Reed Birney
Reed Birney (born September 11, 1954) is an American actor. Birney is known for his performances on stage and screen often acting on and off Broadway. Birney gained acclaim in 2016 for his role in '' The Humans'' winning the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. He was also nominated previously in the same category for his performance in '' Casa Valentina'' in 2014. He starred in the films ''Mass'' (2021), and ''The Menu'' (2022). He's also known for his recurring roles in ''Gossip Girl'' (2007-2009), ''House of Cards'' (2013-2017), ''The Blacklist'' (2014-2015), and '' Home Before Dark'' (2021-2022). He's also acted in ''The Americans'', ''The Handmaid's Tale'', and '' Succession''. Career Birney attended the Boston University College of Fine Arts for two years. After moving to New York City, he attended classes sponsored by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Birney appeared Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in 1976 in ''Gemini'' by Albert Innaura ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. The city's estimated population has grown by 1% annually since 2010 on average. Like the rest of Northern Virginia and Central Maryland, modern Alexandria has been influenced by its proximity to the U.S. capital. It is largely populated by professionals working in the United States federal civil service, federal civil service, in the U.S. Military, U.S. military, or for one of the many private companies which contract to Government contractor, provide services to the federal government. One of Alexandria's largest employers is the United States Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Defense. Another is the Institute for Defense Analyses. In 2005, the U ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Handmaid's Tale (TV Series)
''The Handmaid's Tale'' is an American dystopian television series created by Bruce Miller, based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. The series was ordered by the streaming service Hulu as a straight-to-series order of 10 episodes, for which production began in late 2016. The plot features a dystopia following a Second American Civil War wherein a theonomic, totalitarian society subjects fertile women, called " Handmaids", to child-bearing slavery. The first three episodes of the series premiered on April 26, 2017; the subsequent seven episodes were released every Wednesday. In July 2019, the series was renewed for a fourth season, which premiered on April 27, 2021. In September 2019, it was announced that Hulu and MGM were developing a sequel series, to be based on Atwood's 2019 novel ''The Testaments''. In December 2020, ahead of the fourth season premiere, the series was renewed for a fifth season, which premiered on September 14, 2022. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Man From Nebraska
''Man From Nebraska'' is a play by American playwright Tracy Letts, which premiered in 2003 in Chicago. ''Man From Nebraska'' is about a man's loss of faith and his journey to regain it. Productions The play had its world premiere at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois on November 20, 2003. Directed by Anna D. Shapiro, the cast featured Rick Snyder (Ken), Rondi Reed (Nancy) and Michael Shannon (Harry Brown). The play ran at the South Coast Repertory Theatre, Costa Mesa, California in March 2006, starring Brian Kerwin and Kathy Baker and directed by William Friedkin. The play was a 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Drama finalist. The play premiered Off-Broadway at the Second Stage Theatre, marking its New York debut, starting January 26, 2017 in previews, officially on February 15, 2017. The cast features Reed Birney (Ken), Nana Mensah (Tamyra), Max Gordon Moore (Harry Brown), Annette O'Toole (Nancy Carpenter), Kathleen Peirce (Cammie Carpenter), William Ragsdale Will ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the American Theatre Wing. As the Tony Awards cover Broadway productions, the Obie Awards cover off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions. Background The Obie Awards were initiated by Edwin (Ed) Fancher, publisher of ''The Village Voice,'' who handled the financing and business side of the project. They were first given in 1956 under the direction of theater critic Jerry Tallmer. Initially, only off-Broadway productions were eligible; in 1964, off-off-Broadway productions were made eligible. The first Obie Awards ceremony was held at Helen Gee's cafe.Aletti, Vince"Helen Gee 1919–2004" ''Village Voice'' (New York City), 12 October 2004, accessed on 21 November 2013 With the exception of the Lifetime Achievement and Best New American Pl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Following the 1964 renaming as the Drama Desk Awards, Broadway productions were included beginning with the 1968–69 award season. The awards are considered a significant American theater distinction. History The Drama Desk organization was formed in 1949 by a group of New York theater critics, editors, reporters and publishers, in order to make the public aware of the vital issues concerning the theatrical industry. They debuted the presentations of the ''Vernon Rice Awards''. The name honors the ''New York Post'' critic Vernon Rice, who had pioneered Off-Broadway coverage in the New York press. The name was changed for the 1963–1964 awards season to the ''Drama Desk Awards''. In 1974, the Drama Desk became incorporated as a not-for-pr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in Midtown Manhattan. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances. One is also given for regional theatre. Several discretionary non-competitive awards are given as well, including a Special Tony Award, the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, and the Isabelle Stevenson Award. The awards were founded by theatre producer and director Brock Pemberton and are named after Antoinette "Tony" Perry, an actress, producer and theatre director who was co-founder and secretary of the American Theatre Wing. The trophy consists of a spinnable medallion, with faces portraying an adaptation of the comedy and tragedy masks, mounted on a black base with a pewter swivel. The rules for the Tony Awards are set forth in the off ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the pa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Uncle Vanya
''Uncle Vanya'' ( rus, Дя́дя Ва́ня, r=Dyádya Ványa, p=ˈdʲædʲə ˈvanʲə) is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1898, and was first produced in 1899 by the Moscow Art Theatre under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski. The play portrays the visit of an elderly professor and his glamorous, much younger second wife, Yelena, to the rural estate that supports their urban lifestyle. Two friends—Vanya, brother of the professor's late first wife, who has long managed the estate, and Astrov, the local doctor—both fall under Yelena's spell, while bemoaning the ''ennui'' of their provincial existence. Sonya, the professor's daughter by his first wife, who has worked with Vanya to keep the estate going, suffers from her unrequited feelings for Astrov. Matters are brought to a crisis when the professor announces his intention to sell the estate, Vanya and Sonya's home, with a view to investing the proceeds to achieve a higher inco ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Annie Baker
Annie Baker (born April 1981) is an American playwright and teacher who won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for her play ''The Flick.'' Among her works are the Shirley, Vermont plays, which take place in the fictional town of Shirley: ''Circle Mirror Transformation'', '' Nocturama'', '' Body Awareness'', and '' The Aliens.'' She was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2017. Early life Baker's family lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when Baker was born, but soon moved to Amherst, Massachusetts, where she grew up and where her father, Conn Nugent, was an administrator for the Five Colleges consortium and her mother Linda Baker was a psychology doctoral student. Her brother is author Benjamin Baker Nugent. Baker graduated from the Department of Dramatic Writing at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in playwriting from Brooklyn College in 2009. One of her early jobs was as a guest-wrangler helping to oversee contestants on the reality-tele ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Circle Mirror Transformation
''Circle Mirror Transformation'' is a play by Annie Baker, centered on drama classes at a community center in Vermont. The play opened Off-Broadway in 2009 and received the Obie Award for Best New American Play. Productions ''Circle Mirror Transformation'' premiered Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons on 13 October 2009 and closed on 31 January 2010."Internet Off-Broadway Database listing, 'Circle Mirror Transformation'" lortel.org, retrieved May 18, 2010 Directed by , the cast featured ( ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bug (play)
''Bug'' is a play by American playwright Tracy Letts. Exploring themes of paranoia and conspiracy theories, the play tells the story of a woman who, as she spends time with a newly acquainted man in her motel room, starts sharing more and more of his paranoias. It premiered in London 1996, and was also performed around the United States between 2000 and 2004. The play was adapted into a film of the same name directed by William Friedkin in 2006, with Letts writing the screenplay and Michael Shannon, who had played the male lead role of Peter in the original London production and in some American versions, reprising his role. Synopsis Most of the play takes place in a seedy motel room. Lonely cocktail waitress Agnes lives there, hiding from her violent ex-husband Jerry Goss, an ex-con. One night, her lesbian biker friend R.C. introduces her to Peter, a Gulf War veteran who might be AWOL. She gets involved with Peter, who grows increasingly paranoid about the war in Iraq, UFOs, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gemini (play)
''Gemini'' is a play by Albert Innaurato, and became the fourth longest-running non-musical play in Broadway history. Plot Set in the backyard of a blue-collar South Philadelphia neighborhood early in the summer of 1973, the comedy-drama focuses on the 21st birthday celebration of Harvard student Francis Geminiani. In attendance are his divorced blue collar father Fran and Fran's widowed girlfriend Lucille, next-door neighbor Bunny Weinberger and her overweight son Herschel, and Francis' classmates, the wealthy WASP Hastings siblings; Judith (who seeks romance with Francis) and Randy (the object of Francis' unexpressed affection), who have arrived unexpectedly, much to their friend's dismay. All are dysfunctional to varying degrees, and the interactions among them provide the play with its comic and dramatic moments. Production history Playwrights Horizons first staged the play in December 1976 with a cast that included Jonathan Hadary, Jon Polito, and Sigourney Weaver. The follow ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |