IN THIS ISSUE (click any story to read):
LUCE ENDS
A modern "machiavelle" identifying, enchanting and securing men of means, the author of The Women knew whereof she wrote. (more)
BEWITCHED
Director Scott Elliott explains the popular glamour of The Women. (more)
INTO THE DARK
For playwright Andrew Bovell, the road leading to Speaking in Tongues was as labyrinthine and unexpected as the play itself. (more)
SPEAKING OF...
Todd Haimes and British director Mark Clements find Speaking in Tongues both mysterious and timeless. (more)
FROM PAGE TO STAGE
Ten New York City high school students get into the act through Roundabout’s programs. (more)
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THEY SAY
the world has changed. It certainly feels as though it has. Suddenly, all the choices made before September 11 seem somewhat irrelevant. A personal example is how inappropriate it would feel to produce Assassins now. It is an important work, with important things to say about our society and our government. I know that we will produce it at Roundabout in the not too distant future.
Today, we are faced with new questions of how we will get back to work and reclaim some sense of normalcy. But we are also faced with new answers to the timeless questions that have sustained the theatre for centuries. Why do we make plays and ask you to come watch them? What do we hope you will gain? Surprisingly, I have found tremendous comfort in my answers to these questions, and it is my hope that you, our subscription family, will find some comfort there too.
The truth of it is that, in the immediate aftermath of September 11, I wasn’t sure that reopening our shows was the appropriate thing to do, but at the Mayor’s request, I took it on as a civic duty. I was terrified that I had made the wrong decision when the first new audience at Cabaret responded to the Emcee’s question, "Do you feel good?" with a cold, sad silence. As the show went on, however, the magic that is theatre began to take effect. With the applause and cheers that greeted the Emcee’s question when it was posed again, the audience assured him that they would take his advice to leave their troubles outside and accept that in the theatre, if only for a few brief moments, life could be beautiful once more.
But, it was more than just escapism I witnessed that night. I don’t think anyone, that week, could have watched a show that follows the colorful night life of an energetic city as it is over-swept by violence, fear, anger, and sadness, and not think, "That sounds hauntingly familiar." Each line of that show took on a completely different, intimate, stark meaning, and a feeling permeated the entire theatre, of shared experience and shared understanding: we all knew something, we all felt something, we had all survived something. This sense of community is the essence of what theatre is all about, and what sustains us as a society.
I was humbly reminded that night, just how important the theatre is to the spiritual life of our city and was filled with a new sense of purpose for getting on with the show. I was reassured that as we come together in the theatres of our city this fall, we will continue to find new ways to process the questions that plague us now. I know also, that as I work to bring the momentum back to Roundabout’s stages, my heart will be with our 40,000 subscribers, and I know I will cherish more than ever, seeing each one of you at the theatre again.
Todd Haimes • Artistic Director
Front & Center Online
Autumn 2001 Editors:
Tom Sellar, Margaret Salvante McCann
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