Actors Colman Domingo, Elizabeth Marvel, Tony Award winner Michele Pawk (2003 for Featured Actress in Hollywood Arms), Daphne Rubin-Vega and David Zayas discuss the influence of their early training; how they challenge themselves for each role; their feelings about participating in readings and workshops; collaborating with directors; their relationship with the audience and how it affects their performance; and roles that they'd like to play.

Tony Award Winners on Working In The Theatre

Through Their Eyes: Actors 2011 - February, 2011

The panelists -- President/Executive Director of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization Ted Chapin, President of the American Theatre Producers Cy Feuer (and four-time Tony winner for the original productions of Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying and a Special Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003), writer/critic Martin Gottfried, actor Nathan Lane (Tony winner for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and The Producers), actor Donna McKechnie (Tony winner for A Chorus Line), book writer Joseph Stein (Fiddler on the Roof), five-time Tony Award-winning director and choreographer Susan Stroman (for Crazy for You, Showboat, Contact, and 2 awards for The Producers), and composer/lyricist Charles Strouse (Tony winner for Bye, Bye Birdie, Annie and Applause) -- discuss musical revivals in-depth, comparisons to new musicals such as Big, the state of musical theatre compared to the 1960s, script revisions and new designs for revivals, and the overall economics of producing Broadway musicals including the need for out-of-town tryouts.

Revivals: Return to Broadway - April, 1996

The panel of performers - Jessica Boevers (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), Jim Dale (Candide, Tony winner for 1980’s Barnum), Justin Kirk (Love! Valour! Compassion!), Daniel Massey (Taking Sides), Jay Hunter Morris (Master Clas), Adam Pascal (Rent), and Jean Smart (Fit To Be Tied) - discuss their backgrounds in diverse areas of performance such as dance, opera, rock music, and repertory theatre; pursuing acting in New York compared to Chicago and Los Angeles; early roles, training, and getting an agent; and reciprocal reactions between the performer and audiences.

Performance - September, 1996

The panel of playwrights -- Edward Albee (Tony winner for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and the 2005 recipient of the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre), Eve Merriam (The Club), Samm-Art Williams (Home), Lanford Wilson (Talley's Folly), and Ruth Wolff (The Abdication) -- discuss producing their current plays, how much playwrights creatively collaborate with directors and producers, the responsibilities of an agent, how playwrights learn to direct, and advice for actors and new playwrights.

Playscript - April, 1980

The panel of performers -- Karen Akers (Nine), Christine Baranski (Tony Awards for The Real Thing and Rumors), actor/playwright Harvey Fierstein (who won acting Tony Awards for Hairspray and Torch Song Trilogy -- for which he also won a Best Play Tony in addition to his best book Tony for La Cage Aux Folles), Ben Harney (Dreamgirls, Tony Award), Lonny Price (Master Harold...and the boys), and Liv Ullmann (Ghosts) -- discuss the strong themes of their respective productions; how demanding their roles are, from character development to physical challenges to the emotional intensity of a role; training and audition experiences; how cast replacements effect a play; and developing new musicals out-of-town compared to workshopping in New York.

Performance - September, 1982

The business team for the play Dancing In The End Zone -- literary agent Mitch Douglas, producers Dasha Epstein and Morton Gottlieb, publicist Milly Schoenbaum, and general manager Richard Seader -- talk about the responsibilities of the producer, the benefits of a workshop versus going out-of-town, the role of a press agent, comparing large off-Broadway houses to Broadway, and the evolution of opening night events including critics now attending previews.

Production: Dancing In The End Zone - April, 1984

The panel of actors -- Sinead Cusack (Cyrano De Bergerac), Frank Langella (Tony winner for Seascape, Dracula and Frost/Nixon), Joe Mantegna (Glengarry Glen Ross, Tony Award), Theresa Merritt (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom), and Sigourney Weaver (Hurlyburly) -- talk about their training, auditioning for their first major roles, the rehearsal process, working in the ensemble, actors who are also playwrights, and establishing relationships as a result of stage work.

Performance - September, 1984

The business team behind Hurlyburly -- advertising representative Rick Elice, agent Milton Goldman, legal counsel Jay S. Harris (Tony Winner for 1999’s Side Man), stage manager Peter Lawrence, press representative Sandra Manley, and producer Frederick Zollo (Tony Awards for Part One and Two of Angels in America and the 2002 revival of Private Lives) -- discuss how David Rabe's play found a producer, director, and high profile cast for its debut at Chicago's Goodman Theatre, its successful off-Broadway run prior to Broadway, producing with a profit pool plan, production costs including the advertising budget, and the present state of the American play.

Production: Hurlyburly - September, 1984

The panel of Broadway actors -- Matthew Broderick (two-time Tony winner for Brighton Beach Memoirs and How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying), Jim Dale (Candide, Tony winner for 1980’s Barnum), Charles S. Dutton (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom), Rosemary Harris (Tony Award winner in 1966 for The Lion in Winter), Glenda Jackson (Strange Interlude), and theatrical agent Lionel Larner -- discuss how they left their various layman jobs to begin performing, their audition experiences, how they became involved in their current productions, what they look for in an agent, how they obtained one, and the role of an agent.

Performance - April, 1985

The producing team of the 1985 Broadway musical Grind -- advertising representative Jeffrey Ash, group sales executive Ronald S. Lee, executive producer Ruth Mitchell (Tony Awards for Cabaret and Candide), and producers Michael Frazier, Kenneth Greenblatt (three-time Tony winner in 1982 for Nine, in 1984 for La Cage aux Folles and in 2005 for the revival of La Cage aux Folles), Mary Lea Johnson (Tony winner for Sweeney Todd), and John Pomerantz -- talks about bringing the nearly $5 million production to Broadway after a tryout in Baltimore, working with director Hal Prince, the importance of advertising and group ticket sales in light of mixed critical reviews, comparisons to their previously produced hits La Cage Aux Folles and Nine, and budgeting a new American musical with a controversial royalty structure that doesn't pay the creative team until the production turns a profit.

Production: Grind - April, 1985

The panel of actors -- Don Correia (Singin' in the Rain), Tovah Feldshuh (Springtime for Henry), Glenne Headly (Arms and the Man), Judd Hirsch (Tony Awards for I'm Not Rappaport and Conversations With My Father), Barnard Hughes (The Iceman Cometh and a Tony Award winner for Da), Cleavon Little (I'm Not Rappaport and Tony winner for Purlie), Elizabeth McGovern (Map of the World) -- and casting director Vincent G. Liff discuss how they have dealt with mishaps and missed lines, the extent of research done for roles, schooling and formal acting training, starting out in regional theatre such as Chicago before finding work in New York, and the responsibilities of the casting director.

Performance - September, 1985

The panelists -- director Clinton Turner Davis (Two Can Play), playwright Herb Gardner (1986 Tony Award for I'm Not Rappaport), playwright/lyricist Tom Jones (The Fantasticks), playwright Shirley Lauro (Open Admissions), lyricist/director Richard Maltby Jr. (Tony Award winner in 1978 for Ain’t Misbehavin’), playwright Marsha Norman (Night Mother and a Tony Award for The Secret Garden) and composer Harvey Schmidt (The Fantasticks) -- discuss how a playwright chooses a director, the role of a playwright, how much structure is provided by the text, and the varying degrees of collaboration between director, playwright, and actor.

Playwright and Director - September, 1985

Our panel of some of Broadway's brightest new performers -- Jennifer Damiano, Robin de Jesús, Tony Award winner John Gallagher Jr. (2007 for Spring Awakening), Jon Michael Hill and Krysta Rodriguez -- discuss the first professional show they ever saw; the moment they realized they wanted to perform and how their families responded to the news; how their very first jobs came about; the challenges of choosing between school and work; whether they like to go to other shows and what kind of audience member they are; and what they learn from their professional colleagues.

The Next Generation 2010 - June, 2010

The 1985 Joseph Maharam Foundation Awards for Scenic, Costume, and Lighting Design are awarded to Lawrence Eichler, Charles Ludlam, and Everett Quinton for The Ridiculous Theatrical Company's The Mystery of Irma Vep; Mel Carpenter, Angus Moss, and Blu for Ping Chong's Fiji Theatre Company's NOSFERATU: A Symphony of Darkness; and Heidi Landesman (Tony winner for her scenic designs of Big River and The Secret Garden), Patricia McGourty, and Richard Riddell (Tony winner) for Broadway's Big River. The designers discuss their respective productions in-depth. In addition, Henry Hewes receives an award for Outstanding Service For His Recognition Of Theatre Design.

Design - September, 1985

The panel of actors -- Glenn Close (three-time Tony winner for The Real Thing, Death and the Maiden and Sunset Boulevard), Maurice Hines (Uptown...It's Hot), Aidan Quinn (A Lie of the Mind), Marlo Thomas (Social Security) -- discuss working with directors, agents, formal education and technical training, and the beginnings of their individual acting careers.

Performance - April, 1986

For more than 30 years the American Theatre Wing has been bringing together performers, directors, playwrights, designers, choreographers, producers and behind-the-scenes personnel from the American and international theatre, WIT offers a rare opportunity for students and audiences to see the people who create theatre engaged in thoughtful conversation with one another. With more than 600 past guests, the seminars have become an unequalled archive of theatrical talk, a chance to hear from the people behind the characters, stories and productions that draw us to the theatre. We have collected the Tony Award winners who have appeared on Working In The Theatre.

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Tony Award Winners on Working In The Theatre

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