Intermission » Inspiration

Celebrating Lillian Hellman All Month Long

Intermission — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:35:43 +0000

Lillian Hellman
Born: June 20, 1905
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Died: June 30, 1984
Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, USA

We’re going to be quoting Lillian Hellman every day this month in honor of her 105th birday!

FYI: This year a new award in honor of playwright Lillian Hellman was created by The Committee for Recognizing Women in Theatre: The Lilly Award. The first awards were presented May 24, 2010 at Playwrights Horizon and celebrated women playwrights, directors, designers and advocates in theatre.

She warned me it was going to be tough to be a woman working in the theater. She said I’d need to write like the devil and also act like one when necessary. She was right on all counts.

what Marsha Norman said Lillian Hellman told her on working in the theatre

The Plays

Another Part of the Forest, 1946
The Autumn Garden, 1951
Candide, 1957 (Tony Nominee, Best Book Musical)
The Children’s Hour, 1934
Days to Come, 1936
Lark, 1955 (adaptation)
The Little Foxes, 1941
Montserrat, 1950 (adaptation)
My Mother, My Father and Me, 1960
Regina, 1949
The Searching Wind, 1944
Toys in the Attic, 1960 (Tony Nominee, Best Play)
Watch on the Rhine, 1941

Some of the Films

The Chase, 1966 (based on Horton Foote’s play)
The Children’s Hour, 1961 (based on her play)
Dark Angel, 1935
Dead End, 1937
The Little Foxes, 1941 (based on her play; nominated for Oscar)
The North Star, 1943 (nominated for Oscar)
The Searching Wind, 1946 (based on her play)
The Spanish Earth, 1937 (uncredited)
These Three, 1936 (based on her play, The Children’s Hour)
Watch on the Rhine, 1943 (based on her play)
The Westerner, 1940 (uncredited)

She Said This: Playwright Theresa Rebeck

Intermission — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 11:20:53 +0000

Theresa Rebeck
Birthday Unknown
Kenwood, Ohio, USA

There is a Native American saying, “It takes a thousand voices to tell a single story.” And Walter Cronkite told us, “In seeking truth, you have to get both sides of the story.”

It’s time to hear both sides, to hear all voices, to build a culture where stories are told by both men and women. That is the way the planet is going to survive, and it’s the way we are going to survive.

Theresa Rebeck
from the annual
ART/NY Curtain Call presentation
Laura Pels Theater
March 15, 2010

Sondheim Was Born This Day

Intermission — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:35:41 +0000

Stephen Sondheim
New York, New York, USA
March 22, 1930

Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos, and certainly puzzles. The nice thing about doing a crossword puzzle is you know there is a solution. I also like murder mysteries for the same reason. Again, the puzzle murder mysteries, the Agatha Christie kinds of things where you know that it’s all going to be neatly wound up at the end and everything’s going to make logical sense. I think that’s why murder mysteries are popular, is this defense against chaos.

Stephen Sondheim
Academy of Achievement
Interview July 5, 2005

Also don’t miss the American Theatre Wing Interview

Callas sings Puccini via NPR

Intermission — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:12:36 +0000

Beautiful….

Less than 4 minutes to give it a listen.

You won’t regret it.

On Why She Writes

Intermission — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:24:48 +0000

That’s why I wrote the play – for myself – to be inspired in some way. You know, to pick garbage up off the road, go to Rwanda to write a play about the genocide, to continuously do things that not only improve myself but improve the world. That’s why I write and I just hope that people in the theatre coming to see the play will be inspired to do whatever they feel they need to do to improve themselves and the world. I just truly hope it moves and challenges and inspires other people to do better.

Playwright Katori Hall
from an interview about her play
The Mountaintop
Whatsonstage.com, August 10, 2009