to work out according to plan, but everyone in his world — his fiance, her tennis coach, and his employer the Prince–they are all conspiring against him. I myself am not very tightly-wound; building this character was a real test, I had to find some way to wear a deadpan face and a power to stare at people and mean business.

Biggest surprise…
The first scene between me and Dr. Hincz has a lot of loooooong pauses built into it. People in the audience would sometimes giggle and gasp in disbelief at those pauses. And one night I overheard an audience member say, “Omigod, someone forgot to come on and now they’re stalling!”

Favorite moment…
I love my first sparring scene with my fiance Maya (played by Sarah Sanford) and my final meltdown into a vodka-soaked suicide. That’s pretty exciting stuff and the speed and style of the language keeps you on your toes. And of course the bedpan spill. Also it was thrill to return to my hometown and perform here again–my high school drama teacher Phyllis Jaffe came to see the show–whoa.

This year’s favorite performances…
I loved and admired the sprawling aesthetic and emotional rollercoaster of The Lily’s Revenge by Taylor Mac, that I saw at HERE in NYC.

Next?
Pig Iron is working on some fun riffs on Midsummer Night’s Dream, including some exploration of stop-motion animation, robotics, and music….also we’ve been touring our play about neuroscience, loneliness and autism, Chekhov Lizardbrain.

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Ashley Robinson
Jett Rink in Giant . Signature Theatre

Creating the role…
Jett Rink… a pressure cooker… a coiled snake… when he explodes (and it’s always brilliantly timed as he knows EXACTLY what he’s doing at every moment), it’s full throttle and there’s no stopping him. He’s also full of love with no outlet which can only end in obsession and darkness… oh, did I mention he’s an alcoholic?

As far as connecting to the character, I could only do what Jett himself did, and attempt it with the same unrelenting determination: dig, dig, dig…

Biggest surprise…
I think a hat from one of the crew members fell on a guy’s head who was seated in the front row… he got huffy and everyone onstage got giggly, of course… other than that, a pretty uneventful, healthy run actually.

Favorite moment…
Dog is gonna bark… just me and the audience squaring off… the freedom you have when your acting partners are new every night… sometimes they would be disgusted, or falling out with laughter, or a little turned on… but hopefully mostly disgusted at this horrifying rant. When they would applaud the number I would always feel I hadn’t done my job properly… that they weren’t shocked or disgusted enough.

This year’s favorite performances…
Rachel Weisz in Streetcar at the Donmar in London.

Next?

Taxes.

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David Turner
Tristan in The Dog in the Manger . Shakespeare Theatre Company

Creating the role…
Tristan was a servant so low on the totem pole that his master was himself a servant to someone higher up still. I loved Tristan’s cheekiness, his penchant for metaphor, and his total concentration on the task at hand (unless distracted by the prospect of food or large women). On that score we have virtually everything in common. Except I’m more into skinny dudes.

Biggest surprise…
The most surprising thing that happened during the run was that my sassy 88-year-old grandmother, who has trouble getting around, managed to take the train from New Jersey to see the show. 88-years-old. That’s a year for every key on a piano.

Favorite moment…
Without a doubt, my favorite moment in the show was when Tristan dresses up as a corpulent Greek merchant and weaves the longest, most rococo lie in all of dramatic literature. The fact that I was sharing the stage with the great David Sabin made it all the more gratifying.

This year’s favorite performances…
This year I have really loved so many performances, particularly Glenn Fitzgerald in This at Playwrights Horizons. I felt he was giving a master class in how funny people can be and still be so simple and true. One can never learn that lesson too many times.

Next?
I am currently the musical director and accompanist for Christopher Fitzgerald (Young Frankenstein, Finian’s Rainbow) who has an upcoming evening at Feinstein’s. I’m also a student of French, Italian, and Japanese and am preparing to leave for France for the month of May to study full-time at an immersion school. After that, it’ll be back to acting and a lovely summer in Williamstown.

— Back to top —

Nominated for Outstanding Actress
(Responding:  Sandy Bainum, Jessica Lauren Ball, E. Faye Butler, Shannon Cochran, Laura Conforte, Eleasha Gamble, Tara Giordano, Valerie Harper, Naomi Jacobson, Kellee Knighten, Marni Penning, Christiane Noll, Elizabeth Rayca, Kimberly Schraf, Miriam Silverman, Angelica Torn, Erin Weaver, Delores King Williams)

Sandy Bainum
Marian Paroo in The Music Man . Washington Savoyards

Creating the role…
Marian Paroo is an educated, strong-willed, independent woman living in a very parochial town in Iowa. She is self-assured and seeking what she thinks will be a more meaningful life than the “stay-at-home, traditional wife only route” that seems to be the norm in River City. Being a librarian, she always loved books and inherited the collection from another well read inhabitant at his death. She wants to get married, but she wants to make her mark on the world beyond marriage. So though she longingly dreams of finding love and living a full life like one described in the books she reads, she still wants to sit on the River City council and influence policy. Enter, Harold Hill, a traveling salesman. Never could she imagine falling for a man like Harold Hill whom she pegs as an annoying imposter from the beginning. Yet he continually tries to disarm her with his charms knowing that she is the one obstacle he must overcome before shamming the entire town. The beauty and fun lies in the evolution they both make to find each other through true love.

I found different ways to connect to Marian. I too, hail from a very small town. Though mine is in rural Pennsylvania, I was able to relate to the small town intricacies. How at times it can be a very positive thing; where everyone is there for you in a crisis; and at times how you just might find yourself being the topic of discussion at the local bank. Like Marian, I am a dreamer – strong willed, educated and an independent woman who strives to achieve what I dream about.

Biggest surprise…
The young boy who played Winthrop missed his entrance on opening night in one of the scenes when Judy Simmons, who played my mother in the show, and I, were on stage. It was at a critical moment and we launched into an improv that seemed to us to go on and on. Neither of us could really make eye contact with the other or else it would have been a true giggle fest right then and there. Winthrop came running onto the stage aghast, and the audience broke out into a huge applause. It was one of those moments where you are thankful that you have a real pro like Judy out there with you and you can feel the audience hanging on and just being one with you. I like those kind of spontaneous moments that live theater allows you to have. But certainly, not every night, thank you. Welcome to live theater!

Favorite moment…
I loved the whole show and the fact that as I began to prepare for the role of Marian, I really was given the opportunity to evolve as a person from Act 1 to Act 2. I always found the first act in some ways more challenging because as an outgoing person, I really needed to find a quieter more reserved place inside myself to portray the more reserved Marian. However, in Act 2, where she starts to “let her hair down”, I could just go with the flow of the play and let it go. There were many very touching moments in the show. I did love at the end, when Marian stands up to the whole town and defends Harold Hill and all that he did to bring the town together and to make them more collectively cohesive. It was a nice moment.

This year’s favorite performances…
I enjoyed The Cuckoo’s Nest at Roundhouse Theatre in Bethesda as well as See What I Want to See at Signature Theatre. I saw Camelot at Olney Theatre and enjoyed that as well. I am looking forward to seeing as many performances this spring of all my friends as is possible.

Next?
I am appearing on the Millennium Stage in March honoring the 100th Anniversary of Roger Lacey Stevens, who is the founding Chairman of both the Kennedy Center and the National Endowment for the Arts. I have also been working on a new cabaret with Lanny Meyers, my dear friend and collaborator called “Excuse My Dust: Dorothy Parker Sings”. It features Lanny’s original music using Dorothy Parker’s poetry as well as other jazz-age songs written by famous composers of the 20’s and 30’s. It will be presented in several different venues this spring. Other than that – I am studying, auditioning, auditioning, studying and hoping for something for next season.

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Jessica Lauren Ball
Laurey Williams in Oklahoma! . Toby’s Dinner Theatre

Creating the role…
Laurey Williams is a young, headstrong farm girl who lives with her aunt in the Oklahoma territory. Not wanting to admit that she is in love with a young cowboy, she decides to flirt with a farm hand in order to make her cowboy jealous. I connect to this character because (oddly enough) I too have been in love with a cowboy; unfortunately, he seemed to be more interested in the farmhand… Seriously though, Oklahoma! is the first musical I ever saw, and Laurey has always been a dream role of mine. She is such a well written character with flaws and virtues that I share, and it was fun to try to bring her to life.

Biggest surprise…
I was surprised when the farmhand liked the cowboy back… I guess its a tad corny, but I was surprised at the sense of pride I felt for my “brand new state” of Oklahoma. So much so that I jumped online and bought a shirt that featured the state’s initials.

Favorite moment…
By far my favorite moment was the whole scene leading up to Curley’s proposal. I loved that scene because it was so fun and almost effortless. Every night I got to play on stage with one of my best friends in such a lovely, slightly humorous, and heartfelt scene. I miss it!

This year’s favorite performances…
Bruce R. Nelson and Clinton Brandhagen in The Mystery of Irma Vep at Everyman. They. Were. HILARIOUS!

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E. Faye Butler
Mother Shaw in Crowns . Arena Stage

Creating the role…
Mother Shaw is every African American church going brother and sister’s grandmother. She. Is strong faithful, devoted to her family, strangers, friends, church family, and God. She is from the old school. Loves her Hats and church fashions. As the mother of the church, people within the Congregation come to her for counsel. I was raised by Mother Shaw, she’s my grandmother Elizabeth Peterd. Now I take care of her. She’s 100 years old.

Biggest surprise…
It was a wonderful experience with cast and the artistic staff. Every single person was fun and exciting to be with on and off stage. We truly were an ensemble. A fabulous group of people who wanted to take the journey every performance.

Favorite moment…
The Opening number. It was truly a celebration. The ceremony of calling the ancestors , the drums and music were uplifting every show.

This year’s favorite performances…
Let There Be Love, Avery Brooks @ Centerstage. Amazing story of family and life.

Next?
I’m currently performing in Ma Rainey at Baltimore’s Centerstage. Also just released my CD, A Circle Of Firsts.

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Shannon Cochran
Barbara Fordham in August: Osage County . The Kennedy Center

Creating the role…
Tracy Letts said it best when describing Barbara Fordham: She’s smart, funny, profane, and deeply flawed, but she’s the only protagonist the audience can stick with in this play. I found her fierce idealism to be very familiar to me. And, like Barbara, I too am a classic oldest child, I guess, with all the perks and pressures that accompany that.

Biggest surprise…
The great surprise that occurred to me during this year was the way in which the character and her relationships kept subtly evolving, until there were many early beliefs that, though still possible, weren’t useful to me any more. They were replaced by stronger, more playable ideas, that ultimately told the story better. That’s a testament to Tracy’s writing.

Favorite moment…
I’m very used to the world of all of Tracy’s women characters, having created two roles in his other plays, Bug and Man From Nebraska. The moment I love most in this play, as with the others I’ve done, is when my character realizes she cannot continue in her old ways, that she must change, or perish.

This year’s favorite performances…
I didn’t get to attend much live theatre this year, being on the road, but I was fortunate enough to be able to see Tracy Letts and one of my favorite actors, Francis Guinan, in Steppenwolf’s American Buffalo. It was bravura, outside-the-box acting at it’s best.

Next?
Since we are still on tour, I don’t have “next project” yet, but for a while, spending time with my husband, working in my garden, and playing wih my dog will do just fine.

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Laura Conforte
Evita Perón in Momia en el closet: The Return of Eva Perón, GALA Hispanic Theatre

Creating the role…
Evita Perón has been a great figure in the political and social history of our country (Argentina). She was a woman who was loved and hated at the same time. A passionate woman, an advocate for the rights of the lowest social clases and the rights of women. And also a woman “in love” with her people, a sensitive woman… who fought but who suffered too.

I felt very connected with this character right from the start… and every day, in every action, I began to “fall in love more and more with the role;” I identified very much with her extraordinary strength, her struggles, and her great passion, perhaps because somewhere inside of me there is a little bit (or a lot) of those attributes, which was something that helped me understand and grapple with the role. The same is true of the sensitive and “suffering” part of my character; I feel that I connect very deeply with Evita…

Biggest surprise…
I think that the most surpising thing, which was also intensely gratifying, was the fact that each function was filled with a profound connection, concentration, and respect for everyone involved. It was a work that was produced with such respect and love for the group and for all of the individuals involved… the cast, the directors, the production team, the technicians… each and every one of us who worked on Momia. That surprised me – so much love, so much concentration, and so much respect for the material. This is not something that always happens in a production, but it happened here and it was magical.

Favorite moment…
One of my favorite moments, which was something that I enjoyed every night, was the mumification scene… for the staging, for the power of that moment, and above all for the scene’s musical score, which for me was truly delicious and perfect. I also enjoyed dancing the milonga with Coronel Moori, which happened in a scene in which my character had no text and did not even sing, only “danced”… For me it was a beautiful work of “surrender;” I had to have my body completely relaxed and as “dead” as possible for the scene… and that process generated a beautiful sensation.

This year’s favorite performances…
I especially want to acknowledge my companions from this project: Martin Ruiz (Dr. Ara, the mummifier), who was incredible in that role… and I also want to recognize the work of Diego Mariani, who brought creativity and a marvellous composition to each one of his roles (Coronel Moori, Genaro…). I have not seen any other performances in Washington but I was able to see Next to Normal on Broadway, and I enjoyed each and every one of the production’s excellent actors.

Next?
Sadly, I am not currently working on any theater projects. The last production that I did before Momia was Rent, in which I played Maureen, but right now, unfortunately, I don’t have any theater work in sight.

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Eleasha Gamble
The Civil War . Ford’s Theatre

Creating the role…
Actually, in our production of Civil War, we played ourselves. The idea was everyday people like ourselves, stepping into the shoes of everyday people from the past. It was exciting to look at history from that perspective.

Favorite moment…
I always loved to hear Michael Lanning sing “Northbound Train”. That song is just beautiful, and his performance of that song is just magical.

This year’s favorite performances…
Billy Elliot, Adding Machine, The Little Dog Laughed, and First You Dream (I am biased of course!)

Next?
I am currently in Little Shop of Horrors at Ford’s Theatre.

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Tara Giordano
Heidi in Heidi . Imagination Stage

Creating the role…
I’ve loved the character of Heidi since I was a little girl. She is joy, curiosity, and love personified.

Biggest surprise…
In one scene, Heidi brings a stray cat into her friend Clara’s house for Clara to keep as a pet. We played this with a blanket inside of a basket and “meow” cues from an onstage speaker.

During one student matinee performance, a small girl was so compelled by what she thought was a live kitten onstage, that she was drawn to the edge of the stage from her seat way in the back – as if by some hypnotic force – and no one in the audience noticed it happen until she was practically onstage with us.

Meanwhile, from my peripheral vision, and between lines of dialogue, I could see a small girl in a pretty white dress standing just below us at the edge of the stage, clasping her little hands together and gazing up longingly at the basket in my arms. “May I pet the kitten?” and again with every ounce of decorum “Excuse me? May I please pet the kitten?” until a teacher in the audience finally noticed, swooped down the aisle from the back of the house, and swept the girl up, back to her seat.

Favorite moment…
I loved the tender scene between Heidi and her grandfather, Alp, when Alp begins to soften and tell Heidi about her mother. Terry Currier brought such beautiful depth and vulnerability to the role. He became a grandfather to me onstage and off, sharing stories and photos of his younger days in the biz and as a company member at Arena, and indulging my questions about his process as an actor.

This year’s favorite performances…
My favorite performances were by the companies of Improvised Shakespeare (Barrow Street), ReEntry (Urban Stages), Cymbeline (Fiasco Theatre), Arcadia (Folger), Sherri Edelen and Janet Dickinson in Citizen Ruth (Minetta Lane), Doug Hara as Puck in Midsummer (Cal Shakes/Two River), Dorothy Atkinson and Stuart McGloughlin in Brief Encounter (St. Ann’s Warehouse), Peter Friedman in Circle Mirror Transformation (Playwrights Horizons), and Maggie Gyllenhaal in Away We Go.

Next?
I am in rehearsals for a new play called Song for a Future Generation by Joe Tracz with a theatre company called The Management in New York City.

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Valerie Harper
Tallulah Bankhead in Looped . Arena Stage

Creating the role…
I play the legendary theatre/film/radio/tv actress and celebrity bad girl, Tallulah Bankhead. Accomplished and notorious, she was known and celebrated around the country for her outrageous life style (and candor about it!) as much as for her prodigeous, singular talent. I connected to Tallulah as a child in the early 1950s listening to her on The Big Show (radio) of which she was the fascinating, glamourous, extremely funny host. Biographies (more than 5 books), DVDs of her performances on film, TV variety show, research materials and a portion of the looping session for Die, Die My Darling (the film for which Tallulah was looping (re-recording) lines of dialogue) assisted me powerfully in creating this real life character.

Biggest surprise…
A pleasant surprise for me during our run was to witness the wonderful transformation that has occurred in the U Street neighborhood around the Arena Stage temporary home in the historic Lincoln Theater where we played Looped. The area seems to be a thriving, multicultural, colorful community much improved since my last visit to this section of DC years before.

Favorite moment…
When we were literally stopped from continuing a scene due to the uproarious laughter of the audience – this happened several times during the play – many times during the run.

This year’s favorite performances…
Angela Landsbury in A Little Night Music and Liev Schrieber in A View from the Bridge both on Broadway

Next?
On March 14, 2010 I opened on Broadway in Looped at the Lyceum Theatre on West 45th street for an unlimited run.

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Naomi Jacobson
Paulina in The Winter’s Tale . Folger Theatre

Creating the role…
Paulina is sensible, rational, direct, fearless and speaks truth to power. All the qualities my Dad wanted me to develop. I thought of him a lot.

Biggest surprise…
In the last act when Hermione comes back to life, I teared up at every performance.

Favorite moment…
Daniel Stewart as Leontes’ melting reaction when he touches Hermione for the first time after 16 years thinking she is dead.

This year’s favorite performances…
Loved Holly in Little Dog Laughed, Zoe Kazan as Masha in the Royal Court’s The Seagull on Broadway, and Carl Schurr as Gayev in Cherry Orchard at Everyman Theatre.

Next?
Henry V and Richard II in rep at Shakespeare Theatre. As Mistress Quickly and Duchess of York.

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Kellee Knighten
The Civil War . Ford’s Theatre

Creating the role…
Since our piece was an ensemble piece, we didn’t have specific character names; my character was that of a slave in the time of Civil War. I’m originally from Louisiana, and have grown up learning the history of Black Americans through the lens of “good ol’ Dixie”. I’ve seen plantations all my life and have heard the not-so-good, the bad, and the ugly from elders in my family. When looking at the visuals used in the show, it didn’t take much to connect with the people of that time. Some of the people in those pictures resemble people in my family, so empathizing with them was not a huge challenge.

Biggest surprise…
We had quite a few surprising moments, but one that stands out to me was looking out into the audience at the very end of the show, and seeing numerous people weeping freely. After one show, I overheard a patron in the lobby emphatically stating “It’s time for healing in this country. It’s just time.” In my opinion, that is the core mission of this piece–and all theatre–to not only entertain, but to enlighten and, if needed, begin a healing.

Favorite performances…
My personal favorite moment was performing “River Jordan”. It was a joyful number and it was one of the few times in the show we were all on the stage at the same time. It was always fun to have the whole cast on stage, and since everyone was so talented, the choir sound was awesome!

This year’s favorite performances…
Favorite performances, wow, so many: the ladies in Crowns were spectacular, I got to see the National Tour of A Chorus Line and Anthony Wayne, who played the character Richie was amazing, I also saw Wicked again over the summer, and the young lady that plays Glinda was fun to watch.

Next?
Right now I am starring in my most important role to date–a newlywed! I’m back in New York City, auditioning and looking forward to my next project.

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Marni Penning
Jessica in Hysteria . Rep Stage

Creating the role…
Jessica is a young woman who comes to Sigmund Freud searching for answers about a patient he “cured” 30 years earlier, who you find out was her mother. The first act of the play has not only dark and intense moments, but also tons of fun, silly moments – I love playing the dichotomy of a powerful, secretive woman who can also be silly!

Biggest surprise…
We played during Halloween, and that night there was a pirate couple in the front row.

Favorite moment…
The end of the first act, when Jessica is describing her mother’s psychological breakthrough, was an intense moment – you think she’s “cured” and everything’s going to be alright. But just afterwards, you find out her mother killed herself a few years later – I loved hearing the audience’s reaction to that revelation. Usually gasps or sighs of woe – having that kind of communion with the audience, where you know they’re with you, is why I do theater in the first place. 🙂

This year’s favorite performances…
I *finally* got a chance to see Wicked in New York after all this time – most people already know this, but what an incredible production! I thought the Shakespeare Theater’s King Lear was gripping and unnerving (in a good way), and the ensemble was stellar; Ed Gero in particular (as usual). I also loved Meg’s New Friend by Blair Singer in New York by a small but up-and-coming company called the Production Company – beautiful performances by all four actors in the show, but particularly Mary Cross as an almost-40 woman whose boyfriend ends up having a relationship with her best friend. Heartbreaking.

Next?
I’m just finishing a critically-acclaimed three-month stint at Orlando Shakespeare Theater playing Ophelia in Hamlet and Helena in All’s Well That Ends Well in repertory. I’ve been traveling around the country pretty much nonstop for the past 10 years, and I’m looking forward to coming back to DC and settling down with my fiance John Coleman, to whom I will be married in October!

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Christiane Noll
Mother in Ragtime . The Kennedy Center

Creating the role…
Mother is the iconic ‘mother’. She is woman living at the dawn of a new century and redefining and rediscovering what it mean to be a wife, a mother, and a woman. As a brand new mother myself I found the journey incredibly synchronistic. I was discovering all sorts of things about myself and what it meant to me to be a wife, a mother and a woman! Certain parts come into your life at certain times — just amazing when everything lines up like it did at the Kennedy Center.

Biggest surprise…
I was able to pump during intermission and not be late for my entrance into ACT 2.

Favorite moment…
I loved the moments that I shared with Manoel Felciano, my Tateh. Chemistry with another actor is not something that can be planned or forced and when it’s just there it makes everything so easy. I love scenes that are more about what is not said. Great fun!!

This year’s favorite performances…
Watching my husband become the most amazing father – the role of a lifetime!!

Next?
I am in the studio singing demos and tracks for all sorts of people. I am on the concert stage all over the place. I’ll be singing with Julie Andrews again in London in May.

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Elizabeth Rayca
Ado Annie in Oklahoma! . Toby’s Dinner Theatre

Creating the role…
Ado Annie is a very fun loving, energetic, finds the good in everyone kind of person. These are the qualities I relate to with her. I, however, have a different way of expressing these emotions. It was fun though to step out of my comfort zone and see things from her perspective. That is what I enjoy about being an actor. You are in a safe environment in which you can discover sides of yourself that you would never explore in the “real” world.

Biggest surprise…
Nothing too exciting happened during this run. It was just a genuinely great cast that got a long really well. We were all very pleased by the wonderful feedback we were getting for our production. It can be difficult to breathe new life into a classic like Oklahoma! but with a director like Mark Minnick and the very talented cast we had I believe we achieved that goal.

Favorite moment…
My favorite part of the play was during “The Farmer and the Cowman”. What made this so great was that it was the first time the whole cast was on stage together and we were having a great time. There wasn’t a lot of acting required for this scene, it was genuinely a great time.

This year’s favorite performances…
I know this may sound biased since it is from the same production I was in, but I think Adam Grabau did a wonderful job as Jud in Oklahoma!. I thought it was wonderful how he took a character that is typically played as a dim-witted man and showed us his human side. It was very honest and consistent during the entire run.

Next?
Right now I am on a short break from theatre because I’m expecting a baby in August. My husband and I couldn’t be happier awaiting the arrival of a baby girl. I plan on returning to the stage in the winter, and am just focusing on my pregnancy and keeping my voice ready for a return as soon as possible. I can’t wait to start a family and continue building my career again in the Baltimore/DC area.

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Kimberly Schraf
Parthy in Show Boat . Signature Theatre

Creating the role…
Parthy is the repressed and starchy wife of Cap’n Andy, the showman of the Cotton Blossom floating show boat. She is a mother lion, fiercely protective of her daughter Magnolia, but inept at expressing her love; this was my way in and the basis for her humanity (and simultaneously her extremity). She is fundamentally a survivor and a manager, and incidentally a busybody and a merciless critic. I just loved her!

Biggest surprise…
The “miscegenation scene,” a longish, largely wordless interaction among eight or nine characters, scored with a gorgeous, soaring vocal called “Misery’s Comin'” went from being a dreaded scene to being one of my favorites. Somehow, over the course of the run, we found and filled the silent moments on stage and the scene gained depth and emotion for me.

Favorite moment…
It was a moment that was not strictly scripted; when the vaudeville performance goes awry and Cap’n Andy attempts to keep the audience engaged, he tries to enact all the roles, but caves and summons Parthy to the stage for assistance. It was delicious to explore her budding inner actress timidly rearing her head, in spite of her revulsion for the stage, in theory. Harry Winter was so generous to open up his moment in the limelight to me, and he was grand fun to play with.

This year’s favorite performances…
Erika Rose knocked my socks off in Everyman’s Soul Collector; Kim Martin-Cotton was feral as Goneril in King Lear at the Harman; and a production of Our Town at Georgetown University directed by Derek Goldman and Sarah Marshall — with multiple revolving pairs of Georges and Emilys — was transcendent and powerfully moving.

Next?
I am performing Mrs. Kemble’s Tempest at Baltimore Shakespeare Festival and preparing to begin rehearsals for Hadar Galron’s Mikveh at Theater J.

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Miriam Silverman
Marcela in The Dog in the Manger . Shakespeare Theatre Company

Creating the role…
The character of Marcela was one of the most fun and complex ingenues I’d ever come across. When you meet her at the top of the play, you meet a sweet young woman who is madly in love and full of optimism. Then it all comes undone. The man she loves tosses her, a servant, away for her boss, the Countess. There’s all the requisite heartbreak and anger. But refusing to retreat and suffer silently, Marcela begins to scheme and take revenge. He comes back to her, leaves her again, there is a delicious abundance of push and pull. The role was especially fun because she goes on such a roller coaster ride in pursuing love that there was lots of silly comedy in addition to the more grounded, emotional scenes.

Biggest surprise…
I was lucky enough to be playing opposite Michael Hayden, who is one of the most alive and spontaneous people I’ve ever been onstage with. So every night was filled with fantastic little surprises.

Favorite moment…
One of my favorite moments was the scene in which Hayden’s character, Teodoro, comes back to Marcela, pleading to have her back, and his servant Tristan, played by the brilliant comedian David Turner, serves as the mediator. It was very funny and incredibly enjoyable to play. I also loved some of the soliloqies I got to speak. David Johnston, who adapted the play, gave me some very beautiful poetry.

This year’s favorite performances…
I live in New York, so most of the theater I see is there. Reed Birney has blown me away in his last two shows – Circle Mirror Transformation at Playwrights Horizons and Blasted at Soho Rep. Harriet Walter and Janet McTeer in Mary Stuart on Broadway. And most recently, Michael Hayden who was stunning as both kings in the Leadership Rep [Richard II and Henry V at Shakespeare Theatre.]

Next?
I’m back in DC in rehearsals for The Liar at the Shakespeare Theatre. We begin previews April 6 and we’re having an absolute ball!

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Angelica Torn
Ivy Weston in August: Osage County . The Kennedy Center

Creating the role…
I play Ivy Weston, the middle daughter in the highly dysfunctional Weston clan. She is very sensitive, highly intuitive and the epitome of still waters run deep. Being a middle daughter myself yet the one who seems to hold down my family’s fort I had a lot to draw from for this part!

Biggest surprise…
The most surprising thing that happened during our run was the effortless pace that ricochets this cast of 13 through 3 1/2 hours 8 times a week. It never feels long and I’m always surprised once its over.

Favorite moment…
My favorite moment is at the top of the third act when Ivy gets her first big laugh of the night. We finally see Ivy’s sense of gallows’ humor that has been lying in wait.

This year’s favorite performances…
My favorite performance of last year is a triple tie between Janet McTeer and Harriet Walter, both in Mary Stuart.

Next?
I am still performing in August: Osage County, which ends its national tour on May 16th. My film company’s first feature Lucky Days will be released this summer and I am currently finishing the first draft screenplay for our second film Lulu: Blood of a Wig.

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Erin Weaver
Thomasina Coverly in Arcadia . Folger Theatre

Creating the role…
Thomasina Coverly is introduced in the first scene of Arcadia as a little girl who is exactly “thirteen years and ten months” old. Later, in Act Two, we see her again, just before her 17th birthday. She is a prodigy. You’d think that would be what makes her unique, and surely, to be a young genius is pretty amazing. And to be a girl, no less. (This is a particular miracle, because in Thomasina’s time, a young girl’s education was not taken so seriously. They were usually only taught the skills needed to make them an attractive wife.) But I think what makes Thomasina an amazing little girl was her intense curiosity with math, life, love… anything really. She needed to know, to explore, to ask questions.And she was a character who embodied this wonderful passion for both mathematics and the arts and nature. For many, those are all separate subjects, but to Thomasina, they were all connected.

I connected with her because she is an honest to goodness mischievous little girl who is just as curious about math as she is about romance. I work with children a great deal and I love their minds and energy, their raw, immediate way of thinking and their zest for life. I channeled the little girl that I once was ( I was no prodigy, but I certainly was nosey and mischievous) as well as the wonderful kids I have worked with through theater education.

Biggest surprise…
Every night it was amazing to hear how the audience listened to the story. It’s a tricky play. There is a lot to take in. But Aaron (the director) made sure that we honored the humanity and love that streamed through the characters and the story first, and let the smarty pants aspect of the play land second. So even if people didn’t know or get all of the references, they at least got the love, passion, curiosity, humility, ego, lust, and competitive sides of the play for sure. But every once in a while, we would have one audience member laugh out loud, alone, about a reference that mostly no one caught, and that would be fun. Oh yeah, and one time the door handle came off the main door that we all used. That was a pretty great night : )

Favorite moment…
This will be nearly impossible to answer. The list is literally endless. Being in this production with this cast, director, and design team, working on this play and this role truly truly made every moment feel like a perfect one. If I was forced to pick one, it would be… nope, can’t do it. There are just too many.

This year’s favorite performances…
I know this will seem obvious, but I would have to say Cody Nickel, Holly Twyford, and Eric Hissom in Arcadia. Others… Every cast member in the production, Becky Shaw, at the Wilma Theater was outstanding.

Next?
I am about to start rehearsals out at People’s Light and Theater Company in Pennsylvania for a play called Gossamer.

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Delores King Williams
Queenie in Show Boat . Signature Theatre

Creating the role…
Queenie is a very bright, intuitive, resourceful African- American woman who is somewhere in her thirties when Show Boat begins in the 1880’s. She’s the cook on the show boat and confidant/caregiver for Magnolia and Julie. In another time, Queenie would be running and starring in her own fleet of showboat casinos or heading her own law firm. She understands the constraints of society as far as how she must carry herself in public and how much she can assert herself, but she also knows when she can push the envelope to defend herself or those she loves. Queenie is married to Joe, whom she adores, but publicly berates for being “no account and lazy” instead of being as industrious as she is.

Although I have not experienced the deep humiliaton and fear that Queenie and Joe endured as a result of being born African-Americans during that part of our history, I have certainly been aware of prejudice in my own life. I really admired Queenie’s “bloom where you are planted” way of dealing with things and she never passed up an opportunity to have a good time! I connected to Queenie’s loyalty to those she cares for and her need for purpose and a feeling of accomplishment.

Biggest surprise…
The most surprising thing that happened during the run happened during the “Can’t Help Lovin’ that Man” dance sequence that Queenie led. The wonderful VaShawn McIIwain, who plays Joe, does this incredible jump and spin in the air. Well at one matinee, he came down from the spin and landed, but then fell to the ground. He made it appear that this was part of his playing with Magnolia, but I knew something was really, really wrong. Well, he was injured and so the dance was re-choreographed to have me dance with one of the other men onstage during the number – in front of Joe- and I can not express how different this felt. Joe was walking with a limp and obviously couldn’t dance and I felt like such a hussy- it completely changed the dynamics for Queenie! We reworked some things so it didn’t appear that Queenie was flaunting herself with another man in front of Joe.

Favorite moment…
“Can’t Help Lovin’ that Man” was my favorite scene. It starts in the kitchen with Magnolia and Julie. Even though the other two women are separated by race and Queenie must still address Julie as “Miss”, it’s very clear that these three can be themselves in the safety of Queenie’s kitchen. All the show boat folks spend a lot of time together and under those circumstances, black and white fades away and people become just people. I always thought that Queenie regretted that she and Joe had no children and that she kind of envied Julie’s closeness to Magnolia. Joe joins them and we see how much they enjoy teasing each other and then you have the other African-Americans visit and then we see Queenie cut loose and take advantage of an opportunity to escape into a good time. Eric Shaeffer created a rehearsal environment where we were encouraged to explore our relationships and he insisted that each person in the cast have a full life and a reason to be connected to the show boat. As a cast, we had to confront some very uncomfortable racial issues and Eric established, from day one, that we would deal with those issues together and move forward. That was really important and so great!

This year’s favorite performances…
My favorite performances this year include Othello by Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, MA and the Kander and Ebb review at Signature in Arlington, VA. I’ve seen Othello several times and this was the first performance that I was wondering until the final moment if Othello was going to go through with (for those who aren’t familiar with the play) “ending his marriage”. The incredible actor playing Othello, John Doulgas Thompson, seemed to be ready to follow through on several occasions, pushed by Iago, but we saw him wooed back to his good senses by Desdemona’s unwavering love each time. Then, we saw the switch go off in his head and the final decision to . . . . And the actor playing Cassio absolutely broke my heart when he cried “My reputation, Iago, my reputation”. In those words, you felt all the work and sacrifice that he’d destroyed by one night of drinking and fighting, and for him- there were no other options or career paths to consider. His world was over and he was confiding in Iago. Just a beautiful, awful, devastating moment.

Kander and Ebb [First You Dream: The Music of Kander and Ebb]at Signature was brilliant. The performers, the staging, the set and of course, the material- excellent from start to finish.

Next?
I’m back to my dream job, performing with the Capitol Steps! I also work with the Smithsonian Masterworks Jazz Orchestra and I’ll be performing with them in a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald ( April 23rd at the Sylvan Theater) and in a tribute to the Apollo on May 16th at Baird Auditorium. I’m very excited and honored to take part in those concerts with such incredible musicians and material to work with and I get to work with my husband, trumpeter/drummer Tom Williams.

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Nominated for Outstanding Ensemble

(Responding: Angels in America: Alexander Strain and Jim Jorgensen, Antebellum: Carlton Byrd, Nick Vienna and Jessica Frances Dukes, The Civil War: Darryl Reuben Hall and Kellee Knighten, Cool Papa’s Party: Lori A. Williams, Crowns: Mary Millben, Disco Pigs, Linda Murray, Heroes: John Vreeke, A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Natalie Berk, Philip Fletcher, Irina Koval, Katie Maguire, Mary Werntz and Irina Kavsadze, Rent: Edward Daniels, Quality of Life: Kevin O’Rourke)

Angels in America . Forum Theatre

When did you first realize there was something special about working with this cast?

Alexander Strain – When I was told the final cast for the project I knew that we’d managed to gather a really wonderful group of artists. I’d admired each of the cast’s individual performances over the years that I had been in Washington, and to think of being surrounded by that much talent was inspiring. Each person was so well-suited for their role in Angels in America.

Jim Jorgensen – You knew the potential with the cast list and sitting around the table at the first read through. But, watching one of the last runs in the rehearsal hall for Part I, I heard and saw things I just never did with the play. I would watch others doing their work and it was wow. They are bringing things to the scene that I thought was really special. Each scene would set the bar higher for the next one. You knew you had to be on top of things when it came your turn.

What moment(s) in the play do you think best exemplify the ensemble’s work?

Alexander Strain – There was only one scene I believe with the entire cast. The ensemble spirit was actually best exemplified surrounding our approach to the project and our attitude towards each other. The group was so supportive, constantly picking each other up when the work got to be overwhelming. During rehearsals I would watch the scenes before mine and think “Wow, that was really fantastic, I’m going to have to work really hard to top that”, and that’s perhaps the best dynamic of an ensemble, one that challenges you to strive to be better.

Jim Jorgensen – For me, the idea of that comes more in the lack of “quit” when things got tough or the quiet moments of togetherness that you or others shared. Whether it be on a two show day, the first time back to back for Part I and II, watching the cast interact in the green room, or sitting down next to one another before a scene shift. To me, there was a very special bond in those unique small moments. The private moments that an audience member was not aware of but affected what they would eventually see on stage.

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Antebellum . Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

When did you first realize there was something special about working with this cast?

Carlton Byrd – I realized there was something unique about our cast during our first table read. It was my first trip to the D.C. area and during amazing times. Our then President-elect Barack Obama would be sworn into office the next morning. The streets were flooded with faces I both knew and had never seen. Red, White, and Blue swirled about me. Colors that were nothing more than hues and pigments a day before now made me FEEL something. Patriotic. To say that “emotions were on high” walking into Woolly Mammoth THAT day would be a crude understatement. But, we still had a job to do.

So, the production team and a group of actors who had never met sat around a table and read a play. Midway through our first read I found myself in an unfamiliar place. I was chosen to “act” but I found myself doing more listening than performing. I was slowly becoming an audience member amazed by the performances and early choices of the actors before me. It wasn’t until someone uttered, “Carlton. It’s your line” that I decided to do some acting of my own. To sit where I sat on that day was to know–“something special”.

I was honored to be among you then. I’m even more honored today.

Jessica Frances Dukes – When I looked at our head shots on the poster before the first day of rehearsal. We all had the same look in our eyes. We were daring and unafraid, and you definitely have to be that to take on Robert’s Work.

Nick Vienna – At the initial read-through in January when we were together for the very first time. It became clear even then, when Chay began describing his idea of this as a “love story”, that we would need to completely trust one another- and that it had to start now- not 2 or 3 weeks of “get to know you” rehearsals- we only had 3 weeks to get this thing up!

What moment(s) in the play do you think best exemplify the ensemble’s work?

Carlton Byrd – There are some scenes that make or break a play. In our production, it was what I like to call “The Great Reveal” (dramatic echo). The scene takes place right before intermission and marks the first time that all five characters are on stage at the same time. Prior to this scene the audience has been treated to a back and forth juggle between time periods and geological locations. In Germany, a “Master-Slave” relationship unfolds between a Nazi Commandant and an imprisoned African-American cabaret singer while an estranged African-American woman shows up at the front door of a naive Southern Bell’s plantation home in the Atlanta, Georgia asking for “some water” and the whereabouts of her husband. SPOILER ALERT: All of the events of Act I come to a head as the Black woman in Georgia is revealed to be the cabaret singer being molested by the Nazi Commandant in Berlin. It was one of the most challenging scenes in the show simply because it depended upon each actor’s ability to work cohesively with the other actors in communicating the most vital information for the success of the show. Each emotional moment had to be carried into the next by the corresponding actor in order for the scene to be affective. It was very challenging and as a result of our ensemble work, very effective.

Jessica Frances Dukes – The moment in the play that I think best exemplifies the ensemble’s work is coincidentally the only moment when we are all on stage together. It is the moment where Oscar and Gabrielle are on the couch discussing the idea of the sex change, where Edna reveals the sex change to Ariel, and after the huge bomb is dropped, Sarah bursts through with her new dress for the premier to show her “New Maid”. It was my favorite moment every night. It might be because it took us forever to get those split scenes. The rhythm was so important, the information was so important. For Carlton and I, being the same person mirroring each other’s movements was so important. There was a wonderful everyday exercise that we turned into a game and who ever messed up we started all from the top until we got through it. But we finally got it. Thanks Chey.

Nick Vienna – The single moment that best describes our ensemble took place in the 2nd act, and was composed of Ariel and Edna making love in the living room split scene with Gabriel castrating himself simultaneously. Not only was this a difficult “acting moment”, but the choreography necessary was remarkably specific. It involved all of the actors, from Sarah at the window to Oskar timing his entrance, and we pulled that moment off every single time- something that I’m very proud of. The truth is that if it wasn’t perfect, it would crumble into chaos.

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The Civil War . Ford’s Theatre

When did you first realize there was something special about working with this cast?

Darryl Reuben Hall – Many of the cast members auditioned in New York City including myself. There are those who believe that incredible talent is sometimes only found in The Big Apple. However, upon my trip to D. C. for the first day of rehearsals, it was rapidly apparent that remarkable talent also lived in D. C. The sounds and notes we created that first day were so melodic. I knew that we were all a part of an amazing piece, with amazing music, amazing lyrics all at the historic Ford’s Theatre.

Kellee Knighten – The very first time we sang the number “Peculiar Institution” together; there were some tears, “whoas,” and heavy sighs all around, not just from reacting to the amazing voices, but from everyone understanding the depth of the piece. I think that was the moment I knew this cast was something special. I was very lucky to be among such talent and such great personalities.

What moment(s) in the play do you think best exemplify the ensemble’s work?

Darryl Reuben Hall – One moment, being an African-American performer and lover of history, FREEDOM, highlighted by the words and wisdom of Fredrick Douglass, says it all… FREEDOM. Another moment, the entire cast in The Glory and Judgment Day.

Kellee Knighten – The opening number, “By the Sword/Sons of Dixie,” was a great introduction to how we worked as a team. At the times we weren’t singing, we were still interacting with each other and engaged with what was going on. Also, the blend of voices at the end of the song was so great, it let the audience know that they were in for some serious singing.

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Cool Papa’s Party . MetroStage

Lori A. Williams

When did you first realize there was something special about working with this cast?

I noticed this from the start! Every member of our ensemble is talented and had so much to offer to Tom Jones’ production. I was blessed to be a part and learn from the cast and share my talent as well. We had great chemistry from the onset and the sense of family/oneness continued throughout the course of our show.

What moment(s) in the play do you think best exemplify the ensemble’s work?

From the opening number (HIGH ENERGY) to the closing one (HIGHER ENERGY), our ensemble worked, danced, sang, acted and exemplified musical excellence! This show had so many wonderful moments that Maurice Hines choreographed. There were many exciting opportunities for our ensemble to shine…it’s hard to select one! I personally enjoyed our 70’s number. It was a lot of hard work – but it was worth it. Also, William Knowles’ musical direction showcased our ability to demonstrate our vocal expertise as a group. The harmonies were out of this world!

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Crowns . Arena Stage

Mary Millben

When did you first realize there was something special about working with this cast?

I remember one rehearsal. We had come to the part of the play where Velma, played by Marva Hicks, sings the old church spiritual “His Eye is on the Sparrow.” We were all positioned in the scene and Marva began to sing. And it was like we were all experiencing a real church service in rehearsal. Marva started singing and God’s presence literally came in the room.

You have to understand, while we the cast were playing roles, we all as individuals grew up in the black church and experiencing God outside of the church was not foreign to any of us. Marva got to the part of the song that says, “I sing because I am happy. I sing because I am free. His eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches over me.” And one by one, we all became emotional and “caught up” in the words of the song. All of us have personal testimonies and as Marva continued to sing, we all began to reminisce on God’s goodness in our lives individually. By the time Marva had finished, we, including our director Ken Lee Roberson and our music director E. Marcus Harper, were all shouting and crying. It was in that rehearsal, in that moment, I knew this cast was special and I knew this show was going to be not just entertainment, but rather a spiritual experience for those coming to see the show.

What moment(s) in the play do you think best exemplify the ensemble’s work?

Crowns is really an ensemble show and so literally every moment exemplifies the casts’ work. However, one particular moment that comes to mind is towards the end of the show. The cast goes through a series of old spirituals…”Wade in the Water,” “Yonder Come Day,” and others. During that sequence of songs, the audience really gets to hear the foundation songs of the Black church/community and experience the beautiful vocal harmonies of the cast. In addition, this part of the play takes Yolanda, played by Zurin Villanueva, through a spiritual transformation. It is a beautiful segment to watch and experience. I believe this part of the play shows not only the growth of the characters, but also the focus and dramatic commitment of the cast.

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Disco Pigs . Solas Nua

Linda Murray, Co-director and Artistic Director of Solas Nua

When did you first realize there was something special about working with this cast?

Both Madeleine and Rex are company members so we’ve something special in them for quite a while now. Madeleine first acted for us on Scenes from the Big Picture (which also got a Helen Hayes ensemble nod) and Rex was made a company member off the back of his performance as Pig in the Off-Broadway run of this production in 2008. As an acting couple they balance each other out perfectly and they both share the huge energy and stage presence necessary to pull off the characters of Pig and Runt.

What moment(s) in the play do you think best exemplify the ensemble’s work?

The play is one long frenzied moment so it’s hard to pick a section out – overall I think that it is their intense commitment to the marathon of physicality required of them that sets them apart as an ensemble. With nothing more than a shopping trolley and their bodies they make us see night clubs, bedrooms, bars and beaches as well as a vast array of characters and that is not easy to pull off. And yet my favorite moment is probably the only one where they’re still – sitting watching the sea at Crossheaven – because in that brief scene both Rex and Madeleine make us care deeply about the destiny of Pig and Runt which makes the play’s final scene heartbreaking.

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Heroes . MetroStage

John Vreeke, Director

When did you first realize there was something special about working with this cast?

After about a week of table work discussions and getting on our feet. This cast, the three of them together, have, well, let’s say over 100 years of experience in theater collectively.

– They work without ego…being beyond, past those needs…no time for ego…it’s stupid and counterproductive…never a moment of neediness or self doubt. – They know how to work…no teaching, no cajoling, no caretaking needed – They respect, love language…Stoppard’s is great for them…they know about music in language and how to make it sing – They have, again, years of technique experience so they know how to deliver the language. – They genuinely like and respect each other…love being in each other’s company…which pays off for the three way friendship in Heroes.

What moment(s) in the play do you think best exemplify the ensemble’s work?

The entire play.

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream . Synetic Theater

When did you first realize there was something special about working with this cast?

Natalie Berk – Since the first time I began working with Synetic Theater in the Spring of 2008, I knew there was something special about the company. Synetic is exceptional because the company revolves around building a ensemble. Synetic is unique because we are more than just an ensemble, we are a family. We do more than just act with one another. We create.

Philip Fletcher – I realized there was something special with this cast even before we started rehearsal. This is one of the very rare Synetic shows where there was not a single new person in the show. Everyone had been in at least one Synetic production previously and a great majority of us went straight into rehearsing A Midsummer Night’s Dream after closing Synetic Theater’s Dante. So obviously there already existed an inherently high level of trust and comfort between cast members, especially after the extremely emotional and physical gauntlet that encompassed our production of Dante.

Irina Kavsadze – The very first day of rehearsal. It instantly became an amazing family.

Irina Koval – Working with the Synetic actors has been always a great pleasure. All of them are very positive, talented, well trained in movement. which makes it a strong cast. I have worked with most of the cast members for a long time (5-6 years) which made the rehearsal process go smooth, creative and enabled us to perform as one body.

Katie Maguire – When I first realized I was a part of a truly special company was actually during our run of Dante. I was sitting underneath the stage with several other actors, waiting to emerge into the next circle of hell. I would watch everyone getting ready underneath the stage. A few lost souls would be grouped together listening in silence, a demon would crawl through to the other side of the stage, somewhere someone was singing, and the creaking floorboards meant that the scene above was going well. I just realized that each of us were truly unique pieces of the puzzle of ensemble work. This held true for Midsummer, where each actor had an opportunity to shine as an individual as well as work to the magic of the whole.

Mary Werntz – I don’t recall a specific moment, but it was very special show in that each of the actors in this cast had been in at least one past Synetic production so everyone was up to par in terms of the style of work and how it is created. There were times in rehearsal when our comfort level gave way to a little too much fun, but such was the nature of the show and the results speak for themselves.

What moment(s) in the play do you think best exemplify the ensemble’s work?

Natalie Berk – Synetic’s company is completely based around ensemble work. We are constantly working as a team. There is no specific moment that best exemplifies our work as an ensemble because we are literally working every show as just that. This company is an ensemble and a family. The company members at Synetic cultivate that from the very beginning to the last breathing moments of any show they perform. We are each others crew, dressers, AND cast mates. We are given the opportunity to have our voices heard throughout the entire process of both creating and running a show.

As an ensemble, we put our heart and soul into constructing and producing something rare and beautiful. There is sweat from each and every cast member put into creating and building whatever we perform every night (this includes our production of Midsummer) And if you ask me- there is no other way to justify that we are not some of the hardest working actors in town.

Philip Fletcher – This is somewhat difficult to say because A Midsummer Night’s Dream is basically a show about 3 very different groups of characters. 1) You have the lovers, who are the main through line and glue that holds the piece together, fantastically played by Scott Brown, Irina Koval, Marissa Molnar, and Roger Payano. 2) There are the mechanicals that, in part due to the script but, mostly through actor skil,l provided the most hilarious, gut-busting moments of our production, played by Chris Galindo, Irakli (Iko) Kavsadze, Katie Dubois (Maguire), Ryan Sellers, and Vato Tsikurishvili. 3) The third are the faeries, the mystical beings that influence, twist, and play with the mortals to an ultimately happy ending, played by Natalie Berk, Shannon A.L. Dorsey, Irina Kavsadze, Alex Mills, Irina Tsikurishvili, Mary Werntz, and myself. So there were precious few moments where everyone is on stage together until the end of the play where we all, in character, took part in a celebratory dance and that dance led into our bows. It was a great way to tie it all together and close a really uplifting Shakespearean comedy.

I should also mention other moments that exemplify the ensemble nature of this cast is when many of the actors did yeomen’s work during quick changes that switched them from one group to another in order to boost on-stage ensemble numbers, particularly in the faery scenes. In this aspect, special attention must be paid to the boys who squeezed into rather tight, sausage casing-like, green costumes. Needless to say masculine dignity was put aside in front of a live audience several nights a week for a few months when all was said and done.

Irina Kavsadze – Definitely the fairy fight. Everybody gave it their all throughout the whole scene.

Irina Koval – I think that funny and dramatic 4-way fight scene between my character Hermia (Irina Koval), Helena (Marissa Molnar), Lesander (Roger Pyano), Demitrius (Scott Brown) was the highlight of the show.

Katie Maguire – The final dance was a real pleasure for all of us. We were each highlighted for our individual parts, and also got to work in rhythm with each other. It was more like a celebration than a performance.

Mary Werntz – The bow. The bow was incorporated into the last scene of the show – the lovers’ wedding. While every character or group of characters had their individual moment, it was akin to an ensemble bow because it came organically from the action of the scene and concluded with an ensemble bow – a perfect way to acknowledge the significance of each actor’s work.

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Rent . Keegan Theatre

Edward Daniels

When did you first realize there was something special about working with this cast?

After weeks of rehearsal, finally hearing a taste (yes, hearing a taste) of the amazing band, after moving into the theatre, I believe, sparked a newfound energy amongst the entire cast. Very few actors look forward to technical rehearsals, but I’ve always been a huge fan of those 12-hour days. I absolutely love the process of layering on costumes, lighting, sound, band, and props to a show. Once we began to run through Rent tech rehearsals, with all of those elements beginning to mesh, I knew just how magical this thing could become. Costumes, lighting, previews, opening night, and the ride began.

I first realized how special this piece was simply by the crowd response we received each and every night. Seeing audience members wiping tears from their eyes during the reprise of “I’ll Cover You” or “Rent Finale B”, both emotional ensemble numbers, was priceless and still gets me choked up to think about. Sometime during the middle of the run, I felt and saw each and every principal actor sink into his or her role and showcase not only a show-stopping number, but delivering each moment of those numbers with such honesty and clarity. It was intensely beautiful. Each ensemble member, night after night, created a new, pulsating, vibrant world that we would play in for three hours. Together, each of the talent on that stage managed to revive, create, live with, and make intimate, the powerful story of Rent. It remains five months of work that I will never forget.

What moment(s) in the play do you think best exemplify the ensemble’s work?

I will never forget the energy and grit of the show’s opener Rent. I was lucky enough to be wearing sunglasses during the opener, such that I could sneak a peek into the audience a bit each evening from the upper level of the stage, where I saw audience members immediately straighten up in their seats, smile, or turn to their partner with the look of ‘damn!’ on their face. And, after the eight-minute opener and the force with which we rocked out that number, it was as though we’d said to them, “yes, sit back, relax, this is going to be a hot ride!”

I will never forget the Haiti Benefit Closing Night performance that we performed, which raised $5,000 for the cause. The passion and sadness of the “I’ll Cover You Reprise”, an ensemble number, was magical that night. I think that each of us was bawling our eyes out from the top of that scene through the end. I remember barely being able to sing throughout the number. I remember thinking, each night, how happy I was to be a part of this special cast, performing this in our nation’s capital.

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Quality of Life . Arena Stage

Kevin O’Rourke

When did you first realize there was something special about working with this cast? From the first table read at the rehearsal hall on T street I knew this was going to be something incredible. The four of us bonded immediately and the emotions that were generated in that first read were amazing. It progressed from there. It was very clear that because the play was so much about family, loss and emotional support, we would have to access some pretty personal emotions. It was also clear that we were all willing to do so, and that we felt the support to do it safely. The result, as we rehearsed and slowly progressed toward production, was an incredibly honest and grounded production with strong heartfelt circumstances.

What moment(s) in the play do you think best exemplify the ensemble’s work?

The first Act is really one long scene. As a result we had the opportunity to take our time and really develop the relationships and the arc of each character. The people that start the play, walking through the burnt out home of Neil and Jeanette, are very different by the Act’s end. That transformation is achieved through the interaction and the communication that takes place through the circumstances of the play. Each character listens to and is affected by the other characters. This could not have been successful without a cast with an openness and a willing sense of generosity.

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Nominated for Outstanding Production

(Responding producers:  Adding Machine: A Musical: Joy Zinoman, Angels in America: Michael Dove, Arcadia: Janet Griffin, Barrio Grrrl!: Kim Peter Kovac, The Civil War: Paul Tetreault, Cool Papa’s Party: Carolyn Griffin, Heidi: Janet Stanford, Lyle the Crocodile: Kate Bryer, Momia en el Closet: Hugh Medrano, Rent: Mark Rhea, Spring Awakening: Tom Hulce, Wittenberg: Michael Stebbins, Zero Hour: Ari Roth, Zomo the Rabbit: Janet Stanford)

Adding Machine: A Musical

Joy Zinoman, Artistic Director of The Studio Theatre

Why this show…
Adding Machine: A Musical was a completely original work, unlike anything I had seen or heard before. The music was difficult and exciting and brought a new way of looking at a classic expressionist play. The themes in Rice’s original text were drawn out in the adaptation in a way that had contemporary resonance and was fully theatrical. This originality as well as its style really drove the decision to produce it.

Learned of the play?
I had first heard of Adding Machine during its successful Off Broadway run in New York. A number of concurrent events took place that urged us to considering producing it – members of our season planning committee really responded to the music and libretto, a Studio Theatre board member saw the production in New York and raved about it and one of the play’s creators (and eventual director of The Studio Theatre production) moved to Washington DC so I was able to discuss the project with him.

Greatest challenge…
I think if you were to ask the director, musical director, actors or musicians , they would all tell you that learning the music was the most difficult aspect of mounting this production. Joshua Schmidt’s score is extraordinary, however, it is also extraordinarily complex and unconventional. For the actors to sing it well and bring the emotional complexity that the play’s story demands was definitely a challenge.

Proud…
I think this production contained numerous elements that made me proud. It had a number of stirring performances, led by the unbelievably talented David Benoit as Mr. Zero. I believe our director and designers did a wonderful job bringing this production to life. And ultimately I believe Adding Machine gave the audiences an intellectually stimulating and emotional evening of theatre, an evening that stayed with them long after the production ended.

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Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and Angels in America: Perestroika

Michael Dove, Artistic Director of Forum Theatre and Producer of Millennium Approaches

Why this show…
Well, the typical criteria for choosing a show was a given before we started our conversation—the play is more than just good—it’s incredible. In my opinion, it’s the best American play of my generation.

We, in the company, have always called Angels in America the “most Forum play.” It has always been the script we held as a prime example of what we want the plays we produce to represent: rigorous storytelling, adventurous theatricality, big ideas and big questions. Every year, when it came time to discuss the next season, Angels would come up, but would quickly be shot down as “too big.” This past season was our 6th year and compared to many, our budgets and resources are quite limited. We didn’t know what level we would need to reach, but it was always put off as a show we’d do “someday.”

Then, as we looked at the plays that we were considering, a confluence of events kept making me think of Angels once again. The HIV/AIDS rate reports in DC, the national dialogue over gay rights, the bitter tones of our political “dialogue” and the beginning of this economic downturn that has been so devastating to our theatre landscape.

I had recently read Michael Kaiser’s book “The Art of the Turnaround” and his advice for times of crisis for arts organizations: do your most ambitious project–the one you always wanted to do. While we, as a company, were not in crisis, it seemed apt for this time when so many arts presenters were grappling with safe choices vs. passion. How could we resist our passion to tell this story when it felt like the perfect time to share it? This was just the excuse we needed and we started to put together the team of artists to make it happen.

Learned of the show…
I first read the play shortly after it was published, when I was in 7th or 8th grade. It was like nothing I had read before. My theatre education, to that point, was Shakespeare and American musicals, so it was quite an eye-opener and probably the strongest influence on the type of theatre I want to make.

Greatest challenge…
Angels was– by far– the largest and most expensive production we had ever mounted. Even the idea of doing both parts in repertory–which was very important to us—was something we had never tried to do before and is pretty rare for companies our size. Pulling all those people together for a 2-part, 7 hour production was a massive challenge for Forum. We are still a volunteer-staffed company, so everyone was working all hours, around day jobs, to bring everything together. Every day brought a new production problem to solve, a new funding need, a new scheduling change. While Jeremy [Skidmore] worked in one room on Millennium Approaches, I’d be in the other rehearsing Perestroika! The actors would move from one to the other and somehow balance the massive scope of this play while jumping all over the place, out of order! But at the end of the day, it was the passion for the story we wanted to tell that pulled us through. We were determined to bring this play to life, no matter what.

Proud…
The way everyone came together for a project that many said we had no business doing. A famous Broadway production and HBO film had convinced everyone that this was a play about large-budget spectacle. I like to think that we reminded audiences that it is a story about characters in extraordinary times. It is a sprawling, messy epic play that allows for the “wires to show” because the focus should be on what happens to these people, who are just like us, and the struggles we still face, almost 20 years after the play was written. I will be forever humbled by the heart and soul every single actor, designer, technician, company and board member threw into making it happen.

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Arcadia

Janet Griffin, Artistic Producer of Folger Theatre

Why this show…
Like many of Shakespeare’s plays, Arcadia is a play about ideas which can be pondered for a while—ideas about art and science, about the past influencing the present, about chance and inevitability. It is very much in sync with the mission of Folger Theatre.

Learned of the show…
In 1994 I saw the West End transfer of the National Theatre’s original production and thought it a perfect play for Folger Theatre.

Greatest challenge…
The casting was the greatest challenge, with characters having to play 19th century as well as contemporary, twelve-year-olds and revered scholars.

Proud…
The production put ideas on the table in clear, accessible, fascinating ways that compelled audiences to care and to think.

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Barrio Grrrl!

Kim Peter Kovac, Director of Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences

Why this show…
Barrio Grrrl! was a Kennedy Center commission. A number of years back, we commissioned 10 Latino writers to submit treatments, or proposals, for plays for young audiences that somehow connected with Latino culture. Playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes submitted a treatment that we liked, and we commissioned a first draft. Quiara wanted to work with Bill Sherman, the co-orchestrator of In The Heights, for which Quiara was a Tony nominee for Best Book. They gave us a first draft, we did a two day reading with actors, loved it, and decided to go forward.

Learned of the show…
The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival had given Quiara its Latino Playwriting Award and Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, so we’ve known of her for a while.

Greatest challenge…
The process was very smooth and joyous, with a terrific group of artists – writer and composer, director and choreographer, designers, actors. The challenges were that there was such a sweep of the music and movement that we had to remember the moments of the story.

Proud…
There is a great sense of both simplicity and joy, as Ana tries to save her neighborhood and realizes she might need a little saving herself. The music and movement have a driving child-like energy that brings you along her journey. She’s a superhero, but one just like you and me.

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The Civil War

Paul Tetreault, Artistic Director of Ford’s Theatre

Why this show…
The song cycle The Civil War is a contemporary re-imagining of events, sentiments and individuals affected by the American Civil War. The piece was inspired by the words of Walt Whitman, Frederick Douglass, and Abraham Lincoln as well as the lives (as documented through letters, photographs and journals) of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. We found that it allowed for a diverse musical ensemble to simultaneously recall the slave experience, the lives of soldiers and the effects of war on families through a contemporary lens. Each of the musical accounts explores a tumultuous time in our nation’s history, and through Frank Wildhorn’s sensational and accessible score, invites audiences to understand how those struggles have shaped our lives in the present day.

Learned of the show…
I had worked with Frank Wildhorn on several projects during my tenure at the Alley Theatre in Houston, where The Civil War first premiered, and thought that it would be a perfect fit for Ford’s Theatre.

Greatest challenge…
One of our biggest challenges was the decision to present the show in a non-traditional way. Instead of costumes from the Civil War period (as the Broadway production had done in 1998), we chose a modern design and staged the production in a concert-like setting with a live seven-piece band to accompany the vocalists. We found that audiences, especially our younger group audiences, responded positively to this decision as it helped bring together the modern musical elements and tone of the piece.

Proud…
It is hard to imagine a more poignant place than the Ford’s Theatre to present such a unique production of The Civil War. The show directly ties into Ford’s mission of exploring the American experience and we were thrilled with how beautifully Jeff Calhoun and the cast were able to bring the varied elements of the Civil War to life.

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Cool Papa’s Party

Carolyn Griffin, Artistic Director of MetroStage

Why this show?
I have worked with writer/director Tom Jones on many projects and premiered many of his plays over the past 8 years. A play about the world’s greatest entertainer was certainly of interest and gave me another opportunity to cast some of my favorite actors.

Greatest Challenge…
It was exciting and at the same time challenging and ultimately very rewarding to produce a show with Maurice Hines as choreographer. He was extremely generous teaching and choreographing a show with challenging dance requirements and actors all rising to the challenge. A new musical with all original music is also a challenge and working with M.D. William Knowles always a pleasure.

Proud…
I am always proud to be working on new work and premiering new shows. Cool Papa’s Party received wonderful recognition from Helen Hayes with 6 nominations and has had two workshops since MetroStage, further developing the work in anticipation of future productions.

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Heidi

Janet Stanford, Artistic Director of Imagination Stage

Why this show…
I was lucky to have the chance to visit Switzerland a couple of times when I was a kid so the story of Heidi was always one of my favorites. The idea of growing up amidst that spectacular scenery and having snow on the ground in the mountains all year round. It seemed idyllic at the time. As I revisited the story as an adult, the Victorian moralizing aspects of the original still did not detract for me from the central image of the story which, for me, is a child with special powers to bring out the best in others. Heidi represents the hope for a new beginning that every new parent has felt. Her innocence and generosity of spirit are as irresistible now (perhaps even more so) as they were in the 19th Century.

Learn of the show…
At Imagination Stage we are always looking for good new titles to commission for our young audience. When the U.S. copyright expired on “Heidi”, we suddenly had the incentive to consider making it into a play. I knew that we would need a brilliant creative team to help bring out what is timeless in the story while avoiding some of its pitfalls. Marty de Silva, another lover of the Swiss landscape and culture, was exactly the person to find the humor and fun in the Heidi’s difficult life story. Joan Cushing did her usual magic with the music, creating some beautiful melodies that audience members were able to hum on their way out of the theatre.

Greatest challenge…
The mountaintop location was an exciting challenge. Milagros Ponce de Leon brought her background among the Peruvian mountains to bear on the design. Our tech team took out most of the trap floor so that the actors could actually climb up to Alp’s cottage. And then, of course, the actors had to negotiate Clara’s wheelchair on narrow ramps and pathways. There were some hairy moments in tech and some compromises to the staging but Peter did succeed in throwing the wheelchair down the mountainside and “breaking” it 8 times a week for 6 weeks. The kids were amazed!

Proud…
I was very proud of the cast. It was wonderful to have a veteran actor, Terrence Currier, in the role of Alp. Tara Giordana was perfect for Heidi and everyone else just matched them in depth and energy.

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Lyle the Crocodile

Kate Bryer, Associate Artistic Director of Imagination Stage

Why this show…
I absolutely LOVE Kevin Kling’s sense of humor. He is one of the most genuinely funny people I know. He knows how to tell a story that will have you rolling in the aisles, but he also gets at the heart of the matter. Also, I read the “Lyle” books when I was a child and was thrilled to be able to tell this story to children in a new way.

Learn of the show…
We did this show eight years ago (after finding it through Seattle Children’s Theatre where it had been commissioned) when we were at White Flint and it was a big hit. We often are able to repeat a script because our audience ages out after 5 years. Doing a script you have already done is challenging but is also a great opportunity to do something completely new and different.

Greatest challenge…
I was terrified of doing farce! I thought that I was not good at this style and was so worried that I would mess it up and it would not be funny. And then I worried that if it WERE funny, then it would not be grounded in anything substantial. I worry a lot, always. And usually, things work out. I think they work out because I worry.

Proud…
I had the funniest and most talented group of people involved in this production, from the actors to the designers to the music director and choreographer. I am proud that we were all able to work together to create something that came as a result of many brilliant ideas. And I am proud that these talented people invested so much for children, the future of our theatre.

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Momia en el closet: The Return of Eva Perón

Hugo Medrano, Artistic Director of GALA Hispanic Theatre

Why this show…
I chose this play because it brings justice to the historical character of Eva Perón. Unlike the Lloyd Webber Broadway portrait, our play explores Evita’s unconditional love for the working class of her country and its leader and husband Juan Perón. Also, because the heroine is a very unorthodox character: the mummified body of Evita and the dirty war that her legacy unleashed, as surrealists as they may seem, are actual occurrences in the history of Argentina.

Learned of the show…
Composer Mariano Vales brought me a script in progress based on an original idea of his, with text and lyrics by another writer. He was not happy with it, and after I read it, neither was I. But I loved Mariano’s music and the basic idea: the corpse of Eva hidden in different places, traveling around the world and being abused, and finally becoming an emblem for the Argentinean guerrilla. So, I engaged Gustavo Ott, an excellent Venezuelan playwright whose plays have been produced regularly at GALA, to write the book, and the rest is history.

Greatest challenge…
I think that the most difficult task was to find the right way to present a true love story surrounded by so many absurd and surrealist elements. You must keep in mind that the heroine is a mummy and the subject of her love is a multitude, and that the obstacles against this love is an army, and a horde of fanatic ministers that include a necrophiliac and a priest of occultism.

Proud…
I am most proud of the fact that it is an authentically Latin American musical comedy. I think that we have been pretty successful at avoiding the Broadway model and approaching what is traditionally an “American” genre from our own perspective, producing a work with socially and politically provocative Latin American content, conceived, written, composed, designed, and performed by Latin Americans.

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Rent

Mark Rhea, Keegan Theatre

Why this show?
We thought that we could utilize the space at Church Street in a way that would highlight the musical. It was something we felt compelled to produce.

Learned of the show…
Everyone in the universe knows Rent.

Greatest challenge…
Getting the best equipment for sound and making sure the position and balance was perfect. We had such a great team. Eamon Coy was the sound director and Rent wouldn’t have happened without him or John Robert Keena, our sound engineer.

Proud…
The fact that we had an open call for non-Equity actors from across the area and we were able to find such a talented cast who poured their heart out each performance. We saw over 140 actors at the auditions and we got down to 17. We could have cast the show twice or three times, because of all the talent out there that is often overlooked.

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Spring Awakening

Tom Hulce, Producer, presented at The Kennedy Center

Why this show…
I loved that the songs gave articulation and exhilaration to these confused and repressed young people, and even suggested the possibility of flight unavailable to them. When the songs were finished these young people would have to “button up” again in their confusing, conservative lives, where they weren’t finding the kind of help and answers they needed. I thought the theatrical tension could be thrilling.

Learned of the show…
In 1999, I was beginning conversations with Michael Mayer about directing a film of another work. We started talking about what we were working on, and he mentioned Spring Awakening. I was shocked: it was on a short list of projects that I was considering. My idea was to adapt it into an opera, and I asked Michael how they were approaching it. He explained that they were going to keep the story in the 1890s in the small, provincial town, but that the songs would be in Duncan’s contemporary idiom.

Greatest challenge…
One of my jobs was to help lift the piece to the next level in terms of the creative work that needed to be done. In order to do that, I felt strongly that there needed to be a goal or performance to work towards. So we scheduled a concert in February 2005, as part of the American Songbook Series at Lincoln Center. I thought it was crucial to get the piece in front of a room full of people. In the six months leading up to the concert, the second half of the piece got significantly reworked, rewritten, restructured. One of the prime objectives was to have the story accumulate and climax in a way that was more traditional and more satisfying. And for the first time we also brought in a level of musical arrangement that could communicate the true potential of the range of the songs. So to some degree my job was that of ‘story advocate.’ I was basically acting in the way an artistic director would act, if the piece had a theater company behind it.

Proud…
The degree to which people worldwide have responded to and are excited by this piece has been extraordinary. I think they’re particularly excited by the form the piece has taken and the fact that it clearly strikes a chord with young audiences – everyone is interested in finding ways to invigorate the next audience. But also, the issues of how we raise our children, how we can best answer their needs, and what is the right way to help young people become themselves is universal. Perhaps unlike other pieces that are uniquely American, there is something – maybe the odd juxtaposition of this piece – that crosses every culture. That’s pretty thrilling.”

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Wittenberg

Michael Stebbins, Artistic Director of Rep Stage

Why this show…
I loved Wittenberg from the first time I read it. Any play that includes Professor Doctor Reverend Father Martin Luther, Hamlet, Helen of Troy and Dr. Fautus and is a side-splitting comedy is worth looking at and it proved to be a real hit with Rep Stage audiences. I really found the voice of playwright David Davalos to be a distinct and important one and it was one that I wanted to share.

Learned of the show…
I had first met playwright David Davalos some years back while doing summer stock in Cape Cod, MA – we were both actors then (back in the day). I learned a couple of years ago that he had become a playwright. I was very curious to learn more about his play, Wittenberg, that was getting such positive response in a production at the Arden Theatre in Philadelphia. I knew one of the actors in that production, I got a copy of the script, read it, loved it and quickly put it on my short list.

Greatest challenge…
I hate to sound all Pollyanna with this answer, but the cast, the director and our stage manager all got on so well that there were very few challenges. When I think of the rehearsal process, the technical rehearsals, final dress, previews and the opening – it all went off without a hitch.

Proud…
I’m most proud that Rep Stage had the great opportunity of sharing playwright David Davalos’ words with patrons. We had a ball working on it and I think that this came across in our telling of it. I’m also proud of the great team of artists who came together to share in the telling of this fascinating story.

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Zero Hour

Ari Roth, Artistic Director of Theater J

Why this show?
The subject and the subject matter. Which is to say Zero Mostel is a larger than life target of intense show biz and American Jewish cultural interest — and the subject matter of both suffering and surviving, outliving the [Hollywood]blacklist is of immense interest to us.

Learned of the show…
They discovered us. They pitched us. Theodore Bikel endorsed the play and assured us it would kill here. It did.

Greatest challenge…
The Jewish High Holidays. We couldn’t perform on key money-making nights because we had to stand down for Rosh Hashanah. We hop-skotched the High Holidays and competed for people’s attention during a very busy September. If not for that, the show–which was a success–would have performed even more strongly. The word-of-mouth on the show was unparalleled.

Proud…
Luciana Steconi’s set. The skylight. The perfectly weathered New York artist’s studio. It was the best set Jim Brochu’s ever performed his wonderful, much traveled play on. Nicer even than the New York set, where the show is currently running in an open-ended commercial Off-Broadway engagement at the DR2 off Union Square. How many shows that are up for Helen Hayes Awards have the distinction of still running somewhere, let alone in an an open-ended commercial Off-Broadway engagement?

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Zomo the Rabbit

Janet Stanford, Artistic Director of Imagination Stage

Why this show…
A couple of years ago, we had great fun with a hip hop version of the Anansi stories so we sought out Psalmayene 24 to see if he would be interested in adapting another African tale to a contemporary beat. Part of our mission at Imagination Stage is not just to dust off the classics (like Heidi) but also let Youth Speak to Age from our stage. With a hip artist like Psalm, we knew that the show would reflect up-to-the-minute culture and music that would make our young audience bounce in their seats.

Learned of the show…
My colleague Kate Bryer suggested Zomo, another African trickster, because after years of teaching the story to creative drama students, she knew just how much fun it could be. We encouraged Psalm to find parallels to the original that could set Zomo in a Washington, DC context. He came up with locations like the South West waterfront, Adams Morgan and the Zoo. There were also some fun references to Ben’s Chili bowl and intellectual property suits that lent the show a genuine hip hop “flava.” We were delighted when Zomo showed its ability to work for an adult as well as a family audience. It went on to be booked at both the DC and New York Hip Hop Festivals.

Greatest challenge…
Psalm and his talented cast made the whole experience seem easy. They really loved working together and their tight ensemble and collective charisma charmed our audiences.

Proud…
We were proud to see how audiences responded to the local references in the show. The piece felt like a real community builder. Kids came from all over the region—the Obama girls from the White House and kids from elementary schools far and wide. For that hour, they all felt like a part of Imagination Stage and like a proud part of our nation’s capital and its culture.

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The John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company
presented to 1st Stage

Mark Krikstan, Artistic Director of 1st Stage

You learn a lot when you start something from scratch, and we at 1st Stage have had quite an education over the past two years. From the first hammer we picked up to build our theatre to the first opening night through the announcement that we would be recognized with the John Aniello Award, it has been a wonderful, scary, rewarding and thrilling experience.

Building a theatre, and creating productions for an audience as sophisticated as the Washington area’s audience, are acts of concentration: you keep your head down and stick to the work. To look up to find out that our colleagues in the theatre community have noticed what our young artists have created, and want to highlight it, is both exhilarating and humbling.

1st Stage is all about telling stories and helping young local artists hone their craft in doing so. We chose our name carefully — and with two meanings in mind.

We live in a community — Tysons Corner — that’s a powerhouse of economic growth but didn’t have any live theatres. We wanted to be a part of the cultural soul of this emerging urban center — and we wanted to do it in such a way that people just starting their careers could have the opportunity to perform and to connect with more experienced actors, directors and teachers, so one learns confidence and discipline and the other ignites excitement and passion. We could be their first professional stage — and the first private professional live theatre venue in Tyson Corner.

It’s been a challenge — opening your doors a week or so before the stock market crashes and the economy tanks isn’t great timing — but by the end of our second season this summer, we will have produced a dozen shows and debuted the talent of nearly 30 actors, designers and directors. We’re deeply grateful for the support we’ve received and for the honor bestowed on us by the theatre community through the John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre.

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from Lorraine  — Our heartfelt thanks to the nominees, The Helen Hayes Awards, the theatre companies, staffs and agents, and to DCTS assistant editor Alex Murphy for making this article possible.  —

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Click below for Part One of Curtain Call – Meet the 2010 Helen Hayes Nominees