ATW - Downstage Center

Co-director and choreographer of Broadway's "The Book of Mormon", Casey Nicholaw, talks about his initial reaction on reading the irreverent new musical and how it was to work with Matt Parker and Trey Stone, heretofore most experienced with work in animation for "South Park". Nicholaw also talks about his early work at the San Diego Junior Theatre, his decision to leave California at age 19 and embark on a career in New York without even a completed college degree under his belt; his early acting gigs regionally and his later New York appearances in the original companies of "Crazy for You", "The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public", "Victor/Victoria", "Steel Pier" and "Seussical"; how he gathered his friends to start building piece to showcase his choreographic skills; how a gig as a replacement choreographer for Encores! 2004 "Bye Bye Birdie" led directly to his Broadway choreographic debut with "Spamalot" and how that immediately led to his directing debut with "The Drowsy Chaperone"; his work on the still developing "Minsky's" and "Robin and the Seven Hoods" back in California; and what he might have up his sleeve for the stage adaptation of Disney's "Aladdin", debuting this summer in Seattle. Original air date - April 20, 2011.

From London, National Theatre artistic director Nicholas Hytner talks about his tenure leading that influential institution, including whether, as some have said, it was always his career goal; why he thrives on the need to embrace a general audience for the organization's survival; the impact of the £10 (now £12) Travelex season on the company and why he prefers to work under the budgetary rigor it imposes on the theatre's staff; his commitment to seeing new, "muscular" work by young playwrights on the National's large stages; and his assessment of the success of the NT Live screenings of the National's stage productions in international cinemas. He also talks about growing up in Manchester and later returning there as artistic associate of the Royal Exchange Theatre; his apprenticeship under great directors at a time when there was little director training in England -- and his bad early work in regional rep companies; why he thinks the British "megamusicals" are actually popular opera in the European tradition -- and how the "completely crazy" idea of "Miss Saigon" appealed to him; the pleasure he took in directing "The Wind in the Willows" at the National and how it began his ongoing collaboration with playwright Alan Bennett, including "The History Boys" and "The Habit of Art", which he considers the most important feature of his directing career; what drew him to "Carousel" and how it ushered in the British era of reexamining the musicals from Broadway's Golden Age; why he thinks the musical of "Sweet Smell of Success" is deserving of rediscovery; and why the National's production of "His Dark Materials" will never transfer to a commercial run and how he would do that enormous hit differently if he had the chance to do it over again. Original air date - April 6, 2011.

"Arcadia"'s Lady Croom, Margaret Colin, discusses grappling with the intellectuals concepts in the play, the experience of spending several days having Tom Stoppard explain them, and what it's like to do a show in which she never shares the stage (or the green room) with half the cast once the curtain goes up. She also talks about growing up and performing in Baldwin NY, where her school shows included a production of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum", directed by her classmate, noted producer Scott Rudin; her intermittent studies at Hofstra University and why never quite managed to get a degree; the challenges she had finding stage work after first achieving success in soap operas; playing the not-so-long-deceased Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis in her Broadway debut, "Jackie: An American Life"; the opportunities she had with Manhattan Theatre Club ("Aristocrats", "Psychopathia Sexualis") and Roundabout; working on such plays as "Sweet Bird of Youth" and "Six Degrees of Celebration" at the accelerated production pace of the Williamstown Theatre Festival; playing Queen Gertrude in "Hamlet" in Central Park, her first Shakespeare since playing Desdemona as a teen in community theatre; and why she felt the central relationship in "Old Acquaintance" never quite came together. Original air date - April 13, 2011.

Royal Shakespeare Company veteran Janet Suzman discusses her early years with the company, including her daunting audition for for Peter Hall, John Barton and Peter Brook; her repertory roles of Portia, Rosalind and Ophelia; opening the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in "The Taming of the Shrew"; and her career defining role as Cleopatra in "Antony and Cleopatra". She also discusses her upbringing in cultural limited Johannesburg, South Africa; her student years at a highly politicized university where she began an interest in theatre because that's where she found the best parties; her decision to "get the hell out" of South Africa and its position as "a hectic in her blood" calling her back; her early exposure to theatre upon her move to London, including "West Side Story", Paul Scofield in "King Lear" and Vanessa Redgrave in "As You Like It"; her early work at the Library Theatre in Manchester alongside Patrick Stewart; her professional return to South Africa for the opening of the integrated Market Theatre; her decision to become a director after deciding that John Kani needed to play "Othello" under the apartheid government; her experience doing comedy in the West End in Wendy Wasserstein's "The Sisters Rosensweig"; and her recent return to "Antony and Cleopatra" as a director, leading Kim Cattrall into her former role. Original air date - March 30, 2011.

Acclaimed for his works of fiction, non-fiction, philosophy, and theatre, Michael Frayn discusses how he determines when an idea is right for the stage when he has multiple forms to choose from. He also recalls writing and performing childhood puppet plays; the reason why his edition of Cambridge's "Footlights Revue" was the only one not to be seen in London; his days as a newspaper columnist, during which he frequently mocked and parodied the popular theatre of the day -- and whether he later regretted some of his jabs at theatre; his first invitation to write a one-act play; the play he wrote that producer Alexander H. Cohen found 'filthy'; whether his comedy "Alphabetical Order" was directly based upon his journalistic experiences; the plays of his that have never been seen in America; his longstanding professional association with director Michael Blakemore and why he value's the director's "stupid questions"; whether he fully visualized the madcap frenzy of "Noises Off" as he wrote it -- and why he's still prepared to tinker with the end of that highly successful play; why he only does English versions of French and Russian plays; how "Copenhagen" required him to do massive research, although his background in philosophy had given him a foundation in quantum mechanics; whether American audiences were less familiar than English audiences with the story of Willy Brandt as told in "Democracy"; what attracted him to the story of German director Max Reinhardt for "Afterlife"; and why it's easier to write about the distant past as opposed to the recent past. Original air date - March 23, 2011.

Austin Pendleton, director of the recent production of "The Three Sisters" at Classic Stage Company in New York, talks about the many Chekhov productions he's appeared in and directed over the years, including five "Uncle Vanya"s and four "Three Sisters". He talks about falling in love with theatre via his mother's involvement in community theatre in his hometown of Warren, Ohio; writing original musicals while an undergraduate theatre student at Yale; being directed by Jerome Robbins in his first two major shows after college, "Oh, Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad" and "Fiddler on the Roof"; how he began his directing career with "Tartuffe" at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and his long association with that company; and why unlike many directors who begin as actors he has never given up performing. He also considers the evolution of his writing career, starting with the elongated development of "Booth", which began as a college musical and ultimately made it to New York 34 years later as a play; why he wrote "Uncle Bob", his most produced play, for actor George Morfogen out of guilt; his hesitancy about showing "Orson's Shadow" to anyone and how Steppenwolf Theatre, where he is a company member, lured it away from him; and why he agreed to write the book for the musical "A Minister's Wife" for Chicago's Writer's Theatre. Original air date - March 16, 2011.

Barry Grove, Executive Producer of the Manhattan Theatre Club, talks about his three-and-half decades of partnership with Lynne Meadow at the top of one of New York's largest not-for-profit theatres. He recalls about his introduction to theatre while growing up in Madison CT; his college experiences at Dartmouth and his participation in the very first semester of The O'Neill Theatre Center's National Theatre Institute; his earliest experiences working in New York Theatre while still a student; coming to MTC when there was only a staff of six in a theatre complex on the east side that they couldn't afford to fully use; the company's transition from neighborhood venue to midtown mainstay at City Center; the long search for a permanent Broadway home; and explains how he's still energized by work at the same company after so long, and the challenges still ahead. Original air date - March 9, 2011.

Elizabeth Marvel talks about whether being "a bad kid" has influenced her more daring stage performances, and discusses the challenges of remaining alienated from her on stage family in Jon Robin Baitz's "Other Desert Cities" while she grows ever closer to her castmates. She also discusses how she was drawn to theatre after a small town upbringing, including the moment when she knew she had to act; the influence of her Juilliard mentor, the late Michael Langham, both on her craft and her career; how she managed to get jobs at Canada's Stratford Festival, The Guthrie and A.R.T in her first year out of school; what it was like to switch between Mark Ravenhill's "Shopping and Fucking" and Wendy Wasserstein's "An American Daughter" in the same year; why she is so drawn to work with director Ivo van Hove on such classic plays as "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "The Little Foxes", and how that work has expanded her range as an actor; how her pregnancy informed her performance as a lizard in Edward Albee's "Seascape"; what it was like to work with playwright and director Woody Allen; how violence has been a recurring theme in her performances, including Michael Weller's "50 Words"; and how she handled the decidedly mixed response from audiences to Caryl Churchill's "Top Girls". Original air date - March 2, 2011.

Interviewed at the keyboard, composer Stephen Schwartz chronicles his career from college to "Wicked" and beyond. He explains how "Pippin" began as a college musical based on one paragraph in a history book and a deep love of "The Lion in Winter", and how the show that ended up as the Broadway version was completely different; tells the story of being asked to write songs for "Godspell" with only five weeks until the show's first rehearsal; plays and sings his first song ever to be heard on Broadway, from the play "Butterflies are Free"; talks about structuring a musical around a lead actor who didn't sing at all, for "The Magic Show", and whether he's disappointed that the show's technical demands have limited subsequent productions; describes how he developed and directed "Working", and why he made the decision to invite other composers onto the project; shares his feelings about the original productions of "The Baker's Wife", "Rags" and "Children of Eden", and why they met with greater success after their first incarnations; reveals that he has gone back and rewritten some of the lyrics for Leonard Bernstein's "Mass" -- with utter fidelity to every note that Bernstein wrote; gives his opinion on whether writing songs for animated films such as "Pocahontas" and "Prince of Egypt" is just like working on a Broadway show; relates how he began seeking to option "Wicked" even before he'd read the book; recounts his involvement as a producer on the musical "The Blue Flower", written by others, at American Repertory Theater -- and why he won't be producing again; and talks about what he's learned about writing for the musical theatre from his 15 years running the ASCAP Musical Theater Workshop. Original air date - February 23, 2011.

While playing both a farmer and his wife in Red Bull Theatre Company's "The Witch of Edmonton", Everett Quinton talks about appearing in Jacobean drama and getting to watch the rest of the company at work when he's not on stage. He also talks about studying theatre at Hunter College after a stint in Thailand during the Vietnam War; meeting Ridiculous Theatrical Company founder Charles Ludlam without really understanding who Ludlam was; becoming Ludlam's life partner and a member of the Ridiculous Company's "outer circle" of artists; becoming an actor under the tutelage of Ludlam; coming into his own as a performer in such pieces as "Galas" and "The Mystery of Irma Vep", confessing he only really came to understand "Vep" 14 years after its debut, when he directed it in revival, even though he'd performed in it 331 times; how Quinton came to be a leading actor and the costume designer for the Ridiculous; the challenge of sustaining the troupe after Ludlam's death from AIDS in 1987, when he assumed the mantle of artistic director; whether he was able to expand his own theatrical horizons after Ludlam's passing; what it meant to become a working actor when the Ridiculous closed in 1997; having the opportunity to do work in regional theatres such as McCarter and The Shakespeare Theatre; and the experience of auditioning to play the Wicked Stepmother in a tour of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella" when all of the other finalists were women. Original air date - February 16, 2011.