Atw - Downstage Center

Playwright Alfred Uhry recalls the original production of "Driving Miss Daisy" in 1987 at Playwrights Horizons, lists the actresses he's had the opportunity to see play the title role - based directly on his own grandmother - and discusses the cast of the play's Broadway premiere. He also talks about his Atlanta upbringing and being the beneficiary of his mother's love of the stage; moving to New York after graduating from Brown University and his apprenticeship under the great Frank Loesser; the Broadway musical he regularly leaves out of his bio and resume, which featured a book by another novice, Terrence McNally; the good fortune that smiled on "The Robber Bridegroom", which featured Raul Julia, Kevin Kline and Barry Bostwick in successive New York incarnations; how the failure of his Al Capone musical "America's Sweetheart" led him to shift away from musicals towards playwriting with "Daisy"; drawing once again on his own family for "The Last Night of Ballyhoo"; collaborating with director Hal Prince and