Working in the Theatre

Broadway performers F. Murray Abraham ("Angels In America"), Susan Egan ("Beauty and the Beast"), Victor Garber ("Damn Yankees"), Nathan Lane ("Laughter on the 23rd Floor"), Michael Learned ("The Sisters Rosensweig"), Burke Moses ("Beauty and the Beast"), and Bebe Neuwirth ("Damn Yankees") talk about how they got started in performing, their current roles, and teaching acting courses. Jean Dalrymple & Brendan Gill moderate.

The resident theatre panelists - Randall Arney, Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre; Zelda Fichandler, Artistic Director of the Acting Company; Emily Mann, Artistic Director of McCarter Theater; Mac Pirkle, Artistic Director of Tennessee Repertory Theatre; Michael P. Price, Executive Director of Goodspeed Opera House; and Lloyd Richards, Artistic Director of Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center - discuss the beginnings of regional theatre as a place to develop new plays and playwrights, relationships with commercial theatre, marketing and building a subscriber base, and diversity in playwrights and audiences. Dasha Epstein & Mel Gussow moderate.

The panel - director Martin Charnin ("The Flowering Peach"), "Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public" playwright Larry L. King and director/co-writer Peter Masterson, choreographer Rob Marshall ("Kiss of the Spiderwoman"), director/writer Lonny Price ("Sally Marr and Her Escorts"), Second Stage Theatre dramaturg/literary manager Erin Sanders, director Robert Jess Roth ("Beauty and the Beast"), Ernest Schier director of the National Critics' Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, and Tazewell Thompson Artistic Director of the Syracuse Stage - talk about the different ways that writers collaborate, the role of a dramaturg, how choreography and directing can be intertwined, developing a production in workshops, and reimagining an animated film as a stage musical. Brendan Gill & George White moderate.

The "Beauty and the Beast" production team - press representative Chris Boneau, producer Michael David, associate producer Donald Frantz, production supervisor Jeremiah Harris, producer Robert W. McTyre, marketing consultant Margery Singer - discuss creating a stage musical from an animated film, costume designs, production budget and ticket prices, marketing and publicity including a literacy program, and Disney's plans on Broadway. Brendan Gill & George White moderate.

The panel of performers - Michel Bell ("Show Boat"), Charlotte D'Amboise ("Damn Yankees"), Rosemary Harris ("An Inspector Calls"), Audra McDonald ("Carousel"), and Lonette McKee ("Show Boat") - discuss working with elaborate sets, their performing backgrounds, developing technique and discipline, and bringing classics back to the stage. Brendan Gill & George White moderate.

The panelists - director/playwright Vernel Bagneris ("Jelly Roll!"), playwright David Ives ("All in the Timing"), actor Nancy Opel ("All in the Timing"), director Lawrence Sacharow ("Three Tall Women"), Playwrights Horizons artistic director Don Scardino ("A Cheever Evening"), choreographer Matthew West ("Beauty and the Beast") - discuss their current productions, the relationship between director and playwright, and the role of a dramaturg. Brendan Gill & George White moderate.

The "Damn Yankees" production team - legal counsel Robert Barandes, press representative Peter Cromarty, advertising representative Rick Elice, producers Mitchell Maxwell and Victoria Maxell, and general manager Charlotte Wilcox - discuss obtaining the rights, using a two-level structure of producing starting with an out-of-town production at the Old Globe, the finances of booking a Broadway theater, a new logo for an extensive ad campaign, and how the baseball theme provided many PR opportunities. Brendan Gill & George White moderate.

The design panel - lighting designer Beverly Emmons, costume designer Ann Hould-Ward, and scenic designers David Schulder and Tony Walton - and co-moderator lighting designer Jules Fisher talk about where they studied their craft, how the props can overlap with costuming, how lighting design has evolved, the Ridiculous Theatrical Company's production of "Movieland", and a demonstration of Gary Beach's costume from "Beauty and the Beast". Tish Dace moderates.