Atw - Downstage Center

Three-time Tony Award-winning costume designer Catherine Zuber talks about the process of costume design and the nature of the collaboration between designers and a director; explains how she chooses her projects -- and how many she takes on each year; recounts the challenge of creating 600 costumes for the Lincoln Center Theatre production of "The Coast Of Utopia"; describes the development of the costumes for the multiple incarnations (and changing cast members) of "The Light In The Piazza"; shares how she made the career transition from photographer to designer; and dispenses some tips to aspiring designers about how to develop their skills. Original air date – June 29, 2007.

Playwright Douglas Carter Beane talks about how his fascination with Greek myths dovetailed with a producer's overture to adapt a famously bad movie, resulting in the new musical "Xanadu"; describes his years of making ends meet by staffing the hearing device booths at Broadway theatres, and manning the stage door at the Neil Simon Theatre; recalls his break-through year as a writer with "Advice From A Caterpiller" and "The Country Club"; chronicles the origin of his influential Off-Broadway company The Drama Department; and considers why he's managed to write roles with specific actresses in mind in both "As Bees In Honey Drown" and "The Little Dog Laughed", only to have those shows play to great success with entirely different women in the leads. Original air date – June 22, 2007.

Revered stage veteran Marian Seldes touches upon a few of the highlights of her storied career, from her current role on Broadway opposite Angela Lansbury in "Deuce" (a role written specifically for Ms. Seldes by Terrence McNally) to her earliest Broadway appearances with luminaries like Judith Anderson and John Gielgud; her longstanding association with the works of Edward Albee, including her Tony-winning turn in "A Delicate Balance"; her long run in "Equus" and her record-setting run in "Deathtrap"; and her ongoing passion for the stage, from childhood to today. Original air date – June 15, 2007.

Guthrie Theatre Artistic Director Joe Dowling talks about the company's move from its historic home into a brand new facility, including the reaction of the Minneapolis audiences to the shift; his own training as an actor at Ireland's Abbey School of Acting and his swift rise to the position of artistic director at the Abbey at age 29 -- only to depart seven years later; why his post-Ireland career took him to America instead of England; his first New York productions -- an acclaimed "Translations" for Manhattan Theatre Club and a panned "Playboy of the Western World" for Roundabout; why he particularly enjoyed working with American actors when he arrived -- even more than with their Irish counterparts; and why he believes there will never be an American national theatre on the European model. Original air date – June 8, 2007.

Tony nominee Mary Louise Wilson discusses her journey from workshop to Broadway with the musical "Grey Gardens"; recalls her Broadway debut in the troubled Judy Holliday vehicle "Hot Spot"; describes working with legendary stage figures George Abbott, Ellis Rabb and Eva LeGallienne in works as diverse as "Flora The Red Menace" and "Alice In Wonderland"; reflects on appearing in two productions of "The Women" thirty years apart; and considers the extraordinary impact of the Roundabout reinvention of the classic "Cabaret". Original air date – June 1, 2007.

David Hyde Pierce talks about joining in the development of the long-aborning "Curtains" and how he faced the challenge of a full-fledged character-driven musical on Broadway; recalls the circumstances that led him in very short order from his rejection by the Yale School of Drama to his Broadway debut in "Beyond Therapy"; considers his "on-the-job training" in theatre with such esteemed directors as Peter Brook and Mike Nichols; shares how working with Uta Hagen really opened up new horizons for him as a stage actor; and recaps the experience of translating the humor of Monty Python into the musical comedy format of "Spamalot". Original air date – May 25, 2007.

Frank Langella talks about the challenge of making the character of Richard Nixon in "Frost/Nixon" more than just a caricature, and whether it was easier to develop his performance as such a pivotal American figure for English audiences than it would have been in the U.S.; remembers a man unknown to him (who turned out to be Edward Albee) approaching him at a bar and asking to take on what became his Tony-winning role in "Seascape"; explains how he was determined to escape the typecasting the plagued Bela Lugosi when he played "Dracula"; reflects why he's been drawn multiple times to the characters of Sherlock Holmes and Cyrano de Bergerac; recalls how he worked with Arthur Miller to make significant cuts in "After The Fall"; declares that he's looking forward to directing more in the future, but will never again be a producer; and asks for someone to write him a role in a Broadway musical. Original air date – May 18, 2007.

Tony Award-winning choreographer Jerry Mitchell talks about taking on the dual roles of director and choreographer for the first time with "Legally Blonde" and charts the development of the musical from the selection of the writing team to its San Francisco tryout to its Broadway debut. He also shares his experience of becoming a professional dancer while still in college, when he was chosen by the legendary Agnes DeMille for the 1980 revival of "Brigadoon", his work with two other legends -- Michael Bennett on "Scandal" and Jerome Robbins on "Jerome Robbins' Broadway"; how he develops a dance vocabulary for each of his shows according to the needs of the material, with sources as diverse as 60s dances (for "Hairspray") and basketball (for "The Full Monty"); and how dancing nearly naked on a drum for Tommy Tune in "The Will Rogers Follies" led to "Broadway Bares", which has raised millions of dollars for Broadway Cares. Original air date – May 11, 2007.

The team of Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil talk about why they broke from their usual practice of originating their own projects and took on writing "The Pirate Queen"; how they first began to collaborate in the wake of "Jesus Christ Superstar"; the immediate success of the concept album and stage version of their first musical, "La Révolution Française"; what happened in the five year gap between "Les Misérables"’ Paris and London debuts; and why they continue to tweak their "Martin Guerre", 11 years after its London debut. Original air date – May 4, 2007.

Richard M. Sherman and George Stiles, the film and stage composers of "Mary Poppins", come together for a special program that explores the creation of the original film score and how it was adapted and supplemented for the stage musical. Sharing a piano, they play and sing snippets of a variety of "Poppins" songs - including songs that were cut from both versions, some of which ended up in other familiar scores. Separately, Sherman and Stiles also provide quick overviews of their respective careers, with Sherman recalling how he and his brother Robert became the house composers for Disney and later wrote the stage musicals "Over Here" and "Busker Alley", and Stiles reviewing his partnership with Anthony Drewe and how they spent seven years writing "Just So", only to win the Olivier Award for their more swiftly created "Honk!" Original air date – April 27, 2007.

Jeff Daniels talks about his return to the New York stage after a 14 year absence in David Harrower's Olivier Award-winning "Blackbird" at Manhattan Theatre Club, including how he works himself up to a performance level of fear and anger for the very first moment in the play; recalls being taken out for a drink while still in college by director Marshall Mason and invited to join the Circle Repertory Company as an apprentice, and the extraordinary ensemble feeling fostered at Circle Rep; discusses his lengthy relationship with playwright Lanford Wilson and how it has influenced his own playwriting for his Purple Rose Theatre Company in Chelsea Michigan; and describes how he has built the Purple Rose as both an arts resource and economic engine for his community. Original air date – April 20, 2007.

Playwright Lee Blessing talks about his play "Going to St. Ives" with its theme, of politics, women, and motherhood, and its similarities to his best-known play "A Walk In The Woods". Blessing explains how his writing evolved from emulating historical playwrights to penning contemporary stories influenced by his Midwest upbringing; the varied topical issues of his works; the contrast between having an American drama produced on Broadway or in regional theaters; the value in play development workshops such as the O'Neill Playwrights Conference; and his upcoming works: "The Scottish Play" and "A Body of Water". Original air date – April 1, 2005.

Two-time Tony-winning actress Judith Ivey talks about her transition to directing; why she was drawn to direct Lee Thuna's "Fugue" at the Cherry Lane Theatre rather than play the leading role; what she's learned from directors she's worked with, including Mike Nichols and Daniel Sullivan; why she moved from Chicago to New York in order to get better roles in Chicago -- only to find great success in New York once casting directors realized she wasn't British; her extraordinary year with "Hurlyburly"; and why she's willing to direct musicals, but won't ever act in them again. Original air date – April 13, 2007.

Acclaimed director Michael Blakemore discusses his ongoing collaboration with playwright Michael Frayn during the Broadway run of "Democracy" and explores his famed virtuosity staging both plays and such musicals as the revival of "Kiss Me Kate" and the original production of "City of Angels". Original air date – February 18, 2005.

John Mahoney talks about returning to Broadway after a 20-year hiatus in the Roundabout Theatre production of "Prelude to a Kiss", including why he had to be conscious of not making his stage role of The Old Man reminiscent of his long-running TV role as "Frasier"'s father; recounts the story of his emigration to America from Manchester, England and how, at age 37, he suddenly decided to take up acting; recalls his early stage work with the St. Nicholas Theatre and being invited by John Malkovich to join the now-celebrated Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble; explains why he declined to travel to New York with Steppenwolf's productions of "And a Nightingale Sang" and "Balm in Gilead"; and remembers his breakthrough performances in "Orphans" and "The House of Blue Leaves", the latter his first major show outside of his Chicago theatre family. Original air date – April 6, 2007.

Dominic Chianese, who plays Lou Wolf in Woody Allen's play "A Second Hand Memory", discusses Allen's style of directing, his character's anger and family conflicts, and compares Lou Wolf to Uncle Junior on "The Sopranos". He recalls lessons from his most valuable acting teachers, his first audition for a Gilbert & Sullivan, production, and auditioning for television's "The Sopranos". Original air date – December 31, 2004.

Author and actor Eric Bogosian explains why he left the text of "Talk Radio" essentially unchanged for its current Broadway revival, but made more significant rewrites in "subUrbia" for its revival at Second Stage last fall; shares why he was perfectly happy to pass the role of "Talk Radio"'s radio host Barry Champlain on to Liev Schreiber; recalls the genesis of his acclaimed solo shows, including "Sex Drugs Rock and Roll" and "Drinking in America" in the 1980s and 90s; and frankly declares why, after a lifelong passion for theatre, he has turned to writing novels. Original air date – March 30, 2007.

Prolific playwright Jeffrey Hatcher talks about seeing one of his recent plays "Compleat Female Stage Beauty" come to the screen as "Stage Beauty"; his years developing plays at Connecticut's O'Neill Theatre Center; and his work creating "Never Gonna Dance", a "new" Jerome Kern musical adapted from the Fred Asaire film "Swing Time". Original air date – October 15, 2004.

Director and actor Walter Bobbie talks about returning to the acting stage in the "Encores!" production of "Face The Music", and how he feels preparing to act in the famously brief "Encores" rehearsal period that he helped to create; recalls his experiences in the original cast of "Grease", and shares his thoughts about the revivals and the current TV competition; remembers when Jerry Zaks asked him to don a "fat suit" to play Nicely-Nicely in the 1992 "Guys and Dolls" revival; explains how he became a director without the usual years of apprenticeship; describes the origins of the long-running revival of "Chicago"; and explains why he wants his next production to involve three actors and two folding chairs. Original air date – March 23, 2007.

Tovah Feldshuh discusses her role in William Gibson's one-woman play "Golda's Balcony", including her research into the life of Israeli premier Golda Meir and her passion in presenting 100 years of European Jewish history, especially to politicians and students. Feldshuh talks about how she quickly put together "Tovah: Crossovah! From Broadway to Cabaret" for her debut at the Algonquin; her one-woman shows "Tovah: Out of Her Mind!" and "Tallulah Hallelulah!" that have taken her worldwide; and taking "Mining Golda: My Journey to Golda Meir", the one-night concert version of "Golda's Balcony", beyond Broadway. Original air date – July 9, 2004.