ATW - Downstage Center

Veteran Broadway press agent Adrian Bryan-Brown ranges over his 30 year career as one of theatre's most successful "drumbeaters," from his first Broadway show, the 1979 "A Taste of Honey" through the 1985 "Big River" and 1992 "Guys and Dolls" to this season's most-discussed new musical "Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark". He also discusses how the role of the press agent has changed as the media has evolved, how social networking has reestablished word of mouth as a key promotional tool, and why when Twittering he can be neither Perez Hilton nor Pollyanna; whether he invests emotionally in the shows he represents; what he has to say to critics after they've beaten up on one of his shows; if he's even been tempted to produce a show himself; how he works with actors facing the press and who he considers the real pros at that game; why he got a degree in zoology when he was planning to embark on a career in film -- and he reveals his special talent for making an iconic NYC-area ice cream cake character. Original air date - September 28, 2009.

Choreographer Sergio Trujillo talks about the development of the new Broadway musical "Memphis" and how the dance styles he employs in it draw upon research he'd already done for several other musicals. He also talks about his childhood in Colombia and how music was part of the country's daily life; his discovery, while studying science at the University of Toronto, of his love and aptitude for dancing; his journeyman years as a Broadway dancer in shows including "Jerome Robbins' Broadway", the 1992 "Guys and Dolls" and "Fosse"; his transition into choreography at Canada's Stratford Festival and in London's West End; how he created dance moves for "Jersey Boys" when the original Four Seasons only stood and sang; why "The Mambo Kings" was vital to his career even though it was never seen in New York; his many collaborations with director Des McAnuff, including the 2009 "Guys and Dolls" -- where he took his inspiration not from Frank Loesser, but from Louis Prima; why his credit isn't "choreographer" on "Next to Normal"; his meticulous preparation, which includes already having all the choreography worked out for this spring's "The Addams Family"; and his plans for his directing debut in 2010 with "Havana", and whether he thinks that will cause him to ultimately leave choreography behind. Original air date - September 21, 2009.

Theatre Development Fund executive director Victoria Bailey talks about the newest icon of Broadway, the red steps of the redesigned TKTS Booth in Times Square, and talks about both how the lines at the booth have created a "town square for the casual theatregoer," as well as what TDF is doing to combat their discovery that many of the people lounging on the steps don't necessarily realize they can buy discounted theatre tickets directly below where they're seated. She talks about her own career in theatre, from her early days taking classes and performing in Washington DC and Minneapolis to her nearly two-decade long tenure at the Manhattan Theatre Club; what drew her to TDF and what she hopes the organization can focus on in the coming years; how TDF's subsidy program for theatre productions works; TDF's efforts to introduce students to theatre, with particular attention to the Open Doors program created by Wendy Wasserstein and boasting mentors including William Finn and Frank Rich; and identifies what she believes is perhaps TDF's least known but most influential program. Original air date - September 14, 2009.

With her Tony-winning costume designs for the hit musical "Wicked" virtually circling the globe, costume designer Susan Hilferty describes the detailed process by which the show's creative team conceived their own vision of Oz, and the level of work required to execute the show's distinctive costumes. She also talks about her initial interest in both fine art and scenic design, even as she worked in costume shops as an artisan; the lucky break that got her professional design credits while still an undergraduate; her decision to go to the Yale School of Drama after several years of working in New York and how that led to her 30-year collaboration with South African playwright Athol Fugard; her quick takes on the varying directorial styles of her most frequent collaborators, including James Lapine, Des McAnuff, Carole Rothman, Robert Woodruff and the late Garland Wright; her counsel to students, as the head of the graduate design program at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts; and why she felt she was going to have to protect Frank Wedekind when she began work on the musical "Spring Awakening". Original air date - September 8, 2009.

Multi-tasking multi-hyphenate producer (and more) Ken Davenport talks about his varied projects, from stage to computer screen. He recalls his childhood years performing in community theatre and his acting studies at NYU; how his interest in company management helped him to learn the ropes of the theatre business and gave him access to the creative talents behind major musicals including ""Ragtime and "Thoroughly Modern Millie"; the key message he got from a seminal meeting with the famed producer and director Hal Prince; the creative process behind his own shows "The Awesome 80s Prom", "Altar Boyz" and "My First Time"; his drive to blog and whether his strong opinions have ever provoked comment amongst his various collaborators; his belief in the power of social networking and viral marketing in the challenging climate facing Off-Broadway; how he came to be a producer on his first four Broadway shows, all in the past 12 months; and who he considers "The Trekkies of Broadway." Original air date - August 31, 2009.

Douglas Aibel, artistic director of New York's Vineyard Theatre, reflects upon the six year run and impending closing of the Broadway musical "Avenue Q", which made its Off-Broadway debut at the Vineyard and has been the company's longest-running commercial transfer -- out of a field that also includes "[title of show]", "How I Learned to Drive", "Three Tall Women", "Fully Committed", "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill" and "Goblin Market", among many others. He also talks about his vision for the Vineyard and how it grew out of a 65-seat, multi-disciplinary performance space into a full-fledged theatre company; how his father's love of Broadway musicals, and incessant playing of cast albums, put him on the path towards a career in theatre; his early years doing five and six internships or part-time jobs at theatres around the city in order to break into the business and make connections; how a job in fundraising at Manhattan Theatre Club led him to work in film; how his dual career as theatrical artistic director and noted film casting director inform each other; and why he believe that people in theatrical chat rooms should be required to use their real names. Original air date - August 24, 2009.

"9 to 5" star Allison Janney talks about her transformation into a musical comedy performer, and why the dancing didn't worry her but the singing did. She also discusses her theatrical education at Kenyon College, the Neighborhood Playhouse and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts; what it was like to be directed in her very first college show by Paul Newman and her subsequent tutelage under mentor Joanne Woodward; her challenge in finding an agent; what an aptitude test said she was most suited for professionally; how the movie "Hoosiers" helped her conquer her fear of making her Broadway debut opposite Frank Langella in "Present Laughter"; why she's not a Shakespeare aficionado in general and why we'll never again see her performing in Central Park, where she starred in "The Taming of the Shrew"; how "The West Wing"'s "walk and talk" sequences reminded her of theatre; and "the truth" about how she scarred Anthony LaPaglia for life when they appeared on Broadway in "A View from the Bridge". Original air date - August 17, 2009.

"Shrek"'s big green hero, Brian d'Arcy James, talks about the opportunities and limitations of creating the title character in the Broadway musical drawn from the first of the blockbuster animated films. He also discusses his journey from Michigan to the New York stage and the two dominant strains on his resume - serious Irish plays (including "Public Enemy", "The Good Thief", "Port Authority" and "The Lieutenant of Inishmore") and serious new musicals ("Floyd Collins", "Titanic", Lippa's "The Wild Party", "Sweet Smell of Success" and the Off-Broadway production of "Next to Normal"). Along the way, he also touches upon his roles in the original Broadway production of "Blood Brothers", the directorial expertise of Nicholas Hytner and Tina Landau, the experience of replacing Norbert Leo Butz in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" -- and explains his familial bond to TV's most famous dolphin, "Flipper". Original air date - August 10, 2009.

Gregory Jbara traces his stage career from his first grade appearance as the title role in "Frosty the Snowman" all the way to his Tony Award-winning turn in the current Broadway musical "Billy Elliot". Along the way, he discusses a college career that began at the University of Michigan and wrapped up at the Juilliard School; his first significant role as The Monster in the campy "Have I Got a Girl For You (The Frankenstein Musical)"; chronicles the sudden acclaim (off-Broadway) and quick demise (on Broadway) of Caryl Churchill's "Serious Money"; his various appearances in "Forever Plaid" around the country -- and how he made more doing it in Washington DC than the original cast made in the New York company; what it was like to work with show business icons like Jerry Lewis (in "Damn Yankees") and Julie Andrews (in "Victor/Victoria"); how his role of André, and the songs, in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" were shaped as the show was being developed; and what's its like to play opposite a different actor as Billy every single night in "Billy Elliot" -- often not knowing who he'll be on with until moments before the curtain rises. Original air date - August 3, 2009.

If you enjoy Downstage Center you might be interested in our new program, SDCF Masters of the Stage.

Two-time Tony nominee Jan Maxwell talks about whether she's been influenced by Carole Lombard and Anne Bancroft, her film predecessors as the leading ladies of "To Be or Not To Be", as well as the difficulty of working in a new play when the author was on the other side of the ocean. She also relates a tale of how she managed her first visit to New York under the guise of a youth mission trip; her multiple experiences coming into shows with relatively little preparation, including "A Doll's House" and "The Dinner Party", and Neil Simon's withering assessment of her work at an early preview of the latter; literally getting lost backstage at City Center while running between the theatre's for Alan Ayckbourn's "House and Garden"; why she thinks she's being typecast as a child tormentor in such shows as "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and "Coram Boy"; her deep affinity for the work of playwright Howard Barker, and why we shouldn't expect to see her collaborating with her brother, noted downtown theatre artist Richard Maxwell, anytime soon. Original air date - November 7, 2008.

Prolific producer Tom Viertel, who with his partners Richard Frankel, Steve Baruch and Marc Routh have been responsible for such shows as "The Producers", "Hairspray", and the John Doyle-directed "Company" and "Sweeney Todd", talks abut producing on Broadway and the pending closing of the long-running "Hairspray". He relates his own theatrical heritage -- his grandfather was a contractor who built the Mark Hellinger Theatre, among many others, and his father was a playwright -- and how he began his own theatrical career as a hobby while working at the family real estate concern. Among the shows he discusses are his first theatrical foray with two magicians he first saw in a 50 seat theatre in Los Angeles -- Penn and Teller; the extraordinary auditions of two now well-known actresses, Donna Murphy and Laura Benanti, for "Song of Singapore" and "The Sound of Music" respectively; the counterintuitive decisions that led him to produce Theatre de Complicite's "Mnemonic" as a commercial production and to revive "Gypsy" with Patti LuPone on Broadway only five years after the prior production; the travails of producing "Smokey Joe's Cafe"; and why in his spare time he's so committed to his volunteer role as chairman of Connecticut's Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. Original air date - October 31, 2008.

Two-time Tony Award-winner James Naughton explains why he's at home in the Irish Repertory Theatre's "The Master Builder" and why it's his three Broadway musical appearances which are really the anomalies in his long stage career. He also shares how a casual college audition launched him into acting; discusses his artistic homes at both Williamstown Theatre Festival and the Westport Country Playhouse; marvels at the good fortune of his early connection to composer Cy Coleman, first with "I Love My Wife" and later on "City of Angels"; recalls the excitement of being on stage with Elaine May as she improvised her way through Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"; relates a funny incident involving President Clinton and the chorus girls of "Chicago"; and confides why his next Broadway musical role should turn up very soon. Original air date - October 24, 2008.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson discusses the creation of his famed "Talley trilogy," including "Fifth of July", which stemmed in part from his equating an Eskimo folk tale with the war in Vietnam, and "Talley's Folly", now in revival at the McCarter Theatre, and how it grew out of an acting suggestion made to one of the original cast members of "Fifth of July". He also talks about his original aspirations of being an artist, with writing being simply something to fall back on; his move from Chicago to New York and his introduction to Off-Broadway's famed Cafe Cino in the mid-60s; the genesis of his landmark plays "Balm in Gilead" and "The Hot l Baltimore"; how he came to write "Burn This" to break away from his growing reputation as a "suburban" playwright and as the antithesis of "Talley's Folly"; and whether we'll be seeing new plays from him any time soon. Original air date - October 17, 2008.

Multiple Tony nominee Gregg Edelman describes about the creation of the new Broadway musical "A Tale of Two Cities", including a song that was cut and that he misses terribly, and explains to Dickens purists where the musical's plot diverges a bit from the novel. He also talks about his college years at Northwestern University, where his connection to theatre began not as an actor but as a songwriter, and how an excuse for skipping classes landed him in Chicago company of "Evita"; the challenges of appearing in revivals -- as he did in the 1987 "Cabaret" and the 1984 "Oliver!" -- where the goal seems to be recreating the original hit production, as opposed revivals open to new interpretations, such as "Wonderful Town" and "Into The Woods"; the thrill of creating roles in the original "City of Angels" and "Passion"; and how he tackled the role of Rutledge in the 1997 revival of "1776". Original air date - October 10, 2008.