TDF

If you ever happen to find yourself in a tussle with actor Gideon Banner, know two things: He’s likely to remain remarkably calm about it, and he’s almost certainly going to file away the experience for future use. “It’s a writer’s difficulty, and actors can be prey to it, too,” admits Banner, who plays a […]

“Please don’t use the Fraggle Rock photo!” Julie White pleads, referring to a particularly bug-eyed picture which The New York Times has been running, showing her in character in Liz Flahive’s new comedy/drama From Up Here (at Manhattan Theatre Center’s City Center through June 8). As unflattering as it looks, the so-called “Fraggle Rock” moment […]

Ever want to sit back and watch a novel? Elevator Repair Service, a cutting-edge troupe known for fashioning stage works from “found” materials not originally intended for the theatre, has recently made great American books their specialty. And we’re not talking about traditional adaptations: The troupe’s seven-hour epic Gatz (not yet seen in New York […]

Boyd Gaines may not be the first actor you’d think of to play the part of Herbie, the vaudeville talent agent and put-upon romantic doormat for Mama Rose, in the backstage-musical classic Gypsy, currently at the St. James Theatre in an open run. “I certainly wasn’t the first person I would think of,” admits Gaines, […]

Danny Burstein has an acting secret he uses in every role, including his latest turn as scheming Seabee Luther Billis in Lincoln Center’s rapturous revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific. “I have this thing I do where I imagine that every character I play is the smartest person in the room in any given […]

Karen D. Taylor still vividly remembers her very first play. Her mother took her to see Hello, Dolly! on Broadway, starring Pearl Bailey. “I was so fascinated by all this live action going on onstage, I was just hooked,” recalls Taylor, a Queens native who now works as a grant writer for nonprofit arts organizations, […]

“It takes quite a lot to jar people into action,” says Joanna Gleason, the Tony-winning actress now starring as a jailed radical in Willy Holtzman’s play Something You Did (at Primary Stages through Apr. 26). Gleason is talking about how hard it is for performers associated with one kind of material–in her case, musical theatre–to […]

Anyone who lives in Manhattan, particularly certain nightlife hot spots, might identify with the inspiration for Adam Bock’s play The Drunken City, at Playwrights Horizons through Apr. 20. “Adam lives in the heart of Hell’s Kitchen, and on the weekends he feels like the city itself is drunk,” says Trip Cullman, who directed the play’s […]

It’s been a busy season for Steppenwolf actors in New York City. In addition to August: Osage County, an import from the revered Chicago theatre, Steppenwolf founding member Laurie Metcalf is currently appearing in David Mamet’s November, and longtime associate Kevin Anderson recently starred in Come Back, Little Sheba. Not to be outdone, company member […]