Tony Award Winners on Working In The Theatre

Actors Colman Domingo ), Elizabeth Marvel, Tony Award winner Michele Pawk (2003 for Featured Actress in Hollywood Arms), Daphne Rubin-Vega and David Zayas discuss the influence of their early training; how they challenge themselves for each role; their feelings about participating in readings and workshops; collaborating with directors; their relationship with the audience and how it affects their performance; and roles that they'd like to play.

The panelists -- President/Executive Director of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization Ted Chapin, President of the American Theatre Producers Cy Feuer (and four-time Tony winner for the original productions of Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying and a Special Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003), writer/critic Martin Gottfried, actor Nathan Lane (Tony winner for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and The Producers), actor Donna McKechnie (Tony winner for A Chorus Line), book writer Joseph Stein (Fiddler on the Roof), five-time Tony Award-winning director and choreographer Susan Stroman (for Crazy for You, Showboat, Contact, and 2 awards for The Producers), and composer/lyricist Charles Strouse (Tony winner for Bye, Bye Birdie, Annie and Applause) -- discuss musical revivals in-depth, comparisons to new musicals such as Big, the state of musical theatre compared to the 1960s, script revisions and new designs for revivals, and the overall economics of producing Broadway musicals including the need for out-of-town tryouts.

The panel of performers - Jessica Boevers (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), Jim Dale (Candide, Tony winner for 1980’s Barnum), Justin Kirk (Love! Valour! Compassion!), Daniel Massey (Taking Sides), Jay Hunter Morris (Master Clas), Adam Pascal (Rent), and Jean Smart (Fit To Be Tied) - discuss their backgrounds in diverse areas of performance such as dance, opera, rock music, and repertory theatre; pursuing acting in New York compared to Chicago and Los Angeles; early roles, training, and getting an agent; and reciprocal reactions between the performer and audiences.

The panel of playwrights -- Edward Albee (Tony winner for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and the 2005 recipient of the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre), Eve Merriam (The Club), Samm-Art Williams (Home), Lanford Wilson (Talley's Folly), and Ruth Wolff (The Abdication) -- discuss producing their current plays, how much playwrights creatively collaborate with directors and producers, the responsibilities of an agent, how playwrights learn to direct, and advice for actors and new playwrights.

The panel of performers -- Karen Akers (Nine), Christine Baranski (Tony Awards for The Real Thing and Rumors), actor/playwright Harvey Fierstein (who won acting Tony Awards for Hairspray and Torch Song Trilogy -- for which he also won a Best Play Tony in addition to his best book Tony for La Cage Aux Folles), Ben Harney (Dreamgirls, Tony Award), Lonny Price (Master Harold...and the boys), and Liv Ullmann (Ghosts) -- discuss the strong themes of their respective productions; how demanding their roles are, from character development to physical challenges to the emotional intensity of a role; training and audition experiences; how cast replacements effect a play; and developing new musicals out-of-town compared to workshopping in New York.

The business team for the play Dancing In The End Zone -- literary agent Mitch Douglas, producers Dasha Epstein and Morton Gottlieb, publicist Milly Schoenbaum, and general manager Richard Seader -- talk about the responsibilities of the producer, the benefits of a workshop versus going out-of-town, the role of a press agent, comparing large off-Broadway houses to Broadway, and the evolution of opening night events including critics now attending previews.

The panel of actors -- Sinead Cusack (Cyrano De Bergerac), Frank Langella (Tony winner for Seascape, Dracula and Frost/Nixon), Joe Mantegna (Glengarry Glen Ross, Tony Award), Theresa Merritt (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom), and Sigourney Weaver (Hurlyburly) -- talk about their training, auditioning for their first major roles, the rehearsal process, working in the ensemble, actors who are also playwrights, and establishing relationships as a result of stage work.

The business team behind Hurlyburly -- advertising representative Rick Elice, agent Milton Goldman, legal counsel Jay S. Harris (Tony Winner for 1999’s Side Man), stage manager Peter Lawrence, press representative Sandra Manley, and producer Frederick Zollo (Tony Awards for Part One and Two of Angels in America and the 2002 revival of Private Lives) -- discuss how David Rabe's play found a producer, director, and high profile cast for its debut at Chicago's Goodman Theatre, its successful off-Broadway run prior to Broadway, producing with a profit pool plan, production costs including the advertising budget, and the present state of the American play.

The panel of Broadway actors -- Matthew Broderick (two-time Tony winner for Brighton Beach Memoirs and How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying), Jim Dale (Candide, Tony winner for 1980’s Barnum), Charles S. Dutton (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom), Rosemary Harris (Tony Award winner in 1966 for The Lion in Winter), Glenda Jackson (Strange Interlude), and theatrical agent Lionel Larner -- discuss how they left their various layman jobs to begin performing, their audition experiences, how they became involved in their current productions, what they look for in an agent, how they obtained one, and the role of an agent.

The producing team of the 1985 Broadway musical Grind -- advertising representative Jeffrey Ash, group sales executive Ronald S. Lee, executive producer Ruth Mitchell (Tony Awards for Cabaret and Candide), and producers Michael Frazier, Kenneth Greenblatt (three-time Tony winner in 1982 for Nine, in 1984 for La Cage aux Folles and in 2005 for the revival of La Cage aux Folles), Mary Lea Johnson (Tony winner for Sweeney Todd), and John Pomerantz -- talks about bringing the nearly $5 million production to Broadway after a tryout in Baltimore, working with director Hal Prince, the importance of advertising and group ticket sales in light of mixed critical reviews, comparisons to their previously produced hits La Cage Aux Folles and Nine, and budgeting a new American musical with a controversial royalty structure that doesn't pay the creative team until the production turns a profit.