The Matchmaker - Center Stage

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CRITICAL MASS Close the loop Theater reviews: how much do they influence you? Let us know what you think by emailing feedback@centerstage.org. On the wall outside the office of Artistic Director Irene Lewis is a 3’x5’ blow-up of the devastating reviews given Henrick Ibsen’s dramatic masterpiece, Ghosts. A remnant of a long-forgotten lobby display for the show’s 1994 CENTERSTAGE production, the poster serves as a daily reminder of the folly of any artist living or dying by critical response—and informs Lewis’s steadfast insistence on keeping a healthy sense of perspective about her work. “I give my total concentration to each production I direct. I don’t care if it’s a musical or Shakespeare, each one is special to me; each one gets the same amount of care, preparation, attention to casting, and use of my imagination. And I’ve found that, for each show, there’s someone who will say it’s my best and someone who says it’s my worst. I ignore both comments and don’t read the reviews.” Of course, not every artist feels the same way. “Some organizations blow up the good reviews and put them in the lobby. My feeling: if you believe the good, you believe the bad.” This doesn’t mean Lewis is unconcerned about her audience’s reaction to CENTERSTAGE’s work. On the contrary, it’s her way of protecting it. “I don’t think we should be telling our patrons what someone else thought of a play—that circumvents their own power to decide for themselves. Let people have their own experience, make up their own minds. We have a smart, intellectually curious audience—they don’t need to be told what to think.” In fact, patron reaction to a bad review is often the most passionate. “I can’t tell you the number of times someone has stopped me after one of our productions has been hit over the head in the press. They have to make sure I know how much the show meant to them and marvel that anyone could have felt differently. Of course, I have to take the praise as skeptically as I take the criticism. But I enjoy their passion about expressing a different view.” Still, doesn’t it sting just a little to have a labor of love criticized in such a public way? “A director works with many artists on each show and—as a collective group—we do our own analyzing, judging, and speculating about the piece. Sometimes hindsight makes us wonder what changes we’d make if we were to do it again. So in actuality, we do our own internal ‘reviews’. “Ultimately though, predicting the reaction to a work of art—if created with integrity and brought to life with passion and vigor—can’t be your primary consideration as an artist. And quite frankly, after all these years, I find it impossible to predict anything!” Irene Lewis, Artistic Director —Barbara Watson, Director of Audience Development Next Stage: The Matchmaker |
COntentS The Dolly Levi Relay Race 4 Wilder the Playwright 6 Why Farce? 7 Giving Horace His Due 8 The Gilded Age & 10 The Empire City The Secret Dutch Conspiracy 12 To Rule The World Etiquette for Ermengarde 14 Glossary 15 Bibliography & Further Reading 22 the CenteRStAGe next Stage is published by: CENTERSTAGE Associates 700 North Calvert Street Baltimore, Maryland 21202 editor Barbara Watson Contributors Drew Lichtenberg, James Magruder, Kathryn Van Winkle Art Direction/Design Bill Geenen Design Jason Gembicki COntACt InFORMAtIOn Box Office Phone 410.332.0033 Box Office Fax 410.727.2522 Administration 410.986.4000 www.centerstage.org info@centerstage.org In CASe OF eMeRGenCy (during performances only) 410.986.4080 Irene Lewis Director Riccardo Hernández Scenic Designer Candice Donnelly Costume Designer Pat Collins Lighting Designer John Gromada Music Composition/Sound Designer J. Allen Suddeth Fight Director Kenneth L. Roberson Choreographer James Magruder Production Dramaturg Larry Cione Music Director Janet Foster Casting Director Laura Hackman Local Casting Consultant settinG: Various locations in Yonkers and lower Manhattan, the early 1890s There will be one 15-minute intermission PLeASe tuRn OFF OR SILenCe ALL eLeCtROnIC DevICeS. Sponsored by Associate Production Sponsors The Matchmaker By Thornton Wilder The Pearlstone Theater Sept 10–Oct 12, 2008 the Cast (in alphabetical order) Craig Bockhorn* Joe/Cabman Michael Braun* Cornelius Hackl edward Gero* Horace Vandergelder Celia Howard* Gertrude/Cook Peter Mark Kendall August Garrett neergaard* Barnaby Tucker Caitlin O’Connell* Dolly Levi Laurence O’Dwyer* Malachi Stack Pamela Payton-Wright* Flora Van Huysen Jake Riggs Rudolph Lee Aaron Rosen* Ambrose Kemper Keri Setaro* Minnie Fay Kate turnbull* Irene Molloy Zoë Winters* Ermengarde Mike Schleifer* Stage Manager Jason Linett* Assistant Stage Manager *Member of Actors’ Equity Association CENTERSTAGE is funded by an operating grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive. Next Stage: The Matchmaker |
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The Matchmaker - Center Stage

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