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c e l e b r a t i n g 4 0 s e a s o n s

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text: Joseph Whelan | design: Jonathan Hudak

c e l e b r a t i n g 4 0 s e a s o n s

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CYRANO de beRgeRAC

John cullum

as cyrano, seated, w

ith lisabeth bartlett as roxane and M

arcus smythe as c

hristian above in Cyrano de Bergerac by edm

ond rostand, adapted by em

ily Frankel. season: 1983 – 1984. Director:

arthur storch. Photo: susan Piper Kublick.

Asid

e: John cullum

performed

the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac, his first of tw

o appearances at syracuse stage. H

e would return in

the 1988 – 1989 season for Look H

omew

ard, Angel, also directed by arthur storch. Cyrano enjoyed a successful national tour draw

ing critical acclaim

from atlanta to

richm

ond to boston.

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curtain raiser

in 1958, syracuse university acquired the regent Theatre building located at 820 east genesee street in syracuse. at the time alexander n. charters was Dean of university college. as charters recalls, he was asked one day by Hugh gregg, then vice president and treasurer of the university, to take a walk along east genesee. They stopped in front of the regent. “Have you ever done anything in the theatre?” gregg asked. “no,” charters replied. “Why?” “because we’ve bought this building and you’re going to run it,” said gregg. like the opening lines of a good play, this brief exchange signaled the beginning of a great story to come.

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THe NeW PLAYHOUSe

The m

arquee of the regent Theatre

advertises The n

ew Playhouse’s production

of eugene o’n

eill’s A Touch of the Poet.

Asid

e: The n

ew Playhouse

presented its first summ

er season in 1961. Th

e company used

professional actors with som

e roles played by syracuse u

niversity D

rama students. Th

e presence of professionals in the regent led to the form

ation of the s.u. Th

eatre c

orporation to negotiate with

actors’ equity association.

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Prologue

The regent had been a movie house since 1914. it was built by Myron Kallet as the first in the Kallet Theatre chain. The university had acquired the build-ing without a clear plan of how it would be used. university college assumed full responsibility for the budget, the building, and the programming. The re-gent Theatre became a unit of university college and was administered as one of the numerous uc pro-grams. The goal that emerged, as charters later noted, “was to develop a comprehensive program in educa-tion and culture for the syracuse community’s taste in music, drama, and film.” Fulfilling that goal became the job of robert bergeron, who set about scheduling programs for what eventually became known as the university regent Theatre.

although the auditorium was fairly large with a seat-ing capacity of 1100, the theatre was not built for live performance. The stage was small with very little room behind the movie screen. The hall was long and nar-row with a small balcony and a projectionist’s booth. nonetheless, the university regent Theatre hosted a wide variety of local companies and visiting performers. Marcel Marceau performed. Hal Holbrook brought his Mark Twain Tonight to the tiny stage. over time other performances included The salzburg Marionettes, The buffalo Philharmonic, James Whitmore in Will Rog-ers’ USA, Jose greco Dance, Doyle carter opera, The Modern Jazz Quartet, and The acting company. some of the local groups included skaneateles lyric company (the first to use the space), syracuse little Theatre, syra-

cuse Musical Drama company, onondaga Hill Players, town and country Players, and the center Players. in 1961, the first “community-oriented” professional group premiered in the space when the newly-formed The new Playhouse presented a summer season. it was a first step in an evolutionary process toward creating a thriving professional theatre in syracuse.

The artistic director of The new Playhouse was Drama Department chair gerald F. reidenbaugh, who had a clear vision for the company. The new Playhouse would serve two purposes: one, to bring professional theatre to the syracuse community, and two, to provide an edu-cational tie-in for Drama students. advanced students, reidenbaugh believed, could gain valuable professional

gerald F. reidenbaugh, artistic director of the syracuse repertory Theatre and chair of syracuse university Drama Department, gives notes to student actors during a rehearsal.

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SYRACUSe RePeRTORY

The regent marquee announces performance dates for syracuse repertory Theatre’s production of Dear Liar by Jerome Kilty.

Aside: The first full-time professional theatre company in the regent, syracuse repertory Theatre presented a total of eight seasons, including a trial season in 1964. The first official season was in 1967. srt’s final season was 1973.

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experience by performing supporting roles in new Playhouse productions. These goals, first articulated by reidenbaugh in 1961, have since helped define the mission and direction of professional theatre at 820 east genesee street.

The use of professional actors by The new Playhouse created a need for an administrative apparatus to man-age relations with actors’ equity association, the union for actors and stage managers. on January 25, 1962, the new York state education Department approved a provisional charter for the s.u. Theatre corporation. The charter established a five member board of trustees: clark D. ahlberg, president; Francis a. Wingate, vice president; alexander n. charters, secretary; Victor J. conway, treasurer; and clifford l. Winters. as noted in the charter, “The purposes for which such corporation is formed are to promote and further the education of the general public by producing, sponsoring, and foster-ing literary, musical, and dramatic productions of high artistic and cultural value and to develop in the public an enhanced appreciation of art, drama, and music.”

at around this same time, the university provided $120,000 to finance the first of what would be a series of upgrades and renovations to the university regent Theatre. This initial improvement expanded the stage area and increased lighting capacity. The inaugural pro-

duction of The new Playhouse was eugene o’neill’s A Touch of the Poet, directed by reidenbaugh. summer seasons continued through 1964 and featured similarly challenging material, including tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie. Marlow g. burt replaced bergeron as program administrator and the regent became the home space for Drama Department productions as well as hosting performances by a local amateur group, The civic company. Management of the Drama Depart-ment’s children’s Theatre also came under the univer-sity regent umbrella. at around the same time, The rosamond gifford charitable Foundation awarded burt a $70,000 grant for the development of a profes-sional resident theatre company.

The new company took the name syracuse repertory Theatre (srt). reidenbaugh became artistic direc-tor and launched a five-week trial season in 1964. The ambitious line-up included george bernard shaw’s Man and Superman, shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Wind-sor, anton chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, and samuel beckett’s Waiting for Godot, performed in repertory with a company cast in new York. The season proved instructive as reidenbaugh was able to determine “what the hard-core syracuse theatre-goers liked,” as well as to examine the structure and operations of the company. before srt could begin in earnest, however, the university undertook a $1 million renovation of the

regent Theatre. The plan called for construction of an l-shaped building that would adjoin the regent Theatre structure and form an integrated complex. The new structure would contain a new theatre—the 200 seat “experimental Theatre,” today’s storch—rehearsal halls, scene shops, dressing rooms, and office space. completed in 1966, the new facility hosted a variety of performances including a chamber music series, a cleveland Play House production, carlos Montoya, su Drama and su children’s Theatre productions, a travelogue film series, and a sunday evening film series. That same year, rex Henriot arrived from Minneapolis to replace burt as general manger of the regent and to become managing director of srt.

The syracuse repertory Theatre kicked-off its first of-ficial season on January 26, 1967 in the experimental Theatre. What better way to begin than with shake-speare: Let fame, that all hunt after in their lives,/Live registered upon our brazen Tombs . . . The opening lines of Love’s Labour’s Lost introduced a theatrical endeavor that would last seven seasons and bring 37 productions to the syracuse community. The Devil’s Disciple, Tiger at the Gates, and Slow Dance on the Killing Grounds rounded out the first season and contained hints of what was ahead. The company employed 16 profes-sional actors with 12 su Drama students performing minor roles. in addition, 30 students appeared in a

“a play closes some saturday night, but a theatre continues on,” Henriot said. “The theatre must not stand or fall on one play or one season. We can’t sell one play to the community we live in. We sell an institu-tion that a community can be proud of.”

left: gary gage as glas and roger robinson as randall in Slow Dance on the Killing Ground by William Hanley. season: syracuse repertory Theatre, 1967. Director: rex Henriot.

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crowd scene in The Devil’s Disciple, and 30 more gained experience working backstage in lights, props, sound, costumes, and set construction. Slow Dance on the Killing Grounds, directed by Henriot, featured a young actor named roger robinson, who would later be nominated for a tony award and who would return to syracuse to take the lead in syracuse stage’s production of Death and the King’s Horseman in 1999.

reidenbaugh and Henriot were happy with the first season. They sold more tickets than they anticipated, 1026 season subscriptions, and were especially proud that 9000 area students attended the four plays. reidenbaugh was also pleased that su Drama students benefitted from their work with the professionals in the company. “it’s the best education we can give our students,” he said. still,

the pair knew that one season did not make a success.“a play closes some saturday night, but a theatre con-tinues on,” Henriot said. “The theatre must not stand or fall on one play or one season. We can’t sell one play to the community we live in. We sell an institution that a community can be proud of.”

For six more seasons syracuse repertory Theatre tried to deliver on that vision by continuing to present a variety of challenging and entertaining fare: TheThree-penny Opera, Lysistrada, The Play’s the Thing, Hamlet, The Hostage, The Fantasticks, The Time of Your Life, Room Service, among many others. but keeping a repertory company proved costly and budget deficits plagued the theatre. artistic differences surfaced as well and in 1971 reidenbaugh resigned. The following year srt scored

LOve’S LAbOUR’S LOST

laura MacFarlane as the Princess of France, gerard Moses as lord boyet with ladies in waiting adale o’brien, Katherine Manney, and shirley Fenner in shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost. season: syracuse repertory Theatre, 1967. Director: rod alexander.

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THe MOdeRN

JAZZ QUARTeT

a flyer promoting a perform

ance by Th

e Modern Jazz Q

uartet.

Asid

e: beginning in 1958 w

hen syracuse university

acquired The regent Th

eatre, the venue hosted m

any nationally and internationally renow

ned artists including M

arcel Marceau, Th

e salzburg M

arionettes, José greco D

ance, D

oyle carter o

pera, and Hal

Holbrook, am

ong others.

its biggest hit with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and achieved a coup d’ theatre in its final season when broadway star Howard da silva played the title role in bertolt brecht’s Galileo. anticipating a development almost 30 years in the future, Galileo was co-produced with su Drama.

in many respects, the formation and development of The new Playhouse and later the syracuse repertory Theatre established the model for the future syracuse stage and its connection to the Drama Department. From the out-set, reidenbaugh and Henriot were governed by a desire to create a professional theatre company in syracuse that would benefit the community and serve an educational function for su Drama students as well as area school children. in articles for various publications, reiden-baugh explained that the professional theatre would present a variety of material from classics to new work to children’s theatre and become an anchor for revitalizing the community and instilling in it a sense of cultural pride. He saw the potential for productions to originate in syracuse and tour to venues near and far. He also envisioned a theatre training program that would take aspiring theatre artists from beginner to paid professional through a series of clearly defined stages and that might culminate in providing students an opportunity to work with a resident professional company. it is a measure of success that the leaders of syracuse stage continued to build on these ideas.

it may also be counted a measure of success that once gone, syracuse repertory Theatre was missed. There was a void that needed to be filled. The search was on for someone to fill it.

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edWARd ALbee’S W

HO’S AFRAId OF vIRgINIA W

OOLF?

alan Mixon as g

eorge and Meg M

yles as Martha in edw

ard albee’s W

ho’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? season: 1979 – 1980.

Director: terry schreiber. Photo: robert lorenz.

Asid

e: terry schreiber’s production w

as a critical and popular success. schreiber directed several tim

es at syracuse stage, including Betrayal by H

arold Pinter and K2 by Patrick M

eyers in the 1981 – 1982 season. stage again produced edw

ard albee’s W

ho’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in

the 2004 – 2005 season, directed by M

ichael Donald edw

ards.

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12

WAITINg FOR LeFTY

barry snider (l) and John carpenter (c) and members of the company in clifford odets’ Waiting for Lefty. season: 1974. Director: arthur storch. Photo: robert lorenz.

Aside: The double-bill of Waiting for Lefty and terrance Mcnally’s Noon marks the beginning of syracuse stage and the beginning of arthur storch’s tenure as producing artistic director.

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act i:1974 - 1980You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant . . .

so sang arlo guthrie in 1967. six years later, those words proved remarkably prophetic when syracuse theatre found a new leader in stockbridge’s famous eatery. syracuse repertory Theatre may have ended, but the university saw the value in maintaining a professional theatre that would be affiliated with the Drama Department. a search commenced to find one person who would serve as artistic director of the new the-atre as well as chair of the Drama Department. arthur storch, a well-known new York actor and director with a resumé that included six broadway plays, four films, and more than 100 television shows, was chosen for the job. His appointment was announced at a press conference at lubin House in new York city. in what may have been seen as an indication of things

to come, the announcement was attended by actors studio artistic director lee strasberg, and actors eli Wallach, Pat Hingle, Joseph bologna, and rene taylor. in an interview in 1997 to mark stage’s 25th anniversary, storch recalled some of the process that brought him to syracuse.

There were so many combined things going on. I was directing on Broadway, and part of the whole showbiz/New York scene. At the same time I had been very active in the Actors Studio and part of the philosophic discussions about what theatre should be. By sheer coincidence, and oddly enough, it all started here, where I am speaking from, which is Stockbridge. The Syracuse Uni-versity Drama Department had an apprentice program right here with the Berkshire Theatre Festival, and I was invited in to direct something on the main stage. And Leonard Dryansky

was the faculty person in charge of the apprentice program. And he said to me, would I be interested in talking to the apprentice group under a tree one morning here on the grounds, about life in the big, bad city as a theatre person, an actor/director or what have you, and I said of course I would. I spoke to this group of probably 16 to 18 students, and after that he invited me to breakfast at Alice’s Restaurant, that famous Alice’s Restaurant which no longer exists. And at that breakfast he told me there had been a theatre in Syracuse, working in the same area as the [Syracuse] University Department of Drama, and the Univer-sity at that time was interested in putting together a professional component with a teaching component, and someone up there came up with the idea of possibly having one person head up both units. Dryansky asked me if I was interested in being that person. Could he submit my name?

arth

ur s

torc

h

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Of course, there was an enormous thought process: at that time I was married, had a new baby who was a year, a year and a half old; my entire life was centered around New York City, where I was directing, or in London, or in Italy. Suddenly to think of leaving, of pulling up my roots and going to Syracuse—and it was a moment of truth for me, because I had been thinking, philosophizing about what a theatre should be; I had a lot of big ideas about what that should be. I then faced a moment of saying, well, you’ve expressed yourself vehemently on all of these subjects for years; here’s your opportunity to—the saying didn’t

exist then—to walk the walk and talk the talk. And I decided to take a shot at it, thinking, well, let’s see if I can do it, let’s try it for a year or two, and see what happens. It ended up to be 18 years that I was there. And that’s how it started. I actually arrived in Syracuse on January 1, 1974, and decided to get the season up and running by March 1.

“You’re so wrong i ain’t laughing. any guy with eyes to read knows it”

–Waiting for Lefty by clifford odets

He did. on March 1, 1974 an actor named John carpenter playing Harry Fatt in Waiting for Lefty delivered the quoted line, and syracuse stage began. storch paired clifford odets’ well-known one-act with Noon by terrance Mcnally as the company’s first offering. He thought it a risky way to begin. He feared one-acts might not be popular with audiences, but “as a child of the 30s” he wanted to do political theatre and intended to signal that interest from the outset. arthur Miller’s adaptation of ibsen’s Enemy of the People followed, and John steinbeck’s Of

OF MICe ANd M

eN

ron Frazier as george and barry snider

as lennie in John steinbeck’s Of M

ice and M

en. season: 1974. Director: arthur

storch. Photo: robert lorenz.

Asid

e: Of M

ice and Men closed

the first season, which storch

always considered a half season

because it contained just three offerings: the double-bill W

aiting for Lefty and N

oon, arthur Miller’s

version of An Enemy of the People,

and Of M

ice and Men. storch again

directed Of M

ice and Men in the

1986 – 1987 season.

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Mice and Men completed the short season. “it created quite a stir,” storch recalled of the initial season. subscriptions jumped from 300 to 1800 by the start of the next. syracuse stage was on the ascent artistically and its popularity grew accordingly.

This same year syracuse stage became a member of the league of resident Theatres (lort). The largest association of non-profit profes-sional theatres in the country, lort establishes collective bargaining agreements with various professional unions including actors’ equity as-sociation (aea), the stage Directors and cho-reographers society (sDc), and united scenic artists (usa). in practical terms, membership in lort streamlines contractual arrangements with performers, directors, and designers by establishing uniform pay scales and benefits. in 1974, there were just 28 lort theatres. today, lort is the largest employer of equity actors with 74 affiliate theatres around the country.

syracuse stage’s second season, or first full season as storch referred to it, again opened with risky fare. to start the 1974/75 season, storch adapted

and directed arthur schnitzler’s sexual romp La Ronde, which featured full male and female nudity. if the highly politicized first season hadn’t sent a message, this play certainly did: theatre in syracuse was headed in a new and more dar-ing direction. new York–based actor Mitchell Mcguire played the role of the playwright in La Ronde. He told The Daily Orange at the time about one patron’s reaction to the play: “one woman said, ‘i had the feeling syracuse finally grew up.’” gerard Moses, who was on the Drama faculty at the time and had performed in many srt productions, recalled of La Ronde, “some people liked it, some people didn’t, but ev-eryone knew something exciting was happening.”

shortly thereafter storch scored a coup d’ theatre when he presented the world premiere of a play that would become long associated with syracuse stage, William gibson’s The But-terfingers Angel, Mary & Joseph, Herod the Nut, and the Slaughter of 12 Hit Carols in a Pear Tree. storch knew gibson from the berkshire Theatre Festival. The Butterfingers Angel was one of two scripts the playwright offered for consideration to storch, who had to rearrange the announced

season in order to accommodate the new play. gibson came to syracuse to attend some rehearsals, generating excitement and interest in syracuse stage. Writing about the world pre-miere in The New Times, David Feldman noted: “and for syracuse, the concept of regional the-atre comes alive with this production.” storch, he noted further, “has turned the old regent into an exciting place for theatre of all sorts to happen.” an article in CNY Magazine summa-rized the change as follows: “syracuse stage has not only undertaken a change in name, but a whole new image in its transformation from the syracuse repertory Theatre. at the pinnacle of that change is arthur storch.”

With storch at the helm and Karl gevecker serving as general manager, audiences contin-ued to grow. The 1800 subscribers turned into 3000 for season three, and storch rewarded their patronage with challenging plays by luigi Pirandello, Paul osborne, noel coward, anton chekhov, eugene o’neill, and georges Feydeau. Through subsequent years familiar names and faces from broadway, television, and film would appear at syracuse stage in seasons

in the 1976/77 season, James a. clark replaced Karl gevecker as general manager, and the board of trustees welcomed its first non-university, community members, charles schoeneck and sandy Dietz. clark’s tenure with stage would span 30 years, during which he would partner with four artistic directors and eventually be named stage’s producing director and chair of su Drama (1992 - 2006).

season 1: 1974

Waiting for Lefty, clifford odets & Noon, terrence McnallyAn Enemy of the People, Henrik ibsen, adapted by

arthur MillerOf Mice and Men, John steinbeck

season 2: 1974-1975

La Ronde, arthur schnitzlerHedda Gabler, Henrik ibsenThe Butterfingers Angel*, William gibsonThe Importance of Being Earnest, oscar WildeArms and the Man, george bernard shawThe Little Foxes, lillian Hellman season 3: 1975-1976

Mornings At Seven, Paul osborneNo Exit, Jean-Paul sartre Man with the Flower in his Mouth, luigi PirandelloAn Evening with Chekhov, anton chekhovBlithe Spirit, noel cowardDynamo, eugene o’neill A Flea in Her Ear, george Feydeau

Jam

es a

. cla

rk. P

hoto

: Ja

mes

sch

erzi

Phot

ogra

phy.

1616

THe SeA gULL

rita g

am as arkadina and M

ark W

inkworth as trepleff in anton

chekhov’s Th

e Sea Gull. season:

1976 – 1977. Director: arthur

storch. Photo: robert lorenz.

Asid

e: noted n

ew York actor trish H

awkins

played nina in storch’s production of Th

e Sea G

ull. Haw

kins would return in the 1996 – 1997

season for arthur Miller’s All M

y Sons, directed by K

en albers. chekhov w

as represented again in the 1990 – 1991 season w

hen John going

staged The Th

ree Sisters. The 1975 - 1976 season

featured An Evening with C

hekhov that comprised

the one-act plays The Bear, Th

e Marriage Proposal,

and The H

armfulness of Tobacco.

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that mixed classic and contemporary work, comedy and drama. george bernard shaw, sean o’casey and tennessee Williams were favorites. in 1976, Joseph regalbuto (later of Murphy Brown fame) played orsino in the company’s first shakespeare, Twelfth Night. noted new York actor trish Hawkins played nina in chekhov’s The Sea Gull. two decades later she would return to appear in arthur Miller’s All My Sons. David canary of tV’s Bonanza and later a star of daytime soaps took on stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire opposite storch’s wife Virginia Kiser, who balanced a tV and film career with appearances at syracuse stage. in 1977, emmy award-winner Myra carter ap-peared in two one-acts, Love Letters on Blue Paper and The End of the Beginning. The former drew attention from The New York Times’ Mel gussow who called the production “a definite coup for an enterprising company.” carter would appear numerous times at stage over the years.

Dina Merrill closed out the 1978/79 season with olwen Wymark’s Loved, which garnered a review not only from gussow in the Times but from Newsweek’s Jack Kroll as well. While performing at stage, Merrill, wife of actor cliff

robertson and daughter of financier e. F. Hut-ton, stayed at the residence of chancellor Mel-vin eggars and his wife Mildred. earlier in that same season, storch revived The Butterfingers Angel with the well-known character actor Mike Kellin as Joseph and a young actor named taze-well Thompson as Third King and Third lout. Thompson would eventually succeed storch and become stage’s second artistic director.

During the 1979/80 season, new York–based director terry schreiber staged an acclaimed production of edward albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with Meg Myles and alan Mixon. The onstage sparks that flew between george and Martha were matched by an off stage firestorm that surrounded another play, Damnée Manon, Sacrée Sandra by Quebecois playwright Michel tremblay. “it created the greatest stir of anything i had ever done. it was blasphemous,” storch recalled. “There is anti-catholicism that runs through the play, and that infuriated people.” stage survived the controversy unscathed enough for storch to try his luck again with tremblay a few seasons later when he produced The Impromptu of Outremont, with similar results. “That was

something i could have moved away from,” he later said.

Three offstage developments in the mid-70s would have long range impact on the stability and continued success of syracuse stage. in the 1976/77 season, James a. clark replaced Karl gevecker as general manager, and the board of trustees welcomed its first non-university, community members, charles schoeneck and sandy Dietz. clark’s tenure with stage would span 30 years, during which he would partner with four artistic directors and eventually be named stage’s producing director and chair of su Drama (1992 - 2006). The addition of community members to the board of trustees redefined the board’s function while introduc-ing a wealth of resources and talent to work on stage’s behalf. The move also helped stage establish ongoing relationships with important corporate and private partners in the commu-nity. The value of this would become immedi-ately apparent when the third major off stage development took shape in 1978.

storch’s continuing success attracted more patrons to the theatre. by 1977, the number

season 4: 1976-1977

A Quality of Mercy*, roma grethWhat the Butler Saw, Joe ortonTwelfth Night, William shakespeareThe Sea Gull, anton chekhovSleuth, anthony shafferA Streetcar Named Desire, tennessee Williams season 5: 1977-1978

Love Letters on Blue Paper†, arnold Wesker & The End of the Beginning†, sean o’caseyThe Plough and the Stars, sean o’caseyTartuffe, MoliereThat Championship Season, Jason MillerCandida, george bernand shawVanities, Jack Heifner

season 6: 1978-1979

She Stoops to Conquer, oliver goldsmithThe World of Sholom Aleichem, arnold PerlThe Butterfingers Angel, William gibsonThe Blood Knot, anthol FugardOtherwise Engaged, simon grayThe Glass Menagerie, tennessee WilliamsLoved*, olwen Wymark season 7: 1979-1980

Naked, luigi PirandelloSide by Side by Sondheim, stephen sondheimDamnee Manon, Sacree Sandra†, Michael tremblayMan and Superman, george bernard shawWho’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?, edward albeeOld World, alesksei arbuzov

* WorlD PreMiere † aMerican PreMiere

far left: Haskell gordon as sir toby belch, alan Krass as Malvolio and bobo lewis as Maria in shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. season: 1976 – 1977. Director: bill ludel. Photo: robert lorenz.

left: William gibson and arthur storch on the opening night of the second production of The Butterfingers Angel.

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of subscribers had jumped to 5000 and single ticket sales were brisk for most shows. good news for any theatre, of course, except that the demand for tickets frequently surpassed the capacity of the 200-seat experimental Theatre. Patrons were routinely turned away, much to storch’s dismay. The regent held 800, but storch thought it unsuitable for syracuse stage productions. “i detest the big theatre,” he told The Daily Orange. What he wanted was greater seating capacity without losing the performance intimacy

of the experimental Theatre. His goal was a new theatre in which no seat would be more than 30 feet from the stage. by contrast, in the old regent, the closest seat to the stage was 35 feet away.

The estimated cost for gutting and renovat-ing the regent was put at $800,000. one of the new community board members, Dan-iel c. sutton, agreed to chair a capital cam-paign to raise the necessary funds. The plan called for the syracuse stage board to raise

half the money with half coming from the university. eventually, a total of $1,230,000 was raised, with the largest single contribu-tion, $450,000, coming from John Dana archbold, for whom the theatre is named and whose family had long and deep ties to syracuse university. archbold’s grandfa-ther, John Dustin archbold, had donated generously for the construction of archbold stadium and archbold gymnasium. “it is very fitting to continue the archbold name,” chancellor eggars noted at the time. “it

THe bUTTeRFINgeRS ANgeL

Virgil roberson, tazew

ell Thom

pson, lisa Pelikan, and D

avid Wohl in W

illiam

gibson’s Th

e Butterfingers Angel. season: 1978 – 1979. D

irector: arthur storch. Photo: robert lorenz.

Asid

e: This w

as the second of three productions of g

ibson’s The Butterfingers

Angel, Mary, Joseph, H

erod the Nut, and the

Slaughter of 12 Hit C

arols in a Pear Tree. storch directed the play’s w

orld premiere at syracuse

stage in the 1974 – 1975 season. tazewell

Thom

pson would stage it in the 1994 – 1995

season during his tenure as artistic director. His

performance in the 1978 – 1979 production

was his first appearance at syracuse stage.

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reflects the wide-ranging interest and great beneficence of the archbold family toward syracuse university.”

groundbreaking took place on March 3, 1980. as befit the theatrical nature of the endeavor, the traditional spade in the dirt was dismissed in favor of a small explosion to mark the beginning of construction. The principal participants in the ceremony were storch, su vice chancellor for administra-tive operations clifford l. Winters, and common councilor armand Magnarelli, who stood in for Mayor lee alexan-der. Following the detonation, Magnarelli quipped: “i hope that’s the last ‘bomb’ you have in this theatre.”

Daniel sutton passed away before the renovated theatre opened for the 1980/81 season. The atrium lobby that was built to connect the newly christened archbold with the experimental theatre bears his name. Funding for its construction came from a $150,000 anonymous donation plus $100,000 from the Kresge Foundation. storch paid tribute to sutton in the program for that season’s production of Man and Superman, writing in part: “Dan’s life-energy which i felt in his presence was palpable. it was an energy that made me more aware of the excitement, the commitment, the passion of what it is to be fully alive in this world.”

left: Dorothy Fielding as stella, Virginia Kiser as blanche Dubois, and David canary as stanley Kowalski in tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire. season: 1976 – 1977. Director: John going. Photo: robert lorenz.

above: le clanché du rand as cissy in Loved by olwen Wymark. season: 1978 – 1979. Director: arthur storch. Photo: robert lorenz.

20

JOHN

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21

22

THe COMedY OF eRRORS

Mem

bers of the company in

shakespeare’s The C

omedy of Errors.

season: 1980 – 1981. Director: arthur

storch. Photo: robert lorenz.

Asid

e: The C

omedy of

Errors was the inaugural

production in the new

John D. archbold Th

eatre. D

esigner roger Morgan

combined the best features

of proscenium and thrust

stages to design a space “tailor-m

ade for arthur storch.”

23

Proceed, Solinus, to procure my fall,And by the doom of death end woes and all.

These lines spoken by learie Peter callender as the character egeon in shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors christened the archbold Theatre and marked, as Jim clark once noted, “the beginning of syracuse stage as we know it.” The new auditorium was designed by roger Morgan, who in earlier seasons had frequently served as a lighting designer for stage and who had also designed a new theatre for baltimore’s cen-terstage. With 499 seats, the archbold more than doubled the seating capacity of the experimental Theatre, without losing the intimacy storch desired. no longer would patrons be turned away, and the increased capacity expanded the potential for revenue without a corresponding increase in ticket prices. The success built in the early seasons would continue as stage moved into the new theatre and the period of its

greatest popularity characterized by a very high level of artistic achievement.

and it all began with a great party. searchlights coursed the skies over syracuse on november 13, 1980, the night before the opening of The Comedy of Errors. celebrities anne Jackson, eli Wallach, Dina Merrill, and cliff robertson attended a gala dedication ceremony. Designer Morgan and John D. archbold were on hand as well to hear rave reviews for the new theatre from those in attendance. “You see before you a man whose dream has come true,” storch told the crowd.

The fulfillment of that dream involved the “combined talents of some very special individuals,” as noted in the program for The Comedy of Errors. in addition to acknowledging the generosity of John D. archbold and pointing out that Morgan’s design had been

act ii:1980 – 1992

24

“tailor-made for arthur storch, combining the best features of proscenium and thrust stages,” words of appreciation were extended to the architectural firm schleicher – soper and project architect newton Wiley; the construction company Hueber-breuer and project manager nate Podkaminer; and the assistant director of the su office of Facilities Planning Virginia Denton. The Thursday dedication ceremony and the Friday opening marked the culmination of syracuse stage Week, which was established by a joint proclamation issued by onondaga county executive John H. Mulroy and syracuse Mayor lee alexander.

The program also contained congratulations from many of storch’s professional colleagues. in 1978, storch had directed a successful broadway production of bernard slade’s Tribute starring Jack lemmon. on this occasion lemmon wrote, “My love and gratitude always, and my congratulations on the great job you’ve done with syracuse stage.” Joseph Papp, founder The Public Theatre in new York, noted: “in these times, the opening of the John D. archbold Theatre repre-sents an act of affirmation and boldness.” and Kitty carlisle Hart added, “We are all looking forward to many wonderful productions in this marvelous new facility.” Hart would in fact appear twice at the theatre in Old Time Radio fundraisers. several others who sent their congratulations would later ap-pear in full productions in the new archbold Theatre, includ-ing Jean stapleton, eli Wallach, and anne Jackson.

as the archbold’s inaugural season progressed, syracuse stage again drew attention from the new York press when Mel gussow reviewed the world premiere of the south african play Paradise is Closing Down by Pieter-Dirk uys. The cast included le clanché du rand, and the show and du rand re-ceived favorable notices from gussow. storch was then poised to spring a coup d’ theatre when he cast broadway star sam levine in the play Goodnight Grandpa by Walter landau. levine, probably best known for creating the role of nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, died suddenly before rehearsals started. Veteran actor Joe De santis stepped in to fill the role. Through the years there would be other occasions of tragedy and near misses for various reasons. Professionalism always prevailed. always, most remarkably, the show went on.

The last two shows of the archbold’s first season were ntozake shange’s poetic drama for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf directed by Judith Haskell and A Doll’s House directed by terry schreiber. season subscriptions were at an all-time high, exceeding 10,000. so when Dick cavett came to The Hotel syracuse to tape a show on the state of the arts in syracuse, storch could report that as far as theatre was concerned, it was a healthy state indeed.

schreiber returned to open the 1981/82 season with Harold Pinter’s Betrayal and close it with a memorable produc-

tion of K2 by Patrick Meyers. stage was one of several regional theatres to introduce this work to audiences that season, and schreiber would direct the broadway production. actor Jay Patterson, who appeared in stage’s K2, would reprise his role there. A Christmas Carol made its first of six syracuse stage appearances in a production adapted and directed by stephen Willems. shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice followed with Yusef bulos as antonio and a young student named aaron sorkin in the role of The Jailer. The splashiest show of the

right: sylvia gassell as linda and stephen lang as biff in arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. season: 1982 -1983. Director: steven schachter. Photo: susan Piper Kublick.

far right: robert gentry as brick and Kate Mulgrew as Mag-gie in tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. season: 1982 – 1983. Director: John going. Photo: susan Piper Kublick.

25

THe SHOW-OFF

John newton as Mr. Fisher, lloyd brass as Joe, orson bean as aubrey Piper, and Jean stapleton as Mrs. Fisher in The Show-Off by george Kelly. season: 1983 – 1984. Director: William H. Putch. Photo: susan Piper Kublick.

Aside: Jean stapleton’s husband and show director William H. Putch passed away suddenly just before opening. Ms. stapleton called the company together and explained the best way to honor her late husband would be for the show to continue.

season, however, featured eli Wallach and anne Jackson, longtime friends of storch. The show was Twice Around the Park, and following the syracuse stage run, it moved to The Kennedy center for five weeks before transferring to broadway’s cort Theatre in november of 1982.

Kate Mulgrew (tV’s Mrs. colombo) opened the1982-83 season as Maggie the cat in tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, directed by John going. A Christmas Carol

26

right: James Whitmore and audra lindley in William gibson’s Handy Dandy. season: 1984 – 1985. Director: arthur storch. Photo: susan Piper Kublick.

far right: Michael tolaydo as taylor and Jay Patterson as Harold in K2 by Patrick Meyers. season: 1981 – 1982. Director: terry schreiber. Photo: susan Piper Kublick.

opposite: terri White and Doug eskew in Ain’t Misbehavin’, based on an idea by Murray Horwitz and richard Maltby, Jr. and conceived and originally directed by richard Maltby, Jr. season: 1985 – 1986. Director: arthur Faria. Photo: susan Piper Kublick.

THe TOOTH OF CRIMe

ray W

ise as Hoss, benm

io easterling as referee, and stephen M

ellor as crow

in sam

shepard’s The Tooth of C

rime.

season: 1982 – 1983. Director: g

eorge Ferencz. Photo: susan Piper K

ublick.

Asid

e: syracuse stage’s production of The

Tooth of Crim

e transferred to new

York where it

enjoyed a successful run at the famed la M

aMa

e.t.c. in 2006, the production w

as revived as part of la M

aMa’s 45

th anniversary celebration w

ith Wise and r

aul aranus reprising their roles as H

oss and Doc. W

ise has enjoyed success on the big and sm

all screens notably as leland Palm

er in the David lynch series Tw

in Peaks and as V

ice President Hal g

ardner in the series 24.

27

was revived and performed at The landmark Theatre to accommodate demand for tickets. John carpenter took the lead as Willie loman in arthur Miller’s classic Death of a Salesman in a production that featured a young actor named stephen lang as biff. lang’s career would take him to broadway and far beyond to the distant moon Pandora in James cameron’s academy award-winning film Avatar in which he played the never-say-die bad guy, colonel Miles Quaritch. For many, though, the highlight of the season was george Ferencz’s rock concert-inspired production of sam shepard’s The Tooth of Crime. starring ray Wise as the charismatic Hoss, the production transferred to the famed la MaMa e.t.c. in new York. it was revived in 2006 as the centerpiece of la MaMa’s 45th anniversary celebration. Wise reprised his role as did raul aranus, who played Doc.

The 1983/84 season proved memorable for extraordinary events on stage and exceptional courage off. two-time tony award-winner John cullum dazzled audiences and critics with his portrayal of cyrano de bergerac in a produc-tion directed by storch that later enjoyed a

successful national tour. “John cullum’s cyrano bestrides each scene like a colossus, revealing the full range of emotions raging inside this epic figure,” wrote William West in a review for The Post Standard. acclaim was not confined to syracuse. From richmond to atlanta to boston, critics praised cullum’s performance. Boston Globe critic Kevin Kelly went as far as to proclaim: “The recent royal shakespeare com-pany version of Cyrano de Bergerac has been bested.” no small feat considering the rsc featured Derek Jacobi in the title role.

The oft-repeated cliché “the show must go on” assumed tangible significance when syra-cuse stage and the cast of george Kelly’s The Show-Off were struck by the sudden death of director William H. Putch on the Monday before opening night. complicating an already difficult situation was the presence in the cast of two-time emmy award-winner, and Putch’s wife, Jean stapleton, suddenly and unbelievably his widow. Jim clark recalls that for obvious reasons a great deal of uncertainty shrouded the production. no one knew whether to cancel the opening, or even the entire run of the show,

until stapleton settled the matter. asking to meet with the cast and staff in the theatre before the first scheduled preview, she explained the best way to honor her late husband would be to carry on. it was what he would have wanted, she explained. The Show-Off sold out its entire run.

Playwright William gibson received another first-class production in the 1984/85 season when storch directed well-known film and television actors audra lindley and James Whitmore in Handy Dandy. gibson originally penned the play as part of an event to raise awareness and funds in support of a verifiable nuclear freeze between the united states and the then soviet union. on october 14 and 15, 1984, the nuclear Weapons Freeze campaign sponsored more than 100 staged readings of the play from london to los angeles with such stars as edward asner, colleen Dewhurst, Julie Harris, ben Vereen, Paul newman, and Joanne Woodward participating. lindley and Whitmore found significant success with the play, not only in syracuse, but in new York and regional theatres throughout the country, including the Pasadena Playhouse.

often, as was certainly evident in stage’s early years, a performer might appear in a variety of roles over the course of several seasons. sometimes decades might pass before a performer returned. in the 1985/86 season, an actor named Doug eskew appeared in Ain’t Mis-behavin’. twenty-two years later, eskew would return in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, the first show directed by timothy bond for stage.

season 8: 1980-1981

The Comedy of Errors, William shakespeareDames at Sea, george Halmson & robin MillerParadise is Closing Down, Peter-Dirk usyGoodnight, Grandpa, Walter landaufor colored girls who have considered suicide/when the

rainbow is enuf, ntozake shangeA Doll’s House, Henrik ibsen

season 9: 1981-1982

Betrayal, Harold PinterA Christmas Carol, charles Dickens, adapted by

stephen WillemsThe Merchant of Venice, William shakespeareTwice Around the Park*, Murray schisgalTalley’s Folly, landford WilsonK2, Patrick Meyers

season 10: 1982-1983

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, tennessee WilliamsWe Won’t Pay! We Won’t Pay!, Dario Fo, north amer-

ican version by r.g. DavisA Christmas Carol, charles DickensThe Tooth of Crime, sam shepardThe Impromptu of Outremont, Michael tremblay,

translation by John Van burekDeathtrap, ira levinDeath of a Salesman, arthur Miller

season 11: 1983-1984

The Shadow of a Gunman, sean o’caseyThe Show-Off, george KellyCyrano deBergerac, edmond rostand, adapted by

emily Frankel‘Night, Mother, Marsha normanThe Dining Room, a.r. gurney, JrThe Double Bass†, Patrick suskind

2828

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29

That same season director george Ferencz returned for more sam shepard as stage presented three of the playwright’s early one-acts—Angel City, Back Bog Beast Bait, and Suicide in Bb—under the collective title Shep-ard Sets. With music composed and directed by legendary jazz drummer Max roach, the show was co-produced with la MaMa e.t.c. and featured Peter Jay Fernandez, raul ara-nas, and s. epatha Merkerson, later to play lt. anita Van buren on Law & Order.

if the 1985/86 season lacked the star power of previous seasons, it was notable for a number of firsts that in different respects reflect important aspects of regional theatre in general and of syra-cuse stage specifically. arthur storch’s new York connections and his ties to the television and film industries enabled him to attract well-estab-lished and well-known talents to syracuse stage with some frequency. Yet, as with most regional theatres, the majority of the actors and designers came from the ranks of the hard-working and much-traveled professionals whose careers are spent in theatres large and small throughout the country. often, as was certainly evident in stage’s early years, a performer might appear in a variety of roles over the course of several seasons. some-times decades might pass before a performer re-turned. in the 1985/86 season, an actor named Doug eskew appeared in Ain’t Misbehavin’.

twenty-two years later, eskew would return in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, the first show directed by timothy bond for stage. Then in 2012, eskew electrified audiences as The Dryer in Marcela lorca’s rousing production of the tony Kushner and Jeanine tesori musical Caroline, or Change. Throughout the 40 seasons, many performers, like eskew, have passed through syracuse stage, some multiple times. it is their work that has truly sustained the artistic integrity of the performances on stage at stage.

Ain’t Misbehavin’ was co-produced by stage with rochester’s geva Theatre and studio arena Theatre in buffalo. This was the first time the region’s three major professional companies had combined resources to produce a play that would have been too costly for each to produce alone. such co-productions with theatres from coast-to-coast have since become a regular and integral part of stage’s success.

in this same season, storch also achieved a first for the stage/Drama partnership when he cast su senior James clow as one of the leads in Ro-meo and Juliet. While students had played sup-porting roles in the past, clow’s romeo marked the first time a student had undertaken such an important role. J. smith-cameron, who origi-nated the role of babe in beth Henley’s Crimes of the Heart on broadway, played Juliet. stage’s

longtime production manager Don buschmann served as the stage manager on Romeo and Juliet and recalls smith-cameron’s performance as “stunning.” in 1991, she would earn a tony nomination for Our Country’s Good.

students also appeared in Martin sherman’s Bent and larry shue’s The Foreigner. one of those who appeared in The Foreigner was neal McDonough, later of Captain America and Desperate Housewives fame. in a way Bent, too, represented a first as dramaturg tom Walsh made his stage directorial debut. Walsh would later become syracuse university’s executive vice president for advancement and external affairs.

The 1986/87 season featured the american acting debut of irish performer roma Downey. Downey appeared as eliza Doolittle in John go-ing’s production of george bernard shaw’s Pyg-malion. Downey would later star in the popular tV series Touched by an Angel. The Pygmalion cast included Downey’s fellow irishman brendan burke and a return appearance by Myra carter. a powerful production of arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge directed by tony giordano was one of two hard-hitting american classics in the season. For the second classic, storch revived John steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men with ron Perkins as george and Matthew Kimbrough as lenny. a successful ten-city tour followed the

season 12: 1984-1985

Arms and the Man, george bernard shawClarence, booth tarkingtonHandy Dandy*, William gibsonShepardsets, sam shepard, created by cementA Lesson From Aloes, athol FugardPassion, Peter nichols season 13: 1985-1986

The Foreigner, larry shueGlengarry Glen Ross, David ManetAin’t Misbehavin’, conceived by richard MaltbyRomeo and Juliet, William shakespeareLuv, Murray schisgalBent, Martin sherman

season 14: 1986-1987

Little Shop of Horrors, book & lyrics by Howard

ashman, music by alan MenkinA View from the Bridge, arthur MillerPygmalion, george bernard shawOf Mice and Men, John steinbeckStage Struck, simon grayOn the Verge, or The Geography of Yearning, eric

overmyer

season 15: 1987-1988

Stepping Out, richard HarrisFugue*, leonara ThunaThe Miser, MoliereHizzoner!, Paul shyre7 by Beckett, samuel beckettFrankie and Johnny in the Clair deLune, terrence

Mcnally

ROMeO ANd JULIeT

J. smith-cameron as Juliet and James clow as romeo in shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. season: 1984 – 1985. Director: arthur storch. Photo: susan Piper Kublick.

Aside: arthur storch had always used su Drama students in supporting roles when appropriate. in casting su Drama senior James clow as romeo, he signaled his confidence in the program. J. smith-cameron has enjoyed success in new York with broadway, film, and television credits. she won an outer circle critics award for Lend me a Tenor in 1989 and an obie award for As Bees Drown in Honey in 1997.

30

syracuse run. The program for Of Mice and Men carried a brief memorial for rex Henriot who passed away in 1986: “We mourn the death of rex, whose love and dedication to theatre enriched the central new York community.”

The 1987/88 season marked stage’s fifteenth anniversary. barbara barrie starred in The Fugue by leonora Thuna. tony lo bianco portrayed Fiorello laguardia in the one-man show Hizzoner! Jacqueline Knapp and John spencer caused a stir in terrence Mcnally’s Frankie and

Johnny in the Clair de Lune, and the cast of The Miser included two young actors destined for success beyond syracuse, stephen spinella and Mary-louise Parker. spinella also appeared in the memorable 7 by Beckett. (or was it six?)

barrie and lo bianco were established and well-known veteran performers. lo bianco had just won an emmy award for Wnet’s video version of Hizzoner! called Hizzoner-The Mayor, and barrie had many broadway, film, and television credits, although she was probably best known as

Mrs. barney Miller. spencer would move onto recurring roles on two popular tV series, L.A. Law and The West Wing. The nudity and subject matter of Frankie and Johnny set off a little contro-versy that mostly played out on the letters to the editor page of The Post Standard. Parker’s career would take off a few years later when she made her broadway debut in craig lucas’s Prelude to a Kiss. she would win a tony award for David au-burn’s Proof and enjoy considerable success in film and television. like spencer, she would have a recurring role on The West Wing. in 2006 she won

OF MICe ANd M

eN

Matthew

Kim

brough as lennie and alexandra n

eil as curley’s W

ife in John steinbeck’s O

f Mice and M

en. season: 1986 – 1987. D

irector: arthur storch. Photo: law

rence Mason, Jr.

Asid

e: arthur storch’s second production of O

f Mice

and Men had a successful 10-

city tour following its run at

syracuse stage. John steinbeck w

ould be represented again at syracuse stage w

hen Michael

Donald edw

ards directed The

Grapes of W

rath in the 2004 – 2005 season.

31

her second golden globe award for the series Weeds. she dedicated that award to spencer who had recently passed away. Parker’s first golden globe and her emmy award came for the same role, Harper Pitt, in the mini-series version of tony Kushner’s Angels in America. Angels would figure prominently in spinella’s career. He earned two tony awards as the original Prior Walter in Angels in America, Part I: Millennium Approaches and Angels in America, Part II: Perestroika. “regional theatre doesn’t get any better,” wrote longtime Herald-Journal and Post-Standard columnist Joan e. Vadeboncoeur about the 1988/89 season’s Long Day’s Journey into Night and Look Homeward, Angel. The latter featured the return of John cullum to stage, joined by his wife emily Frankel cullum and son John David cullum to portray three mem-bers of the gant family. storch directed the play fulfilling an ambition he had had since he created the role of luke gant in the 1957 broadway production, which was directed by george roy Hill and featured anthony Per-kins as eugene, the character based on Thomas Wolfe. William Woodman helmed o’neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night with a cast that featured Deann Mears, tony Mockus, P.J. benjamin, and steven Dennis.

tazewell Thompson also returned to stage, but this time as a director to guide what at

the time was described as “an adventurous step in non-traditional casting.” Thompson directed british playwright alan ayckbourn’s comedy How the Other Half Loves in a production that featured an african ameri-can cast. stage also sponsored a symposium on the subject with storch, Thompson, and Harry newman, then executive direc-tor of the new York-based non-traditional casting Project. The chief goal of the Project was to “increase the participation of ethnic, female and [artists with disabilities] in the performing arts in ways that are not token or stereotypical.” storch and Thompson settled on ayckbourn’s comedy because they believed it was strong enough to benefit from a cross-cultural switch. “Members of our cast are not trying to act like englishmen,” Thompson explained at the time. “The situ-ations these characters run into are common to all humanity. Whenever you have a really well-written play like this one, it is adaptable to many different cultures.” The laughter of How the Other Half Loves gave way to spine-tingling chills as Frederick Knott’s Wait Until Dark concluded the season.

traditionally, syracuse stage had always been dark during the summer months. However, in the summer of 1989, stage offered patrons Oil City Symphony. This musical revue succeeded at stage and then transferred to Michigan’s birmingham

Theatre. in the meantime, storch took an assign-ment away from stage directing rudolph nureyev in a national tour of The King and I.

subscriptions reached a new high in 1989/90 as a total of 10,500 subscribers signed up for the sea-son. storch began the season with the expectation that he would score another coup for syracuse stage when oscar-winning film star anthony Quinn agreed to play the russian diplomat andrey botvinnik in lee blessing’s A Walk in the Woods. unfortunately, Quinn fell ill the week before opening and couldn’t perform. Veteran actor ben Hammer stepped in as his replace-ment. Hammer had played the part before, and the show opened without a hitch. The season also featured a western take on shekespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and David Mamet’s Speed the Plow with canadian actor Jim Mezon. Mezon would move on to an impressive career as a longtime member of The shaw Festival com-pany. Myra carter returned for two productions: tennessee Williams’ The Rose Tattoo and J. b. Priestley’s Dangerous Corner, which marked the 100th production in stage’s history.

The 1990/91 season mixed comedy and clas-sics as anton chekhov’s The Three Sisters and shakespeare’s As You Like It opened back-to-back. charles ludlam’s The Mystery of Irma Vep and tom stoppard’s Rough Crossing also offered plenty of laughs. For many, though,

season 16: 1988-1989

Steel Magnolias, robert HarlingLong Day’s Journey Into Night, eugene o’neillLook Homeward, Angel, Ketti Frings, based on the

novel by Thomas WolfeAnother Antigone, a.r. gurney, JrHow the Other Half Loves, alan aychbournWait Until Dark, Frederick Knott season 17: 1989-1990

Oil City Symphony, craver, Harkwick, Mork &

MurfittThe Rose Tattoo, tennessee WilliamsA Walk in the Woods, lee blessingThe Taming of the Shrew, William shakespeareFinding Donis Anne*, Hal corleySpeed-the-Plow, David MametDangerous Corner, J.b. Priestly

season 18: 1990-1991

Closer Than Ever, lyrics by richard Maltby, music

by David shire, conceived by steven scott smithThe Three Sisters, anton chekhovThe Cocktail Hour, a.r. gurney, JrAs You Like It, William shakespeareThe Mystery of Irma Vep, charles ludlamFences, august WilsonRough Crossing, tom stoppard season 19: 1991-1992

Pump Boys & Dinnettes, John Foley, Mark Hard-

wick, Debra Monk, cass Morgan, John schimmel & Jim Wann

The Country Wife, William WycherleyTea, Velina Vasu HoustonAndrocles and the Lion, george bernard shawThe Sum of Us, David stevensThe Immigrant, Mark HarelikLove Letters, a.r. gurney, Jr

* WorlD PreMiere † aMerican PreMiere

32

the highlight of the season was august Wil-son’s Fences. starring John Henry redwood and directed by claude Purdy, the cast also featured Delores Mitchell and Marion Mc-clinton, who would return to direct Wole soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman eight years later. Fences was the first Wilson play produced at stage.

in october of 1991, arthur storch an-nounced his retirement from syracuse

stage and su Drama saying simply that it was “time to stop and smell the flow-ers.” at a press conference, he reflected on his tenure at stage: “i think what i am most proud of, as far as syracuse stage is concerned, is that we created a standard of quality that does not cater to the lowest common denominator. The bottom line has always been: This is the best play and these are the best people, not this play will sell the most tickets.”

32

before he left town, however, there was one mat-ter that needed to be addressed. staff members recall that throughout his tenure, storch had periodically “threatened” to act in a play. at the time of his retirement announcement he had not done so. He finally made good on that threat when he appeared with Virginia Kiser in a. r. gurney’s Love Letters, which he also directed.

storch had enduring impact on theatre in syracuse. The quality of the productions and high standard of professionalism made syracuse stage a vital cultural force in central new York and theatre an important part of the cul-tural fabric. storch mixed the classic works of shakespeare, ibsen, chekhov, shaw, Miller, and Williams with daring and at times controversial productions of shepard, beckett, tremblay, and an array of well and lesser-known contempo-rary writers from america and abroad. Without always being serious, he made people consider theatre seriously. by any standard, his record as a producer, director, and artistic director is impressive. in short, “he brought a little class to syracuse,” as one admirer noted when he announced his retirement.

in addition, storch made syracuse theatre a vibrant part of a broader theatrical community by producing world and american premieres, by taking productions on tour or transferring them to new York or elsewhere, and by supporting the careers of many directors, actors, and designers who found syracuse stage an exciting place to work. During his tenure, syracuse stage fulfilled the goal of regional theatre. The man who won-dered if he could “walk the walk” certainly left a significant impression on east genesee street.

Asid

e: claude Purdy’s

production of august W

ilson’s Fences was the first

Wilson play perform

ed at syracuse stage. tim

othy bond staged the play again in the 2009 – 2010 season as part of his com

mitm

ent to com

plete Wilson’s entire

Century Cycle at stage.

AUgUST WILSON’S FeNCeS

Delores M

itchell as rose, Willis burks ii as

bono, and John Henry redw

ood as troy in august W

ilson’s Fences. season: 1990 – 1991. D

irector: claude Purdy. Photo: law

rence M

ason, Jr.

33

storch also had a transforming and lasting impact on su Drama. as longtime Drama faculty member gerard Moses recalled, storch’s arrival was a significant turning point for the Department: “He gave it focus. by introducing ‘The Method’ and training from the actors studio he moved the Department forward and shaped it into what it is today.”

33

LOve LeTTeRS

arthur storch and Virginia Kiser in a.r. gurney’s Love Letters. season: 1991 – 1992. Director: arthur storch. Photo: lawrence Mason, Jr.

Aside: Love Letters marked a first and last for arthur storch. it was his acting debut at stage and the last production he would direct as producing artistic director of the company.

34

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36

JAR THe FLOOR

irma P. Hall as MaDear, susan Payne as Vennie, crystal laws green as lola, brenda Pressley as MayDee, and stephanie silverman as raisa, in cheryl l. West’s Jar the Floor. season: 1992 – 1993. Director: tazewell Thompson. Photo: Douglas Wonders.

Aside: Jar the Floor marked tazewell Thompson’s directorial debut as syracuse stage’s new artistic director. Previously at stage, Thompson had appeared in the second production of The Butterfingers Angel (1978/79) and he had directed How the Other Half Loves (1988/89). Thompson would direct a third production of The Butterfingers Angel in the 1994 – 1995 season.

37

The announcement of storch’s departure initiated sig-nificant change. Jim clark assumed greater responsibil-ity for stage and was given the title producing director. at the same time he replaced storch as chair of the Drama Department. after a six month search a new artistic leader was announced as 38-year-old tazewell Thompson became syracuse stage’s second artistic di-rector. Thompson was not a stranger to syracuse stage audiences having appeared in the second production of The Butterfingers Angel and having directed How the Other Half Loves. For four years prior to accepting the position, Thompson had served as an artistic associate at Washington, D.c.’s arena stage where he scored popular and artistic triumphs with such productions as august Wilson’s Fences starring Yaphet Kotto and The Glass Menagerie with ruby Dee. His other direct-

ing credits included chicago’s goodman Theatre, The cleveland Play House, The Huntington Theatre company, and the goodspeed opera House. With his appointment, Thompson became one of only three af-rican american artistic directors among the 65 profes-sional regional theatres nationwide. in a speech given when he was introduced to the syracuse community, Thompson directly addressed that point:

“it needs to be said out loud and so i am saying it, out loud. You have done a remarkable thing by ap-pointing a black artistic director to run your theatre. You may not even think you have done a remarkable thing, and if that is so, it is even more remarkable. You have done what they call in the theatre these days, the buzzword, ‘non-traditional casting.’

act iii:1992 - 1995

taze

wel

l Thom

pson

38

“You are saying we have looked for the best person we could find to run our theatre and we have found him and we have chosen him, and we are naming and claiming him, regardless of his color or because of it. You are saying that we at syracuse are aware that the world is moving and turning and that you have decided to move and turn with it and not stand alone, as the parade passes you by.”

He added: “i cannot promise to deliver success but i can commit to the pur-

suit of excellence. i can commit myself to making syracuse stage fulfill every iota of its potential as an art and social service. i vow to commit to the creation of a variety of theatrical experiences for a culturally, politically, and socially diverse audience. to provide an atmo-sphere in which artists can create com-pelling work. i commit myself to the research and development of new work as well as the presentation of contempo-rary and classical plays.”

in the first edition of the new newsletter, StageView, storch weighed in on Thompson’s appointment: “i couldn’t be more pleased that tazewell Thompson has accepted the position. He is a serious artist without taking himself seriously. He has a sense of irony and wit. He is visionary with his head in the clouds but his feet on the ground.”

Thompson still had to fulfill commitments to direct two shows at arena stage, so storch remained a strong presence through

AUgUST WILSON’S

THe PIANO LeSSON

Jim Ponds as W

ining boy and robert colston as D

oaker in august W

ilson’s The Piano Lesson. season: 1995 –

1996. Director: c

laude Purdy. Photo: Douglas W

onders.

Asid

e: august Wilson w

on the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Th

e Piano Lesson. it was his second

Pulitzer, having received the 1987 Prize for Fences. in addition, W

ilson won a tony

award for Fences and eight n

ew York D

rama

critics c

ircle awards. H

e was aw

arded posthum

ously the Dram

atist guild aw

ard for lifetim

e achievement. o

n october 16, 2005,

the broadway theatre located at 245 W

est 52

nd st. was nam

ed in his honor.

39

the 1992/93 season, directing the first show, Ken ludwig’s broad comedy Lend Me a Ten-or, and clifford odets’ Awake and Sing. The playwright that storch first presented twenty seasons earlier provided his final directorial effort for syracuse stage. in March of 1993, syracuse stage and su Drama paid tribute to storch by renaming the experimental Theatre in his honor. since then it has been known as The arthur storch Theatre.

Thompson made his directorial debut as artistic director with the final show of the season, Jar the Floor by cheryl l. West. The play was a clear reflection of Thompson’s artistic aspirations: “My choice of plays will be based on who i am and how i was brought up. You can’t leave the real world and step over a threshold when you go into the theatre,” he told The Post Standard. That vision carried through on the stage: “Thompson’s triumph is building and maintaining that universal sense of reality,” wrote suzanne connelly in her review of the play in The Herald Journal.

The 1993/94 season was the first full season selected by Thompson. in making the season announcement, he noted: “a theatre that does not take risks, that is safe, is stale and selfish. it is in the dark of the theatre that we do not lose, but find ourselves and celebrate ourselves.” Though reflecting Thompson’s own beliefs and goals, his words echoed the guiding principles of his predecessor storch. in 1989, storch told The Post Standard: “i always felt that theatre should reflect what is going on in the world, not just provide escapist entertain-ment. Theatre should give us clarity, not just pleasure, to make us think about phenomena in new ways. it’s part of theatre’s job.”

Thompson included two world premieres in the season, n. scott Momaday’s The Indolent Boys and cheryl l. West’s Holiday Heart. With a cast that included Keith randolph smith and ron cephas Jones, Holiday Heart transferred to new York where it enjoyed a successful run at The Manhattan Theatre club. The play’s transfer to new York and its reception there prompted an editorial in

The Post-Standard acknowledging the wider impact of the production: “The new York production brings prestige to syracuse stage. by extension, syracuse stage has brought prestige to this region.” The editorial also noted that The Wall Street Journal had urged members of congress “to see the drama . . . before trying to reform welfare.” overall, the Post-Standard editorial encouraged the com-munity to take pride in the work of syracuse stage: “The theatre proved it can compete with the best productions in the world, before the toughest critics anywhere.”

a part of history lost and a part revisited marked the 1994/95 season. before the sea-son opened, in the summer of 1994, gerald F. reidenbaugh, who had first dreamed of a professional theatre at 820 east genesee street, passed away. after opening the season with A Midsummer Night’s Dream and From the Mississippi Delta, Thompson revived The Butterfingers Angel in a production featuring ron Palillo of Welcome Back Kotter fame. Playwright William gibson attended a per-

“arthur storch staged its [The Butterfingers Angel] first professional production in the small theatre that now bears his name. some years later a second production in the old regent movie house adjoining served as the kickoff of the funding campaign to con-vert the regent into the present theatre. and last month the play enjoyed the happy distinction of having come to life in each of the three theatres that have housed syracuse stage.” – William gibson

season 20: 1992-1993

Lend Me A Tenor, Ken ludwigA Christmas Carol, charles Dickens, adapted by

gerardine clarkHysterics, le clanché du randMaster Harold....and the boys, athol FugardAwake And Sing!, clifford odetsJar The Floor, cheryl l West

season 21: 1993-1994

Woody’s Gurthrie’s American Song, conceived by

Peter glazerIf We Are Women, Joanna Mcclelland glassA Christmas Carol, charles Dickens, adapted by

gerardine clarkHoliday Heart*, cheryl l WestThe Indolent Boys*, n. scott MomadayOur Town, Thorton WilderAvner, the Eccentric, avner eisenberg season 22: 1994-1995

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William shakespeareFrom the Mississippi Delta, Dr endesha ida Mae

HollandThe Butterfingers Angel, William gibsonThe Last Adam†, Vittorio rossiTintypes, conceived by Mary KyteDragonwings, laurence YepAll I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten,

robert Fulghum, adapted by ernest Zulia

* WorlD PreMiere † aMerican PreMiere

left: Members of the company of The Butterfingers Angel. season: 1994 – 1995. Director: tazewell Thompson. Photo: Douglas Wonders.

40

formance and wrote to The Post-Standard to express his pleasure with the production and to note the play’s unique place in stage history: “arthur storch staged its first professional pro-duction in the small theatre that now bears his name. some years later a second production in the old regent movie house adjoining served as the kickoff of the funding campaign to con-vert the regent into the present theatre. and last month the play enjoyed the happy distinc-tion of having come to life in each of the three theatres that have housed syracuse stage. For

what it’s worth, my personal pleasure in these productions has been unqualified, and never more glowing than with taz Thompson’s, whose directorial hand so captured the spirit in which i wrote the play he might have been spying over my shoulder.” The season also included the american premiere of canadian playwright Vittorio rossi’s The Last Adam and lawrence Yep’s Dragonwings.

thompson’s tenure at syracuse stage was short. He resigned in the summer

40

of 1995 before the start of the 1995/96 season. thompson would find continued success as a freelance director of opera and theatre. He has directed frequently at glimmerglass opera and his production of Porgy and Bess for the new York city opera was filmed for Pbs’s Live from Lincoln Center and earned him an emmy nomination. He returned to syracuse stage during the 2003/04 season to direct his play Constant Star.

With Thompson’s abrupt departure from syracuse stage, Jim clark stepped in to fill the gap in artistic leadership. as a search commenced for a new artistic director, some favorite directors from past seasons returned to keep the 1995/96 season on track. libby appel took on neil simon’s Broadway Bound and claude Purdy directed august Wilson’s The Piano Lesson. William Wood-man, who had previously directed Long Day’s Journey into Night and a.r. gurney’s The Cocktail Hour, staged shakespeare’s Twelfth Night for the holidays. sadly, Wood-man passed away in new York shortly after the play opened. new to syracuse stage that season was John rando who directed David ives’ riotously funny All in the Tim-ing. rando would find success with several broadway productions and win a tony for his direction of Urinetown, The Musical.

the search for thompson’s successor continued well into the season with more than 170 candidates from around the country and abroad expressing interest. in the end, the search committee settled on a candidate close to home.

dRAgONWINgS

chris tashim

a in laurence Yep’s D

ragonwings. season: 1994 – 1995.

Director: Phyllis s. K

. look. Photo: D

ouglas Wonders.

Asid

e: Playwright laurence

Yep adapted Dragonw

ings from

his own children’s story,

which w

as a 1966 new

bery H

onor book. in this and in other books, he drew

on stories passed dow

n through the generations from

early c

hinese imm

igrants to the san Francisco area.

4141

ALL IN THe TIMINg

stephen Derosa as trotsky and sue brady as Mrs. trotsky in “Variations on the Death of trotsky”, part of All in the Timing by David ives. season: 1995 – 1996. Director: John rando. Photo: Douglas Wonders.

Aside: This was director John rando’s only work at syracuse stage. He has won a tony award as director of the musical Urinetown and also helmed The Wedding Singer, A Thousand Clowns and neil simon’s The Dinner Party on broadway. rando directed the 20th anniversary production of All in the Timing at Primary stages in new York this past February.

42

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45

For fifteen seasons robert Moss had been the artistic director of the Hangar Theatre in ithaca, new York. The Hangar was just the latest stop in a career that stretched back to the legendary aPa repertory company headed by ellis rabb and star-ring such luminaries of the stage as Helen Hayes, rosemary Harris, Donald Mof-fat, and nancy Marchand. Moss was also the founder of Playwrights Horizons in new York serving as producing director for ten years and then as director of the Playwrights Horizons Theatre school, an affiliate of new York university’s tisch school of the arts. During his tenure as producing director, Playwrights Horizons produced new works by more than 150

writers including Wendy Wasserstein, albert innaurato, James lapine, and Wil-liam Finn. Moss was also the founder of the Forty-second street gang, the agency behind the renovation and creation of 42nd street’s Theatre row. in addition, Moss had directed at such regional theatres as The Mccarter, The old globe, and equity library Theatre, and had served on boards and panels from The Theatre communica-tions group to the national endowment for the arts. in what could certainly qualify as an understatement, search committee chair lowell seifter told The Daily Orange, “Moss’ professional experience, enthusi-asm, and new York connections were part of what got him hired at syracuse stage.”

it didn’t take long for the syracuse community to get a good sense of that en-thusiasm. ever-approachable and eager to talk shop, Moss regularly stopped to chat with patrons in the lobby, on the street, or most famously, in the aisles of Wegmans. He was a natural ambassador of theatri-cal good will and an effortless and tireless champion of syracuse stage. seemingly overnight, the phrase “i saw bob Moss at Wegmans and he said . . .” became com-monplace in casual conversation.

Moss’ directorial debut in the 1996/97 season was Willy russell’s Shirley Valentine, starring leslie lyles. in an interview with artistic associate carlyn ann aqualine,

act iV:1996 - 2007

robe

rt M

oss.

Phot

o: Ja

mes

sch

erzi

Phot

ogra

phy.

46

Moss explained why the play appealed to him, and in doing so, expressed the optimism that characterized his approach to theatre. “it’s one of bob’s rules. Don’t waste your life. i think what this play says is: at any single moment in your life, you can reinvent your life. You can reinvent if you want to. sometimes it takes a herculean act of will, but, i mean, shirley talks about how we’re given this life and we waste it, and so she resolves not to waste any more of it. so, i think it has an enormous amount to say and i’m very moved by it.”

The season also included strong produc-tions of To Kill a Mockingbird and arthur Miller’s All My Sons, directed by Ken albers. it concluded with an original theatre for young audiences musical production of The Wind in the Willows, adapted by longtime su Drama faculty member gerardine clark with music by frequent stage musi-cal director Dianne adams McDowell and her husband James. clark and anthony salatino directed. The McDowells provided the musical direction, vocal arrangements,

and orchestrations with additional lyrics by Katharine clark. The cast was composed of su Drama students who, in addition to the on stage experience, had an opportunity to record a cD produced by the McDowells. a year later the show would move to The new Victory Theatre on 42nd street where it en-joyed a successful run. Writing in The New York Times, lawrence Van gelder called it “. . . a colorful, cheery, tuneful and spirited return to ratty’s river, toad Hall and the unfriendly confines of the Wild Wood.”

deATH ANd THe KINg’S HORSeM

eN

The w

omen of the village in W

ole soyinka’s Death and

the Kings Horsem

an. season: 1998 – 1999. Director:

Marion M

cclinton. Photo: D

ouglas Wonders.

Asid

e: The 1986 n

obel laureate for literature, n

igerian playwright

Wole soyinka attended a

performance of D

eath and the King’s H

orseman. soyinka

spoke on campus and a held

a question and answer session

with D

rama students in the

storch Theatre.

47

The 1997/98 season marked stage’s 25th anniversary and kicked-off with the return of a favorite son, aaron sorkin who had gradu-ated from su Drama in 1983. Moss directed sorkin’s hit play A Few Good Men, and the playwright attended opening night. in a special note in the program, he recalled his ties to su Drama and syracuse stage: “My freshman year, syracuse stage was in the 200 seat theatre, which was always sold out so the ushers had us sit on the steps. one night the ushers told us we couldn’t sit on the steps anymore, but if we waited until curtain time, an usher would come out and tell us if there were any no-shows. Finally we decided to get jobs as ushers.

“i’m proud of my connection to syracuse stage and grateful for the experience, education and fraternity that it’s given me. i’m reminded of that whenever i cross paths with actors and actresses who share its history. When stephen lang knocked me out in Death of a Salesman and ed genest knocked me out in Betrayal, it was beyond my wildest dreams that only a few years later they’d be knocking me out on broadway in A Few Good Men. . .

“. . . i’m honored that bob Moss and Jim clark have chosen my play to open the 25th anniversary season. it’s nice to be home. Thanks for the seats.”

in the cast that opening night, in several sup-porting roles, was an actor named Michael Malone who would return a few months later to turn in a memorable performance as Prior Walter in Moss’ production of tony Kushner’s Angels in America, Part 1: Millennium Ap-proaches. in order to give audiences the chance to experience the entire sweep of Kushner’s work, Moss also staged a limited-run work-shop production of Angels in America, Part 2: Peristroika. later in the season, Michael Donald edwards would make his stage directing debut with Wendy Wasserstein’s The Sisters Rosensweig. edwards would return numerous times to stage and eventually be named associate artistic direc-tor, a position he held from 2002 – 2006.

nigerian nobel laureate Wole soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman was the centerpiece of the 1998/99 season. Directed by Marion Mcclinton, who had appeared in august

Wilson’s Fences in 1991, the play featured roger robinson in the lead role of elesin. robinson had been a member of the syracuse repertory Theatre in 1967 when he appeared in William Hanley’s Slow Dance on the Killing Ground. He returned for much of the 1968 season as well. The large cast of Death and the King’s Horseman included a troupe of local dancers who por-trayed the women of the village and performed choreography by emmy-nominated Dianne Mcintyre. ascaP award-winner Kysia bostic composed and arranged the music, some of which was performed by master drummer ad-ebisi adeleke and drummer adesina odukoya. soyinka, who was awarded the noble Prize for literature in 1986, attended a performance and met with su Drama students for a lengthy question and answer session.

The 98/99 season also introduced stage audiences to actor Jim true-Frost who appeared as bob cratchit in A Christmas Carol. true-Frost was a member of chicago’s steppenwolf Theatre and had appeared in the broadway production of The Grapes of Wrath. His film credits included Affliction

season 23: 1995-1996

Dear*, rosalyn DrexlerBroadway Bound, neil simonTwelfth Night, William shakespeareMoony’s Kid Don’t Cry. Something Unspoken. I Can’t

Imagine Tomorrow, tennessee Williams The Piano Lesson, august WilsonAll in the Timing, David ivesBanjo Dancing, stephen Wade The Dragonslayers, story & lyrics by bruce coville,

music by angela Petersen season 24: 1996-1997

Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, pro-

duction conception, english lyrics, and additional materials by eric blau and Mort shuman. based on Jacques brel’s lyrics, commentary and music.

To Kill a Mockingbird, based on the novel by Harper lee, adapted by christopher segel

Blues in the Night, conceived by sheldon eppsShirley Valentine, Willy russellGolf With Alan Shepard, carter W. lewisSylvia, a.r. gurneyAll My Sons, arthur MillerThe Wind in the Willows, Kenneth grahame,

adapted by gerardine clark season 25: 1997-1998

A Few Good Men, aaron sorkinThe Sunshine Boys, neil simonA Christmas Carol, charles Dickens, adapted by

gerardine clarkAngels in America: Millenium Approaches, Angels in

America: Perestroika, tony KushnerThree Tall Women, edward albeeMacbeth, William shakespeareThe Sisters Rosensweig, Wendy WassersteinA Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine l’engle, adapted by

e. Duffy adams

far left: Jeffrey J. izant as Dill, carrie Manolakos as scout, and Jeremy Pickard as Jem in To Kill a Mockingbird, adapted by christopher sergel and based on the novel by Harper lee. season: 1996 – 1997. Director: amy saltz. Photo: Douglas Wonders.

left: Michael Malone as Prior Walter and caroline clay as the angel in Angels in America, Part 1: Millenium Approaches by tony Kushner. season: 1997 – 1998. Director: robert Moss. Photo: irene Haupt.

48

LONg dAY’S JOURNeY INTO NIgHT

elizabeth Franz as Mary tyrone and sam

W

aterston as James tyrone in Long D

ay’s Journey into N

ight. season: 1999 – 2000. Director: K

ent Paul. Photo: D

oug Wonders.

Asid

e: elizabeth Franz had just w

on the tony award for

best supporting actress for her portrayal of linda lom

an in D

eath of Salesman. also featured

in the cast were Jam

es Waterston

as edmund, John slattery as

Jamie, and K

im g

atewood, w

ho had just com

pleted her bFa in the su

Dram

a Departm

ent.

top: charles Parnell and charles Weldon in august Wilson’s Jitney. season: 2002 -2003. Director: timothy Douglas. Photo: alex ottaviano.

above: Paul Whitworth and nancy snyder in Micheal Frayn’s Copenhagen. season: 2002 – 2003. Director: Michael Donald edwards. Photo: alex ottaviano.

49

and The Hudsucker Proxy. He would create the role of roland ‘Prez’ Pryzbylewski in the hit tV series The Wire.

true-Frost returned for two shows in the 1999/2000 season. He portrayed school teacher bertram cates in the season opener Inherit the Wind and turned in a comic gem of a performance in Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane in a cast that included Daniel Freedom stewart (son of Patrick), celia Howard, and tod randolph. Michael edwards, too, returned to helm Michele lowe’s darkly comic fantasy The Smell of the Kill. claude Purdy also came back to direct lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun with a cast led by Delores Mitchell, godfrey l. simmons, Jr., and tonye Patano, a familiar presence in syracuse stage productions. Raisin was supposed to conclude the season, but an unexpected opportunity came to syracuse stage through lighting designer Phil Monat.

Monat had frequently worked at stage and was the designer for A Raisin in the Sun. one day during rehearsal he mentioned to Moss that actor sam Waterston was interested in mounting a production of eugene o’neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night. Monat won-dered if Moss might be interested in pro-ducing it at syracuse stage. it would mean adding a show to the season on short notice, but the opportunity seemed too good to pass up. Moss and clark pursued it.

at the time Monat first mentioned the project to Moss, certain aspects of the production had already been determined. Waterston would play James tyrone, the character based on James o’neill, the playwright’s father. Waterston’s son

James would play edmund, the character based on eugene o’neill himself. new York-based director Kent Paul was also on board, but the pivotal roles of Mary and elder son Jamie had not been cast. For a couple of weeks the search to fill those roles created an exciting buzz around syracuse stage as rumor fed speculation about who might join the cast. Then broadway veteran elizabeth Franz agreed to play Mary. Franz had won a tony award for her portrayal of linda loman in the 1999 revival of Death of Salesman starring brian Dennehy. an ac-tor’s actor, she was a performer known for her fearlessness, a quality she would need to portray Mary tyrone. That left Jamie. at the time, Waterston was still playing Jack Mccoy on Law & Order. While on a break one day, his colleague Jerry orbach asked if Waterston had cast the role of Jamie. Waterston said he hadn’t, but, pointing across the green room added, “i’m thinking of that guy right there.” “That guy” turned out to be John slat-tery, who was making a guest appearance on the show and who would later star in the emmy award-winning series Mad Men. slattery took the role and the tyrone family was set. recent su Drama graduate Kim gatewood completed the cast by portraying the maid, cathleen.

More than 12,000 patrons turned out during the five-week run to “gobble up o’neill’s four hours of gut-wrenching drama,” as then gifford Foundation director Kathryn goldfarb noted in The Post-Standard. Many came more than once, drawn no doubt by the star power, but also by the power of the production and the performances. syracuse stage broke new ground and soared to new heights in the 2000/01 season, both

accomplished with the same play. For many seasons, a constant frustration had been the theatre’s inability to mount a large, full-scale musical. costs were simply prohibitive. Then clark and Moss hit upon a solution that would not only make such musicals possible, but enhance the collaboration between stage and su Drama.

as a member of the league of resident Theatres (lort), stage had operated since 1974 under a series of guidelines that stipulated contract terms with actors’ equity. This included pay scale as well as the ratio of professional actors to non-pros that might be used in a season. typi-cally at stage, the few allowed non-professional roles would be cast with students, local children, or sometimes local non-union actors. However, equity granted stage permission to produce a show under a less restrictive contract called urta, or university resident Theatre associa-tion. This meant stage could cast more students and tap into the rich talent pool of su Drama without incurring the expense of employing a full equity company. The plan worked to every-one’s benefit as stage audiences were now able to enjoy big book musicals, and students had an opportunity to perform alongside working pro-fessionals. The co-production has since become an annual event usually, though not always, in the form of a holiday, family musical.

The inaugural co-production took off when Peter Pan opened on november 28, 2000. Di-rected and choreographed by anthony salatino with musical direction by Dianne adams Mc-Dowell, the cast featured amanda butterbaugh as the high-flying (courtesy of ZFX Flying illu-sions, inc.) boy who won’t grow-up and Drama faculty member rodney scott Hudson as cap-

season 26: 1998-1999

Dracula, steven Dietz, based on the novel by bram stokerTravels With My Aunt, giles Havergal, adapted from

the novel by graham greeneA Christmas Carol, charles Dickens, adapted by

gerardine clarkBurn This, lanford WilsonDeath and the King’s Horseman, Wole soyinkaThe Glass Menagerie, tennessee WilliamsYou Never Can Tell, george bernard shawJust So Stories, rudyard Kipling, adapted by David Zellnik season 27: 1999-2000

Inherit the Wind, Jerome lawrence & robert e leeA Life in the Theatre, David MametThe Last Night of Ballyhoo, alfred uhryThe Smell of the Kill, Michele loweThe Beauty Queen of Leenane, Martin McDonaghA Raisin in the Sun, lorraine HansberryLong Day’s Journey into Night, eugene o’neill

season 28: 2000-2001

Born Yesterday, garson KaninEleanor: Her Secret Journey, rhoda lermanPeter Pan, based on the play by J.M. barrie, lyrics

by carolyn leigh, music by Mark charlapBlues for an Alabama Sky, Pearl cleageWit, Margaret edsonRomeo and Juliet, William shakespeareArt, Yasmina reza, translated by christopher

Hampton

season 29: 2001-2002

A Streetcar Named Desire, tennessee WilliamsBrighton Beach Memoirs, neil simonOliver!, book, music & lyrics by lionel bart. based

on the novel Oliver Twist by charles DickensBetrayal, Harold PinterA Lesson Before Dying, romulus linney, based on

the novel by ernest J gainesThe Dybbuk*, s ansky, adapted by Joachim neugroschelChesapeake, lee blessing

50

WeST SIde STORY

izetta Fang as anita, David V

illella as bernardo, and mem

bers of the com

pany of West Side Story, based on a conception of Jerom

e robbins, book by arthur laurents, m

usic by leonard bernstein, and lyrics by stephen sondheim

. season: 2002 – 2003. Director and

choreographer: anthony salatino. Photo: alex o

ttaviano.

Asid

e: West Side Story w

as one of the most

popular shows in syracuse stage history.

The show

was directed and choreographed

by anthony salatino who also directed and

choreographed the syracuse stage/su D

rama

co-productions of Rent, Little Wom

en, Fiddler on the Roof, Th

e Sound of Music, and Peter Pan.

in addition he also served as choreographer for Th

e Lion, the Witch and the W

ardrobe, The

Wizard of O

z, and Oliver!. right: ben gazzara as Yogi berra in

Nobody Don’t Like Yogi by tom lysaght. season: 2003 – 2004. Director: Paul linke. Photo: alex ottaviano.

far right: Priscilla lindsay as Ma Joad, andrew ahern as al, and craig Mathers as tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath, based on the novel by John steinbeck and adapted by Frank galati. season: 2004 – 2005. Director: Michael Donald edwards. Photo: alex ottaviano.

51

tain Hook. twenty Drama students, additional equity performers, and local children filled out the large cast. “There never has been anything like it in 28 seasons of syracuse stage—a lavish musical with broadway-size sets and cast,” wrote Joan e. Vadeboncoeur in The Post Standard. every now and then fairy dust still drifts down from some odd corner of the catwalks.

The 2000/01 season also marked the return of three-time emmy award-winner Jean stapleton who portrayed eleanor roosevelt in the one-woman show Eleanor: Her Secret Journey by rhoda lerman. as with her pre-vious visit to stage, all performances of the show were sold out before opening night. in playing the role, stapleton portrayed a woman she clearly admired, as she noted in an interview: “she had such humanitar-ian objectives and feelings, and she used the power that came to her through her marriage and her entrance into the political scene to be of help to people . . . she’ such a towering figure and, you know, in my opinion, today, maybe she’d agree to run for President, and she’d win.”

The season also introduced director timothy Douglas to stage audiences. Douglas directed Pearl cleage’s Blues for an Alabama Sky. He would return in 2001/02 season to direct romulus linney’s A Lesson Before Dying and in the 2002/2003 season to direct august Wilson’s Jitney and arthur Miller’s The Crucible. The 2001/2002 season also featured lionel bart’s Oliver!, directed by Moss with choreography by anthony salatino, and an adaptation of s. ansky’s The Dybbuk adapted and directed by tony award-nominee barbara Damashek.

Michael Donald edwards was appointed associate artistic director in 2002/03 and staged an engrossing production of Michael Frayn’s Copenhagen, featuring Paul Whit-worth. The australian-born edwards became a u.s. citizen this same year. His final inter-view took place in los angeles. The experi-ence reminded him of Miller’s The Crucible when he had to respond to his interviewer’s first question: “are you now or have you ever been a member of the communist Party?” in this same season Moss directed two world premieres, Michele lowe’s Backsliding in the Promised Land and tina Howe’s such small hands, which featured the return of eliza-beth Franz. The runaway hit of the season, though, was anthony salatino’s production of West Side Story. co-produced with su Drama, the famous musical became one of the most popular shows in stage history.

leading off and playing catcher for the 2003/04 season was baseball legend Yogi berra as por-trayed by veteran actor ben gazzara in the one-man show Nobody Don’t Like Yogi, written by tom lysaght. gazzara’s presence and the show’s subject prompted the first syracuse stage night at a syracuse chiefs home game. gazzara threw out the game’s ceremonial first pitch.

stage achieved another first when the musi-cal Hedwig and the Angry Inch, directed by edwards, inaugurated a second performance space in the theatre next door at the Hutchings Psychiatric center. The idea of having a second and smaller space, suitable for presenting ex-perimental work, had intrigued syracuse stage leadership since arthur storch’s tenure. For a few seasons, Hutchings offered a solution.

The 2003/04 season also marked the return to syracuse of tazewell Thompson, who staged his original play Constant Star. Thompson wove 20 spirituals through a narrative of the life of civil rights and anti-lynching activist ida b. Wells. in addition to Hedwig, edwards directed Peter shaffer’s Amadeus and noel coward’s Private Lives. Moss took on two very different classics when he directed The Wizard of Oz during the holidays and Hamlet in the spring.

in the 2004/05 season, the popular local actor Frank Fiumano appeared on the Hutching’s stage in becky Mode’s one-man comedy Fully Committed, directed by edwards. california-based richard Montoya, ric salinas, and Her-bert siguenza, aka culture clash, brought their blend of comedy and commentary to stage with Culture Clash in AmeriCCa. Moss directed a version of My Fair Lady scored for two pianos with a cast that included broadway veteran Ken Jennings as alfred Doolittle. edwards turned his attention to american classics with productions of edward albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and John steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. The 2005/06 season introduced a number of playwrights whose work had never before been produced at stage. timothy Douglas directed lynn nottage’s Intimate Apparel. Melissa Kiev-man staged tracy letts’ wild play Bug, and nance Wiliamson starred in Theresa rebeck’s one-woman comedy Bad Dates. also new to stage that season were richard rodgers and oscar Hammerstein ii, whose musical The Sound of Music was the holiday co-production, directed and choreographed by anthony sala-tino. later in the season, edwards directed Ken albers in the title role of King Lear and Moss

season 30: 2002-2003

M. Butterfly, David Henry HwangJitney, august WilsonWest Side Story, based on a concept of Jerome rob-

bins, book by arthur laurents, music by leonard bernstein, lyrics by stephen sondheim

Backsliding in the Promised Land*, Michelle loweThe Crucible, arthur MillerCopenhagen, Michael Fraynsuch small hands*, tina Howe

season 31: 2003-2004

Nobody Don’t Like Yogi, tom lysaghtAmadeus, Peter shafferConstant Star, tazewell ThompsonThe Wizard of Oz, l Frank baum, music & lyrics by

Harold arlen & e.Y. HarburgHedwig and the Angry Inch, John cameron Mitch-

ell, music & lyrics by stephen traskStones in His Pockets, Marie JonesHamlet, William shakespearePrivate Lives, noel coward

season 32: 2004-2005

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, edward albeeFully Committed, becky ModeCrimes of the Heart, beth Henley Big River, adapted from the novel by Mark twain, book

by William Hauptman, music & lyrics by roger MillerCulture Clash in AmeriCCa, written and performed by culture

clash: richard Montoya, ric salinas, & Herbert siguenzaVisiting Mr. Green, Jeff baronThe Grapes of Wrath, adapted by Frank galati from

the novel by John steinbeckMy Fair Lady, book & lyrics by alan Jay lerner,

music by Frederick loewe, adpated from the play Pygmanlion by george bernard shaw

52

directed tom stoppard’s The Real Thing. The season also marked the first of three runs of the extravagantly popular Menopause the Musical.

For all the activity on stage, though, the big news of 2006 occurred after the season when Jim clark and robert Moss announced that they were retiring from syracuse stage. Michael Donald edwards also moved on, accepting the position of producing artistic director at Florida’s asolo repertory Theatre. although clark had been at stage for 30 years and Moss for ten, the announcement still took many by surprise.

“bob and i had been talking to each other about our future plans for some time now,” clark said at the time. “over the course of those private conversations, we began to realize that we were thinking along the same timeline.”

Moss concurred. “Jim’s thinking absolutely dovetailed with mine. i’ve been here for ten years and in professional theatre for nearly fifty. Jim has been with syracuse stage for thirty years. We shared the sense that it was time. i’m proud of what syracuse stage is, and what it means to the central new York community.”

Moss and clark agreed to stay until searches had been completed for their replacements. This commitment guaranteed artistic continuity through the upcoming seasons and eased the transition to new leadership. one of the goals of that transition was to reorganize the leadership structure and turn two positions into three. clark had served as producing director of stage and chair of su Drama. Moss had been the artistic director of stage. in this structure, clark was responsible for the day-to-day operations of stage and the academic and artistic direction of su Drama, while Moss was the artistic leader

CONSTANT STAR

The ensem

ble in tazewell Th

ompson’s C

onstant Star: laiona M

ichelle, nadiyah s. D

orsey, Q

uanda Johnson, tracey conyer lee, and g

ayle turner. season: 2003 – 2004. D

irector: tazewell

Thom

pson. Photo: alex ottaviano.

Asid

e: Constant Star m

arked the return of tazew

ell Thom

pson to syracuse stage w

ith this musical play based on the life

of activist ida b. Wells. C

onstant Star has been produced at num

erous theatres including arena stage, H

artford stage, actors Th

eatre of louisville, Florida stage, c

ity Theatre, PlayM

akers rep., V

irginia stage, Dobam

a Theatre, and

Delaw

are Theatre c

ompany.

53

for stage. The new model proposed one person to serve as producing artistic director for stage and Drama and provide artistic leadership for both entities, much as arthur storch had done. a second person would become the managing director for stage and assume responsibility for day-to-day operations and administration. The third position would be a new chair of su Drama to oversee curricula and academic matters. if transition sometimes comes with a degree of uncertainty, the keynote for Moss and clark was optimism for stage’s future.

“change is a good thing,” said Moss, “and i’m enthused by what the future holds for syracuse stage.”

“it’s been—and is—a wonderful journey,” clark said. “Working with dedicated staff,

talented artists, energetic students and smart, supportive, appreciative audiences over the years has been challenging, reward-ing and just terrific. and there’s still work to be done. it’s that work i’ll continue and savor until the transition is complete.”

in truth, it was work they both had to do. in the course of the next two seasons, Moss would direct five plays beginning with a beautifully realized production of Driving Miss Daisy starring elizabeth Franz and Wil-liam charles Mitchell. later in the 2006/07 season he undertook Theresa rebeck’s Spike Heels and the agatha christie mystery The Unexpected Guest. The season also included august Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean directed by timothy Douglas and Death of Salesman featuring Ken albers in the title role.

as the search continued for a successor, Moss planned the 2007/2008 season. to open, he directed christopher Hampton’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses and later Martin McDonagh’s comic bloodbath The Lieutenant of Inishmore. anthony salatino staged Fiddler on the Roof with stuart Zagnit as tevye, and Peter amster made his stage directorial debut with The Fan-tasticks, which closed the season.

Then, with a successor in place and the theatre in good hands, Moss made his exit, as gra-ciously as he had entered: “as artistic director and as a director, i’ve wanted to bring hope and optimism to the syracuse stage audience. i think i’ve done that. and creating theatre for the wonderfully smart, open-minded and receptive syracuse stage audience has been one of the great joys of my career.”

season 33: 2005-2006

Lost in Yonkers, neil simonBug, tracey lettsThe Sound of Music, music by richard rodgers,

lyrics by oscar Hammerstein ii, book by Howard lindsay & russel crouse

The Real Thing, tom stoppardIntimate Apparel, lynn nottageBad Dates, Theresa rebeck King Lear, William shakespeareMenopause the Musical ®, Jeanie linders season 34: 2006-2007

Around the World in 80 Days, a play by Mark

brown, based on the novel by Jules VerneDriving Miss Daisy, alfred uhryA Christmas Carol, charles Dickens, adapted by

gerardine clarkSpike Heels, Theresa rebeckGem of the Ocean, august WilsonDeath of a Salesman, arthur MillerThe Unexpected Guest, agatha christieMenopause the Musical ®, Jeanie linders

* WorlD PreMiere † aMerican PreMiere

far left: The loman family: Priscilla lindsay as linda, Ken albers as Willy, ryan artzberger as biff, and andrew aherns as Happy in arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. season: 2006 – 2007. Director: tim ocel. Photo: alex ottaviano.

left: brent Vimtrup as James and chris-tian conn as Padraic in Martin McDon-agh’s The Lieutenant of Inishmore.season: 2007 – 2008. Director: robert Moss. Photo: Michael Davis.

54

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56

AUgUST WILSON’S MA RAINeY’S bLACK bOTTOM

Warner Miller as levee, Doug eskew as slow Drag, ebony Jo-ann as Ma rainey, and cortez nance at cutler in August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. season: 2008 – 2009. Director: timothy bond. Photo: t. charles erickson.

Aside: august Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom marked timothy bond’s directorial debut with syracuse stage and was his first step in staging the entirety of Wilson’s Century Cycle at syracuse stage.

57

The good hands entrusted with the artistic future of syracuse stage belonged to timothy bond, a twenty-four year veteran of regional theatre. bond had served as artistic director of seattle’s group Theatre, and for the 11 years prior to his arrival at stage as an associate artistic director at the oregon shakespeare Festival. bond’s career had brought him to many of the coun-try’s leading regional theatres including The guthrie, actors Theatre of louisville, Milwaukee repertory Theatre, cleveland Play House, act, and indiana repertory Theatre, among others. in fact, even as bond assumed his artistic responsibilities at stage, he was committed to directing a production of arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman at Washington, D.c.’s arena stage as part of that theatre’s arthur Miller Festival. bond’s

directorial experience was extensive and wide-ranging, embracing classical and contemporary work, including plays by shakespeare, august Wilson, suzan-lori Parks, edward albee, lorraine Hansberry, lynn nottage, octavio soliz, Pearl cleage, and many others.

“We were impressed with tim’s enthusiasm and desire to build a truly collaborative relationship between the community, the university, and stage,” said larry leatherman, syracuse stage board member and chair of the search committee. “after several sessions with him we were very much drawn to his style, character, and personal qualities: he is sincere, charming, and magnetic. tim has the ability to immediately put one at ease in any interaction or setting. The more time we

spent with tim, the more the committee felt that his experience, temperament, ambition, honesty, and quiet confidence make him perfect for the position.”

For his part, bond expressed a keen eagerness to begin his work at stage and Drama. “i look forward to engaging what i know to be the generous syracuse stage audience and community. The opportunity to lead a professional theatre as well as a strong university drama program is an exciting chance to develop new work, reach new audiences, and infuse the next gen-eration of theatre artists with a firm sense of purpose and professionalism. During the interview process, i sensed a strong interest in further raising the bar artis-tically, and assuring that the su Drama program has a

act V:2007-2013

tim

othy

bon

d. P

hoto

: Jam

es s

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zi Ph

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y.

58

significant impact in the country through its training efforts. i believe in the power of theatre to be a transformative force in our society. it brings people from diverse backgrounds together under one roof to be engaged in democratic dialogue about im-portant societal and interpersonal concerns in theatrical and entertaining ways.”

The first task for the new producing artistic director was to begin the selection process for the 2008/09 season, which he promised

would be “a mix of classical plays, contem-porary plays, new plays and plays with mu-sic.” bond’s influences derived from a broad spectrum of theatrical performance, what he called “the wonderful mélange of styles and ideas” that have shaped theatre through time and across cultures, and he wanted stage’s season to reflect that richness. He had a good idea of how he wanted to start.

bond had been friends with playwright august Wilson. While at the oregon shake-

speare Festival in ashland, oregon, bond had opportunities to visit with Wilson when the playwright would attend osF produc-tions. on occasion, bond had the chance to hear the playwright’s work in progress, described by Wilson himself, as if relating an event he had witnessed or a conversa-tion overheard. in addition to this strong personal connection, bond has been and remains an avid champion of Wilson’s Cen-tury Cycle, the series of ten plays that form a decade-by-decade chronicle of african

TALeS FROM THe SALT CITY

emad r

ahim, g

ordana Dudevski, José M

iguel Hernández,

albert Marshall, lino t. ariloka, rebecca isabel Fuentes,

and Jeanne shenandoah in Tales From the Salt C

ity, conceived and directed by Ping c

hong. season: 2008 – 2009. D

irector: Ping chong. Photo: M

ichael Davis.

Asid

e: Tales From the Salt C

ity marked syracuse stage’s first

collaboration with Ping c

hong. Part of chong’s ongoing

series of interview-based theatre w

orks called Undesirable

Elements, Tales From

the Salt City featured the stories of real

central n

ew Yorkers w

ho also performed the piece. c

hong returned to syracuse stage in the 2012 – 2013 season for C

ry For Peace: Voices of the Congo, w

hich he co-authored w

ith syracuse stage dramaturg K

yle bass and developed in collaboration w

ith the syracuse congolese c

omm

unity. Cry

for Peace was supported by su

arts engage.

59

american life through the last century. bond calls the Cycle one of the most extraordinary achievements in playwriting. “it’s about all our histories no matter what your cultural background,” he said in a StageView inter-view. “These plays speak to you as a human being.”

as he became familiar with stage’s production his-tory, bond noticed that four Wilson plays had been produced and that they had been well received—Fences, The Piano Lesson, Jitney and Gem of the Ocean. recognizing there was an audience for Wilson’s work, it occurred to him that he might build on stage’s

production history and complete the Cycle. it had been an ambition he harbored since Wilson’s passing in 2005. He knew just where to begin, where Wilson had, with Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

Thus, the 2008/09 season began with bond’s stage directorial debut, and audiences were treated to a production of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom with ebony Jo–ann in the title role (a role she had played at The Kennedy center) and Thomas Jefferson byrd as toledo (a role for which he received a tony nomination in 2003). That was followed by the world premiere of the

far left: su Drama student arielle lever as anne in The Diary of Anne Frank by Frances goodrich and albert Hackett, adapted by Wendy Kesselman. season: 2008 – 2009. Director: timothy bond. Photo: t. charles erickson.

left: Molly brennan as the red Queen and lindsey noel Whiting as alice in Lookingglass Alice by David catlin. season: 2009 – 2010. Director: David catlin. Photo: Ken Huth.

above: David studwell as Professor Fritz bhaer and sarah sha-hinian as Jo in Little Women with music by Kim oler, lyrics by alison Hubbard and book by sean Hartley. based on the novel by louisa May alcott. season: 2009 – 2010. Directed and choreographed by: anthony salatino. Photo: Michael Davis.

60

exceptional Tales from the Salt City, con-ceived and directed by renowned theatre artist Ping chong, also a friend of bond’s. chong’s process was to interview dozens of central new Yorkers–some immigrants, some life-long residents. He collected their stories and selected seven. chong then took these personal stories and wove them into an intertwined narrative performed by the individuals themselves on a set that featured slide projections of historic syracuse. The individuals in the cast reflected a sampling

of the various cultural influences in central new York and represented sudan, Macedo-nia, Mexico, cuba, cambodia, The onon-daga nation, and syracuse. Tales from the Salt City is now part of chong’s extraordi-nary body of interview-based theatre pieces collectively called Undesirable Elements, a series of more than 40 works dating back to 1992. chong returned in 2010 and 2012 to work on Cry for Peace: Voices from the Congo, co-authored by stage dramaturg Kyle bass and developed in collaboration with

cyprien Mihigo and the congolese com-munity of central new York. The world premiere full production of Cry for Peace opened stage’s 40th anniversary season in 2012 and was included in the 20th anniver-sary celebration of the Undesirable Elements series at new York’s la MaMa e.t.c.

Music and top-shelf singing talent featured prominently in the 2008/2009 season as tony award-winners lillias White and chuck cooper appeared in stephen sond-

AUgUST WILSON’S FeNCeS

James a. W

illiams as troy, K

im staunton as

rose, craig alan edw

ards as gabriel, and

William

Hall Jr. as Jim

bono in august Wilson’s

Fences. season: 2009 – 2010. Director: tim

othy bond. Photo: c

hris bennion.

Asid

e: august Wilson’s

Fences was co-produced w

ith seattle repertory Th

eatre. Th

e costumes w

ere designed by c

onstanza romero, the

playwright’s w

idow, who also

designed the costumes for

the broadway production

starring Denzel W

ashington and V

iola Davis.

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heim’s Putting It Together and American Idol finalist anwar robinson played the lead in Godspell at the holidays. The holiday season featured a second show, an adaptation of David sedaris’ The Santaland Diaries, which was performed in the storch The-atre. since his arrival, bond had thought it would be advantageous for stage and Drama to use the archbold and the storch with greater flexibility. For years, stage had used the archbold exclusively and Drama the storch. initiating an exchange of spaces would allow stage to produce smaller, more intimate shows in the storch, while giving Drama the opportunity to use the bigger archbold for large-scale musicals and plays. each season since has featured flexible use of the spaces. in addition, the storch has been adapted to accommodate different seating configurations including seating on three sides and avenue-style seating.

later in the 2008/09 season, bond’s longtime colleague from the oregon shakespeare Festival, Penny Metropulos, made her stage debut, directing bridget

carpenter’s Up. bond directed his second stage show, The Diary of Anne Frank, with su Drama student arielle lever in the title role. The season concluded with a rousing production of regina taylor’s gospel-inspired musical Crowns, directed and choreographed by Patdro Harris.

The other major story of 2008 occurred off stage as Jeffrey Woodward was hired as stage’s managing director. The official announcement was made in January of 2008 with Woodward slated to take up his responsibilities in March. as with bond, Woodward brought a wealth of knowl-edge and experience to his new job having worked at such theatres as Hartford stage, the Mark taper Forum, northlight Theatre, the oregon shakespeare Festival (not con-current with bond), and for seventeen years as the managing director of the Mccarter Theatre center in Princeton, new Jersey. During Woodward’s tenure at the Mccar-ter with artistic director emily Mann, the company became one of the leading regional theatres in the united states, and in 1994

was honored with the tony award for out-standing regional Theatre.

“it is an ideal situation when you can replace a valued and experienced leader with a valued and experienced leader,” said board of trustees chair elizabeth Hartnett. “Jeffrey’s contribution to the success of the Mccarter Theatre proves his ability and his passionate commitment to theatre will mean an exciting time ahead for our patrons, staff and artists.”

Producing artistic director bond concurred: “Jeff brings to syracuse stage the exception-al skill and talent he honed while working at one of the nation’s preeminent regional theatres. i am thrilled he has accepted our offer, and i am eager to begin a partnership in the exciting work of building the future for syracuse stage and the syracuse univer-sity Department of Drama.”

Woodward’s arrival meant the time had come for Jim clark to bid farewell to the or-ganization he had helped guide for 30 years.

The other major story of 2008 occurred off stage as Jeffrey Woodward was hired as stage’s managing director. The official announcement was made in January of 2008 with Woodward slated to take up his responsibilities in March. as with bond, Wood-ward brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to his new job having worked at such theatres as Hartford stage company, the Mark taper Forum, northlight Theatre, the oregon shakespeare Festival (not concurrent with bond) and for seventeen years as the managing director of the Mccarter Theatre center in Princeton, new Jersey.

season 35: 2007-2008

Les Liaisons Dangereuses, christopher Hampton,

from the novel by choderlos de laclosMisery, stephen King, adapted for the stage by

simon MooreFiddler on the Roof, based on sholom aleichem stories

by special permission of arnold Perl, book by Joseph stein, music by Jerry bock, lyrics by sheldon Harnick

The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Martin McDonaghDoubt, a parable, John Patrick shanleyThe Bomb-itty of Errors, Jordan allen-Dutton, Jason

catalano, gregory J Qaiyum & erik WeinerThe Fantasticks, music by Harvey schmidt, book &

lyrics by tom JonesMenopause the Musical ®, Jeanie linders season 36: 2008-2009

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, august WilsonTales from the Salt City, Ping chong & sara ZatzGodspell, book: John Michael tebelak, lyrics &

Music: Michael schwartzThe Santaland Diaries, David sedaris, adapted by

Joe MantelloPutting It Together, stephen sondheimUp, bridget carpenterThe Diary of Anne Frank, Frances goodrich and

albert Hackett, adapted by Wendy KesselmanCrowns, regina taylor

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THe MIRACLe W

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right: linda Marie larson as Virginia, carol Halstead as lane, alma cuervo as ana, and gisela chípe as Matilde in The Clean House by sarah ruhl. season: 2010 – 2011. Director: Michael barakiva. Photo: t. charles erickson.

far right: Joe Foust and rob Johansen played multiple roles in alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps adapted by Patrick barlow. season: 2010 – 2011. Director: Peter amster. Photo: roger Mastroianni.

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it wasn’t exactly a farewell because, in typical Jim clark fashion, he quietly moved down the hall to a new office to pick up a new set of responsibilities in the Drama Department and college of Visual and Performing arts. Having stayed on as managing director of stage and co-chair of the Drama Depart-ment with Maria Marrero, clark initially returned to the Drama faculty. a year later he became the associate dean for assess-ment and accreditation. currently, he is serving temporarily as senior associate dean for academic affairs. among the tasks he is setting his talents to is the development of a new arts management curriculum in the Department of Drama.

clark was honored at a gathering in the archbold theatre where Jeff Woodward pre-sented him with the official lort antlers, a traditional gift for outgoing managing directors. speakers noted Jim’s accomplish-ments and his willingness to be supportive in matters personal or professional. long-time faculty members anthony salatino and rodney Hudson echoed much of what

was said: Jim’s door was always open, his encouragement generously proffered, and his initial inclination toward new ideas or projects was inevitably “yes.”

The 2009/10 season kicked-off with steve Martin’s wild comedy Picasso at the Lapine Agile, directed by Penny Metropulos. For the holidays, a new musical adaptation of louisa May alcott’s Little Women, directed and choreographed by salatino, played in the archbold while This Wonderful Life, based on the famous film and directed by Peter amster, played in the storch. Little Women was a full production of a musical that had received a workshop presentation in the Drama Department two years earlier as a step in the play’s development process.

tim bond directed arthur Miller’s The Price with a cast that featured veteran character actor Ken tigar as the used furniture dealer solomon. chicago’s lookingglass Theatre company brought their high-flying Looking-glass Alice to the archbold complete with acrobatics, stilt-walking, and the greatest fall

in syracuse stage history, a twenty-foot drop from a ladder through a trapdoor in the stage floor executed by actor samuel taylor. John carinai’s gentle comedy Almost, Maine and bond’s powerhouse production of august Wilson’s Fences rounded out the season.

originally, bond had not intended to direct Fences as part of completing Wil-son’s Cycle. stage had already produced it in 1991. circumstances and opportunity, however, deemed otherwise. The year 2010 marked the play’s 25th anniversary. in recognition of that, The seattle reper-tory Theatre scheduled a production and asked constanza romero, august Wilson’s widow, to design the costumes. (That same year, romero designed the costumes for the broadway production starring Denzel Washington.) romero and bond were personal friends, and when the offer came from seattle rep, she requested that he direct. at first bond hesitated. Then Jeff Woodward urged him to accept, and the play became a co-production between seattle rep and stage. anchored by stellar

season 37: 2009-2010

Picasso at the Lapin Agile, steve MartinLittle Women, Kim oler, alison Hubbard, sean

Harley, based on the novel by louisa May alcottThis Wonderful Life, steve Murray, conceived by

Mark setlockThe Price, arthur MillerLookingglass Alice, David catlinAlmost, Maine, John carianiFences, august Wilson

season 38: 2010-2011

No Child, nilaja sunThe 39 Steps, adapted by Patrick barlow from the

novel by John buchan from the movie by alfred Hitchcock

A Christmas Story, based on the motion picture by Jean shepherd, leigh brown, and bob clark. adapted by Philip grecian

Rent, Jonathan larsonRadio Golf, august WilsonThe Miracle Worker, William gibsonThe Clean House, sarah ruhl

far left: sean Patrick Fawcett as norman and alanna rogers as sheila in The Boys Next Door. season: 2011 – 2012. Direc-tor: timothy bond. Photo: t. charles erickson.

left: Jenaha Mcclearn as lucy and Maclain W. Dassatti as Mr. tumnus in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by c. s. lewis, dramatized by adrian Mitchell, and music com-posed by shaun Davey. season: 2011 – 2012. Director: linda Hartzell. Photo: t. charles erickson.

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performances by James a. Williams as troy, Kim staunton as rose, and stephen tyrone Williams as cory, Fences again proved a critical and popular success at stage.

in 2010, ralph Zito was named chair of the Department of Drama, thereby completing the restructuring of leadership at stage and Drama. Zito’s distinguished career in the academic and professional theatre worlds included 18 years at the Juil-liard school, serving as chair of the Voice

and speech Department for nine. He had served as a voice, text, and dialect consul-tant for numerous productions on and off broadway and at many regional theatres. With Zito’s appointment came new oppor-tunities to explore and expand the collabo-ration between stage and Drama.

The 2010/11 season opened in the storch Theatre with nilaja sun’s one-person show No Child . . ., starring rochester’s rena l. golden and directed by bond. Peter amster

returned to direct the wild comedy The 39 Steps and anthony salatino directed and choreographed the co-production Rent. august Wilson’s Radio Golf, the last play Wilson wrote, became the next installment in The Century Cycle and featured the return of Thomas Jefferson byrd and the first ap-pearance at stage for veteran television actor richard brooks of early Law & Order fame. eleven-year-old Jacqueline baum and anna o’Donoghue turned in stunning perfor-mances as Helen Keller and anne sullivan

CAROLINe, OR CHANge

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in William gibson’s The Miracle Worker, directed by Paul barnes. sarah ruhl’s The Clean House closed out the season buoyed by strong performances from alma cuervo and gisela chípe. Fall of 2010 also marked the beginning of the development of Cry for Peace: Voices from the Congo. With support from the office of the university arts Pre-senter (now arts engage), Ping chong and Kyle bass conducted their initial interviews and developed a script. Workshop produc-tions were performed in the storch Theatre, The samuel beckett Theatre in new York, and at georgetown university. The 2011/12 season saw syracuse stage cast its artistic net far and wide in a variety of ways. Most of the cast of tom griffin’s comedy The Boys Next Door came from chi-cago. linda Hartzell came from a continent away and the children’s Theatre of seattle to direct the holiday presentation of The

Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, a show originally commissioned and staged by The royal shakespeare company. Director Marcela lorca and the outstanding greta oglesby arrived from the guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis for the acclaimed produc-tion of Caroline, or Change, written by tony Kushner with music by Jeanine tesori. composer tesori attended a performance of the show and afterward congratulated the cast for their superb performances, including young séamus gailor who played 8-year-old noah gelman. tesori knew oglesby, having seen her in the role of caroline at the guthrie. in fact, tesori was so impressed with that performance that she asked oglesby to sing the song “lot’s Wife” from the show when lincoln center honored the composer with an evening dedicated to her music. anyone who saw Caroline, or Change at syracuse stage could easily understand tesori’s decision. to bor-

row the old cliché, ogelsby stopped the show with her rendition of “lot’s Wife.”

The longest journey of the season was made by veteran actor Joseph graves, who trav-eled from beijing, china to take on the role of Mark rothko in John logan’s Red. The most notable journey, however, belonged to bond and the cast of the season’s final show, The Brothers Size, by tarell alvin Mc-craney. Following the show’s successful run in the storch Theatre, newly reconfigured into a three-quarter thrust space, bond and the cast, along with stage manager stu-art Plymesser and managing director Jeff Woodward, journeyed to south africa to inaugurate the first international transfer of a syracuse stage production. The Brothers Size performed at two leading south african theatres, The baxter Theatre in cape town and the famed Market Theatre in Johan-nesburg. The Market is well-known for its

in 2010, ralph Zito was named chair of the Department of Drama, thereby completing the restructuring of leadership at stage and Drama. Zito’s distinguished career in the academic and professional theatre worlds included 18 years at the Juilliard school, serving as chair of the Voice and speech Department for nine. He had served as a voice, text and dialect consultant for numerous productions on and off broadway and at many regional theatres. With Zito’s appointment came new opportunities to explore and expand the collaboration between stage and Drama.

season 39: 2011-2012

The Turn of the Screw, based on the novella by

Henry James. adapted by Jeffrey HatcherThe Boys Next Door, tom griffin The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, based on the

series by c.s. lewis. adapted by adrian MitchellCaroline, Or Change, tony Kushner Red, John loganThe Brothers Size, tarell alvin Mccraney

season 40: 2012-2013

Moby Dick, adapted for the stage by Julian rad

from the book by Herman MelvilleWhite Christmas, based on the Paramount Pictures

film, Music and lyrics by irving berlin, book by David ives and Paul blake

Two Trains Running, august WilsonA Midsummer Night’s Dream, William shakespeareGood People, David lindsay-abaireAn Iliad, adapted from Homer by lisa Peterson

and Denis o’Hare, translation by robert Fagles

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right: Joseph graves as Mark rothko and Matthew amendt as Ken in Red by John logan. season: 2011 – 2012. Director: Penny Metropulos. Photo: Michael Davis.

role in opposing the policies of apartheid and for having staged the world premieres of many athol Fugard plays. The Brothers Size and cast members rodrick covington, Joshua elijah reese, and sam encarnación earned accolades at both theatres. typical of the critical response was this review by tanya Farber of cape town’s Sunday Independent: “as i write this, i am a more culturally enriched human being . . .The story, and the performances that sculpted it on stage, have hung over me since i saw it a few days ago.” she adds: “[The Brothers Size] takes us back to the beginning of what we learnt centuries ago: that brilliant theatre is about a story you can invest in, characters you can suffer with and dialogue that makes your skin prickle with recognition.” if Mccraney was little- or un-known in south africa previously, the syracuse stage production provided an inspiring introduction.

The journey was also an opportunity to introduce syracuse stage to new audiences far beyond the familiar geographic and cultural confines of central new York, as

The most notable journey, however, belonged to bond and the cast of the season’s final show, The Brothers Size, by tarell alvin Mccraney. Following the show’s successful run in the storch Theatre, newly reconfigured into a three-quarter thrust space, bond and the cast, along with stage manager stuart Plymesser and managing director Jeff Woodward, journeyed to south africa to inaugurate the first in-ternational transfer of a syracuse stage production.

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whose better days had passed, has grown a theatre that has become a cultural hub for central new Yorkers, and that is moving toward an increasingly prominent place on national and international stages; a com-pany that is ready and eager to contribute to an artistic discourse with renowned artists and audiences and to celebrate our cultural richness and witness the many truths of our common humanity through the transforma-tive power of live theatre.

well as to open a new chapter in the theatre’s history. under tim bond’s stewardship, the theatre has pursued a vision of inclusion and a mission to celebrate the global village that is central new York. The journey to south africa represents an important step because it signals the possibility of developing a con-tinuing exchange whereby stage productions may again move to south africa and pro-ductions from south africa might perform here. Moreover, the transfer to south africa continues and expands one of the founding principles of the new Playhouse and The syracuse repertory Theatre, which was to tour productions to places near and far.

it is interesting to speculate whether anyone would have ever imagined a play originating in syracuse reaching quite as far as south africa, or for that matter, the theatre itself lasting quite so long and growing quite so strong. in what was once an aging movie house, in a declining neighborhood, in a city

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THe bROTHeRS SIZe

Joshua elijah reese as ogun in The Brothers Size by tarell alvin Mccraney. season: 2011 – 2012. Director: timothy bond. Photo: Michael Davis.

Aside: The Brothers Size became the first syracuse stage production to transfer internationally when the play was moved to The baxter Theatre in cape town and The Market Theatre in Johannesburg, south africa.

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Setting the record straight.

syracuse stage launched its first season in 1974. That should make the current season, 2012 – 2013, our 39th, but it’s not. it’s our 40th. The discrepancy derives from the first season. arthur storch arrived as producing artistic director of syracuse stage in January of 1974. so eager was he to get started that he pro-duced his first play (which was actually two one-act plays) just two months later. so the first season was really half a season, three shows produced between March and May of 1974. season ii began the following fall, october 1974, and ran until april of 1975, establishing the basic timeframe for succeeding seasons.

Is Syracuse Stage a community theatre?

no. syracuse stage is a league of resident Theatres (lort) professional regional theatre. We are central new York’s only lort theatre and one of 74 such theatres in the united states. lort is the largest and most prestigious non-profit professional theatre association in the country. The lort designation determines the terms of syracuse stage’s contracts with the professional artists we employ. This is the main difference between syracuse stage and community theatres. We are fully professional. The actors, designers, and directors who work at syracuse stage are among the leading theatre professionals in the country.

What is a regional theatre?

The regional theatre movement dates back to the mid-1950s with the founding of theatres such as Houston’s alley Theatre and Washington, D.c.’s arena stage. The idea behind the movement was to establish what might be thought of as home-grown professional theatres in communities and cities throughout the country. The goal was to give people access to high-quality, profes-sional theatre without having to travel to new York or wait for touring productions to come to town. regional theatres would be part of the local community and culti-vate and serve a local audiences. Free from the commercial demands of broadway, or even off-broadway, regional theatres could

offer their audiences a range of material, from classics and musicals to forgotten gems and riskier new work. The most successful regional theatres have become indispensable parts of the cultural life of the communities they serve. such is the case with syracuse stage.

by the end of this 40th anniversary season, syracuse stage will have produced more than 300 plays for central new York audi-ences. in addition, syracuse stage has been an active educational partner with area teachers and students, offering an array of educational services throughout the years. currently, syracuse stage’s educational programs serve more than 20,000 students annually. Through the years, syracuse stage

Post-sHoWDiscussion

syracuse stage costumer gretchen Darrow-crotty explains the workings of the costume shop to members of the community at the stage open House. backstage tours and free performances are part of this annual event held in the fall at the beginning of the season.

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has also partnered with many community and civic orga-nizations by supporting fundraising events and facilitating opportunities to discuss and explore issues of significance to the community. since Waiting for Lefty and Noon opened in 1974, central new Yorkers have been to syracuse stage more than 2 million times, even by conservative estimates.

Is Syracuse Stage like the touring shows that appear at The Landmark or the Civic Center?

While touring companies frequently employ professionals, the shows are rehearsed and built in one location, usually

new York, and then performed in many places. The scenery and costumes are loaded on trucks, the cast on buses, and the companies perform in different cities while on tour. once they are done in syracuse, for instance, they move on. syra-cuse stage productions are built, rehearsed, and performed here for our audience. The scenery, costumes, and props on our stage are made in our building by our artisans and craftspeople. We have sewing machines and saws.

another difference is that touring productions are usually only popular musicals that go out on tour after lengthy broadway runs. syracuse stage productions are selected

SYRACUSe STAge STAFF

The 2012-2013 syracuse stage staff on the set of Moby Dick, Fall 2012. Photo: James scherzi Photography.

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with a six or seven show season in mind. This means we can offer great variety drawn from classic and contemporary comedy and drama, as well as musicals and new plays. individu-ally each production is rewarding; collectively, the theatrical experience is much richer. syracuse stage offers audiences a chance to experience the full breadth of theatre.

Are Syracuse Stage actors local? as with almost all regional theatres, syracuse stage hires actors, designers, and directors on a per show basis. Most of the actors are based in new York, although in recent years we have increasingly used actors from los angeles, chicago, Minneapolis, and seattle. typically, these actors also work on and off-broadway, in television and film, and at other leading regional theatres around the country. The same is true for our directors and designers. at times, syracuse stage uses local professional actors, often faculty members in the Department of Drama, and in recent seasons local children have featured prominently in productions.

What is the relationship between Syracuse Stage and Syracuse University Drama?

syracuse stage is a professional theatre in resi-dence at syracuse university. syracuse stage is the “dba” for the s.u. Theatre corporation, which has an independent board of trustees comprising representatives from syracuse university and businesses and organizations in the community. syracuse stage receives sup-port from the university, especially concerning

facilities and physical plant. Drama and stage are both housed at 820 e. genesee street. The artistic and pedagogical link between the organizations was solidified in 1974 when arthur storch was named producing artistic director of syracuse stage and chair of the Drama Department. since then the organizations have worked in various ways to maximize mutually beneficial aspects of their partnership. For instance, many members of the syracuse stage professional staff also teach in the Drama Department. in addition, the costumes, sets, and props for Drama shows are built by the professionals in the syracuse stage shops. students benefit from having the opportunity to work with professional design-ers and directors and appear in professional shows. Frequently, Drama Department faculty members lend their expertise and talent to syracuse stage productions as actors, directors, designers, choreographers, vocal coaches, fight choreographers, and music directors.

Is this why Drama students appear in some Syracuse Stage shows?

Yes. The contracts that govern syracuse stage’s terms with actors’ equity association performers and stage managers stipulate not only compen-sation and benefits, but determine the ratio of professionals to non-professionals syracuse stage may use in given season. However, stage’s associa-tion with su Drama allows it to produce some shows on what is known as a university resident Theatre association (urta) contract. This con-tract is specifically designed for productions that have students and professionals in the cast.

How many people work at Syracuse Stage?

the number of employees varies depending on the time of the year and the demands of any given show. essentially, there are three types of employees: year-round, seasonal, and those hired on a per show basis. the people in the last category, as mentioned earlier, are usually the visiting artists—actors, direc-tors, and designers—who work on individual plays. sometimes, additional technical support is needed for the shops or run crews on a per show basis.

seasonal employees work on contracts that coincide roughly with beginning and end of the syracuse stage season, usually starting a few weeks before the first show opens. Most of these employees are on the technical and produc-tion side of the theatre: scene shop, costumes, props, lighting, and stage management. seasonal employees also include front-of-house staff and a number of part-time, box office staff (usually students). Year-round employees are usually ad-ministrative staff: business, marketing, education, development, full time box office, and heads of production and technical departments.

at peak employment, syracuse stage may have upwards of 65 people on staff. This number does not include visiting artists (actors, direc-tors, designers), but refers to people employed by stage who make their homes here in central new York. as with any local business, most stage employees are part of this community. in the off-season, the number of employees drops to about 25. Most seasonal employees leave temporarily to find work at summer theatres, but return to resume their work at stage.

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in the final scene of William gibson’s The Miracle Worker, Helen Keller experiences a life-changing breakthrough; she recognizes that the symbols repeatedly tapped into her hand by her teacher annie sullivan are a kind of language that corresponds to physical objects. closed off for so long, the world is now open to her, and she eagerly moves about touch-ing anything near—the ground, steps, her parents—indicating that she wants to know what words, what symbols, refer to each. Finally she comes to annie sullivan who takes Helen’s hand and spells “teacher.” in the syracuse stage production, Helen responded by reaching up to annie’s face, removing her glasses, and very softly, kissing her cheek. it was a touch-ing and tender moment that often drew an audible

response from the audience, especially one student matinee when a capacity crowd of middle school children let out a collective sound along the lines of “ooooha.” it was a sweet and spontaneous sound, the kind that can only come from young children.

to experience such a moment is to understand the value of syracuse stage’s educational programs as well as to understand why educational programs have been an important part of the theatre throughout its history. Theatre has a singular capacity to engage intellect and emotion through the immediacy of live performance. This moment for instance required the young audience to understand Helen’s isolation, annie’s determination, and the struggle that defined

eDucation“Every time I see all those high school and even grade school kids coming into the theatre for matinees, I know we’re on our way to something great.”

–arthur storch

above: students in central tech’s journalism class participate in artsemerging. Photo: brenna Merritt.

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their relationship to that point. The children’s response contained more than sentiment; it bespoke comprehension and understanding. Moreover, it was a moment shared among 500 peers, a communal experience in which com-mon humanity was revealed and recognized. such moments make it easy to understand why theatre is often cited for its singular capacity to teach empathy. That alone is reason enough to bring children to syracuse stage. but of course, theatre offers so much more. some of the world’s greatest literature is found in the theatre: ideas worthy of the deepest thinkers, language as vivid as the finest poetry, and characters as vibrant and memorable as any in tolstoy or Dickens or twain. Further still, plays concern any and every topic imaginable and therefore offer curricula tie-ins to virtually every academic subject. Henrik ibsen believed that plays should be sources of insight, creators of discussion, and conveyors of ideas. a good play is all that and more. What an asset to the education and development of young hearts and minds.

Moreover, introducing children to theatre is crucial for the long-term health of the the-atre itself. a theatre cannot survive without an audience. studies and surveys have prov-en that cultivating a habit of theatre-going at an early age is the best way to develop an audience for the future. in return students develop an appreciation for an experience that offers lifelong enrichment.

A THOUSANd CRANeS

niwani rattry as The actor and Jamie olin as sadako in A Thousand Cranes by Kathryn schultz Miller. season: 2008. Director: lauren unbekant. Photo: Michael Davis.

Aside: each year syracuse stage produces a children’s play that tours to area elementary schools and is cast with su Drama students. Following each performance the elementary students are given an opportunity to question the actors about the show.

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Theatre has been an educational resource for area students and teachers for as long there has been a professional company at 820 e. genesee st. in the first full season of srt in 1967, more than 9000 area students attended productions. gerald reidenbaugh and rex Henriot often visited classrooms to discuss plays with students after performances. in subsequent years, classes from many schools became subscribers and attended every play in a season.

This practice continued in the early seasons of syracuse stage as arthur storch’s productions proved to be as popular with students and teach-ers as with the general public. The introduction of special 10:30 a.m. matinees of main stage pro-ductions made it easier and more convenient for students and teachers to attend syracuse stage. The special morning matinee program is stage’s oldest educational program and has been highly successful. During the season it is quite common to see yellow school buses lined up along east genesee street. How many central new Yorkers have had their first experience of live theatre at one of these special performances?

in addition to bringing students to the theatre, over the years stage has developed several outreach programs to serve students in their schools. chief among these is the annual children’s tour. This typically is a 50-minute play, suitable for elementary and/or middle school students, that is performed on site at area schools. Directed and designed by professional

theatre artists, the plays are usually cast with students from the syracuse university Drama Department. as with the student matinees, the children’s tour has been a great success.

Throughout the seasons, a variety of programs have been introduced to engage students in the theatre. tazewell Thompson initiated a poster contest for local students who could submit designs for particular shows. During robert Moss’ tenure, stage presented a special Theatre for Young audiences (tYa) production at the conclusion of four consecutive seasons: The Dragonslayers (1996), The Wind in the Willows (1997), A Wrinkle in Time (1998) and Just So Stories (1998). The Wind in the Willows, an original musical created by gerardine clark and Dianne adams McDowell and James McDowell in collaboration with anthony salatino, scored a triumph not only in syracuse but in new York at The new Victory Theatre. it was during Moss’ tenure as well that stage introduced the Young Playwrights Festival. This annual event invites high school students to submit original short plays and/or performance pieces. The submissions are read by a panel of judges who select finalists. The finalists have an opportunity to rework their plays in profession-ally run workshops. at the end of the process, chosen plays are given staged readings during an evening event at syracuse stage. addition-ally, guided by current director of educational outreach lauren unbekant, stage has intro-

duced an in-depth, multi-disciplinary program called ArtsEmerging. This experience employs a variety of disciplines to encourage students to explore the themes of a given play. guided by professionals in various artistic disciplines, past student projects have included making short documentary films, creating photographic essays, and writing poetry. in addition, stage has developed the Backstory! program for performances in schools. Backstory! combines theatre and history by having an actor portray a historical figure in a short one-character play. students are encouraged to question the actor-as-character following the performance. These original pieces have included short works about anne Frank, george Washington carver, and nikola tesla among others.

under timothy bond’s leadership, syracuse stage educational programs continue to flourish and have expanded to include two additional initiatives: evening acting classes for syracuse city high school students taken for college credit, and a summer camp for middle school students. in partnership with syracuse city Parks and recreation Department, the summer camp offers students one week of intensive acting classes taught by faculty mem-bers from the Department of Drama.

Through 40 seasons, hundreds of thousands of area students have participated in syracuse stage educational programs. currently, these programs serve more than 20,000 students each year.

children’s touring productions

Musical Mirage Express (1977)

There’s a Lion Inside Me (1978)

The Griffin and the Minor Canon (1979)

Where the Sidewalk Ends (1980)

Magical Faces (1981)

Flashback (1982)

Johnny Moonbeam & The Silver Arrow (1983)

I Didn’t Know That! (1985)

Reynard the Fox (1986)

Story Theatre (1987)

Alphabet Soup (1988)

Androcles and the Lion (1989)

The Adventures of Narnia (1990)

I Never Saw Another Butterfly (1991)

Really Rosie (1992)

Manu and the Red, Red Flower (1993)

The Jungle Book (1994)

I Didn’t Know That! (1995)

Androcles and the Lion (1996)

Aladdin (1997)

Nightingale (1999)

Alice (2000)

Schoolhouse Rock! (2001)

Really Rosie (2002)

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2003)

The Great Peanut Butter Radio Hour (2004)

Fractured Fairy Tales (2005)

The Red Sun and the Green Moon (2006)

The Mischief Makers (2007)

A Thousand Cranes (2008)

The Song from the Sea (2009)

Annabel Drudge . . . and the Second Day of School (2010)

New Kid (2011)

A Thousand Cranes (2012)

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STAge gALA

Jane Monheit and her band perform at the 2012 stage gala in syracuse university’s schine center.

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The organization that became the syracuse stage guild grew out of a very basic need—the need for actors to eat. along about the time that professional actors first became involved with performances in the regent Theatre complex, eleanor ludwig organized a group of women to provide meals for performers when required by the regulations of actors’ equity. The group of volunteers ludwig organized was initially known as the Women’s auxiliary, later called the onondaga Theatre guild, then the syracuse repertory guild, and eventually the syracuse stage guild. While food has always been a part of the guild’s contribution—from

welcome packages to luncheons to between show dinners to buffet-style spreads for company Meet & greets—this remarkable volunteer organization has nourished the theatre in a variety of ways and with a creativity and flair matched only by the unwavering dedi-cation of its membership.

a prime example of the guild in action is the beaux arts ball. started in 1985, this formal and themed ball quickly became known as the “best Party in town” where patrons dined and danced the night away while rais-ing funds for syracuse stage’s artistic and educational programs. Former

guild president Marilyn sims recalls that Janet and carl Wentzel proposed the idea for the ball to the guild board and they participated actively in the first six. originally held in the old university club, which quickly be-came too small to accommodate grow-ing popularity, the ball moved first to the Hotel syracuse and then to the oncenter, where it continued as the beaux arts ball until 2010. in 2011, the name was changed to the syra-cuse stage ball, and in 2012, the ball transformed into an elegant evening of cabaret featuring Jane Monheit and her band held in syracuse university’s schine center.

tHe sYracuse stage guilD“I have often said that our theatre could not operate in the way we do without the help of our Guild. You continue to be the backbone of community support for the theatre.”

–arthur storch

above: The annual guild Fashion show is a great evening of fun and the latest fashions and an important fundraiser for syracuse stage.

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Through the seasons there have been a number of different parties, activities and events organized by the guild. in the syracuse reper-tory Theatre days, the bal Masque, a Mardi gras inspired evening was held at the everson Museum. srt guild members also provided direct support of the theatre by working in the box office, building props, and devel-oping audience. The syracuse stage guild hosted several costume collection Fashion shows featuring costumes from syracuse stage productions modeled by guild members. a Fashion show of a different sort is still an im-portant event each fall as local retailers display the latest fashion in an evening of finery and good food. in the past few seasons, the guild has also sponsored an annual Kentucky Derby Party where participants can enjoy the run for the roses while supporting syracuse stage.

The guild, too, has helped to cultivate an interest in the theatre beyond syracuse by sponsoring theatre-related trips. Past and con-

tinuing trips include london, new York city, and canada’s stratford shakespeare Festival.

The guild’s current mission statement reads as follows: syracuse stage guild is a voluntary organization, the purpose of which is to pro-mote syracuse stage in the community and to support, be of service to and to raise funds for the theatre. guild members, their families and their friends are encouraged to take part in all activities sponsored by the guild.

For more than forty seasons the many vol-unteers who have given generously of their time, creative energy, good will, and finan-cial support have played a major role in the success of theatre in syracuse and specifically of syracuse stage. arthur storch summed up the guild’s contribution accurately and succinctly when he noted: “i like to think syracuse would not be the same without syracuse stage. i know syracuse stage would not be the same without the guild.”

1974Marilyn Pinsky

1974 – 1976Joan good

1976 – 1978June Potash

1978 – 1979sally McDonald

1979 – 1981sheila goldie

1981 – 1983nan gartner

1983 – 1985Marilyn sims

1985 – 1987Karen goodman

1987 – 1989sarah Myers

1989 – 1991charleen smith

1991 – 1993Patti Haggerty

1993 – 1995Debra Delduchetto

1995 – 1997lynda Wheat

1997 – 1999Diana corrigan

1999 – 2002Fran Vensel

2002 – 2004Patricia borer

2004 – 2006nancy bottar

2006 – 2008terry Delevan

2008 – 2010Deborah borenstein

2010 – 2011terry Delevan

2011 – 2012Justin sawyers

2012 – 2013linda Pitonzo

sYracuse stage guilDpresidents

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sYracuse stage guilD

above: arthur storch and Jack lemmon.

far left: Dr. steven scheinman, of upstate Medical university, performs onstage with olympia Dukakis in an old time radio Theatre adaptation of Auntie Mame.

left: carol burnett

facing: a guild sponsored london theatre trip group takes in the sights at Hampton court before visiting with Dame Judi Dench backstage after All’s Well That Ends Well.

From the “pay the rent” party to “old time radio Theatre” performances to elegant evenings of dinner and music, syracuse stage fundraisers have featured performers and celebri-ties from the stage, screen, and music worlds. over the years, the list of those who have lent their talents on behalf of stage includes:

Dina Merrill and cliff robertson anne Jackson and eli WallachJack lemmon Joel greyJosh logan Dixie carterbobby short andrea Marcovicci steve rossnancy Wilsonblackstone carol burnett gregory Peck Kitty carlisle Hart olympia Dukakis loretta swit Doris roberts Phylicia rashadJane Monheit

For

ou

r ben

eFit

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1974-1978Frank Funk, President

1978-1981rebecca livengood, chairFrank Funk, President

1981-1983Dr. Herbert lourie, chairFrank Funk, President

1983-1984Jed Dietz, chairFrank Funk, President

1984-1986edward W. Mcneil, chairFrank Funk, President

1986-1988William richardson, chairFrank Funk, President

1988-1990charles e. chappell, Jr., chairlucius Kempton, President

1990-1993Joan green, chairlucius Kempton, President

1993-1995robert J. bennett, chairlucius Kempton, President

1995-1997anne Messenger, chairlucius Kempton, President

1997-1999lowell seifter, chairlucius Kempton, President

1999-2001Jack Webb, chairlouis Marcoccia, President

2001-2003Mark russell, chairlouis Marcoccia, President

2003-2005larry leatherman, chairlouis Marcoccia, President

2005-2007James smith, chairlouis Marcoccia, President

2008 – 2010elizabeth Hartnett, chairlouis Maroccia, President

2010 – 2013bea gonzalez, chairlouis Marcoccia, President

sYracuse stage boarD oF trustees

Janet M. audunsonFrank & Patti borerJim & cathy breuerbill & nancy byrneMargaret, amy & robert currierJames eagen & ellen Kimatian eagenJohn & Marya FrantzHelene & neil goldsidney & Winifred greenbergM. Daniel bingham & M. gail Hamnerann & larry Harrisclaude & Donna incaudorandy & elizabeth KalishMary & larry leathermanbea gonzalez & Michael leonardbetty lourie, in memory of Dr. Herbert lourieMarshall & sharon Mageelouis & susan MarcocciaMargaret & Don MartinMichael J. & sheri a. Massesuzanne & Kevin McauliffeJana & rod McDonaldJohn F.X. Mannion & Mayor stephanie a. Minersally lou & Fran nicholsFrederick & Virginia ParkerMrs. selma radinsandra lee Fenske & Joe silberlichts.i. newhouse school of Public communicationMelvin & Patricia stithPaul Phillips & sharon sullivancindy sutton & Familylinda l. & Jack H. Webblaurie & Michael Zoanetti40

tH a

nn

iVer

sarY

su

PPo

rter

s

presidents & chairs

barbara beckos, alexander charters, James a. clark, Patrick Finlon, ann Mullin, anne “Jigger” roth, Marilyn sims, Kelundra smith, Jeffrey Woodward.

research assistant: Kathryn Whelan

sPecial tHanKs

fac

ing

: arthur storch. Photo: rayburn beale.

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arthur storch | 1925 - 2013

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