Masters of the Stage

On December 15, 1986, director Tony Giordano, designers Hugh Landwehr and Dennis Parichy and actors Michael Fischetti, Jennifer Van Dyck and Diane Martella spoke with moderator Amy Saltz at New Dramatists about their work on a traveling co-production of A View From The Bridge, produced by theatres in Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse and Albany. Having taken place after two of the four runs, this conversation is a rare opportunity to hear artists from various disciplines talk about a play that is still in progress. Fischetti and Giordano discuss the inception of the play at Syracuse Stage after doing Glengarry Glen Ross, and how it turned into a touring co-production. Giordano speaks of the opportunity to go back into rehearsal and continue to find the life of the play between Buffalo and Syracuse, and his excitement to implement their new discoveries in a smaller theater when they head to Albany. The designers discuss the difficulty of designing one set to work in four different spaces, with three prosceniums and one thrust theatre, and the actors talk about committing to one show in small towns for an extended period of time. At the heart of this discussion is a group of people who are passionate about the work they have been doing and are continuing to do, and the idea that a play is not finished once it's in front of an audience.