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People

Grantors

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Sponsors

Donors

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Meet Our Donors

Tributes

Tributes

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Our Tributes

Performers

  • Dorothy
  • Brinleigh DeMutis
  • Aunt Em
  • Allie Stinson
  • Uncle Henry
  • Charles Clemmons
  • Hunk/Scarecrow
  • Teddy Richter
  • Hickory/Tin Man
  • Charlie Sparacino
  • Zeke/Lion
  • Ian Laskos
  • Miss Gulch/Wicked Witch of the West
  • Haifa Kayal
  • Nick/Nikko
  • Tabish Tharoo
  • Professor Marvel/Wizard/Oz’s Voice
  • Wells Loper
  • Toto
  • Vivie Blimline
  • Glinda
  • Hailey Davidyock
  • Melinda
  • Sarah Saft
  • Belinda
  • Alexis Zimek
  • Mayor of Emerald City/Oz Soloist
  • Paxton Bakker
  • Mayor of Munchkin City
  • Frankie DelGuercio
  • Coroner
  • Dylan Quege
  • Barrister
  • Charles Clemmons
  • The Guard
  • Asher Scolnik
  • Leader of The Winkies
  • Bray Larue
  • Cat
  • Eva Ruiz
  • Lullaby League
  • Isabella Ramirez, Eva Ruiz, Beatrice Watts
  • Lollipop Guild
  • Beck Baudin, John Marino, Max Millender
  • Farm Boys
  • Bray Larue, Asher Scolnik
  • Farm Girls
  • Julia Fernandes,Carol Madureiira, Eva Ruiz, Sophie Tabba 
  • Crows
  • Olivia Fouche, Lianna Sislyan, Alexia Zylkowski
  • Apple Trees
  • Victoria Quege, Kinsley Webster, Olivia Zimek

Munchkins:

Charles Clemmons, Paxton Bakker, Colby Larue, Frankie DelGuercio, Dylan Quege, Eva Ruiz, Beatrice Watts, Isabella Ramirez, Max Millender, John Marino, Julia Fernandes, Sophie Tabba, Carol Madureira, Olivia Fouche, Lianna Sislyan, Alexia Zylkowski, Kinsley Webster, Victoria Quege, Olivia Zimek, Michael Purdue, Beck Baudin, Cooper Quirt, Camelia Luca, Harper Johnson, Mila Mascaro, Tia Mahmoud, Faith Flanary, Mila Michielin, Skyflower Samaniego, Maisie Scolnik, Elizabeth Mansfield, Luciana Saavedra-Fernandez, Chloe Ly, Jackson Barsky, Alexandra Whiteside, Skylar Goldberg, Julia Santiago, Adaelyn Conibear, Alina Khiman

Ozians:

Allie Stinsin, Charles Clemmons, Alexis Zimek, Sarah Saft, Paxton Bakker, Asher Scolnik, Bray Larue, Colby Larue, Frankie DelGuercio, Dylan Quege, Beatrice Watts, Isabella Ramirez, Julia Fernandes, Sophie Tabba, Carol Madureira, Olivia Fouche, Lianna Sislyan, Alexia Zylkowski, Kinsley Webster, Victoria Quege, Olivia Zimek

Monkeys:

Tabish Tharoo, Max Millender, Beck Baudin, Cooper Quirt, Camelia Luca, Harper Johnson, Michael Purdue

Winkies:

Bray Larue, Asher Scolnik, Colby Larue, Frankie DelGuercio

There are currently no performers to showcase.

Setting

KANSAS and Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Please keep the aisles clear during the production as we will be using the entire Theater. Thank you!

Songs & Scenes

No items found.

Production Staff

Scenic Design
Nick Prowse
Costume Design
Jacquie Blimline
Stage Manager
Sydney Heitkamp
Assistant Stage Manager
Dhriti Aurora
Lighting Designer
Catt Cohcran
Sound Design
Crispin Caines
Light Board Operator
Hidaya Bakeer
Spot Light Operators
Thor Reed Nicolas Humphrey
Audio
Riley Mckenzie
Qlab Operator
Maria Fernanda Franck Braga
Prop Master
Keira Beggrow
Costume Crew
Julia Clemmons Carrington Meyer Riya Patel
High School Deck Crew
Julia Clemmons Riley McKenzie Charlotte Black Maria Julia Appolonio Rocha
Middle School Tech Crew
Sophia Yu Taylor Salamon Shauna Cresse Summer Lee

Venue Staff

School Administration Staff

No items found.

Musicians

No items found.

Board Members

Student Advisory Board

Credits

Lighting equipment from PRG Lighting, sound equipment from Sound Associates, rehearsed at The Public Theater’s Rehearsal Studios. Developed as part of Irons in the Fire at Fault Line Theatre in New York City.

Special Thanks

Carmen Rivera, Lisa Ruiz, Lindsay Sparacino, Meredith Loper, Emily Laskos, 

Shannon Hart, Danli Lin, Shannon Robinson, BambiEllen Fadoul, Dame Brigitte Kruse, Sephanie Jackson, 3rd -5th grade Teachers, Horizon West Theatre Company and The Richter Family

For all of your extra help and support!

SPECIAL EXHIBIT....

Please stop by the Atrium to view the wonderful exhibit of artifacts from the orginal film of the The Wizard of Oz.  Having this incredible exhibit for our families and students to view, brings an appeciation to the impact that this Hollywood Golden Age film has had on our culture.  This film has been a hit on the silver screen since August 12, 1939 and was one of the first to use Technicolor in film.  A huge thank you to Dame Brigitte Kruse for providing these items for our WPS families to share in. 

*Appearing through an Agreement between this theatre and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

Actors’ Equity Association (“Equity”), founded in 1913, is the U.S. labor union that represents more than 51,000 actors and stage managers, Equity fosters the art of live theatre as an essential component of society and advances the careers of its members by negotiating wages, improving working conditions and providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. Actors’ Equity is a member of the AFL-CIO and is affiliated with FIA, an International organization of performing arts unions. www.actorsequity.org

United Scenic Artists ● Local USA 829 of the I.A.T.S.E represents the Designers & Scenic Artists for the American Theatre

ATPAM, the Association of Theatrical Press Agents & Managers (IATSE Local 18032), represents the Press Agents, Company Managers, and Theatre Managers employed on this production.

Directors Note

The Wizard of Oz is a heartfelt story that has touched so many of our lives.  It's a beautiful lesson about the journey down the yellow brick road and the people you meet along the way.  This show can speak to every single one of us. How incredible to think that “You’ve always had the power my dear,  you just had to learn it for yourself.”   Luckily, we don’t have to discover this alone.  It is the power of friendship and working together that gives us hope and security. 

Having the privilege to retell this story through the eyes of these amazing students has been extraordinary.  It is magical to see the wonder and excitement they have as they experience our show coming to life.   My heart (and stage) are full!  This cast has used their brains to imagine,  hearts to explore  and courage to share it with you all today.  We are lucky and proud to present this production of The Wizard of Oz here at Windermere Preparatory School.  There truly is “No place like home!”

A note from the Director of Fine Arts....

Thank you for joining us for our Lower School Production of The Wizard of Oz, Youth Edition.  As the Director of Fine Arts, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the Cypress Center for the Arts. Each day our students are exposed to our four Fine Arts disciplines with our wonderful faculty and staff.  Our co-curricular programming enhances the teaching and learning that our students are exposed to in our classroom.  Here at Windermere Preparatory School,  we strive to provide your talented performers with the most professional production experience.  Thank you for your continued support of our WPS Fine Arts Department and enjoy the show!

Cast
Creatives

Meet the Cast

There are currently no performers to showcase.
  • Dorothy
  • Brinleigh DeMutis
  • Aunt Em
  • Allie Stinson
  • Uncle Henry
  • Charles Clemmons
  • Hunk/Scarecrow
  • Teddy Richter
  • Hickory/Tin Man
  • Charlie Sparacino
  • Zeke/Lion
  • Ian Laskos
  • Miss Gulch/Wicked Witch of the West
  • Haifa Kayal
  • Nick/Nikko
  • Tabish Tharoo
  • Professor Marvel/Wizard/Oz’s Voice
  • Wells Loper
  • Toto
  • Vivie Blimline
  • Glinda
  • Hailey Davidyock
  • Melinda
  • Sarah Saft
  • Belinda
  • Alexis Zimek
  • Mayor of Emerald City/Oz Soloist
  • Paxton Bakker
  • Mayor of Munchkin City
  • Frankie DelGuercio
  • Coroner
  • Dylan Quege
  • Barrister
  • Charles Clemmons
  • The Guard
  • Asher Scolnik
  • Leader of The Winkies
  • Bray Larue
  • Cat
  • Eva Ruiz
  • Lullaby League
  • Isabella Ramirez, Eva Ruiz, Beatrice Watts
  • Lollipop Guild
  • Beck Baudin, John Marino, Max Millender
  • Farm Boys
  • Bray Larue, Asher Scolnik
  • Farm Girls
  • Julia Fernandes,Carol Madureiira, Eva Ruiz, Sophie Tabba 
  • Crows
  • Olivia Fouche, Lianna Sislyan, Alexia Zylkowski
  • Apple Trees
  • Victoria Quege, Kinsley Webster, Olivia Zimek

Munchkins:

Charles Clemmons, Paxton Bakker, Colby Larue, Frankie DelGuercio, Dylan Quege, Eva Ruiz, Beatrice Watts, Isabella Ramirez, Max Millender, John Marino, Julia Fernandes, Sophie Tabba, Carol Madureira, Olivia Fouche, Lianna Sislyan, Alexia Zylkowski, Kinsley Webster, Victoria Quege, Olivia Zimek, Michael Purdue, Beck Baudin, Cooper Quirt, Camelia Luca, Harper Johnson, Mila Mascaro, Tia Mahmoud, Faith Flanary, Mila Michielin, Skyflower Samaniego, Maisie Scolnik, Elizabeth Mansfield, Luciana Saavedra-Fernandez, Chloe Ly, Jackson Barsky, Alexandra Whiteside, Skylar Goldberg, Julia Santiago, Adaelyn Conibear, Alina Khiman

Ozians:

Allie Stinsin, Charles Clemmons, Alexis Zimek, Sarah Saft, Paxton Bakker, Asher Scolnik, Bray Larue, Colby Larue, Frankie DelGuercio, Dylan Quege, Beatrice Watts, Isabella Ramirez, Julia Fernandes, Sophie Tabba, Carol Madureira, Olivia Fouche, Lianna Sislyan, Alexia Zylkowski, Kinsley Webster, Victoria Quege, Olivia Zimek

Monkeys:

Tabish Tharoo, Max Millender, Beck Baudin, Cooper Quirt, Camelia Luca, Harper Johnson, Michael Purdue

Winkies:

Bray Larue, Asher Scolnik, Colby Larue, Frankie DelGuercio

Meet the Team

Ryan Lingle

*

Choreographer
(
)
Pronouns:

Nick Prowse

*

Technical Director
(
Scenic Designer
)
Pronouns:

Nick Prowse continues to dazzle Windermere with his Scenic Designs and Technical Direction for Windermere Preparatory School. Radium Girls marks his sixth show for the High School Thespian Troupe 6902, and his fourteenth for Windermere Prep's Theatre Department. This show was unique being his first drama design. He is eager to see the audiences reaction to true, unexpected story.

Rosemarie Redman

*

Music Director
(
)
Pronouns:

Jacqueline Blimline

*

Director
(
)
Pronouns:

Mrs. Blimline is the Lower School Theatre Arts Teacher here at Windermere Preparatory School.  She is happy to return to the High School Theatre Department after working on last season's production of "Curtains".  Originally from New York, Mrs. Blimline led a professional career in Musical Theatre for 15 years.  Now she is thrilled to have the privilege of teaching theatre to the most amazing students as her Act II.  She is beyond proud to work alongside the amazing Mrs. Fadoul and the incredible "Legally Blonde" team.  

Media

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2021 National Touring Cast

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2026 Tony Awards Winners Full List
Kobi Kassal
June 7, 2026

The votes are in and it’s time to pop the champagne. After a fantastic year of theatre here in New York, it's time to award the best and celebrate all those who work tirelessly here in the Broadway community. The winners will be announced tonight at the 79th Annual Tony Awards at Radio City in a ceremony hosted by Pink.

*Winners will be bolded in real time.

Best Musical

The Lost Boys

Schmigadoon!

Titaníque

Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York)

Best Play

The Balusters

Giant

Liberation

Little Bear Ridge Road

Best Revival of a Musical

Ragtime

Cats: The Jellicle Ball

The Rocky Horror Show

Best Revival of a Play

Becky Shaw

Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

Every Brilliant Thing

Fallen Angels

Oedipus

Best Book of a Musical

The Lost Boys

David Hornsby and Chris Hoch

Schmigadoon!

Cinco Paul

Titaníque

Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli and Tye Blue

Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

Jim Barne and Kit Buchan

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

Music: Caroline Shaw

August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

Music: Steve Bargonetti

The Lost Boys

Music & Lyrics: The Rescues

Schmigadoon!

Music & Lyrics: Cinco Paul

Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

Music & Lyrics: Jim Barne and Kit Buchan

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play

Will Harrison, Punch

Nathan Lane, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

John Lithgow, Giant

Daniel Radcliffe, Every Brilliant Thing

Mark Strong, Oedipus

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play

Rose Byrne, Fallen Angels

Carrie Coon, Bug

Susannah Flood, Liberation

Lesley Manville, Oedipus

Kelli O’Hara, Fallen Angels

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical

Nicholas Christopher, Chess

Luke Evans, Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show

Joshua Henry, Ragtime

Sam Tutty, Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

Brandon Uranowitz, Ragtime

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical

Sara Chase, Schmigadoon!

Stephanie Hsu, Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show

Caissie Levy, Ragtime

Marla Mindelle, Titaníque

Christiani Pitts, Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play

Christopher Abbott, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

Danny Burstein, Marjorie Prime

Brandon J. Dirden, Waiting for Godot

Alden Ehrenreich, Becky Shaw

Ruben Santiago-Hudson, August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

Richard Thomas, The Balusters

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play

Betsy Aidem, Liberation

Marylouise Burke, The Balusters

Aya Cash, Giant

Laurie Metcalf, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

June Squibb, Marjorie Prime

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical

Ali Louis Bourzgui, The Lost Boys

André De Shields, Cats: The Jellicle Ball

Bryce Pinkham, Chess

Ben Levi Ross, Ragtime

Layton Williams, Titaníque

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical

Shoshana Bean, The Lost Boys

Hannah Cruz, Chess

Rachel Dratch, Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show

Ana Gasteyer, Schmigadoon!

Nichelle Lewis, Ragtime

Best Scenic Design of a Play

Hildegard Bechtler, Oedipus

Takeshi Kata, Bug

Chloe Lamford, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

David Korins, Dog Day Afternoon

David Rockwell, Fallen Angels

Best Scenic Design of a Musical

dots, Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show

Soutra Gilmour, Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

Rachel Hauck, Cats: The Jellicle Ball

Dane Laffrey, The Lost Boys

Scott Pask, Schmigadoon!

Best Costume Design of a Play

Brenda Abbandandolo, Dog Day Afternoon

Qween Jean, Liberation

Jeff Mahshie, Fallen Angels

Emilio Sosa, The Balusters

Paul Tazewell, August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

Best Costume Design of a Musical

Linda Cho, Ragtime

Linda Cho, Schmigadoon!

Qween Jean, Cats: The Jellicle Ball

Ryan Park, The Lost Boys

David I. Reynoso, Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show

Best Lighting Design of a Play

Isabella Byrd, Dog Day Afternoon

Natasha Chivers, Oedipus

Stacey Derosier, August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

Heather Gilbert, Bug

Heather Gilbert, The Fear of 13

Jack Knowles, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Kevin Adams, Chess

Jane Cox, Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show

Donald Holder, Schmigadoon!

Adam Honoré, Cats: The Jellicle Ball

Adam Honoré and Donald Holder (Lighting Design) and 59 Studio (Projection Design), Ragtime

Jen Schriever and Michael Arden, The Lost Boys

Best Sound Design of a Play

Justin Ellington, August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

Tom Gibbons, Oedipus

Lee Kinney, The Fear of 13

Josh Schmidt, Bug

Mikaal Sulaiman, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

Best Sound Design of a Musical

Kai Harada, Cats: The Jellicle Ball

Kai Harada, Ragtime

Adam Fisher, The Lost Boys

Brian Ronan, Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show

Walter Trarbach, Schmigadoon!

Best Direction of a Play

Nicholas Hytner, Giant

Robert Icke, Oedipus

Kenny Leon, The Balusters

Joe Mantello, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

Whitney White, Liberation

Best Direction of a Musical

Michael Arden, The Lost Boys

Lear deBessonet, Ragtime

Christopher Gattelli, Schmigadoon!

Tim Jackson, Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, Cats: The Jellicle Ball

Best Choreography

Christopher Gattelli, Schmigadoon!

Ellenore Scott, Ragtime

Ani Taj, Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show

Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons, Cats: The Jellicle Ball

Lauren Yalango-Grant and Christopher Cree Grant, The Lost Boys

Best Orchestrations

Doug Besterman and Mike Morris, Schmigadoon!

Ethan Popp, Kyler England, Adrianne “AG” Gonzalez and Gabriel Mann, The Lost Boys

Lux Pyramid, Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

Brian Usifer, Chess

Andrew Lloyd Webber, David Wilson, Trevor Holder and Doug Schadt, Cats: The Jellicle Ball

Tony Wins By Production

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman - 6

The Lost Boys - 4

Ragtime - 4

Schmigadoon! - 4

Cats: The Jellicle Ball - 3

Fallen Angels - 1

Giant - 1

Liberation - 1

Oedipus - 1

Becky Shaw - 1

Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show

Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

The Balusters

Chess

Bug

Titaníque

Dog Day Afternoon

Every Brilliant Thing

The Fear of 13

Marjorie Prime

Little Bear Ridge Road

Punch

Waiting for Godot

Critic’s Notebook: INDIAN PRINCESSES + GIRL, INTERRUPTED
Joey Sims
June 5, 2026

Senior Critic Joey Sims has been busy around town catching the latest of what Off-Broadway has to offer. His thoughts below:

INDIAN PRINCESSES

In a forthright letter slipped inside the playbill for Indian Princesses, playwright Eliana Theologides Rodriguez acknowledges the harmful and offensive origins of her new play’s title—while also contextualizing that title within her own history with the unfortunate YMCA program. 

“Though the mission of the program is wholesome––helping fathers and children bond through earthy adventures and community-building––its reality is a complete bastardization of Native American culture,” Rodriguez writes. While she does not identify as Native, Rodriguez notes that her own tribal heritage was lost in past generations due to forced assimilation. 

“I do not know a word of my ancestors’ languages,” the playwright adds. “But I remember every word of our 2008 [camp] tribal chant.” 

Rodriguez’s thorny choice of setting—one that raises questions around identity, colonialism and inherited trauma—offers more than enough material for one play. But in this messy and overstuffed new work, now at Atlantic Theater Company through June 7, the legacy of that now-renamed program is just one of many overlapping concerns. 

This ambitious work follows five girls of color taking the “Indian Princesses” program with their hapless white fathers, all of whom struggle to communicate around race with their daughters. Some supernatural themes slip in along the way, along with thoughtful reflections on grief, toxic masculinity and the messy bonds formed between young girls. 

Juggling an array of locations and thematic concerns, director Miranda Cornell can’t find a center. Honoring each girl’s distinct questions around race and inherited culture makes for an ungainly if occasionally moving work. Native culture is ultimately an afterthought, which leaves the play’s premise feeling awkwardly opportunistic. 

But in quiet moments between fathers and daughters, Rodriguez does hit on occasional flashes of transcendence, suggesting an exciting new voice ready to tackle big ideas. 

———

GIRL, INTERRUPTED

The gentleness of new musical Girl, Interrupted comes as a welcome surprise. Susanna Kaysen’s 1993 memoir, recounting her time in a psychiatric hospital, was previously spiced-up for its 1999 film adaptation with a number of dramatic embellishments. It’s a gripping film, but not the most sensitive exploration of mental health. 

For this gorgeously conceived stage adaptation scored by singer-songwriter Aimee Mann, book writer Martyna Majok has taken quite the opposite tack. Her text keeps us firmly grounded in Susanna’s perspective, as a tremendous Julianna Canfield narrates directly to the audience with a haunted detachment. In director Jo Bonney’s tender production, Susanna’s time at McLean Hospital is given a dreamlike quality, while the psychological struggles of Susanna and other girls are treated with careful nuance. 

__wf_reserved_inherit
Girl, Interrupted | Photo: Joan Marcus

Certainly, this approach runs a risk of sucking the emotional intensity out of the proceedings. But a soft touch is not the same as looking away. Majok’s adaptation confronts the systemic failures of the system in which these women are trapped with clear-eyed forthrightness, while Bonney ensures their depths of despair are always simmering under the surface—and, very occasionally, boil up without warning. But overall, this creative team is extending a moving sort of kindness to its audience. The pain can be understood without being inflicted again. 

Still, I did long for a bit more emotional variance in Mann’s score. The composer sticks almost entirely to her signature melancholy style, providing serene tunes with an aching soul. The music is beautiful, and blends seamlessly with Majok’s book. But in Susanna’s darkest moments, a harsher sound perhaps is called for, yet never arrives.  

Critic’s Notebook: INDIAN PRINCESSES + GIRL, INTERRUPTED
Joey Sims
June 5, 2026

Senior Critic Joey Sims has been busy around town catching the latest of what Off-Broadway has to offer. His thoughts below:

INDIAN PRINCESSES

In a forthright letter slipped inside the playbill for Indian Princesses, playwright Eliana Theologides Rodriguez acknowledges the harmful and offensive origins of her new play’s title—while also contextualizing that title within her own history with the unfortunate YMCA program. 

“Though the mission of the program is wholesome––helping fathers and children bond through earthy adventures and community-building––its reality is a complete bastardization of Native American culture,” Rodriguez writes. While she does not identify as Native, Rodriguez notes that her own tribal heritage was lost in past generations due to forced assimilation. 

“I do not know a word of my ancestors’ languages,” the playwright adds. “But I remember every word of our 2008 [camp] tribal chant.” 

Rodriguez’s thorny choice of setting—one that raises questions around identity, colonialism and inherited trauma—offers more than enough material for one play. But in this messy and overstuffed new work, now at Atlantic Theater Company through June 7, the legacy of that now-renamed program is just one of many overlapping concerns. 

This ambitious work follows five girls of color taking the “Indian Princesses” program with their hapless white fathers, all of whom struggle to communicate around race with their daughters. Some supernatural themes slip in along the way, along with thoughtful reflections on grief, toxic masculinity and the messy bonds formed between young girls. 

Juggling an array of locations and thematic concerns, director Miranda Cornell can’t find a center. Honoring each girl’s distinct questions around race and inherited culture makes for an ungainly if occasionally moving work. Native culture is ultimately an afterthought, which leaves the play’s premise feeling awkwardly opportunistic. 

But in quiet moments between fathers and daughters, Rodriguez does hit on occasional flashes of transcendence, suggesting an exciting new voice ready to tackle big ideas. 

———

GIRL, INTERRUPTED

The gentleness of new musical Girl, Interrupted comes as a welcome surprise. Susanna Kaysen’s 1993 memoir, recounting her time in a psychiatric hospital, was previously spiced-up for its 1999 film adaptation with a number of dramatic embellishments. It’s a gripping film, but not the most sensitive exploration of mental health. 

For this gorgeously conceived stage adaptation scored by singer-songwriter Aimee Mann, book writer Martyna Majok has taken quite the opposite tack. Her text keeps us firmly grounded in Susanna’s perspective, as a tremendous Julianna Canfield narrates directly to the audience with a haunted detachment. In director Jo Bonney’s tender production, Susanna’s time at McLean Hospital is given a dreamlike quality, while the psychological struggles of Susanna and other girls are treated with careful nuance. 

__wf_reserved_inherit
Girl, Interrupted | Photo: Joan Marcus

Certainly, this approach runs a risk of sucking the emotional intensity out of the proceedings. But a soft touch is not the same as looking away. Majok’s adaptation confronts the systemic failures of the system in which these women are trapped with clear-eyed forthrightness, while Bonney ensures their depths of despair are always simmering under the surface—and, very occasionally, boil up without warning. But overall, this creative team is extending a moving sort of kindness to its audience. The pain can be understood without being inflicted again. 

Still, I did long for a bit more emotional variance in Mann’s score. The composer sticks almost entirely to her signature melancholy style, providing serene tunes with an aching soul. The music is beautiful, and blends seamlessly with Majok’s book. But in Susanna’s darkest moments, a harsher sound perhaps is called for, yet never arrives.  

Theatrely News
EXCLUSIVE: Watch A Clip From THEATER CAMP Starring Ben Platt, Noah Galvin, and Molly Gordon
Theatrely News
READ: An Excerpt From Sean Hayes Debut YA Novel TIME OUT
Theatrely News
"Reframing the COVID-19 Pandemic Through a Stage Manager’s Eyes"
EXCLUSIVE: Watch A Clip From THEATER CAMP Starring Ben Platt, Noah Galvin, and Molly Gordon
By: Maia Penzer
14 July 2023

Finally, summer has arrived, which can only mean one thing: it's time for camp! Theater Camp, that is. Theatrely has a sneak peak at the new film which hits select theaters today. 

The new original comedy starring Tony Award winner Ben Platt and Molly Gordon we guarantee will have you laughing non-stop. The AdirondACTS, a run-down theater camp in upstate New York, is attended by theater-loving children who must work hard to keep their beloved theater camp afloat after the founder, Joan, falls into a coma. 

The film stars Ben Platt and Molly Gordon as Amos Klobuchar and Rebecca-Diane, respectively, as well as Noah Galvin as Glenn Wintrop, Jimmy Tatro as Troy Rubinsky, Patti Harrison as Caroline Krauss, Nathan Lee Graham as Clive DeWitt, Ayo Edebiri as Janet Walch, Owen Thiele as Gigi Charbonier, Caroline Aaron as Rita Cohen, Amy Sedaris as Joan Rubinsky, and Alan Kim as Alan Park. 

Theater Camp was directed by Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman and written by Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman & Ben Platt. Music is by James McAlister and Mark Sonnenblick. On January 21, 2023, Theater Camp had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

You can purchase tickets to the new film from our friends at Hollywood.com here.

READ: An Excerpt From Sean Hayes Debut YA Novel TIME OUT
By: Kobi Kassal
29 May 2023

Actor Sean Hayes is what we in the biz call booked and blessed. On top of his Tony-nominated performance as Oscar Levant in Good Night, Oscar, Hayes has partnered with Todd Milliner and Carlyn Greenwald for the release of their new YA novel Time Out

Heralded by many as Heartstopper meets Friday Night Lights, Time Out follows hometown basketball hero Barclay Elliot who decides to use a pep rally to come out to his school. When the response is not what he had hoped and the hostility continually growing, he turns to his best friend Amy who brings him to her voting rights group at school. There he finds Christopher and… you will just have to grab a copy and find out what happens next. Luckily for you, Time Out hits shelves on May 30 and to hold you over until then we have a special except from the book just for Theatrely:

The good thing about not being on the team the past two weeks has been that I’ve had time to start picking up shifts again at Beau’s diner and save up a little for college now that my scholarship dreams are over.

     The bad part is it’s the perfect place to see how my actions at the pep rally have rotted the townspeople’s brains too.

     During Amy’s very intense musical theater phase in middle school, her parents took her to New York City. And of course she came back home buzzing about Broadway and how beautiful the piss smell was and everything artsy people say about New York. But she also vividly described some diner she waited three hours to get into where the waitstaff would all perform songs for the customers as a way to practice for auditions. The regulars would have favorite staff members and stan them the way Amy stans all her emo musicians.

     Working at Beau’s used to feel kind of like that, like I was part of a performance team I didn’t know I signed up for. The job started off pretty basic over the summer—I wanted to save up for basketball supplies, and Amy worked there and said it was boring ever since her e-girl coworker friend graduated. But I couldn’t get through a single lunch rush table without someone calling me over and wanting the inside scoop on the Wildcats and how we were preparing for the home opener, wanting me to sign an article in the paper or take a photo. Every friendly face just made the resolve grow inside me. People love and support the Wildcats; they would do the same for me.

     Yeah, right.

     Now just like school, customers have been glaring at me, making comments about letting everyone down, about being selfish, about my actions being “unfortunate,” and the tips have been essentially nonexistent. The Wildcats have been obliterated in half their games since I quit, carrying a 2–3 record when last year we were 5–0, and the comments make my feet feel like lead weights I have to drag through every shift.

     Today is no different. It’s Thursday, the usual dinner rush at Beau’s, and I try to stay focused on the stress of balancing seven milkshakes on one platter. A group of regulars, some construction workers, keep loudly wondering why I won’t come back to the team while I refuse proper eye contact.

     One of the guys looks up at me as I drop the bill off. “So, what’s the deal? Does being queer keep ya from physically being able to play?”

     They all snicker as they pull out crumpled bills. I stuff my hands into my pockets, holding my tongue.

     When they leave, I hold my breath as I take their bill.

     Sure enough, no tip.

     “What the fuck?” I mutter under my breath.

     “Language,” Amy says as she glides past me, imitating the way Richard says it to her every shift, and adds, “even though they are dicks.” At least Amy’s been ranting about it every free chance she gets. It was one thing when the student body was being shitty about me leaving the team, but the town being like this is even more infuriating. She doesn’t understand how these fully grown adults can really care that much about high school basketball and thinks they need a new fucking hobby. I finally agree with her.

     [She’s wearing red lipstick to go with her raccoon-adjacent eyeliner as she rushes off to prepare milkshakes for a pack of middle schoolers. I catch her mid–death glare as all three of the kids rotate in their chairs, making the old things squeal. My anger fades a bit as I can’t help but chuckle; Amy’s pissed-off reaction to Richard telling her to smile more was said raccoon makeup, and her tolerance for buffoonery has been at a negative five to start and declining fast.

     I rest my arms on the counter and try not to look as exhausted as I feel.

     “Excuse me!” an old lady screeches, making me jump.

     Amy covers up a laugh as I head to the old lady and her husband’s table. They’ve got finished plates, full waters. Not sure what the problem is. Or I do, which is worse.

     “Yes?” I say trying to suppress my annoyance.

     “Could you be bothered to serve us?”

     Only five more hours on shift. I have a break in three minutes. I’ll be with Devin at Georgia Tech tomorrow. “I’m sorry, ma’am,” I say, so careful to keep my words even, but I can feel my hands balling into fists. “What would you—?”

     And suddenly Amy swoops in, dropping two mugs of coffee down. “Sorry about that, you two,” she says, her voice extra high. “The machine was conking out on us, but it’s fine now.”

     Once the coffee is down, she hooks onto a chunk of my shirt, steering us back to the bar.

     “Thanks,” I mutter, embarrassed to have forgotten something so basic. Again.

     “Just keep it together, man,” she says. “Maybe you’d be better off with that creepy night shift where all the truckers and serial killers come in.”

     Honestly, at least the serial killers wouldn’t care about my jump shot.

     It’s a few minutes before my break, but clearly I need it. “I’ll be in the back room.”

     Right before I can head that way though, someone straight-up bursts into the diner and rushes over to me at the bar. It’s a middle-aged dad type, sunburned skin, beer belly, and stained T-shirt.

     “Pickup order?” I ask.

     “You should be ashamed,” he sneers at me. He has a really strong Southern accent, but it’s not Georgian. “Think you’re so high and mighty, that nothing’ll ever affect you? My kid’ll never go to college because of you and your lifestyle. Fuck you, Barclay Ell—”

     And before this man can finish cursing my name, Pat of all people runs in, wide-eyed in humiliation. “Jesus, Dad, please don’t—”

      I pin my gaze on him, remembering how he cowered on the bench as Ostrowski went off, how he didn’t even try to approach me. “Don’t even bother,” I snap.

     I shove a to-go bag into his dad’s arms, relieved it’s prepaid, and storm off to the break room.]

     Amy finds me head in my arms a minute or two later. I look up, rubbing my eyes. “Please spare me the pity.”

     She snorts and hands me a milkshake. Mint chocolate chip. “Wouldn’t dare.” She takes a seat and rolls her shoulders and neck, cracks sounding through the tiny room. “Do you want a distraction or a shoulder to cry on?”

For more information, and to purchase your copy of Time Out, click here.

Reframing the COVID-19 Pandemic Through a Stage Manager’s Eyes
By: Kaitlyn Riggio
5 July 2022

When the COVID-19 pandemic was declared a national emergency in the United States in March 2020, Broadway veteran stage manager Richard Hester watched the nation’s anxiety unfold on social media.

“No one knew what the virus was going to do,” Hester said. Some people were “losing their minds in abject terror, and then there were some people who were completely denying the whole thing.”

For Hester, the reaction at times felt like something out of a movie. “It was like the Black Plague,” he said. “Some people thought it was going to be like that Monty Python sketch: ‘bring out your dead, bring out your dead.’”

While Hester was also unsure about how the virus would unfold, he felt that his “job as a stage manager is to naturally defuse drama.” Hester brought this approach off the stage and onto social media in the wake of the pandemic.

“I just sort of synthesized everything that was happening into what I thought was a manageable bite, so people could get it,” Hester said. This became a daily exercise for a year. Over two years after the beginning of the pandemic, Hester’s accounts are compiled in the book, Hold Please: Stage Managing A Pandemic. Released earlier this year, the book documents the events of the past two years, filtering national events and day-to-day occurrences through a stage manager’s eyes and storytelling.

When Hester started this project, he had no intention of writing a book. He was originally writing every day because there was nothing else to do. “I am somebody who needs a job or needs a structure,” Hester said.

Surprised to find that people began expecting his daily posts, he began publishing his daily writing to his followers through a Substack newsletter. As his following grew, Hester had to get used to writing for an audience. “I started second guessing myself a lot of the time,” Hester said. “It just sort of put a weird pressure on it.”

Hester said he got especially nervous before publishing posts in which he wrote about more personal topics. For example, some of his posts focused on his experiences growing up in South Africa while others centered on potentially divisive topics, such as the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Despite some of this discomfort, Hester’s more personal posts were often the ones that got the most response. The experience offered him a writing lesson. “I stopped worrying about the audience and just wrote what I wanted to write about,” Hester said. “All of that pressure that I think as artists we put on ourselves, I got used to it.”

One of Hester’s favorite anecdotes featured in the book centers on a woman who dances in Washington Square Park on a canvas, rain or shine. He said he was “mesmerized by her,” which inspired him to write about her. “It was literally snowing and she was barefoot on her canvas dancing, and that seems to me just a spectacularly beautiful metaphor for everything that we all try and do, and she was living that to the fullest.”

During the creation of Hold Please, Hester got the unique opportunity to reflect in-depth on the first year of the pandemic by looking back at his accounts. He realized that post people would not remember the details of the lockdown; people would “remember it as a gap in their lives, but they weren’t going to remember it beat by beat.”

“Reliving each of those moments made me realize just how full a year it was, even though none of us were doing anything outside,” he adds. “We were all on our couches.” Readers will use the book as a way to relive moments of the pandemic’s first year “without having to wallow in the misery of it,” he hopes.

“I talk about the misery of it, but that’s not the focus of what I wrote... it was about hope and moving forward,” Hester said. “In these times when everything is so difficult, we will figure out a way to get through and we will move forward.”

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