Marshall W. Mason
   HOME
*





Marshall W. Mason
Marshall W. Mason (born February 24, 1940) is an American theater director, educator, and writer. Mason founded the Circle Repertory Company in New York City and was artistic director of the company for 18 years (1969–1987). He received an Obie Award for Sustained Achievement in 1983. In 2016, he received the Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater. From 1983 to 1986, Mason was president of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national labor union. Early life, education, and off-off-Broadway Mason was born in Amarillo, Texas, on February 24, 1940. He graduated from Northwestern University with a bachelor's degree in theater in 1961. At the age of 19, while at Northwestern, he received his first award for directing a production of Tennessee Williams' ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof''. Upon graduating, he moved to Manhattan, where he began working in the off-off-Broadway theater movement in venues such as the Caffe Cino, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, and ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Amarillo
Amarillo ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat, seat of Potter County, Texas, Potter County. It is the List of cities in Texas by population, 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall County, Texas, Randall County. The estimated population of Amarillo was 200,393 as of April 1, 2020. The Amarillo-Pampa micropolitan area, Pampa-Hutchinson County, Texas, Borger combined statistical area had an estimated population of 308,297 as of 2020. The city of Amarillo, originally named Oneida, is situated in the Llano Estacado region.Rathjen, Fredrick W. ''The Texas Panhandle Frontier'' (1973). pg. 11. The University of Texas Press. . The availability of the railroad and freight service provided by the Fort Worth and Denver Railway, Fort Worth and Denver City Railroad contributed to the city's growth as a cattle-marketing center in the late 19th centur ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Caffe Cino
Caffe Cino was an Off-Off-Broadway theater founded in 1958 by Joe Cino. The West Village coffeehouse, located at 31 Cornelia Street, was initially conceived as a venue for poetry, folk music, and visual art exhibitions. The plays produced at the Cino, however, became most prominent, and it is now considered the "birthplace of Off-Off-Broadway". Beginnings and early productions Joe Cino was born into an Italian-American family, and moved from Buffalo, New York to be a dancer in New York City. After 10 years, he used his $400 in savings and opened the Caffe Cino Art Gallery. Initially, Cino encouraged his friends to hang their artwork on the walls. That led to poetry readings, which led to staged readings and eventually to productions of plays. During the early days of the Cino, plays were produced on the floor. A makeshift 8x8-foot stage was later created using milk cartons and carpet remnants. Productions were initially limited to 30 minutes, and the audience could stand anywh ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Burn This
''Burn This'' (stylized as ''Burn/This'' for the 2019 revival) is a play by Lanford Wilson. Like much of Wilson's work, the play includes themes of gay identity and relationships. Plot summary The play begins shortly after the funeral of Robbie, a young, gay dancer who drowned in a boating accident with his lover Dom. In attendance were Robbie's roommates: his sensitive dance partner and choreographer, Anna, and confident, gay advertising executive Larry. Soon joining them in Robbie's lower Manhattan loft are screenwriter Burton (Anna's longtime lover) and Pale (Robbie's cocaine-snorting, hyperactive restaurant manager brother). In the face of their shared tragedy, the quartet attempts to make sense of their lives and reconsider their own identities and relationships. Anna learns to be independent and self-confident. She begins to pursue her interest in choreography and begins a relationship with Pale, ending her dispassionate relationship with her longtime boyfriend. Production h ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Angels Fall
''Angels Fall'' is a play by Lanford Wilson. It premiered off-Broadway at the Circle Repertory Company in 1982. The play ran on Broadway in 1983 and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. Characters *Niles Harris: a cynical, middle-aged university professor *Vita Harris: his much younger wife *Don Tabaha: a young Native American medical student *Marion Clay: a wealthy, middle-aged widow *Salvatore Zappala: Marion's young lover *Father William Doherty: an elderly, idealistic Catholic priest Niles and Vita were originally called Niles and Vita Heron, but Wilson changed their names when it was pointed out that "Vita Heron" sounded like Vita Herring, a brand of herring. Plot summary A nuclear accident has occurred in a remote section of New Mexico, and two couples who had been traveling through the area are forced to stop and seek shelter while awaiting further word from the authorities. They find shelter at a small Catholic mission ministering to impoverished local Nativ ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Talley's Folly
''Talley's Folly'' is a 1980 play by American playwright Lanford Wilson. The play is the second in ''The Talley Trilogy'', between his plays '' Talley & Son'' and '' Fifth of July''. Set in an boathouse near rural Lebanon, Missouri in 1944, it is a romantic comedy following the characters Matt Friedman and Sally Talley as they settle their feelings for each other. Wilson received the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the work. The play is unlike Wilson's other works, taking place in one act with no intermission, set in ninety-seven minutes of real time, with no set change. Plot summary ''Talley's Folly'' depicts one night in the lives of two unlikely sweethearts, Matt Friedman and Sally Talley. The one-act play takes place in a boathouse on the Talley farm in Missouri on the Fourth of July, 1944. The play opens with Matt directly addressing the audience, telling them that the play will take ninety-seven minutes and he hopes to relay his story properly in that time. Taking the tim ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Fifth Of July
''Fifth of July'' is a 1978 play by Lanford Wilson. Set in rural Missouri in 1977, it revolves around the Talley family and their friends, and focuses on the disillusionment in the wake of the Vietnam War. It premiered on Broadway in 1980 and was later produced as a made-for-television movie. The play is part of the Talley Trilogy, a series of Wilson plays revolving around the Talley family of Lebanon, Missouri. The other plays, both set on July 4, 1944, are ''Talley's Folly'', a one-act dialogue between Sally Talley and her husband-to-be, Matthew Friedman, and '' Talley & Son'', the story of a power struggle between Sally's father and grandfather. Plot summary Kenneth Talley Jr. is a gay double amputee Vietnam veteran living in his childhood home with his boyfriend, botanist Jed Jenkins. At the beginning of the play, he is due to return to his former high school to teach English, but has decided not to. Visiting Ken and Jed are Ken's sister, June Talley, and her daughter, Shirl ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


The Hot L Baltimore
#REDIRECT The Hot l Baltimore #REDIRECT The Hot l Baltimore the title is a play on the word 'Hotel' with a missing 'e', hence, ''"Hot l"''. The only "official" rendering with a capital "L" (official being defined as actual promotional material) is when the entire word, or ...
the title is a play on the word 'Hotel' with a missing 'e', hence, ''"Hot l"''. The only "official" rendering with a capital "L" (official being defined as actual promotional material) is when the entire word, or the entire title is also all-caps. {{R from other capitalisation ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

History Of American Theater
Theater in the United States is part of the old European theatrical tradition and has been heavily influenced by the British theater. The central hub of the American theater scene is Manhattan, with its divisions of Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway. Many movie and television stars have gotten their big break working in New York productions. Outside New York, many cities have professional regional or resident theater companies that produce their own seasons, with some works being produced regionally with hopes of eventually moving to New York. U.S. theater also has an active community theater culture, which relies mainly on local volunteers who may not be actively pursuing a theatrical career. Early history Before the first English colony was established in 1607, there were Spanish dramas and Native American tribes that performed theatrical events. Representations continued to be held in Spanish-held territories in what later became the United States. For example ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Playbill
''Playbill'' is an American monthly magazine for theatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of ''Playbill'' are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the show's program. ''Playbill'' was first printed in 1884 for a single theater on 21st Street in New York City. The magazine is now used at nearly every Broadway theatre, as well as many Off-Broadway productions. Outside New York City, ''Playbill'' is used at theaters throughout the United States. As of September 2012, its circulation was 4,073,680. History What is known today as ''Playbill'' started in 1884, when Frank Vance Strauss founded the New York Theatre Program Corporation specializing in printing theater programs. Strauss reimagined the concept of a theater program, making advertisements a standard feature and thus transforming what was then a leaflet into a fully designed magazine. The new format proved popular with theatergoers, who s ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Scenic Design
Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly trained professionals, holding B.F.A. or M.F.A. degrees in theatre arts. Scenic designers create sets and scenery that aim to support the overall artistic goals of the production. There has been some consideration that scenic design is also production design; however, it is generally considered to be a part of the visual production of a film or television. Scenic designer The scenic designer works with the director and other designers to establish an overall visual concept for the production and design the stage environment. They are responsible for developing a complete set of design drawings that include the following: *''basic ground plan'' showing all stationary and scenic elements; *''composite ground plan'' showing all moving scenic ele ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Lanford Wilson
Lanford Wilson (April 13, 1937March 24, 2011) was an American playwright. His work, as described by ''The New York Times'', was "earthy, realist, greatly admired [and] widely performed."Margalit Fox, Fox, Margalit"Lanford Wilson, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwright, Dies at 73"''The New York Times'', March 24, 2011. Wilson helped to advance the Off-Off-Broadway theater movement with his earliest plays, which were first produced at the Caffe Cino beginning in 1964. He was one of the first playwrights to move from Off-Off-Broadway to Off-Broadway, then Broadway theatre, Broadway and beyond. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1980 and was elected in 2001 to the Theater Hall of Fame. In 2004, Wilson was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and received the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award as a Master American Dramatist. He was nominated for three Tony Awards and has won a Drama Desk Award and five Obie Awards. Wilson's 1964 short play ''T ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Balm In Gilead
''Balm in Gilead'' is a 1965 play written by American playwright Lanford Wilson. Dramatic structure Wilson's first full-length play, ''Balm in Gilead'' centers on a café frequented by heroin addicts, prostitutes, and thieves. It features many unconventional theatrical devices, such as overlapping dialogue, simultaneous scenes, and unsympathetic lead characters. The plot draws a parallel between the amoral and criminal activity that the characters engage in to provide escape from their boredom and suffering, and the two main characters' becoming a couple in order to escape from their lives. The play takes its title from a quote in the Old Testament (Book of Jeremiah, chapter 46, verse 11). Production history Wilson wrote the play while living in New York City, finding inspiration by sitting in cafés and eavesdropping. He approached Marshall W. Mason, whom he knew from the Caffe Cino, to direct the production. After being workshopped in the directing and playwriting units of th ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]