Misplaced Pages

#845154

40-594: Founded in 1979 by Robyn Goodman and Carole Rothman, Second Stage produces both new plays and revivals of contemporary American plays by new playwrights and established writers. The company formerly had an off-Broadway theater, the Tony Kiser Theater at 305 West 43rd Street on the corner of Eighth Avenue near the Theater District , as well as an off-off-Broadway theater, the McGinn–Cazale Theater on

80-954: A Theatre World Award . Smith was one of the 1996 recipients of the MacArthur Fellowship , often referred to as the "genius grant." She also won a 2006 Fletcher Foundation Fellowship for her contribution to civil rights issues, as well as a 2008 Matrix Award from the New York Women in Communications, Inc. In 2009, she won a Fellow Award in Theater Arts from United States Artists . She has received honorary degrees from Loyola Marymount University , Dartmouth College , Swarthmore College , University of Pennsylvania , Spelman College , Arcadia University , Bates College , Smith College , Skidmore College , St. Olaf College , Macalester College , Occidental College , Pratt Institute ,

120-422: A Musical ( Steven Levenson ), Best Original Score ( Pasek & Paul ), Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical ( Ben Platt ), Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical ( Rachel Bay Jones ), and Best Orchestrations ( Alex Lacamoire ), three 2009 Tony Awards for Next to Normal including Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical ( Alice Ripley ), Best Original Score Written for

160-642: A mentor in Anna Deavere Smith: A YoungArts Masterclass , part of the HBO documentary series Masterclass . In 2015, Smith appeared as a guest of Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., on the PBS television show Finding Your Roots . Her ancestry in America was revealed to her for the first time. She was descended from a long line of free people of color. The most striking facts were linked to her great-great-grandfather, Basil Biggs, who

200-504: A new outlet for "poets, playwrights, actors, songwriters, and designers. ... The first great Off-Broadway musical was the 1954 revival" of The Threepenny Opera , which proved that off-Broadway productions could be financially successful. Critic John Gassner argued at the time, however, that "Broadway is just as eclectic – and just as footless – as 'Off-Broadway'." Theatre Row , on West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues in Manhattan,

240-450: A professor in the drama department at Stanford University and prior to that taught at Carnegie Mellon University . She also teaches at NYU School of Law . In 2000, Smith published her first book, Talk to Me: Travels in Media and Politics , through Random House . (It was published in paperback in 2001.) In 2006, she released Letters to a Young Artist: Straight-up Advice on Making a Life in

280-478: Is a concentration of off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway theatres. It was developed in the mid-1970s and modernized in 2002. Many off-Broadway shows have had subsequent runs on Broadway, including such musicals as Hair , Godspell , Little Shop of Horrors , Sunday in the Park with George , Rent , Grey Gardens , Urinetown , Avenue Q , The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee , Rock of Ages , In

320-542: Is a production of a play , musical , or revue that appears in such a venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts. Some shows that premiere off-Broadway are subsequently produced on Broadway. The term originally referred to any venue, and its productions, on a street intersecting Broadway in Midtown Manhattan 's Theater District , the hub of the American theatre industry. It later became defined by

360-661: Is based on the capacity given for the respective theatre at the Internet Off-Broadway Database . Anna Deavere Smith Anna Deavere Smith (born September 18, 1950) is an American actress, playwright , and professor . She is known for her roles as National Security Advisor Dr. Nancy McNally in The West Wing (2000–06), hospital administrator Gloria Akalitus in the Showtime series Nurse Jackie (2009–15), and as U.S. District Court Clerk Tina Krissman on

400-424: Is from Great Britain, with remote Scandinavian, Finnish, Russian, Italian, and Greek. In early 2017, Smith worked with Melissa McCarthy in the film Can You Ever Forgive Me? In New York City, they filmed one scene together in which their characters briefly reunite for the first time after the long-ago end of their relationship. Smith's character is a university professor of literature. In October 2018, this film

440-552: The 1992 Los Angeles riots after the acquittal of police officers who beat Rodney King , in events captured on tape. Both of these plays were constructed using material solely from interviews. Smith's plays House Arrest (2000) and Let Me Down Easy (2008) were also created in this style. Let Me Down Easy , which explored the resiliency and vulnerability of the human body, debuted at the Long Wharf Theatre in January 2008. It

SECTION 10

#1732869832846

480-588: The College of the Holy Cross , Haverford College , Wesleyan University , School of Visual Arts , Northwestern University , Colgate University , California State University Sacramento , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Wheelock College , Williams College , Yale University , and the Cooper Union . The United Solo Theatre Festival board honored her with the award for outstanding solo performer during

520-579: The Lucille Lortel Award (created in 1985 by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres & Producers), and the Drama League Award . Although off-Broadway shows are not eligible for Tony Awards , an exception was made in 1956 (before the rules were changed), when Lotte Lenya won Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for the off-Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera . Capacity

560-766: The Riverside Shakespeare Company , produced by Joseph Papp and the New York Shakespeare Festival . This production was set in New Orleans in post- Civil War America. For the role, Smith transformed herself into a "Cajun voodoo woman." She used her ability to take on other characters in her future work. From being in a variety of situations and in a kind of outsider status, she was a close observer of people and their language. She later told Henry Louis Gates Jr. , when appearing on his show Finding Your Roots , that she had difficulty getting jobs at

600-546: The Upper West Side . In April 2015, the company expanded into Broadway theater productions when it bought the Helen Hayes Theater , at 240 West 44th Street in Manhattan. Robyn Goodman and Carole Rothman founded Second Stage Theater in 1979 to produce “second stagings” of contemporary American plays, later expanding to new works as well. In 1982 they secured a permanent venue with the McGinn–Cazale Theater. In 1999,

640-942: The ABC show For the People (2018–19). Smith is a recipient of The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize (2013). In 2015 she was selected as the Jefferson Lecturer by the National Endowment for the Humanities . In 2016, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship in Theatre Arts. She is the founding director of the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue at New York University . Smith was born in 1950 into an African-American family in Baltimore , Maryland,

680-540: The Arts – For Actors, Performers, Writers, and Artists of Every Kind . As a dramatist, Smith was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 for Fires in the Mirror , which won her a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show. She was nominated for two Tony Awards in 1994 for Twilight : one for Best Actress and another for Best Play. The play won her a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance and

720-646: The Broadway Box are the Laura Pels Theatre and The Theater Center . The off-Broadway movement started in the 1950s as a reaction to the perceived commercialism of Broadway and provided less expensive venues for shows that have employed many future Broadway artists. An early success was Circle in the Square Theatre 's 1952 production of Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams . According to theatre historians Ken Bloom and Frank Vlastnik, off-Broadway offered

760-466: The Cockayne Fund, Smith wrote and performed the play, On Grace , based on interviews relating to the meaning of God's grace. The performances were accompanied by American cellist Joshua Roman . Smith has appeared in several films, including Philadelphia (1993), Dave (1993), The American President (1995), Rent (2005), and Rachel Getting Married (2008). She had recurring roles in

800-463: The Hayes Theater was Lobby Hero in early 2018, after renovations and upgrades. Second Stage is one of four nonprofit theater companies that own and operate theaters on Broadway. In 2023, Second Stage gave up its off-off-Broadway space. Founding artistic director and president Carole Rothman announced that September 2023 that she would resign from her position as Second Stage’s artistic director at

840-921: The Heights , Spring Awakening , Next to Normal , Hedwig and the Angry Inch , Fun Home , Hamilton , Dear Evan Hansen , Hadestown , and Kimberly Akimbo . In particular, two that became Broadway hits, Grease and A Chorus Line , encouraged other producers to premiere their shows off-Broadway. Plays that have moved from off-Broadway houses to Broadway include Doubt , I Am My Own Wife , Bridge & Tunnel , The Normal Heart , and Coastal Disturbances . Other productions, such as Stomp , Blue Man Group , Altar Boyz , Perfect Crime , Forbidden Broadway , Nunsense , Naked Boys Singing , Bat Boy: The Musical , and I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change have had runs of many years off-Broadway, never moving to Broadway. The Fantasticks ,

SECTION 20

#1732869832846

880-574: The League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers as a professional venue in Manhattan with a seating capacity of at least 100, but not more than 499, or a production that appears in such a venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts. Previously, regardless of the size of the venue, a theatre was considered a Broadway (rather than off-Broadway) house if it was within the "Broadway Box", extending from 40th Street north to 54th Street and from Sixth Avenue west to Eighth Avenue , including Times Square and West 42nd Street . This change to

920-572: The Obies for Anna Deavere Smith 's Notes from the Field , seven Outer Critics Circle Awards , two Clarence Derwent Awards , 12 Drama Desk Awards , nine Theatre World Awards , 17 Lucille Lortel Awards, the Drama Critics' Circle Award and 23 AUDELCO Awards. In 2010 Next to Normal received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In the following table, the seasons correspond to the year of the play's production;

960-521: The TV series The Practice (2000) and as Dr. Nancy McNally on The West Wing (2000–06). Smith also appeared as hospital administrator Gloria Akalitus in the Showtime dark comedy series Nurse Jackie , which premiered in June 2009. Early in her television career, she appeared on the long-running soap opera All My Children in the recurring role of "Hazel the shampoo girl". In February 2014, Smith appeared as

1000-454: The Theatre ( Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey ), and Best Orchestrations (Tom Kitt and Michael Starobin ), the 2007 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play ( Julie White ) for The Little Dog Laughed , 2002 Tony Award for Best Director of a Play ( Mary Zimmerman for Metamorphoses ), the 2002 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, 28 Obie Awards including a 2017 Special Citation by

1040-493: The beginning of her acting career because people did not know how to categorize her in terms of ethnicity for casting. Smith is best known as a playwright and actress for her " documentary theatre " style, also called verbatim theatre , in plays such as Fires in the Mirror (1992) and Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (1993). Both featured Smith as the sole performer of multiple and diverse characters, based on interviews she had conducted with numerous residents and commentators in

1080-475: The ceremonies are traditionally held in the same or the following year as the production. Notes Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres , but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer than 100. An "off-Broadway production"

1120-558: The company opened a new 296-seat venue, the 43rd Street Theater, designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas ; this location was renamed the Tony Kiser Theater in 2011. The Second Stage Theater Uptown series was inaugurated in 2002 to showcase the work of emerging artists at the McGinn–Cazale Theater at 76th Street. Second Stage finalized its acquisition of the Helen Hayes Theater , a 597-seat Broadway theater at 240 West 44th Street, in April 2015 for $ 24.7 million. The first Second Stage production at

1160-407: The contractual definition of "off-Broadway" benefited theatres satisfying the 499-seat criterion because of the lower minimum required salary for Actors' Equity performers at Off-Broadway theatres as compared with the salary requirements of the union for Broadway theatres. The adoption of the 499-seat criterion occurred after a one-day strike in January 1974. Examples of off-Broadway theatres within

1200-497: The daughter of Anna Rosalind ( née Young), an elementary school principal, and Deaver Young Smith Jr., a coffee merchant. She has four younger siblings. She started attending school shortly after the city had started integrating the public schools, and attended both majority-black and majority-white schools during her lower years. Smith is an alumna of the historic Western High School , an all-girls school. Smith studied acting at Beaver College (now Arcadia University ), where she

1240-500: The end of the 2023–2024 season. In February 2024, Second Stage named Bennett Leak their interim artistic director for the 2024-25 season. Also in February 2024, Second Stage decided to let go of the Tony Kiser Theater, its off-Broadway space, at the end 2024, due to high rent and unfavorable lease terms. Second Stage plans to continue producing off-Broadway theater, and will reopen another off-Broadway space elsewhere. In June 2024, Evan Cabnet

Second Stage Theater - Misplaced Pages Continue

1280-538: The inaugural edition in November 2010. Smith won The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize (2013), one of the richest prizes in the American arts with a remuneration of $ 300,000. In 2013, she received the 2012 National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama . In 2015 the National Endowment for the Humanities selected her for the Jefferson Lecture , the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in

1320-690: The law," was commissioned by Bruce Ferguson, director of Future Arts Research (F.A.R.), a new artist-driven research program at Arizona State University in Phoenix. In 2009, Smith was an artist-in-residence with the Center for American Progress . In Spring 2012, Smith was the first artist-in-residence at Grace Cathedral , San Francisco, a program founded by the Very Rev Jane Shaw , Dean of Grace Cathedral, who shared Smith's vision of "bringing together art and religion". Commissioned by Grace Cathedral and

1360-646: The longest-running musical in theatre history, spent its original 42-year run off-Broadway and had another off-Broadway run from 2006 to 2017. Off-Broadway shows, performers, and creative staff are eligible for the following awards: the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award , the Outer Critics Circle Award , the Drama Desk Award , the Obie Award (presented since 1956 by The Village Voice ),

1400-399: The two cities where riots took place. For these works, she won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show two years in a row. She interviewed more than 100 people as part of her creation of Fires in the Mirror , which dealt with the 1991 Crown Heights riot . In 1992, she interviewed some 300 people as part of her research for creating Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 , which dealt with

1440-748: Was also performed at the American Repertory Theater in September and October 2008. A revised version of the show had its New York City premiere Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre in October 2009. It enjoyed favorable reviews and an extension into January 2010. It was a featured program as part of PBS 's Great Performances series on January 13, 2012. Smith debuted her one-woman play The Arizona Project in Phoenix, Arizona , in November 2008. The piece, which explored "women's relationships to justice and

1480-631: Was born in 1820 in Maryland. He and his wife Mary were listed in the 1850 U.S. census to be free. His occupation was listed as veterinarian. In 1858, he moved his wife and four children to Pennsylvania, and chose to settle in Gettysburg. Another newsworthy article was found in The Cleveland Gazette (1892), which referred to Basil Biggs as the "wealthiest Afro-American in Gettysburg," mentioning his great home on 120 acres. 41% of Smith's European ancestry

1520-609: Was distributed to cinemas by Fox Searchlight Pictures . In 2022, Smith played the supporting role of Maud in the Netflix series Inventing Anna . Smith teaches in the Department of Art & Public Policy at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University . In 1986, she joined the faculty of the University of Southern California School of Dramatic Arts. From 1990 to 2000, she was

1560-494: Was hired as Second Stage’s incoming artistic director in June 2024, succeeding Rothman. The company’s more than 180 citations include three 2024 Tony Awards for Appropriate ( Best Revival of a Play ; Best Actress in a Play , Sarah Paulson ; Best Lighting Design, Jane Cox), two 2022 Tony Awards for Take Me Out (Best Revival of a Play; Best Featured Actor in a Play , Jesse Tyler Ferguson ), six 2017 Tony Awards for Dear Evan Hansen including Best Musical , Best Book of

1600-738: Was one of seven African-American women in her class, graduating in 1971. During her college career, she started to identify as Black. Later she went to the West Coast for graduate work, receiving an M.F.A. in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, California . At the beginning of her career, Smith appeared in a wide range of stage productions, including the role of Mistress Quickly in an Off-Broadway production of Shakespeare 's The Merry Wives of Windsor with

#845154