It is 1960 and renowned theater critic Kenneth Tynan has a brilliant idea. After tracking down the reclusive Orson Wells in Dublin, Tynan convinces him to direct Laurence Olivier and Olivier's new love Joan Plowright in a revival of Ionesco's play Rhinoceros. This production and its now-legendary rehearsal process is brought to splendidly impossible life in Orson's Shadow, the new play by Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member Austin Pendleton. Come join Orson, Larry, Joan and Ken as they wrestle the muse, each other and Vivian Leigh in this delightful study of the drama of ego and the art of personality.
Renowned Steppenwolf Theatre Comes to Westport in Unprecedented Collaboration
There is no better way to introduce the famous Steppenwolf Theatre Company of Chicago to Westport than with the ambitious new Austin Pendleton drama, Orson's Shadow, a dramatization of the relationship between theatrical luminaries Orson Welles and Laurence Olivier. The production will run at the Westport Country Playhouse from June 26- July 8.
The Steppenwolf Company will join decades worth of legendary performers when they play Westport with Orson's Shadow. Inspired by a true event, the production depicts these two kings of 20th century theatre, as well as characterizations of legends Joan Plowright, Kenneth Tynan, and Vivien Leigh, in rehearsal together, and carries an insightful glimpse of the demons that drove them all. Perfectly balanced with careful research and Pendleton's timed wit, Orson's Shadow is destined to become one of the many classics that appeared at the Westport Country Playhouse during their initial runs.
The premiere of Orson's Shadow also marks a spectacular partnership between three of America's leading theatres: Westport Country Playhouse, Steppenwolf, and the Williamstown Theatre Festival. For over 25 years, the Steppenwolf has been founded, administered, and maintained by foremost theatre professionals, including Gary Sinise, John Malkovich, and Laurie Metcalf. Before coming to the Westport Country Playhouse, now in its 70th year of presenting the best stage talents of the day, the production will play at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, which has spent many seasons introducing highly acclaimed productions in Massachusetts.
Performances are Monday through Saturday evenings at 8:30pm; matinees Wednesday at 2 and Saturday at 5. Tickets are $10-$35. Subscriptions for the full balance of the season, offering prime seating, are still available.
The Westport Country Playhouse is located off of Post Road East, Route 1, in Westport. For information or reservations, call the Box Office at (203) 227-4177. www.westportplayhouse.com
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© Richard
Feldman
ORSON'S SHADOW at Steppenwolf Theatre
Orson Welles at Internet Movie Database
Orson Welles' Encarta Encylopedia Entry
Orson Welles: The Man and His Genius
Buy the films of Orson Welles at Amazon.com
Buy books on Orson Welles at Amazon.com
DOMINIC CONTI (Sean) just finished a run of Orson's Shadow at The Williamstown Theatre Festival. He was also in the original production at The Steppenwolf Garage. Other Chicago theatres he has worked with include: Plasticene, A Red Orchid, Next, Prop, Mary-Arrchie, Raven, Apple Tree TYA, Lifeline, Defiant, National Pastime, AKA, Griffin, and Stone Soup. He was in the independent film Fiona's Fortune, as well as commercials for The Chicago Bulls, MSNBC and The Daily Herald.
JOHN JUDD (Larry) Regional: Long Day's Journey into Night (Irish Rep.), Orson's Shadow, Our Town and Golden Boy (Steppenwolf), The Cripple of Inishmaan (Northlight Theatre), Gross Indecency (Court Theatre), Angels in America (The Journeymen), Earth and Sky (Victory Gardens Theatre), Girls, Girls, Girls (Live Bait Theatre), The Sea (The Cypress Group). Film: Hoffa, Chump Change, Ride with the Devil.
LEE ROY ROGERS (Vivien) Regional credits include: Barbican Theater Center, London, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Massachusetts, Carmel Performing Arts Festival, California. Chicago credits include: Orson's Shadow (Vivien Leigh / Steppenwolf Garage), The Man Who Came to Dinner (Sara / Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble), Prin (Joseph Jefferson Award title role / Wildlife Theater Company), Green Land (Betty / Famous Door), Hamlet (Gertrude/Rivendell / Power-tap), Orpheus Descending (Lady / Zebra Crossing), Small Craft Warnings (Violet / Raven), Wonderful Tennessee (Trish / Organic), Ten Tiny Fingers Nine Tiny Toes (Dot / Rivendell), Arms and the Man (Katherine / Greasy Joan).
JEFF STILL (Orson) Chicago: You Can't Take It with You, A Clockwork Orange, Golden Boy, Orson's Shadow (Steppenwolf); Shrapnel in the Heart, Hellcab, Two Planks and a Passion (Famous Door); Glengarry Glen Ross (Pointe); Awake and Sing! (Raven); Bang the Drum Slowly, Bouncers (Next); Assassins (Pegasus); The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, Place of Angels (Red Orchid). Regional: 84 Charing Cross Road (Michigan); Guys and Dolls (Long Island / Connecticut); Same Time, Next Year (National Tour). London: Bug (Gate). New York: Same Old Moon (Irish Arts Center). Film: The Hudsucker Proxy, The Babe, Chicago Cab. Television: Goodnight, Sweet Wife; To Sir with Love II; Early Edition.
DAVID WARREN (Ken) is pleased to be making his first appearance at the Westport Playhouse. Chicago theatre credits include a two year stint as an ensemble member of Strawdog Theatre where he appeared in Owners, The Waltz Invention, Imagine Drowning, Dark Rapture, Crossing Boundaries: A Leap of Faith, and Interrogating the Nude, for which he was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Citation for Principal Actor. Other Chicago appearances include productions at Bailiwick, Center Theatre, The Organic, and Shakespeare's Herd as well as the original production of Orson's Shadow at Steppenwolf. David has studied at the British American Drama Academy in London and is a graduate of American University in Washington D.C. He resides in Chicago with his wife, Beth and their dog, Chaz.
SARAH WELLINGTON (Joan) As a newly arrived British actor, Sarah is thrilled to be continuing her American debut in Orson's Shadow at Westport following performances at Williamstown Theatre Festival and at Steppenwolf, Chicago. In the UK, Sarah has appeared in the theatre as Beatrice in Much Ado about Nothing, Janet Ormund in I Have Been Here Before and Nancy in Steaming. TV credits include roles in The Bill and London Bridge. Training: David Bennett's Studio, London. Many thanks to everyone involved in this production, and most especially to my husband, Al, a constant inspiration, and to our families and friends for their support.
DAVID CROMER (Director, Understudy for Mr. Warren) Directing Credits: Orson's Shadow (Steppenwolf), Angels in America Parts 1 & 2 (Journeymen, 1998 Joseph Jefferson Awards for Production, Direction, Ensemble). Additional Directing Credits: Translations (Seanachai Theatre), Golden Boy (Steppenwolf), Dancing at Lughnasa (Bog Theatre), Oscar Remembered (Writer Theatre), Sins of the Father (National Jewish Theater). Columbia Directing Credits: Dead End, Hay Fever, Three Sisters, Ready for the River, Jesus Christ Superstar.
RICHARD ELLIS (Scenic Designer) returns to the Playhouse for his 12th season. His designs have included the recent off-Broadway revival of Arthur Laurents' Home of the Brave, the premiere of Paradise Road: The Life and Songs of Dolly Parton (a new musical with Dolly Parton, as well as a half dozen other shows for Ms. Parton), the premiere of Honky Tonk Angels (a new work by Ted Swindley, the author of Always... Patsy Cline), Dames at Sea for Bridgeport's Downtown Cabaret, Christmas in the Ozarks in Branson, MO, as well as productions of A Christmas Carol in Nashville and Tulsa. Other designs have included the Chicago premiere of A.R. Gurney's The Fourth Wall (with Betty Buckley and George Segal), Taking Sides (for Stamford Theatre Works), and Inherit the Wind for the American Theatre Company in Tulsa. Mr. Ellis has been the Principal Scenic Designer for the American Theatre Company for the past 22 years. For eight years he served as Scenic Coordinator for Radio City Music Hall's Christmas Spectacular and Easter Extravaganza. He has also served as Resident Scenic Designer for the Alley Theatre in Houston. As Resident Scenic Designer for the Playhouse, some of his designs have included Lawyers (premiere of a new play directed by John Berry with Kevin Conway), Camping with Henry and Tom, Dancing at Lughnasa, and The Taming of the Shrew, to name a few. Other credits include a national tour of Dreamgirls, the American premiere and national tour of the Peking Circus, a comedy special for Showtime, as well as scenery for industrials, opera, and theatre in New York and throughout the country. Mr. Ellis received his M.F.A. from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts Design Program.
JENNIFER KELLER (Costume Designer) Orson's Shadow (Steppenwolf), Tavern Story, Wolf Lullaby, Words on Fire (Steppenwolf Arts Exchange), The Love Talker, Burning Desires, Action Movie, The Play and The Striker, Stop Kiss (Naked Eye Theatre), Blithe Spirit (Peninsula Players), Cloud Nine (About Face Theatre), Bent (Gilead Theatre), Spite for Spite (Writer's Theatre), Booth (Austin Pendleton).
SUSAN ROTH (Lighting Designer) Ms. Roth's most recent designs include Madame Butterfly for Orlando Opera, Tosca for Toledo Opera, the 1999-2000 season for Dicapo Opera Theater in New York, and a production of West Side Story (choreographed by Robert LaFosse) at the National Theater of Taiwan in Tapei. Other recent credits include the premiere of Lawyers at the Emelin Theater (directed by John Berry), Paradise Road: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton (Dollywood, with Dolly Parton), and Crazy for You and West Side Story at the Westbury Music Fair. This marks Ms. Roth's tenth season as resident lighting designer at the Westport Country Playhouse. Her designs there have included Eleanor with Jean Stapleton, A.R. Gurney's The Fourth Wall with Tony Roberts and Men in Suits with Charles Durning. This winter Ms. Roth will return as resident designer for Dicapo Opera Theater in New York, and will also be designing the Toledo Opera season. National and international tours have included the first U.S. tours of the national tour of the Peking Circus, One Mo' Time, and Little Shop of Horrors, as well as national tours of Dreamgirls, Evita, Phantom, Purlie, Ain't Misbehavin', and Hello, Dolly. Other design credits include the world premiere of Feu Follet for the Elisa Monte Dance Company and the U.S. premiere of Kenneth Branagh's Public Enemy at the Irish Arts Center.
JERRY M. YAGER (Sound Designer) Broadway: The Price (The Royal Theatre); Off Broadway: The Seagull (Blue Light Theatre Co.), Hope Is the Thing with Feathers (The Drama Department), Tartuffe, The Rivals (The Acting Company), Dracula (New York Theatre Workshop's JAW Festival), High Hopes & High Life (The York Theatre), Celebration (The John Houseman Theatre), A Bright Room Called Day, Fen (NYU), Kiss Me Kate (Wagner College). Regional: Dinosaur (Stage One of Louisville), Sylvia, Prelude to a Kiss, Holiday Memories (Public Theatre of Kentucky). Williamstown Theatre Festival: Chaucer in Rome, Evolution, The Price, Far East, The Big Knife, La Ronde, The Factory Girls, Hard Times. For the past two years Associate Sound Supervisor and Designer at Williamstown Theatre Festival.
NEIL KRASNOW (Production Stage Manager) Having just completed the Disney workshop of Hoopz and his seventh season at Miami's Coconut Grove Playhouse, Mr. Krasnow is delighted to be returning for his fifth season at the Westport Country Playhouse. Mr. Krasnow is a graduate of Syracuse University.
STEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY In 1974, Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry and Gary Sinise founded the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago on a commitment to the principles of ensemble collaboration and artistic risk. The winner of four Tony Awards, including one for regional theatre excellence, Step-penwolf is home to three unique performance spaces where the thirty-three member ensemble - actors, playwrights and directors - continue to work toward a collective artistic vision. Steppenwolf is also home to cutting-edge new works for the stage - commissioned and developed pieces include the award winning The Grapes of Wrath, My Thing of Love, The Song of Jacob Zulu, Slaughterhouse-Five, Time to Burn, Space and The Berlin Circle. In 1998, President Clinton awarded the ensemble of Steppenwolf Theatre Company a National Medal of Arts, the nation's highest arts and humanities award.
WILLIAMSTOWN THEATRE FESTIVAL (Co-presenter) was founded in 1954 by a group of local businesspeople who suggested that Williams College's splendid Adams Memorial Theater could be put to good use during the summer months to draw tourists to northern Berkshire County. Over the next 30 years, artistic director Nikos Psacharopoulos developed the venerable summer stock playhouse into a regional theater of national renown. For eleven weeks every summer, WTF presents eleven productions of classic and new plays on its Main and Nikos Stages, a production for family audiences, cabarets, and countless readings, workshops and special events, to an audience of some 40,000 that hails from all over the U.S., Canada and abroad. Michael Ritchie, Producer since 1996, has seen several of the premieres produced during his tenure find larger audiences on and off Broadway.
AUSTIN PENDLETON (Playwright) Williamstown
Theatre Festival: Apprentice 1957-58; Non-Equity 1960; Equity Actor:
Saint Joan, Three Sisters, Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vanya, Keats.
Directing: Tartuffe, Uncle Vanya, The Misanthrope, The Rivals, Orpheus
Descending, After the Fall, Candida, Summerfolk, Enemies, Vieux Carre,
School for Scandal, American Clock, Henry IV, If We Are Women.
Off-Broadway and Broadway Acting: Fiddler on the Roof, Hail
Scrandyke (Derwent Award), The Last Sweet Days of Isaac (Obie),
Doubles, Educating Rita, Grand Hotel, The Sorrows of Frederick, The
Diary of Anne Frank (1997 Revival) and title roles in Hamlet,
Richard III, and The Merchant of Venice. Directing: The
Little Foxes (Tony Nomination), Shelter, Spoils of War, The Runner
Stumbles, Benito Cereno, Ensemble Member Steppenwolf Theatre (where
Orson's Shadow premiered in January). Film: What's up Doc, Front
Page, Muppet Movie, Starting Over, Simon, First Family, Short Circuit,
Talk to Me, Guarding Tess, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, My Cousin Vinny, Sgt.
Bilko, Trial and Error, Amistad, Sue. T.V.: Homicide, Oz, West
Wing. Other playwriting: Booth (first produced at Williamstown
Theatre Festival) and Uncle Bob, both published.
Austin's Shadow: A Conversation with the
Playwright
By Brian Wallace
Press & Marketing
Associate
Composing a play that revolves around the triumphs and tragedies of a handful of immennse personalities can prove a daunting task. When those personalities are actual people, a new crop of complexities float to the surface. Though the people we have all come to see are represented by a body of work and plenty of biographies ready for our perusal, the writer is forced to inhabit their minds all the same and balance his walk on a rope weaved with fact and fiction.
At no other time in the life of a play is this process more heavily scrutinized than during its initial runs. Interest is at its peak and the experts or close friends will be asked for reactions. Any flaws must be revealed now, any successes confirmed by the loudest voices, and every surprise anticipated. And then the questions come. What does the playwright hope to gain by writing about these people who are still so recent in memory? Is this a commentary or a chronicle? What liberties have been taken and why?
It is into this mix that noted actor, director, and writer Austin Pendleton and his team have volunteered themselves as swimmers. As part of the East Coast premiere, and extension of the World premiere, The Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Westport Country Playhouse have united behind one giant silhouette to shed some light on Orson's Shadow. I spoke with Austin Pendleton on June 16 about the play, its past, and its future.
BW: From what I understand, Orson's Shadow is based on an idea by Judith Auberjonois. When and where did this idea come about, and what made you decide to build on it?
AP: Well, she came to me with this idea.The idea was just the core idea-- that Welles had directed Olivier in this play, and that it hadn't worked out. That was the idea. And she wanted me to write it for her husband Rene Auberjonois and their friend Alfred Molina, both of whom are brilliant actors. There was no agreement or anything, but I went ahead and started work on it. And I couldn't get anywhere. So I finally sort of added in Vivien Leigh and Ken Tynan, and finally Sean. And then I began to be able to have a story for it. As I began to research, it was then that I found out that the events between Welles and Olivier took place at the time that Olivier was finally preparing to make the final break with Vivien Leigh. It wasn't until I happened on that that I could try to write the play.
BW: Did you ever have occasion to meet or work with Welles or Olivier?
AP: I worked with Welles in the movie Catch-22.
BW: So then would it be fair to say that this play is your perception of him in some respect?
AP: No, it's a correction of my perception of him, which I believe was inaccurate. I didn't like him very much. But then I hardly knew any of his work before. I mean I saw Citizen Kane. And a handful of other people's films in which he wasn't very good. But then after I worked with him I began to see his other films like The Magnificent Ambersons and Touch of Evil. And I thought 'Oh, my God, what an artist.' And I really wanted to meet him again, and work with him, but I never had the chance. And so I was always haunted by that.
BW: Has Joan Plowright seen or read the play?
AP: No. And pretty soon I'm going to send her a copy of it. It's a risky thing to send it to someone while still in the developmental process. They're going to have input of course, but they know much, much, much more about it than I do. And that can start to get very confusing.
BW: I'm unaware of much documentation on the production of Rhinoceros that they were involved with.
AP: Well, there's almost nothing you can find out about it.
BW: How did you research the play?
AP: Well, I couldn't find anything out about it. So I just sort of invented. One thing I did hear is that Welles got upset because he felt that Olivier was trying to edge him out. You would read that. 'He was talking to the other actors behind my back.' So I turned that into 'He was talking to Plowright behind [my] back,' because he wanted Plowright to be more like Vivien Liegh, and then, you know... I mean, I just sort of evolved all that out of all the circumstances. There's probably not a word of truth to it.
BW: Why Orson's Shadow? Why not Larry's Silhouette, for instance?
AP: Well, I don't know. There's a very brief phrase in the play where the term 'Orson's shadow' is used. And I had no idea what to call it. One night a little over a year ago I was walking the dog, and I sort of thought, 'Oh, Orson's Shadow.' Because I thought Orson cast a shadow-- first of all, Orson cast a shadow on himself-- the shadow of his early brilliance. And Orson's brilliance sort of cast a shadow on everyone who dealt with him.
BW: Your play makes frequent mention of his professional difficulties.
AP: Yeah. [Laughs] It's impossible to write about him without doing that.
BW: Touching on that, Welles once said with disdain that after his death, his unfinished films would suddenly get funding and his screenplays would be produced...
AP: All of which has happened, of course...
BW: Yes, and there would be a large output of biographies and documentaries about him, et cetera. He had this friend, Henry Jaglom...
AP: Indeed...
BW: Who referred to this as a kind of 'artistic necrophilia.' Do you have any comment on that?
AP: Was Henry Jaglom saying that there was an 'artistic necrophilia' on the part of the people that made those films?
BW: Exactly.
AP: No! Because if it's true of them, it's true of me [Laughs]. No. Imean, it's like saying that anything written about a legendary figure of the past is necrophilia. I mean, it's such an undifferentiated thing to say, you know what I mean? I mean he was, and is, a very powerful figure of the 20th century. And his life had a lot of different meanings. And therefore he's more than worthy of any number of artistic interpretations.
BW: I think what he was referring to was based on the hardship he had in his life, having been shunned by Hollywood...
AP: Mhmm...
BW: And then once he dies, we get all these biographies and documentaries... and plays. Perhaps it's applicable in your case, since when you worked with him you didn't really care much for him...
AP: Yeah...
BW: And now you've written a play that's kind of celebratory of him-- although honest... maybe that's what he was talking about.
AP: Mhmm. Well, he was also a legend maker. I mean, he spent a lot of energy on perfecting this image of the outcast and despised artist in his own time. He really worked at it.
BW: So he had a lot to do with it himself.
AP: I believe he did-- but that was part of his power. His need and his ability to do that was part of his power.
BW: Getting back to the play, how much has Orson's Shadow been revised since it opened at The Garage at Steppenwolf?
AP: Oh, a lot. It was revised in the course of the run at The Garage, and then it was revised a lot between The Garage and when we went into rehearsal for this production here at Williamstown. And then it's been revised in rehearsal. A lot.
BW: You have used the same cast in all three venues (Steppenwolf, Williamstown, and Westport).
AP: Yes.
BW: How do you think that has affected the play's development, as opposed to working with three different production teams?
AP: Well, it really helps, because it gets very confusing when you do a lot of revisions with a lot of different casts. You don't know what you're revising because of this particular cast and what you're revising [because of the play itself]... But this cast gives such a fine realization of the play, that I can really tell where I feel the script is in trouble. Because it isn't them. Do you know what I mean? When there's a problem, I know it's the play. And if you had all different kinds of casts, which would be of all different levels of quality almost inevitably, you would get very confused about what was the play and what was the production.
BW: Steppenwolf, Williamstown, and Westport offer three different stage spaces. Consequently, you're working on three different sets designed by three different people. How has that impacted the play?
AP: Well, that I don't think impacts the play itself at all. But it's interesting. I, of course, was terribly nervous about that, but it's been translated well from the Chicago stage to this stage. I mean, that's not an issue.
BW: How important are the critics in these early stages of a new play? How closely are you still reading the reviews?
AP: Oh, you read them pretty carefully. I read all of them in Chicago. There haven't been any here [at Williamstown] yet, but there will be next week. And I'll read them. Because even if you don't agree with them, you want to pick up certain patterns. Even if the reviews are good, you want to see what they're reading in the play. Because it's not always exactly what you want to put across. And of course, there's a degree to which you have no control over that. A play of any complexity at all is perceived in different ways by different people. You can't fight that, and you shouldn't really try to.
BW: Well, what's next for Orson's Shadow? What would you like to see happen?
AP: Well, there's interest in it in New York, and I hope that interest turns into production [Laughs]. There is also a whole other production of it being done in the Fall at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.
BW: Finally, I can't let you go without asking the question everybody wants to know. In a wrestling match between Orson and Larry, who do you think would come out on top?
AP: Define what you mean by 'wrestling match.'
BW: [Laughs] Well, I was just trying to be funny, actually. Just a joke.
AP: [Laughs] Yes. Oh, I see.
BW: Listen, thanks for your time...
AP: In an artistic wr-- in a struggle between two people, I think Larry would. Because Orson was bent on self annihilation. And Larry was bent on survival. In fact, that to me is what the play is about.