ATW - Downstage Center

Returning to Downstage Center five years after a 2006 conversation, the legendary Angela Lansbury talks about her most recent Broadway roles, in Terrence McNally's "Deuce", Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit" and Stephen Sondheim's "A Little Night Music". She also discusses her experiences with artists with whom she's frequently worked - Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Arthur Laurents and Edward Albee; her foray into Shakespeare, playing Gertrude opposite Albert Finney's "Hamlet" in London; why her career began on film rather than on the stage, her first love; and her opinions about the necessity of training and young people entering the acting profession to become celebrities, rather than excellent actors. Original air date - June 29, 2011.

John Guare talks about his two Broadway plays of the past season: considering how the world has caught up with and changed audience responses to "The House of Blue Leaves" and which portion of the play is drawn directly from his own life, as well as the origin of "A Free Man of Color" and whether it's his practice to write plays based on ideas suggested by others. He also discusses his development as a playwright while at Georgetown University and the Yale School of Drama; why being an Aquarius was instrumental in the start of his professional career; his never-completed collaboration with Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein; how "Two Gentlemen of Verona", a musical with 37 songs, was never meant to be a musical; finding a home at The Public Theatre and his conflicted emotions about being a part of the institution at that time, where such plays as "Landscape of the Body" and "Marco Polo Sings a Solo" premiered; how place affected his writing of the "Lydie Breeze" plays and why he chose to revisit and rework them 20 years later; when he first learned of a con man pretending to be Sidney Poitier's son and when that blossomed into "Six Degrees of Separation"; the impact of his work with Signature Theatre Company in New York, including the premiere of "Lake Hollywood", which incorporated a play he'd written 39 years earlier; and why he agreed to adapt "The Front Page" and its gender-shifted remake "His Girl Friday" for the stage. Original air date - June 22, 2011.

Just as she departed for Massachusetts and her first season as the Williamstown Theatre Festival's first female artistic director Jenny Gersten discussed her plans for the company under her leadership and tells the story of how she sold herself as Associate Producer to prior artistic director Michael Ritchie, which resulted in her nine year tenure in that previous position at WTF. She discussed WTF's relationship both to its local audience, those who summer in the Berkshires and visitors from New York, as well as how she's reconfigured the season to allow for longer runs, but fewer productions, on the mainstage. She also talks about growing up in a performing arts household (as the daughter of Lincoln Center Theater's Bernard Gersten and The New 42nd Street's Cora Cahan, both previous Downstage Center guests); her post college job with the the highly praised 52nd Street Project; her time as artistic director of New York's Naked Angels as they began their renaissance; and her work as Associate Producer for Oskar Eustis at The Public Theater prior to getting the Williamstown gig. Original air date - June 15, 2011.

"Priscilla Queen of the Desert"'s Tony Sheldon talks about his six year journey with the show, from his dislike of the original film on which it's based to his transcontinental success as Bernadette in Australia, New Zealand, England, Canada and now the United States. He also talks about growing up in a multi-generational show business family in Australia (including his mother Toni Lamond, who's still performing at age 79, and his aunt Helen Reddy) which saw him working professionally at age 7; his performing hiatus from age 12 to 17, after which he rebelled against his family's singing and dancing tradition by embarking on work in plays; his youthful roles as Alan Strang in "Equus" and Tom in "The Glass Menagerie" (as well as the hit show "Hamlet on Ice"); his first exposure to Shakespeare; his success -- after a shaky start -- as Arnold in the Australian debut of "Torch Song Trilogy"; how the burgeoning Australian film industry and resident theatre movements ran in parallel, rather than intertwined, paths; his dual career as writer and director of cabaret vehicles for many of Australia's best known performers, including his mom; his profound unhappiness at being cast as Roger De Bris in "The Producers"; and whether -- after working outside of Australia for the first time in Priscilla -- he'd like to work again in London or New York. Original air date - June 8, 2011.

Bookwriter John Weidman talks about creating a new book in the 1980s with Timothy Crouse for the 1930s musical "Anything Goes", now playing in revival at Roundabout Theatre Company in New York, and how their version of the oft-revised musical became the now-standard script. He also talks about growing up as the son of novelist and sometime Broadway librettist Jerome Weidman; his academic career at Harvard and then Yale Law School (though he's never practiced law); his part in the creation of the highly influential "National Lampoon" magazine in the 70s; how his law school-era fascination with the opening of Japan to the West ultimately became his first Broadway musical, "Pacific Overtures"; the true origins of his second collaboration with Stephen Sondheim, "Assassins"; why he was dissatisfied with his work on the musical version of "Big"; how one writes a dance musical that is largely told without words, namely "Contact"; and whether the long-aborning "Road Show" (aka "Bounce" aka "Wise Guys") is finished, or if further changes will be seen at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London this summer. Original air date - June 1, 2011.

Marc Kudisch, currently appearing in "A Minister's Wife" at Lincoln Center Theater, talks about performing in a musical where the transitions between speaking and singing are instant and fluid, how the show, based on Shaw's "Candida", focuses its emphasis on the romantic triangle at its core, and the similarities between his character of Morrell and his early role as Conrad Birdie. He also talks about discovering himself as a performer as a senior in high school and then more fully in college; why he has always considered himself to be a character actor and how he defines that term; his performances as The Devil (in both "The Apple Tree" and "The Witches of Eastwick"), as comic villains (Franklin Hart in "9 to 5", Baron Bomburst in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"), comic foils (playing Count Carl-Magnus in four productions of "A Little Night Music", including the depth he finds in a character described by others as "an idiot") and leading man (as Jeff Moss in "Bells Are Ringing"); his admiration for directors George C. Wolfe, Tina Landau and Joe Mantello; why he has to work to get himself considered for roles in plays, when plays were what he first did when coming to New York; and the positive and negative uses of a healthy ego. Original air date - May 25, 2011.

Joe Mantello talks about returning to the Broadway stage as an actor after a 17-year hiatus to play the role of Ned Weeks in Larry Kramer's "The Normal Heart" -- and what it's like to play a role that the play's author has based on himself when the author is at the theatre nightly. He also talks about his acting days in school and community theatre in his hometown of Rockford, Illinois (with classmates that included Marin Mazzie); his training at North Carolina School of the Arts and why he had to relearn his idiosyncrasies when he got to New York; his work with playwright Peter Hedges and actress Mary-Louise Parker in the self-founded Edge Theatre; the opportunities offered to him by the Circle Repertory Company; why he decided to stop acting after making his Broadway debut in "Angels in America"; the development of his directing career, including the highs and lows of his first two Broadway assignments, Terrence McNally's "Love! Valour! Compassion!" and Donald Margulies' "What's Wrong With This Picture?"; his collaborations with playwrights including Jon Robin Baitz, David Mamet, Richard Greenberg, Neil Simon and Craig Lucas, among many others; the challenge of taking on a project on the scale of "Wicked" with only one previous musical directing credit and how much he remains involved with the show's many productions nationally and internationally; why he enjoys working on intimate shows; and the irony behind "Other Desert Cities'" plans for Broadway in the fall. Original air date - May 18, 2011.

Jason Robert Brown, who prefers the title "songwriter" over "composer," talks about why he spends so much time performing his own material and engaging directly with his fans. He discusses writing all of his songs "in his own voice"; his short time at Rochester's esteemed Eastman School of Music; coming to New York, getting work in piano bars and how that led to rehearsal pianist jobs; the evolution of "Songs for a New World" and whether it began as a collection of existing songs or whether the material was newly created for the show; the nature of his collaboration with William Finn on the vocal arrangements for "A New Brain"; how he got hired for "Parade" after Stephen Sondheim passed, having the opportunity to choose his collaborators when the musical team was assembled for "Parade", and the changes he has made more recently to move the show away from Hal Prince's vision; how the origin of "The Last Five Years" began out of a desire to be free of collaborators and how it fuses "Songs for a New World" and "Parade"; why he enjoys writing incidental music for plays; his sojourn in Europe and his decision to return to the U.S. by moving to Los Angeles; the origin of "13" in a handful of songs that he happened to share with Michael Ritchie of the Center Theatre Group, the "trauma" of Broadway and subsequent revisions to musical; and the status of upcoming projects including the film version of "The Last Five Years", the "difficult, scary" chamber musical "The Connector", his collaboration with Marsha Norman on "The Bridges of Madison County", and the long-aborning stage adaptation of the film comedy "Honeymoon in Vegas". Original air date - May 11, 2011.

Playwright David Lindsay-Abaire talks about returning to his South Boston roots with the play "Good People", how the characters are amalgams of the people he grew up with in that private neighborhood and why he chose it as the setting for a play about the class system in America. He also talks about moving beyond his "Southie" roots as early as seventh grade, when he received a scholarship to a private school and how he had to learn to fit in there; his earliest plays, written for his classmates at that same private school; his theatrical studies at Sarah Lawrence College and later at The Juilliard School; his professional "Plan B", a career in arts administration, fostered by his work at New York's Dance Theatre Workshop; his excitement at his first New York production, "A Devil Inside", at SoHo Rep, which began his long collaboration with (and perpetual atonement for) actress Marylouise Burke; how Manhattan Theatre Club, now his longtime creative home, showed early interest in, and then almost passed on, his breakthrough play "Fuddy Meers"; the origin of "Kimberly Akimbo" in a chance comment by a friend about his infant daughter; his candid thoughts on "Wonder of the World" and why it shouldn't have too elegant a production; his experience with writing musicals, including "High Fidelity" and "Shrek", and why he'll always write both the book and lyrics for any future musical projects; his shift to naturalism with "Rabbit Hole" and how the film differs from the play; why he's still part of a writer's group and how the group helped him to strengthen one particular character in "Good People"; and how he has always followed Marsha Norman's advice to write about "the thing that frightens you most." Original air date - May 4, 2011.

Laurie Metcalf talks about her role in Sharr White's play "The Other Place" at MCC Theater, and the challenge of playing someone whose mental faculties are diminishing in a non-linear play, requiring her to constantly leap between varying states of mind. She also talks about her embrace of theatre during her college years at Illinois State University, where she first studied German, then anthropology, before settling on theatre; being one of the original company members of the acclaimed Steppenwolf Theatre and her satisfaction with her day job during those early years; her Chicago breakout role in "The Glass Menagerie" and how that production fit with the company's reputation for "rock and roll theatre"; her participation in both the Chicago and New York productions of Lanford Wilson's "Balm in Gilead", and how she is still approached on the street by people recalling that show 25 years later; her regular returns to the Steppenwolf stage throughout her television run on "Roseanne" and other TV and film work; her opportunities to play Kate Keller in "All My Sons" twice -- both at London's National Theatre and Los Angeles' Geffen Playhouse; how The New Group's production of "A Lie of the Mind" "saved" her after the brief run of "Brighton Beach Memoirs" and the failure of its companion piece, "Broadway Bound", to open; her affinity for the play "Voice Lessons", which she'll be returning to for a third time; and the appeal of Steppenwolf's "Detroit", scheduled for Broadway in the fall. Original air date - April 27, 2011.