2012 Pulitzer Prizes

The Prizewinners & Nominated Finalists
will be announced on April 16.

"Last year at this time, as Playbill was polling theatre pundits about possible recipients of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, many assumed that Jon Robin Baitz’s widely praised family drama Other Desert Cities was the obvious front-runner. But Lincoln Center Theatre shook its head at the suggestion. The production did not officially open at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre until January 2011 (previews began in December 2010), and was thus not eligible for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Pulitzer rules clearly stated, "Productions opening in the United States between Jan. 1, 2010 and Dec. 31, 2010 are eligible." A year has passed — the 2012 Pulitzers and finalists in a number of literary and journalistic divisions get announced April 16 — and now it looks like it may now be Robbie's turn. (Baitz is known to his intimates by that diminutive.)

And, as luck would have it, the play is still running. Other Desert Cities transferred to Broadway on Nov. 3, 2011, where it still plays. So if the Pulitzer jurors (who make the recommendations) and the Pulitzer judges (who choose the winner) want to refresh their memory as to the quality of the script, they have ready access to the living, breathing premiere production. Remember what a last-minute visit by the judges to the un-recommended Next to Normal did to the 2010 race?

Should Baitz win, the honor will be long in coming for the one-time golden boy of the American theatre. The dramatist's talent has been critically praised since The Film Society bowed in 1987. But, a quarter century and a dozen plays later, his career has been more roller-coaster that steady incline. The closest he came to the Pulitzer was in 1996, when A Fair Country, one of Baitz's best-regarded plays, was a finalist for the prize. Other Desert Cities is, in fact, the first Broadway play for Baitz, who is now 50.Nearly every one of the dozen critics, press agents and pundits who were polled for this article assumed Other Desert Cities was running well ahead of the pack. And those who didn't assume that thought the play had been eligible in 2011. As one observer commented,

'The more interesting guessing game [this year] is who will the finalists be.'"

-Robert Simonson, PLAYBILL.

THE PULITZER & MUSICALS

I love that the category is categorized as DRAMA (as opposed to differentiating between plays & musicals). Plays largely dominate the winner’s circle, but 8 musicals have had their own deserving moments in the sun (on average 1-per-decade between the 1930s and 2000s). The musical nominations seem somewhat random. RAGTIME warranted one. I am reluctant to admit (and have never actually seen it), but THE LION KING seemed as revolutionary as RENT [but less heart-breaking].

OUR MUSICAL REPRESENTATIVES:

2010: Next to Normal*

1996: RENT

1985: Sunday in the Park With George*

1976: A Chorus Line

1962: How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying

1960: Fiorello!

1950: South Pacific

1932: Of Thee I Sing*

* = did not win the Tony. However, the Tony Awards didn’t exist when Of Thee I sing premiered, so…

P.S. How did Sunday in the Park win a Pulitzer & not a Tony? It's a DISGRACE.

P.P.S. How did How to Succeed win a Pulitzer? Maybe the subject matter was  revolutionary at the time, but the quality of work doesn't seem all that exceptional. Hmmm...sounds similar to the Pulitzer decision in 1996.

 MY PERSONAL PULITZER UPSETS  

Angels in America: Millennium Approaches [1993] by Tony Kushner. It is brilliant & really did change the world, but was also in contention against Anna Deavere Smith’s Fires in the Mirror. I understand this was a year of stiff competition & know Angels is America was well deserving of the award, but Fires in the Mirror is my very favorite script ever.

I will always feel that Ms. Smith was robbed.

Anna in the Tropics [2003] by Nilo Cruz. To be honest, I am not all-that familiar with this script & it probably ruled; however, I am in love with the two scripts that it beat out [The Goat or Who Is Sylvia by Edward Albee & Take Me Out by Richard Greenberg]. The Goat is so innovative & eternally contemporary; Edward Albee is a prince among playwrights & this is one of my favorite scripts (Remy Bumppo did a perfect production last year that reinforced my love). Take Me Out is a smart script & with the cleverest pun of a title. The play was originally produced at the Donmar Warehouse in London (an tiny, impeccable theatre that has excellent taste in script selection; I saw it performed at Philadelphia Theatre Company in 2010 (an awesome regional theatre that has excellent taste in interns). I have a weird appreciation for the marriage/infusion of sports & theatre…it is such a strange but complimentary opposition of ideas that I have never seen fail.

The Great Fire @ Lookingglass



Towards the end of my Lookingglass internship, I attended a staff meeting where they announced the 2011-12 season. I was immediately excited about The Great Fire. It was a challenging production with a hugely intriguing & applicable subject matter for the audience base. Artistic Director Andy White also discussed the applicability of this piece of history to the American audience in this post-9/11 world because it showcases a city’s ability to rise from the ashes and revive itself. Part of what this play highlighted was how foreign it feels to envision an urban disaster without our contemporary advances & conveniences. The play opened & closed with vignettes of letters of people communicating the disaster of the fire with their distant loved-ones. The mayor had to telegraph The White House to seek assistance. The communication culture clash was an interesting element to emphasize & address. In the same juxtaposed light, it was a very cool effect to enter the Water Tower, see those pipes, and then leave the theatre with the realization that everything around me had been leveled by the fire except for the building I was leaving.

 

I appreciated the fact that this play served as a study on human reaction in the face of mass tragedy. Many people developed an immediate, morbid fascination with the fire & wanted to go watch the river while it was still south of the river; this is a realistic & rational acknowledgement because the attraction of tragedy to spectators seems to be a timeless human habit. It also honestly addressed the kindness of distant strangers in aftermath of a tragedy versus the dog-eat-dog factor during the tragedy. The script exposed an excellent cross-section of different reactions to the impending disaster: the Alderman wants to literally fight fire with fire, the businessmen who quickly adopt the mentality that confusion equals potential income, the comparative indifference of the masses as a result of overexposure to tragedy, and the prisoners who are released for fear of bad press & see the fire as freedom. However, the base & primary goal of all these characters is to gather up the loved ones & flee. Theatre should cause contemplation and this script & production was one that provoked self-reflection, new knowledge, and humbling appreciation for the safety & convenience of our contemporary world.



The Players

The cast was comprised of smart, small ensemble (with a refreshing disregard to age/gender) that served as a collective representation of the people of Chicago. As the personification of The Fire itself, Lindsey Noel Whiting created a character with the otherworldly, innocent seduction of a glowing fire while still also presenting the mocking, almost vindictive nature of the fire’s aggression. Just as the character she created was well-rounded, the quality of her performance was equally well-rounded in physicality, artistic presentation, and interaction with the text. But that sentiment applies to the ensemble and production as a whole.

GoodBye GlassHouse Part III: PETER PAN

Upon entering the theatre space, the skeleton of the theatre was in full-view: catwalks, lights, harnesses, ladders, a stack of mattresses. In the theatre at the Water Tower, it would feel unnatural to imagine any other setting. Props & allusions to the forthcoming production were interspersed in the space--signs spray-painted in stencil font, a perfect clock atop a bookshelves complete with a Raggedy doll. Perfectly symmetrical lines of danging exposed light bulbs hung over the 1st few rows. The actors entered the space quietly & naturally, overlapping with the pre-show chit-chat & organically pulling the audience into their world. There was a good initial pacing and a great build-up of climactic moments. Especially relating to the appearance of Peter Pan. He appeared in the most easy slip of a moment, with charm that makes Mrs. Darling's description of him as a predator poof in smoke. Climactic moments like these were well built-up  & satisfactory, but consistently delivered on a surprisingly smaller scale than the build-up would indicate. Overall, a really fresh & focused interpretation of a cool classic with a very strong strand of that Lookingglass flavor. 

My favorite part about this production was

the costume design:

Having such a smart, sparse set allowed the artistic energy to largely focus on costumes. It was like a cast of human dressings, which was a clever & effective use of concentrated artistic effort.

the lost boys

They wore it all & they wore it well:

hoodies, Sunday dresses, lace, Converse sneakers,
harnesses, hats, sweaters, flannel, goggles, fingerless gloves,
winter tights, rolled-up jeans, beanie caps, & lace-up boots.
It was a perfect mismatched hodgepodge;
a creepy, sweet, weathered,
modern infusion of agelessness.  
I felt echos of Oliver Twist, Narnia, Annie & loved it all.

you've never seen pirates like these

I loved both the vision & execution of the Pirates scene.
 I can't say enough good things, so a video:




thematic elements:
Finding Neverland, Finding Family, Creating Family. 
Coming-of-Age. In Neverland.

Casting college kids as The Lost Boys was an awkward fit at times
(due to skill levels, NOT artistic vision),
but I loved the thematic implications of
this casting decision.
To me, this casting vision & This Neverland represented
the startling change of entering college.
The Lost Boys created a family of bonds stronger than blood.
 In a hard, false, first taste of adulthood,
Wendy became a dorm mom of sorts.
She made lists to take care of The Lost Boys, &
acknowledged how she became "addicted to status"
of being drunk of the power
of seeing one's self as a parent rather than a child.

 It got me thinking about the parents' end of the college experience,
To watch a child get his first feet wet of adulthood,
but wanting to turn a blind eye
to the reality of that awakening.

This  Neverland has a tone of the Rumspringa conflict,
where one can taste the real world,
but then has to choose
to return to the world that defines home,
or sign over to a new faith found from newfound knowledge.


my favorite phrase & moment of this production:
(attempting to describe the Darling Children's
return home after a short lifetime in Neverland)
pen cannot describe the happy scene

Lookingglass Wins Regional Tony!

GoodBye GlassHouse Part II: LG ALICE

My time at Lookingglass opened my eyes & gave me my first taste of

The style of Chicago theatre.

Living here, I have seen a scene with a more distinct flavor

than I saw in Philadelphia, New York City, & Boston.

One dominant strand being the influence of physical theatre,
which was very present in Lookingglass Alice.

This is the reinterpreted classic story that has
turned into a classic icon of Chicago theatre.
It tells the story of Alice falling into the Rabbit's Hole &
Her adolescent return to Wonderland.
Each square on the chessboard is a challenge she must conquer
to attain her ultimate goal:
To become A Queen.
While each square brings her closer to her goal,
it also enlightens her to the costs, trials, & losses
that result from shifting from
A Little Girl to A Queen.



This production was like a classic recipe reworked.
Adding this fresh physicality to an aged story was
like adding peanut butter to the chocolate chip cookies.
And after the random new ingredient is introduced,
it is difficult to imagine the recipe without it.

I was excited to see Lauren Hirte in the role of Alice.

I love an actress who commits to a part,
from the dream of the workshop to its' blow-up success.
Like Lea Michelle w/ Spring Awakening, Lea Salonga w/
Miss Saigon, Stephanie J. Block w/ Wicked 
(who got dropped right before it went to Broadway
because Idina Menzel had a Tony to her name, but that's its own thing).

It just gives their performance a richness
when an actress has marinated in it so long.

5 Minutes with Lauren Hirte



GoodBye GlassHouse Part I: Lookingglass

Hindsight makes current vision clearer,

so recent events qualify as inspiration for current blogposts to me.

I recently completed a Marketing Internship @

Lookingglass Theatre Company.

It was a great experience,

especially since Lookingglass was my

#1 Theatre of Interest
when I moved to Chicago last June.

The theatre resides in the Water Tower &

the administrative offices are in the Hancock Building.

As a new-comer to Chicago, this internship was also an A+ introduction to

 the world of Chicago theatre.

My responsibilities included:

mailings, research, databases, e-blasts, etc.

meetings with only the best of views.

errends/base-touching to the ever prettiest theatre.

working at awesome events, like this one at the

Signature Room on the 95th.

And always saying good morning

to my handsome Hancock buddy boy.