|
Every Act Of Life
''Terrence McNally: Every Act of Life'' is a 2018 documentary film about playwright Terrence McNally. It was directed, produced and written by Jeff Kaufman, and produced by Marcia S. Ross. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2018. It will be distributed by The Orchard in November 2018. An expanded and illustrated version of the script will be published by Smith and Kraus in October 2018. Terrence McNally: Every Act of Life aired June 14, 2019 on PBS’ “American Masters.” Synopsis ''Every Act Of Life'' is a documentary that profiles four-time Tony-winning playwright Terrence McNally's six ground-breaking decades in the theatre, the fight for LGBTQ rights, triumph over addiction, the pursuit of love, and inspiration at every age, and the power of the arts to transform society. The son of an alcoholic beer distributor in southern Texas, Terrence McNally graduated from Columbia in 1960, traveled the world as tutor to John Steinbeck's children (Steinbeck's only ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeff Kaufman
Jeff Kaufman (born July 6, 1955) is an American film producer, director, writer, and illustrator. Kaufman produced, wrote, and directed the documentaries ''Every Act of Life,'' ''The State of Marriage,'' ''Father Joseph,'' ''The Savoy King: Chick Webb and the Music That Changed America,'' ''Brush With Life: The Art of Being Edward Biberman,'' and ''Education Under Fire''. He also directed and produced episodes for ''Unsolved History'', a Discovery Channel documentary television series, and the Discovery Channel special ''WTC 9/11: Stories from the Ruins''. His other documentary films include ''40 Million'', which featured Nasrin Sotoudeh and other Iranian women's rights activists. Kaufman has contributed cartoons to ''The New Yorker'', as well as illustrations to ''The Los Angeles Times'' and ''The New York Times''. Kaufman is married to Marcia Ross, a casting director and documentary producer. Radio Kaufman hosted the radio talk show "The Talk of Vermont" in Vermont for five year ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Mantello
Joseph Mantello (born December 27, 1962) is an American actor and director known for his work on Broadway productions of ''Wicked'', '' Take Me Out'', and ''Assassins'', having gained notoriety in the 1993 cast of ''Angels in America''. Early life and education Mantello was born in Rockford, Illinois, the son of Judy and Richard Mantello, an accountant. His father is of Italian ancestry and his mother is of half Italian descent. He was raised Catholic. Mantello studied at the North Carolina School of the Arts; he started the Edge Theater in New York City with actress Mary-Louise Parker and writer Peter Hedges. He is a member of the Naked Angels theater company and an associate artist at the Roundabout Theatre Company. Career Mantello came to New York from Illinois in 1984 in the midst of the AIDS crisis, having overcome a youthful feeling, he admitted to a reporter in 2013, that "for some reason I was deeply ashamed of the theater early on. I think it had to do with this growin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Perfect Ganesh
''A Perfect Ganesh'' is a play written by Terrence McNally which premiered Off-Broadway in 1993. Narrated by Ganesha, Hindu god of "wisdom, prudence, acceptance and love," it is the story of two friends, Margaret Civil and Katharine Brynne, who explore their differences, life-tragedies, and opinions during a healing trip to India. Ganesha accompanies the women through a series of exhilarating moments and profound experiences in a climate and culture that is completely foreign to the two travelers. Plot Two middle-aged friends from Connecticut, Katherine Brynne and Margaret Civil, travel to India, avoiding their usual, safe vacation spots. Each is, in her own way, seeking to heal from the death of a son. While exploring its cities (with the goal of reaching the Taj Mahal), they encounter the Hindu god, Ganesha. However, Ganesha is not just a single entity, but exists in many people they meet. Katherine is convinced that she needs to kiss a leper, possibly to atone for not supporti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kiss Of The Spider Woman (musical)
''Kiss of the Spider Woman'' is a musical with music by John Kander and Fred Ebb, with the book by Terrence McNally. It is based on the Manuel Puig novel '' El Beso de la Mujer Araña''. Directed by Harold Prince, the musical had runs in the West End (1992) and Broadway (1993) and won the 1993 Tony Award for Best Musical. Despite a decidedly mixed review by Frank Rich, the musical ran on Broadway for 904 performances. Plot Luis Alberto Molina, a gay window dresser, is in a prison in Argentina, serving his third year of an eight-year-sentence for corrupting a minor. He lives in a fantasy world to flee the prison life, the torture, fear and humiliation. His fantasies turn mostly around movies, particularly around a vampy diva, Aurora. He loves her in all roles, but one scares him: This role is the spider woman, who kills with her kiss. One day, a new man is brought into his cell: Valentin Arregui Paz, a Marxist revolutionary, already in a bad state of health after torture. Moli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lips Together, Teeth Apart
''Lips Together, Teeth Apart'' is a play by American playwright Terrence McNally. The play, which premiered Off-Broadway in 1991, concerns two straight couples who spend a weekend in a gay community. Plot A gay community in Fire Island provides an unlikely setting for two straight couples spending the Fourth of July weekend in a house inherited by Sally from her brother who died of AIDS. Through monologues unheard by the others, the characters reveal a desperate sense of individual isolation. The only people these four characters find more alien are the unseen gay men partying in the houses on either side of them. "As they divert themselves from their own mortality with food, cocktails, the ''New York Times'' crossword puzzle, fireworks, charades, and biting jabs at each other and the boys next door, the two couples find little to celebrate about themselves or their country on its birthday." Production history The play opened Off-Broadway in a Manhattan Theatre Club production at t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Lisbon Traviata
''The Lisbon Traviata'' is a play by Terrence McNally. The play premiered Off-Broadway in 1989. It revolves around several opera fans, especially of the opera singer Maria Callas, and their gay relationships. Overview The play focuses on two of the playwright's favorite subjects, gay relationships and Maria Callas. The play has one of his most memorable characters, flamboyantly bitchy and viciously wicked opera queen Mendy. Peter Mark describes him: "...eccentric Mendy, who presides over the first act's delicious envelopment in opera trivia as if he himself had been trapped in a perpetual production of 'Tosca.'" Stephen, a depressed literary editor and opera fanatic, is on the verge of losing his doctor lover to a considerably younger Columbia University student. In Act I, he takes temporary refuge at the apartment of fellow opera aficionado Mendy to dish about divas, listen to records, and avoid thinking about his rapidly unravelling eight-year relationship. In Act II, he retur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andre's Mother
''Andre's Mother'' is a 1990 American made-for-television drama film written by Terrence McNally, adapted from his 1988 stage play, directed by Deborah Reinisch and starring Richard Thomas, Sada Thompson, and Sylvia Sidney. It was broadcast on the PBS television program ''American Playhouse'' on March 7, 1990. Plot The play is set at the Manhattan memorial service for Andre Gerard, who died of AIDS and was buried in Dallas several weeks earlier. Andre's mother Katharine cannot come to terms with his death or share her grief with Cal, Andre's lover. Her rage is directed not only at Cal and her own mother, who was less judgmental of her grandson's life, but at Andre himself as well. Cast *Sada Thompson as Katharine Gerard, Andre's mother * Richard Thomas as Cal Porter, Andre's surviving lover *Sylvia Sidney as Mrs. Downs, Katharine's mother [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
It's Only A Play
''It's Only a Play'' is a play by Terrence McNally. The play originally opened off-off-Broadway in 1982. It was revived off-Broadway in 1986, and on Broadway in 2014. The plot concerns a party where a producer, playwright, director, actors and their friends eagerly wait for the opening night reviews of their Broadway play. Productions ''It's Only a Play'' was revised from an unsuccessful 1978 play originally entitled ''Broadway, Broadway'', which had closed during tryouts in Philadelphia in 1978. Geraldine Page and James Coco were in the Philadelphia cast, and the play was set to open on Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. However, the Philadelphia reviews were negative and the Broadway opening was canceled. In 1984, McNally said that after ''Broadway, Broadway'' closed he was no longer confident, but finally realized that having a show close is not the worst thing that could happen. The play, rewritten and retitled, was produced off-off-Broadway by Manhattan Punch Line at th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frankie And Johnny In The Clair De Lune
''Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune'' is a two-character play by Terrence McNally that was first performed off-Broadway in 1987. Plot The play focuses on two lonely, middle-aged people whose first date ends with their tumbling into bed. The two are in her one-room walk-up apartment in the west side of Manhattan. Johnny (originated by F. Murray Abraham), a short order cook, is in good physical condition; but Frankie (originated by Kathy Bates), a waitress, is frumpy, fat, and emotionally defined by her unattractiveness. Johnny is certain he has found his soul mate in Frankie. She, on the other hand, is far more cautious and disinclined to jump to conclusions and at first has written off the encounter as a one night stand. As the night unfolds, they slowly begin to reveal themselves to each other as they take tentative steps towards the possible start of a new relationship. Describing the scene from which the play gets its name, David Finkle wrote, "Johnny calls the radio statio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ritz (play)
''The Ritz'' is a comedic farce by Terrence McNally. Rita Moreno won a Tony Award for her performance as Googie Gomez in the 1975 Broadway production, which she and many others of the original cast reprised in a 1976 film version directed by Richard Lester. Plot The farce is set in a gay bathhouse in Manhattan, where unsuspecting businessman Gaetano Proclo, a heterosexual, has taken refuge from his homicidal brother-in-law Carmine Vespucci, a mobster. Gaetano stumbles across an assortment of oddball characters, including a rabid chubby chaser, go-go boys, a squeaky-voiced detective, and Googie Gomez, a third-rate entertainer with visions of Broadway glory who mistakes him for a famous producer and whom he mistakes for a man in drag. Further complications arise when Gaetano's wife, Vivian, tracks him down and jumps to all the wrong conclusions about his sexual orientation. Production history Original Broadway production McNally was playwright-in-residence at Yale Universi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bad Habits (play)
''Bad Habits'' is a play by Terrence McNally. The play premiered Off-Broadway in 1974 in a Manhattan Theatre Club production, and then transferred to Broadway. Overview The comedy is composed of what originally were written as two one-act plays set in a nursing home, or sanatorium. In ''Dunelawn'', a doctor allows his patients to indulge in all their bad habits as means of finding happiness. In ''Ravenswood'', a serum is used to provide a cure. The cast of eight actors (6 male, 2 female) all perform in each act, albeit as completely different characters. Production history The play premiered Off-Broadway in a Manhattan Theatre Club production at the Astor Place Theatre on February 4, 1974 and closed on April 28, 1974, after 96 performances. Directed by Robert Drivas, the cast featured F. Murray Abraham, Paul Benedict (as Dr. Jason Pepper) and Doris Roberts. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Next (play)
''Next'' is a one-act play by Terrence McNally. The play opened Off-Broadway in 1969. Plot At the comedy's center are Marion Cheever, a middle-aged, overweight, debt-ridden, divorced father of two who mistakenly has been called by the draft, and Sergeant Thech, a no-nonsense female examining officer. A battle-of-wits is waged between the "sad sack" determined to avoid military service and the career officer just as determined to sign him up. Starting out as an amusing incident, Cheever ends up showing "hatred and contempt" for his country.Gent, George. "T.V: Chilling View of War: Terrence McNally's 'Apple Pie' Offers Three Original Dramatic Vignettes", ''The New York Times'', March 15, 1968, p. 79 Production history The original version of ''Next'' premiered at the White Barn Theatre, Westport, Connecticut on July 16, 1967. The play was then produced on television Channel 13 in New York City in March 1968. The role of Marion Cheever was played by James Coco. Paired with Elaine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
